Okay prepare for Mexican awesome-ness!  I received from Morgan on Saturday but have been super busy and haven't posted pics until now so a big "I'm sorry" goes out to her!  Anyway check out all the fun!!


Here is a group shot:


She sent me this awesome vinyl pouch that looks like a bandana and it had all kind of goodies inside!  And the skeleton man is one of those wood puzzles where you punch out the pieced and put it together to get this 3D looking result!  I opened the package right away and figured I would put it together that day, but then it looks complex.  LOL.  So I decided to wait.  I think I am going to paint all the pieces first and then glue them as I go.  I want it to be permanent!!


She sent me some candy.  All made in Mexico.  Let me tell ya....they sure like Chile powder in Mexico!  It was one of the top 5 ingredients of all the candy except one!  I tried them all.  Some were edible and others not so much but the fun was definitely in trying them!  Also the cross is one of my FAVORITES of this package.  Morgan doesn't know it but I am trying to start collecting beautiful crosses.  This will be only my second one but you have to start somewhere right!?!?    Oh and the paper stars have seeds infused in them and you plant them and something grows.  I forgot what that something was tho.  Morgan wrote it down in the note she gave me and I lost it.  I think it is peppers?  Well I will just have to find out when I plant them!  Hopefully I won't kill whatever it is.  I do NOT have a green thumb AT ALL.  I kill everything that I come in contact with when it comes to plants.


Here are some cool skulls on a string.  She decorated all of them "Day of the Dead" style!  She did a beautiful job!



These tiny goodies rock too.  I especially love the glass skull beads!


And last but not least an altered book/journal that Morgan did an awesome job on.  She painted all of it!





Thanks again Morgan! Sorry I took so long to post pics!  This was such a fun swap that I am ready fro round 2!!  Oh and I can't wait for you (Morgan) to get your package!  Should be today!!

Yeah I am the first to post pics!! 

Well I was utterly excited when I saw that the theme for my surprise goodies was Halloween!!!  It is my favorite holiday and a total surprise!  Gamemom42 did an AMAZING job with what she made for me. 

Here is the ever-needed group shot:


She made this awesome door sign that says "Unwelcome" lol.  There is a slot to slip a dowel through at the top....so I will paint one orange I think and then add a ribbon so I can hang it on my front door this year.


Here is a couple of paper weights (?) or bean bags (?).....lol no idea what they are but they are adorable!  There is also a pin cushion here as well which, since I don't have one, will be getting used WAY before Halloween!


She also made me a set of 4 placemats and they are each different so I have to show you all of them!





Here is an adorable black kitty!  I am gonna put him on the couch this year!  I love him!  (Excuse the bean bags in there twice lol....i got carried away with my picture taking!!)


Here is a cool bowl that I will inevitably use as a candy dish around Halloween, a cutesy candle, and what I thought were spider webs that I could turn into a garland.....turned out they are coasters (hence the mug pictured here)!!


And not pictured because it kept coming out blurry is a bag of glittery leaves that I can sprinkle around on my dining table. 

I know, she set the bar high!  I haven't "squee'd" like I did today in quite a while!!  Thanks Gamemom42!  I LOVED everything!  I am definitely ready for us to do some personal swaps with more felt or anything else for that matter!  Maybe we can help each other out for Christmas!!

I received yesterday from Kwality570! I had no idea what she was making and I LOVED all of it!  She did an AMAZING job! 

First a monster from my wist (this one is similar but MUCH cuter!):


Then an adorable little amigurumi octopus!  It fits into the palm of my hand and it super cute!


Then an amigurumi bunny! It is so cute with the fuzzies that come off the yarn she used!  I gave this cutie to my daughter...she's one....and she LOVES it. I have been tickling her with it on her little bare belly(well huge belly actually!) and it makes her giggle.  She hugs it to which is really cute.



