tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52412900147651078092024-03-18T20:34:04.792-07:00Swampy Sugar BiscuitsCarriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311993130063001856noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241290014765107809.post-85394918738813116612014-01-15T23:45:00.000-08:002014-01-15T23:51:48.118-08:00Happy Birthday Sentiment GraphicIt's always lovely to open a card and find some lovely typography wishing you well! Here is a graphic I just made up for some birthday cards I am doing. Enjoy!<br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByyM2U7FdRyCZFBRTjJyUHdabDQ/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">link to download</a></div>
Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311993130063001856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241290014765107809.post-70822153673466585292013-11-04T16:28:00.001-08:002013-11-04T16:45:08.725-08:00Minecraft PartyWhen I asked my son what he wanted to do for his birthday party, he told me he wanted a Minecraft party.<br />
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While scouring the internet for ideas, I found another mom who held their party at The Microsoft Store and that it's FREE!<br />
We don't have an Xbox 360 (we only have the pocket edition), so I knew my son would love it as he's been dying to play it on the Xbox.<br />
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Going this route was super easy! I didn't have to worry about any entertainment and really, for all of the food that I brought, not much was eaten. We did put a bunch of the candy items in their favor bags for them to take home.<br />
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Here are some pictures of the spread.<br />
Food wise, we gathered some of the easiest ideas that I found from lots of different parties.<br />
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It's not picture perfect, but it certainly worked. All of the employees at The Microsoft Store were super impressed and got a kick out of everything.<br />
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My favorite was the lava bucket. All of the kids loved dipping different items in the lava. (rice crispies, marshmallows, pretzels, swedish fish, cookies...)<br />
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The kids also really loved the jello water blocks. I just put the jello in a greased ice cube tray and then put 3 or 4 cubes in small clear cups.<br />
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A fun thing that I did when making the cake was that I put some blue, yellow, brown, and green M&Ms in between the layers and told them they as they were eating their cake, they could mine for diamonds, gold, iron, and emerald. I had good intentions of making little pick axes out of<a href="http://www.amazon.com/ThinkBamboo-Brand-Premium-Bamboo-Skewers/dp/B002NGKH98" target="_blank"> these flat skewer sticks</a> and electrical tape, but didn't want to do it at 2 am.<br />
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Couple things to note... the juices were <a href="http://www.walmart.com/ip/Little-Hug-Assortment-Blue-Raspberry-Grape-Orange-Punch-Fruit-Drinks-1.25g/14244832" target="_blank">these</a> little hug barrels. I got the printable labels for them from <a href="http://geekmommashup.com/2013/09/08/minecraft-birthday-party/" target="_blank">Heather at Geek Mom Mashup</a>.<br />
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The CreeperAides (there are a couple on the table, but each kid had one in their bag) were Hawaiian Punch Lemon Lime Splash in 10oz bottles. They came in a package<a href="http://www.walmart.com/ip/Hawaiian-Punch-Aloha-Morning-Orange-Citrus-Juice-Drink-10-fl-oz-6-count/31952120" target="_blank"> like this</a>. I also included some crazy straws to use with them which also doubled as a favor in their bag so that we hopefully wouldn't have any issues with spills.<br />
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I used glow sticks for the diamond sword, but wanted to use <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rock-Candy-Sticks-Raspberry-Wrapped/dp/B0064MF346/ref=sr_1_cc_2?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1383609151&sr=1-2-catcorr&keywords=blue+rock+candy+suckers" target="_blank">rock candy suckers</a>. Just didn't have time to make a trip to the official party store.<br />
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I also ordered some <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tissue-Grass-green-Party-Accessory/dp/B004L6L79W" target="_blank">tissue paper grass</a> because my son loved how it looked at one of the parties we looked at online, but we totally forgot to bring it in with us along with the brown table cloth.<br />
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We also had printed of some of the printable 3D Minecraft characters to put on the cake, but forgot those at home.<br />
Oh well. It was still a great party!<br />
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If you're doing a Minecraft party, I have all of the food labels made up for you along with the Steve face for the bags, CreeperAide labels and TNT wraps. These were all things that people had done for their parties, but that I had to create myself. It didn't take long to do them, but it would have been nice to just have them done, so here you are!<br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0ByyM2U7FdRyCMlZfZjFyVll2OHM&usp=sharing" target="_blank">DOWNLOAD HERE</a><br />
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I hope that you enjoy what I have to share and that your party is amazing! There are so many great and fun ideas out there for Minecraft parties!<br />
