ideas

Project Runway…for Stuffed Animals?

Posted by Nat on Sep 13, 2011 | 2 comments

I’m sure this would never fly, but it was a funny thing to imagine- I’m sure there are many moms out there who make this and that for stuffed friends and dolls- we should be recognized.  Then my brain had visions of stuffed animals walking a runway, a la Project Runway…. but I digress…

A while ago I introduced you to Bear.   And, drum roll please…  Here are Bear’s finished overalls!

They turned out okay- I won’t be writing a tutorial because I totally rushed didn’t have time to take pictures amidst the naptime and night time sewing that must occur here these days at Crafting Crazy.  I can tell you that it was pretty easy to do, and I learned a few things:  1)  Plan better.  2)  I can do a buttonhole, even if it takes 9 tries.  Yep.  9.   3)  Bear is a tricky body shape to design for.  I liken him to the challenge on PR when they have to design for non-models.

This is what I started with:

Here is the back view (the straps cross, just like Corduroy’s in the book):

And here are a few details:

This was my first sewing venture in a long time, and I’m glad that it wasn’t anything with too much pressure.   My next sewing project, however, is going to be Anna’s part of this costume.  That has lots of pressure because I want her to be able to wear it all winter.  Yikes!  More to come, soon!  My parents are in town at the end of the week- I’m not sure if that means I’ll be posting more because I’ll have some extra hands, or if I’ll be posting less because we’ll be off having fun, but I do have lots of posts to write- it’s a matter of finding a time when I can sit down and stay awake to write!

I’m linking up to

BlogHer ’11 Highlights: Who I Met and What I learned

Posted by Nat on Aug 11, 2011 | 1 comment

As I was working on this post I came across a few blogs poking fun at all of us bloggers who attended “the conference” and are posting poetically about “our experiences.”  I had to sort of chuckle at myself, and it made me realize that all of my internal shuffling may not be that big a deal to the world.  However, I’m going to post some big things, if anything so I can remember them when I’m 80 and still blogging with a voice-activated iPad.  I’m sure by that point I’ll be lucky to even be able to read my past posts!

I learned a lot about myself at BlogHer (which is always a good thing).  Two big ones:

• I am scared of anything dressed up in a costume.  Weird.  I posed with the Jimmy Dean Sun (he is SO FLIPPIN’ NICE!- for reals) and that was okay because I could see his face, but I couldn’t do the Smurfs, the Pringles guy, or the California Raisin.  Too weird.  This makes no sense because when we go to Sea World or Lego Land I’m totally fine when I’m in “mommy mode.”  So strange.  My friend Dana waltzed right up and took pictures, but I either took them for her and then begged off or walked the other way.

• I really, really want to do something with blogging and writing (and maybe some crafting).  I have no idea what, but BlogHer ’11 has lit a fire under me to figure out what that is, and figure it out sooner rather than later.  I like technology (thank goodness I have Michael in my corner in that area), I like the Internet, I like reading and writing- it seems like a natural fit.  I still have scads of materials to go through that I was handed by different people from different companies- who knows.  I love and hate the open-ended-ness of it.

I also met some amazing people.  The biggest one for me, as in, “Holy cow theresheistheresheis…there…she…is….” was meeting Stephanie Nielson of the NieNie Dialogues.  She was amazing.  I was so nervous- I didn’t want to waste her time or make her feel like she had to talk to one more person.  But I also knew that I’d regret it later if I didn’t go say “hi.”

When the session was over my friend, Dana, saved the day again, ushering me up the stairs to meet her and take my picture with her.  Stephanie couldn’t have been nicer.  It helped that I had Em with me- I know she loves babies. 🙂  But seriously- I couldn’t admire anyone more than I do this woman.  Her strength, courage, perseverance… Not to mention her amazing sense of style and her beautiful family.  I feel like her story is one that constantly reminds me that there is a higher power.  Thanks to Dana for pushing me along and taking these pictures (she deleted some just so she could take these!):

Although I didn’t get to formally introduce myself because I had no idea who she was, the very first person I spoke to on Friday morning was Lisa Stone, CEO of BlogHer.  Yowzas.  It was awesome.  I was making my way into the Newbie Breakfast and she was walking out.  She stopped to peek at Emily, tilted her head, and asked,

“How old?”

