The Last Few Days and a Finish...

So on Saturday this is what I was doing:

Spartan's Master's Graduation PartyFriends:

Family:

A totally rockin' live band, Given 6, who I am positive are on their way to fame and fortune. They have very adult music that they changed some of the lyrics to on the spot as there were some younger people still at the party. If you go to the site, for the faint of heart I recommend "Old School" but not the others as they use strong language and imagery:

The boys were so impressed, see:

They pretty much just wanted to go home with my parents.

On Sunday I left for three days in Traverse City, Michigan for a bachelorette party! We had a blast! We toured a bunch of wineries with a hired driver. Walked two miles to the beach, which isn't such a good idea when you have all been drinking wine all day! And generally had a great time!

Chateau Chantal, Traverse City, Michigan

Grand Traverse Resort Beach Access (plus a few jello shots):

Betsy (bride-to-be) and Me hamming it up:Relaxing on the condo's balcony:I had a blast and it ended too soon! It was my first real "girl's getaway" and I can't wait to do it again! I made new friends and strengthend the old one's bond. I highly recommend a girls only weekend to every one! (well, girls only!)

Lest you think I haven't been doing any crafting around my house, I thought I would show you a recent finish. I re-covered my ironing board and made a matching pincushion/threadcatcher. I love the way it turned out. Of course now I want to use a pressing cloth for EVERYTHING, but I put it under what I'm pressing so I won't mess up my beautiful ironing board cover! Lame, huh!?! Please ignore my messy sewing area in the background. I seem to create better in chaos, so that's what I have around my sewing table!

The Day Trip...

A couple of weeks ago Spartan and I took a day trip to the Mackinaw Bridge. We took along Boy Genius and Baby Girl. We really had a lovely day.
Baby Girl was excited to be able to touch two lakes at one time!
You've heard of tree huggers, but have you ever heard of bridge huggers? You have now!
We got to see this gentleman in full regalia. He was very interesting to talk to, he does most of his tanning, beading and weaving himself. We really enjoyed our time with him.

Boy Genius loosened up and hammed it up!

Baby Girl had funn looking for shells too. If you live near Michigan, I highly recommend going to the bridge. There's shopping, beautiful views and lots of things to do.

Is this too Corny???

Okay, I know I'm a weird-o, but this just kind of sums up my sense of humor. It's a uni-corn...ba-dum-bum! The design is from Andrea Zuill at Bad Birds. Silly fun!

A Moth and Some Links...

Last Christmas I got a grow light system. I grew the things that came with it, then after they were harvested, I used it for some cute little pots filled with bulbs. This one had a visitor today:
Isn't he cute! He's going to be going back outside to live, but I had to snap some pictures because I thought he was so pretty.
I told a friend that I would give her the links to the things I made for my purse so I thought I would share with everyone just in case you want to make some of them yourself. Some are for pay, some are for free.

My purse is a pattern that I purchased from In Stitches. I love this purse, it's the second one I have made and it goes together pretty easily. Good instructions!


For my makeup bag I used a pattern by Elizabeth at oh, fransson! It is from a trio of patterns that I won in a lovely giveaway she had. If you are interested in it you can find her patterns for sale here. There are lots of tutorials out there for free as well. Here is a link to Sew, Mama, Sew for a couple others, although I highly recommend Elizabeths patterns, very well written and you turn out with a wonderful product!




My receipt wallet is super simple and I got the pattern from Eye Candy Designs. She posted the pattern for free on craftster. I sewed together leftover pieces to make it a scrappy one. Super easy!

The card wallet is from a tutorial by A Soonful of Sugar. I made it out of solid pieces of material but, it is super cute done scrappy too!

My change purse (and really my favorite accessory) came from Lisa over at U-handblog. I had a different top. Mine has holes in it for sewing it to your purse so I just stitched in and out through the holes and the outer and inner material. A little akward, but not hard.

I hope you will all give some of these a try. There are so many free tutorials out there for so many wonderful things. I appreciate all the hard work that went into writing all of them!

A Day to Move a Yard...

...a yard of material that is!

I used two fat quarters of Swanky by Moda, one fat quarter of lime swiss dot by Lakehouse and a random melon colored fat quarter from Joann's. I couldn't be happier with my new, totally coordinated set!!! I made: a purse with ton's of pockets, a change purse, a credit card pocket, a makeup bag and a random flat wallet that I will use to contain my receipts. Here are a couple of close-ups:

Here's a close up of the front pockets, side pockets and you can just my pen peeking up from it's pen holder inside.

My change purse with the lime dot inside:

Isn't this flower the cutest!!! I had picked up a piece of remnant wired ribbon with no purpose in mind. It has blue and purple on the side that is hidden but fortunately, when I got the flower made up, they don't show. The flower center is a vintage brass button from my Grandmother's jar and is just the perfect touch to go with the soft brown accents in the material.

I have never had a complete matching set before, so I am over the moon with my creation!

Saturday's Child...

...was very busy! So, this last Saturday was Runner's graduation party. Come Saturday night, Mama was tired!!! Here are a few pictures:

A Cake

A Pictography

A Passion

Friends

Family

and A Baby Girl

Depp in Wonderland...

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am crazy about Johnny Depp. He's sexy, he's quirky and he's arguably the best actor of my generation. He was hot in The Man Who Cried, he made me laugh in Pirates and he made me say "well, that's not sexy at all!" in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He's a chameleon! Well, here's a new one for us...Alice and Wonderland. Another collaboration with Tim Burton, it looks to be a fantastic walk on the other side of reality. I can't wait! Here are some pictures to whet your whistle!

If Spartan and I Were Cats...

These just cracked me up! When I saw them, I knew exactly who they reminded me of!!

Spartan:


Me: