365 Project - Week Thirty-Five

Happy New Year's Eve!  It's time for week thirty-five of my 365 Project.  I didn't really get any extra special pictures this week.  It was just a week of getting whatever pictures I could during my free time.  I haven't had a lot of free time because I've been so busy.  Oh well.  It's all worth it.  :-) 

Here is week thirty-five...

Day 239

My parents put up a little Christmas tree this year and I wanted to take a picture of it.  It's kind of dark but I wanted to catch all the glowy lights.

Day 240

I had to take a picture of this!  If only it were really true.  It would have been a dream come true!  Nope.  I paid $2.71 per gallon there.  Oh well.  It was still fun to take a picture of it.  :-)

Day 241

It actually looked a little wintery on Monday when I got to work.  I love the way the sky looks through the trees with the sun coming up. 

Day 242

The quality of this picture is not good at all, but it made me laugh.  I just didn't get any good pictures.  I went to take pictures at the park and my longhorn friends were there waiting for me before I left.  They ran up to the fence as soon as I walked up so they were a little too close to get good pictures through the fence.  Oh well.  At least I got one funny picture out of it.  :-)

Day 243

I went for a run in downtown Austin on Wednesday and the rowers were out on the water.  I was able to go back and catch this buy before the  sun went down.  It's so pretty at Town Lake.  Great motivation to run! 

Day 244

I just liked these clouds and I didn't have a lot of time to take a picture on Thursday.  That's all.  Just needed a picture.  :-)

Day 245

I went to stagecoach park to take pictures this afteroon.  I thought these berries looked really pretty in contrast with all the wintery brown trees.

See ya next year!

Longhorn Phone Case

I tried to make as many handmade gifts as I could this year.  My sister went to the University of Texas so she's a Longhorn for life.  She lives in Denver now so I wanted to try to make her something Longhorn themed.  I decided since I had been making a lot of phone cases that it might be nice to make her a case to keep her phone warm in the cold winter weather.  No, not really.  ;-)  I just thought she might like it. 

They don't have any burnt orange felt at the store I usually buy my felt at in Austin (shocking!) so I ordered it on Etsy from Material Edidence.  It's 100% wool!  I've never used 100% wool before because it's kind of expensive.  It is so soft!  I wish I could buy it for all of my projects, but the blend that I usually use is pretty wonderful, too.  I buy it at Stitch Lab.  They have amazing colors!

Here's the finished case!  I think it turned out pretty nice.  It was really hard to cut and stitch that tiny Longhorn.  I think it came out pretty close to the actual logo.  It's not perfect but I'm happy with it.  :-)

I'm trying to decide if I want to make more Longhorn phone cases with the leftover felt or if I should try something else with it.  I was thinking of maybe making some Longhorn wrist cuffs, too.  Any suggestions?  There's only a little bit left but I think I could get one or two more small projects out of it.

Coffee Break - Light Drawings

Back in September I wrote a Coffee Break post about my love of freezelight photography.  Yesterday ArtFire posted some awesome freezelight photography from Pablo Picasso on Twitter.  These photos were taken in 1949!  That's crazy!!!  I was so excited to see it!  I thought I would share a couple of them with you for today's coffee break. 

{Life}

{Today & Tomorrow}

{Today & Tomorrow}

{Today & Tomorrow}

Have a great day!

Craft Academy Christmas

I made christmas gifts for all of my coworkers again this year!  This time I to made the drawstring bags we learned how to make in Craft Academy.  They are simple to make and very cute.  :-)  I made eight bags!  I used three different fabrics and four different colors of bias tape.  No two bags are the same.  I think they turned out pretty cute! 

Sorry for the poor quality pictures.  I ran out of time to photograph them before it got dark in my house and I needed to wrap them. 

Recognize the fabric?  I used the left-over to make bunting!

Music Monday - Zee Avi

Hello.  I'm just stopping by really quick to post a song I've been listening to.  I have so much to get done tonight!  I started the Couch to 10k workout program today.  I'm getting ready for the Capitol 10k in March!  Eeks!!  I actually skipped to week two because week one seemed way too easy.  After I finish here I have to run errands, write my blog for tomorrow, finish my laundry and work on crafties!  Oh my!   But, I think there's always time for a little music break.  ;-)

This is Zee Avi.  The song is Bitter Heart.  I love how unique her voice is.  I really like the simple sound to the song, too.  Very nice to listen to when you want to just relax and enjoy some music.  :-)

I hope you like it.

Bunting

I am terrible at figuring out how much fabric I need to buy for my projects.  I always end up with way more than I need.  I made some gifts for my coworkers (blog to come soon) and I ended up buying way too much fabric.  This never upsets me though.  It just means I have lots of extra fabric to make other fun projects. 

Since I love bunting so much I decided to use the extra fabric to make three pretty buntings.  I don't know why I love it so much.  It's just simple and cute and that makes me happy, I guess.  :-) 

I made these three to take with me to my first craft market and to post on Etsy but I think once I get all of my projects done I'm going to make some to hang in my house.  My house is turning into a crazy crafting museum.  Nothing matches but I love looking at all of it.

These are my pretty buntings .  I had to compromise on the bias tape colors a little bit.  I had different colors in mind but the store I went to didn't have them.  I didn't really feel like driving all over looking for bias tape when there were perfectly nice colors there.  I think they came out great!

Merry Christmas

Just wanted to stop by and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.  I hope you have a wonderful day.  :-)

365 Project - Week Thirty-Four

As Christmas was getting closer and closer I was starting to get more and more nervous that I wouldn't have time to get any good Christmas pictures.  I got pretty lucky this week and was able to go to a couple of places in Austin and take some great Christmasy pictures.  I didn't make it out to everything but I got the two main places I really wanted to get so I am very pleased.  :-)

Here is my sort of Christmasy week thirty-four.

