Shrinky Dink Inspiration

I've really been wanting to play with Shrinky Dink's lately. Have you done anything with these? They've come a long ways from being the childhood craft kits I remember. 

I love these 3-dimensional flowers by Cathe Holden:

source: Just Something I Made

Of course, Martha Stewart would be in on the Shrinky Dink craze. Props to her people for these darling dog tags:

source: MarthaStewart.com

Shrinky Dink Curtains!!! Elizabeth Symington has peaked my curiosity, I'm looking forward to reading more on her blog.

source: Weird and Surprisingly Good

Retro subject (cassettes) + Retro material (Shrinky Dinks) = awesome cassette badges. Shelbyville sells these little darlings in her Etsy shop.

source: Shelbyville

Amy Karol has made these sweet little love notes. There's a line of Shrinky Dinks that you can put through an ink jet printer. 

source: Angry Chicken

I'm filing this under, "Must have fun with Shrinky Dinks in 2011."

Basting Away in Margaritaville....

I've been working on my Crepe Dress for Gertie's sew-along, and it's slow going! Gertie is having us cut out the underlining, then baste each piece to the outerlayer before cutting it, so that the underlining and the outer layer can be treated as one piece.

I think that the final product will be worth it, though. I've managed to change my mind four times on the outer fabric I'm using. My local fabric stores don't have much of a selection in light weight fabrics, and the fabric I got online didn't seem right once I stared at it for a few days. I do LOVE this cotton lawn print from Moda, which I got at Fabric Depot (with a 40% off coupon).

I ended up making a slip from the Little Folks voile that I got online. I used the same pattern from my Japanese book as I did with this slip.

I love the way it looks under my curtain dress...

...and I'm wearing it today with a thrifted, oversized cashmere sweater, some leggings and my trusty Uggs.

Simple and Dressy Holiday Sewing

I wanted to make a few nice pieces for our Christmas trip to Victoria. I didn't have a lot of time, so I kept it simple.

I made a wool cloche hat, and I'm glad that I did. It was a little breezy walking in town. This is the first time I've made a hat and I was surprised at how easy it was to make. I pinned one of my Mom's high-school broaches on it and I was good to go.

I used this McCall's pattern. First I made one out of stash cotton for my little girl.

She's marveling at her "underwater volcano" here.
The little bottle is filled with hot water and food coloring to make the volcano.

I also made a green silk skirt, because Mom and I were hoping to go to high tea at the Empress (we didn't make it). I used Amy Butler's Barcelona skirt pattern. This is a great basic A-line skirt pattern. I've made several skirts from this pattern and wear them all.

The skirt was a bit shorter than I'd intended, so I added a ruffle in the same green silk to the lining.

The boots are from a 75% off sale from Eddie Bauer several years ago. I've had them re-soled three times now!

Christmas in Victoria

Catching our breath after so much fun.....

We took a last minute, 3-day trip to Victoria B.C. I hadn't really thought of Victoria as a good place to travel with children, but we had so much fun.

We stayed in an amazing suite, at the World Mark hotel where we watched sea planes land and take off.

The parliament building was especially pretty at night, with 3,333 lights.

My Mom, who isn't able to walk much, loved the ride with Archie (the horse) and Kate to view the Christmas lights.

We had to drag my son (after nearly 2 hours) out of the bug museum.

 The beautiful Empress Hotel was decorated with 80 Christmas trees for a charity event.

  And my favorite place was Roberta's Hats on Government Street.

We can't wait to go back in the summer and visit more of the places on our list. Because of time and weather, we didn't get to go the Butchart Gardens.

Such a neat place! I did sew a few quick things for the trip, I'll share them in the next post.

Winners!

Giveaways are so fun! Thanks for entering, and here are the winners:

Meadowsweet Library Bag - Barb
Cowboy Apron - Erica Louise
Pop Garden Wristlet - Teresa
Zippered Princess Bag - Jessica

Congratulations....I'll send you an e-mail later today ladies.

Last Day to Enter the Giveaway!

Jump to the giveaway post.

I'm cutting off comments at the end of my day, Pacific time.

Good luck!

