It's Always Something

Dreaming in Craft News

2012-02-12T12:06:00.001-06:00

Hi! Sorry for being away for so long. This was a busy week for me. I had to finish up my plushies for Cupid's Corner so I was busy! I managed to take some time yesterday to list some new embroidery hoops at Dreaming in Craft and I wanted to share them with you.

{Click on the pictures to be directed to the listings.}

Red Balloon

Smiley Face

Rainbow Bunting

Button Flower Garden

I hope to have some more new items up next weekend so stay tuned! :-)

p.s. The blog might be a little quiet for a couple more weeks. I have lots of big changes planned so I need a little time to get everything ready. Thanks for being patient.

I Heart Stop Motion - Matt The Electrician

2012-02-03T05:50:00.000-06:00

Matt The Electrician is a musician in Austin. Wondering how he got the name Matt The Electrician? You can read his story here. I really like his music. I even backed his Kickstarter campaign to fund his latest record.

During that campaign Matt debuted a video for his song All I Know and I was so happy to see that it was a really cute crafty stop motion! Even better news? I found out his wife is one of the founders of Future Craft Collective and she helped him make this video! Future Craft Collective is an organization that aims to build family connections through crafting and creativity.

Okay, back to the stop motion. :-)

All I Know from Matt the Electrician on Vimeo.

What do you think? Want to hear some more?

Cupid's Corner - A Valentine's Pop Up Shop

2012-02-02T08:13:00.004-06:00

Dreaming in Craft is taking part in a really fun event here in Austin on February 11th & 12th. Cupid's Corner is a two day pop up shop featuring Austin artists. Come visit Hypercastle Studio where you will find some fun and unique gifts for your special valentine.

Wondering what types of items will be available at the pop up shop? Check out this pin board on Pinterest. It's filled with samples from each artist.

Dancing Penguins

2012-02-01T16:16:00.000-06:00

I have spent the last few days making a bunch of these little cuties for a fun event I'm participating in this month. I'll have more info about that very soon.

While I was sewing them I was reminded of one of my favorite scenes from Mary Poppins.

Wouldn't it be fun if the penguin plushies could dance like that, too? :-)

It's The Little Things - Augusto Esquivel

2012-01-31T18:54:00.002-06:00

My second favorite thing to use when crafting (my favorite is felt...of course!) is buttons. I love to find fun new ways to incorporate them into my crafts.. Today I came across this hanging button sculpture of an upright piano by Augusto Esquivel.

{source: What the Cool}

This is by far the most creative button art I have ever seen. If you look at this side picture you can see that it's three dimensional.

{source: What the Cool}

This one is my favorite.

{Source: What the Cool}

It is so inspiring to see someone take such a simple object and turn it into a beautiful piece of art. It makes me wonder what new things I can think of if I just open my mind to see something simple in a whole new way. I want to try all of the crazy unfinished ideas I have hiding in the back of my mind just to see what happens.

Are there any artists that really inspire you?

I Heart Stop Motion - Against the Grain

2012-01-28T11:38:00.000-06:00

I found a new stop motion animation today! This one is a music video for a song called Against the Grain from Hudson.

Hudson - Against The Grain from Dropbear on Vimeo.

I love this video because it's so colorful and a little bit crafty. :-)

I'm spending my weekend making lots of plushies for a fun event I'm participating in in February. More info to come soon!

What are you up to this weekend?

Fortune Favors the Brave

2012-01-24T08:25:00.001-06:00

I'm a Chinese food fan. Not only is the food delicious, but you also get a fortune with your meal. I like to save the good ones. I have been noticing a pattern in some of my fortunes over the past few months.

I'm really liking this pattern.

I got this fortune on my birthday. Three months is February 16th. I wonder if anything will really happen. :-)

What's with all the carrots?

2012-01-22T17:20:00.001-06:00

make animated gifs like this at MakeAGif

Bunnies! Bunnies, it must be bunnies!! :-)

I made lots of carrot plushies this weekend! Did you work on any fun craft projects?

p.s. I learned about Make a Gif from Grrfeisty's blog. It's pretty fun! Now I have to come up with more fun pictures to take so I can make more. Yay!

I'm over here!

2012-01-18T17:37:00.000-06:00

Hi! I'm just stopping by to let you know that there's a giveaway happening over at Crafted. Guess what. It's my giveaway! I guess I didn't get enough of giving away cute stuff to all of you awesome readers. :-)

Want to win this felt zipper pouch from Dreaming in Craft?

Just click on the picture to be directed to Dom's site and enter!

Good luck!

Rainbow Frazzles

2012-01-15T14:05:00.000-06:00

Remember the Frazzles?

They are available at Dreaming in Craft in

red

and white.

Guess what! The red and white Frazzles made some friends! You can now get them in a rainbow of colors!

These new colors are available for a limited time only so head over to Dreaming in Craft and get your favorite colors while they last!

Let's Create! Pottery

2012-01-10T11:00:00.001-06:00

This weekend a friend came to visit and she told me about an iPhone app called Let's Create! Pottery. I love it because I get to do something creative while I'm playing games.

In this app you make pottery.

Fire it

Decorate it

And sell it to make money to buy fun new colors and decorations.

You can also do challenges where they give you a picture of a piece of pottery and you have to try to match it. It's harder than you might think.

There are three different versions of the game so it's perfect for any budget. You can start with the free version and work your way up so the game stays new and fun!

Aren't these awesome? I found them on the Pottery Community website. You can submit pictures of your pottery there. They even have contests where you can win prizes!

{Let's Create! Pottery}

I'm off to create some more pottery. Have a great day!

Sneak Peek

2012-01-06T06:08:00.001-06:00

Just stopping by with a sneak peek at one of the upcoming limited edition Rainbow Frazzles!

Stay tuned for peeks at more colors coming soon to Dreaming in Craft!

Dreaming in Craft Giveaway Winners

2012-01-05T06:07:00.003-06:00

It's time to announce the winners of the final giveaway in the Dreaming in Craft month of giveaways!

This week there will be two winners. Winners were chosen using random.org.

Winner number one will get this Pink Love Bites mini plushie.

The winner of the pink plushie is comment number five...Erin! Congratulations, Erin!

Winner number two will get this blue Love Bites mini plushie.

The winner of the blue plushie is comment number two! Congratulations, Velma!

I will contact both of you to get your addresses today!

Thank you to everyone who participating in this month of giveaways. It was a lot of fun! Stay tuned for my giveaways in 2012! :-)

Road Trip

2012-01-04T08:39:00.000-06:00

I have never been on a long road trip before but lately I have been thinking a lot about it. It would be great to get some friends together and pick a place to drive to. We wouldn't have to rush anywhere. We could take our time and stop at different places along the way. Nothing to worry about...just having fun. I don't know when I'll ever have the time or money to do this but it's something I can daydream about until the time comes. It's on my list of things to do some day.

For now I'll just have to go on adventures like this...

Address Is Approximate from The Theory on Vimeo.

Have you ever taken a long road trip? Where did you go?

New Year, New Plushie

2012-01-02T15:21:00.003-06:00

Happy new year! I know that was yesterday but I was so busy working on something special that I didn't have a chance to blog. :-)

With the new year comes new products for Dreaming in Craft. That means new plushies!

Meet the Dust Bunnies!

These little guys were a bit of an accident. I was working on drawings for new plushie designs and I drew this. I was trying to draw a larger plushie and I drew this shape for the head but I didn't like the way it was coming out. I played around with it for a little while and decided it would be super cute as a smaller plushie. As I was making them I thought they looked a little bit like bunnies but with a twist. :-) I showed them to a friend and she suggested the name Dust Bunnies. I love it!

Right now they are available in three colors...

Bright Green

Purple

and bright blue

with more colors to come.

These plushies are now available at Dreaming in Craft!

How did you spend your first day of 2012?

Dreaming in Craft Month of Giveaways - Week Five

2011-12-29T20:55:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I announced the winner of the pink sky zipper pouch giveaway. Congratulations to Maja!

