Front Porch

Now that my mommy has finally seen my porch in person I can post it online! When I first bought my house the front porch was not well kept. It was dirty, had cheap plastic furniture in it and wasn't the best first impression to give on a house. I thought that it was such a nice feature for a house that it deserved a total make over.

First I made the customized curtains for the porch. Using the same material I covered some foam cushions with the same material. They snap off the foam for easy cleaning. I also put in the custom made pillows from my first post. In addition to all the sewing projects I made custom fit storage benches out of wood to wrap around the porch. The covers of the benches are on hinges that lift up so that things can be stored within them. A jute rug and some sailing accessories finished off the New England style porch makeover!

Aunt Marie also gave me one of the plastic canvas tissue boxes that my Grandmother made that matches the style of my porch as well - so it's not all my own custom work, it's my grandmother's too!

Yellow Cupcake Grocery Bag

And yellow cupcakes, too!!

Pink Cupcake Grocery Bag

To match my blue cupcake grocery bag (the one that got so many compliments), I also made a pink cupcake grocery bag.

Green Apple Grocery Bag

And Green Apples too!

Orange Apples

To match my red apples, I also got orange apple material : )

Ren Faire Costumes

My friend J and I were talking about costuming yesterday and my friend L brought up that I make ren faire costumes and I realized that I definitely did not post ANY of them!! The first costume in the top photo is mine (left). For that I made the skirt, textile overskirt, white blouse and leather pocket.



Also in that photo is the white puffy shirt and vest I made for Jason.

Next is the Robin Hood outfit I made for another friend in college. I simply made the tunic. The hat was something he picked up at a Ren Faire in upstate NY.

Finally is a photo of my friend Steph and her Jester costume that I made for her to go to the ren faire. It was inspired by her hat and made of some awesome velvet material. Got to love her pose!

Blue Apple Grocery Bag

Blue and Green Apples on my grocery bag - I think this one is my favorite so far! I think it has something to do with the ivory and the color of light blue I used ... or the fact that the apples are blue!

Pink Cherry Grocery Bag

Here is the coordinating cherry grocery bag to the white one in the last post!

White Cherry Grocery Bag

The coordinating pink cherry bag will be posted next !

Red Apples Grocery Bag

I have two more apple bags in the same material pattern coming as well. One is orange and the other is green.

Blue Cupcakes Grocery Bag

There are two more cupcake bags to come that I have yet to make! One is yellow and one is pink. They'll look really cute too!

Brown Pears Grocery Bag

It kind of matches the brown cherries, but it's pears! I have a few coordinating fabrics that I coouldn't choose the color of so I just got a yard of each!

Brown Cherries Grocery Bag

I found a bunch of really cute fabric online and most of it was food themed. None of it was really practical for clothing except for aprons, but really how many aprons do I need?

After getting some ideas from ladies at work I went with a suggestion from my friends E and W to make tote bags, but what would I do with that may tote bags? Use them to carry my groceries with style of course! I've been making grocery bags for the last few weeks, but haven't been taking pictures, so here come a bunch of posts!

Wedding Shoe Bling

My friend L at work is getting married next month and got herself a nice pair of wedding shoes with a low heel. While her shoes were very pretty, they needed a little something extra special for her wedding.

So on Sunday, she picked me up with shoes and a sample of her bridesmaid dress color in hand and we went to the craft store and got rhinestones to give her shoes a little sparkle and sophistication.

We created a blue rhinestone flower in the center of the shoe to make sure she had "something blue" on her wedding day. We added rhine stones to the criss cross portion of the shoe so it wouldn't be too much. I liked the way they came out so much that I have to find myself a pair of shoes to dress up with rhinestones as well!

Making a Tote is not Rocket Science

I brew my own sweet tea at home and have plastic bottles that I pour it in to bring with me to work each day, however there is not enough room in my lunch box for my food and my bottles of tea.

I found this really great Rocket Science material online and a pattern for a tote bag and decided to make a tote for my bottles of tea. There were coordinating materials in the line, so I bought two -one with blue and white spacey words like Rocket Scientist and Space Cadet and the other with blue and black rocket ships. For the lining of the tote I bought a navy blue plastic table cloth so if my drinks spill or sweat, the tote will be safe. I got navy webbing for the handles and a navy star button to add a little spacey flare to the outside pocket.

This was also my first attempt at making bias tape and I was really pleased with the result. It was a really great pattern!

Edible Birthday Bouquet

My husband and I always have trouble finding gifts for his parents. This past weekend we had his mother over for her birthday. Since it was a little last minute and they are on a no carb diet, a cake seemed a little inappropriate. I saw the adds for edible creations and looked into them - a little overpriced for what they are!

I bought some flower shaped cookie cutters, a melon baller and a crinkle cutter and shaped my own fruit to make her an edible bouquet. I know she likes blueberries, but I wasn't sure on her preference of the other fruit so I got all different types - strawberries, pineapples, grapes, cantaloupe, honeydew, and apples. I got the flower pot at Michael's on sale and it looked really cute!

It seems that the apples, strawberries and blueberries went first, so next time I may have to try a "berry bouquet" and perhaps dip some of the berries in chocolate. Mmmmmm.

Patriotic Table Runner

I've never been a fan of bold patriotic accessories in bright blue and fire engine red, so when I found some aged looking stars and stripes material I couldn't help myself. The red stripes are more of a brick red, the white is more of a cream and the blue is more of a navy. Much more subdued.

My last table runner was just about the length of the table so I doubled this on so when I upgrade my table it'll still fit.

Since the fabric can't really be seen in the picture I've posted a close up detail.

Nancy Drew Dress

Being very OCD and all I fell in love with the latest version of Nancy Drew where the character is protrayed as a very Type A OCD girl who strives for perfection. She has impeccable style throughout the movie and wears the cutest party dress during the movie.

I'd wanted to make the dress, but could never find the right material until recently. I found something quite similar and used a Vogue pattern to make my own custom Nancy Drew inspired dress. I have no idea what I will wear it for, but I made it anyway!

Lightening McQueen Bucket

My nephew's 3rd birthday is coming up and I wouldn't be a good aunt if I didn't make something just for him!

He's really into the movie Cars, so I got him aa bunch of Cars themed gifts that he can play outside with. I customized a bucket for him with Lightening McQueen on one side and his name on the other. Hope he likes his presents!

Everyday Table Runner

I found a bunch of great material online recently and thought I'd make a table runner out of some and stylish grocery bags out of others. The everyday table runner that matches my living/dining room is shown here with my cute Tweety salt and pepper shakers!

Tissue Box

For Christmas, my aunt gave me a wonderful plush blanket of an ivory color that compliments the sofa I reupholstered well. I decided it would be a great way to paint the room and find accessories. Since I know I can make a tissue box, I decided to make one to match.

The tissue box matches both so perfectly - here it is sitting on the blanket which is on the sofa. I made the swirls too match the sofa and some checkered boxes to break up all the swirls.

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