Shop Announcement

Hey everyone! It's Cyber Monday! That means special deals in the etsy shop. Stop on by!

Also, Keri and Marcee, I can't find your e-mail addresses within your profiles. Contact me at melcollette (at) gmail (dot) com and send me your shipping addresses. I'm excited for you to get your blankets!

Winners!

One thing I discovered from having a giveaway is that after reading the comments, I totally wish I could send everyone something. Unfortunately, that can't be the case. It was still fun to read what everyone said!

The winners, via random.org, are

#14: Marcee

and

#9: Keri

I'll be e-mailing you to get your addresses and preference for the boy or girl blanket.

Thanks for joining me to celebrate lemonade!

It's Shocking! It's easy Smocking!

While visiting my mom a couple weeks ago, she showed me a drapery job she was working on that involved a LOT of smocking. It was really impressive so I asked her to show me how.

She first made a grid, marking the fabric every 2" with an air/water soluble marker. Then, starting on the left side, match one of the markings with the one directly to the right. With a needle and thread, stitch the two together a few times to make a pleat.

After finishing your stitch by knotting it off, continue matching dots in a vertical column, skipping a mark in between.

When you are done with your first vertical column, start on the next one! Find the mark you skipped between pleats, and begin the whole process again there. As you match this mark to the one to its right, your pleats will begin to make a diamond shape.

After a few columns, you will totally see the large-scale, super-simple smocking take shape. And you will be super impressed by your mad smocking skills. Something to remember is that when you do this, it will shrink your starting piece of fabric considerably. To be safe, start with a piece of fabric twice the height and 4-5 times the width you want the finished project to be.

While it is a really time consuming thing, it has a really glamorous effect with fabric. Right now I'm working on doing smocking for the front of a pillow, except I did my grid every 1" so it is a little smaller scale. And I added pearls. I'll show you as soon as I'm done!

This picture is about a fourth of what she actually did. Amazing. Can you Imagine this at the top of a drapery panel? Luxe, I know!

It's Lemonade Time!

I got an e-mail from Etsy saying they pulled my ribbon blankets. Taggies has quite the patent, so I found out, and even though my product is different than theirs, it was TOO close to the same thing! Rar! I e-mailed their patent person and shot her a few ideas to see if THOSE would be stepping on patent toes as well. It is so ironic, because I read their infringement page and everything and thought I was different enough. This is why I'm not a lawyer. And will never be one. :)

So, with this bushel of lemons I was given tonight, I decided that even though it isn't summer anymore, I might as well make lemonade. So, my friends, from now until Monday, November 23rd at MIDNIGHT, we are setting up a Lemonade Stand here at the Crafty Cupboard. That means... GIVEAWAY! Yes, you heard me. Or... read me.

ONE lucky winner will receive this blue beauty for that cute little boy in their life:


And ONE lucky winner will receive this pink piece of perfection for their girly girl, or friend's girl, or niece, or hey, themselves.

That means TWO winners! Cool, huh! All righty, here are the rules:

1. Leave a comment with your name and e-mail if it isn't in your profile already. Tell me something neat about yourself. Or a deep dark secret you swore you'd take to you grave. Actually, I take that back. Just tell me something I don't know about you!

2. Post this giveaway on your blog and in ANOTHER comment, put the link to the post (I'll be checking!).

This means you have TWO entries. And since I am picking TWO winners... hey, I might be asking for your address come Tuesday when I post a winner!

Good luck, and I am excited to learn something new about everyone!

The Secret to a Snickerdoodle

The holidays are approaching, and that means one thing.

Baked goods.

One of the things you may or may not know about me is that I do NOT like cooking, or baking for that matter. I always say "maybe I'll like it if I had a bigger kitchen" or "if I actually had nice pots and pans and bakeware" or "if I were abducted by aliens and underwent a mind warp." But when and IF I make something, it had better be easy, and it better taste good in the end. Or I run to my room in tears claiming I'll never make food again. It's that bad.


This is why I love snickerdoodles. They are easy, and really delicious. I got this recipe from my culinarily-talented (I'm sure that's a term somewhere) sister, who probably got it from my mom. The secret to great, soft, decadent, saliva-inducing snickerdoodles is the cream of tartar and the cooking time. 8 minutes, no more, no less. Don't even think about it. Do this, and you have reached perfection and can go about life without a care. Ha.

I even put up with my lack of counter space for these babies. Mmmmm....

Snickerdoodles
3 3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
3 T sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

1. Mix dry ingredients
2. In separate bowl, beat butter for 30 seconds
3. Add sugar; beat until fluffy
4. Add eggs, milk, and vanilla. Beat well.
5. Add dry ingredients to butter/sugar mixture
6. Mix remaining sugar and cinnamon in separate small bowl
7. Roll dough into little balls and coat with cinnamon sugar mixture and place on cookie sheet, flattening slightly with fingers
8. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes

Christmas Trio... or presently, Duo...

Being sick this weekend threw me off of my whole crafting groove. I ended up making it out to Jo Ann's but in my medicated state, I didn't get everything I needed. And I got stuff I didn't need. *sigh*

Anyway, I did make some headway on that Christmas project I have been working on. I ran out of embroidery floss and need to get some more before I can finish this baby up. I'll show you what I have so far, and how I did it, and let you make it along with me :)

I started by making a template and cutting pieces out of felt. Some pieces, like the santa hat and face, required skillz in the felt-layering department. That, or I was just really picky on how I wanted it to look :). I picked green as my background felt piece because I knew I would be using a lot of red and white already in the characters. I did a quick glue with some regular old craft glue to keep the pieces temporarily in place. This made it easier to go back and embroider all the pieces on with a blanket stitch later. No moving around and going all skewompus on me.

