Better Late Than Never 2011 Planner

Much to my chagrin I have already used up my day planner for this year. It was a little red plastic covered thing that I got from Target and it was too small for all my scribbles.

I found this amazing download and a tutorial and decided to make a half year planner for myself, starting with June.



Brenda from It's a New Day did an exquisite job on the artwork for this planner, the illustrations are sweet and whimsical and the final product looks very professional.



That said, this thing took me a long time to finish. There was lots of paper cutting and gluing and glazing and waiting for things to dry which I managed to drag out into a two week process! I love it and am very happy with the way it turned out but I got a little tired of paper cutting and corner rounding about half way into this :)

In case anyone is interested in making their own little book, I thought you might be interested to see the cost breakdown. I was impressed with how inexpensive it was to make.

Items used:

• 7 pieces plain white cardstock = $.70
• 1/2 each of two fancy pieces of cardstock = $.30
• 12 loops of 1" Bind-it-All o-wire = $.20
• notebook and sketch paper = free, I tore up old notebooks for their paper
• chipboard = free, covers are from the back of an old sketchpad and bird/tree on cover is made from a recycled kleenex box
• Aleene's Paper Glaze = about $.10 worth
• glue stick = about $.05 worth
• printer ink = about $5.00 worth

Total cost: Approximately $6.35, and most of that came from the printer ink!


Tools used:

Paper cutter
Corner Rounder
Bind-it-All
color printer

Of course, the tools make this more expensive. Cutting the paper by hand would give you a nervous breakdown so I really recommend that you use the cutter and rounder. If you don't have a binder you could just take your pages down to Kinko's and get them to bind it (and print and cut it if you like, now that I think about it).

I have already made a note in my new notebook to check Brenda's site for a new planner download in November, or maybe I will try to design my own for next year? Hmmm. Is it ridiculous to spend a month (surely how long it would take me) to make your own day planner?

Probably. But it sure is cute :)

I linked up at:

Super Psyched

I grew up in a part of the world where you described your happiness by telling people how psyched you were. I don't really understand what it means, but when something nice happens I still get psyched and I am super psyched right now. My flag was selected for the 30 Days of Creativity Day 14 Highlight Reel!

Thanks, guys!

Easy & Fun Flower Headband Slider

I have seen so many great tutorials about fusing plastic bags together, and making a tote bag out of recycled plastic is way up there on my massively long crafting to-do list. Because I am tentative about these things I decided to make something small first. I need to get comfortable with the technique and familiarize myself with what the resulting "fabric" will be like before I haul off on a tote bag!



So I made a little flower, which turned into a headband slider, which I really like. It's soft and flexible and up close you can't tell at all that it is from a grocery bag. In person the pattern looks abstract. I'll try to get a good action shot of it tonight at the movies.



I followed this tutorial to fuse the bags together, then I used a couple of different Sizzix dies to punch the flowers. The plastic is really easy to work with and you could easily cut the shapes out with scissors if you don't have flower die cutters. Next I glued my flowers together, sewed on a button and then glued the whole thing to a couple of pieces of felt. I had already hand stitched the felt around the headband so that it would be snug, but so that I could remove it if I like.

The plastic fabric is really fun to work with, I can't wait to make more. Has anyone else used this stuff? What did you make?

I hope your Wednesday is keeping
calm and carrying on!


I linked up at:

Happy Flag Day

I am participating in a project called 30 days of creativity. Today the inspiration was 'picnic', which makes me think of July 4th, so I made a flag.

First I scored an aluminum soda can and painted some stripes on it. Then I die cut a star ( from the same soda can) and photo shopped it onto a painted blue background (the rest of the soda can). 5 more minutes of photoshopping and today's project was complete. Much to my surprise, when I posted the flag on Pinterest someone commented that it was perfect for flag day. Flag day is today?!

What a co-inky-dink!

Happy Flag Day, everybody!

Best Grits Ever

Grits are good food. Lately, I have been making my grits using a recipe that Suzanne McMinn from Chickens in the Road managed to tease out of someone at a restaurant in Charleston. There is heavy cream involved, so this recipe is decadent (but oh-so-worth-it!). You have been warned ;)

Quilts for everyone!

When I was a little girl I had a puff quilt, which I called the poofy quilt. Really, I had a couple of special blankies but the poofy quilt stands out because it was SO DARN POOFY. I was endlessly poking at it and squishing the puffs, I couldn't help it.

The old puff quilt is long gone but I really wanted to make a set of digital scrapbooking letters that evoked its memory. I couldn't find any photographs online that gave me the look I wanted so I had to take EXTREME measures and make a quilt of my own. Behold, the teeny-tiny (fake) puff quilt:


Can you tell what it is? I'll give you a hint:


Yup, It's a painted, debossed coke can and while it would make a lousy quilt in real life It made a great background for the alphabet!

click the pic to embiggen, this set is huuuuge!

The zip file containing the Poofy Quilt alphabet set can be downloaded here, for free*, I hope you enjoy them!

Happy FRIDAY!!

I shared this at:

*This alphabet set was created by me, myself, and I, for you, and is for personal use only.

I think I can?

I ironed some appliques on a few onesies this week, but I haven't gotten up the courage to do the sewing part yet because I'm pretty sure that's where things will go wrong. I have sewn appliques onto cotton fabric before, but never stretchy knit fabric. Should I be scared or is this no big deal?