Multi-Tasking Mama

Let the Decorating Begin!

2011-03-09T10:50:00.023-06:00

I mentioned in my New Year's post that one of my goals for this year is to finally decorate my blah, builder-beige home. Well let the decorating begin! I've been slowly picking up a few small purchases here and there and come next week when I'm on Spring Break, I'll be adding the new stuff to my decor!

Two of the biggest items I've picked up are a solid wood dresser from a local shop here in New Braunfels for my youngest daughter's bedroom, and a great desk and bench I found on Craigslist for $50 for my middle child's room that I plan to use as her sewing table since she wants to be a fashion designer.

The dresser was already painted a lime green color that goes perfectly with my youngest's undersea decor so I just added some cute new knobs from Hobby Lobby. The desk and benc, on the other hand, need work! I'm planning to refinish them next week and I promise to document along the way.

So I have a lot planned for the next week so let's hope I can get at least most of it accomplished while I'm off from work and school.

In the meantime, I thought I'd offer you a discount to one of my favorite sources for home decor.

Overstock.com is a great place to find home decor items at a deep discount. I scour the pages religiously in an effort to achieve my dream decor on a dime.

Here's a few things I've been looking at lately:

Armchairs - I'm particularly drawn to these:

Lummi White Leather High-back Chair

Manchester Club Chair

Area Rugs - I love the Hand-Tufted Metro Flower Rug!

Bookshelves - I think these are so fun:

Unique Red Cocoa Wood Bookcase/Display Cabinet

And let's not forget...

Lighting -

I love the industrial look of this pendant combined with the elegant crystals:

Indoor 3-light Copper/Crystal Pendant Chandelier

And I'd love to replace our standard-issue vanity light fixtures with something like this:

Chrome Bathroom Triple Sconce

So what would you buy?

Here's the discount codes:

121745, good for 10% off Overstock products (excluding movies, books, and electronics).
*This discount code never expires, however, it can only be used once per email address.

202234 - free shipping promo code for electronics.

So go ahead! Get to shoppin'!

Stay Crafty!

All the ideas and opinions expressed are my own. No monetary compensation was received for doing this post, however, I was provided with a discount code.

Roller Queen

2011-03-09T09:04:00.011-06:00

My daughter's 10th birthday was a few weeks ago and she requested to go roller skating. I created this invitation for her, and we invited a few of her closest friends, loaded them up in our Yukon, and headed to Playland Skate Center in Austin!

We opted not to buy a party package at the skating rink. Instead we paid for each child to skate for a few hours and then we went to Red Robin for dinner where one kid ate free with each adult meal purchased! It saved us a ton of money and the food was way better than greasy skating rink pizza!

After dinner, we headed back to our house in New Braunfels for cake & ice cream, presents, and a sleepover!

I had baked my daughter's cake that morning. To keep with the black, white, and pink theme, it was a triple tier devil's food cake with vanilla icing and pink rosettes.

I also found these great zebra striped mini takeout boxes at Hobby Lobby that I filled with hot pink tissue paper, small colored picture holder cubes I found in the $1 bin at Michaels, and of course candy.

After cake, the girls took a little break to ogle some eye-candy in New Moon, and then I had prepared a fun roller skating themed craft for them to make during the sleepover.

I had drawn some roller skating images and added quirky sayings. I printed out 2 of each design and cut them apart so each girl could use them as a pattern.

We traced the images onto shrinky dink plastic and colored them in with my Prismacolor pencils. Then I trimmed around all the finished and colored designs, punched a hole at the top, and baked them in the oven.

It took me quite awhile to bake all of them since I could only do it 2 at a time and several pieces curled up on themselves and had to be re-baked.

I also had a minor setback when I reached in to grab the tray of shrinky dinks, the potholder slipped and I grabbed the bare oven rack, burning the crap out of my finger! I may have said a few choice words, but luckily the girls were all upstairs playing Glee Karaoke and Just Dance 2 while I was baking.