This week is an extra special giveaway because there will be TWO winners! Do you want to see what you can win?

You can win one of two Love Bites mini sugar cookie plushies!

Winner number one will get this pink cookie.

Winner number two will win this blue cookie.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment with your name and email address. Entries will be accepted until 10:00 pm on Wednesday and the winners will be announced on Thursday.

Good luck!

Dreaming in Craft Giveaway Winner

2011-12-29T08:41:00.000-06:00

It's time to announce the winner of the fourth giveaway in the Dreaming in Craft month of giveaways!

This week the winner gets this pink sky felt zipper pouch.

The winner was chosen at random using random.org.

Congratulations to commenter number four, Maja!

I was only going to have four weeks of giveaways but decided to add one more...just for fun! Check back tomorrow to see what you can win.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T07:40:00.000-06:00

Just stopping by to wish you all a very merry Christmas. I'll be spending my day getting some sewing done and watching Doctor Who!

I hope opening presents is a little bit easier for you than it was for this kid. ;-)

Impossible Present from Royale on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas!

Dreaming in Craft Month of Giveaways - Week Four

2011-12-23T19:49:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I announced the winner of the fabric button necklace giveaway. Congratulations again to Julia!

Now it's time to announce the giveaway for week four!

This week you can win a pink sky felt zipper pouch.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment with your name and email address. Entries will be accepted until 10:00 pm on Wednesday and the winner will be announced on Thursday.

Good luck!

Dreaming in Craft Giveaway Winner

2011-12-22T08:12:00.000-06:00

It's time to announce the winner of the third giveaway in the Dreaming in Craft month of giveaways!

This week the winner gets this fabric button necklace.

The winner was chosen at random using random.org. You will not even believe who the winner is. I think she might be the luckiest person ever!

The winner is commenter number two...Julia M.! Congratulations again, Julia! :-) I will mail your package as soon as possible.

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for the last giveaway!

Gibson Street Artisan Market

2011-12-21T08:11:00.002-06:00

Need to do some last minute holiday shopping? Come to the Gibson Street Artisan Market on Christmas Eve from 11-3 for some great local, handmade shopping!

This will be Dreaming in Craft's last show of the year. After that I will be taking some time to work on new product ideas and updating the shop. I'm so excited to share my new ideas with you!

Do you have any special plans for the holiday weekend?

Dreaming in Craft Month of Giveaways - Week Three

2011-12-16T21:19:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I announced the winner of the Happy Heart felt pin giveaway. Congratulations again to Julia!

Now it's time to announce the giveaway item for week three!

This week you can win a Fabric Button Necklace.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment with your name and email address. Entries will be accepted until 10:00 pm on Wednesday and the winner will be announced on Thursday.

Good luck!

Wheatsville Arts Festival

2011-12-16T10:32:00.000-06:00

I have been so busy these past couple of weeks that I haven't even had a chance to tell you about Wheatsville Arts Festival. It ended up raining all weekend so I did a very small set up.

See those pretty tent walls? I tried to find some but every store I called in Austin, Buda and San Marcos was sold out. Luckily the super sweet and awesome Lianne from Lizziebees let me borrow hers.

I quickly put together a catalog with all of my products so people could flip through and order if they wanted to since I didn't have all of my inventory with me. I'm going to take some time to make it nicer before my next show.

Even though the weather wasn't great I was really happy with the day. I got a lot of positive feedback from customers. People really seemed to like the plushies. :-) I wasn't able to go back for day two because the rain was worse and I was worried about ruining my products.

Time for some fun stories from the day!

I got to see some of my friends at the show. My friends from Robo Roku and This Creative Life were there. :-) Renee even brought me a gluten free sandwich for lunch since I was by myself and couldn't get away.

A few of my friends came to visit me at the show, too. My friend Noemi and her daughter Sarah came by to see me. A couple of friends from work, Marcos and Christy came to help me out at my booth in the afternoon. It was fun to hang out and chat away from work. They were so nice and helped my mom and I take my booth down and load the car. They're so awesome!

There was this really funny guy who was walking around with a puppet show. It's hard to describe. I wish I would have taken pictures. He was so funny!

My favorite part of the day came when a little girl wanted to buy one of my mini owl plushies. It was the very end of the day and I was about to pack up. She didn't have enough money and left to talk to her mom and come back. She came back with her dad to buy it but still didn't have enough. He told her she couldn't get it because she didn't have enough to buy it and they walked away. I could see she was really sad about it so I decided to let her have it. It was enough to know that she liked that little owl so much. Her dad insisted on giving me the little bit of change she did have. You should have seen her face light up when I told her she could have it! It made me so happy so see that.

Even though the day was a little slow because of the rain and I couldn't go out for day two I think it was one of my best shows yet. I got to tell a lot of new people about Dreaming in Craft. A bunch of people will be receiving Dreaming in Craft plushies for Christmas. And one little girl reminded me why I love what I do. :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Be sure to check back this evening. I will be posting the next Dreaming in Craft giveaway! You don't want to miss it. There are only two more giveaways left!

Dreaming in Craft Giveaway Winner

2011-12-15T07:53:00.003-06:00

It's time to pick the winner of the second giveaway in the Dreaming in Craft Month of Giveaways! :-)

This week the winner of the giveaway will receive this Happy Heart felt pin.

The winner was chosen by a random drawing. The winning number was comment number one.

Julia M! Congratulations again Julia! You have been very lucky this month. I will mail your heart out asap.

Be sure to check back tomorrow to see what you can win for week three!

Etsy Loves - Graphic Spaces

2011-12-13T08:11:00.001-06:00

Wouldn't it be lovely to have a Christmas tree decorated with these cute little animal ornaments from Graphic Spaces?

I love them all but I think my favorite is the standing bunny.

Cute!

Do you have a theme for your Christmas tree?

Dreaming in Craft Month of Giveaways - Week Two

2011-12-08T20:36:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I announced the winner of the felt flower hair clip giveaway. Congratulations again to Julia!

Now it's time to announce the giveaway item for week two!

This week you can win a green Happy Heart Felt Pin!

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment with your name and email address. Entries will be accepted until 10:00 pm on Wednesday and the winner will be announced on Thursday.

Good luck!

Dreaming in Craft Giveaway Winner

2011-12-08T05:34:00.001-06:00

It's time to announce the winner of the Dreaming in Craft Month of Giveaways.

This week you could win

a felt flower ponytail holder in the color of your choice.

We had five entries.

And the winner is comment number

Congratulations, Julia M.!! I will email you today to get your mailing address. :-)

If you didn't win this week, don't worry. There are still four more chances to win some Dreaming in Craft goodies in December! Check back tomorrow to see giveaway number two!

Have a great day!

Printstagram

2011-12-06T07:50:00.001-06:00

Do you remember a couple of weeks ago when I told you about StickyGram? It's a site that will turn your Instagram pictures into magnets for you. So awesome!

This week I have another cool site that you can use to make prints of your Instagram pictures. It's called Printstagram.

With this site you can make

Tinybooks

Minibooks

Stickers

mini prints

AND posters!

Isn't this so cool?? I think I'll try the stickers first. But before I can do that...I need to take lots of pictures!

Which one would you order?

p.s. Don't forget to enter my giveaway. Entries close tomorrow night at 10:00 pm. The winner will be announced on Thursday and a brand new giveaway will be up on Friday. Stay tuned! :-)

Dreaming in Craft Month of Giveaways - Week One

2011-12-02T07:45:00.001-06:00

If you subscribe to the Dreaming in Craft newsletter you already know that this month to say thank you to all of my awesome blog readers and customers for your support this year I will be having weekly giveaways throughout the month of December. The giveaways will be posted on Fridays and the winners will be announced on the following Thursday. You will have four chances to win something cute from Dreaming in Craft!

Let's get started!

This week I'm giving away a fabric flower ponytail holder. These won't even be available in the shop until 2012 so you'll be one of the first to have one!

