Ah jeez. Is it really already Tuesday again? The past week has kind of been a blur. So much for a nice easy start to 2010. We had seven (!) birthdays last week. Four of the birthdays were for little ones and I put together three SuperCapes and a sweet little bird dress.

And, well…I remembered to take a photo of all of the goodies…

…right after I finished wrapping all of them for the birthday parties on Saturday. Grrr…but I’ll make sure to take photos of the SuperCapes in action and Faith’s dress when I get a chance. As it was J. and I had to divide and conquer to get all of the birthday parties in, so I am just happy I was able to get gifts made, wrapped and delivered.

I did remember to take pics of the cards I sent out for family Birthdays last week. This one…

…and this one…

And I finished a little coffee cozy for Papa and one for Addie’s metal canteen. She has been asking for one with a cat on it and squealed when she opened this one. I made another one for our friend Jessica with a kitty on it for Christmas too…and forgot to photograph that one too. Ah well, whatcha gonna do?

My sweet aunt did remind me last week that I didn’t show one of my other Christmas crafts. The calendar. Each year I do a calendar for our friends and family. It is quite the production. This year I simplified it a bit by sending it out to be printed and it honestly ended up being cheaper and much less of a headache, too.

I was very happy with the quality, I think they turned out very nice. And did I mention the whole process was much easier?
You can see all of the months over here, if you would like.

I cut two more projects out last night to be put together for this week’s birthdays. Hopefully I’ll get some good crafting time today to whip them up. But I’m sure I’ll need a break later on, so show me what crafty goodness you have this week!

I did not forget this week! I haven’t touched my sewing machine or any of my craft materials since before Christmas, but I can show those Christmas gifts that I got to deliver last week.

Well, actually…I can show a few of them. You’d think I would do a much better job of remembering to take photos of the projects. And remember to take them during the daylight in a nice well (natural) lit spot. But I did neither of these. Again.

I made my niece a messenger bag.

Complete with a little bird applique. Of course. And birdie material for the lining.

I guesstimated her height (ah, as tall as me?!!) just about right and it hits on her hip. I was pleased. And I think she liked it.

And I made a bag for my sister, too. I’ve had this pink/brown bird fabric for months and months just waiting for a good project to use it on. I really like it with the brown.

Alexis modeling for me, again. I made Meesh’s bag a little bit longer to hold her laptop or file folders, etc. (Or I suppose diapers and baby toys, too?)

And I finished my mom’s bag at the very last minute as well – and then never took a pic of it. I’ll have to bug her or Dad and see if they’ll send me a photo of it. I made hers deeper so that she could carry 12×12″ scrapbooking papers and stuff for when she goes to her card classes. It is a khaki color with an awesome natural print for the lining. And an initial C in the contrasting fabric. I also really liked hers. I think I finally got the proportions right on hers. It would also make a good shopping bag.

I’m anxious to get to the list of projects that I’d like to work on, but we have three birthday parties on Saturday, and all the kids are getting SuperCapes. So guess what I’m doing this week?

How about all of you? It is safe to show all the Christmas goodies now!

I usually try to write Crafty Tuesday on Monday night to post for Tuesday morning, but, uh…last night? I had a “mommy playdate” and well…it was past my bedtime when I got home and I’m moving a little slowly this morning. But it was incredibly fun and so very needed. (Thank you so much, B!!)

So here we are. It is Tuesday and I have a few things to show, I guess a few things I can show. (Look away if you want to be surprised Meesh!)

I have been finishing capes and I think….they are done! Until we get back from the holidays. Then I have three to make that first week in January for birthday gifts. But the ones that are needed right now – they are done.

For Gabella Ella –

And Madey Mo –

I finished Emma Grace’s finally, too. Poor thing she has only been asking for one since I did Addie’s for her birthday…in September! But Em’s cape always got put on the end of the list. I haven’t photo’d it because she has been around and is probably going to read this over my shoulder, so…we’ll get it after Christmas.

I also finished some burp rags for Mav. They seem a little big – but I backed them in terrycloth, so if nothing else they can use them as pee-pads. (Like those ones they have for puppies?) It seems that the little guy likes to “shower” the kind people who are holding him.

And, hey! I think I can put up our Christmas card now, I believe they are all delivered.
This was the front. It reads “Brown paper packages tied up with string…”

And the inside. “…wishing you all of your favorite things this Christmas season.”

I wish I could take credit for it – but a friend of mine told me about doing this one year and when she said the “brown paper packages” part I was instantly hooked. The Sound of Music is my favorite movie and I knew that I wanted to do something with that for our card. Don’t let the very simple design fool you though, they were kind of a pain to put together. But I like how they turned out. And I adore the photo taken by our lovely and very talented friend, Rose!