<br />Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311993130063001856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241290014765107809.post-2434962088250199112013-10-27T16:11:00.003-07:002013-10-27T16:11:50.257-07:00I am a Child of God FREE printableI made this and thought it was cute enough to share. Hope you enjoy it!<br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByyM2U7FdRyCZ0xBRnFXMERYVjA/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Download here</a><br />
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Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311993130063001856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241290014765107809.post-36858457843943373472012-11-12T10:21:00.003-08:002012-11-12T10:21:54.686-08:00More printable stuff!<div>
I made these little cards for toppings for my baby girl's welcome party. We had an ice cream sundae bar and everyone loved it. I failed to bring my camera, so I'll see if I can find any pictures from family, though the quality will be sub par.<br />It was a very cute though!<br />We got a bunch of little containers from the dollar store for all of the different toppings and then we put them up on things of different heights so that they were tiered and thus easier to see and access.<br />We used my little topping cards along with some chalkboard labels on picks and clips.<br /><br />For the cards, I printed the words in a peachy pink color and then colored the brackets in with the aqua/sea green colored pencil. </div>
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<br /><br />If you want to use my cards, I have some for you. There are black and white images or the PSD files where you can alter the text/color. Enjoy!<br /><br />Black and white topping cards<br /> <a href="http://www.4shared.com/photo/cBPriytx/topping_cards.html" target="_blank">page 1</a><br />
<a href="http://www.4shared.com/photo/0k4QZVjs/topping_cards2_copy.html" target="_blank">page 2</a><br />
<a href="http://www.4shared.com/photo/cPd_QY-_/topping_cards3_copy.html" target="_blank">page 3</a><br /> <a href="http://www.4shared.com/photo/RTu26M8d/topping_cards4_copy.html" target="_blank">page 4</a><br />PSD Topping cards<br /> <a href="http://www.4shared.com/photo/vQfNnVOi/topping_cards.html" target="_blank">page 1</a><br /> <a href="http://www.4shared.com/photo/oKO743Dt/topping_cards2.html" target="_blank">page 2</a><br /> <a href="http://www.4shared.com/photo/ZddyD-K8/topping_cards3.html" target="_blank">page 3</a><br /> <a href="http://www.4shared.com/photo/vwCSUa6G/topping_cards4.html" target="_blank">page 4</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311993130063001856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241290014765107809.post-20284441705831023752012-11-08T15:27:00.001-08:002012-11-08T15:58:03.416-08:00Thanksgiving Printable<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I made up these simple ombre invitations today.<br />
These would work as a cute printable for decor or to use as an invitation for Thanksgiving or for a pie night.<br />
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Enjoy!<br />
<br />Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311993130063001856noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241290014765107809.post-27444943100451026332012-09-23T01:39:00.003-07:002012-10-07T12:00:22.645-07:00Angry BirdsLast year, the day before a Halloween party and literally up until the minute before we left for it, I was making these costumes for my cute kids. The blue one actually isn't even stitched all the way on the bottom which is why it looks a little funny.<br />
<br />Everyone at the Halloween parties we went to LOVED them. As we'd walk by people they would all stop and say, "Look! Angry Birds!" We didn't see any other kids dressed up as Angry Birds. It was awesome!<br />
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These are made from a plush fabric instead of just fleece, so there is a furry type texture to them.<br />
I am happy to make any of the birds or pigs!<br />
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<br />Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311993130063001856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241290014765107809.post-49575321017186976682012-07-31T22:47:00.003-07:002012-09-17T01:24:02.872-07:00Various Mermaid Styles/FabricsHere are some pictures of different styles and fabrics of mermaid tails that I have created. Most of these are pictures that I snapped on my phone, so I apologize for the quality.<br />
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Last year I made up this skirted tail for a customer who wanted a shorter mermaid tail that her daughter wouldn't trip on. I loved how it turned out!<br />
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Since my fabric was discontinued, I had to find some fabric alternatives. I have some shiny green satin that you saw in the picture above, a darker green shiny satin, another bright green that has sparkles on it, and then this is a dark green slightly irridescent satin that has the pintucks on it.. It's much lighter/brighter than it looks in this picture... more like what you see on the second picture down with it on one of my customers.<br />
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I had another customer who wanted tulle added to the side of her daughter's tail to incorporate some pink. This is what we came up with for her:<br />
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And then of course I have the tulle skirt version of the tail. This one was done in the bright green and we did some greens for the tulle bottom to make it more "Ariel" like. The top that we did on this one had dark purple shells embroidered to it and I made her a yellow flower clip.<br />
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This is a picture I snapped before I ran to the post office that day, so it really doesn't do it justice. It was very cute!<br />