You can choose from any of the ten colors I have available.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment with your name, email address and the color ponytail holder you would like to receive if you win. It's so easy! Entries will be accepted until 10:00 pm on Wednesday.

Good luck!

Wheatsville Arts Festival

2011-12-01T12:41:00.001-06:00

Guess what! I will be participating in the Wheatsville Arts Festival in Austin this weekend!

The festival will be this Saturday and Sunday from 9-5.

2915 Guadalupe Street

Austin, TX 78705

Come by and say hi! I will have my plushies, jewelry and accessories and a bunch of fun zipper pouches and phone cases just in time for holiday shopping.

There will be lots of great vendors there including some of my favorites, Robo Roku and This Creative Life.

See you there!

Little Printer

2011-11-30T07:49:00.001-06:00

Have you heard of Little Printer? I just saw it yesterday on Pinterest. It is so cute!

This is a little printer made by BERG Cloud that links up to an app on your iPhone or Android phone and prints a tiny newspaper on receipt paper for you. You subscribe to the things you're interested in and get a happy little newspaper. :-) You can print reminders for yourself like birthdays from contacts or to do lists. You can also print news you are interested in and fun puzzles! It even links up with your foursquare account so you can visit the places your friends like. There are so many fun things you can add to your tiny newspaper.

Hello Little Printer, available 2012 from BERG on Vimeo.

This product will be released some time in 2012. I hope it's affordable because I would love to have one to play with.

I love discovering fun new apps and gadgets for my iPhone. Have you found any cool new apps recently?

Treasury - Peppermint Pretties

2011-11-29T16:05:00.001-06:00

I had a little trouble coming up with a fun treasury idea for today. I guess I'm still adjusting to my regular work schedule so I'm a little tired. My friend Maja had a great suggestion to make a peppermint themed treasury. I love it! It makes me want to go to Starbucks and order a peppermint mocha! :-)

Here is Peppermint Pretties!

{click an image to be directed to the listing}

Candy Cane Peppermi... KBShimmer $5.50	Peppermint Candy Fa... LookCoy $55.00	Whipped Sugar Scrub... BungalowBathBo... $10.00	Petite Cake Garland... cottonbirddesi... $23.00
PEPPERMINT Christma... jellybeanstudi... $15.00	Christmas Bow Tie -... BigpawCollars $11.75	Felt Ornament Choco... ViviansKitchen $8.00	SALE 2 Peppermint H... lupin $5.00
Holiday Peppermint ... TwoSugarBabies $15.00	Holiday Peppermint ... rosirouge $28.00	Dashiell the Baby F... tweeling $20.00	Big Top Ring - Red ... WildWomanJewel... $17.00
Upcycled Womens Cas... CashmereRose $54.00	Cloth Baby Shoes (P... downytreetoys $18.00	Peppermint Bark - L... LemonCitrus $3.50	PDF PATTERN Felt Pe... sewlovetheday $3.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Music Monday - Welcome to the Workin' Week

2011-11-28T05:51:00.001-06:00

I had a four day weekend for the holiday show and then the next week I had a four day weekend for my sister's visit. This was a four day weekend because of Thanksgiving. I haven't worked a full week almost all month! It's been so nice! Today is the first day of my first regular week since the beginning of the month. I am not thrilled with waking up at 5:00 and going to work again. :( Oh well. Guess it had to happen eventually. Luckily we have some more days off for Christmas so December won't be too bad.

In honor of Monday I would like to welcome you to the workin' week with a little Elvis Costello.

Welcome to the Working Week by Elvis Costello on Grooveshark

Renegade Craft Fair

2011-11-27T15:52:00.001-06:00

Today I went to the first ever Renegade Craft Fair Austin Holiday Show and it was awesome! Want to see what I got?

I got this awesome Cupster ring from Robo Roku.

I also got a super cute button pin and a boombox necklace from This Creative Life. I'm so excited about these!

I even added a new plushie to my growing collection! This one is from one of my favorites, Mr. Sogs. YAY!!!

Oh! Knitta Please was there, too!

Fun, fun, fun!

What did you do this weekend?

I'm off to sew. I took a little time (more than I planned) to be lazy and read books after the holiday show so now it's time to get to work on Christmas orders and new designs for the new year. I have lots of fun ideas! :-)

StickyGram

2011-11-25T08:16:00.001-06:00

Have you heard of StickyGram? I saw it on Pinterest the other day and now I am in love! StickyGram is a company that will print your Instagram photos onto magnets for you! Isn't that awesome?? For $14.99 you can get a sheet of 9 photos. Even better...shipping is free! This is a great gift idea. It could be fun for product photos, too.

I can't wait to try this!

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T14:14:00.009-06:00

On Thanksgiving we cook lots of food

and spend time enjoying it with friends and family and give thanks for our many blessings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

p.s. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is on ABC tonight. Don't forget! :-)

Happiness is...A Good Book

2011-11-23T08:18:00.001-06:00

Reading books is very high on my list of favorite things to do along with crafting and music. I have been really busy lately so I haven't had time to sit down and enjoy a good book in way too long. But that's all about to change. Now that the holiday show is over I have a little more time to relax while I work on Christmas and consignment orders and I can't wait to read some of the books I have been wanting to read all year.

Another reason for my renewed excitement to read is this.

My sister gave me a Kindle Fire for my birthday so now I don't have to drive to the bookstore to get a book. I can download it whenever I want to! I'm so excited! I love that I can use it for more than reading books, too. Words with Friends is so huge on that thing! ;-)

I finally started reading The Hunger Games this week and I am hooked! I can't stop reading! I asked for book suggestions on Twitter and Facebook this weekend so I have a good list to keep me reading for a while. I'm so glad people sent suggestions because I am terrible at choosing my own books. This is going to be a great holiday season!

Do you have any good book suggestions for me? I would love to hear them.

Treasury - Buttons!!!

2011-11-22T14:17:00.001-06:00

It's Treasury Tuesday! Today's treasury was inspired by something I saw in the Etsy Finds email.

Did you see this giant button from Lupin Handmade?? It is magnificent!

It's not a secret that I love buttons. I have written at least a couple of blog posts all about the wonderfulness of them here on my blog and they are a main feature in many of my own craft projects. Today after I saw this button I found myself searching Etsy for more buttons. These are just a few of the fun buttons I found.

Click an item to be directed to the listing on Etsy.

Button/Paper Flower... SewColorfulDes... $2.75	SANTAS WORKSHOP But... chocolatecupca... $8.50	Four Hole Rimmed Bu... MoldMuse $6.50	6 pcs, Fabric Cover... cozzymom $2.00
Wood Buttons - Six ... TimberGreenWoo... $3.95	Flower Fabric Butto... AbbyIris $4.70	Ooooo Baby 15 Vinta... AddVintage $5.00	20 Painted Wood But... BohemianFindin... $8.95
Recycled Skateboard... sevenply $12.00	1 x Giant 8cm / 3i... lupin $5.00	Crochet Flower Ring... MakingsofShann... $79.50	Oval glass buttons,... SunnyButtons $6.50
1 Inch Fabric Cover... katejdthee $12.00	Antique China Butto... AnAntiqueAffai... $14.99	Sewing Buttons - Co... SweeterLemon $5.00	Lot of 25 Natural W... ButtonsNDesign... $7.75

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Now I need your honest opinion. I love to make buttons. That's why I make button jewelry. Ever since I opened my shop this year I have considered not only selling button jewelry but also making sets of buttons to sell as supplies at Dreaming in Craft. I just can't decide if that's too different from the finished product items I sell. Do you have any thoughts on this? In your opinion, is it okay to sell supplies and finish products together? Just curious. :-)

Music Monday - Float On

2011-11-21T11:41:00.001-06:00

The holiday show is over so it's time to get back to my regular blog schedule. That means it's Music Monday time!

