i received my house from fabricfriend last week--so sorry to make you all wait to see it!  its a lovely mug rug, almost too lovely to risk coffee stains   it may just need to be displayed!

thanks fabricfriend its so cute!

i came home today to find an awesome hoop from my second partner, ShannonMN!

i love it so much.  hgttg is my favorite book EVER!  also, i swear i say that to myself eleventy times a day!  



thanks a bunch Shannon!  having this as a part of my hoopla wall will make me smile every day!

oh and here's my updated hoopla photo!  lovin this quick upload option!!

i received NH822, its perfect!     i have been known to say a string of lovely things with a couple of F-bombs thrown in there just for good measure, so this totally reminds me of myself! 



i love how it has all the lovely girly designs surrounding a foul word, and look at the lovely vintage buttons she used!

thanks so much Nichole i love it so much!   

i received from adrienne_bowers!
check out my adorable teeny tiny mushroom house pendant!



thanks for swappin adrienne!

i recently participated in the Anything Goes Tiny House swap, and my partner adrienne_bowers said she collected glitter houses.  i had never heard of them before, but after a quick googling, realized they are the tiny houses you see in christmas villages and train sets.  who knew they could be made from cereal boxes?!



i followed the tutorial and used the template from the site www.bigindoortrains .com.  great site with very clear and easy to follow instructions!  this photo shows all the pieces after they were cut out (from a Chex box!)and coated with gesso. 



after i got to this stage, i got to thinking i should have cut out more in the beginning so that i could work on more than one house at once.  i tend to be impatient when it comes to letting things dry!  on the positive side, you can work on other things while waiting between stages



adding in some snowy touches...



traditionally, you are supposed to use colored cello on the windows, but i didn't have any on hand, and forgot to look for it on my trip to the craft store.  instead, i used a semi-transparent scrapbook paper that i picked up somewhere along the way (might even be partially plastic, i have no idea!)



this photo shows it after intense glittering and putting a little battery operated tea candle inside to light it up.  i love how it looks so cozy with the light in it!



this project was SO fun!  i can't wait to make more glitter houses this fall and winter!

stitched this handsome gentleman on to a canvas bag for hgddm for the latest round of IYP.



i had a hard time deciding how to do his eyes, but finally settled on satin stitching.  the rest is back stitch except for his little cuff links, which are french knots.  the pattern is from Urban Threads, isn't he cute?



here's a terrible photo of the whole bag for size reference


thanks for looking!   

friday i came home late from a crazy day at the amusement park celebrating my birthday with the family, to find a huge box on my porch from the amazing hgddm!!!  get ready for tons of pics!!! 

here's a quick photo i took before tearing into the packages!  we share a love for the band Cake and their clever lyrics and each package has a song lyric on it!  so cool!!!

 

now, on to the goodies, in no particular order because i ADORE everything!!!


love the leather and turquoise bracelet inspired by something i had pinned!  and check out that groovy granny square pouch!  dig it!  also a lovely thrifted glasses case, which she recovered inside. 



next up this AWESOME hoop!  it went immediately up on my hoopla wall.  i love the little beaded spider and the color combination!


more stuff!  TARDIS altered tin, bento box and adorable matchbox! (outside view)


and inside!  an army of daleks, gorgeous locket and the bento box is a stationary set (squeeee!)


not done yet!  spidey pens, string critters, and the funny card she enclosed!


S is for spidermom!  awesome hook, TARDIS keychain and best of all, my very own hand carved spidermom stamp!!! so excited to use this!!!


and last, but certainly not least....this kick ass Cake lyric inspired shadowbox!!!!  can't tell you how much i love this!  wish i was a better photographer!


and a couple of close ups (which still don't do its awesomeness justice!)

(hubster loves this panel the best!)

my favorite, from one of my favorite songs!


best swap partner ever!!!! thanks so much hgddm!  let's do it again, forever!   

woohoo finally got that questionnaire sent!

here's a pic of my hoopla wall

the chameleon is awesome!

i received two lovely badges from MissCrafty29!

first an adorable tiny TARDIS!



second, this lovely tree made up of teeny, teeny, tiny split stitches!  just lovely



here they are together!



thanks so much MissCrafty!  

love all the different prints on that purse!  the button is great too, great motto to live by!

so glad you like everything abbeyrd83!!!    it was such fun swapping with you and such a lovely challenge for a newbie sewer like me!

i can't take credit for the plastic lined pouch, it was abbey's brilliant suggestion in her questionnaire now my daughter and niece have both requested one to keep wet swimwear in!

here's a close up of the embroidery (took soooo many pictures trying to show off the details!)