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A third option I have for tail fabric is a blue/brown iridescent pintuck fabric. It is kind of a dusty blue and brown. This is the best picture I could find of the coloring of it. It of course has the pintucks like the dark green/olive color that I shared above.<br />
<a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/90402417/bluebrown-silk-dupioni-fabric-1-yard">http://www.etsy.com/listing/90402417/bluebrown-silk-dupioni-fabric-1-yard</a>
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<br />Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311993130063001856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241290014765107809.post-35828432154302613492012-03-04T23:17:00.000-08:002012-03-04T23:17:35.087-08:00Mickey and Donald Silhouette shapesMy friend and I got together last week and attempted to get some internet pictures to work for freezer paper shirts using my Silhouette cutter. We ran into a major problem when we were stuck with low resolution files which equals a jagged looking cut. No bueno.<br />
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We ended up printing out the picture on a full sheet and then I smoothed the pixelated edges with a sharpie. It wasn't a perfect job, but it served the purpose well enough.<br />
I then scanned those images in and made them high contrast black and white in photoshop.<br />
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All you have to do it put them into the Silhouette Studio and trace them. Make sure that you get all of the black to turn a solid yellow and then choose trace and voila! It worked beautifully!<br />
I'll have to steal a picture of how cute her shirts turned out.<br />
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Thanks to Dana of <a href="http://www.danamadeit.com/" target="_blank">MADE</a> for pointing us in the direction of this picture that she used for her <a href="http://www.danamadeit.com/2010/10/baby-gift-set-1.html" target="_blank">adorable onsies</a>.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="mickey" border="0" height="290" src="http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu24/swampysugarbiscuits/Craftiness%20Swampy%20Blog/1604e68b.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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This Donald face was a coloring page that I enlarged and erased so it was just his face.<a href="http://photobucket.com/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;" target="_blank"><img alt="donald" border="0" height="640" src="http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu24/swampysugarbiscuits/Craftiness%20Swampy%20Blog/7f92198c.jpg" width="464" /></a><br />
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And some words to go with Donald (make sure you reverse them if needed depending on your application)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="donald words" border="0" height="205" src="http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu24/swampysugarbiscuits/Craftiness%20Swampy%20Blog/ff42fae7.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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If you happen to want any of these files that work well with a Silhouette (aka NOT low resolution!) and can't pull them directly off of my blog in a good resolution, please send me an email through my profile page or look for me on Facebook and I can email them to you!Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311993130063001856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241290014765107809.post-18671204338747514102012-01-18T15:27:00.000-08:002012-01-18T15:27:00.197-08:00Beanbag ChairThis little guy has been in the works for 3 years. I started it when my son was 2 and now he is 5. I had all of the panels sewn together, but hadn't gotten to the point of doing the applique or putting on the velcro.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Please excuse that the whole thing is not in focus. <br />
Having the top in focus looked better than the one other picture I took that had just the red in focus</td></tr>
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I used the <a href="http://www.michaelmillerfabrics.com/Blog/bean_bag_chair.pdf" target="_blank">Michael Miller bean bag chair</a> pattern/tutorial and it was very simple. I didn't end up doing the applique part on the inner as they said to though. I just sewed all of the panels totally together and left an opening for turning and then just sewed that opening up after we put the beans in. You can see the stitches, but it doesn't really matter since it's inside a cover.<br />
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The best thing is that I was envisioning this as a place for my son to sit and read originally, but he likes throwing it around and body slamming on it more. Whatever. It's done and both of my kids like it.Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311993130063001856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241290014765107809.post-31432918653452927512012-01-16T14:31:00.000-08:002012-01-16T14:31:00.329-08:00Car/Road Mat/RugIt seems like there are multiple names for these things.<br />
We had the one from Ikea for years and my 5 year old decided that he wanted a new one. His preschool has a different one that he said he liked better.<br />
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I didn't really feel like paying $10 for a small little mat, so I decided to make a custom one. I found a piece of gray fake leather coated stuff with kind of a fuzzy back on it at Joann's that I thought would be good. I knew that I wanted something heavy so that it wouldn't wrinkle as much when it was out on the carpet. Having a wrinkly road really frustrates my son, so I wanted to avoid that.<br />
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I was going to go all fancy and make the mat look like our neighborhood, but it was too hard to scale it so that the roads were the right size while still fitting a lot of variety of roads on the mat.<br />