Crafty Wonderland Show and Tell

Here are my gifts and treasures from yesterday's outing to Crafty Wonderland:

An autographed copy of Nikki McClure's book for my little girl.

A silkscreened poster for my worry-wart husband.
I'm going to frame it and hang it in our bedroom.

Portland Bingo
original art by Bishop Lennon and Amy Ruppel
We're going to have a lot of fun with this in the summer.

Vintage-y dahlia ring

Heart and Key
by Emily Martin

Oprah's Ultimate Favorite Things by Kate Bingaman Burt.
I'm good with Oprah, but I really, really dislike the favorite things shows, so this makes me chuckle.
Kate's the author of the blog Obsessive Consumption. I'm so charmed and inspired by her art and her blog.

The One Size Fits Most Snap Around Skirt
by Erin MaCleod

Even though I make most of my own skirts,  this one was so unique!

The snaps that circle the waistband give the skirt a cool, industrial finish.
Plus, it's great for fat days and skinny days!

Also, a beautiful refashioned necklace by Protagonest, which my camera did not want to photograph.

I've credited the artists as well as I can remember. Sorry to those I've missed.

My Favorite Things at Crafty Wonderland

I went to Portland's Crafty Wonderland today with my cousin. It was so fun...like Disneyland for the DIY crowd. Here are some of my favorite images:

A fantastic rain coat made from repurposed plastic bags and banners. The artist had some beautiful totes and purses. If anyone can help me with a credit, I forgot to get the artist's card.

Best vendor display ever by Wanderlust! We couldn't resist touring this tiny, refurbished trailer, which was filled with vintage lovelies.

Alicia Paulson (Posie Gets Cozie) and her adorable display.

I was star-struck by Nikki McClure from Olympia, Washington. If you're not familiar with her work, check her out. She does strikingly intricate paper cuts. She wrote the sweetest note to my daughter in the book I bought from her.

Emily Martin of The Black Apple. I've read her blog for a long time, and finally got to tell her in person how much I love her work. Plus, she's so sweet and nice. Emily has a new book of paper dolls out, and she'll be at Powell's on Monday for a presentation and signing.

If you're in Portland, Crafty Wonderland is still happening tomorrow. I wish I could go back another day and take pictures of the crowd. There was a cool blend of modern women, crafty chica's and vintage babes wandering around, oh, and a few men holding the babies:)

Tomorrow, I'll tell you what I bought.

Happy Holiday Giveaway

You don't even have to tell me that you've been rushing around doing this and that in preparation for the holidays. I know! It takes a lot of work to make everything festive and cheerful for those we love.

You deserve a little something for yourself, right?

I have four giveaway prizes for you...

#1 A pretty little Meadowsweet book bag

#2 A Pop Garden wristlet

#3 A little zippered princess bag for your mints

#4 ... and if you have to do all of the cooking, you might as well look good in this cool vintage cowboy apron

To enter, just leave a comment - nothing clever is expected. Make sure that I have a way to contact you. If you prefer one of the prizes over the others, you can let me know that too.

I'll ship anywhere in the world, because you're worth it.

Comments are open through Sunday, December 12th. I'll draw randomly next week and post the winners by the 15th.

Now, post your comment and then do something nice for yourself.

Art and Craft Holiday Hangover

You haven't heard from me for a while because I've been knee deep in fabric and thread getting ready for my Aunt and Cousin's art sale. I've been crazily sewing for two weeks! Before you feel too sorry for me though, it's fun for me to work in fits and spurts occassionally.

The kids helped out with coloring the price tags. This cute template is from Anna Maria Horner and can be downloaded here.

The first day, we were in my aunt and uncle's "barn" in Salem.

For my part, I made several bags and a few aprons.

These little zippered bags were some of my favorites and sold well.

Had I not sold anything it would have been fine because we had so much fun, plus a huge table full of homemade treats for our guests (and ourselves). The photos are by my talented uncle.

I think that our guests had a good time!

We were at my cousin's house in Portland today, and we did well in catching up with friends and family as well as selling our creations. We all support our favorite charity with this event, so I was happy to share a portion of my sales with the Oregon Food Bank.

Happy Holidays to My Inner Old Lady readers! Let me catch my breath, and then I have some give-away items for you.