Needless to say once they were all baked, I was beat! I had a stiff drink, watched The Runaways and went to bed while the girls watched Season 1 of Glee in the game room.

The next morning I fixed a huge pancake breakfast for the girls. And then I took the shrinky dinks from the night before and added jump rings and colored cords to make them roller skating necklaces to wear home.

It was a very fun and successful party, but it was also exhausting to say the least!

I can't believe my baby girl is 10 already!

CSN Review

2011-02-07T10:42:00.005-06:00

A while back I mentioned that I was going to be reviewing a product from CSN Stores where you can find everything from stylish briefcases to the latest in kitchen gadgets to chic home decor!

In exchange for the review I was offered a gift card code for $35 towards the purchase of any item from their 200+ stores.

I chose the Deni Rotating Wine Chiller. It was $42.99 so after applying my $35 gift code + $7.95 for shipping, I ended up paying $15.94 for the chiller. That's quite a steal!

I decided to rev up the chiller for a bottle of Riesling on Superbowl Sunday. I know, no beer during Superbowl, but I was trying to kill 2 birds with one stone.

It comes with 2 bottle holders to accommodate different sized bottles, and uses either four AA batteries or an included AC/DC adapter. I ended up using the adapter.

First thing I did was to take out the 2 removable cups and wash them as recommended.

Once dry, I decided which cup fit the size wine bottle I was chilling. I then placed that cup back into the cooling bucket and snapped it into place.

Next I placed my bottle of wine inside the inner cup.

The directions then told me to fill the cooling bucket up to the fill line with either chilled water or crushed ice. I just used the cold water from my tap since it had been super cold outside anyway, but I think next time I will try the ice.

Then I turned the dial all the way to the right to the 15 minute mark on the timer. The booklet said 15 minutes was the correct time for a large bottle of wine.

And then magic happened, the bottle began to rotate in clockwise and counter-clockwise cycles as the LED illumination gradually changed colors - red, blue, green, purple and yellow. It was so pretty and entertaining.

When the timer dinged at 15 minutes, I uncorked my wine and poured my first glass.

The result was much cooler than the bottle was just sitting in my wine rack, but not ice cold like I expected (perhaps because I just used cold tap water). Next time I'll definitely use ice, but did I still drink it? Heck yeah I did!

So I decided to run the bottle through another 9 minute rotation and so my 2nd glass was much colder.

Well, I finished an entire bottle of Riesling by myself all in the name of science! A woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do, ya know.

I'm very happy with my new wine chiller and I had a great experience working with CSN Stores. I highly recommend them the next time you're shopping online. They have practically everything!

A New Year

2011-01-19T09:27:00.011-06:00

Happy New Year Everyone! I feel like I haven't posted in ages, but it's really only been a month if you count our family Christmas card.

I decided that I'm not going to make resolutions this year, knowing full well that they may be impractical to achieve since I am still working full time, going to grad school, and of course bogged down with Mom duties. What I am doing though is making a few achievable goals:

1. FINALLY decorate my house! We've lived in our builder beige home for 3 years now and the starkness and blahness (is that a word? well it is now) are getting to me. I know that it will be a slow process but I plan to do something (no matter how small) every weekend to make my house feel more like a home. The biggest challenge I face is making my home feel more "ME." I realized that nothing in my decor reflects who I am as a designer, artist, or creative person. Right now, most of my furnishings are pretty traditional, which is not me AT ALL. I want to transform my space into a more clean, modern, and fun environment. I've been saving hundreds of images of spaces I am drawn to over the past few months, and they all have a few things in common - color, simplicity, and art graced walls. It's simply not feasible for me to go out and buy all new furnishings so I'm going to make the best out of what I have, even if it means refinishing furniture, repurposing materials, or creating my own decor. I think MODERN ECLECTIC is what I'm going for, which describes me, Multi-Tasking Mama, to a "T."