Today I picked Float On by Modest Mouse. I have been listening to this song a lot lately. It seems to be a theme song for me when things aren't going so well.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about what I want to do with my life. I just feel like things aren't going at all like I would like them to. I turned 30 this week (EEKS!!!). I always thought by the time I was 30 I would know what I wanted to be when I grew up. Well, I'm now a "grown up" and I have no clue. In a perfect world I would have a successful business selling things I make but I know that takes time and will not support me completely for a very long time if ever. So, now I have to do some soul searching and figure things out. Do I go back to school? Do I stay where I am? If I go back to school, what do I study?? I have applied for jobs and can't even get an interview anywhere. I feel trapped in a job I don't like, and while it's not terrible, it seems even worse knowing that I'm stuck there.

When I get down like this I turn to music to cheer me up. And this is one of the songs I like to listen to.

I promise I won't have tons of posts venting about this stuff. I just needed to get it out of my system. I'll be back tomorrow with a new Etsy treasury! :-)

Austin Craft Riot Holiday Show 2011

2011-11-18T09:41:00.001-06:00

Hi! I have been away for a little while. The past couple of weeks have included the holiday show, my birthday and house cleaning to get ready for my sister's visit this weekend.

I wanted to stop by to show you a few of the pictures I took of my booth at the Austin Craft Riot Holiday Show. I didn't get many pictures. I just didn't think about it during the craziness. Next show I'll try to do better.

This is the booth I shared with my awesome friend Bridget from LPF Designs.

I love the way it turned out. With all of the lights and stars it really stood out in the room.

This is my table. I love my new banner!

I'm going to be making some small changes to my displays for my next show but over all I'm very happy with the way it looked. It was a great weekend and I'm so happy that Austin Craft Riot was my first big show. I can't wait to do another one! :-)

Austin Craft Riot Holiday Show

2011-11-11T21:55:00.001-06:00

After months of preparations the day is finally here! This weekend is the 4th Annual Austin Craft Riot Holiday Show!

If you live in the Austin area be sure to stop by and say hi. I'm sharing a booth with my friend Bridget from LPF Designs. Get there early if you can. The first 25 people each day will receive a really awesome goodie bag full of handmade stuff from our vendors.

For those of you who don't live here I'll do my best to take some booth pictures so you can see. :-)

Have a great weekend!

Project Pictures

2011-11-08T05:46:00.000-06:00

I like to take pictures of my projects but since I have been making so much lately I haven't really had time to stop and photograph everything to show you. I did get a chance last week and this weekend to photograph at least a couple of the projects I worked on with my phone.

I made this flower cell phone case.

I made a few more carrot plushies, too!

I made a couple of new embroidery hoops to take to Austin Craft Riot this weekend so I'll take pictures of them today and show you tomorrow. I had a long list of hoops I wanted to make but I ran out of time so I will only have a few. Oh well. Next time I'll try to spread out my projects better. It's all a learning process this time. :-)

Have you been working on any fun projects this week?

Music Monday - Brett Dennen

2011-11-07T08:08:00.000-06:00

It's Monday. So far this has been a very rough start to a week that needs to go smoothly. I still have a ton of work to do for the craft show this weekend and then my sister is coming the following weekend so I'm pretty stressed out. I wish I could keep up with everything and still have blog posts regularly but I just can't seem to keep up these days. I have lots of things I want to write about but I'm too tired by the time I get done with everything else. So, hopefully next week when this show is over I'll get back to normal a little bit. For now, I have a music monday posts with a great song from Brett Dennen. I hope you like it! :-)

"Comeback Kid (That's My Dog)" Official Music Video from Brett Dennen on Vimeo.

Frazzle Frenzy

2011-11-02T15:23:00.001-05:00

Remember the Frazzles?

So far I have made them in red and white and I love them. I really wanted to make more colors but I couldn't find any other colors in stores. I looked around the internet to see what I could find but couldn't find it anywhere! While I was searching I found a shop located in California that was selling fuchsia furry fleece so I ordered some. I noticed that she used to have other colors listed so I emailed her to ask when she would be getting more. That's when I heard the bad news. All of the colors except the red and white and some other darker colors were discontinued! WHY?? I was so sad!

until...

The shop owner emailed me again and told me she had some remnant pieces of the other colors that would probably be big enough for me to make at least a few of each color! YAY!!! She sold me the larger pieces that she had and shipped them to me with the fuchsia.

Here is a sneak peek at some of the upcoming Frazzle colors.

These will only be available for a limited time so be sure to keep an eye out for your favorite color at Dreaming in Craft!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T08:10:00.001-05:00

I love to watch cute animations for all of the different holidays. I found a great one to share with you this Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Surprise

2011-10-25T06:01:00.001-05:00

Do you remember Kandi?

and Sweetie?

Yesterday I went to Etsy (like I do every day) and was greeted by a very happy message from J. Monster at I Only Like Monsters. She featured these two plushies on her blog last week! How cool is that?? It was such a pleasant surprise. If you're a fan of cute monsters this is the blog for you. There are so many for you to enjoy!

Wristaches are here!

2011-10-24T05:30:00.000-05:00

November is almost here! I have been waiting for months to list Wristaches at Dreaming in Craft and now I finally can.

For those of you who don't know, Movember happens every November. During this time men choose to not shave for the entire month to help raise awareness and funding for research for cancers that affect men. I decided that the ladies needed a cute and fun way to show their support for the men in their life so I made a felt wrist cuff with a cute little mustache embroidered on it and called it a Wristache.

Head over to Dreaming in Craft to get yours today! If you would like a wristache but don't see the color you want just message me on Etsy. I have lots of pretty colors to choose from. :-)

Hey You Guys!!

2011-10-23T11:01:00.001-05:00

That scene has nothing to do with this blog post. The Goonies was on tv this morning and when that movie comes on everything stops so I can watch. I love it! :-)

It has been a very busy weekend of sewing for me. The Austin Craft Riot Holiday Show is coming up really soon and I still have a ton of stuff to make. I'm trying to get as much done on the weekends as I can since I'm so tired on week nights and can't work very fast. So far this weekend I have made these.

I'm going to spend my day today making as many zipper pouches as I can. I'm about halfway done with the pouches I am taking to the holiday show so I have a lot of work ahead of me. I love making the zipper pouches so this is going to be a very fun day. :-)

What have you been working on this weekend?

Let's Play Dress Up

2011-10-21T06:03:00.000-05:00

Well, I don't think anyone will be wearing this dress but it is pretty amazing.

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This wooden lace gown was made by On Aura Tout Vu. If you happen to be in Calais, France you should stop by the Lace and Fashion Museum to see it. ;-)

Happy Friday!

Labels

2011-10-20T08:07:00.000-05:00

When you own a small business like I do you have to think of so many things. You have to have business cards, product packaging, displays...the list goes on forever! But, with a small business comes a small budget so we have to get creative. I have been very lucky to have help from friends in getting my business going this year, but I am always on the hunt for great ideas to help my business grow. Pinterest has been a great source of ideas for me.

Yesterday while looking around the DIY section of Pinterest I came across this great tutorial from Bug & Bird on how to make your own tags with ribbon. You can find the tutorial here.

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I love this idea! Since I'm already so far along on my holiday show items (and yet still so very far behind...hehe) I will wait to do this until after the show with my new products but I'm so excited to try it. It will be nice to have my business name sewn into things so people will remember where they got it...and hopefully tell their friends. ;-)

Right now I have cardstock tags that I printed with my logo on them that I attach to my consignment items but I think I might try to attach my logo to felt with this tutorial and use those. I'll be sure to write a post about it to let you all know how it goes. It may be a total failure but it will at least be fun to try.

Do you have any fun handmade packaging ideas that you use for your business?

Giveaway Goodness

2011-10-18T08:26:00.000-05:00

Last week I was very fortunate to be approached by two sweet bloggers celebrating blog milestones asking me to participate in some really great giveaways. I wanted to share these with you in case you would like to join in the celebration and possibly win some Dreaming in Craft goodies.

The first blog belongs to Mary Ann. She posts beautiful pictures and is celebrating reaching 100 followers. Congratulations, Mary Ann!

My contribution to this giveaway is a mini owl plushie like this one. The winner gets to choose the colors!

