Crafting Envy

A New Years photo collection...







Sweet pajamas.








No pants and slippers, nice to be 3.








The birthday husband.








Ignore the closet mess in the background.

HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Was it good for you too? We had a very nice holiday with my sisters on Christmas and my husbands family on the Sunday after. I did end up getting a camera...and a book on HTML :). Now I'll just have to figure them all out. I didn't get my enormous list of crafty projects done for Christmas but I'm fairly pleased with the quality of what did get done. How bout you? Get everything checked off your lists?

My husbands birthday is January 1st. We've celebrated with his mom and dad every year he's been in the States for it (he's National Guard, deployed 3 times in 10 yrs). They are going to be out of town this year so it falls to me. It will be nice to have a quiet time at home with his best friend and his friend's fiance. Frozen appetizers and homemade salsa....low stress :).

Now I plot craftiness for my niece's birthday. She'll be 7 in March. I'm making a lovely fairy dress and wings for her. I'm excited about it :). My youngest sister has a birthday in February and I'm plotting craftiness for that too, it probably won't be finished but she usually doesn't mind. That brings up a question, I haven't told my family about my blog because I don't want any spoiling of presents to happen. Do any of you hide your blogging for similar reasons?

We got a smoker this fall and I am in love with it. We've smoked lots of chickens, a ham and even our Thanksgiving turkey breast. It is seriously nice to have a frozen bag of smoked chicken to make into a quick and easy meal. Here is my favorite.


This plate was for my little boy so it was light on the broth as to not let him get burned. It's the easiest thing to make, especially when you cheat. Here is my recipe.

• 2 cans Progresso Chicken Noodle soup
• 1 container of chicken stock
• smoked chicken, as much or as little as you like
• Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, Sea Salt, Pepper, Bay Leaf all to taste
• 1 package of frozen veggies, half steamed in the microwave.

Put the soup into a big pot add the chicken stock and spices. Defrost the chicken and throw it in, let it all heat for a bit on medium (15 minutes or so). Add the veggies at the last and heat them till tender enough for you and your family. Remove bay leaf and serve. Happy eating!

This one is for some Olive Garden gift cards. These things (the card holders) could become addictive. I think it's because I love tiny things and making tiny things is even more fun. Little bits of embroidery and felt ? Check. Smiling like an Idiot? Check.
In other news, my husband had me open one of my presents early. Its a book on editing photos in photoshop, I have a strong suspicion that a camera is one of my other presents. Maybe soon the photos of my projects won't be so awful :).

A few more things finished. The idea for these was from this tutorial but I switched it up a bit. I made the Penguin out of felt sewn or glued together and the bikini is white fleece and black stretch velvet (I love the bow! Too cute!) The bikini one gets a Victoria's Secret card and the penguin gets a Target gift card. I love to give gift cards because they are practical but I also love giving handmade things, so this works out perfectly :).

Something finally got finished! My niece's stocking is done. These pics are awful but until I get a real camera this is likely as good as it gets. I did the quilting on it before sewing the pieces together. I like how it turned out.




This is a close up of the little Swarovski crystals I put in each of the criss-crosses.






And hiding under the B is a burn hole from the little heater I was using to fix the gems in place. I switched to an iron after that. Live and learn.

Had a bit of fun with squirrels today. I strung some stale popcorn and left over Thanksgiving cranberries on some upholstery thread and tied them to my table outside like so..




Came back 15 minutes later to this....



Apparently they aren't fans of cranberries. Ingrates :).

Ah, the life of a baby.. Milk drunk in a sunbeam ;).

Most nights I fall asleep listening to BBC news on my little knock-off Ipod. There is something so soothing about british voices reading news...
Anyway, they talked about this auction last night and I just had to tell you about it. I especially liked the bit about her wedding dress, incredible :)

Wow. There are some times when you just stop and realize how neurotic you really are.
A few moments ago I was in the kitchen trying to make a birthday card for my father-in-law with Elliott's help. I have been trying to craft with him this Christmas now that he's old enough to do some things. I thought we could use the Martha Stewart glitter pack I purchased yesterday (30% off!). I put some glue on the page and gave him the bottle of glitter without even explaining how to shake gently so as not to use too much. I guess I was thinking he would somehow just intuitively know how to do this.
He immediately up-ends the bottle and douses the entire card with me saying "No, no you can't do it that way!" He's three fer cryin' out loud, how was he supposed to know this?
I didn't yell but I guess my tone of voice was enough because the tears came out and he no longer wanted to play with glitter..... Sigh, Parenting Epic Fail.
We'll try again tomorrow.

Have you ever tried to type with a squirmy 2 month old on your lap? I suspect many of you have. A bit challenging.
I am constantly amazed at the way so many of the blogging crafters handle family, careers, chores and crafting. They seem to do it with such grace and ease. That is part of why this blog is called Crafting Envy. Maybe if I visit their blogs often enough something will rub off on me... ;).

Some things on my project list are a quilt for the squirmy 2 month old girl (Elleanore). I started with this but its turned into something else entirely. I'll post pics when I can get some decent ones. My cell phone camera is not the best.
A stuffed robot for her older brother (Elliott) to hopefully be finished by Christmas. He's robot obsessed. Anyone have a good pattern for this sort of thing? I'm thinking square for ease of sewing :).
Christmas stockings for my two and my niece, an advent calendar for my mother-in-law, scrappy ornaments stuffed with coffee beans or spices for most everyone on my list(pics when I get a chance) , and a partridge in a pear tree...... Whew! Guess I should get started.

I have a million things on my Christmas sewing list and not a single one of them is getting done....not feeling inspired at the moment so instead, I'll tell you about some shops that I love!

• The Soapbox.com is a Fabulous place to get rare and delightful perfumes, soaps, and lotions. Pretty much anything that smells like heaven can be found here. I am a diehard fan of Arcana and Villainess...
  

• Modcloth.com Has beautiful dresses and some of the cutest jewelry, handbags, and house wares I've ever seen!

• Shanalogic.com Some of the most fearsomely cute items to ever be created are stocked by this store. Almost scary....

Guess I'll try to conquer some sewing now... :)

Where to begin?! I have been reading Crafty blogs for months now and absolutely love sooo many of the wonderful ladies that write them. I don't know how they juggle everything in their lives but they have inspired me to try to add a Blog to mine.
I will likely be posting bits about my life, ideas "borrowed" from other blogs (with proper credit given), and any other old thing that pops into my head. That sums it up pretty well....now I just need to figure out how to work this program :) Cheers!