Baby Shower Aftermath

As stated in one of my last posts (however briefly), life has been quite hectic in recent weeks. This seems to be a seasonal thing, as May is just wacky-packed full of family things. Which means a couple of things: I drop off the face of the blogging planet for a bit, and I get sick. :P

However, somewhere in the past two weeks, the baby shower I was talking up and preparing for with the use of Moon Munkie's goodies, finally came to pass. It was a pretty nice shower, I don't mind saying. Big, and full of people who adore my adorable sister-in-law.

Here's a visual review of some of the goodies that my family and I were able to pull together. My sister was in charge of the desserts, and my mom, cousins, and younger sister all helped me get all of my designated decoration projects done. I admittedly chose projects that would have better served a smaller shower (we made 80 favors and 80 pins, though I don't know that we needed to). Silly me. Fortunately, crafty hands run in the family and they all saved me from falling into a crafty wormhole of despair.

Shower cake courtesy of the family's favorite local bakery

Tulle instead of streamers.
I made a point NOT to make these tissue pompoms, but I did hang them with Moon Munkie yarn. 

Mini fruit tarts

The new and improved ivy banner, with little Moon Munkie flower accents

The favor envelopes

The envelope contents: seeds, quote, planting instructions

Family favorite: individual "Krispy Krespy" (Pistachio pudding, cream cheesy sweet stuff, whipped cream, and graham cracker crust. Not in that order.)

Sweetpea blossom pins from satin, tulle, and felt

Hanging flowers

Second hanging plant, used as prizes for the shower games

Individual pretzel salads

The dessert table; my brother, his wife, and they're pre-packaged bundle of joy. ;)

Ooops! Almost forgot to include my present for the wee 'un. Probably because I didn't take a decent picture of it, so tried to brush over it.

I made a quilt for my niece using my friend Eleanor Grosch's fabric that I mentioned ages ago:

I had thought I had gotten some better quality shots when my husband snuck a few in, but he deleted them because they weren't as good as I had thought. And with the rush to get the shower stuff and quilt done, I was just glad I could give it to her. :)

Moon Munkie Make #2: Fabric Sweetpea Blossoms

I know. Promises, promises. I tell you I'm going to post, and then I don't. C'est la vie, je suppose. I must say I'm not surprised. I often find that when I make commitments, I tend to follow through only on those that have a deadline that requires in-person performance/presentation of the results. Like, if a whole bunch of folks all agree that something needs to be done by a certain day, I'll likely rush to get it done. When I set my own deadlines, I am far worse at seeing things to their completion.

That being said, I am quite proud to say that all of these pictures and project works were done well before my verbalized deadline of last Saturday. Or last Monday.

So, there's that.

Now, onward to my little mock-up tutorial on the fabric sweet pea blossoms that I made, and on the little seed packets I added in. When I saw the purple fabric squares that Moon Munkie gave me in my package, they immediately fit in with my germinating notions on what to do for my sister-in-law's baby shower in May.

With "Sweetpea" as the decorating theme that was chosen for the party, little purple flowers seemed just the thing to do for some small decoration accents at the party. I used this tutorial  and this one as my bases, though they work with crepe paper, which I think gives a nice flaring option for the outer petals that I cannot get with quilting cotton.

Starting goodies

The first step I took was to fold the squares in half and trace circles that filled out much of the triangle.

snip, snip!

Lovely little lavender circles

Taking two contrasting circles, I placed them one on top of the other and pinched them in the middle. I had originally imagined trying to place some of the sweet pea seeds I bought for the party favors inside, but the circles here were too small. And I think it'd compromise the gathering, though I'll likely try it later with larger circles just in case.

Gather in the middle with a pinch.

Taking floral/craft wire, I simply wrapped around the middle and then flared the petals out. The inner petals, I tend to tug a little down, so that the top petal can peak out over the top.

Et, voila!

And that's pretty much it. A cute purple little sweet pea blossom to attach to things as you see fit. :)

I am contemplating making the leaves/outer green portion of the flower and then using floral tape and wire to make stems and little curlicues. See here:

Source: all things paper

But I may also use these fabric ones to decorate the "grace" wall hanging. I would have even showed you how it looked on the hanging I posted on earlier, if it hadn't blown away off my porch this past week. Ah well. More ivy is waiting for snipping and forming, I suppose.

