I Heart Stop Motion - Mini Planners

It's Saturday and I actually had some time to relax and watch videos on Vimeo this morning.  I found this amazing stop motion so I wanted to share.  This is a commercial for Moleskin mini planners.  It's such a fun and creative idea.

MINI PLANNERS from Moleskine ® on Vimeo.

Isn't is fun??  I would definitely be more organized if my planner did all that awesome stuff!  ;-)

Did you enter my giveaway at Punk Projects?  She announced the winner today!  Did you win?  Go check it out! 

Fish Bowl

I have made a couple of other embroidery hoop art pieces in the past.  You might remember my turtle and lady bug puffy pictures or my button heart valentine.  I decided to try out a new design a couple of months ago.  

I started early in February but this is as far as I got.  I was really busy making things for March markets and my Etsy opening.

Since the market I had scheduled this weekend was cancelled I decided to take this opportunity to finish up my little experiment.

This is what I made!

I knew I was going to make a fish bowl embroidery hoop but I really had no idea what I was going to do until I started working on it.  I knew the fish would be felt but then I had to get creative and think of what could look like rocks and a little plant.  I raided my craft supplies and tried to get creative.

I used a little bit of everything in this project.  There's an embroidery hoop, some fabric, ribbon, felt, buttons and embroidery thread!!

I originally planned on having more details on the fish but as I was stitching them I thought it was a little too much.  Simple is usually better in my opinion.

This embroidery hoop is now available at Dreaming in Craft!  :-)

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Have you entered my giveaway on Punk Projects yet?  No??  Well, you better hurry!!  You have until tomorrow to enter.  The winner will be announced Saturday!

Loupe

Have you heard of the Loupe app for iPhone? 

It's an app where you can tag colors in your pictures to create color swatches and write notes to go with the pictures.  I was thinking that this might be a good app for taking pictures of colors or other things you see that inspire project ideas.  Even if you don't use it to tag colors you can tag the picture with a note about the project idea so you can refer back to one place when you are ready for that project.  You would have your idea and the colors you want to use in the project right there with you in one place. 

{Loupe}

I haven't really used it yet.  I've only tried it out with pictures I've taken on my phone but I think I'll give it a try this week and see if I like it.  I'll write another post soon to let you know what I think.

Have any of you tried this app yet?  Do you know of any other cool apps for crafty stuff?  I'd love to hear about them. 

p.s.  If you're interested in trying this app now would be a good time to buy it.  It's on sale for $0.99!  :-)

Music Monday - Van Morrison

Good morning.  It's Monday again.  I had a nice four day weekend and today it's back to work.  I couldn't think of a better way to start the week than with some Van Morrison.  :-) 

Into The Mystic

Happy Monday!!

Square Pegs - Penny Penguin

I would like to introduce you to Penny!

Penny is a penguin but she's not quite like all the other penguins.  She's a square penguin, one of the rarest penguins in the world.  Not many people have seen one  in real life.

Her favorite thing to do is dance.  Just look at those feet!  They're perfect for dancing!

Remind you of any other dancing penguins?

Despite being a bit of a misfit in the penguin world Penny is a very happy penguin.  She loves to snuggle and talk for hours and hours.

 

Penny is the first in a series of Square Pegs plushies that I will be making over the next couple of months.  She is available at Dreaming in Craft if you would like to adopt her and give her a good home. 

Stay tuned for more!  :-)

Happy Easter

Happy Easter, Everybody!!!  I hope you are having a wonderful day celebrating and eating lots and lots of candy!  I have two very important things I hope you will remember today.

Jesus died for his peeps

Jesus Died for His Peeps - The animated story of Easter from Shakycow from Shakycow on Vimeo.

and

Always remember to dance!

Snoopy and the dancing bunnies from Cynthia Yano on Vimeo.

Have a great day!

p.s. I'll be back later today with a new plushie!  :-)

Earth Day

Today is Earth Day.  Normally I would try to come up with an environmentally friendly craft project to share with you.  Today I decided to do something a little different.  Charity:Water posted this new video on their website in honor of Earth Day.

I feel like sometimes we forget that this is going on all over the world because we are so caught up in our own lives.  We don't have to worry about having clean water.  It's just there.  So many people have never even known what clean water is.  And the worst part is this is such an easily solved problem.  We just have to be willing to help.  That's where Charity:Water comes in.  They build wells in places where there is no clean water with the help of donations from regular people like us.

Some of you already know this but or my new followers...

I made a plushie in honor of Blog Action Day last year.  His name is Rio.  

I will donate all money made from this plushie to Charity:Water.  If you are interested in purchasing one he is available at Dreaming in Craft on Etsy.  If you live in the Austin area I will always make sure to bring Rio to shows with me as well.  I hope that you will consider helping Charity:Water raise money to help bring clean drinking water to the entire world.  If you prefer, you can donate directly to Charity:Water on their website.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Earth Day.  Did you do anything fun to celebrate?

Punk Projects Giveaway

Happy Friday!  I'm just stopping by to share some fun news with you.  I'll be back later today with a blog. 

 

I'm hosting a giveaway on Punk Projects today!!!  I'm giving away some of my favorite Dreaming in Craft items.

A Love Bites cookie plusie

and a matching fabric button necklace and ring set.

 

Do you want to win?  Okay, head over to Katie's blog and leave a comment on the giveaway post!

Good luck!

Getting Ready

Hello!!!  It's been a long time!  So sorry for being away for such a long time.  Life has been crazy!  I live in Buda, work in Austin and I started a fitness class in Lockhart that meets three evenings a week so I have been on the road  a lot!  Add getting ready for a couple of May craft markets into that and I am busy!!!  I am happy to say that today is the first day of a four day weekend for me so I have lots of blogs to catch up on in the next few days.  :-)

Let's get started!

