Tales of a Crafty Mama

because lately the 'mama' in "tales of a crafty mama" has been emphasized way more than the 'crafty'

I do still love doing crafts. I have just not figured out how to work them into my new life with two kids yet. I daydream about scrapbooking again and learning how to sew and making my home a sweet, cozy little haven, but for now all I can really manage to do is barely keep up on the laundry and dishes and read craft books before bed at night or while I am nursing Elliot. (Man, that was a huge run-on sentence!)

Last week in the midst of an errand running frenzy, Elliot and I stopped at Barnes and Noble for an hour so that I could have a little bit of Andi time (Audrey was at home playing in the pool with Daddy). I pulled my usual Barnes and Noble routine: Grab as many craft books and magazines as you can carry and a chai and sit for as long as it takes to scan read through them. While looking in the craft book section, I was so excited to find Bend the Rules Sewing: The Essential Guide to a Whole New Way to Sew by Amy Karol, author of one of my favorite craft blogs, Angry Chicken. I had heard that the book was finally out, but I thought that I would have to special order it online or in a bookstore to actually see it in real-life. After scanning through it a couple of times, I was thankful that I had held onto a gift certificate I had gotten months ago; the book was a must-buy, in my opinion.

Now I would not call myself a sewer. I am definitely a wannabe sewer, but I don't think I have done enough real projects (especially on a sewing machine) to qualify as a real sewer. But this book is definitely what I have been waiting for to help me take the plunge into real sewing. Amy's instructions are very down-to-earth, funny, and easy to understand, and her projects are all beautiful! Not to mention the fact that all of the photos in this book are so lovely and inspiring. I definitely recommend this book!

Here are a few of the projects that really caught my eye (please excuse the lousy photos-I don't have a scanner and it is really hard to take pictures of photographs in a book!):

Swing Swing Smock: I have been on the look-out for a good smock for Audrey to wear while doing messy art and this is perfect!

Simple Bib: I have always wanted to try making baby bibs and I really like the way that this one looks. I better start this one soon- Elliot is already turning into a major drooler, especially when he is happy!

Easy Lap Quilt: Making a quilt is another thing that I have always wanted to try, and I think this one might be a good place to start considering that it is called "Easy Lap Quilt". Amy even says, "This is the perfect project for a first quilt." Hmmm. Audrey's toddler bed needs a little bedding lovin'...

Mixy-Matchy Napkins: These lovely things might actually be able to wean this home off of our excessive use of paper towels.

Pleated Beauty Handbag: Doesn't this look like the perfect fall bag or going-to-the-library tote?

And finally, just a sweet little picture from the beginning of the book that I love:

I'll let you know when I start one of the projects! Which one do you think I should do first? Should I start with the simpler napkins or head straight into something more challenging?

of funky shirts and cinnamon petal biscuits

I know it probably sounds totally nerdy, but I really wanted to find Audrey a special "Big Sister" shirt to wear to the hospital when she comes to meet her new baby brother. The problem I found however was that all the shirts out there were in fact, nerdy. So, inspired by these three creative ladies, I decided to make my own shirt for Miss Audrey.

I had never attempted any kind of applique project before, so when my mom (an awesome seamstress!) and step-dad Rick visited a couple of weeks ago, I got her to help get me started. The guys took Audrey out on an afternoon hike and my mom and I hit the local quilt shop to find some fun fabric. Of course I got much more fabric than I needed for the shirt- I am now planning on making some applique onesies for my little boy too!

Armed with Amy's instructions, we ironed the Heat N Bond Light onto the fabric. I had planned on cutting out each individual letter by hand, but then I got the brilliant idea to use the die-cut machine at my local scrapbook store to cut the letters. Because the fabric was ironed onto the Heat N Bond, it was thicker and worked kind of like paper in the die-cut machine. It saved so much time and was so much less stressful to do it that way! Plus, while I was there, I cut out some other shapes in different fabric for those onesies I was talking about- stars and fish and boats...