Instead I asked him what kind of roads he wanted on his mat and incorporated those and a lot of crazy roads. I also included some straight blocks to fill in with houses or whatever should I ever feel like adding them.<br />
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I opened up photoshop (you could also use paint), and chose a nice thick circular brush with a hard edge. I had some google maps open in the background to kind of use as a template, but ended up just freehanding most of it.<br />
Here is the image I ended up with, which you're free to grab and use if you want to make the same car mat for your boy or girl (because girls like playing with cars just as much as boys sometimes)!<br />
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From here, I taped my fabric up on the wall with painter's tape and borrowed a friend's projector to project my image onto my fabric. I had my more tech savvy husband help me get that all set up and then just moved the projector closer to get bigger roads.<br />
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You can see that some of it didn't fit on my fabric. You can either move the image around or simply wing those areas that are cut off when you get to the tracing part. I moved my image to the left, which you can see in the picture below.<br />
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We grabbed some cars to make sure the roads would be the right size and then once everything was set I started tracing.<br />
This sounds long and tedious, but it was not. I think it only took 30-60 minutes.<br />
I used a black washable crayola marker and kept a spray bottle and paper towels close by (just a wet paper towel would work as well) to erase any mess ups.<br />
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My little guy was so excited at this point and wanted me to take it off the wall ASAP so he could "check it out".<br />
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Then I had to be a mean mommy and tell him that I was going to give it to his cousin and I'd make him a different one later because I didn't want him to know that HE was getting it for Christmas. This may have caused a few tears...<br />
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Once everything was traced with washable marker, I traced again with Sharpie to get the permanent outline for the roads. At this point I realized that just leaving the roads gray was going to look lame, so I tried to figure out what to use to fill in the roads. I wasn't sure if acrylic/craft paint would work better or if a big Sharpie would adequately do the job.<br />
I ended up with a Sharpie Magnum and it was AWESOME. It worked really well on my fabric and still left me with a nice dark black.<br />
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Next was the lines on the road. I was worried about peeling and cracking, so I tried some yellow finger nail polish first. The shine/reflective effect was kind of cool, but it didn't show up as well as I wanted.<br />
So I went for the craft paint and it was great!<br />
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Painting the lines on all of the roads took the longest of any step, but it still wasn't bad.<br />
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My boy was SO excited when he opened up his present and discovered that the car mat actually WAS for him and not his cousin! He's been loving using it with blocks to make ramps and buildings, so I feel no need to add any houses or places to it until he asks for them. My artistic skills in that realm are pretty limited and they would all be hand drawn and painted on. Doesn't sound like much fun to me!<br />
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Here's the finished product!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" height="428" src="http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu24/swampysugarbiscuits/Craftiness%20Swampy%20Blog/e760dc13.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311993130063001856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241290014765107809.post-15964796135042333002012-01-14T13:36:00.000-08:002012-01-14T13:36:00.214-08:00Magnet Frame using a vinyl stencilDang it I need to remember the before and after pictures!<br />
When I was cleaning out my craft closet, this magnet board with a wood frame was sitting in there, so I pulled it out and worked on it since it would be a "quick" project.<br />
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It was previously kind of splatter painted hot pink and black. I slapped some grey acrylic paint on and was going to add a touch of yellow afterward. No big deal.<br />
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But then I thought about a lattice/trefoil design. And my silhouette. And the vinyl I had just sitting there.<br />
But because it was already gray, but I wanted the design in yellow, I added about 6 hours onto my project time. Here is the end result! I'm happy with it, but wish it would not have taken so long.<br />
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To make this, I found an image of some fabric online and then used that on my Silhouette machine to cut my pattern out. With the pattern, the lines are the positive space (all hooked together in a single shape) and the trefoil shapes are the negative space (individual pieces). Ideally, when you do a stencil you want to paint your object what color you want your positive space to be first and then you put the stencil on and paint over the negative space with what color you want that to be.<br />