This weekend I made another batch of fabric button jewelry to take to May markets.

I went to B&B Quilting and found some pretty new fabrics

and then I got to work! 

This is what a piece of fabric looks like after I finish cutting it up for buttons.

There isn't much left!

These are the finished pieces!

Small Button Rings

Large Button Rings

Necklaces

I realized after I finished the necklaces that I completely left out one piece of fabric so I ordered a few more buttons that should be here early next week.  I'll post pictures when they are finished.

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I'm so behind on my blog reading since I've been so busy!  Have you posted any projects that you are really proud of?  Leave a comment with the link so I can be sure to read it.  I love finding inspiration from my amazingly talented blog friends.  :-)

Fluffy Flowers

I'm so excited to be a guest blogger on Punk Projects today!  I wrote about some of my new favorite plushie artists on Etsy.  I saved one plushie artist to share with you here, too!  So, after you read this be sure to head over to Katie's blog and see the rest.  

This is Fluffy Flowers.

The Emotionals

Gnomes

Dolls

I can't help but smile when you look at the plushies in this shop.  They are so adorable and really unique.  My favorites are the Emotionals.

Okay, now head over to Katie's blog so you can see a few of my other favorite plushies!

Have a great day!

Easter Egg

It's almost Easter!  It's time to start planning goodies for all those Easter baskets.  What could be better than a giant easter egg??  Ummm.....Nothing!!!  ;-)

I was just playing around with stuff that I had around the house and decided to try out an Easter egg plushie last week.  I didn't really have much of a plan for it.  At first I was going to make it with felt stripes but I was out of the color I wanted for the stripes.   Then I thought it could be fun to make the egg with big felt polka dots.  I remembered that I had a bunch of really big buttons in my button jar that I could never find a use for so I thought it could be cute to use those instead of felt. 

This plushie is now available at Dreaming in Craft!  :-)

I Heart Stop Motion - Paper Camera

It has been forever since I posted an awesome stop motion video!  Way too long!  It's time to fix that.  Today I have a really cool photography themed stop motion animation to share with you.  I love it because it combines my love of stop motion with my love of photography into one amazing animation!

I'll be back tomorrow with a new plushie!

Oh yeah!  I almost forgot to tell you...Dreaming in Craft was featured on Punk Projects yesterday!  Did you see it?

The Lost Button Necklace

I think I found my dream necklace!  Too bad somebody bought it before I could.  I'll just have to watch the shop to see if she posts another one, I guess.  ;-)

Isn't it perfect??

{The Angry Weather}

You can find this beautiful necklace along with many other amazing pieces at The Angry Weather on Etsy.

Have a lovely day!

Peep

Meet Peep!

Peep is a pink felt Easter Peep plushie complete with tiny brown button eyes and nose.  I spent a long time working on getting the pattern as close to an actual Peep as possible.  When I finished drawing the pattern and cut it out she looked a lot more like a Peep.  Once she was sewn and stuffed she looked a little less Peep-ish and more random pink bunny-ish.  That's okay.  I think she makes a really cute Easter bunny either way.  :-)

Peep wishes you a very happy Easter! 

She will be available at Dreaming in Craft tomorrow!  :-)

Music Monday - Amos Lee

Happy Monday!  I thought I would start off the day with a Music Monday post.  I seem to have a better day when I start out with some good music.  Since it's Monday I have to do whatever I can to start the day off right!

 

 

Check back tonight.  I have a new project to share with you!  :-)

Have a great day!

Du Pre Emporium

A few weeks ago we got a flyer in the front door from a shop in Buda called Du Pre Emporium. They were looking for people to sell their items on consignment.  Since I was in the process of setting up my shop I decided that I would get more items in the shop and go check it out.  It's just down the street from my house...like a two minute walk.  Pretty perfect, right? 

About a week after that the owner of the shop contacted some people on Etsy to see if they would be interested.  I hoped to sell my things in a store eventually but never really planned on it right away.  But, since the opportunity came up I decided I should at least go see what it was all about.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was a steady stream of people shopping when I was there.  I loved to see all kinds of fun crafty items mixed in with antiques and vintage pieces.  They have live music there, too! 

I decided to go for it and rent a small space to try it out. I've been feeling pretty adventurous lately.  :-)  I don't know if I will make any money but I'm really excited to see what happens.  I had no idea how consignment worked until I did a little research this week so at the very least I will learn more about that.  It's a really fun shop and I look forward to working with them for the next few months.  I'm happy to have some of my items available in my town, too.  This way some of my work will be available during the festival season in Buda even when I can't rent a booth.  I like the idea of supporting local business and handmade in Austin and in my little town, too!

This is what my cute space looks like. 

Imagine it with a Love Bite cookie and an Archie in the middle between the jewelry displays.  I wasn't able to get them finished by Friday.  I'm working on them today so I can drop them off tomorrow!

Guess What!!

Dreaming in Craft is sponsoring Punk Projects this month!  I love Katie's blog!  We have very similar crafty taste and she is so creative!  She always has great things to share on her blog.  I love the tutorials she posts.  If you don't read her blog you should!  Go now!  I'll wait...

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Okay, enough waiting.  Now I want to show you some of my favorite things in Katie's Etsy shop!

Cassette Tape notebook

So cute!

Polaroid Camera Softie

Eeks!  I love it!

Annie The Owl Plushie

I love the ribbon and all the different kinds of fabric.

Pretty great, right?

This is my first time sponsoring a blog.  I thought really hard about who I felt would be a good match.  I think I found just the right blog!  Stay tuned throughout the month because I'll have a couple of fun things to share on Katie's blog.  I'll be sure to let you know when they come up so you don't miss them.  :-)

I'll be back this weekend with lots of fun new things to share! 

Talk to you soon!

-marci