The next blog belongs to Talia and it's really cute. She has some great pictures in her photography section, too. Talia is celebrating 300 posts on her blog! That's a huge accomplishment. For this giveaway I have donated this necklace. :-)

It makes me feel very happy to know that people enjoy my work enough to ask me to participate in their celebrations. Thanks, ladies! Congratulations! :-)

Frazzle

2011-10-17T05:57:00.000-05:00

It's finally time to officially name this plushie!

Thank you so much to everyone who submitted name ideas and voted. You guys are so creative! What would I do without you? :-)

With a total of four votes Frazzle was the winner! Congratulations, Maja! You win a Frazzle! I'll contact you this week to make arrangements for me to deliver it.

Frazzles could always use more friends so this weekend I made a white Frazzle, too!

Even if you didn't win the contest you can still get a Frazzle of your own. Just head over to Dreaming in Craft on Etsy! I will also have some available at the Austin Craft Riot Holiday Show on November 12th - 13th. I hope to see you there!

Carol Carrot

2011-10-16T13:53:00.000-05:00

This weekend I have been working a lot on my holiday show projects. I took off work Friday to have an extra work day so I can be ready in time for the show. Well, this week my car decided to get sick so I spend part of Friday dealing with that. Long story short, I was planning on trading my car in for a more craft show friendly car at the end of next year and now it looks like it might be the end of this year. Stress!

Anyway, I did manage to get a couple of things finished on Friday and I posted pictures up on my facebook, twitter and google+ pages. My friend Cassie messaged me and asked if I could make her a felt carrot for her daughter's bunny Halloween costume. The store in Austin where I buy my felt is completely out of orange and white felt right now (how convenient...thank you Halloween) so I had to special order some fancy schmancy felt online just to finish my holiday show projects. I ended up going to Hobby Lobby and getting some orange fleece instead. I have really started to like working with fleece lately so plan to see more of that in my plushie designs in the future. I wasn't sure what I was going to do for the leaves so I got some green ribbon and decided to play around with it to see what I liked.

What do you think?

Cassie said that she saw the carrot as a Carol so that's her name! Easy peasy!

It was nice to take a little break from making the same things over and over again for the holiday show and do something brand new. I have a bunch of orange fleece leftover so I ordered some more safety eyes and I will be making a couple to take to the holiday show. You will probably be seeing one of these up on Etsy soon, too! I'm so excited! It makes me happy to do things like this for my friends and to get to create something new. :-)

p.s. I have a favor to ask you. Can you head over to my voting post and vote for a name for my new plushie? Two names are tied and voting closes today. I can only have on name. Thanks! :-)

Blog Action Day 2011

2011-10-16T09:15:00.000-05:00

Today is Blog Action Day and I have been trying to come up with something to write for two weeks. Last year was easy for me because I already had knowledge about lack of clean drinking water around the world. I knew about charity:water and Blood Water Mission's work so I had a lot of information to share. This year Blog Action Day is about food in honor of World Food Day. I had no idea what to write about.

I started doing a little reading about the famine in Africa and found some interesting information on One.org. Due to a drought there is a food shortage there and so many people are dying because of it. 30,000 children died in three months! That's so sad and not necessary. One is proposing a program called Fight the Famine, Feed the Future where they educate people about food and farming and help them to sustain the markets themselves.

Here are a couple of examples.

In Kenya, the US and it's partners have people to build rainwater catchment systems made out of local rock and use drip irrigation systems - to make sure they have drinking water and water for their farms when the dry season starts.

In Tanzania, the Vitamin A for Africa campaign educates mothers and children about the nutritious benefits of orange sweet potatoes, and agriculture advisors introduce farmers to this crop so that they can meet the demand from moms.

These sound like very small things but they can impact a community and it's economy in huge ways. So, One has asked that we sign a petition showing our support by asking the US government to help fund programs like this that will save thousands of lives in Africa. I signed and I hope that you will, too. :-)

Be sure to check back here this afternoon. I have a new plushie to share with you...and just by crazy, random happenstance it's a food plushie! I'll tell you the story about it later. See you then! :-)

Time to Vote

2011-10-14T08:52:00.000-05:00

There were ten entries in the Name Game contest! I'm really excited that so many people participated.

Let's name this plushie!

Just comment with your name choice. Voting will be open until Sunday at 10:00 pm. I will announce the winner on Monday!

Here are your choices.

Fuzzy Wuzzy

Wee Wuzzle

Frazzle

Shaggy Chic

Frazz the Fuzz

Wezley

Fro Joe

Sprizzle

Mr. Fuzz

Bob

Treasury - Monster Mash

2011-10-12T05:55:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since I had time to make an Etsy treasury. I thought I would take a little break and make one. :-)

I love to make monsters. Remember Seymour?

In honor of Seymour I made a fun treasury filled with cute little monsters. This is Monster Mash.

Click the pictures to be directed to the listings on Etsy.

Book Monster Bookma... Lunanshee $1.00	Felt Monster Toy Se... janiegirlcraft... $60.00	Abominable Snowman.... LittleAsianSwe... $9.00	Cutest amigurumi al... sabahnur $23.00
Chomper The Blue Mo... TheTinyFig $12.75	Pon Pon Bear - Monc... cheekandstitch $34.00	Cute Blue Creature ... creatureness $7.00	Frankenstein Shoes ... emandsprout $25.00
Greg Ladies Organic... chubbyturtle $35.00	Georgie Space Crab cottonmonster $55.00	Orange Monster Felt... craftingwithlo... $26.00	Smonster, Four-Pron... ShandySparks $20.00
Brondo the Recycled... Trigo $15.00	Cherry Red cute plu... FluffyFlowers $8.00	Zooguu Monster Plus... Zooguu $40.00	Monster Chunks - bu... neededwanted $10.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Product Photography

2011-10-10T06:07:00.000-05:00

When I first started Dreaming in Craft I bought a small light tent to take pictures of my products when I couldn't get outside in the natural light. I haven't really used it much because I have been able to take most of my pictures outside. This weekend we finally got rain in Texas after months of nothing! Everyone was really excited! But, I had a problem. I had a new plushie and a contest that needed to be posted on my blog and it was way too gloomy and wet to photograph anything outside. So, I set up the light tent.

This is a picture of Rio that I took with a white fleece backdrop outside earlier this year.

It's not bad. I always wished the backdrop was brighter but it was good enough to use.

This is a picture of my new plushie that I took using my light tent with the exact same white fleece backdrop.

Can you see the difference? I'll put them side-by-side for you so you can compare better.

I can't believe how much brighter it looks in the light tent! I will be using it from now on for all of my product pictures. I'm even considering retaking my other product photos after the holiday show is over.

If you have a small craft business like me and have been considering buying a light tent but didn't know if it was worth the money, I can tell you that it is. I got a whole kit including the box, backdrops, camera stand and two lights. It even folds into a nice little package for easy storage.

My kit looks a lot like this.

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It's nothing fancy but it does what I need and it's the perfect size for my products. I found mine on ebay and it really didn't cost much considering how much you get with it. I recommend looking around the internet to see what you can find in your price range. You will be so happy you did.

The Name Game - Part Two

2011-10-09T16:30:00.000-05:00

I have been trying to come up with a brand new mini plushie for the holiday show for weeks. I tried drawing lots of mini monsters but I didn't really like any of them. So, I decided to try something completely different.

This is what I made!

Felt will always be the main fabric I used to make my plushies. I love it way too much. But, I am hoping to try incorporating some other fabrics into my designs next year to expand my plushie collection. This plushie is made of furry fleece (aka the messiest fabric ever!). It works great for making something look furry while still keeping it soft and cuddly. :-)

I was inspired by two things when I made this plushie. Last year I made a chibi plushie for my friend's daughter and I really wanted to figure out a fun way to make Soot Sprites.

I started to make one out of yarn but I really wanted to make them out of fabric. I got busy and never got around to it. Then this week I was taking a little break and playing Chuzzle on my phone (I'm hooked!) and thought it might be fun to make a furry little plushie that looked a bit like a Chuzzle.