“5 weeks.”

“*sigh* You’re making my uterus hurt.  You look fabulous.”

“I’m wearing Spanx.”

“Honey, everyone here is wearing Spanx.”

Hilarious.  She gave me the most genuine smile and told me to have a fabulous time.  Such a nice way to start the conference.

And then there’s this sweetheart I met in the Lactation Lounge, Ky of Two Pretzels.  Ky has a wonderful blog and an even more wonderful personality in person.  That’s really something I liked the most about BlogHer- it sort of humanized the whole blog experience.  Ky and I somehow ended up in the LL 3 or 4 times over the course of the weekend.  She was amazing and instead of dumping her pumped milk, she donated it to a local mom- how rad is that?  Currently Ky lives in Cabo.  Yes, as in Mexico.  So exotic!

I also met Jes Ferris of Chirky.  She oversaw a Birds of a Feather session I went to and I seemed to pass her everywhere I went- she ALWAYS smiled at me.  It was a nice reminder to smile at people.

I wish I could have seen my friend Tonya in action more.  She was in charge of a huge party that I did not attend in order to save my sanity and energy.  Tonya, who has nearly-5-year-old twins, completely understood, too- she’s cool like that.  Tonya is not someone I just met- come to think of it, she’s probably one of the first bloggers I ever met, but I just had to give her a shout out.

So there you go- my big BlogHer ’11 moments.  In a few weeks I will have fresh memories to take the place of these- so much coming up and so ready for it all (not.).  My “to do” list is growing and growing, but for now I’m perfectly content to let it grow right alongside my kids.  They don’t really care what I have to do, so I’m going to adopt that attitude for a while and just do what I can, the rest can wait.

Health Record (Freebie!)

Posted by Nat on Jun 15, 2011 | 1 comment

This project is not rocket science.  Nor is it the coolest invention ever- but I haven’t seen anything like it, so hopefully it’s helpful.  It’s been bouncing around in my head for quite a while now.  It came about when my son, Jack, started having chronic ear infections.  At one point I took him to a Minute Clinic and the nurse asked me, “How many ear infections has he had in the last six months?” I had no idea.  I sheepishly said, “Well, it just seems like he’s been sick all the time since… since….”  but I couldn’t tell her when.  It wasn’t until I got home and started talking through the timeline with my husband that we could put a finger on when it started.

This was when I realized:  I need a health record for the kids.  I’ve seen them in old-fashioned baby books, but I’m not the kind of person that can remember once I get home to log everything into the baby book.  I also know there are some phone apps out there that will keep track of your health, your family’s health, etc…  But in this case I want something I can write on, something I can show someone else.

After not finding anything online that fit the bill, I decided to give it a try on my own.  I knew I wanted it to be small, and decided that something the same size as the kids’ immunization records would be nice.  I keep those in my purse at all times so that I don’t forget them when we go to the doctor.  I knew I wanted to keep track of when they were sick, what they had, and what, if anything, the doctor prescribed.  This is my final product:

I got the little nurse and doctor graphics online from the Mircosoft Word website.  This is not the craftiest thing, but I’m just as practical as I am crafty.   Here’s the inside:

And here you can see that they are just slightly larger than the immunization records we have.

And here’s my favorite part:  you can download pdfs of the cover and the inside and print them yourself!  All you need is some cardstock, a paper cutter, a small hole punch, and something to hold it all together- I used plain brads, but may replace them with something cuter if I find it.  Here’s my only request: please leave a comment if you download, and if you are a blogger, show me some linky-love, too. 🙂

You should be able to click on each of these links (two total) and download the pdfs.  You will end up with four covers- if you have extras give them to a mommy friend or as a baby shower gift- I wish I had thought of this when Anna was a baby….