Here's a few images that I've found as inspiration:

Hillary Thomas Designs via House of Turquoise

House Beautiful

HGTV.com

Little Green Notebook

See Jane Work via Design*Sponge

BHG.com

2. In order to achieve #1, we have to DECLUTTER! I've been purging things around the house left and right trying to achieve a calm balance between what our family needs and all the extra crap. Sometimes when I look around my house I feel like "wiping the slate clean" and starting over. That's totally not realistic, so I'm just aiming to feel relaxed and organized. Which seem like two conflicting terms, but in reality when I know everything is put in it's place and not strewn all over the house it gives me a peace of mind and sense of calm that I've done my job and can now relax. So, I've been moving from room to room and simplifying. Getting rid of toys no longer played with, clothes unworn, boxes of stuff sitting in closets. Even if they're not seen, I know they're there. And that clutters my mind. I've just begun, but I feel lighter already.

3. Spend more quality time with my husband. Here's the deal - we're busy and we're tired. With both of us working full time, me in grad school, 3 kids with huge extracurricular commitments, and a house to take care of, we are EXHAUSTED! So even when we have a rare moment of free time all we want to do is sleep or veg on the sofa. That's all well and good if we want things to remain the same, but who doesn't want to get the most out of their relationship? We're making a promise to spend more time on "us" so we can reconnect and rediscover why we fell in love in the first place. Simple things like having a date night, holding hands, and having conversations not involving the children make a difference. We've been through a lot over the 12 years we've been married (13 we've been together). We are the foundation of our family and we owe it to ourselves and to our kids to keep our relationship as healthy and strong as possible.

So there you have it, not resolutions per se, but simple attainable goals. No resolving to make it to the gym every day when I know that will never happen. No promises to change myself when I'm happy the way I am. Just living life the best I can.

From Our Family to Yours

2010-12-15T15:13:00.001-06:00

One-Stop Holiday Shopping

2010-11-22T15:23:00.018-06:00

If you are anything like me, you procrastinate on your holiday shopping. Every year I say that I'm going to get ahead and start early, but life gets in the way. Well this year, I'm going to avoid the crowded stores as much as possible and do most of my shopping online. I've been scoping out gift ideas for hard-to-buy-for relatives and friends for a few weeks now, and I think I have found a winner!

CSN Stores has over 200 online stores where you can find everything from stylish briefcases to the latest in kitchen gadgets to chic home decor! You are guaranteed to find gifts for everyone in this one-stop shop!

Check back soon to see what item I will be reviewing from their selection of literally thousands of items! It may just be exactly what you're looking for!

Stay Crafty!

I'm a Bobcat!

2010-08-25T09:55:00.012-05:00

I feel guilty for neglecting my blog, but I've been super duper busy lately with an exciting new development...

...I'm going to grad school! Today is my first class and I've got a case of first day jitters! I'm going for a Master of Fine Arts in Communication Design. It's a fairly new program, but has already won high international acclaim. I'm so happy to be a part of it!

So it's official...I am a Texas State Bobcat!

Image from sportslogos.net

Unfortunately, with my new schedule, I do not know when I'll be able to get back to crafting and blogging regularly. I don't want to completely abandon my blog but will not be able to devote the time I want to it either. So, I may take a small break from blogging for a bit. I'll see how it goes once my first semester is in full swing.

I did promise to show you a pic of the Rockabilly tattoo necklace I made for my boudoir photo shoot though.

It's a small pic, but here it is:

It is made from shrink plastic, prismacolor pencils, and jewelry components. I absolutely love the way it turned out and I feel it added so much more to my outfit. Faith made the boudoir photo shoot an amazing experience and I'm so happy with the results.

Oh and I also had my hair done again at Birds Barbershop, but this time I went with a darker red underneath and made the cut a bit edgier with more piecey layers. I love it! And my husband was very quick to point out that it is now "Bobcat colors." Totally not my intention, but awesome just the same! I've got school spirit...Yes I do!

I'll try to check in and update you all soon!

Til then...Stay Crafty!

No, I'm not dead...

