Goods for the Gratitude Swap

No more sneak peeks! Here's the real deal, this is my completed Gratitude Swap package winging its way to Tonya. She should receive this today. Hope you like it Tonya!
I used Soulemama's free Gratitude Wrap Pattern. You can find the downloadable pattern in her sidebar. This pattern is great, easy to follow and quick to produce. So simple and yet so cute!

Tonya likes a good surprise so I hope this is fun for her. My only clues were greens, browns and she loves hedgehogs. The wrap is mostly linen with recycled denim (with four kids we have a lot of that around here!) and some other fun scraps. I used denim and chenille for the inside pockets for some added texture. The cute hedgie embroidery pattern is a freebie from Pimp Stitch, another fun pattern!

I filled those pockets with some handmade cards, made with stamped linen scraps and stitched onto cardstock. I really like the way these turned out. Oh, and if you look closely, the thread ends were left on intentionally. I thought it looked kind of cool.

Also included in the package were a few local treats. We found some yummy candy, popcorn on the cob, apple jelly and a beeswax candle with a (plastic) bee in it at the local farm market. They have the best stuff and the coolest Halloween Teepee filled with Jack-o-lanterns so it was no hardship for the kids to go shop there! Although the littlest one did leave the teepee in tears. I think it was the hanging skeletons at the end. Oops, forgot about that part.

This was a great swap, hosted by Melissa and I had so much fun putting all this together!
Alright, now go check out those free patterns!

Waahahaha......spooky!

Wow! Its really hard to photograph a table runner! You'll have to forgive the weird angle because short of standing on my head to get the shot, and I did consider it, this is the best I could do. :)
So its almost October and in our house that means a trip to the attic to release the ghouls and goblins. New for our table this year is this slightly wonky modified log cabin runner with spookies. I feel little like a game show host with my description... so, "Come on down ghouls and gals! Its almost Halloween!"


(Cue sinister laugh) Waahahaha..........................................

Whoo Knew?

Who knew it would be so much fun to color paper reinforcements? Mr. Man and Mimi spent the better part of an hour coloring the stickers and making pictures out of them. Check out the tie dye ones! I wish I had more pictures to post but they were all gifted immediately upon completion. I can tell you though, they do make excellent owl eyes!

Sneak Peek

A sneak peek at a WIP for the Gratitude Swap. I'll be wrapping up a few loose ends and mailing it out this week. I hope my swap partner likes it.

The Colors of Fall

Sunflowers from the village Farm Market.

Apples fresh from the tree.
A new school bag with a Gnome (embroidery design from Badbird's) to tag along.
Happy Fall!

Magic Carpet Bag

A little late for a beach but, a finally a bag big enough to fit all our towels for swimming at the Y. This beauty holds six beach towels, keys, sunglasses, snacks and a small sketchbook. What else could we need?

Made using linen and my favorite Japanese nesting doll fabric and some recycled jeans for the pocket and strap. I made up the bag as I went along and was able to finish it in an afternoon. I think my favorite part is the pink chenille scrap that I used to line the top four or five inches of the lining. It gave the bag a nice weight at the top and kept it from being to droopy.

Totally unrelated to the bag, I've also signed up for a few swaps/challenges. The Gratitude Swap is being hosted by Melissa and the Spare a Square Challenge hosted by JC Handmade. For those of you Seinfeld fans.....the challenge is totally unrelated to the toilet paper episode. I do love the name though and can't wait to get started! I'll post pics of the Gratitude Swap as soon as my partner receives it.

Campy

Another spectacular family portrait. This is the hike on which G thought it would be fun to jog up the 400 stone steps on the side of a waterfall. Some of us may have to start working out more if this camping/hiking thing is going to become a summer tradition. Also, I was at a disadvantage having to make sure Mr. Man and Mimi didn't dance themselves over the edge of the cliff. So really, its not just about the 400 steps and the wheezing, its a safety issue.

So here we are the last bits of summer. Only a few days left until school begins and we are cramming in every last bit of fun. Our second ever camping trip went surprisingly well. Hot dogs were roasted , marshmallows toasted, six people sleeping in one tent, 42 trips to the bathroom each day and none of the children fell into the fire pit. That's what I call a successful trip.

The photographer (ahem) may want to consider which way the wind is blowing the smoke in the future.

Monkey McFly

The latest addition to the family, meet Monkey McFly. Two birthday gifts for Mr. Man made with love ( and very little time, I'm a last minute kind of girl) on his big birthday number five. We think he likes them. (See happy boy photo.) Monkey has a matching cape suitable for all high flying adventures. Mr. Man tested his cape out last night on the lawn. It turns out that you can actually fly higher if you hold the ends before you run. Oh, and it also helps to have your sister waiting at the end so you don't accidentally fly into the road.