Health record cover

health record inside

Once you print, just slice and dice your pages in half twice, punch a hole in the corner and secure with something- voila!

Update:  I’m linking up to “Serenity Now’s” Weekend Bloggy Reading.  If I don’t go into labor in the next 24 hours, I will be reading up on all of her links, too.  Thanks, Amanda!

Invitations, Paper Punches and Planning, Oh My!

Posted by Nat on Jun 8, 2011 | Comments Off on Invitations, Paper Punches and Planning, Oh My!

I love a good party.  What’s not to love about getting together with people you like and celebrating something… or just eating and drinking yummy things?  Last year we put on a Thank You Party for the teachers at Anna and Jack’s preschool, and it was a big success.  I didn’t get very many pictures last year- I’m hoping this year will be different.  Hindsight 20/20, Michael and I did way too much complicated food, so we were running around the whole time trying to balance entertaining with cooking.  This year I hope to choose much easier food that we can prepare ahead of time and then we can enjoy the company of our guests a lot more.  I will also have a new baby on my hands, so that’s another reason to keep it simple.

Every party starts with an invitation, and I wanted to try something different for these.  I’ve been oooohing and ahhhhing over Martha Stewart’s “Punch Around the Page” sets, and came across a coupon in one of her magazines for 40% off any item, so off I went to Michael’s.  I ended up buying this set:

I’ll admit I was a bit intimidated by these- I mean, really.  Can you really make them look as nice as they do in the photos of things that Martha’s people make?  The answer is: yes!  There is a bit of a learning curve, though, so I thought I’d share with you some of the things I ended up doing to help them look (close to) perfect.

Firstly, it’s important to know that you have to size your paper to a certain measurement in order for them to work correctly.  This makes sense, but it forced me to adjust my invitations a bit at the onset.  Also, do some practice punching on paper that doesn’t matter at all- scraps you’ve saved or something- just to get used to how they feel and work.  I do think they are very nice tools- they will last a long time.

I printed my invitations 8.5 x 5 inches.  I made about 4 extra so that if I messed up I didn’t have to print more- which ended up being wise because I did make a few bloopers.

Step 1 is to do your corners with the corner punch.  Turn it upside down so you can get it just right.

After your corners are done, you can do the edges.  This is where I made the most mistakes, but here’s what ended up working best.

The edge punch has a graphic guide that you line the corner up with.  I found that after punching those first segments just off the corners that I did better when I turned the whole thing upside down so I could see exactly where I was punching.

And here are some final product shots for you:

I just love all those little holes lined up.  I’m such a nerd.

Now that the invitations are out it’s time to plan, plan, plan.  I’m using two of my favorite magazines to lift ideas from.  I have some in my head, but nothing on paper yet.

How do you plan parties?   Any favorite sites or tools you use?  I’m a list person at the core.  I could use an app on my phone or something, I’m sure, but there’s something about writing a list out that helps my brain figure everything out.  More to come!

Picture Frame Gallery

Posted by Nat on Jun 3, 2011 | 2 comments

We have a ranch-style house (I think).  It’s all one level, which I love, and it has a loooooong hallway down the bedroom side.  We’re talking 30+ feet.  Really long.

When we moved into this house, which my husband grew up in, we had tons of projects, so for quite a while this one sat by the wayside, waiting to be done.  I had lots of thoughts about how to hang pictures, but it wasn’t until I saw this idea on Martha’s website that I got my rear in gear and starting putting this together.

Here’s the before, with just our small photo gallery that my mom gave me from Red Envelope.  (I actually need to email them because some of the frames aren’t holding up…)  Many apologies for the lighting- there is very little natural light in this hallway.  We hope to put in skylights someday, but until then…

And here’s the after:  voila!

I really love the end result.  Here’s a little bit about my process.