2010-07-01T13:45:00.014-05:00

I know that I've been missing in action on my blog lately and I'm sorry. I've had a crazy past few months, with not much time for crafty hi-jinx. Though most of the time has been work, work, work, I've also thrown a little fun in there.

My husband and I went to see both Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix and Passion Pit in concert. Both were amazing by the way!

At the end of April, we saw Phoenix in Houston and made a little weekend of it and stayed at the gorgeous Magnolia Hotel. I got a great rate for a Friday night and there was a complimentary wine reception (translation: free drinks!) at 6pm, a cookie buffet (which we missed since we were at the concert) at 8pm, and free hot breakfast buffet the next morning. It's a fantastic deal!

I had to snap a pic of the gorgeous lobby at the Magnolia after we checked out.

View of the Houston skyline from the Magnolia rooftop pool.

Here's a few pics from the Phoenix show.

We celebrated our 12 year anniversary by going to see Passion Pit at Stubbs BBQ in Austin. Our actual anniversary is June 8th and the show was June 18th, so close enough.

Here's some photos from that show.

G is wearing the fedora I gave him as an early Father's Day present.

Passion Pit actually performed both Friday, the 18th, and Saturday, the 19th, at Stubbs. Both were sold out shows so we were lucky to score tickets for the first night, but something totally amazing happened the second night, and I'm proud to say that I had a hand in arranging it.

A good friend of mine confided in me that her son was planning on proposing to his girlfriend at the Saturday night show. I told her how to contact the production company to see if they could announce it during the show. Even better, the manager for Passion Pit gave her and her family VIP access to the show and her son got to propose on stage in front of the band and a screaming audience! How freaking awesome is that!

Here's the video that my friend's husband shot of the proposal!

I also celebrated my birthday on June 13th by doing a boudoir photo shoot with my photographer friend Faith. It was so much fun! Not only did I (and 3 other ladies) get pampered by a professional makeup artist & hair stylist, but I also got to be the stylist for the shoot! I went for a rockabilly/pin-up/burlesque style for my look. I can't wait to see the photos!

I did make a few things for my shoot including a red rose hair clip, peacock feather fascinator, and a swallows and cherries tattoo necklace. I'll post pics of those soon.

I'm hoping to get back on the crafty track now that I've got some time-consuming, stress-inducing projects out of the way.

So what will I tackle next? Stay tuned to find out!

Til then,
Stay Crafty!

The Upside

2010-05-10T14:36:00.006-05:00

This week is gonna suck. My husband is away at a National Sales Meeting at Disney World of all places and it's just me and the 3 kiddos.

Compounded by lack of sleep and an uneventful Mother's Day due to the weekend's soccer tournament activities, I was in a "look at me wrong and I'll rip your face off" kind of mood when I had to get up at the butt crack of dawn to drive my husband to the airport.

I showed up at work an hour early only to realize that I didn't remember the security code to get into the building and had to wait until the first brown-noser showed up at almost 7:30am.

Once I got to my desk, I put myself right to work for fear that I would be passed out with a puddle of drool beneath me on the desk by the time my supervisor arrived.

I worked, cursed my husband's existence, checked FB, worked, cursed my job for not letting me travel, uploaded pics, worked, and then....it happened. The one event that changed my perspective of the day around. I was asked (and paid) to draw a dragon tattoo on a hot guy's bicep with a sharpie. No joke!

We have a production studio in the building and they were in desperate need of a tattoo for their bad guy actor in a segment they were filming.

Thanks to recommendation from my friend and co-worker, Faith, .... DA DA DA! Me and My Illustration Skills To The Rescue!

It only took me about 10 minutes to complete ( and I woulda done it for free because believe me it wasn't unpleasant) but I still raked in $150 for it.

So for the rest of the day (or hell, the rest of the week), when things get chaotic and I'm ready to lock myself in a room and cry, I can look back on the moment that I got to cradle this Golden God's bicep in my hand and sigh.

