Flower winners, and peeks at my scrappy crafty space!

Hello everybody!  Thank you to everyone who read my blog post last week and commented and/or became a follower.  I made more fabric flowers this week, so since I had more to share, I decided to pick two people out of a hat instead of one.  Each winner will receive 6 various sized fabric flowers.

The winners are ~

Sue and Izzyb!  

Please email me your shipping addie at pmooie  at hotmail .com (take out the spaces and switch the at to @ please).  I hope you have fun playing with your fabric flowers!

I have been organining my scrappy space for months it seems.  Since we moved, I haven't had a chance to put everything away, or really unpack before I started using things.  I have taken some time recently though to unpack a bit more, and try to get things set up as I like them.  I still have a ways to go, but for the most part I am pretty happy.  Of course when we first bough the house I had to paint this room because it was a taupeish beige, and the trim was grayish beige.  Not me at all!!! Now it is a pale sunny butter yellow, with white trim.  Perfect!  I am still debating on whether I want window treatments or not, because there is beautiful molding around each window and I don't really want to cover that up.    Here are some pics of my "crafting emporium" as my hubs likes to call it.  WARNING, LOTS of photos coming up!  ~

Inside the small walk-in closet ~

better view of one side of the walk-in closet ~

other side of the walk-in closet ~

 Close up shot of some of my fabric baskets on one of the shelving units in my crafty room (I have two stuffed full big baskets of Nancy Halvorsen fabric, she is my FAVORITE fabric designer!) ~

Some of my card making supplies like envies, my machine embroidery thread is in the basket behind the envie basket ~

some of the odds and ends on the double bookshelf ~

close up shot of some of my adhesives, gesso, pens, markers, and small tools ~

some of the many floss holder caddies I have, they are filled with brads, charms, and other small misc, plus some of my spools of lace ~

a corner cabinet filled with my Jyl Gaskin fairies and angels, and porcelain fairies and dolls I used to make ~

My much much smaller pegboard (we left the big one at the old house), and the bulletin board and altered clock I made for our camper.  When our camper was totaled in a storm, I was able to keep these items.  This reminds me of how we found our home. ~

An angel pic I purchased at a local art show, and two clipboards with layouts.  I change the LOs on occasion.  They are in page protectors, so there is a bit of glare, sorry ~

Close up shot of my scrap paper.  I want to get one of the rolling file holders, I have definitely outgrown this method.  Next to the purple cropper hopper file holder is zippy bag filled with red paper scraps, and my foam board, canvas sheets, and misc canvases ~

My main paper storage system, some mending (yikes), baskets of punches, my dreamkuts, distrezzer, quickuts binders with assorted dies, and of course my pink bind-it-all on the bottom shelf ~

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A wooden sign I picked up at a craft show years ago.  It says be nice or leave.  I want to hang it on my door again, but I also want to make a new sign that says Welcome to Ala Pamala's Craft Emporium, then hang the be nice sign below it.  :) 

Looking to one side of my crafty scrappy room ~

Another photo of the stuff on my small shelves, and on the ledge.  You can see a big ole bottle of glitter, my cuttle bug, a stuffed full book of clear acrylic stamps, my favorite quote book, and some big bowls I use for various things ~

closer view of one bookshelf, and my corner wicker and wire shelf with some boyds angels and fairies, and other fairies ~

Better view of my corner cabinet near the peg board ~  

My favorite table, it has two sides that fold down so I can have more space when I work on things.  It is folded down here, and my grandkids chalkboard, dry erase easel is underneath.  My hubs powder coated the lovely antique beverage holder for me, I LOVE it.  There are lots of nestabilites and other dies in that ziplock bag.  I am cutting up my old bazzill samples into flower and tag shapes ~

two "wings" of table in upright position.  I still have lots of room to walk around, but I also have lots of crafty space to spread out and work ~

the other side of my crafty scrappy room, there is still a bit of a mess from my Christmas projects on the table.  I keep my cutting mat on here for now, till I have my rolling cart all fixed up.  My hubs promised to design, cut, and secure a board for the top so I can put my cutting mat on it, and when I am not using it I will store it in the walk-in closet.  Of course all the lovely shelves on the rolling cart will be filled with stuff, I am sure. :)  ~

bit closer view, you can see my sewing machine, my little teflon mat and my cutting mat ~

one of my shelving units and you can see into the walk-in closet  since I opened the door ~

 stuff under my folding long table, including my serger ~

My sewing table and stuff on it. I love this little table, I used to have a sewing cabinet but did not like it. This is way better in my opinion ~

stuff on the ledge over my sewing machine.  The little sewing machine is an antique, and it still works.  ~

Some of my sewing machine feet are in that little white cabinet, and other misc is on the shelf.  The white hook is for a pretty red wire basket my hubs powder coated for me.  I want to hang it after I unpack the basket from the barn.  :)

Well, that is it for this week.  Thanks again for stopping in, I appreciate it!  Next week I will share some of the layouts I am doing for my youngest granddaughter's first birthday present.  I am making her an album for part of her present.  I am so happy I have a bit of time to scrap again!  Love playing with paper and glue.  :)
I hope you have a joyful and creative week!  Take care ~ Pam

Cutie Valentine Girl Tutorial, Tamales Talk, and a Valentine Wreath Today!

