and the crafting begins...

as you know if you are a frequenter of this blog, i wish i was crafty...but am making no moves towards actually being crafty. but the other day, after i spent countless hours searching etsy pages and bouncing around from one crafty mama blog to another, i decided that i just need to start. sure, i may not knit or sew...i may not have my own creative ideas...but i can find knitting patterns and give them to alyssa...and i can copy crafty people's ideas. and so today i set about a whirlwind of beginning steps of projects:

inspiration: michael's flyer

i got a flyer yesterday from michaels and there was a little ad about the free demo of how to make this countdown calendar. love it. but i thought - i can SEE how to make this. no problem. and today i began a search in michaels for these little silver cannisters. i was going to buy 24 and do a big advent calendar. i get to the store, search by myself for awhile and finally ask someone. she has no clue about the demo OR the little silver cannisters. i showed her a picture from the flyer and she left me to go ask someone. well i never saw that girl again but i did see a michaels lady walk by with a set of these little tins in her hands so i followed her. i asked her about them and as it turns out, they have none in store. what? you're doing a demo today in hopes to get people in the door to buy stuff and then you don't have the stuff they're going to want? so she showed me some other container options that i could make my calendar with. squares...hearts...hmm...so i thanked her and stood in that aisle for while contemplating. i decided on squares and they came in boxes of 18. so i'd have to buy 2 packages. and they were $30 each. yikes. so i was wandering with my 18 cannisters in hand and my friend, robyn, saw me. and she works at michaels. i told her my story and she's like, "i'm sure i saw those around here..." and i followed her to the candle section. little round silver tins in packages of 4 for $5 each...totalling $30 once i buy my 24. of course there were only 3 packages but she checked the langley michaels and apparently they have some there too.
yes...it's a long story to tell you that i'm planning on making an advent calendar this year. it's going to be in the shape of a christmas tree.

inspiration: an etsy store
i've been wanting something to hang my jewelry on for some time and since my jewelry collection is mostly earrings, this is the type of thing that i like. but when i saw this for sale online for $30, i thought, "i bet i could make that..."
so today i went to a couple thrift stores and found an old frame for $6 and then i went to home depot and got a roll of screen like you'd use on a window screen for $9. i plan to spray paint the frame tomorrow and we will see what happens.

inspiration: an article in a magazine that i think i might have already returned to the public library! shoot! it's a DIY little mural idea for a child's room. a wavy border of blue around the top of the room walls and a wavy border of brownish closer to the bottom of the room walls. then you paint three trees over top. it sounds hard but it looked really easy...hmm...

so while at home depot this afternoon, i checked the "oops" section in the paint department and found the perfect blue and brown for only $3 a can.

inspiration: a page out of nature babies by tara jon manning

soft play blox. these are sewn by hand...which i've never done before...but how hard could it be? haha. i saw these two pieces of felt at one of the thrift stores and bought them in case i speed through these other crafts and feel that i need more of a challenge. :)

lastly, one craft i'd planned on making when i left my house today shopping for supplies was this "taggie monster". i thought the tutorial looked do-able and let's face it: i need to get that sewing machine out and start trying it out again. this seemed like an easy enough project to get me back into the groove. but when i went into the fabric store today where EVERYTHING was 50% off because they're closing down, i was slightly overwhelmed. i walked around the entire store and then left. i didn't know what to do. i need to take a fabric-store-regular with me so i don't feel so out of place. so i decided that maybe the taggie moster is a new years type craft.

so keep watch for crafting updates.