Okay, what about you? Can you take a few minutes to share something? I’ll be back later to peruse, right now I have to go finish three more gifts!

Hello my crafty peeps! I’m sure that you are all like us here and running around like mad, busy, little bees. Just a quick little check-in. I have a few things I can show – and a whole bunch of stuff I can’t!

I have completed my SUPERcape orders. I think I did 9 capes last week. Many more of the princess ones –

And my favorite one. This one is for Addie’s teacher’s grandson. I love the black and gold together.

And my little model showing off the inside of the gold cape.

So I have a few more to do, for nieces and friends. And then I may need a break from the cape for a bit.

This week I am trying to get some teacher gifts done.  I made personalized coffee cozys for each of the girls’ teachers, since they have all been known to have a Starbucks in their hands most days at drop-off. Ah, but you have to give her a break – Mrs. K. has 22 first-graders for 7 hours a day! That deserves a Starbucks, or two! (And I’m going to stick a Sbux gift card in each of the cups, too.)

I also did some personalized notecards for each of them. I know not everyone gets as giddy as I do over paper, and paper goods, but everyone could use a notecard or two, right? And I put them in a little fabric pouch that they can use after their stationery is gone.

I also did some waterbottle cozys for a couple of middle-school girls that we know and love. The metal canteens are great, but chilly when the water is cold, so throw a cozy on it. (You have created a monster, Jen! I want to put cozys on EVERYTHING!)

And that’s what I have, well, all I can show. Hopefully by next week I’ll have my Christmas cards out and I can show those…I think they might turn out kinda awesome. My ideas are always very labor intensive, but they turn out pretty cool, so worth a night or two of hard work, right?

And along comes another Tuesday….

First of all, first bit of crafty – anyone who received the Emma/Addie calendar from us last Christmas, you need to turn the page to December today. It is indeed December 1st – not November 31st.

Yeah, November only has 30 days.

Gah. Add it to the list of corrections for this year’s calendar. Apparently I have a really lousy quality control department over here at Chaos. Any other corrections (I got Aunt C’s & Uncle M’s correct anniversary date – sorry!) should be sent to me asap, since I am working on the calendar right now.

Well…I’m thinking about it.

Ah, who am I kidding? The calendar is very low on the to-do list right now. But it is there. We’ll see.

The holiday boutique…that one that (friend) Jamie and I have been frantically sewing for? It is this Friday evening. Yikes! So I’ve been sewing and honestly, I have not had one minute to photograph any of the creations. I’ve completed four or five more dresses. And one (and a half!) superhero capes. Will get photos, most definitely.

Emmy’s teacher, Mrs. K., has not only learned of my penchant for all that is crafty and artsy, but also for my inability to say “no,” especially when it comes to something for the girlies. I have become her “go-to Mom” when she needs anything pretty, crafty, or made with some form of construction paper.

This week she needed her door updated since it still had the Welcome to School tree with apples on it. So Addie and I put together a wintery door for her class complete with a festive snowman and snowflake classmates.  The kids practically came unglued when I finished it and closed the door. They were supposed to be in reading groups but all had to come over to investigate and find their names. The littlest things get them so excited, it really is a lot of fun.

And Mrs. K. and I have talked about doing a little famous artists art lesson every few weeks, too. That could be a lot of fun (or maybe a lot of work…not sure which). I am not complaining, though. I think I may have been an art teacher in a former life and this way I get to do all the fun teacher stuff, without all the crappy teacher stuff.

Plus when I was helping last month, I was at the back table drawing some faces for the kids to use on their pumpkins, and I heard one of the boys say, “Emma what is your mom doing back there?” She answered, “She is an artist! She is really artistic and I am going to be like her and an artist, too!”

And then she just looked at me and beamed with pride. That girl is one heck of a peach, I tell you. And that my friends? THAT makes it all worth it.

Now back to the sewing machine to see if the boutique will be all worth it.

I hinted last week that I might have a dress or two to show you today.

And here they are…I know my mother-in-law has been waiting to see these, since she helped me scour the flea market for some good vintage pillowcases to re-purpose into these sweet little dresses.

As I was scrambling to get a few photos I realized, I need to find a good spot to photograph all this stuff, especially for when we need to put them in the shop. The photos are not the best, and the lighting and color is all off. And I might need a cute little model or two for them. Wonder if I might be able to find one?

