little gi

Vintage pretties...

the latest tarisota gallery has been revealed & it is so gorgeous.  the team and our designer in residence, deb godley, really went over & above with this collection.  wait till you see.   seriously....just wait till you see.  SO gorgeous.

as for me, here are my contributions thus far. my favorite are these christmas trees.  they are photographing terribly, but i sewed up triangles of the pattern paper & stuffed them w/ stuffing so they are puffy.  then a little trunk (found in the yard :) & popped them into a little spool.  they look really cute on the shelf right now...just a little bit more till they get joined by the other christmas decorations :)

 

 

 

don't all those colors look gorgeous together?? 

there will be another gallery release with this collection in december as well, so be sure to look for that for more inspiration too :)  here is a peek at a couple layouts of mine that will be included. 

 

AND  if you fell in love with rachel's fairy house like i did, be sure to click on over to the tarisota blog to enter to win a pattern for the house created by rachel's friend, robyn.  good luck!!!  i know this is definitely on my "to create" list for the girls.  i think it will look adorable hanging in their room.  maybe for kate's 5th birthday :)

see????  GORGEOUS!!!  be sure to enter to win!!!

good luck & happy monday!!

xoxo

gi

some link loves...

we are knee deep in football around here these days.  ryan (& mike, since he's the head coach :) has a tournament & the turkey bowl this weekend & kelly's team made the playoffs, so she'll be cheering her little heart out.   so we'll all be getting ready this week for a big hometown blue & gold weekend.  (& looking at that pic, i think i need to get kelly a haircut too!  lol!!)

meanwhile, i thought i'd share 3 of my recent favorite "go-to" crafty spots sure to inspire & educate & give you that great creative spark. i've been getting so many wonderful ideas @ the www & have so many ideas jotted down to start doing some Christmas crafting.  

so here we go:

*  sew mama sew:  sew mama sew is such a wonderful resource.  & november is their Handmade Holidays feature during which they link great tutorials & ideas for the holidays each & every day.  it is awesome!  (& definitely go back through October to see all of their fabric scrap ideas.  i've tried a few already & really enjoyed bustin' through my fabric scraps :) 

* one crafty mumma:  mel goodsell is just the best.  i've "worked" with her as a part of the tarisota team for over a year and a half now & she always inspires me and she just so happens to be one of the nicest people in the world.  but just this past weekend, i found myself lost in her beautiful blog reading about all of her (& her adorable family) crafty adventures.  she has got a million and one fantastic ideas & she shares them.  LOVE it :)  after going through all of her gorgeous & whimsical creations, i'm rarin' to fire up the sewing machine & create.

* ruffles & stuff:  this is one clever & creative mama!!!  she shares so many great ideas from altering dollar store pj's to look like a fabulous crewcuts top to whipping up a no-sew tartan fleece cape.  seriously good ideas to be found.

hope you are having a happy monday!

xoxo

gi

hello november :)

I've been enjoying sewing like crazy around here these days!!  It has been so enjoyable rediscovering this craft after so many years of being away from it. 

So when I received my November Tarisota Box & saw the fabulous muslin inside, I knew I wanted to make another pincushion (yes, I am addicted to making pincushions now...lol!  expect to receive one for Christmas...lol!).  I found the tutorial here.

This month's featured product is stamps, & there is a gorgeous set of Pink Paislee stamps in the collection.  So I just randomly stamped the butterfly (using regular Stampin' Up dye ink) & then used that stamped fabric in my patchwork pincushion.  The stamped image came out really well, I was so pleased! 

And be sure to check out the great offer from Tarisota for November.  The entire Design Team will be once again offering classes to go along with the bonus Mistletoe & Mayhem Collection, so you are sure to get LOTS of great ideas & crafting done over the holidays!

 

Hope you have a wonderful start to your November!

xoxo

gi 

today we....

* are giving out Candy Corn Cookie Bark to friends :)

(NOT to the slow truck driver that was in front of me on the way to preschool drop off today.  it was so funny.  i'm sitting behind him at the light groaning @ him being so slow & kate pipes up from the back seat "THAT guy is definitely not going to get any of our Halloween treats!".  SO cute!!  lol!!)

 

we wrapped it all up super cute & i finally used that great Owl stamp.  so happy i've finally decided to actually USE all of this crafty stuff rather than just accumulate it, lol :)

* i'm going to try this little candy corn felt bag tutorial that nicole sent me.  looks adorable!

* hit the farmers' market & grab some more of the gorgeous harvest around here.  the butternut squash & celery root & beets & spinach & potatoes & onions & lettuces are just at their absolute peek right now.  we are expecting another rainy weekend, so perfect for some crock potting & some soup making :)

* the girls have a sleepover tonight.  hope the little birthday girl likes the crayon roll we made her :)

* maybe vacuum...lol

hope you have a great friday!!!

xoxo

gi

thank you mom for teaching me how to sew

because i really am enjoying it these days.  today i made one of those little crayon roll up thingies (got the tutorial from here) for a birthday gift.  i had been meaning to do this FOREVER!  so happy i finally just did it.  so easy peasy & such a great little gift.  i've got some cute japanese fabric in my stash & i'm going to make my kids each one for christmas too.

 

& then i made 2 more little felt pincushions.  those pincushions are seriously addictive. 