And its a tie between the rainbow monster and this bowl for my favorite in this swap....  I think the bowl is winning.  I am so jealous because I have NO idea how to make one of these but I want to learn!  I want to make a giant one that I can use for a fruit bowl in my kitchen!  I can think of a million uses for these bowls!  I want one in every size.  LOL.  Kwality570, you have now created a new obsession for me.....thanks a lot.  LOL!


Great partner, great swap! I am ready for another round.  I hope you like your stuff Kwality570!  I bet you'll get it today!

Okay here is the awesome stuff I got from MommyTheMaid!  I was in total shock!  There were some things from my wists and some that were total surprises.  I felt completely spoiled.  Here is the ever popular group shot:



I love the vintage pattern and can't wait to make a dress from it.  I didn't take a closeup but there are some purple fleece socks...I put them on right away and didn't take them off all night!  They are so warm and cozy! 

Here is my favorite thing (I think  ).....an apron, chef hat, and oven mitt playset for my three year-old!  The fabric is awesomely fantastic pirates!  He LOVES it!!!! 



Next is a journal that she made FROM SCRATCH!  I had seen these on craftster and loved them but was waaaay too intimidated to try it myself.  It looks hard!!  She used beautiful scrapbook papers inside the journal.  I am trying to think of some beautiful way to use this journal now!  I think I may paste photos in it or paste some of my drawings in it.  Oh one last thing...the cover isn't showing up good in the picture but it is lovely shades of grey with sparkles on it!




Oh yes, I've got more....

Here is an amazingly citrus wallet and change purse combo.  I needed a new wallet BADLY....how could she know that!?  She is psychic I think   BTW, I love the thread she used to topstitch (zigzag) on the wallet...is it called variegated? Awesome.





Super fuzzy and squishy and warm knitted (or could be crocheted I suppose...I am no expert there!) Mary Jane house slippers!  So fun!



And lastly, an awesome necklace! LOL, I just so happened to be wearing purple when I opened the package!  What a co-inkee-dink!



Thank you so much MommytheMaid!  I love it to bits!  Good luck on your move!

I received my doll today from weeping_cloud and let me tell you...she outdid herself!  She and I agreed early that she had full creative license and that I would not really know what she was making until I received. I was totally surprised and super happy!  I literally squee'd with glee when I opened my package today!  Here she is in all her glory....first a group shot:

My beautiful Virgin of Guadalupe in Dia de los Muertos style (Day of the Dead)!  She comes with her own rosary and a beautifully crafted sacred heart.




I can't tell you how much I love it.  I love it to pieces.  Thanks sooooooo much weeping_cloud.  She's perfect!

I wasn't sure where to post this.  I guess here since this is primarily an embroidered project.

Basically I wanted to decorate a plain ugly cd case and turn it into something fab.  I am totally digging this mustache craze that is happening lately with crafters and thought I would jump on the bandwagon. 



Here's what I did:  I removed the logo patch and zipper pull (another logo there too!), replaced the zipper pull with cute ribbon.  Then I used an iron-on jean patch and cut-out a mustache.  It didn't stick so well to the cd case fabric which is practically like parachute fabric, so I did some embroidery stitches (if they have a fancy name then sorry...I am new to embroidery!) to tack it down and make sure it won't come flying off.  Then I embroidered the words "Rock the 'Stache" on the front.  I was careful to hide the starting and ending stitches under the seam binding so it wouldn't show and there is no stiches showing on the back of the front cover either. 

What do you think?  I would love some feedback...oh and some links to websites that teach embroidery terms and stitches too (LOL)!

I am not sure if this is the appropriate place to post this but here goes anyway!  I made this T-shirt applique for my son this week.  His name is Landon, hence the "L" and he just so happens to like lions too.  I'm not really gonna go into the instructions too much, it's just your basic applique. Just use some double-sided fusible webbing on all the pieces and layer them up like in the picture and you'll be fine.    If you want to get fancy (like I did) then you can do a reverse applique on just the letter "L".  It gives a nice three-dimensional look. 

