Archive for the ‘Crafts’ Category

One of my best friends just had a baby girl. I needed to find something special to give my friend’s daughter — something meaningful — something that would last a lifetime (hopefully). My friend is a school teacher and loves books. I wanted to find something along those lines, but I also wanted to sew [...]

My pattern making teacher showed us how to make a fun and super easy wrap.  This pattern calls for only one yard of fleece fabric, a serger and some scissors.  It was so much fun to make that I’m giving all the girls in my family a wrap for Christmas (hopefully they won’t read this [...]

O.K. I have to spend some time bragging on my husband. He’s pretty handy with carpentry tools and has made several pieces of furniture for our house. He always starts his projects on a little piece of scratch paper Here is the side table he built. This is a rocking chair footrest. My part of [...]

My husband and I lived in DC for a few years after college. Unfortunately, one of the perils of living on Capitol Hill was a broken car window and a stolen bike. I had just bought a brand new Wal-Mart special, a bike computer, and a cute little basket for the rear luggage rack. Even [...]

One of my co-workers has an odd obsession with squirrels. She has figurines of squirrels all over her office, and even adopted a stray flying squirrel for a while — hence her nickname, The Squirrell Lady. I made this little stuffed animal to add to her collection: This is yet another Cute Book creation. You [...]

My parents saw some rocking chair footrests at the local Mast General Store, and have been dropping hints about them for the past year. My husband and I decided we’d try to make them ourselves as part of our Handmade Pledge for last year’s Christmas gifts. Here’s the process of making those special footrests. They’re [...]

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but my husband and I took the Handmade Pledge this holiday season and were largely successful. I made ornaments, stuffed animals, and tote bags to give away, and we tried to buy handmade products whenever possible. I have to brag about my husband’s woodworking talent. He made seven [...]

I made a few more Cute Book Toys to give as gifts for Christmas. A “Big” Monkey My family used to have a dog that looked like this. His name was Sparky.

My brother recently confided one of his childhood memories to me. When we were little we lived on a lake with a small island of trees in the middle. Us older siblings would always torment the smallest one (obviously), telling him there were cannibals on the island. As the smarter, older sibling I thought everyone [...]

I can’t believe it’s almost Christmas! My husband and I have decided to make most of our Christmas gifts this year. Here are a few of the items we have so far. Shimmery Gold Thread for The Star Over Bethlehem This Ornament is Made From Shimmery White Thread Finally, This Ornament Is Made from Shimmery [...]