Day 232

 I was on the UT campus on Saturday seeing a show ab Bass Concert Hall so I decided it  would be the perfect time to take a picture of the tower.  It was a really pretty day outside and the tower looks great with the blue sky in the background. 

Day 233

I went to Mozart's in Austin to take pictures of the pretty lights and eat yummy treats with my friend Maja on Sunday.  They even have a light show complete with the UT fight song and a Christmas light longhorn.  Only in Austin!  ;-) 

Day 234

 This Nativity is in front of the Catholic church in Buda.  I've been trying to get as many Christmas pictures as I could this week so I thought this would be a perfect picture for Monday.

Day 235

 I went to take pictures of the Zilker Park Christmas tree on Tuesday.  I love it!!!  So amazing!!  I've never been able to take pictures of it so I was very excited! 

Day 236

I drive past Buda City Hall every day on my way home.  I thought it looked kind of pretty with the white lights all around it so I walked over and took a picture after dark on Wednesday.

Day 237

In Buda they have a Trail of Lights at Stagecoach Park.  This is just the second year.  I didn't get to go this year but I did get to see the cute sign B&B Quilting & Gifts made for the trail since I live across the street from them.  :-)

Day 238

I took this picture in front of Sue Ellen's Florist in Buda.  I thought they were kind of cute so I decided to go over and get one last  Christmas light picture for Christmas Eve.  :-)

Merry Christmas!

Jellyfish Rings (aka Button Rings)

Remember my fabric buttons?

I finished my project on Monday and I finally had time to take pictures to show you what I made!  I made fabric button rings!!!

I made 25 3/4" rings

and 25 7/8" rings.

I know it's not the most original idea in the world but I have been wanting to make them since I started my little crafty adventure in February and never got around to it.  When I decided that I was finally ready to start selling my crafts I thought these would be a perfect little item to have.  I am completely in love with each and every one of them and wish I could keep them all for myself.  I guess I can share.  ;-)  I really enjoyed making these.  It was a simple project but it was so nice to work on.  I can't wait to make more.  I made 50 for now and then I'll work on more in other sizes later.  I want to make some with regular buttons, too.  They are so cute!

Are you wondering why I called this blog Jellyfish Rings?  Why?  It makes total sense to me!  ;-)  I took this Hipstamatic picture to post on facebook when I finished the rings because I was so excited to show my friends. 

I couldn't flip them over to show the button part until the glue dried.  My friend thought they looked like tiny jellyfish so I decided to call them jellyfish rings.  It makes me smile even if no one else gets it.  :-)

Coffee Break - A Hipstamatic Holiday

I have been able to go see some really pretty lights this week in Austin so I thought it would be fun to show you a few of my Hipstamatic pictures for our coffee break today.  :-)

on Sunday I went to Mozart's with my friend Maja and took a few pictures.

On Monday I stopped at the Catholic church in Buda to take a picture of the Nativity for  my 365 Project.  I took one with my Hipstamatic, too.

Last night I went with some friends to take pictures of the Zilker Park tree.  It's so pretty!!!  I had so much fun spending the evening with friends, too.  :-)

After the tree we went to Amy's Ice Cream.  It's not Christmasy, but I had to take a picture of the cute cows! 

Are you ready for Christmas yet??

Sneak Peek - Fabric Buttons

Fabric and buttons.  When you put them together I am one happy crafty girl.  :-)  I made a bunch of fabric buttons this weekend for a project I'm trying out.

I used all scrap fabric.  I try to keep all of the scraps that are big enough to cut small pieces out of for projects like this.  I'm so glad I do.  I love these!  In this set I have pieces from both of my quilts, a One Yard Wonders project, my co-worker Christmas gifts and fabric from a bag of really cute scraps I bought at Craft Riot.

I have so many ideas for things I want to make with fabric buttons, but I'm starting with just one for now and I'll slowly add to the collection as I have time and money for supplies.  My thumbs are killing me from pressing them.  I made 33 size 30 buttons and 33 size 36 buttons.  It was so fun!!!

I got the rest of my supplies in the mail and finished the project last night!  I'm pretty happy with it.  I've been wanting to try fabric button projects since I started this blog but never got around to doing it.  I'm so glad I finally did!  I'll share the finished product later this week.

Music Monday - Christmas

It's time for a Christmas edition of Music Monday.  Today I have a couple of Christmas songs to share.  It was hard to pick since there are so many great Christmas songs so I decided to pick some that might not get chosen quite as often.

Let's start with a silly one.  It's the Grinch song!  This is one of my favorite Christmas movies!

And now for a little more Zooey Deschanel and Will Ferrell.  It's not really a Christmas song but I think it counts.  It's on pretty much every Christmas album and it's in Elf. :-)

Welcome Christmas

I feel like I've been a bit of a

Lately. 

I've been stressing about everything I need to get done and all the other craziness I'm dealing with right now that I just haven't been able to get into the Christmas spirit this year.

Well, today all that changes.  I'm going with my mom and her friend to see

I'm so excited!

I'm going to try to make it out to see some of the fun lights around Austin this week, too.  I say try because I'm still super busy.  Any recommendations, Austin people?

I want to go see the light show at Mozart's Coffee.

It looks so magical!

I also want to take pictures of the tree at Zilker Park.

I am totally jealous of this picture!  Amazing!!

There's really tons of other things I want to do but these are the two things that I must do before Christmas.

It's time to Welcome Christmas!

What fun Christmasy things do you like to do?