I know that someone had stated she used some fusible webbing to strengthen the fabric she used on her version of these, and I do wonder if adding some starch or other stiffener may help with long-term aesthetics. I'm not sure though. I do think the crepe paper adds a small advantage in that department.

With the scraps, I was able to make teeeeeeny tiny little seed packets with twisted wire closures. I am imagining up ways to incorporate them into the party favors. They are so teeny, I worry they are anticlimactic on their own.  I haven't found a satisfactory delivery agent, so if any of you have any suggestions (preferably cheap!), let me know! Currently, I have quotes on seeds and grace that I expect to accompany each party favor.

small wrap

finished results, taken too late in the day and mangled by a flash

http://moonmunkie.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/moon-munkie-mystery-make-giveaway-experiment/

Moon Munkie Make Project #1: Vine Banner

Yay, Spring!

Soooo, I would like to first let you folks know that these projects being posted are drafts. I only let you know that because I am a bit timid on the use of Moon Munkie's goodies on some of these things because I want to make sure I'll have enough to use them for the final draft.

As stated earlier, I want to use the goodies Jemma sent to make some decorations for my sister-in-law's baby shower coming in May. The theme will be Sweet Pea, since this is one of her decorating themes for their expected wee'un come June. It made sense to me to stick with a heavy spring-y, floral theme. Light and green. One of the first things I wanted to do was make something similar to this from Martha Stewart:

Source: Martha Stewart

Instead of "bebe", I thought it'd be nice to do the sweet pea's anticipated name: Grace. My initial thought was to do this with grapevine, as my cousin's yard sports a good bit of it and it is so often used for shaping and wreaths. Unfortunately, after an afternoon of trekking through the woods and gathering some grapevine, I found that it was still too brittle to bend and shape for what I had in mind. At least, it is too brittle in March.

My cousin made an honest effort though, and I have to give her credit for persevering and coming up with some decent letters with the help of lots of floral wire.


























I was a tad bummed until a week later when I realized that my home is surrounded by ivy vines, which are thinner than grapevine and tend to be evergreen and much more pliable. Using floral wire and then the lovely yarn from Jemma, I constructed a preliminary "grace".

 I think that it will read better when each letter is hung from its own string to its own anchor. The use of just the one nail in the side of my house limited my display options, and cramped the "r" and "a" too close for my tastes.

As stated earlier, the end product is not so "end". I will be adding additional accents with the yarn on the letters, so that it will tie the, er, ties, into the piece more cohesively. I also plan on using Jemma's die-cut purple flowers on the name as accents as well, but did not want to attach them to this draft version.  I imagine it would be something like this:

I'm also not quite sure if the letters will be more or less legible with more ivy. My mother suggested adding more, but then I fear it will be just a jumble of leaves and no shape. And, in truth, who says I have to make the final version out of ivy? Perhaps there will be another plant well suited to wire shaping and the "sweet pea" theme? I mean, Martha looks to have used lavender. If only I thought sweet peas would survive the anticipated May heat, I'd grow some for the party to use...

What do you think?

Moon Munkie Mystery Make Winners!

I just received Moon Munkie's package in the mail Saturday night! Want to see what I got?

Pretty nice, right? All nice and coordinated and lovely and itchy-finger making. :)

I have a couple ideas on what to use some of the pieces for, as I have some upcoming projects I have to make for a certain baby shower for a certain sister-in-law. Some of the projects I can get done within the month, so I'll stick with those. Others may have to wait until later this Spring.

Do any of these goodies inspire you? What would you make?

And don't think I have forgotten to name my package winners for my own giveaway. I had five folks volunteer to join in the fun, so I'm just going to make five packages instead of four. The folks who have agreed to make stuff out of my eclectic medium-sized packages of goodies are: Kat, Rachel, Moon Munkie, Marilo, and Masustak Eguzkitan!! I have some of your addresses, but if you could email them to me at sneakfuzz (at) hotmail (dot) com just to make sure I have them right, I'd appreciate it.

