Friday, June 24, 2011
Handmade Calendar - June
I know, I know... it's already almost the last week of June, but I thought I'd continue to share my handmade calendar with you as I did here, here and here. Without further ado... JUNE
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Thursday, June 23, 2011
Transition
Hi everyone!
Long time, no blog. It's been over a month and I am no closer to finishing any of my in-progress projects. As you know, my focus had been on purchasing our first home and we're at a point where things have slowed down to a more normal pace.
It may be bad mojo to talk about our house-buying experience seeing as we are still in the thick of it, but I felt I needed to update and share my long absence. We searched for homes around my 9-5 and in the area we currently live for about a month before we found a house we liked and felt worked for us. I can't even tell you the number of houses we looked at (30 to 40? I lost count) and we found one only about 5 min from my work and with a good number of things on our list. I'm not going to go into detail on the house itself (karma, my friends), but it fulfills our needs so we made an offer.
The house is a short sale and required us to essentially work the process backwards for the bank to even look at our offer. We did a house inspection, put down the deposit and signed the purchase and sale agreement before our offer was even considered. This all happened almost three weeks ago and since then the bank has been deciding on our offer. So as you can see, we've been playing the waiting game for a little while and we don't know how much longer it will take until we find out the decision.
Hence, my talk of mojo and karma. Keep your fingers crossed for us while we wait and wait. Thus the reason for the title of my post. We're in this in-between stage that is driving me nuts. We're month to month on our apartment not knowing if this house will work out or not or when and it has caused me to lose all motivation for projects. I'm dealing with my 9-5 and trying to enjoy the nice weather with Kyle and our pup, Olive, but I cannot get myself to work on anything else. I have piles of stuff that is half-finished, but keep thinking, well I'm just going to have to pack this all up anyways, I should wait until we move.
Am I starting to whine? Just wanted to give you all an update and hopefully soon I'll be able to snap myself out of this and get back into crafting. Anybody have any advice for these types of transitions, how to stay creative and mindful of the present?
Send good thoughts our way and I will make sure to keep you updated on our home-buying adventures!
xoxo
Sarah
Long time, no blog. It's been over a month and I am no closer to finishing any of my in-progress projects. As you know, my focus had been on purchasing our first home and we're at a point where things have slowed down to a more normal pace.
It may be bad mojo to talk about our house-buying experience seeing as we are still in the thick of it, but I felt I needed to update and share my long absence. We searched for homes around my 9-5 and in the area we currently live for about a month before we found a house we liked and felt worked for us. I can't even tell you the number of houses we looked at (30 to 40? I lost count) and we found one only about 5 min from my work and with a good number of things on our list. I'm not going to go into detail on the house itself (karma, my friends), but it fulfills our needs so we made an offer.
The house is a short sale and required us to essentially work the process backwards for the bank to even look at our offer. We did a house inspection, put down the deposit and signed the purchase and sale agreement before our offer was even considered. This all happened almost three weeks ago and since then the bank has been deciding on our offer. So as you can see, we've been playing the waiting game for a little while and we don't know how much longer it will take until we find out the decision.
Hence, my talk of mojo and karma. Keep your fingers crossed for us while we wait and wait. Thus the reason for the title of my post. We're in this in-between stage that is driving me nuts. We're month to month on our apartment not knowing if this house will work out or not or when and it has caused me to lose all motivation for projects. I'm dealing with my 9-5 and trying to enjoy the nice weather with Kyle and our pup, Olive, but I cannot get myself to work on anything else. I have piles of stuff that is half-finished, but keep thinking, well I'm just going to have to pack this all up anyways, I should wait until we move.
Am I starting to whine? Just wanted to give you all an update and hopefully soon I'll be able to snap myself out of this and get back into crafting. Anybody have any advice for these types of transitions, how to stay creative and mindful of the present?
Send good thoughts our way and I will make sure to keep you updated on our home-buying adventures!
xoxo
Sarah
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Mother's Day
And the handmade gift-giving continues... we celebrated Mother's Day with my mom the weekend prior since my sister was home from her job with American Cruise Lines and had to get back on the boat this past Saturday. I put together a scrapbook and a shadowbox with items my mom had saved and collected from my wedding and the surrounding events. I did not take pictures of it, but needless to say I think she loved it.
My mother-in-law had requested that I make her a bookmark some time ago when they bought me the letterpress machine for Christmas. I finally made one for her using the same process as the one I gave to my husband to give to her along with her other gifts on Sunday. I used various flower letterpress plates and bright colored inks to do something festive and springy. I made a tassel with grey baker's twine as well.
I think it came out fabulous and the more I use the letterpress machine the better my projects turn out. Hopefully I can find some more time to finish some other projects in various stages soon. Send good thoughts our way during our continued search for a new home!
My mother-in-law had requested that I make her a bookmark some time ago when they bought me the letterpress machine for Christmas. I finally made one for her using the same process as the one I gave to my husband to give to her along with her other gifts on Sunday. I used various flower letterpress plates and bright colored inks to do something festive and springy. I made a tassel with grey baker's twine as well.