& now i'm off to make some candy corn cookie bark :)

happy thursday!!

xoxo

gi

been creating :)

after not creating for so long, my mind is racing with so many things i want to get to, tutorials i've bookmarked that i want to try, gifts i want to make, ideas i want to give a go....

all that pent up creative energy is starting to break loose.  & it is FUN!!!

today i made that little ladybug pincushion above.  so adorable!  i think these are definitely going to be one of my handmade christmas gifts this year.  you can find the tutorial here:  goody goody ladybug pincushion

yesterday i made a little bookmark for a friend.  just grabbed bits of scraps that were lying on my desk & put them together.  turned out pretty cute, i hope she likes it :)

o.k.  much more to create!!!  gotta go!!!!

have a happy wednesday!!

xoxo

gi

hello october :)

it's been quite a while since my last post.  unfortunately i was ill for the past month, today i'm finally feeling a bit back to my normal self.  so i thought why not take today & share something.   dip the old toe back in the blog pond :)

a while back, stacy marks of Marks Paper Company had asked me to guest design.  i, of course, was so excited to take her up on her offer & created the following four layouts with her beautiful patterned papers and die cuts (the die cuts were my favorite) which debuted this past october 1st on the website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

don't you love all of that gorgeous purple! 

& speaking of purple...be sure to check out the newest tarisota gallery.  it revealed the other day & it has to be one of the most interesting & inspiring yet.  the team came up with so many ingenious ways of using the gorgeous lavender fabrics & beautiful embellishments this month.  there are gorgeous necklaces & beautiful mixed media paintings, crafted dragonflies & flowers and, of course, stunning layouts.  the best thing is that because i was sick, i was unable to create with my stunning tari box yet, so now i get to scraplift & craftlift all of my wonderful team members like i always want to!! i'm really excited about it :)

hope you have a wonderful friday!!

xoxo

gi

best tari gallery ever...

just WAIT till you see the September Tarisota gallery.  it is most likely the most gorgeous set of crafting images you've ever seen.  our guest designer this month is Deb Godley & she created the most amazing things. 

i created some layouts:

 

 

 

 

a thankful journal to use in november.  i think this may be a nice thing to put our family in the "grateful mood" leading up to Thanksgiving & the onslaught of the material "i want" monster that creeps up around Christmas.

 

& then i created the cover to an album for my mom & dad.  it will hold all their photos & travel memorabilia from their trip to Spain & Portugal last year.  

 

enjoy checking out the gorgeous gallery & have a happy start to your week!

gigi

a little challenge for today

the fabulous audrey neal has a really great letters & words challenge this week for everyone:  masking!!!

definitely check out the link to find some really lovely inspiration.

masking is so fun & another great way to stretch our craft supplies.  & as i was writing this post i got to thinking, would it be cool to mask w/ glitter?  a gorgeous Christmas tree or poinsettia would look gorgeous on a christmas card like that.  oooh or you could use that fabulous embossing glitter stuff?  

oooh or wouldn't it be cool to mask w/ embroidery??  like you would lay a flower down, trace around the shape & then cluster embroidery stitches (french knots anyone :) all around the perimeter of the flower's edge.  pop on a gorgeous vintage button or a rhinestone brad for the flower's center.  oooh that would be so pretty!!!

see?  i love a challenge, really gets those creative wheels a' turnin'

so if you've got some free crafting time today or this week, why not try masking?  

for this art journaling page i used a basic grey lace paper & spray inks.  this was the first time i really let go w/ the spraying thing.  i remember telling dina (my spray ink & art journaling mentor :), that i'm spray-stupid b/c my stuff always turned out muddy & yuck.  she immediately said something like "you are crazy.  i'm sure you are being way too hard on yourself!".  she was right :)  i think i was having trouble because i was spraying too close and also i was expecting too much.  the nature of the spraying beast is imperfection.  i had to let go of that preconceived notion in my head of that perfect spray splatter & let it just be what it was going to be.  once i did that, i had much more fun & in the end really liked my page :)

& what is cool is that i've used that sprayed up bit of lace paper on some other journaling pages & i still have a snippet left out on my craft desk.  see?  really stretch those supplies :)

 

happy creating & happy friday!!

xoxo

gi

beauty

i sometimes think it must have been a dream, but it wasn't.  last friday night, we saw a FULL rainbow.  i've never ever had seen a full rainbow before.  i've seen those little bits i could see between the trees or buildings.  i even remember one time when i was little i saw a half of a rainbow, & my friends & i tried to weave our bikes in & out of the streets & houses to find the end & the pot of gold. 

but a whole entire one, end to end?  never in my life had i seen such a thing.  & it is, hands down, the most beautiful thing i have ever seen.

we are lucky to live in a valley surrounded by green gorgeous mountains.  & we are even luckier that our football fields have the most amazing view.  so last friday night, when our little town gathered at sunset for a bonfire to kickoff the football season, we all got a front row seat to spectacular.

 

yep, we got a double one too.  & i know these pictures are terrible, i was at a complete loss of how to photograph such a magnificent thing.  i just snapped a couple of shots, fully aware that they would never match the actual magic of that moment, then i just stared & stared memorizing the scene with my mind.  it was breathtaking.  to be completely honest, it brought tears to my eyes i was so struck by the unbelievable beauty before me. 

so i just stood there w/ my kids, my neighbors & friends (new & old) & stared.  soaked it all up, every second. 

it was something i will never ever forget.

this week's word up over at onelittleword just happens to be beauty.  so i created this for my "days" journal:

 

 

a simple entry.  i just needed to get this memory down & in this special journal.  this was definitely a moment i want to remember & go back to often. 

happy wednesday!!

xoxo

gi