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I had already painted my frame gray, which is what color I wanted the negative trefoil shape to be. I thought I would just stick the trefoil shapes back in and then peel off the lines so those would be left for the yellow paint. This took a LOT of time and I don't think I got as clean of a design (which I don't really care about). I should have gone back and painted the whole thing yellow and then stuck the lines (positive space) vinyl on and pained over the yellow with gray to fill in the negative trefoil shaped spaces. Oh well... cest la vie.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ahh! Look at all that imperfection! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311993130063001856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241290014765107809.post-63736005787208950062012-01-12T11:26:00.000-08:002012-01-12T11:26:48.733-08:00"organized" closet!I should have taken a before and after shot of this space! It was still a wreck after all of my Christmas crafting. Everything is now back in the closet and mostly organized, though it does need more work. I'm just happy to be able to see where everything is!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="&quot;organized&quot; closet" border="0" height="640" src="http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu24/swampysugarbiscuits/Craftiness%20Swampy%20Blog/3c29476f.jpg" width="468" /></a></div><br />
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I probably should get closet doors, but I really like having everything open and easily accessible. This space is just in my basement and not out in the open, so it doesn't need to look neat and pretty all the time.<br />
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One thing I wish is that I would have done my shelves a little closer together because I have a lot of wasted space. I could have fit another shelf in there! I also wish my lowest shelf was a little higher to fit my bulky things. Luckily, the case for my serger is soft and all but the handle fits in and then I just ripped off the top part of my fiber fill box to get it to fit under the lowest shelf, so it all mostly works. It just would have been nice to have it a few inches taller.<br />
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One of my goals for this year is to finish up some of those projects that have been sitting around for years.<br />
Lucky for my etsy shop, I have TONS of aprons cut out that I just have sew, so hopefully a bunch of those will be listed this year. I also have a goal to sew more for me and my kids. I have all these ideas of cute things to make for them (especially my girly!) and have not done most of them.<br />
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As crafting is something that makes me feel happy and fulfilled after the loss of my twin sons, Isaac and Evan, I'm hoping to do much more of it as "therapy" for myself. Anything that will make you happier is a pretty good resolution to have. I hope you've made at least one goal that will make you happier in life as well!Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311993130063001856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241290014765107809.post-86361060077444331952012-01-08T16:13:00.000-08:002012-01-12T15:14:12.999-08:00Homemade Advent CalenderWhen I was growing up, we had a felt advent calender that consisted of pockets under a Christmas tree. It had the sweetest little wood vintage ornaments and we always loved taking the ornament out of the days pocket and putting it on the tree.<br />
I wanted to do something similar for my kids, so this is what my mom and I came up with.<br />
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Last year we hit up Hobby Lobby when their Christmas stuff was 90% off. They had a few of these wall hangings that we decided would make a great top scene for over the pocket portion of an advent calender. I think we paid $2.<br />
Of course, even though we bought it a year ago, it didn't get pulled out and worked on until about Thanksgiving.<br />
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The original wall hanging scene had some fabric "curtains" on the sides and top to make it look like a stage. We decided to take those off because they were a bit much.<br />
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We cut two rectangles of matching maroon felt large enough for the scene to fit on with space underneath for the rows of pockets.<br />
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Then we cut strips for the pockets with enough space to sew along the bottom of each row and then turn it up so there was a finished edge along the bottom of the pockets.<br />
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We then added some rickrack along the top of each row of pockets. This was an addition that was thought of in the moment and would have been easier if we had sewn the rickrack along the top edge first.<br />
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After the rickrack, we flipped the pockets up and pressed them and then marked lines of where to sew vertically along each row to form the pockets. I believe that my mom drew the lines on tear away interfacing, put those on top of the felt rows, and then sewed right on the lines. This ensured straight lines and no marks on the felt (which is hard to mark- especially if it's a dark color like maroon). <br />
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Once the pockets were sewn, we took the other rectangle of felt and put the right sides together and sewed all the way around, minus an opening for turning. After it was turned, we pressed and top stitched it. <br />
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My mom folded a portion of the top over to hold a dowel and glued on pre-cut felt numbers that she bought from a seller on Etsy.<br />
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The tree part kind of went the same. To make the background for the tree we sewed two pieced of felt together (right sides together) and then turned, pressed, and top stitched. I think we threw a layer of interfacing in so that there was more stability once it was hanging.<br />
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We started out with enlarging a tree coloring page that we like. We pinned that on to the felt and cut it out. Our original advent only had a single layer felt for the tree, but I wanted more dimension, so I drew in some swoops and cut out each portion in felt and glued them on to the base layer of felt for the tree. We used tacky glue to glue the felt on.<br />
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We decided that it's much easier for little people to put ornaments on with velcro on them instead of safety pinning them (my childhood advent was pins). We laid out ornaments first to make sure the spacing of them was all okay, but I thought it looked a little bare.<br />
I remembered that I had bought a big package of Christmas buttons at Joann's, so we pulled those out and found all of the littlest stars and placed those around on the tree as well. Much better!<br />
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We bought a couple of packages of mini ornaments from Joann's and some clear velcro dots. We glued the dots onto both the tree and the ornaments. We used a different kind of glue, but I don't remember the name of it. It was more permanent than the tacky glue.<br />
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The final step was putting a dowel and cord on the top. I never got around to actually buying a dowel though and just stuck a stick from our yard in there which worked great!<br />
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My 5 year old absolutely loved pulling an ornament out of the day's pocket and picking a spot to put it on the tree. He was very orderly about it so we had the bottom of the tree filled first and then the top and then he filled in the middle (usually all in a row).<br />
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This was a fairly simple project, but did still take time to do. I'm excited that we'll have something that will be around for the whole of children's childhood!Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311993130063001856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241290014765107809.post-49297723096662003152011-11-26T23:54:00.002-08:002012-01-12T15:14:39.515-08:00Paper Ornaments / Gift Tags<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></div><br />
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I made 30 of these in a couple of hours and love how they turned out!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" height="267" src="http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu24/swampysugarbiscuits/Craftiness%20Swampy%20Blog/e6274c82.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I just love those ones that look like Christmas lights!</td></tr>
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I used my Silhouette and <a href="http://www.bhg.com/christmas/crafts/pretty-paper-christmas-ornaments-with-easy-embellishments/">this pattern</a> from Better Homes and Gardens. Their ornaments are way more embelleshed than mine. I just like to make things as simple and easy as possible.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.meredith.com/bhg/images/2009/02/l_101222891.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://images.meredith.com/bhg/images/2009/02/l_101222891.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.meredith.com/bhg/images/2009/02/l_101222891.jpg">source: better homes and gardens</a></td></tr>
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I used a sheet of red paper, a sheet of green, a sheet of red with raised bumps (bazzill basics), a sheet of green with raised bumps, and a 1/2 sheet of yellow with raised bumps. My Silhouette had problems cutting all the way through the thick paper, but that was probably compounded by the fact that I lost my cap for thicker media and had not gotten a new blade yet. I had to do a LOT of hand cutting which made this project take MUCH longer than I wanted.<br />
I wish I had had the time to make those 2 on the upper right look better. I had to cut out the centers to use on the ornaments on the bottom row. Ideally they would have a yellow or opposite color circle layered on top of the scalloped circle shape.<br />
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If you'd like the files with the simplified shapes all laid out to use on your Silhouette, let me know and I'll send them over to you! Much easier than separating all of the little shapes and duplicating and arranging everything.Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311993130063001856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241290014765107809.post-41983331267131693102011-11-15T21:17:00.000-08:002011-11-16T01:01:41.889-08:00My Crafting SpacePhew! It's been awhile! I've been enjoying a nice break after all of the Halloween madness. It has been SO nice to have time for other things again!<br />
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I thought I would show you some pictures of where I do my creating because I love it so much.<br />
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When we bought our house 1.5 years ago the basement was not finished. I was glad that I was able to create a space that I could tailor fit to make my ideal space. A couple of things on my list for a crafting space after learning from my last one is that I wanted a hard surface floor to make cleaning up easier (and vacuum free) and to make it easier to move my rolling chair. I also wanted a closet with a lot of shelves for storage.<br />