Addie’s fave dress is the first one (with the cats, of course) and she keeps asking me if we don’t sell that one if she can “buy it?” Maybe she and I can work out some sort of modeling deal in trade for clothing?

Em has already put dibs on this one…

I had some bits of fabric left and made a few other dresses too…

Now I’m off to make some supercapes. Anybody have some goodies to share this week?

So last week all the craftiness was about Halloween costumes. We actually had two versions of Em’s bat costume. Her school had a costume parade and it was apparent that our first version of bat wings were not very practical or comfortable.

I had repurposed some angel wings, covered them and tried to make our little bat fly…

Since Addie wasn’t allowed to dress up at her school, we had a little costume party with her friends on Friday afternoon so they could show-off their costumes. The little girl to the left of Addie is E.J., Addie’s new BFF. Everything is about E.J. Apparently E.J. is quite taken with Addie, too. When I went to pick up Addie on Friday her teacher said, “Ahh…so E.J. is coming to your house this afternoon? Because I think between the two of the girls they told the class at least 50 times that E.J. is coming over!”

The best friend love is very sweet, and her mom is very awesome too – so I’m looking forward to lots of playtime with them. (Obviously the wee ones and big ones are siblings of Addie’s crew. Like Emma, she has aligned herself with some great friends, I am very happy to say. And they are all just so darn cute, too!)

So back to the problematic bat costume. My engineering genius of a husband made a suggestion, and Friday night I executed his much smarter plan. Version 2.0 bat wings – sewn onto her black turtleneck. Worked much better for the actual Halloween and trick o’ treatin!

And we also put her hair up and Nena worked her makeup magic…she was definitely much more bat-like.

And when little Addikins finally settled on being a witch, I was thrilled. I pulled out the old costume from when Em was a witch and Addie just took one look at it and said, “Um, it isn’t very fancy enough. I want to be a fancy witch.”

Girl. You have to be kidding me.

So, Mama “fancied up” the witch costume. The black dress is the original costume. I made her a cape and the very fancy black cat skirt to go over it. Stripey stockings and the witch’s hat and she was one fancy witch!

Emmy’s friend Audrey came and joined us for some candy collecting…the terrible threesome.

Mere hours before the trick o’ treats, we managed to carve the pumpkins. I didn’t have to scoop any guts this year. A task I gladly let the girls help Daddy with.

I think my favorite pumpkin was Em’s. Her very own creation. I especially love the Es for ears! Although the unibrow donated by Uncle Jeff clearly adds to its’ charm.

And Addie, of course, requested the black cat. This is what she got. Close enough for the three hours it was used.

I’m positive that there are some fabulous costumes and creative Halloween crafts to show off today, so let us see ’em!

Hello, my crafty gurus.

I don’t have any new creations to show this week. I have been creating flyers and signage for one of the school’s Pumpkin Patch (last weekend), signs for the Carnival (this weekend) at the other school, Daisy troop posters and handouts, and lots of bake sale goods for everything…and I just haven’t been able to *craft* anything for myself, or for gifts. I keep thinking as soon as October is over, I’ll have plenty of time. Right? Riiight.

I have been throwing around the idea of opening a little etsy shop with personalized stationery, announcements, cards, etc. But then I figured out that what I really like doing is the tactile stuff – the sewing – the big projects – not the stuff behind a computer. So I was thinking up names and ideas the other day (in case I ever might want to really sell something) and I kept going back to my favorite little Birdies. And then it became Two Birdies (in honor of my own two little birdies!). And then I played with the logo a bit. And then I got busy and promptly forgot about all of it.

Until today. Some friends who are putting on the Holiday Boutique at Ad’s school planted the seed that I should put some pillowcase dresses in the Boutique and try to make some money, they think they would really sell. And then we started talking about other crafts that we I could put together.

And this is where you come in, my crafty gurus.  I need some help. I do think I want to try to get some stuff together. But what do you think I should concentrate or focus on? Here’s the laundry list. If you were Christmas shopping – which of these things might you buy?

Aprons
Lounge pants
Birthday banners
Reusable bags
Kids tote bags / ballet bags
Super capes!
Or what about personalized stationery, cute thank you notes, etc?

But, wait…two-part question, here.

What do you think of the name “Two Birdies Creations?” Too long? Too much? Two cutesy?

Well, actually I lied. Three-part question. Do any of these logos strike your fancy? I’m not quite sure about any of them yet, but I have a leaning. I’ll see what you think.

Okay. That is your assignment. Discuss. I expect your answers on my desktop by the end of day.

(Just kidding…but I do appreciate all of your artistic eyes and any thoughts!)