St. Patrick's Day

We started our day with some green eggs and milk! I think that she was somewhat nervous about trying these. It's just food coloring babe!
Here is Steve the Sock Monkey modeling one of the pins I gave out this year.
A fantastic pattern from another outstanding crafter and blogger, Betz White.
I only made one glittery & sparkly one, four guesses who got this one, I only have 4 friends after all....
If you answered Lenae, gold star for you! She was actually pouting because I was handing the pins out to my other 3 friends since I wouldn't be seeing them on St. Patrick's day. Yeah, I made her wait, evil laugh....MWAAAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!

Well, it didn't end there. It ended with St Patrick's Day (night)ZUMBA!!!
I actually bought a pair of green legwarmers, and then when I was cleaning my "closet" I found another pair! So, Teri got my extras.

Lenae and Me rockin' the green fishnets!

I also prepared some appropriate sweet treats for the evening.
Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes, with bittersweet chocolate ganache centers and white chocolate and Bailey's Irish Cream buttercream. I used the recipe I found on Confessions of a Tart! What kind of an awesome blog name is that?!?!?
I didn't use the whiskey in the ganache, and I had some white chocolate buttercream left over from The Husband's birthday cake, so I mixed my Bailey's right into that.
Who knew beer (stout) in cake would be so good?!?

OK, so I managed to work Crafts and Cakes into this post....

I'll round out this St. Patrick's Day post with my favorite Patrick on the CrossFit circut, Patrick Barber. Currently tied at #33 on the Crossfit Open Leaderboard.

For the Ladies!

So Kidlet got her awesome V-day cards again this year, and so, keeping up the tradition I made flower corsages for my friends.

Last year I got snowed in, so had lots and lots of time to work on those. This year it was down to the wire, so I used this tutorial from Heather Bailey. Who is by the way one of the coolest crafters out there in the blog-o-sphere.

I modified her pattern a little bit and added my own touches of flair. A couple of zipper roses, and some fun stacked buttons.

And lots of ribbon of course!


Here is the action shot.

I gave one to my Zumba instructor and she pinned it to her jacket. It did some funky moves whenever we had to shimmy.

V-Day 2011!

Generally Valentine's day turns into a last minute craftapalooza on the dining room table, and why break tradition, this year was no exception. I have been feeling particularly lazy in the whole crafting department, and we had our swimming championships the weekend before V-Day.

But I managed to pull it together for the kidlet.

This year we went with a combination of last year's card (based on this totally AWESOME tutorial),and this guitar lolli template from Zakka Life. She looks oh so different this year than she did last year.

After some false starts with the jumping action photo (my kid has unfortunately never seen a VanHalen video).


We finally got the shot that we wanted to use.


I digitally cut it out and placed it over a background I found on the internet, and added the text. This year I actually had some photo paper, so I used that, and mounted the pictures on some craft paper.


Next I made the guitar lolli's according to the tutorial, and pushed them through the card near her hand. There was a scale issue, but that's ok, these are for 8 year olds.

Ba-da-BAM!!! The rockin'est Valentine's cards in the 3rd grade!

My Birds

So Lenae and my other friends had a squadron Christmas party to go to, and this year it was themed. The theme, was a Masquerade Ball. Lenae was complaining to me about having to wear a mask, and what a hassle it would be, those things never stay on right, what do you do with it when it came time to eat. You can't put it on the table, there is never any room, do you wedge it up on your forehead, what the heck???

So, I had a plan!

Face paint and feathers!!!

Lenae's was the most thought out since her theme was the first one we came up with. A peacock...

Connie was a raven...

Teri was a Firebird...

My flock!

I made each of them different kinds of feather headpieces that coordinated with their makeup and outfits.

I was quite proud of the detail on Lenae's makeup. If she closed her eyes it would look more like the eye of a peacock tailfeather.

Chill in the Air

It has finally been getting chilly here in the Eifel. We had been experiencing a pretty nice indian Summer for awhile, but I think that the cold has finally, really arrived.

And, I seem to be on a bit of a scarf kick lately.

Here is my first ever neck warmer/cowl scarf.

This is my absolute favorite yarn. I bought it about 5 years ago at a shop about 3 miles away from the Husband's famiy home in Maine. It's been sitting, waiting for me to make it into something.


Finally! I was winging it, so I did not account for anything like a hole for the button, so that's a FAIL for me!! DOH! So I ended up sewing metal snaps to the back side, and so it snaps on, which works too.

The first day I wore this, one of my friends commented on it, and so I asked her if she would like one too.

Here's hers.
This time I planned ahead a little better, and was able to make the button holes.
It can be worn with both buttons done up

or just one.


Cute! I love the ruffle action.

I also had the time to finish this crochet scarf I've been working on.

I attatched the ends together, so it forms a long loop, I did not add a twist to it like I was supposed to, so the wrong side turns out sometimes. Again, DOH!

It is also a little too long, I think I got carried away, so I might gather a bit of it together to make it ruffly.

This looks like a rather complicated pattern, but it is really a simple fan pattern repeated over and over until you reach the length you desire.

Cold weather I'm ready for you!!!
OK, not really.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Today was Dr. Seuss's brithday, and the kids at school celebrated by wearing green, and having green eggs and ham for lunch.

The Kid and I came up with this fun outfit for her to wear.

She was a Star Bellied Sneech! With two on hars!