Pin Cushion Swap

2010-04-26T11:56:00.006-05:00

Now that she's received it, I can show you the pin cushion I made Christina Alessi, my super-cool swap partner in Leigh-Ann of Freckled Nest's Pin Cushion Swap.

Christina has a penchant for peacocks so I made her this embroidered peacock pincushion.

Here's the back:

And a close-up of the peacock embroidery:

And the adorable felt flower pot pin cushion she made me arrived right before I sent her's off so I managed to get a pic of the two pin cushions together.

That's all I have for now as I've been super busy with a very important personal project. More on that later.

Stay Crafty!

Craft Hiatus

2010-03-25T12:07:00.005-05:00

Sorry about the lag in posting. I've been on a craft hiatus as of late, but I promise I"ll get back to my crafty high jinx soon.

Here's what I've been up to though:

Yes, another new hairstyle for me. Of course I got it done at my fave shop, Birds Barbershop. They always do a stellar job and this time I had an amazing stylist, Sam. She is super sweet and we had great conversation while she was hooking me up.

I'll have a post in a few days showing the pin cushion I made Christina Alessi, my super-cool swap partner in Leigh-Ann of Freckled Nest's Pin Cushion Swap.

Til then, Stay Crafty!

Ice & Invitations

2010-02-26T16:44:00.005-06:00

My middle child turned 9 last week and for her birthday we threw her an ice skating party.

I made the invitations myself and I think they came out quite charming. I even drew the skater to look like my daughter.

I hadn't been ice skating in years but I think I had just as much fun as the girls!

A Minor ModCloth Obsession

2010-02-19T10:51:00.031-06:00

I have a little obsession with Modcloth. It's only minor right now, but I can forsee it escalating at a rapid pace. I check the New Arrivals page several times a day eager to get my newest fashion fix. What brought this on you might ask? My mother, knowing my love of vintage inspired and eclectic fashion, gave me a ModCloth gift certificate for Christmas. I'm actually amazed that I have made it last this long. It required major discipline, believe me, not to blow it all in one online shopping excursion.

Let's see a rundown of what I've accumulated so far, shall we?

1. My first and most expedient purchase was these must have Boot-imus Prime Boots I'd had my eye on. And I can honestly say, they quickly became my go-to-footwear. They "transform" from low boots to high boots for maximum versatility.

2. My next purchase, The Pin-Up Dress, I ultimately ended up returning after weeks of debating whether to keep it. It is a very cute dress and very well made, however not really designed for busty gals like myself. I've always had an issue with side zippers for this very reason. The girls just don't want to cooperate sometimes. LOL. I returned it for store credit (which was later put to good use).

3. Before returning the Pin-Up Dress, my heart nearly stopped when I saw the deals Modcloth was having in their Cabin Fever Sale. Tons of items all 70% off! And lucky me, I found out about the sale and checked it first thing in the morning when there were still lots of items left. Everything sold out quickly that day. I actually ordered $150 worth of clothes for about half the cost!

I got:

The Digital Love Dress

The Loft Party Dress which I wore to the Austin Rock n Swap.

The Zipper-Dee-Doo-Dah Dress

The I Get Mis-Tee

And I had also ordered this Art vs. Music Tee, but due to a stock error I got my money back for it when they ran out of them while processing my order. I was a little bummed, but I was very grateful that Modcloth also refunded a portion of my shipping when they discovered this error.

When the rest of my items arrived, I couldn't wait to try them on and I was so happy when everything fit! NO side zippers! :)

4. My Pin-Up Dress heartbreak was quickly cured when I saw the recent addition of the Bhangra Dress. I knew I had to have it so I finally packed up my return and shipped it back to Modcloth. The prepaid shipping label from Modcloth was a godsend! I got a little nervous that my tracking number for the return wasn't registering any info other than my having printed the label. It must have been due to the Snowpocalypse hitting the northeast that delayed my return. I was so relieved when I saw it had finally been delivered!

