Christmas in July

My mom (Jerry&Kay) and I thought it would be fun to get a little festive this summer and celebrate Christmas in July! So, we spent some time planning, shopping, and making this assortment of holiday crocheted items. We created some of our own patterns and also used some vintage patterns from a crochet book from the 60s that my mom has had, in her words, "forever." 

And we are offering 15% off all Christmas items in the shop and a variety of other items. We created this cheerful mug cozy and coaster set that has an elegant touch with beading on the Christmas tree and a special bead button. We have options for a larger Starbucks sized mug or a standard souvenir sized mug.

My mom made these beautiful poinsettia doilies. I thought they were also from a vintage pattern, but she just informed me that she found the pattern in Crochet 101 by Deborah Burger. She made a set of four 6-inch doilies and an individual 8-inch one.

I really enjoyed crocheting this adorable elf baby hat. I have admired this style of baby hat for a long time and added a bit of whimsy with the bubbly edge and extra large pom pom.

Here is a closer look at the Christmas tree on the mug cozy.

If you would like any of these, you can find them in my Etsy shop, Sunshine Makings.

15% off for the month of July!

Happy Christmas in July!

☼

I'm linking up to some of these fabulous parties!

WIPs and October catch up

It's been a busy week...too busy to blog! I was so busy with Halloween costumes last week that I could barely get pictures of them, let alone post about them. Now that October's over, I've got a minute to show a cute cowgirl and cowboy...

It's half home-made (chaps, denim vest, & orange blouse) and half from the closet & NCT nearly new sale. Both kids designed their outfits completely. I sketched them out as they told me so that I was sure I wouldn't get it wrong. They both loved their costumes and wore them to three different Halloween celebrations. By the fourth, they were tired of saying "Howdy" and went for their more typical attire as Cinderella (made by my mom) and Spiderman. I also managed to make a red riding hood cape, a wolf's tail, wolf hands, wolf legs, and wolf feet. Our floor was one furry mess after that.

I've also been busy with some works in progress...and doing some research on how to open an Etsy shop! I'm so excited about this. It's not open, yet, but it should all be set up soon! My mom and I will be opening our shop together. We like the name Sunshine Makings. What do you think?

☼

Featured on Threading My Way...again!

I was super excited again to see that the dress I made my little girl for the Diamond Jubilee was feature on Threading My Way...Thanks, Pam!

If any of you saw this post for the other time Pam featured another dress, you'll know she has a great ongoing linky party called Threading Your Way...love it!

Featured on Threading My Way

AAaaah!! I was so excited when I just took a look at my comments and saw that Pam from Threading My Way featured one of my the dresses I made. It's here along with her other features if you want to take a look. She's hosting a really fun linky party that has a different theme each week. It's ongoing so you can add your creations to the linky list any time. What a great way to continually find inspiration and ideas! The featured dress was one that I made from two old t-shirts for my little girl for St. Patrick's day (here). 

One of the best surprises about this feature, though, was that my mom (Kay of Jerry & Kay)was featured on the same post! How cool is that? Hers is a really cute t-shirt with an embroidered train applique that she made my little boy (here). She is so talented!

Star Piñata

My latest creation is this semi-traditional Mexican star piñata...

I'll be posting a tutorial on how to make this star piñata soon. 

A few months ago, I made a donkey piñata (see it here) and was asked to make another one for a Doce de Mayo themed fundraiser (Cinco de Mayo was already booked). I thought about doing another donkey...or a sombrero...but couldn't resist the vibrancy of the star.  I used a picture from Google images for inspiration and a guide to the colours and then got to work cutting, taping, and gluing. It took some time, but was fairly easy and loads of fun to make! I love how bright and cheerful it turned out. It ended up being raising quite a bit at the fundraiser which made me really happy! :-) 

Reduce Reuse Recycle Refashion

My life has been completely taken over by work. March is always my busiest time of the year with my big deadline at the end of the month. The entire yearbook must be done and edited and ready to turn over to the publishing company. Stress...it creeps into my dreams. I spend hours on Adobe InDesign every day and then dream about it every night. Therefore, I have no time to do the things I truly enjoy.

                                                                        Source: themotherhuddle.com via Jessica on Pinterest

                                                                             Source: re-nest.com via Jessica on Pinterest

While I was working last night, I watched a film called No Impact Man, brought home to me by my husband who teaches and lives environmental science. It's about a family in New York who lives with no impact on the environment for a year. This includes a vegetarian diet of local food, no electricity, no material consumption, just to name a few of the many changes they made in their life. I didn't think twice about the environment (or even once to be honest) until I met my husband and now things like compost and recycling are a natural part of my daily life. I even spent some time on a permaculture farm, although I couldn't work much because I was newly pregnant at the time.

                                                                          Source: Uploaded by user via Jessica on Pinterest

Anyway, after watching this film, I've been contemplating all day what more I can do. I know I can do more. Can I go without electricity? I don't think so. But I can reduce, reuse, recycle in other ways. I'm still brainstorming some ideas and have to have some serious thought before I commit to any of them. In the meantime, I enjoyed taking a break from work and browsing Pinterest for some cute, clever, and creative ways to reuse, recycle, and refashion! 

make a Zipper Pouch from a coffee bag

make a Hot Plate & Coasters from wine corks

make Vegetable Bags from t-shirts

make a Pencil Holder from a cheese grater

make Boy Shorts from a man's shirt

make a Dress from a pillowcase

Liebster Blog Award

Yesterday was a very exciting day for me. I checked my email and found that I had been given a Liebster Blog Award! I haven't received an award since I was 13...and funny enough that award was for best student in Home Economics. I was slightly embarrassed at the time because sewing and baking weren't nearly as cool as surfing. But, I'm proud now!

As for the Liebster Blog award...what is it? After searching around a bit, I found out that nobody really knows its origin. This doesn't bother me a bit, though, because I also found out (Google Translator) that Liebster means "favorite" and is given to bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. How honoured I feel to know that someone loves my blog enough to nominate me for this award! Thank you, Libby, for so kindly thinking of me.

Now, in order to be fully awarded, I must do a few things.

First, I must thank and link back to Libby who nominated me. She's got a great new blog called Truly Myrtle, does beautiful knitting, and was in the top 5 on Project Run and Play sew-a-long for her signature outfit! 

Second, I must paste the award onto my blog. You can see it above and in my sidebar. ♥

Third, I must nominate 3-5 other bloggers to receive the award and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog. So, I nominate...

♥ Jerry and Kay

Yes, they are my parents, but that's not why I'm nominating them! I feel they truly deserve this award because they are full of all kinds of amazing, creative, and loving talent. Their blog is full of beauty: sewing, growing, and even constructing a flower press.

♥ Kara's Creative Place 

I've been following Kara's blog for a while now. I love all her ideas, crafts, tutorials, and upcycling. Some of my favorites include her treasure mirror, her jewelry, and her ruler basket.

♥ Grow Creative

This is one of the newest blogs I've come across. Elise has beautiful watercolor paintings and sketches. I found her through a link party where she had linked up her first crochet hat pattern. It's first on my list of things to make next!

♥ United Cakedom

Mmmmm...what else can I say. If you have a sweet tooth, you've got to visit United Cakedom! Yes, I like Lisa because she is a fellow American living in the UK, but I *love* Lisa because of all the yummy goodness she shares - cookies - cinnamon rolls - brownies - just to name a few.

Yay! It's now official... I'm a Liebster Blog Award recipient!