Here is the back.

The t-shirt was made using a freezer paper stencil. My favorite way to make a custom one of a kind t-shirt. The t-shirt was 1.99 Euro from Kik, and I already had the paper and paint.

Her green hair clips are made using this Betz White pattern. I used polyester felt bought at the craft store. The felt cost about $.50, and I already had the hair clip backs.

She already had those pants, which matched perfectly, so total cost of a cool outfit to celebrate Dr. Seuss, about $4.50!

An Organza Extraviganza!!!

I totally could have made a double entrende with that title, but restrained myself, this is a family blog after all.

Anyhoodles.

So The Kid got those cool Valentine's Day Cards to give out. I have one or two friends, so they get a Valentine's Day gift from me too.

Last year I made some corsages out of roses made with this very simple ribbon rose tutorial.

I figure I should keep with the theme of a corsage by giving them out again this year. But of course I can't go do the same thing as last year.

Thankfully the internet is full of fantastic tutorials for those of us who are good at execution, but not development. It's like saying I'm the brawn of the crafting community. Well, not the whole community, just.....well, anyway...

So for this year I used this tutorial for making organza flowers, and made them into corsages.

Here is the lump of them on my ugly ironing board before I thought to lay down a nicer piece of fabric.

This is the boutineer that The Kid's Principal gets.

And the "action shot".

All you need is some organza (1 Euro a roll at Kik in Spiecher), a candle, scissors, needle and thread, and some time on your hands.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I so totally wish I could take the credit for this one, because it is a seriously AWESOME idea.

These are The Kid's Valentine's Day cards that she handed out at school.

Isn't that the best?!?

I found the idea here at the blog 24-7-365.

Here is the original picture I took.

I then digitally cut her out and added a background and the wording.

I did not have them printed as photographs, rather I printed them on regular paper with my inkjet, and then mounted them onto pieces of scrapbooking paper.

Actually there are two versions because I could not decide between the two shots.


Best idea EVER!!!! Thank you Alissa!

Recharge Part III

This is the view from my craft room. It's no wonder I can stay up there for hours on end. Wouldn't you know it, that is a cherry tree right outside my window. In the summer I can see all those too high to reach cherries ripening, and then watch as the crows eat them all up.

There was also a backlog of projects to get through once I finished my Christmas gifts to keep me busy.

First up was a covered datebook for my friend Janet.

I used this pattern I bought from Skip to my Lou last year. I modified it a little so that it would fit the datebook I bought. Made some personal embelishments to the cover, and moved the pen holder to the inside of the cover.

Reuseable fabric java jackets for my other friend Jessica.

And some jewelry for me. I've fallen in love with the super charm bracelet, and have made several this past year. I think you can hear me coming long before you can see me.



A bouquet of flower pens for a friend who is starting a new job.

These flowers are made using this tutorial, and modifying the backs a little and attaching them to a ball point pen.

I also had to whip up a new bag for my newest piece of aquired technology. The Husband surprised himself and bought me a netbook for Christmas. How nice of him! How did he know that was the perfect gift? Well, it came with a bag, of sorts, no handle, and not big enough to carry the external DVD drive, or anything else.

So I made my own.

Cherries of course!

So lots of crafting done, and it's back to the cakes!

Recharge Part II

Break was not all sitting on my behind eating Christmas cookies and watching MacGyver with The Kid.

Something else that recharges me is my true love.

Crafts!

I love me some crafts!!! Usually sewing, but really, anything creative that at this point is not a cake.

I made a freezer paper stencled t-shirt for Lenae's husband.

He was in the States and called her one night, it was about 1am, and she called him back. What the heck was he doing up so late?? Well, this shirt answers that question.

HA!! You thought it was going to be something rude didn't you?! I'd stay up for Mike Rowe too!

Lots of sewing!

The Kid got several hats.

This one has a cool lining.

Dinosaurs!!!

This one is made from this pattern.

I really should have sized down the crown a little for a better fit on a smaller head. Well, at least it will keep her ears warm. I love this pattern, and have made several of these for myself and as gifts. It is a wonderful pattern and easy to follow tutorial, and great for a beginner. I usually use corouroy, or a stiffer, heavier fabric.

I made these two hats and a little bolero jacket from a fleece blanket from Kik, since it's impossible to find nice (cheap) fleece fabric here. I need to get a picture of that bolero.

We also went on a mini trip to Luxembourg. It is only 50 minutes away from my house, so it was not a long haul at all. I highly recommend this city. It's busy, and there is lots going on, but at the same time, it's small, so you can see lots of things without having to do alot of walking.

I saw a Buffalo at the Natural History Museum.

I also saw a Leonidas Chocolate shop!

Let me tell you. When we lived in Belgium years ago our appartment was right above a Leonidas shop. I didn't go there very often, and it's a good thing too, because these things are fan-fraking-tastic! My favorite are the dark chocolate caramels. They are not like US caramels where the caramel is chewy and crystalized. This caramel is oozy goey, and not too sweet.

As you can see my stash is rapidly shrinking.

There is also a large cinema in Luxembourg, right next to an indoor shopping mall, with a Sephora! And, a really nice, and nicely priced Villeroy & Boch outlet shop, I think you can also tour the factory. I was able to find some plates with a cute cherry pattern for a great price. Very nice.

But wait! There's more......