And that is how my new plushie came to be. :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now I need your help. I don't know what to name this plushie! Will you help me? I decided to have another contest like I had for the Love Bites and ask for suggestions. I will then open it up to a vote and the winner will get one of these little guys for a prize! What do you think? Do you want to play?

Here's how it works...

1. Comment on this post with your name, name idea and an email address where I can contact you for shipping info if you win. Names will be accepted until Thursday, October 13th.

2. Voting will open on Friday, October 14th and last through Sunday, October 16th.

3. The winning name will be announced on Monday, October 17th.

p.s. I have been having trouble finding more colors of the furry fleece. I have tried the fabric stores I know of in Austin and I tried to find some online with no luck. Do any of you know where I can find some? Your help would be much appreciated. :-)

Blue Toucan

2011-10-05T08:13:00.000-05:00

You may have seen this shop this morning on Etsy because it was on the front page, but I had to share it in case you missed it. This shop is called Blue Toucan Creative and it sells fairy doors! Yes, I said fairy doors. It's such a sweet idea!

Look at this cuteness!

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This one looks like a little mushroom!

{source}

Wouldn't these be a fun gift for someone who loves to garden? They would be really cute for a kids room, too!

Blog Action Day 2011

2011-10-04T10:53:00.000-05:00

Last year I participated in Blog Action Day for the first time. This is a day where bloggers come together once a year and write about the same topic to raise awareness about it. Last year the topic was water. I wrote a post about an organization called charity:water. I also made Rio, a plushie to raise money for charity:water.

Rio is still available at Dreaming in Craft. All money made from the sale of this plushie will be donated directly to charity:water.

This October 16th bloggers around the world will come together to talk about food in honor of World Food Day. There aren't a lot of people registered under the craft category so I hope you will join in. You can register your blog on the Blog Action Day website and also find resources to help you with ideas and information for your post. This is a great way to connect with other bloggers, too.

Have you participated in Blog Action Day before? What did you write about?

You Make Beautiful Things

2011-10-03T06:16:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday! I mean...happy monday? Yeah, I think this is going to be a good Monday. :-)

A few weeks ago some friends told me about Gungor and I wanted to share this song with you. It's called Beautiful Things.

New Zipper Pouches

2011-10-02T14:12:00.000-05:00

While working on my zipper pouches for the Austin Craft Riot Holiday Show I made two new designs. I love designs that are cute and simple so I decided to make zipper pouches with two of my favorite cute and simple things.

Balloons...

and bunting.

These will first be available at the holiday show but I will have them available at Dreaming in Craft after that...just in time for holiday shopping! :-)

What projects have you been working on this week?

Where am I?

2011-10-01T16:58:00.000-05:00

I'm over at Punk Projects! I wrote a guest post for Katie's blog about some homemade craft show displays I made using picture frames. Do you remember these?

Be sure to come back tomorrow. I have TWO new zipper pouches to show you!

Procrastination

2011-09-30T11:02:00.000-05:00

This is not what procrastination looks like for me! ;-)

Procrastination from ism studios on Vimeo.

Confessions

2011-09-29T18:51:00.002-05:00

Confession time. I usually try to leave this kind of stuff off the blog because it's supposed to be a fun place to share my creative adventure with you. But, since this is a part of that creative adventure I'm going for it. You can read it or skip it. It's up to you. I'll have more fun and happy posts this weekend. :-)

As you may have noticed my blog posts haven't been as regular as they used to be for a while now. Well, here's why. I have been working hard getting ready for the holiday show and it is consuming ~~most~~ (ALL) of my time. When I do have time to blog it's at 5:00 in the morning or 11:00 at night and I'm too tired to even think about writing anything. I have fun ideas but no energy to write about them.

Don't get me wrong. I love what I'm doing. This post may not make it seem that way, but I do. Being creative and making things is what I want to do. I just wasn't prepared for all that goes into it. I have about a month and a half left and I'm way behind where I would like to be. I know that things will be better once I get through my first show but right now I am stressed.

I don't know how much to make, I have to buy everything and time is going way too fast. All of my money is spent on supplies and displays. I'm starting with no inventory and no displays. Since I'm so busy preparing I can't take the time to sell at any smaller markets so everything is coming from me and money is tight! Since I am so busy I don't have time for anything else and I'm pretty sure most of my friends have forgotten that I exist. It's kind of a lonely time but this is really the time I need a friend to talk to the most.

I have so many new product ideas but no time to work on them. After the holiday show I'm going to work on Christmas orders that I have already received (YAY!) and then I'm going to focus on new products. I can't wait! I love making the products I have now but I am ready to get creative and experiment with new things. I do have a couple of new things I'm working on for the holiday show so I'm excited about that. :-)

When I get really down I try to remind myself that I'm doing what I love and that makes it worth all the stress. I think this is the first time I have ever been really sure about something. This is what I want to do. My hope is to work on growing my business enough to do this full time in the next few years. I know it's going to take a lot of work and I'm going to fail and make mistakes and have to try new things to figure out what products work and how to run a business so I have to be patient. That is easier said than done. ;-)

{source}

It feels good to get that all out. It really does relieve the stress a little bit to vent about it. Hopefully I can move on and finish preparing for the show. If you survived this post and decide to come back I will have a new zipper pouch design to show you this weekend. It's my new favorite!

What have you been up to lately? I'm so behind on blogs. I miss you guys!

Percy

2011-09-25T17:47:00.000-05:00

I have been working on new mini plushies to add for the holiday show. I like to try to have a mini version of the bigger plushies so I decided it was time to make a mini penguin to go with Penny.

Meet Percy. He's a cute mini felt penguin.

What do you think? I really love this one. It took me a while to decide on a size but now I'm really happy with it.

My favorite part is his tiny feet!

I will be making a few of these to take to the Austin Craft Riot Holiday Show in November. For now you can find Percy at Dreaming in Craft. :-)

Happy Birthday, Jim Henson

2011-09-24T09:09:00.000-05:00

Today is Jim Henson's 75th birthday!

Did you see the Google Doodle today? Someone made these videos of it. It's pretty funny. :-)

Okay, I'm off to start my crazy day. So far I have been cutting out zipper pouches and getting my coupons ready for a big craft supply shopping trip to Joann's today. I have to go to my consignment stores and see what I need to restock and go to Stitch Lab to buy felt, too. I'm almost out of everything!

That's just the errands I have to run today. This afternoon I'm going to see Rain!!! I'm so excited!

What are you up to today?

Ladder Stitch

2011-09-22T12:25:00.000-05:00

Don't you love learning new things? When I started this blog I barely knew how to sew. Sure, I could sew straight lines on my sewing machine thanks to the two quilt classes I had taken but that was about it. I was totally intimidated by the thought of ever hand sewing anything. I am happy to say that I have learned a lot since then. But, I also have a lot left to learn.

When I make a big plushie I hand sew all of the details, machine sew it together and hand stitch it closed after stuffing it. Since I had limited knowledge on sewing I always used the whip stitch (well, my version of it because I really don't know how to do it) to close the plushies. It worked fine and looked okay, too. But, in the back of my mind I really wanted to learn how people closed their plushies so it didn't show at all. Last week a friend sent me a link to a tutorial for the ladder stitch that she found on Fern & Freckle. This is what I had been looking for! I just didn't know what it was called so I couldn't look for it. :-) I was so excited!

Last weekend while I was working on plushies for the Austin Craft Riot Holiday Show I decided to give it a try. The tutorial was awesome, but I was still having a little trouble figuring out from the photos where the thread went into the fabric. So, my hunt for the perfect video tutorial began...

It didn't take long to find it. This tutorial is awesome! She explains it well and demonstrates it perfectly. I love that it's really close up.

That little trick at the end for the knot (that most people probably already know) is so awesome! Seriously, I geeked out a little too much over that. ;-)

Since learning how to use the ladder stitch I have made two and they look awesome! I am so excited to work on some more this weekend when I get some more felt.

Have you learned any new crafty things lately?

