Finishing My Grandmother's Tote Bag

My aunt knows how crafty I am and how I got a lot of my craftiness from spending time with my grandmother when I was little. She taught me needle point, plastic canvas and knitting. She made so many items and my family all has some of her crafts.

While I was visiting in DC, I went to my aunt's for dinner and she pulled out a box of my grandmother's crafts for me to pick a few since she knew how much I treasured them. One of the items I saw was a cute plastic canvas tote bag. It was not lined and has plastic canvas handles, so it was a little impractical for work, but I used it anyway because I loved it. Even a few men at work commented on how they liked my "briefcase".

When the canvas handles finally broke two weeks ago I finally decided it was time to upgrade the bag with my own touches. I found some satin material I had lying around and made a lining for the bag. I added a zippered pocket and little pouches that are custom fit to my cell phone, blackberry and keys. I also added cute leather handles that are more durable. It breathed new life into an older tote!

Blazer

As practice for the long coat I plan on making for Jason, I decided to make a blazer for myself. I couldn't resist when I saw the material at the store. The buttons I used for my minute man outfit actually matched the blazer's material perfectly, so I used my extras. This was much easier than the minute man outfit since it wasn't lined, but the material was really difficult to iron since it had to be on such a low heat setting.

Now I have one more coat to wear to work!

Customized Wine Bottle

My mother wanted to get her cousin a bottle of wine as a gift this Chirstmas. As a joke, she was going to give her a bottle as seen to the right. Since

"Jealous" was not quite her type, she asked if I could change it to "Royal". The results are to the left.

*sigh*

The things I do for my mother... ; )

Seashells

My friend B invited me to join her one summer for some colored pencil instruction from an artist friend of hers that is a master in that media. I very much enjoy colored pencil and the company so I was thrilled to go! One evening we picked seashells as our subject. I like the way mine came out so I framed them and they are now sitting on a shelf in my bathroom on the wall perpendicular to the Adirondack chair colored pencil drawing.

Tissue Box

We have hard wood floors throughout our house and while looking through the website at Bed Bath and Beyond I found an area rug that I simply loved. We have chocolate brown leather couches so the rugs went perfectly. We painted the walls in the living room peanut butter to go with the area rugs as well.

One of the common plastic canvas projects my mother always created were tissue box covers. In the spirit of creativity and going with our living room theme, I created a tissue box cover that matched the carpet to place in our living room. It was a great way to spend a few flights while on travel!

Mouse Tray

My husband enjoys his free time playing video games on his computer from the couch. He usually rests a notebook on the arm of the couch to use as a mouse pad. For Christmas, I made my husband a mouse tray out of wood to replace the ratty old notebook.

The tray has an area for a mousepad, a groove to fit a pen and a flat area to take notes for his game and rest his microphone.

I made a cutout in the wood the exact shape of the mousepad so that the mousepad would not move. I staind the wood the same color as the side table next to him as well. I also upholstered the bottom of the tray in order to make it sit level on the arm of the couch.

It was my first project with wood, so I had lots of instruction from my father-in-law. Without him, it wouldn't be a success because my husband loved it!

Cirque du Soliel Dress

I know the picture isn't all that clear, but I'll try to describe as best I can. When I was in college, my mother and I loved watching Cirque du Soliel. When they started touring she jumped on the chance to get us tickets and gave them to me for my birthday. I'd heard that in NY the events were a little more fancy than just going in jeans so I thought I'd make myself a dress out of some awesome material I found.

The dress is about knee length and has a very flowy skirt. It comes up to a waist band of material. From the top of the waist band, I attached two 3-foot long, 8-inch wide pieces of material to cover my chest. It can be worn two ways - just tied around my neck as seen in these pictures or criscrossed around the front and then tied around my neck. The ends that hang from my neck look kind of like a matching scarf.

Actually, I've recently seen a similar take on this dress in Frederick's of Hollywood, but I had the idea first - 5 years earlier! I'm such a trendsetter! Since Cirque du Soliel, I've worn the dress on several other occasions - like my honeymoon.

Limoncello

Whenever I'm on an overnight business trip to DC, I make sure to visit my aunt who lives down there. She and I are kindred spirits and there is no doubt that we come from the same genetic pool.

During my last visit I she offered my some "Lemon Jello" for dessert. She's a fantastic cook, so I was ready and willing to give it a try.


Apparently I misheard and she introduced me to Limoncello. It's simply wonderful! She had an old family recipe that she had been too busy to try, and knowing my crafty betty-homemaker personality she entrusted it to me to give it a try.


My husband and I sat down one evening while watching our TV shows and started peeling lemons. Days later it was finished and it tasted good. We were so thrilled we made 2 more batches of orangecello after as well and have another batch of lemoncello in the works.

Since my aunt provided me with the recipe, I thought it only right to provide her with some of my results. I didn't really have any nice bottles, so we resued some of out empty liquor bottles until we acquired a few. For my aunt, I took an old Godiva White Chocolate bottle (they don't come in white anymore...see how often I drink the stuff?) and peeled off the stickers. I painted "Nikki's Limoncello" on the front and "2008" on the back. She and her family loved it during my stay with her at Christmas.

Now That Christmas is Over...

My friend at work - C - went to Hawaii for a retreat. When she came back she shared her pictures with us and took a beautiful picture of 3 plumeria flowers. They are my favorite flower. The picture was so beautiful I just had to paint it.

I put the 4"x6" painting in a 8"x10" frame and gave it a yellow mat that matches the light yellow in the painting and presented it to my mother for Christmas. I had gotten her goodies from my travels to the asian pacific (Hawaii, Guam, Japan) so it seemed only fitting to add to the