Bibs and Burps

I am still working out the kinks and waiting on some supplies for those fly fishing lanyards....they are still coming.

The last few years we have been getting tons of wedding invitation (which we still are) but now we are also getting all these baby announcements. I always want to give gifts with more thought so I am now making my baby gifts. I wondered what is useful and fairly easy if I need to whip one up fast. Bibs and Burp Cloth's of course! I feel good about sewing again and Colin I know is happy I saved so much $$$$. I don't think he cares much whether they are cute or not.
Bonus is I found the fabric on sale for $2.99 a yard. I got this jungle print as well as some brown and blue Hey Diddle Diddle....with the cow jumping over the moon. Both prints will work for either a boy or a girl so I am stitching away so I have gifts all ready to go.


Fitted burp cloth's, these are rarely seen at Target/Walmart etc. and they fit on your shoulder much better.
Here is about everything you need: Flannel fabric, batting to keep from spills transferring onto the other side, thread, scissors, chalk pencil, velcro or snaps (I ended up using snaps)

Draw your pattern and cut your pieces out (they look super small with the seam allowances).

I made mine up, the bib does use the bottom of the burp cloth as inspiration though so they go together. I am going to post a few of these on Etsy since I made 4 sets of each. For this I just opened a new Etsy account: http://www.handmadeobsessions.etsy.com/ Later today I will be posting a set or two, if there aren't any up and you would like one I am selling sets for $17 for 1 bib and 1 burp cloth.

Here Fishy Fishy

I have been playing with a few new ideas the last week or so and working out what materials are needed. You can look forward to some new items a bit out of my product scope and a few within.

I have had fly fishing lanyard requests, as I really don't fly fish I have been searching for the right materials and ideas to make them something special. With a bit of input from some skilled fishermen friends I am at the point I can order what I need and get started. I even have a store in ID that would like to purchase some when they are done, he hasn't even seen prototypes yet! Yeah! Anyway that is probably as close to men's jewelry that I will ever get beyond my dads wedding ring I remade in college.

I may need to make a few extras for Christmas gifts as Colin and my dad both fly fish. I got enough materials to make 10 different versions this first time around. I am out of ideas and new small tools to put in Colin's stocking at Christmas, so he may just get fishing items this year. It's nice to use my skills for a new idea, and one that needs more technical brain power.

Sorry for the lack of photos, that makes me sad :(

Heirloom Buttons

Finally a couple of new pieces. Here are a few custom pieces that I have just finished for a friend of my parents. They are for herself, her aunt, and cousin made out of her grandmothers buttons. She sent me quite a few beautiful buttons that I wish I could have used so they don't go back into her button tin. Fortunately I was able to use some neat ones and incorporate them into her new heirloom pieces.

Burgundy Pink

Back side of Burgundy/Pink
Golden Crystal
Black Swirl

What a Mess

Sorry I haven't been posting much of anything new. I fried myself this weekend wake boarding and sitting in the sun out at the lake. I know, what an awful life!

Due to all the custom orders that I have stacked up and the fact that I'm not moving so fast I haven't been on my computer much. I hate not having new pictures when I post, my posts look lonely without them......so here is a picture of 3 custom button bracelets I am working on this afternoon. Well a picture of a several piles of buttons incorporated into the mess on my coffee table.

Picture Show and Tell

I am waiting on some supplies to finish some pieces for another wedding, so I have been working on a few other projects and obviously trying to stay away from the computer. Here is a Pink Coral, Turquoise, and Sterling bracelet and dangle earrings. I also included a sunglass case I made yesterday since my sunglasses are so scratched up.Land and Sea Dangle Earrings

Land and Sea Bracelet

Outside Sunglass Case

Inside Sunglass Case

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Back to work....