This was a very overwhelming task now that I look back and think about it.  Because of the layout I decided to do things in a way that felt a little bit backwards- I didn’t even think about what pictures to use- I just collected frames.  I wanted the frames to be uniform in color, and most of them were black.  But we were definitely on a budget and I didn’t want to buy frames unless I needed to, so I went through our huge collection of unused frames and pulled any that were black, or useable, but not black.  Then I spray-painted the ones that were not black.

I did have to make a trip to get a few more- I chose to hit up Wal-Mart.  My theory on frames is that once they are on the wall, it doesn’t matter if it was $3.00 or $30.00- it’s a frame.  This was a good thing, because Wal-Mart has some cheap frames!

I followed the directions on Martha’s website pretty much verbatim.  The one thing that I was very glad to have was the laser level with 3M Command Strips- that way I could easily make sure the dividing line was/is level.  Lots of painter’s tape was involved as well.  Lots.

Once I had the frames ready, I taped off the dividing center line.  Then I grouped the frames into four groups so that I wouldn’t have two identical frames right next to each other.  This made hanging go a bit faster because I didn’t have to stop and think-  just measured, taped, nailed and hung.  It took several hours to do.

(horrible lighting- sorry!)

Once the frames were up it was time to think about pictures.  I didn’t want them to be haphazard- I wanted each row to have it’s own theme.  I came up with this formula (pardon the elementary-ish Photoshop skills):

Then I started a folder on my laptop and dumped photos into it whenever I had a chance.  I used Photoshop Elements to print a contact sheet with little thumbnails of the possible pictures, and I taped them onto the frames so I could go over them with Michael and we could decide.

(our whole hallway looked like this for quite a while)

I had most of my family history pictures, but I had to coordinate with Michael’s mother and father to get his side.  Once the last few pictures went in it was like our house was complete (in a few ways, at least).

Did I leave anything out?  Let me know if you have questions- this was so great for this super long hallway.  How do you like to hang your picture frames?

Starbucks Card Upgrade

Posted by Nat on Nov 16, 2010 | 2 comments

Hi friends,

Working has certainly taken its toll on my little blog here.  I hope after the holidays I can really come up with a system to keep posting more regularly.  We’ll see…

Onto my project…  I actually did this just before Halloween, but the backstory goes back even further.  I have a former student who I taught at school, and I also taught him piano lessons.  I met him in 2002 when I started my current job.  This year he started acting school at NYU.  Talk about a reality check- did you know that everyone grows up? It’s amazing, though, to watch a student grow into such an amazing person- he really is someone to be proud of.

Anyhoo, I procrastinated about giving him a graduation gift.  Then I bought the gift… and it sat for a little too long in my purse.  I’m amazed I didn’t use it instead, because I love me some Starbucks.  But I wanted to make sure he got something relatively funny and special to make up for the fact that his gift was totally late and not really that creative.  So I made over his Starbucks card.

Remember college?  If you went to college, I bet you wish you had an endless Starbucks card for those mornings when you wake up and need.  Coffee.  Immediately.  I harkened back to a day when I slept through an exam.  Actually, come to think of it, I graduated from college in 1998 and I don’t think I had been in a Starbucks more than 2 or 3 times.  I digress…

So first I hopped onto Photoshop and designed the new front for his card.

This is often how I feel in the morning, even though our budget doesn’t allow for Starbucks nearly as often as I’d like.

Then I slapped it onto the card- this was easy- I just tried to make sure the layer of Mod Podge was super thin because I didn’t want it to thicken the card up too much.

Then I traced the card holder to make it match.  I had to trace the holder both directions- a good lesson in spatial awareness.  🙂  I also had to make sure I traced the little notches, and I cut them with a razor knife before MPing.

Then I Mod Podged that sucker up as well.  Here’s the final product.  Note that I poked fun at myself for taking so long.  And you’ll probably see that the Mod Podge smeared the ink on my card- I did a thin coat on top and it did sort of “fog it up” but I sort of liked it, and also didn’t want to delay sending an already-late gift just because of some smeared ink.

I think I will do this again for Starbucks gifts- it was fun, easy, and once I got my rear in gear, a fun way to perk up an otherwise totally expected gift.