I will let you ladies know when the packages are sent out. I hope you find something fun to make with what I'm sending!

Sewn Arts Sunday: Twins

This weekend, I'm off galavanting around with my other half. Not Buddy, but my cousin who is like my siamese twin with a different mother. So, I thought it appropriate to share lots of fun Etsy finds that were twin-related.

Skeletina

Mary's Granddaughter

Outlaw Heart Creations

spazzy wonder

greenpeastudio

Monstrosity

Milk-fly

Gutter Gypsy

The Monster Cafe

And though they aren't sewn, I couldn't resist these two:

Stayhome Cupcake

Callaco Corner

Moon Munkie Mystery Make, Anyone?

Debi pointed out in her latest post an exciting giveaway/project that Moon Munkie has started to organize. Moon Munkie has called it her Mystery Make Giveaway Experiment, and I think it's a super fun idea!

Essentially, Moon Munkie is giving away four parcels filled with various goodies that she wants the recipients to make into something. I love a good challenge to make things, so I am pretty smitten with the idea. So, I've put my name in for the experiment and hope to win some goodies.

It doesn't just stop there, though. I am going to join in regardless of whether I get the lovelies Moon Munkie is sending out. I am offering you dear readers a similar option, if you're interested.

I will make four packages of similar goodies, things that you can use for sewing or craft projects, and I will send them to you! To review the rules that Moon Munkie has in place:

1) They need to go to people with sewing or crafting type blogs which are updated at least weekly. (I am perhaps less concerned about this portion, since I know how hard that can be. Let's just say updated regularly.)

2) From the date you receive the parcel, you have 4 weeks to create something inspired by the items in the parcel.

3) You may use all or some of the items in the parcel and you may add from your own stash or buy additional items.

5) At the end of the 4 weeks (or before if you’re quick!) you agree to blog about the item you made (with a link to Moon Munkie) and the processes you went through – with pictures of course!  You can also blog as you go along if you like.  A tutorial for making your item is not essential, but would be appreciated!

6) I will also blog about the challenge. (As will Moon Munkie, I'm sure.) I’ll link to your blog from mine. So hopefully your blog will get lots of extra visits, too.

 7) Optional You could then do the same sort of thing. Offer 4 packages from your stash to other crafters. I wonder how far it would spread?  I hope you will do this, but I don’t want to make it mandatory in case it puts people off joining in.

Because I'm joining in on this a little later, (and because my goodie packages are not yet created), I'll be extending my deadline to March 2nd to give folks a little more time to express their interest. It won't be too far off from Moon Munkie's schedule, but it'll give you time to decide if you're interested.

Feel free to spread the news to others you think would be interested. I will likely include some non-sewing craft supplies, since I have a good stash of those too, but I'll update you on the packages soon. They're mysteries either way. ;)

So, who's in?

Christmas Recap: Craft Projects

I'll try to keep the words to a minimum, but thought I'd review some of what I've been working on for holiday presents and projects. There'll be multiple posts coming in the next week or so, since the holidays are really as crazy as they are.

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Goldfish pleated clutch, based on A Lemon Squeezy Home's tutorial. I altered the direction of the pleats on this one, and would move them up higher if I were to do that next time. I'm particularly happy with the layering of the fabrics: fish under bubbles!

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Little bug ornaments, based on Very Purple Person's cockroach plush tutorial. They're definitely not as well put together as hers, but the scale certainly changed some of my finesse on the leg placement. They made me laugh as I made them, so I'm not going to complain, though.

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Earthworm ornaments, self drafted. I had to use coat hanger wire to get them to be sufficiently bendy. Threw on a fleece scarf, and we're off! (Though, I may in future iterations put bead eyes or french knot eyes on them. The first recipient kept on asking where its eyes were.)

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Diaper clutch, self drafted. Not very well done, but got to repurpose a gauzy blouse and some inherited cotton fabric for the liner. (I surprisingly got that fun peekaboo effect on the liner fabric under the gauze on this project too. Whee!)  Also got to use a vintage zipper on it too. Hopefully it will be useful, even if it's a little wonky.



And that summarizes my craft projects for holiday gifts. Stay tuned for a summary of more projects this week!