I thought it would be fun to have little embellishments on the individual panels, so I added holly leaves, little holly berries (mini pom-pom things), and jingle bells.

Then I cut six pieces of christmas fabric at 11 1/2" x 14 1'2" for a fabric border.

To one piece, I blanket stitched the felt panel on to the middle.

Then I made some tabs for the top. These babies were cut at 2 1/2" x 4" then sewn in half right sides together, then turned right side out. I actually made it easier on myself by sewing a long tube and cutting THAT to nine (9) 4" pieces.

Then I made a felt sandwich. I first pinned my tabs (3 per felt panel) onto the top front of the felt piece, centering the middle tab and eyeballing the other two. Then I put another 11 1/2" x 14 1/2" piece of Christmas fabric on top with right sides together. I sewed around the edges using a 1/4" seam allowance, and left a hole for turning.

After clipping the corners (makes a better point!) and turning everything right side out, I ironed the opening down a 1/4" so it would look like the rest of the edges and topstitched around the entire panel at 1/8".

This is where my project ended. My red embroidery floss ran out while I was stitching around the felt onto the Christmas fabric. It was upsetting. But not too upsetting. I have to go to the store again and get more but I can always use an excuse to go to the fabric store :)

I have the template ready for downloading here. Enjoy!




PLEASE don't use my pattern for selling purposes. THANKS!

Boy gift idea

Ever since my little sister found out she's expecting a boy, I've had snakes and snails and puppy dog tails on the brain.

Last week we found a really fun book at the library that would be perfect for little boys.

If I Built a Car by Chris Van Dusen is a fun, really well-illustrated book about a boy with a great imagination regarding his family car.

The illustrations are a flash back to the 50's and the time of space exploration.

The car the boy imagines is full of perks, including a snack bar. What little boy wouldn't like the idea of french fries and cheese whiz built into a car?

And how about extendable wings so you can fly around the world? I'll take it!
This one is a real winner. I love looking at the pictures and thinking of how we all wish our cars were equipped with such great ideas!

So, for a great gift idea for a car-loving little boy, I'm thinking this book along with some Matchbox cars and a Car Caddy (like this one, or the one on this week's So You Think You're Crafty competition) would be PERFECT. Let the imaginations run wild!

The Sniffles

I had the most terrible night last night. I started getting a sinus headache early yesterday and by late last night it was hitting me at full force. My kids got flu shots this season, but Mike and I opted out. I'm sure this is just a cold, but feeling sick at all is just... the pits!

Fortunately, my kids are obliging and have been content playing by themselves and pleased as punch to just sit and read stories. I decided to work on a stack of cut-out burp cloths but I ran out of energy fast. I sewed and "fringed" two before calling it quits. Oh well, my oldest munchkin thought it was fun to see all the little "blankets" even if it was only for a minute or two.

I had planned to go to the fabric store today to finish this upcoming Christmas project I am preparing to share with you. Alas, I think I'd be a hazard on the road. I guess I'll wait until next week :) Here's what I've got so far:

Are you excited? I am.

Things that bug my husband

My husband has a love/hate relationship with my craft hobby. He thinks it is awesome I find something to do so that I won't go insane at home, but he really is annoyed by my mess I leave behind. I clean up... every other day or so...

But my closet was overrun with junk and I've had to move out to the dining room. So, I probably SHOULD keep it clean because it is right next to the front door of our apartment...

But if everything is out, I know exactly where it is. It's either in one pile or another, right?

Regardless of how much it bugs my husband, he lets me keep crafting and sewing and making messes. I love that guy. Just don't get me started on how he "does dishes." :)

How To: Fabric Rosettes

To embellish the latest skirt, I decided to add a fabric flower. I was playing around on how to do it and decided that simplicity is best!

To begin, gather a strip of fabric, needle, and thread. I am using a scrap piece of fabric to sew it on to for this tutorial.

The strip of fabric is whatever width and length you decide. The wider the fabric, the thicker (taller) the flower. Longer strips will result in bigger flowers. My strip is 16"x2.5," leftovers from quilt binding :).

Begin by making the center of your rosette. If you think about a regular rose just starting to bloom, the center is still in tight bud form. I folded my fabric in thirds,

and created a triangle by folding down the right corner to be flush with the left side of the fabric, and then the left corner to be flush with the right side of the fabric.

I tacked this little point down to my main fabric. It will be the starting point of my rosette. Obviously.
I just began twisting the fabric and winding it around the center point. I tacked it down to the fabric every inch or so.
It will start looking like a flower fast.
When I got to the end, I tucked it under the other layers and tacked it down so it wouldn't sneak out. Then I made sure it was all secure to the base fabric.

The back might look crazy, but you can iron on some lightweight fusible interfacing to cover the threads. That will also make sure they don't come out for some reason.
You now have a finished fabric rosette. There can be a million variations on this- I used raw edges for a more shabby look, but the skirt rosette had no raw edges. Different fabric textures will create really great rosettes. And a bunch of these in little groups? SO cute. Put them on pillows, clothes, headbands, purses-- the possibilities are endless!

Enjoy your little rosettes!

Working Prototype

I fell in love with a skirt at Target that was in Girls sizes. And it was $15 and I wasn't about to spend that on a skirt. I went home and pulled some of my scrap fabric and drew up a pattern to make one similar to the one at the store. Since it was more complicated than my summer skirt, I made a mock-up first.

It ended up being about a 2T size, so for the REAL skirt I'll do larger dimensions. But truly, for a mock-up, this skirt rocks.

It still fit, but it was tight. And short.

And the tulle underskirt wasn't full enough. But that darling fabric rosette? LOVE.

I only put elastic on the back of the waistband. It looks really nice this way. I can't wait to perfect the pattern, and share the How-To with the rest of Blogland!