Glitter Houses

Somehow, I underestimated the amount of time that this project would take and, as a result, house construction took over the dining room table for over a week. Luckily, we weren't hosting Thanksgiving so the Village was able to stay a "work in progress." Directions can be found here.

For other crafting moms, my son enjoyed the following elements of this project (not necessarily in this order): ability to use exacto knife, the glue gun, and to my surprise, the actual decorating of the houses (with the glue gun.) In the photo below, we've emptied the cereal boxes (the small ones) and carefully opened them.

Applying the gesso.

Overall, we did one layer of gesso and two layers of paint.

The houses - under construction.

I bought various picks and other items at Michaels which we cut down to miniature to fit the houses. I can tell you, my favorite part was the actual house construction. It's pretty addictive.

We placed SnoTex on the roofs and around the homes and used decoupage to adhere the glitter - two kinds of Martha Stewart, the fine and the larger crystals.

Free Patterns!

In case your Christmas list has grown or, you still have an itch to make something for a special someone, check out the free patterns over at the STC Craft/Melanie Falick blog! I absolutely adore the Material Obsession 2 quilt - oh, its literally screaming my name. Maybe, that's what I will work on for the Baraboo quilt retreat.... hmmmm. I also love the Mermaiden and the Mulberry Hat - so many projects, so little time - ah, did someone say immortal?

Quilt Weekend - A Success!

This past weekend, my sister, mom and I hit the road. Destination - Quilt Weekend. My mom belongs to a quilt group in Antioch, Illinois ~ I belonged, once upon a time, before my life got out of control. Anyhoo, we met the quilt group (along with Aunt Sue) at a Girl Scout Camp in East Troy, WI. It was a little rustic but the accommodations were clean, spirits were high, and the food was delicious.

Turns out, I bought so much Ghastlie fabric that I was able to make one lap quilt, and the beginnings of two more! Whew! Our little group was juiced let me tell you - on Saturday, we sewed from 7:30 in the morning til 11:30 that night - with one small break to get coffee from the local McD's! Yes, we were focused - driven! Here's the first quilt ...

And, the second ...

Do you see what happened? I ran out of the gray! Argh. Lucky me, I managed to find some more fabric at Cia's Palette in Minnesota. It really took me some seriously intent searching to find the Manor fabric. The pattern that I used was Nan's Harvest from Thimbleberries. I love the pink flat piping and it wasn't hard to do at all.

Glitter

Using Martha Stewart's glitter directions, my friend Jo took glitter one step further with glittered corn and gourds! The detail is a little hard to see in the first picture so be sure to click on it to see the details.

Jo is entertaining her ladies' literary society (yes, a bookgroup) - I'm sure the decos will put the group in the appropriate mindset. I should have asked her what they were reading....

Jo also shared this link with me - Inspired Ideas: The Christmas issue - I have to tell you, it is delightful, extraordinary, fun and flirty - one of the best ezines I've seen yet! I love the Village house craft - made with lots of glitter and small cereal boxes. I think this might be the craft for the Grandmas for Christmas. In fact, I've already started collecting cereal boxes and making my list of appropriate items for my neighborhood.... What do you think about tiny pearl clusters as snow covered bushes.

Got inspiration?

During the shopping travels of this weekend, my sister took me to visit Sew and Save in Racine, WI.

First, if you have a Viking sewing machine, they have the most attachments and tools for Vikings that I've ever seen in my life. Second, they are extremely nice about answering how-to questions - which in my book goes a long way. Here's some shots of what I found especially fascinating...

My sister loves this Christmas quilt, everyone should have a Christmas quilt but alas, my logic did not work on her and she didn't buy the kit. Hmmm, maybe an elf will make a whispered suggestion to Santa.

And, drum roll please, I bought some more Alexander Henry fabric for the quilting weekend, next weekend, yikes! (You would think that I had enough by now.) But, I have a plan - yes, I do. See that pattern below? Well, the fabric ladies were telling me that they had made a sample using my Halloween fabric with it. I have direction now folks. I can't tell you how happy that makes me especially since the quilt weekend is this weekend! Did I mention that already? I'll need to make the quilt a little longer and wider (for a lap quilt) but I don't think that will be much of a problem, I'll have to play around with it...

More shopping?

Seems I've been shopping more than crafting lately! Friday went off with my sister - we hit Toys 'r Us and did some crafting shopping and antiquing. Then, off again to foil a friend and keep her out of her house while her hubby got ready for her surprise party. And, what a surprise it was! For your viewing enjoyment, some eye candy from two wonderful and very different stores.

Romancing the Home, Deerfield, IL

Much of what is in this store is pricey, but the decorating, ideas, found objects, and new bling is so artfully displayed that its just fun to wonder around and look at everything. I loved these pumpkins!

In the opposite direction, is Embellished Heart in Kenosha, WI.

This place offered antiques outfitted in whimsical ways. Tucked in a smaller shop near the Kenosha News building, the proprietor was engaging, with a quick smile, and the items for sale - oh boy! There were two that I just wanted to scoop up - first, this divine buffet, so 20's! The second, a mirrored side table, under the smartypants tea kettle.

Trolling around, I found another blogger who discovered it - you might want to hop over to Kelle Dame and check her post out as well!

Road Trip

Saturday was errand day and since we were in the vicinity, the boys "allowed" me to go to a new knitting store - Fiddlehead Yarns in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

I absolutely fell in love with this print! The next time I go there, I must ask where they got this!

The classroom is just down these stairs, comfortable area, just right for sitting down and knitting for a spell.

This is one of the main areas of the store, chock full of goodies.

This kit was adorable but I'll have to wait for someone to have a baby ...