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We did a laminate floor, which we found just enough boxes for our space at our local furniture/flooring store in their clearance area. The full 81 sq. feet we did cost less than one box of the laminate originally did and was some crazy price like $25 for all of it. We had just enough!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img alt="basement,house,craft room" border="0" height="428" src="http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu24/swampysugarbiscuits/house/6fa120f3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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</tbody></table>In our last house my craft room took up an entire bedroom. It was nice to be able to close the door on it, but also unfortunate that we wouldn't be able to use that room as a bedroom should we have needed to in the future. Since the space was enclosed it was also hard to spread out large amounts of fabric for cutting. I often found myself out in the hallway to cut things. Making a space for the craft area that is not enclosed has allowed me to spread out when I need to, which has been great.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="house,sectional,basement,craft room" border="0" height="428" src="http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu24/swampysugarbiscuits/house/b80a7554.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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With my space being open I was worried about my 2 year old getting into stuff (she loves playing with the buttons on my sewing machine) and was formulating how I was going to make an 10' barricade to keep her out. Luckily, she's been great about keeping out of things so far. I usually try to put my sewing machine and serger away in their cubbies so they aren't a temptation for little fingers and always make sure all of my pins and scissors are away in their drawers.<br />
On the wall to the right is my (cluttered) cutting table. Having a separate cutting space has been great! I got this table from my grandparents and it couldn't be more perfect.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="basement,house,craft room" border="0" height="428" src="http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu24/swampysugarbiscuits/house/051adb9d.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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Across from my desk space is the closet. I decided on long shelves that are about 18" apart. In hindsight I wish I could raise the lowest one up just a little as the travel case for my serger just barely doesn't fit. My dad (the contractor) likes to remind me that if I would have done them closer I could have had one more shelf. Oh well. Perhaps I'll throw another shelf in between 2 of the shelves one day and have 2 shorter shelves. I have since added large canvas baskets to the shelves which have been great to organize things. I have a basket for current projects, one for interfacing and wonder under, one for thread and ribbons/trim, and a bunch of empty ones I still need to organize. I like that they provide a corral for things so that my shelves don't look like they are a jumbled mess.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photobucket.com/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="basement,house,craft room" border="0" height="428" src="http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu24/swampysugarbiscuits/house/db367209.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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And this is where I praise Ikea. I have a 2x4 Expedit next to a 4x4 Expedit and then the attached desk. I have white rolling chairs on both sides of the desk. I love that these chairs adjust in height. I can set up my little kids across from me with a craft/coloring that they can do while I work and we get to interact. It's very fun for both of us.<br />
I got the attached desk for $10 off of craigslist. It was black, but I just primed and painted it aqua. I didn't sand it at all (it has a laminate finish), which has caused some of the paint to easily scratch off (grr to moving!), so if you're going to paint laminate furniture, sand it first!<br />
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The baskets on the shelves are also from Ikea. They come in a set of 4 sizes for $10. As for what I put in them, it's mostly fabric. I take the time to measure my scrap pieces of fabric (the larger ones that is) and roll them up and label them, much like you'd see in a fabric store. I then stick them in a basket all together. I also have all of my hot glue/glue stuff in one of them and a couple are devoted to projects in progress (I have way too many of those!).<br />
Beneath the baskets on the left I have my fabric folded and organized by color.<br />
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I keep all of my scissors, seam rippers, fabric markers, etc. in the drawers above my sewing machine so that they are easy to get to as I'm working. The drawers aren't ideal and I'd like to build some myself that fit better. Ikea does sell a drawer unit for the Expedit, but I didn't want to pay $35 for them and I also want 3 shorter drawers as most of the stuff I put in the drawers are not very tall.<br />
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Above my serger are a couple of pots that I have my serger tools, paper scissors, paint brushes, and pens in.<br />
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The pink boxes on the left are also from Ikea and are great for sticking a LOT of stuff in. They take up the whole interior of the cube, so they really maximize your space.<br />
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The yellow flower pictures above the Expedit are from Ikea. I got them when they were closing them out at least 2 if not 3 years ago. The metal tins that the flower arrangements are in are from Ikea as well. They may not have those anymore either. They were actually made to be wall hanging planters I think. I just liked the shape of them.<br />