I think it came out fabulous and the more I use the letterpress machine the better my projects turn out. Hopefully I can find some more time to finish some other projects in various stages soon. Send good thoughts our way during our continued search for a new home!
Friday, May 6, 2011
Handmade Calendar - May
Hi everyone!
I'm back for a bit to share a few easy things I've completed in what little spare time I have right now. The house hunting is still going strong and hopefully we will find something right for us soon. In the meantime, I can't believe it's May already and summer is right around the corner. It would be nice to be settled in a new home to enjoy the nice weather...fingers crossed!
For your viewing pleasure, the month of May from my handmade calendar (also featured here and here).
I'm back for a bit to share a few easy things I've completed in what little spare time I have right now. The house hunting is still going strong and hopefully we will find something right for us soon. In the meantime, I can't believe it's May already and summer is right around the corner. It would be nice to be settled in a new home to enjoy the nice weather...fingers crossed!
For your viewing pleasure, the month of May from my handmade calendar (also featured here and here).
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Checking In
Hi everyone!
As you may have noticed, I haven't posted in a little while, so I'm checking in to say "Hi" and let you know I'm still kicking. My husband and I recently decided it was time to buy our first house and so I have been completely consumed by the process outside of working and the normal day-to-day routine. I have many half-finished projects and a bunch of stuff to share, but this is where my focus is at the moment.
I promise to return with lovely posts and ideas soon, so stay tuned!
xoxo
Sarah
As you may have noticed, I haven't posted in a little while, so I'm checking in to say "Hi" and let you know I'm still kicking. My husband and I recently decided it was time to buy our first house and so I have been completely consumed by the process outside of working and the normal day-to-day routine. I have many half-finished projects and a bunch of stuff to share, but this is where my focus is at the moment.
I promise to return with lovely posts and ideas soon, so stay tuned!
xoxo
Sarah
Friday, April 8, 2011
A Handmade Birthday
My husband's birthday was this past Monday and I ended up making a few of his gifts by hand. I showed you the embroidered gift tags I added to his present here. I have been looking for as many things to embroider as possible, so I combined my love of papercrafts and embroidery with those little gems.
Months before his birthday, I received a request to make him another book using my text block bookbinding skills. This present wasn't much of a surprise since I wanted him to pick out the decorative paper, but he loved it anyways. This time he asked for a little larger book with blank pages that he will use as a scrapbook. My husband tends to never throw anything away, so now he'll have someplace to keep all his tickets stubs and other random memorabilia.
Ever since I got my letterpress kit, my husband has been asking me to make him a bookmark. He reads everyday and for months he has been using an old piece of scrap paper that I used to remind him to set out the pizza dough for dinner one night a long time ago. It is literally a torn piece of notebook paper that says "Pizza Dough" in large writing. It is definitiely time he got a proper bookmark. I thought this would be a fitting gift for his birthday, so I broke out my kit.
I cut a piece of heavy cardstock to 2" x 6" and letterpressed a background in bright green. Then I created a monogram in royal blue at the top. I found a tutorial online for making bookmark tassels and created one with yellow and white baker's twine.
While I had my kit out, I made him a birthday card as well. Using a background plate and yellow ink, I created a large sun at the bottom of the card. I added "Happy Birthday" and "30" in turqoise and affixed the white card to a folded turqoise piece of cardstock.
I got him a few other small gifts, but I tried to make as much as possible myself. I was able to use a bunch of different techniques and had fun doing it. I think it makes gift-giving even more special and I know my husband loves it.
Photos by Kyle @ 918 Photo
Months before his birthday, I received a request to make him another book using my text block bookbinding skills. This present wasn't much of a surprise since I wanted him to pick out the decorative paper, but he loved it anyways. This time he asked for a little larger book with blank pages that he will use as a scrapbook. My husband tends to never throw anything away, so now he'll have someplace to keep all his tickets stubs and other random memorabilia.
Ever since I got my letterpress kit, my husband has been asking me to make him a bookmark. He reads everyday and for months he has been using an old piece of scrap paper that I used to remind him to set out the pizza dough for dinner one night a long time ago. It is literally a torn piece of notebook paper that says "Pizza Dough" in large writing. It is definitiely time he got a proper bookmark. I thought this would be a fitting gift for his birthday, so I broke out my kit.
I cut a piece of heavy cardstock to 2" x 6" and letterpressed a background in bright green. Then I created a monogram in royal blue at the top. I found a tutorial online for making bookmark tassels and created one with yellow and white baker's twine.
While I had my kit out, I made him a birthday card as well. Using a background plate and yellow ink, I created a large sun at the bottom of the card. I added "Happy Birthday" and "30" in turqoise and affixed the white card to a folded turqoise piece of cardstock.
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| This picture shows all my little mess-ups, oops! |
I got him a few other small gifts, but I tried to make as much as possible myself. I was able to use a bunch of different techniques and had fun doing it. I think it makes gift-giving even more special and I know my husband loves it.
Photos by Kyle @ 918 Photo
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Handmade Calendar - April
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