Oh and if the picture is too small (craftser shrinks them) then you can get the full sized one on my blog:  http://snazzlecraft.blogspot.com.  The pattern should print on a full size sheet of paper.  Please tell me what you think, I'd love some feedback!

My daughter just had her first birthday and I wanted to make her something special that she would have for many years to come. I decided on a Waldorf-inspired doll after seeing these versions of the dolls: http://www.joyswaldorfdolls.com/waldorf_dolls/custom_waldorf_dolls/heavy_baby.htm

I researched these and found that the dolls have a sack body with arms attached and the outfit is sewn closed and is not removeable. I thought this would be perfect for my one year old. I found a website that teaches how to create these waldorf dolls and though I didn't need help with the bosy or arms (my own design), I had no idea how to do the face/head! So here was the website I used to create the face, I highly recommend it: http://simmy.typepad.com/echoesofadream/2006/10/basic_instructi.html

I ended up using an old pair of pale pink ballet tights for the outside of the face, if you wanted to know.




My favorite part of the whole thing is the outfit. This was a footed pair of Carter's fleece pajama's for my daughter that she had out-grown. I think they were 6-9 months at most. I used the arms to create the hat and the rest of the pj's to make the outfit. I love this idea of reusing an outfit of hers because its now become a keepsake and something I hope she will cherish when she is grown.

An action shot!

So I have been on a mission to organize my craft room lately.  I have had this book shelf in my craft room that was from my previous house (and previous husband LOL!) and it just didn't fit the decor of this house or the whimsy I need in my creative space.

So once this contest popped up I instantly had an amazing idea!  Who really has a gazillion buttons just laying around (except for apparantly witwhitherwilt!)?!?  I am just starting to build my button collection so I didn't want to use them all for this project.  So I found this image of a gazillion buttons all layed out (looks like wallpaper) on http://deviantart.com and new it would be perfect.  I printed out about 30 pages on my printer and decoupaged them onto the inside back of my bookcase. Then to hide my clutter, I made two fabric panels out of muslin (or it could be linen) and hand sewed buttons along the bottom edge (about two inches wide).  I absolutely love the way this turned out!  And the best part is how organized everything is!  Alrighty then, prepare for pic madness!!!!





Baby fat buddha is protecting my clothes pins, using his adorable charm to ward off any potential thieves or laundry-obsessed visitors:




Buttons in baby food jars!


Budda peering out from behind the curtain....he's such a camera hog!


Here is a super closeup of the background!  You can't tell at all where one sheet ends and another begins! 


Well I hope you all like it.  I think that this has been the most fun contest ever.  I love all the entries! You can see the before pic on my blog (http://snazzlecraft.blogspot.com/2009/04/craft-room-bookshelf.html) along with additional pictures of this project.

I participated in the Matchbox swap recently and this is one of the matchboxes I created.  I am super proud of it.  I decorated it in a "Day of the Dead" theme ("Dia de los Muertos" in spanish).  I painted the entire macthbox using acrylic paint and black permanent marker.  I pasted the picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe from a picture I printed off the internet. 





The felt pieces inside were all handstitched using embroidery thread.  The first is a black and white sugar skull inspired by something I saw on Etsy.  I used some sead beads to accent the eyes and teeth.  The back has a small brooch pin sewn on.



The magnets are just about the size of a quarter if not smaller.  I glued them to the magnets using E6000.  The sugar skull magnet was inspired by a post I saw here:  http://www.feelingstitchy.com/2008/06/sugar-skull-softies.html



The sacred heart magnet was just a simple design based off memory for me.




Please tell me what you think, I would love to here some feedback on this!!  Oh I almost forgot, this was a super pic-heavy project so I have more pics on my blog if you want to see s few more angles and whatnot:  http://snazzlecraft.blogspot.com