Hello everyone!  How are you all doing?  I am doing well, I finished my valentine wreath, I have written two quick tutorials to share with you, and my family and I made tamales for the first time today.  So it has been busy here.  First, some pics of Cort (daughter) and Kaya (granddaughter) in some of her Valentine attire ~ 

Poor Cooper was trying to nap on his momma's lap during our mini Valentine fashion show, see him to the left?  ~

Doesn't Kaya look darling?  I love her little bare feet, her nail polish matches on her toes and fingers ~

Do you want a chance to win some of these darling Valentine fabric flowers?  All you have to do is leave a comment on this post, or for two chances, leave a comment on this post and become a follower.  Winner to be announced Sunday, see details at the bottom of this post.

Cuties!  OK, time to get to business.  First, the headband tutorial.

 Cut 2" wide strips of fabric for rolled fabric flowers and roll.  I use my handy dandy glue gun to adhere the fabric , it is quick and easy.

Next, select your fabric flowers and arrange them how you would like to glue to your headband ~

Begin gluing them to the headband, just use a small dab of hot glue, you will anchor them more firmly later.  Layer the flowers ~

 Finish gluing the flowers, check to be sure you don't want to change the arrangement or add additional flowers ~

Next begin tying short little pinked edge strips of fabric between each flower ~

After you have tied the short pinked edge fabric strips, tie little smidge pieces of tulle between each flower (I use about a 5-6" wide piece and bunch it up) ~

Once you have tied all your fabric strips and tulle, trim as needed.  Next, turn the headbands so you can see the inside ~ 

Using your hot glue, anchor the fabric flowers more firmly, then add a thin strip of felt to the inside of the headband to tidy things up ~

 Done!  Look how cute, and it was easy peasy to do too!  Add gems, pearls, baubles or whatever else you like to beautify your headbands.

Close up shot ~

Time to glam up some leggings!  I used a $5.00 pair of cute leggings I picked up at Old Navy.  They were actually a Christmas present for my oldest granddaughter (the 4 year old), but I told her I was going to "decorate" them for Valentine's Day.   To begin, I cut 3" wide fabric strips for each leg.  If you want a really ruffled look, use the entire width of your fabric (usually 42- 44").   Be warned though, it can be tricky to gather and sew that much fabric onto a skinny little legging.  You can always start out using half the width (about 21") and see how you do with that  ~

Finish the edges of each strip.  I folded mine over twice and stitched, but you can use pinking shears and leave raggedy, or use a serger to finish the edges as well.  It is up to you ~

Cut the seam allowance of each legging from the bottom edge of each leg to about 4" above where the last ruffle will go so you can spread the legging out flat.  Make sure you pick off the cut threads.  Below you can see one leg is cleaned up, while one leg still has thread to clean up  ~

Gather each strip and pin it to the legging, doing one at a time.  I line the bottom edge of the legging with the bottom edge of the ruffled strip.  Stitch each strip 2 x so it won't come off.  I usually stretch the legging fabric a bit while stitching so there is room for the child to maneuver her foot in there. Keep layering fabric, gathering, pinning, then stitching.  You can see below where I have one leg with three rows, and one leg with two rows ~

Finished!  Now I flipped the leggings inside out and restitched the leg seams together.  It is easier to do if you pin the leggings then stitch.  After stitching, turn them right side out and voila!  Done!

 Close up of ruffles ~

 Another close up ~

 Here is a close up shot of Cooper's Valentine shirt and "faux" tie ~

Close up shot of one of the granddaughter's shirts ~

 Here is my fun Valentine's Wreath ~ 

It is usually really snowy and cold here on Valentine's Day, so I put some frosty snowflakes on my wreath, in addition to a little sparklie red bird and boatloads of hearts ~

 Lots of sparkle and fluff, and more of the monogram theme (I am doing a whole year, this is so FUN!) ~

Today my kids and two grandkiddies came over to continue with our international cooking together time and we made tamales.   Cort was the only one who had ever done this before.  We had fun, and made a boatload.  Here are some pics of the tamale makers (Kaya age 4) ~

Cort - my daughter (she made DELICH masa!) ~

Kaya again, she really did a fabulous job ~

 Jay, being silly, who thought he was the best in the group (he did a pretty good job I have to admit) ~

 

Waiting to dive in ~

My hubs and I helped too, no pics though.  Next time.  :)   We decided to tackle won ton soup, chicken fried rice, and steamed dumplings for our next international cooking together time.   I have made chicken fried rice many times, but the other two are new.  It should be fun!  

Thanks for stopping by!  Don't forget to leave a comment on this post, or for two chances, become a follower  and leave a comment on this post for your chance to win some lovely Valentine fabric flowers from me.  I will   announce one winner next Sunday.  You have until Saturday the 28th of January at midnight to leave your comment.  

I wish you a joyful and creative week ~ Pam