it's a handmade christmas!

hello!

oh, i do hope everyone had a wonderful christmas.  mine has been lovely and white and happy, and who wants more than that?  take a look at my kiddos christmas morning >

i am only sad that my family christmas is held on or after christmas day and it is not until now that i can show off this year's gifts!

i have tried year after year to only give handmade gifts.  i have given up on this with my own children - they do deserve to have their zhu zhus and board games like all the other kids.  but my nieces and nephews, parents, etc - i might be the only one giving them handmade presents and i consider it my duty.  my abilities might not allow me to personally make all of their gifts and so i do buy handmade when this occurs.

my mom purchased these two scarves from me for my grandmas.  my mom does try to embrace the handmade, as well.  she also commissioned me to make a photo book for one of them using one of those online photo place, but i left the captions blank and hand wrote those in and drew in a family tree in the back.  sadly i didn't take any photos, but i'll get some eventually.

 

our family stockings.  in order: barry's, georgia's, wiley's, and mine.  they are small stockings, as i think those big stockings are a bit ridiculous (and expensive to fill!)

this is our new nativity.  obviously i did not make this.  i purchased it from an exceedingly talented local woodcarver.  i had looked for years for a nativity that was special AND that the baby jesus was removable.  baby jesus isn't born until christmas, so he doesn't belong in the nativity until then!  anyhow, this fella made it happen.  he makes so many gorgeous things, so you should check him out: http://www.jimcarves.com/

i made this for my 1 1/2 year old great niece, addie.  it's a little felt house that is kinda like a purse and a little colorful egg 'family' that fit inside. 

my niece, baylee (13? 14? - geez, i should know this), has a thing for daschunds and recently took up a cooking class.  why not make her a wiener dog apron?!?!  it turned out super cute, and i made a little matching flower barrette to jazz it up.  i think she's probably too cool for the barrette, but little addie will likely take it off her hands.

i painted this for my mommy.  the colors in her living room are sage greens, tans, and purples.  my mom has a default setting for neutral, and if it were not for my diligent nagging all these years i am convinced that she would be swimming in a sea of taupe.  it's my job to force her to be colorful!  she loves the painting, by the way.

i got these adorable little cars on etsy from mervs cars for my great-nephew and god-son, nicholas.

another gift for baylee.  i got this from etsier bratfactory, and it was hard not to get one for myself.  i am not sure where the mustache craze came from but i am intrigued.

on the left is an image of a very nice 55 chevy bel air, and on the right is a photo of my dad's 55 chevy bel air that is still in early stages of hot-rod-dom.  i gave these photos to a friend of mine, and below you'll see the final product.   

this is airbrushed onto the back of a dress shirt.  gene, the artist, taught me everything i know about airbrushing and is obviously extremely talented.  check him out: airtrixairbrushing.com

my brain must have fallen out of my skull, because i forgot to take pictures of some of the other handmade gifts that i gave. i will have to return with all of those. humph.

until then

jo

i'm back - ish

the move is nearly complete!  we still have stuff at the old place that we are working on clearing out, but we are fully living in our new home, and it's really awesome.

all throughout this move i worked on a custom project - a 60" tree skirt - on the side.  i just sent it off friday, so it's already done and gone, but i wanted to show and tell about it, cause i am pretty pleased with how it turned out.

these are the materials, as requested.  cardinal red and lime green felt, and big lime green buttons for the closure

an early "sketch".  the tree skirt was to be mostly red with dot cutouts to reveal the lime green felt beneath.  i suggested this topstitching to make the skirt more durable, and thereby adding significant time to my work - but it's real cute!

another "sketch".  she didn't end up wanting my little stars, but i made the sketch and i am showing it :)

final product!

i hope she likes it.



jo

my last post for a bit

the craft fair yesterday was a success!  my knitted wares have gone over smashingly, and the headbands are hit as always.  good, good day.

so now we have to focus on the matter of moving out of this home and into our house.  this is no small task, and i will likely not be around for a while.  try to contain your tears.