Music Monday - Bob Schneider

2011-09-19T10:25:00.000-05:00

Today's music monday is another Austin favorite of mine, Bob Schneider. He has a newish record out (it came out in April) and the latest song to be played on the radio from it is Honeypot.

I would have posted the actual video but they don't allow embedding. Grr...argh!

I love the chorus.

Got a heart lost in kindness
A mind that's mostly mindless
I can hold you up for air
I won't let you down I swear

I have burnt down my past
I'm lost, I'm built to last
I'm built to break, but that's okay

I first heard this song at a show last November and it became one of my favorites. I bought the recording of the show and listened over and over again. I was so happy to hear it on the radio recently. But, there really is something about hearing a song live. It's always so much better. I really miss getting out to shows. It's my favorite thing to do but I never really get to go. Hopefully soon I'll have time to go have some fun. :-)

Are there any songs you have been listening to a lot lately? I love new music suggestions.

Have a great Monday!

Busy Bee

2011-09-17T13:47:00.001-05:00

Hi! How is your weekend going? I'm busy working on plushies for the Austin Craft Riot Holiday Show, but I wanted to stop by and show you some pictures of the owl plushies I made last weekend.

I made two large owl plushies

and one mini owl plushie.

These plushies are available at Dreaming in Craft. You can save 15% through September 30th by using coupon code SUMMER11 at check out.

Okay, I'm off to make some more plushies. I'm working on a penguin right now. :-)

Have a great weekend!

Dreaming in Craft Sale

2011-09-16T05:56:00.001-05:00

I have some fun news to share with you. If you received the newsletter on September 1st then you already know...

Dreaming in Craft if having a sale!!!

To wish Summer a fond farewell (even though it's still HOT here) and get you started on your holiday shopping early I'm having a sale from September 16-30. That's two whole weeks of savings! Just use coupon code SUMMER11 when you check out at the Etsy shop and you can save 15%!

I added a few new items last week and I plan to add more throughout the sale so be sure to check back often. :-)

Mahna Mahna

2011-09-13T15:41:00.000-05:00

Sometimes when I'm sad I like to watch this video. It always makes me smile. :-)

Are there any videos you like to watch to help cheer you up when you're sad?

Crafted Magazine

2011-09-10T08:18:00.000-05:00

A while ago I posted a blog telling you that my fish bowl embroidery hoop was going to be in the very first issue of Crafted Magazine.

The magazine came out this week!

I am so excited! You can download it here for free. Definitely download it. It is so good!

Dom did such an amazing job on the magazine. I am so thankful that she chose to include some of my work in the first issue. I feel kind of weird having something I made in there with all of those really talented people. Thanks, Dom! :-)

Fabric Button Hair Pins

2011-09-08T05:51:00.000-05:00

I mentioned on Tuesday that I made 100 fabric buttons that later became 50 pairs of fabric button hair pins. My poor little fingers are still in shock from all that button making! ;-) I decided to list 10 pairs at

Dreaming in Craft.

Wondering where the other 40 pairs are? They're all going with me to the Austin Craft Riot Holiday Show! They may make an appearance here later on in a Holiday Show Sneak Peek post so stay tuned! ;-)

Austin Craft Riot Holiday Show

2011-09-07T11:29:00.000-05:00

I have been mentioning preparing for craft shows a lot lately so I thought I would fill you in on why I'm working so hard right now. On November 12th & 13th I will be participating in the 4th annual Austin Craft Riot Holiday Show!

This is the first big craft show I have ever done. I was so nervous about applying. I applied with my friend Bridget from LPF Designs and we got accepted! I can't wait to share a booth with her. It's been fun planning what we want our booth to look like. You should see her shop. She makes really beautiful stuff.

I'm a little worried about being ready in time since I have been busy working on consignment orders for two stores for the last couple of months but I think I'll have enough...I hope I'll have enough. ;-)

I will be posting lots of sneak peeks of the fun things I'm making and all of my new displays as I get them ready. Did you see the Dreaming in Craft sign I posted last weekend?

If you live in the Austin area you should come out and see us in November!

Holiday Weekend Crafting

2011-09-06T06:08:00.001-05:00

Hello! How was your long weekend? I was busy! My relaxing holiday weekend turned into a craft marathon. First I made 100 fabric buttons and turned them into 50 pairs of hair pins. Then I packaged all of those along with the felt flower accessories I have made. I'm getting everything craft show ready.

I also spent some time getting dreaming in Craft ready for Halloween! I made and listed two Halloween plushies in the shop. If you have been reading my blog for a while you may recognize these little cuties.

Kandi

I didn't make any changes to this pattern but I could tell that my sewing skills have improved a lot since last year. She came out so much more even. :-)

Boo

I wanted to make some modifications to this pattern before I made it again. Imagine my surprise when I went to get the pattern to work on it and it was gone! I have no idea what happened to it! I had to start from scratch. Oh well. It' a pretty simple pattern so it didn't take too long. This year Boo is a little bit taller and wider. Isn't he cute?

These plushies are now available at Dreaming in Craft. This weekend I also listed three bunting and ten pairs of fabric button hair pins. Come see!

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign

2011-09-03T16:16:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned before I have some things for sale at Atown here in Austin. I needed to make some sort of display for the store but I could not think of anything. I stressed about it until the very last minute. My last resort was going to be to make a picture frame similar to my magnetic picture frame with my logo so I went ahead and tried to make that. But then when I made it I loved it! I think it's perfect!

I used an 11x14 silver picture frame and covered it with blue fabric. I couldn't find the exact blue from my logo so I had to use a different blue. I actually like it that way more because the logo stands out more than if it matched exactly. Then I printed my logo on cardstock and some white felt clouds that matched the cloud in my logo and attached them to the fabric. Since the frame I bought was a hanging frame I bought a cute little silver stand for it and then I was done!

After talking to my friend Renee we decided it might be a little too big for my display at Atown so I ended up making an 8x10 version from the silver frame I used to make my magnetic frame.

I'm secretly happy that the 11x14 frame was too big because I can use it for my booth at craft shows now. :-) Yay!

Do you have any fun display ideas?

In Your Eyes - Cloud Illusions

2011-09-02T08:22:00.001-05:00

Are you ready for the September theme of In Your Eyes? I think this one is going to give us some really amazing pictures.

I have used this song in a post here before but I decided to use it again. :-)

The theme for this month is clouds! I love taking pictures of the sky. It's so beautiful! I especially love taking sunrise and sunset pictures. They never come out quite as beautiful as real life but it's still pretty.

I love the colors during sunrise and sunset.

It's so beautiful when the sun peaks out from behind the clouds.

To participate in this project all you have to do is take a picture of clouds and email it to me with a site to link back to you (i.e. your blog, flickr, online shop...whatever you want people to see) at dreamingincraft@gmail.com by Tuesday, September 27th. I will post the pictures on Friday, September 30th. Easy peasy. Have fun! I can't wait to see your pictures!

In Your Eyes - Circles

2011-08-31T08:39:00.000-05:00

This month's theme for In Your Eyes was circles. I love the creative things that people sent in! Everyone had such a unique set of circle pictures.

Jazmine from In Other words sent these amazing pictures of clouds and snow flakes.

I love sky pictures!

Kate from Scientific Culture sent in these awesome pictures of e-coli!

Isn't that cool??

I'm very sad that I didn't have time to take any new pictures for this month's theme. I had big plans to go on a circle hunt but completely ran out of time. Busy, busy! I do have some pictures of one of my favorite kind of circles...buttons!

This is a gift that Katja from Maechenmitherz sent me.

And these are some of my rings.

Be sure to check back for the new September theme tomorrow. :-)

CraZeeCrafteeZ

2011-08-30T16:15:00.002-05:00

I have mentioned before that I am a member of the Austin Craft Riot team. I love it so much. I have learned a lot in the short time that I have been a member. With all of the amazing talent and experience on that team I have some great people to learn from.

