Friday, December 16, 2011

Vintage Stocking Swap

I received my gifts from Lynn, my partner in the Vintage Stocking Swap. Here's what the box looked like when I opened it:
Full of exciting gifts, here's what they turned out to be:
ATCs she had made, some craft items, clear Christmas stamps, vintage pictures/photos and a cool owl pendant.
A snowman lamp, light up snowman, cute hot air balloon ornament, peppermint bark, a reindeer bag full of mints, and the stocking she made for me.
A tree cookie cutter and cooking book.
Vintage linens and a crocheted washcloth.
And a bunch of bath supplies.


Thank you so much Lynn. To see what I sent/made for her, go here.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Steampunk Charms

Remember this post? Well, here's what I got in return:
I see some of the names are hard to read, so starting in the upper left hand corner, going across and then starting in the lower left hand corner and going across, here's who I got charms from:
Shelly R, Lisa Jacob, Susan Laura, and Shelly R.
Donnalee, Mags, Deanna Cosgrove, and Stacey Bond.

And there's more. Once again starting at the top left hand corner going across, and then starting at the bottom left hand corner and going across:
"Dr Amy" Spraitzer, "Dr Amy" Spraitzer, M.C. Sparks, and "Dr Amy" Spraitzer.
Claudine Criner, Valerie Brinchek, Debbie Warrick, and "Dr Amy" Spraitzer.

Thank you ladies for your lovely charms.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Vintage Stocking Swap

I signed up for a Vintage Stocking Swap. We were to make a stocking and fill it with goodies. My partner was Lynn of Life on the Wiennee Ranch. Check out her blog.
Here's my stocking:
I hand stitched it all, I had a ton of fun making it. The background is from a vintage kitchen towel, the doily was found at an antique mall along with the top trim. The beige circle in the middle of the doily is a vintage clip on earring. I also added a piece of ribbon to hang it, after I scanned it.

The bundled trim, is what I used on the top of the stocking.

The doily is the one on the stocking.

I sent my partner the doll.

I also sent her the owl on the bell. My original thought was to send the whole bell, but as I was wrapping it, I found it was glued on crapily and it popped off, I thought it was cuter without the bell anyway.

I sent her these vintage paper Valentines, she said she collected them.

I sent her everything in this picture.

The striped towel is what I used for the background on the stocking.


I have such a horrible time of taking pictures of everything I send in swaps, so I'm sure there's more than I have listed here. I also included some chocolate. My partner said she sent my package yesterday, so I will post when I get it.


I had so much fun with this swap.

Monday, December 12, 2011

The 12 Days of Christmas...Sorta

My mom asked me to help her make a 12 Days of Christmas artwork for my grandmother. She decided all pieces would be 5"x7", that they would have to have fabric and some kind of sewing on them, and that we would make up the 12 days with things that went along with the song. After making the 1st day, and seeing my 2nd day, she decided she didn't have time. I didn't hear about this until I was halfway through day 4, and then I was just inspired to keep going.
So, here's day 2:
Two shining balls.

It's scrapbook paper for the background, the tree is made from green leather, and the balls are foil candy wrappers. They're kinda hard to see, but there's two sewn snowflakes by the top of the tree.

The next 4 pieces were all created by sewing my elements on to some decorative fabric, which was backed with some quilt batting. I then finished it off by adding something to hang it and using a vintage kitchen towel as the backing and then sewed around the edges. All the sewing is by hand.
4 vintage trims.
I love the two background pieces on this one, the bigger piece, wasn't quite big enough so I had to add the other one. The 3 white pieces I found at garage sales, the red and white one I got in a swap, read about it here. I found some ric rac to use as the hanger for this one.

Day 8:

8 butterflies a fluttering.


The three pewter colored butterflies are charms from necklaces, the silver one and one in a heart are buttons, the orange one is a piece of plastic, the pink/blue one is foam, and the last one is a pin. I used a piece of pink ribbon for the hanger.

Day 10:

10 flowers blooming.


The flowers, with the exception of the two white ones, are all from vintage hankies. The white ones are from vintage trim. I used a piece of vintage pink seam binding for the hanger.

Day 12:

12 buttons gleaming.

All the buttons are vintage mother of pearl buttons. The fabric is a satiny fabric, I don't know why it looks like that in the scan. I used a vintage beige seam binding for the hanger.


I was planning to do day 6 and then go back and do the odd days for myself, but I ran out of steam. Maybe some day.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Steampunk Charms

I joined a steampunk charm swap in one of my Yahoo groups. I'm not entirely sure how to make steampunk charms, but I love charms. I was also trying to make them out of stuff I had. Not such a great idea. I understand steampunk to be metal, lace, keys, gears, stuff like that. Unfortunately, I don't have a drill, and I don't have a lot of metal elements. I do have a lot of bullet casings, but like I said no drill. So, here's what I came up with:
The metal tags I got at a garage sale last year. On the other side they say "Crawford County Iowa, a number and 1980 dog tax". The keys were brads that I snipped off the poky parts, glued them onto the tag, and then wrapped them with some coppe wire I found in a clock.
Personally, I think they're great. I asked the hostess if she thought they would work. She replied back "I think they are fine if that's how you would like them to be". That didn't sound too promising to me.


The last picture is my 2nd attempt, but I thought people might not think of them as steampunk, so I went the easy way out. The background is green leather, I just glued some images to them.


Here's my 2nd attempt:


I thought it would be cool to make a steampunk costume. I traced a dress form chipboard piece onto some green leather, freehanding the arms, and cut it out. I then added the black lace on the bottom, and the brass pieces to the arms (they're actually tiny clay beads cut in half). I then added the gold top piece (some packaging), and the 'belt' (some of that is copper colored German trim, some of it is silver trim colored with alcohol inks, and one piece is some copper colored pearls). I think they're really cute, but I was afraid people wouldn't see them as steampunk.




So, now I have 8 of those little dresses. Anyone fancy a trade?

Friday, December 2, 2011

Button Floozies Ornament Swap

In my last post, I showed you what I made for the Button Floozies Ornament swap. Now I get to show you what I got in return:
This cute little stocking came from Terri Wilkerson, it also came with all the fun goodies in the picture. I love the stocking idea, and the buttons are soo cute. I'm getting to be a big fan of the low color Christmas decorations (I just made a low color stocking for another swap I'm in).

This cute tag is from Susie A. I love how she decided to use a dress form, very cute.

And this little beauty is from Joni Reinhart. I love the idea. I would have never thought of making a little person. I also love the sparkly button.


Come back tomorrow for a post on some steampunk charms I made for a swap, I'll also have something for trade if anyone's interested.