Gag Gift Triumph

Every year my family is invited to my house to celebrate our Christmas season with a White Elephant game. We bring a $10 gift to be put in the middle of the room while we all sit in a circle around the pile of gifts. We all pick a number and choose a gift accordingly in numerical order. This year however, I had two gifts. I had crocheted a ski cap for an aunt and decided to put it in the pile as a gag gift. My cousin Yvonne and I sat together on the couch, when she told me that she had number one, I thought her to be the perfect person to grab my gag gift. I, of course, having such a trustworthy face (ha ha ) coerced her into taking my gift. So, when it came to starting with number one, she got up to pick her gift. She himmed and hawed and looked over all the gifts, faking an attraction to the others and reached down and picked mine up. With a big smile, she unwrapped the pretty paper, and low and behold, the crocheted ski hat, pom pom included. She told me that her first thought was, "Oh shit!" but she played it off pretty nicely, saying how beautiful it was as she put it on, while we all rolled on the floor laughing. She even slugged me in the arm for talking her into picking my gift. However, after we all calmed down from laughing our asses off, I gave her the real gift. I knew she would love. A jewelry box with beaded embellishments over sari silk, made in India.

This was after I got slugged in the arm for making her pick my gift, but then pleasantly surprised after opening her real gift.

Russian peasant girl who lives in Siberia. The only thing keeping her warm is her ski hat, shawl and her O'Riley's white chocolate liqueur, which goes perfectly in a cup of hot coffee.

Ooooo, sexy Russian girl posing for the camera. Uh oh, getting into to the white chocolate, she's throwing out all her inhibitions.

That's it sexy Russian girl, feel the camera, be the camera, love the camera. Give me sexy eyes. That's good, now think nasty thoughts. MMMMMMMM good girl, that's the look.

Tis the Season To Be Nutty

Every Christmas I make and sell butter toffee and dipped pretzels. This year I decided I was going to take a break from the mess and stress of making my, soon to be, famous candy. However, people heard about it and were, lets say, less than happy to hear of the disappointing news. I felt like Santa, deciding to postpone Christmas. One person asked then another, then another, pretty soon I had orders and lots of candy to make. In a weekend, however, I managed to pull off 50 lbs of toffee, 30 lbs of pretzels and 10 doz. of my special buttery shortbread cookies, and that is only 1/4 of what I normally do each year. I'm glad I decided to do it though, it seemed to brighten up a lot of faces.

My Business Card

I thought I'd share my cool business cards my genius brother created for me. Are they perfect or what. I am so tickled as to how they turned out, I had to post them. Thanks bro.

Got Red Heart?

I, like many stittchers from the past, have collected oodles and oodles of acrylic yarn such as Red Heart. Where did it come from? WalMart, Target, Michael's, yard sales. Yes, I am guilty of swerving the corner after seeing the infamous yard sale sign posted out on the main street, just to see if they have any yarn. And yes, I have bought many a yarn from these yard sales. $.50, $.25, 5 for a $1.00. Leaving with bags of yarn, Red Heart, Home Spun, Caron. As the saying goes, one man's (or woman's) junk (yarn), is another man's (woman's) treasure (yarn). And yes, I have ended up with ton's of "less than fabulous" acrylics.

So, the other day, I had just washed and felted a couple of bags. As I was scanning the garage, searching for the perfect object to stuff into my wet felted bags, to form them as they dry, I came across two large bags of my "l.t.f.a. (less than fabulous acrylic) yarns, sitting there waiting to be donated to our "Warm Up America" blanket charity, and cancer hats. Then DING, the light balb went on. I grabbed some skeins of the l.t.f.a and stuffed them into the bags. Wow, I had just found a use for them and was so proud of myself for coming up with such a great idea to use to form my felted projects. It works great. There is plenty of air going through them even as they sit inside the wet bags, this way they will be able to dry on the inside as they dry on the outside. After the bags are done drying fully, pull out the skeins of ltfa and they will dry in no time. Put them away until the next time. Ok, now I have a question... how am I going to donate my ltfa's when now I actually have a use for them?

Mom's Birthday Bag

Mom's birthday present this year was (surprise!) a felted bag. I used different colors in it as you can see but I also mixed in a little gold cord for a little contrast to the wool. The front flap goes to the side for a different look and is covered in felted flowers. It was a lot of fun making this bag but lots of work that turned out to be worth every minute I spent on it. I think she liked it... She's asked for another, which is on its way of being completed, although it is taking a long time for me to figure out exactly what I want on it. Sometimes good things take a little longer to transpire.

Enjoy the bag mom, stay tuned for your next one.

Roving... New Possibilities

Thank you Cheryl, Acorn to Oak, my favorite stitcher, for showing me new possiblities. I am so excited to start needle felting and using this technique as embellishments for my purses and bags. You are such an inspiration, and Saturday was just so much fun. Thank you again for alowing all of us to get our hands... soapy!!!

Bags, Bags, Bags

The Daisy Mae

Lined with Denim this bag measures 17w x 14h not including handles. Soft faux fur bag with silver embelishments.

Ashlee Ann

Made of Chinchilla faux fur, metalic and wool fibers and very soft fringe, lined with gold sari fabric. This measures 11w x 9h.

Daniella

Crochet with multicolored fibers and an offset rose and wooden handles. Lined with silk sari fabric. This measures approx. 13w x 14h, including fringe but not including handles.

The Garden Party Felted Bag

I was inspired by the "Julia Roberts" bag that someone snipped out of a magazine. I saw the copy of her bag one day at a little yarn boutique and wanted to make my own version of it. Instead of silk flowers, I felted my flowers and added a few extras to it. At the time, I was experimenting with dying my own wool yarn with Kool-Aid and started working on this purse. It was so much fun and the creative juices just flowed out. And of course I had to use some "fun fur". I wore my bag to a baby shower and a cousin loved it so much that she wanted me to make one for her just like it. I explained that I couldn't duplicate the bag but if she wanted, I'd gladly sell it to her. She agreed and I sold my first purse. I later took it home and lined it for her. The "Garden Party Bag"is my pride and joy.

Enjoy it Cec and wear it in good health.