It took a few days for my return to be processed, but when I saw "You've Received A ModCloth Gift Certificate" in my inbox I nearly shouted for joy because I knew it had been applied to my account.

Of course, I immediately went to purchase my beloved Bhangra Dress, only to find it was out of stock! BUMMER! I signed up for the re-stock alert and checked it's availability repeatedly until they had my size. And as soon as I saw it, as quick as lightning, I clicked Add to Bag and felt relief flood through me. Please fit Bhangra, I beg of you!

Here it is in all it's glory:

And here's why I love it so! Look at the back!

I also spied these little beauties to go with the dress.

The Strut Your Stuff Earrings in Gold

So of course I had to get those too. Thank goodness none of this is coming out of pocket. Thank you Mom!

Can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can wear my new Indian inspired ensemble!

Just In Time For Valentines!

2010-02-10T12:44:00.010-06:00

I just finished stitching up my new Valentine themed embroidery pattern!

Every wonder how the magic of PB & J came to be? I imagine it was a starcrossed moment like this.

Behold...

PB & J, The Early Years

PB & J, The Early Years is now available as a pdf pattern in my Etsy shop.

For Non-Commercial use only. Please do not redistribute or sell items with these images. All content is property of Stephanie Hall/Multi-Tasking Mama. Use of anything without my permission is stealing.

©2010 Stephanie Hall/Multi-Tasking Mama

A Graphic Designer's Valentine

2010-02-08T11:13:00.004-06:00

I've been secretly working on a new Valentine's themed embroidery pattern to add to my Etsy shop and it's taken a bit longer than anticipated, so in the meantime I thought I'd provide you with a free printable!

Being a designer myself, I have the inside track to the mind of a graphic designer. We critique the menus when at a restaurant, nearly rear-end the car in front of us while analyzing billboards, and as my good friend, fellow designer & photog, Faith, put it we "develop unhealthy relationships with fonts." That being said, this folded valentine card is dedicated to all of the over-worked and underpaid graphic designers/type nerds out there. But if you happen to not be a graphic designer, and just love it anyway, this Valentine is for you too. ;)

Click image to download the 5X4 folded Valentine. Not for commercial use please.

I hope to be back soon with my finished Valentine's embroidery pattern!
Stay Crafty!

Rock N Swap

2010-02-02T15:37:00.013-06:00

This past Saturday night I attended the Rock N Swap presented by Austin Eavesdropper at Beauty Bar in downtown Austin. I took my cousin Jess as my plus one and we had a ball!

Admission to the event was 10 items of gently used clothing and/or accessories or $5 at the door. I poured through my closet and found several items I was willing to swap.

I wore my new Modcloth dress with some red tights, black suede flats and a vintage black sweater belted at the waist.

Me in my new dress from Modcloth

At the entrance to the event, I handed over my reusable shopping bag full of my unwanted items to the runner, who went and dumped them into a pit to be sorted and then brought me back my bag to fill with my swap finds. The door guy gave me 10 tickets to redeem for the swap items and a drink ticket.

The pit where all the incoming items were sorted.

Once in the gate, I had to sample a yummy custom mini cupcake from The Cupcake Bar. I had the chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing, a shot of caramel in the center, and sprinkles on top. It was delish!

Then it was time to sort through the hundreds of items on the tables and racks for hidden treasures. Jess and I picked through the piles for awhile, finding a few pieces here and there, and then we took a break to use our drink ticket. The swap was also sponsored by Treaty Oak Rum so I got a rum and pineapple and Jess got a rum and coke.

Jess and I at the Rock N Swap

I was super excited to meet the lovely Indiana Adams of Adored Austin. Her blog is how I found out about the Rock N Swap. We had a nice little convo, she talked about holding her own swap, and after she admired my jeweled ladybug necklace we made a tentative date to hit Wimberley Market Days together sometime in the near future.