My floral arrangements I made myself with floral stems from Joann's. I loved the pairing of the hot pink with the yellow and the splash of aqua from the desk. It makes the room look so bright and cheery, which is great for my basement!<br />
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I have yet to add my built in ironing board. It will probably just be attached to the wall by the end of the bookcase, so it will stick out instead of being recessed into the studs like they ideally would be. At least with it folding up it will be out of the way.<br />
Wall unit ironing boards are GREAT for craft rooms. I got mine off of craigslist for $30. In our last house I would have to take the ironing board out into the family room to do most of my ironing since there just wasn't enough working space with it in the bedroom and especially not to have it out all of the time. The folding boards make it so you can keep your ironing board in your craft room, but it isn't always out taking up space. I also love that it can pivot and you don't have legs to worry about having a space for.<br />
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So there you have it! I'm working on some adorable paper ornaments right now that I'll be posting in the next week or so!Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311993130063001856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241290014765107809.post-63713291565916904742011-10-23T10:00:00.000-07:002011-10-23T10:00:04.061-07:00You know it's the final days to ship costumes when......the part of your craft room that is supposed to be part of the traffic pattern into your other rooms looks like this:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgClwojfOjAaNhNRltuEP9PfdQFwhNT1Vv1ePNIWjzI1e8Jpmc2Ch2bYosSabBbQ2bLxUL0T1rabBTqKd5Zut_wUpiwEB2YKf3er4Gh4VeQGVwkB0My6MmmJZ9yjssme24Hwh0XUN3IBm0/s1600/craft+room+madness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgClwojfOjAaNhNRltuEP9PfdQFwhNT1Vv1ePNIWjzI1e8Jpmc2Ch2bYosSabBbQ2bLxUL0T1rabBTqKd5Zut_wUpiwEB2YKf3er4Gh4VeQGVwkB0My6MmmJZ9yjssme24Hwh0XUN3IBm0/s1600/craft+room+madness.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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Today I spent my day sewing (after staying up until 4 am) orders for customers and then finishing my son's costume for an evening event in the final hour before we went to the park to celebrate his birthday. And I was even late to that.<br />
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These days are always the most crazy. At this point in the game my kids are begging for their mom to pay attention to them and the husband is sick of our usual evenings together being filled with me sewing instead. I just keep telling everyone (myself included), that it's only for a couple more days.<br />
I can't wait to get everything shipped and finalized and be able to relax, do fun stuff with my family, and get my crafting space looking nice and pretty and organized again.<br />
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On the plus side of all of the madness, my son's costume is so fabulous that I am going to be doing more than mermaids next year. Oh yes. Be excited.<br />
I'm also super excited for some other new products for my shop year round. I can't wait to share them all with you!Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311993130063001856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241290014765107809.post-3491321948595066432011-10-21T10:00:00.000-07:002011-10-21T10:00:04.745-07:00Well, that's a weird store name...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">I thought a great intro post would be that of how I came up with the very unique name of Swampy Sugar Biscuits. </div><div style="text-align: left;">The simplest explanation is that I married a very silly man. </div><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Evidence. I made him model that frog towel so I could show off one of my first creations to my friends. I hope he doesn't kill me for posting this picture! <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></td></tr>
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He very frequently spouts off silly nicknames for me and Sweet Sugar Biscuits was one of those. He's actually quite famous among our families for saying "biscuits" in very silly voices and contexts.<br />
When thinking of names for my etsy store I was thinking of some of my nicknames and DH, being funny, suggested Sweet Sugar Biscuits, I thought it was a little too generic (and perhaps a little risque), so I threw in the swampy and fell in love. I love that it's silly and unique and me. It also helps that it sticks out so people remember it.<br />
I love seeing all of the unique names that people come up with for their etsy stores! There are so many great ones out there!Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311993130063001856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241290014765107809.post-29467510988000179552011-10-19T23:46:00.000-07:002011-10-19T23:57:32.262-07:00Swampy is Blogging!As I've been sitting at my sewing machine for hours and hours every day and late into the night making my mermaid costumes for all of my fabulous customers I keep thinking that I need to blog about what I do.<br />
I always think it's fun to get an inside look into the life of crafters, so I thought I'd provide that.<br />
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I'm planning on showing off my working space, talking about what tools I use, the inner details of making mermaids and how I got started, and ideas for the future! Of course lots of home life will get mixed in since that is just how it goes around here.<br />
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I'm excited to have a place dedicated to all things crafty that I do!Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311993130063001856noreply@blogger.com0