I just posted a set of Kitschen Witch magnets on etsy. I made these awhile ago, but I thought they were pretty cute.

An Shabby Autumn Recipe Book

This is DaisyD's paper, but I 'roughed' it up a bit. I made 5-6 Recipe/Memory cards that are interspersed through the album.

I thought this album would be a good gift for traditional family recipes, ones passed down through the generations so that pictures and memories of times together could be added to the recipes themselves.

It's 4x6 inches. And I used recycled cardboard from boxes, etc. I also got to use a lot of flowers and fun stuff like that.

Halloween at the Abla house . . .Chilling Indeed.

Upholstery - Ta Da!

Mom came to visit this week. I told her the one thing we were going to do was upholster the chair I got at the Springfield antique flea market last year. So this is it . . .
I've been sitting on it, springs only, for a year. Evan wouldn't sit on it. It's a pretty firm cushion since we put a piece of cardboard in between the springs and the batting, but it feels much better. But I think now that it's done, I think it looks pretty good. We used a brown, mossy velour that changes color depending on the light. I'm pretty pleased with the result. It doesn't look like this in person.
What I learned from this experience was that I am a visual person, but not a spatial person. Eh. After much discussion and many staples, you are now invited to our house and have a seat.

More Secret Llama

Signage "The Secret Llama"

I've been thinking about signage for my craft show booths and came up with this -- photocopied vintage fabric that I splayed around my llama pic. I'll hang "the secret llama" and then use the smaller signs for different things I'm selling. I'm thinking I'll attach some clothes pins to the back so that I can just clip it to whatever.

I love the font, Girls are Weird, which I got from dafont.com.

I thought it turned out pretty good all in all. So I made some notecards to go along with it. Added some buttons and viola! Now Evan's just got to figure out how to hang it.

Next Up . . . Baby Love!

Look at What I've Done - Catching Up

First, the Ohio State Stuff.

I'm almost finished with a third tag book, which I'm waiting to sell at the fall craft shows. I started 2 banners, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to finish them. I got the letters glittered, but I'm not sure how much more frou frou they need before I hang them. I'm happy with how they're turning out, though. This is definitely for homes that like a little classier, unique look to show their team spirit. ;)
These are the 2 mini albums I finished. I used colored metal carbiners for the ring which I thought looked good and very easy to take the pages on and off. I'll have these at the craft shows as well. I may make a couple more because they're so quick to make. And I've got plenty of paper left over.

However, I'm hoping to make some Ohio State notecards to finish up the scraps. I haven't made cards before, but I"ve looked at layouts and sketched out some designs.

I'm hoping this does well at the shows -- I'm going to merchandise this a little more - I've got a red wagon, but I was thinking about a football bowl or something like that.

A Strange Sight

The Great Summer Destash 2008

100 Things or Categories I’m giving up . . . my sister-in-law,Marsha, has inspired me to simplify with an article she posted on her blog about the 100 Things Challenge. I told her I didn’t think I could do this – reduce my possessions to 100 things. There’s too much memorabilia and stuff at this point. However, I think I can get rid of 100 things. I’m going to try it this summer – ending with a garage sale and then give all the rest to Goodwill – and see how it goes.
Marsha, you’re my judge – this is the beginning of my list. Do all these count as one thing? Or can I count some as individual items?
1. 1 box of summer clothes that are too small
2. 1 box of winter clothes that are too small


3. non-black/white turtle necks
4. the fancy sofa
5. sewing patterns with no material attached to them
6. fabric with no project attached to them
7. non-matching mugs (ugliness factor)
8. plastic cups (ugliness factor)
9. old lotions
10. big pink pillow
11. old sheets
12. 5 knicknacks
13. 1 box of Christmas stuff
14. bag of candle melts
15. 1 box of other Holiday items
16. 2 boxes of books
17. 1 box of paper (to recycle)
18. 3 games
19. 1 box school stuff (Social Studies)
20. 5 skeins of yarn
21. 5 scarves
22. 5 pieces of jewelry
23. 1 box of scrapbook/craft items
24. 2 kitchen appliances
25. Old makeup
26. 5 hanging shirts
27. 5 skirts
28. 3 dresses
29. 2 pairs of jeans
30. 5 t-shirts
31. 1 box of office items
32. 1 box of memorabilia
33. 1 box of old stuff
34. 1 set of dishes
35. 15 Martha Steward mags
36. 15 cooking magazines (useful recipes saved in recipe folder)
37. 1 box of picture frames
38. 1 box of old tapes, books on tape
39. 4 old towels
40. 1 box of winter clothes I never wear
41. 1 box of summer clothes I never wear



This is not 100 yet . . . any suggestions.