Then it was back to rummaging. By 8:00, Jess & I had both used up our 10 tickets. I got some great items in the end. Mostly shirts from Wet Seal, F21, & other brands, and a cute tie-dye dress by Lucky Brand. I did notice that most of the clothing was either an XSmall or Small and for busty gals like myself that just won't fly, so I had to be extra picky and read all of the tags.

Around 7pm it started to get super crowded.

I now wish I had taken more photos, but at the time sorting and scoring was my priority.

After we left the swap, we headed over to the yummy 219 West for martinis, Caprese burgers, Spiced Carrot Cake, and the most delicious Chipotle Mac N Cheese.

It was a great night and I can't wait to attend another swap. I'm actually thinking about organizing one here in my area if I can find the right venue.

Getting Healthy and Fit Takes Work!

2010-01-26T09:11:00.006-06:00

I know that my personal health isn't something I usually post about on my blog, but I was prompted to create this post after reading this discussion page on TwitterMoms.com.

TwitterMoms.com along with UbiSoft Entertainment are giving away a copy of the Your Shape (for Wii™ or PC). For more info on this new game visit http://www.yourshapegame.com

Getting healthy and fit is something I've been working on for a few years now. But I feel that today I am more proactive in this respect than ever. Getting healthy and fit is now a way of life for me as I have struggled with an ongoing battle with Graves disease, an autoimmune disease in which my body attacks my thyroid gland. My thyroid reacts by overproducing hormones that elevate my heart rate and affect my moods, nervous system, weight loss, and overall well being. I'm finally on the right track after having been off and on meds for the past 4 years. Today, I'm med and virtually symptom free and I attribute most of that to the lifestyle changes I have made as a goal to be healthy.

Here are my top 5 New Year's resolutions for getting healthy and fit in 2010:

1) Exercise - I recently joined the YMCA to get back into shape. With Graves disease I stayed away from cardio workouts because my heart rate was already so elevated. And the lack of energy and joint pain considerably weakened my muscles over the years. I'm currently hitting the gym about 3 days a week to gradually build up my stamina and strength again.

2) Eating healthier - I don't do fad diets. I think they're just unhealthy. And with the thyroid issues, my weight had fluxuated drastically over the years. So trying to remain at a constant has been challenging. I don't cut out carbs or count calories too closely, but what I do is eat the foods that I love in moderation along with a healthy mix of fruits, veggies, and proteins.

3) Reduce stress - Stress is the main culprit in my autoimmune disorder. I'm trying to reduce stress and control the way it affects me. If that means simply saying no when I feel overwhelmed, taking a walk with my boxer, or taking a time out for myself by simply escaping to read a book then that's what I do. If I'm not taken care of then how will I take care of my family?

4) Yoga - Another stress reducer is the practice of yoga. I have practiced it sporadically over the years, particularly in times of stress and have always found that it relaxes, calms, and strengthens me. My goal is to become a regular practitioner of yoga and to find balance in my mind, body, and spirit.

5) Improve my posture - I also plan to start taking Pilates. Since I started exercising at the gym, I have noticed that I have poor posture. And if I do not sit or stand correctly my newly worked muscles hurt. I believe that working out on the selectorized equipment at the gym is correcting my posture. I started researching this and found that one of the best means for correcting poor posture is Pilates because it helps to realign and strenghten your core which pulls everything up. Having gone so long without exercising, my core had become weakened and as a result couldn't hold up my body properly, causing me to slump. I read that poor posture can also contribute to a host of medical issues including back and neck strain, leg problems, and difficulty breathing.

Of course, this is only the beginning of my long journey to good health and fitness, but everyone has got to start somewhere. I can feel it working already. I'm more energized, more relaxed, and I sit up properly at my desk now instead of slouching.

I feel that these resolutions are right on target with what my body is telling me I need. And I found out the hard way that if your body is telling you something, you better listen. Change is coming and I'm making it happen. I have a feeling that 2010 is my year.