After we ironed everything onto the shirt, my mom taught me how to do a blanket stitch and I began the super tedious task of sewing around each letter and the flower. This part seriously took me forever! But I think that I got faster at the end, so hopefully my next project won't take quite so long.

I am in love with the end result! I am really happy that Audrey will have something special that her mama made for her to wear. Much better than some generic t-shirt from the mall!

On a completely different note...

You have to try these awesome biscuits that I have been making- Cinnamon Petal Biscuits. They are actually technically called Up-&-Down Biscuits, but my mom always called them by the former name when I was a kid, so that is what they are. They are from an old Better Homes and Gardens recipe from 1950 and are super yummy. I tried taking a picture of my muffins, but the photo made them look completely unappetizing, so this picture is actually from this cookbook.

If you try them, let me know what you think!

Cinnamon Petal Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening

2/3 cup milk

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup sugar

2 to 3 teaspoons cinnamon

Grease twelve 2 1/2-inch muffin cups. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, the 3 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, cream of tarter, and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center of dry mixture. Add milk all at once. Using a fork, stir just until moistened.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Quickly knead dough by gently folding and pressing for 10 to 12 strokes or until nearly smooth. Divide dough in half. Roll half of the dough to a 12x10-inch rectangle. Brush dough with half of the melted butter. In a small bowl stir together the 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon; sprinkle half over the dough. Cut rectangle into five 12x12- inch strips. Stack the five strips on top of each other. Cut stack into six 2x2-inch squares. Place squares, cut sides down, in prepared muffin cups. Repeat with remaining dough, remaining butter, and remaining cinnamon mixture.

Bake biscuits in a 450 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm. Makes 12 biscuits.

still crafty

So I looked up the word "crafty" online, and here's what I came up with:

crafty:adj : marked by skill in deception; "cunning men often pass for wise"; "deep political machinations"; "a foxy scheme"; "a slick evasive answer"; "sly as a fox"; "tricky Dik"; "a wily old attorney" [syn: cunning, dodgy, foxy, guileful, knavish, slick, sly, tricksy, tricky, wily]                        *from dictionary.com*

Um. No... Not exactly what I was thinking.

Here's my definition of "crafty", or rather, how I how choose to define it in terms of the title of  my blog. I would love to expand on this more as I evolve as a crafter:

crafty: someone who loves to create; lover of yarn, pretty paper and fabric, cookbooks, and making beautiful things; not necessarily skilled at creating, just enjoys the process; seeker of beauty in every day life

I feel like lately I have really been slacking off on the "crafty" side of this little blog. This is supposed to be "tales of a crafty mama", but one would think it is really "tales of a mama who claims to love crafts, but never seems to do any". I could blame it on being a new mama, on moving recently, and a bunch of other things, but it all adds up to me just being too lazy and tired to make the effort to do things that I love.

However, the last couple of days, I have realized that I just need to make the time. Everytime that I find a few minutes or an hour to do something creative it ends up being so relaxing and gives me energy and motivation in other aspects of my life. Moving has also inspired me to want to create more- I have been cooking and baking more because I love hanging out in my pretty kitchen, and I've been scrapbooking more because I have a better space for it in our bedroom here.

Here are some of my latest projects...

These are my favorite jeans. I spent $50.00 on them two and a half years ago...I think I got my money's worth, don't you?

After telling Erik for months and months that I was going to patch them (he thinks I should just trash them), I finally got some fabric yesterday at the quilt store. It was my first time at this particular store and I seriously was drooling. So many beautiful fabrics. Too bad I don't know how to quilt. Someday...

Here's the fabric I decided on. I think the top one is by Amy Butler, and the bottom one is by Denyse Schmidt, who I did not even know had her own line of fabric. It was so hard to choose fabric, but I love what I decided on. Now we'll see how I do with the actual patching...

In other crafty news... here are a couple of layouts I did. The first one is actually pretty old, but this is my first time posting it.

Happy Thursday!