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. Ours was super busy and I think a few naps might be needed this week. Today I am headed down to work in our basement to get a few items for some weddings done and see if I need anything for making some custom button bracelets. Those are definitely my most popular item! My favorite part is when people request custom pieces and I get to dig through new buttons. I have a couple of those coming in the mail to create this week. :) I wish I could say that my website was finished for everyone to use. It will be under construction for at least another month. My sister is my website designer and she is in France! She is with a group for 2 weeks visiting Catholic Church's and other sites and then she is off on her own for 2 weeks so she can backpack around. At first I was slightly upset she wasn't able to finish the site. Then I thought that she is doing exactly what I would like, showing me quite a bit of how things work, and I am not paying the outrageous amounts web design companies charge. Once its finished I also can run it by myself without having to pay an outrageous amount to a company for maintenance each month. That is a huge plus, I can be patient for that.

This week once I finish custom orders I am going to try posting on Etsy once a day and working on my Christmas presents. Those are both goals I really need to work on. That and Christmas is going to kill us if I don't. I also am making bibs and burp clothes for baby gifts. I got some some cute fabrics for under $3 a yard on sale and we know so many people having baby's I needed an idea. This creates a custom gift and saves me money, perfect plan. Well perfect because I had my mom here to ask questions to make them super gifts. Thanks for letting me pick your brain mom!

Pinch of Steam Gallon of Random

Well I should have something new made or something new and exciting to post today but alas I have nothing. We are out of steam here in WA! Perfect example is Gunther right here. I have spent the last few days power cleaning and doing laundry since my parents were to arrive last night. They changed plans and decided to drive instead. CRAZY! We will see them tomorrow when we meet in Montana to go rafting for the day. Hopefully they bring their dog because my crazy little guy misses him.

Oh well, for some reason I stayed up ALL night looking at fabric on etsy. I have several really cool ideas for Christmas gifts that I need to get started so I can have them all done. :) I should get back to being productive and figure out how much fabric I need because my scrap boxes are bursting and cant take any excess.

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Yesterday I did go see "The Proposal" with a friend since our husbands weren't interested in a chick flick. It was hilarious! I think they would have enjoyed it though. We also stopped by the Gap and I don't know if all Gap's are having sales but jeans were on sale for $20 which is a steal and I was a little excited about, just a little.

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This entire post was EXTREMELY random today, well just like me.

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Enjoy your three day weekends! Happy 4th early just in case I am unable to hop on here because we are sightseeing around Washington State.

Arrowhead Splendor

I have been waiting all morning for my camera battery to charge so I could share this.

First I better explain what the heck I was doing. Last week I got a wild hair and decided to rearrange our family room, this entailed taking my dining room table apart and putting it in the basement. :( Our current house just seems crowded with it which was fine for winter but not now. In that process it changed all my walls and created the issue of which artwork to hang. I have a TON purely because I like pictures and I never know what will work in each new house every year. Anyways I have misc. Native American artifacts that my grandfather left me. Most of them are arrowheads, earring shells, some pot pieces, grinding stones, etc. All of them were found by my great grandfather, my grandfather/brothers, my mom/sisters, and myself/sisters around northern Colorado. When he passed away he left them to me and I have always wanted to keep them at a focal point. Problem is they never went with anything anywhere in my house. Problem solved!

All the frames with the artifacts were handmade by either my grandfathers brother or my great grandfather, I don't know for sure. They used to have a white cotton batting holding everything in place which was how they have always been. It never occurred to me to change it. My genius friend Mandy came over yesterday to help me hang them and said "Hey, do you have any black fabric we could use in your stash?" Of course I did and since one frame was broken I said we could try it. I was hesitant because I think I was afraid to change it, it has ALWAYS been white. Long story short I LOVE LOVE LOVE how they turned out.

All the pictures hanging around them are ones I have taken on our moving travels around the U.S. I think the top "black" picture needs to have a wider frame but I used things I already had. After yesterday I can even say I liked our black leather couch (my husband bought it new right out of college, and I hate it). This made my day, I now have one of my favorite items showcased in my house.

Old Version which looks even worse since the glass is broken. The arrowheads look dingy in the white and all the colors in the stones are glowing in the black. :)

My parents fly in to Spokane tonight, lets see what they think. What do you think?