a few newbies to tide you over:

and i am not so busy to whip you up something for a christmas gift, or to send out something i've already made.  i still have a large inventory of goodies that can be yours!

jo

Dec 4, 2010

you can find me at the ics craft fair in columbia, il (321 s. metter)!  hope to see you there!

jo

do not hit your screen with your shoe . . .

this is very exciting!  behold, my latest creation, just finished in the wee hours of the night . . .

the cockroach brooch!

i know - it's weird, and a little creepy.  okay, maybe a lot creepy.  but it's not something you see every day, and i needed to make something that i felt sure that i was the only one making it.  anyhow, i think i succeeded!

this one's a little sassy

i think they're awesome.  you should agree.

jo

treasury alert!

i've been featured again!  see this:

here:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4cf8427d20c36d91c874879b/felt-purple-love-felt#4cf85ca04b5b8eef1ac80a55

jo

hot off the, err . . . craft table!

brand new barrettes!  i was looking for something that i could make that is as special as my other headbands and barrettes but that required far less time and therefore i could price much lower.  i like to have something for every budget - especially at christmas time!

these are a single layer of felt are airbrush painted with 3 layers of color.  i love how the colors overlap - they remind me of a kaleidoscope, so that's what i am calling them - kaleidoscope barrettes.

i'll see how these little guys do, but in the meantime i'll be looking for other uses for these little colorful do-dads.  hmmmm . . .

the boy has fallen back to sleep and so must i.

jo

'tis the season

time to make some ornaments!!!

baby girl's first christmas - tiny stocking

baby boy's first christmas - tiny stocking

that's all - just wanted to share a bit-o-love.

jo

finally . . .

for months i have mentioned my new lover - knitting.  finally i am ready to show it off.  behold:

the colorway of this yarn was 'electric blue', and it is.  i made the red/aqua barrette there to go with it, and it happens to be adorable either worn in the hair or attached directly to the scarf!  ridiculously cute, if i do say so myself.

this is a sky blue baby-sized hat with ties.  the ties are absurdly long, which is either cute . . . or absurd.

colorway: driftwood. yah, it's not very sexy sounding, but it has loverly blues and greens hiding in the brown.  again, i made a flower barrette to match.  

 this colorway is called 'fiesta', but i want to call it 'after my own heart'.  i wanted to make a coordinating barrette, but everything i tried to pair with it just seemed insignificant.

adult sized pom-pom hat.  adults secretly yearn for the days when pom-poms were appropriate.  i'm with toys-r-us on this one - 'i don't wanna grow up . . . "

this cowls is a darker grey, but not nearly as dark as it has photographed.  the coordinating barrette is made from an old fleece sweater, and it is stunning together.  i actually made a headband almost the exact same as this barrette because i love the contrast so much.

this is not nearly all of the things i've made recently, nor is it all the things i have knitted or photographed, or anything.  i have oodles and oodles to show off!

if you like anything you see, come by the ics craft fair in columbia, il this saturday - dec 4!  it will all be there.  otherwise, check out my etsy shop next week or get ahold of me!

jo

prodigal blogger

it has been a while since i graced this blog with my presence.  life is getting a bit crazy.  the little man is moving, and so are we!  buying a house with much more space, suitable for small mobile kiddos.  we are thrilled/exhausted/busy.

also, i have a craft fair coming up this weekend.  why not?  nothing better to do, eh?  so my life is cleaning, producing, and packing.  oh, there's some sleep in there from time to time as well.

today you get to see more of my airbrush stuff. 

first, some of the more cheesy, typical airbrush stuff that i made at work on a daily basis:

the not-so-typical:

this is the 'georgia bulldog' bulldog on a grey t-shirt.  it was painted for personal use, not for sale.

this is actually painted on a 12"x12" cork board

using the airbrush for other things:

white felt, painted rainbow, and used to make this dove barrette

 the fade from purple to pink on this felt barrette is paint - ta da!

again - airbrushed felt.  makes it a bit more special, don't you think?

alright, the natives are getting restless.  hope to post again soon!

jo