The Upcycle Corollary
As a corollary to this I would like to find 10 things to up-cycle among our trash this summer. Up-cycling is recycling items or material that makes them immediately useful. Wikipedia defines up-cycling here. I heard the word first on etsy.com because their all about handmade and recycling. That's cool.


Here are some examples: leather cuff bracelets, a wool wreath, bird giving ball, plarn and crocheted plarn, journals and much more.


I like the idea of up-cycling, because it requires some imagination to repurpose materials originally used for another. Often the most successful up-cycling requires some artistic expression, but it is also entirely practical.


The bird gift balls are a clever example of this. I’m tempted to buy birdseed just so I can try out these bird gift balls next spring.

Stipulations:
- I will not buy any new supplies in order to up-cycle these items. I will have to use the supplies already on hand in order to complete the process.
- These may be items from the 100 things challenge. They may also be just trash that we would have thrown away otherwise (paper, aluminum, cardboard, etc.).
- The products may be reused in our household or made to sell.
- I need to list these on the blog as they are completed.

What I've Been Up to Lately

It all started with a Dinner for Two cookbook I found at St. Francis thriftstore.  I'd been wanting to do something vintage without feeling bad about cutting a book up -- this was perfect.  So cut I did.  

I tried to be intentional about not matching stuff, but I can't help myself.  When I started gluing things together, it actually made sense!  So one album is more red/orange/yellow/blue/green.  The other is a little softer with pinks, light blues, oranges, yellows.

Each of these little albums are 8 pages and there's places for pictures, stashing recipes, journaling, whatever.  They're made of recycled cardboard (you know cereal boxes), pages from vintage cookbooks, a book ring and lots of frou frou. 

Go Go Green Jello!

Girly Girl Baby Banner

I put this banner together as a gift for a baby shower we had at church.  I used the colors and elephant from the nursery bedding the parents were using.  I thought it turned out pretty well.

I got to use my Cricut on this and was pretty happy with how it turned out.  I glittered the outline after cutting it out. 


I also used some new embellishments that I hadn't used before - flower brads and jewels.  They'll be showing themselves in some other things soon.

Post Number II - April's Shower

I will try to get more photos of the event up soon. Some technical difficulties right now. 

We celebrated the anticipated arrival of Anna Pauketat a couple weeks ago with her mother, April, and brother, Jayman at the church.  Amy and I were the decor committee and we used April's french toile nursery theme.  Amy had put together a beautiful 12x12 scrapbook using papers April had picked out.  We took those papers and went crazy.  

Tag Book:  I don't have pics of this yet, but we made about 50 tags that were placed around the tables for guests to write little notes to April or Anna giving advise and wishing them well.  

Centerpieces: I made photocopies of some ad babies from the turn-of-the-century ephemera I have, enlarged them and used them as the basis for the centerpieces at the tables.  I also collected some shabby chic metal candleholders and vases.  I spray painted them and added tea-stained roses to the mix.  We just added more candlelight with votives from the church.

Cupcake picks:  Melissa made red velvet cupcakes that were absolutely delicious.  Because I had so many extra do0-dads left over from the tags, I made little collages and glued them to sandwich picks and we stuck them in the cupcakes.  I'm probably going to reuse these and make more to sell.

Banner: About 30 minutes before the shower Amy and I were inspired to throw together a "Baby" banner.  Amy just printed out the letters and we added some of our papers and froufrous and viola! a banner.  It was may inspiration for the pennant banner I made the following week. See future post.

Diaper Cake: The piece-de-resistance (spelling is French . . . )  that I made from 70 diapers, a bottle of lotion a small bottle and cranberry toile fabric I found at Walmart for $2 a yard.  I used more baby pictures and tea stained roses.  We set it with the scrapbook on the gift table. It was a great focal point. 

I also did the games and I think everyone had a really enjoyable time.  The food was great. The conversation was interesting. 

Now, we're just really looking forward to meeting Anna.