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Tuesday, May 20, 2014

A Craft A Week: Week 17 - Refashions, Monster Bookmarks, & Fishing

It was Friday night.
I was home alone.
No wait, Reed was with me.
And it wasn't night yet, it was late afternoon.  It might even have been Thursday.
Ok, nevermind.  The point is I was crafting!  I had grabbed 3 t-shirts from my closet, my cutting mat and rotary cutter, my little LadyBug friend (does she need a name?), and sat on the floor with Reed to cut and sew. 
Then I cut the arms off each shirt.  Snip, snip.  And a straight line to cut off the collar of each.  Snip. Snip. Snip.
Then Reed and I played dress up in all the "armpits" and "necks"!


Out comes the "pokies" and I pin down an edge on the front and back of each of the shirts, this is where the straps will be thread through.
Stitch it closed, but don't let your three-year-old help otherwise the line will definitely not be straight (honestly though, it doesn't matter because the top gathers and you can't see the thread anyway).
Now you just need to thread through your choice of ribbon or tarn or whatever you want to be your straps.  I don't think you can see it on the right side of the picture below, but it's one long piece of ribbon threaded through the front then the back and tied to it's other end.  It creates adjustable straps for the shirt.  I used the same ribbon for all three shirts because it was cheaper to buy in bulk :)
I suppose I could have washed the mirror first.  Yikes!
Saturday, May 17th was my very special 36th  birthday.  My Dad and Momimi sent me a Martha Stewart Craft Station:
"Its versatile design and included high-quality accessories make it easy to expertly cut, trace, stamp, and emboss in one convenient station. Perfect for creating holiday greeting cards, scrapbook pages, party invitations, and decorations, the Craft Station also makes a thoughtful gift for the avid crafter." - Amazon.com
Very cool!  The Craft Station includes: LED light box with 12-by-12-inch scratch-resistant glass, stamp alignment guide, embossing stencil and tool, craft knife, five tracing and cutting templates, movable ruler arm with blade shuttle, and two replacement blades for the built-in blade shuttle.  The LED light box with the scratch-resistant glass with cutter is my favorite, but I also really can't wait to use the embossing tool on a project.  Fun, fun, fun!
Mike's Dad and Mom-Gumi sent me a $50 gift card to Joann's Fabrics.  I feel so Blessed!  What should I get?  Maybe something to emboss or cut?  YAY!  Fun, fun, fun!
I was remembered and wished a Happy Birthday by so many wonderful friends and family, my day felt truly special.  Hubby had to work all day, but when he got home he made us a nice dinner and gave me a delicious cake!
Then I relaxed with a glass of wine and we sat down to watch Avatar the Last Airbender while learning to fold Monster Bookmarks with Origami paper.
http://tallystreasury.com/2011/02/corner-page-bookmarks-3/
I just realized at this moment that I didn't take a single photo of the process of making these cute Monster Bookmarks, but the tutorial is pretty straight forward and we didn't get nearly as fancy as they did.
Chase was working right along with me.  He made a few different ones.
When Blake saw our first Monsters done, he decided he wanted to make some too.
And of course Reed had his own agenda.  He used every scrap piece, whether it was really a scrap piece or not, to make his creature.  I think it's actually pretty stinkin' cute.  He glued all the pieces on himself and asked me to draw eyes and a mouth.
On Sunday, Hubby gave me the birthday present I asked him for: a trip to the beach to collect shells.  He took us all to Bolinas, CA.  I have never been to a beach LOADED with shells!  We couldn't possibly carry all the shells we found in the first 2 minutes.  Mike told us we weren't allowed to collect anything, we had to walk to our "spot".  We passed beautiful shells, amazing tide pools, super cool drift wood branches, we walked forever!  And we found the perfect spot!  Nobody was around, tide pools all around us, and the perfect place to fish for sharks!  We caught 4 sharks, 2 different kind of perch, and Chase caught a skate.  We let them all go of course.  I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of the tide pools we were playing in, I was trying to preserve the battery life in my phone as well as protect it from water.  I did get these photos:
 
Fishing is a craft, right?  :)
 
 
Then we all got severely burnt, almost didn't make it back because the tide was coming in, but we still got a whole heaping bucket full of beautiful shells!  It was all worth it, what a gorgeous day and a spectacular way to spend time with my guys.

Love,
Momma Lady Beetle

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