One of the team members, Manue from CraZeeCrafteeZ, makes some really amazing jewelry. She recently came out with a series of birthstone necklaces made from her paper beads. This is one of the most creative things I have seen in a very long time! I love it!

Each birthstone has a specially designed bead to represent it.

You can even have a birthstone necklace made with your birthstone and a smaller bead for your child!

These would make a perfect gift for the holidays. I have a feeling I will be purchasing a couple for family members when I start my Christmas shopping.

Be sure to check out the listing on Etsy and the rest of her beautiful shop. If you live in Austin you can find her work around town at some really great shops. A list of the stores she sells at is on her Facebook page.

Music Monday - Feist

2011-08-29T08:19:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned before, the new album from Feist coming out on October 3rd. She is posting sneak peeks of the album on her website up until the release date. The last album was so good...not a bad song on it...so I am very excited to hear the new one.

I was a little sad to see that she will only play one Texas show in Dallas but that seems to be the trend for artists these days. Oh well. At least I can enjoy the album when it comes out...over and over and over again. :-)

Feist has released this single for radio. Enjoy!

Have a great Monday!

Sanctuary Sneak Peek - Plushies

2011-08-27T07:46:00.003-05:00

Today is the last day I will be posting Sanctuary sneak peeks. I'll have a whole new set of things to show you starting next week. :-)

I saved my favorite item for last. Yep, it's the plushies! :-)

I took a couple of plushie designs. Notice that they have new colors, too! :-)

Seymour Monster

Pierre Owl (minus the mustache)

Penny Penguin

And...last but not least...I took one mini plushie to try out.

Archie

That's it! Now that you have seen everything you can buy at Sanctuary it's time to go shopping! ;-)

I'm working on finishing up some plushies for Atown this weekend. I'm taking the last batch this Wednesday. I'm also making a small Dreaming in Craft display. So much to do, so little time to do it. I guess I better get to work.

What are you up to this weekend?

Will It Go Round In Circles?

2011-08-23T08:16:00.001-05:00

This is just a friendly reminder that the deadline to email me pictures for In Your Eyes is Monday, August 29th. I have received awesome pictures from two people so far. I love how different they are.

All you need to do to participate is take pictures of circles and email them to me at dreamingincraft@gmail.com by Monday, August 29th with a link to whatever site of yours you want me to link back to. You deserve to get credit for your pretty pictures! :-)

I'm on a mission to take some new circle pictures this weekend. I haven't been able to go out just to take pictures in forever! I'm so excited!

Have a great day!

Music Monday - Dahebegebees

2011-08-22T17:30:00.000-05:00

I have been planning to post this for Music Monday for weeks and I keep forgetting. Today I would like to play you some great music from Dahebegebees.

2 Tears by DaHeBeGeBeeS from Laughing Eagle Productions on Vimeo.

This is a great Austin band that I just learned about last month when I went to see Jack Burton Trio play. They put on such a great show! Go see them if you can.

Okay, I'm off to catch up on my sewing. I'm still way behind on my Atown order. I planned to get some work done on my lunch break but genius me brought everything I needed for my sewing project...except the needles! Oh well. I got to listen to some great music instead. I heard a new song from Feist! I can't wait for her new album! :-)

BYE!!!

Fabric Button Hair Pins

2011-08-20T16:17:00.000-05:00

I applied for a holiday craft show and I needed to have a new idea for a gift to put in the goodie bags if I was accepted. My friend Bridget from Love Peace Family suggested making some fabric button hair pins to go along with the fabric button jewelry I already made. Great idea!

I made one sample for the application.

I took the sample with me to meet with Sanctuary and she liked them so I made a few more to take to the store.

I'm ordering supplies to make more for Atown and I'm considering adding a couple pairs to my shop, too. :-)

Have you been working on any new projects lately?

Sanctuary Sneak Peek - Buttons

2011-08-20T09:39:00.001-05:00

This week's Sanctuary Sneak Peek is all about the button jewelry!

Necklaces

I tried to pick bright, fun colors to fit in with such a bright, fun store.

Of course I have some rings, too.

Small

Large

Did you see the new packaging in the ring pictures? I love it!

So much cute stuff...but that's not all! Check back this afternoon so you can see the brand new item that I have available at Sanctuary!

I heart Stop Motion - Gulp

2011-08-19T08:28:00.000-05:00

I had lots of blog posts planned for this week...

None of them happened. I've been such a busy bee working on projects for Atown and since I hurt my back last weekend I've been working very slowly (aka I'm WAY behind!). I haven't really had time for blogging. This weekend I will have my regular Sanctuary Sneak Peek post on Saturday and I'm going to try something new on Sunday to see if I like it. I saw it on another blog and thought it could be interesting. I'm hoping to find some time to go out and take pictures soon, too. I miss it!

Today for my Friday video I have another awesome stop motion to share with you. This one is the world's largest stop motion! Want to know something even cooler? The entire stop motion is shot on a cell phone! They used a Nokia N8 for the entire thing. They mounted the tiny phone onto a huge crane to film it.

Gulp. The world's largest stop-motion animation shot on a Nokia N8. from Nokia HD on Vimeo.

I always love to see how people make their stop motion videos because I plan on making my own one of these days... ;-)

Gulp. The making of. from Nokia HD on Vimeo.

Have you been taking any circle pictures for In Your Eyes? The deadline is fast approaching. Be sure to send your pictures to me at dreamingincraft@gmail.com by Monday, August 29th. I got some really great pictures from Kate at Scientific Culture. I can't wait for you to see them!

Cute for a Cause

2011-08-16T10:41:00.000-05:00

I ran out of time to make a treasury again this week. Between getting my consignment orders ready, preparing for the holidays and hurting my back (again!) I ran out of hours. But, not to worry. I found something really cute on Etsy yesterday that I couldn't resist showing you.

This little plush Hello Kitty headband from munchikitty is so adorable!

The best part about this headband is that all of the proceeds will be donated to Charity:Water! This makes me very happy. :-)

Don't forget...all the money made from the sale of Rio at Dreaming in Craft is donated to Charity:Water, too!

Have you ever donated any of your art or crafts to charity? I would love to hear about it.

Have a great day!

Music Monday - Jonathan Larson

2011-08-15T20:25:00.000-05:00

It's no secret if you know me that I love musicals...and that my very favorite musical is Rent. Since Rent is open again off Broadway (I wish I could go!) Broadwayworld.com wrote a piece about Jonathan Larson and Rent in celebration of its return. The best part of it is that they posted recordings of Jonathan and other artists singing his beautiful songs.

These are just a few. To see them all (and you should) you can find the article here.

Let's start with Jonathan singing One Song Glory from Rent. This is one of my favorite songs from the show.

This is the recording from the original cast recording.

Here is Jonathan singing La Vie Boheme.

And the original cast again.

It's interesting to hear the things that ended up changing in the final product.

Okay, I'm off to watch Rent and make some plushies for Atown! I hope you enjoyed my little geek out music monday! :-)

Sanctuary Sneak Peek - Accessories

2011-08-13T08:26:00.000-05:00

It's time to see more of the goodies I took to Sanctuary this week. Today I'm going to share the accessories I took...with some new packaging!

Flower Ponytail Holders

Large Flower Hair Clips

Small Flower Hair Clips

I got all eight colors packaged to go but at the last minute I decided to take five colors to try them out. If people like them I will take more colors.

This is my new packaging. I feel like a real business now that I have packaging. I may not use the plastic for stores next time but I like the idea of having it for shows.

This weekend I will be making some zipper pouches and cell phone cases to take to Atown next week. Then it's time for plushies! I'm so excited!

What are you working on this weekend?

I Heart Stop Motion - Post-It Animation

2011-08-12T08:13:00.000-05:00

Do you remember the stop motion I posted a long time ago called Deadline? It was made using post-its and I love it! This week I found an even more amazing post-it stop motion. This one is the world's largest! It's an animation that was made using 350,000 post-it notes. It was a promotion for a shoe store in Brazil.

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My favorite part about this animation is that the creators allowed people to write messages on the post-it notes. I would love to read them all. :-)