The Winner

2010-01-26T08:15:00.004-06:00

This morning I was pleasantly surprised when I checked my inbox and I had an email from my first giveaway winner, Toni Daley. She let me know that her Tropicali necklace arrived on Saturday just in time for her to wear it to the CHA Craft Supershow. And even more exciting is the number of complements she said she received on the necklace, including one from the great Crafty Chica, for whom I was a guest blogger a few weeks ago! Small world!

Toni sent me these pictures.

Here's the gorgeous Toni Daley wearing the Tropicali necklace she won in my first giveaway!

And here's Toni with super crafter Kathy Cano-Murillo aka The Crafty Chica!

Thanks, Toni, for the wonderful pictures and for spreading the word about Multi-Tasking Mama!

I'm currently working on something super cute for Valentine's Day so be on the lookout!

Stay Crafty!
Multi-Tasking Mama

And the winner is.....

2010-01-08T12:03:00.011-06:00

The winner of my Tropicali necklace in my first giveaway is.....drum roll please....

Toni D!

Toni D. said...: Hello I am following you and love your stuff!
http://www.lifeoftonid.blogspot.com/

Congratulations Toni D! I will be contacting you for your mailing address.

Thanks to everyone that participated! I'm planning on sharing a lot more ideas and giveaways with you over the coming year!

Bringing Snowmen Back!

2010-01-08T11:17:00.012-06:00

Just because it's no longer Christmas, doesn't mean that you can't enjoy some fun Snowman crafts! It is freezing outside after all!

So today I'm bringing back my FREE Snowpeople gift box, gift tags, and embroidery pattern for your enjoyment!

Stay warm!

There's Snowbody Like You Gift Box

Small gift box

Large gift box

There's Snowbody Like You Gift Tags

*You can also print the gift tags on sticker paper for cute embellishments!

There's Snowbody Like You embroidery pattern

* Take a look at another way I used my free embroidery patterns!

And just another reminder that I am choosing the winner of my first giveaway today at noon CST! Enter now if you haven't already!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-06T11:16:00.008-06:00

Happy 2010, everyone! I know I'm a little late in the game, but I caught a terrible cold that 10 days later I am just now getting over. I even lost my voice the day after Christmas which was not fun. Just try wrangling 3 kids in a crowded shopping mall with no voice!

On a more pleasant note, I was delightfully surprised to find my Pet Portrait Stocking on CRAFT on Christmas Eve!

Needless to say we had a great holiday even though I was sick for most of the two weeks I was off. My kids made out in the present department and I got a few nice gifts myself.

My mother knows my love of vintage and up-and-coming designers, so she got me a $200 gift certificate to Modcloth! I was stoked! I'm trying to spend a little at a time to make it last as long as possible, but I absolutely had to splurge on these Boot-imus Prime boots that I have had my eye on for awhile. They "transform" from ankle boots to knee high boots, get it? And they're a fabulous grey vegan leather which just happened to be the IT color of the season for footwear. They had one pair left in MY size...it was kismet!

Right before Christmas, I won a gift certificate to Lisa Leonard Designs. Since I had already decided what to buy to give as gifts, I used the gift certificate for myself and ordered two custom silver pieces.

The Sweetheart Tree necklace which I had customized with my husband's and my initials.

The Thin Sterling Cuff which I had customized with my children's names.

Excuse the poor photo. I snapped it with my iPhone.

I also scored a gift card to one of my favorite bookstores where I got GLEE Season 1: The Road to Sectionals, the adorable movie (500) Days of Summer {love Zooey Deschanel}, and 3 new books to start off the new year!

I love all my new goodies and feel lucky to have received them!

Are you feelin lucky? If so, enter my giveaway to win my Tropicali necklace featured on Cuteable to start your new year off right!

Deadline is noon/CST on Friday Jan. 8th! Good luck!

Giveaway Deadline Extended

2009-12-28T12:56:00.004-06:00

Due to the holiday season, I have decided to extend the deadline for my first giveaway to Friday January 8th at noon CST!

Here's what you will win:

Win my Tropicali necklace that was featured on Cuteable! Plus I might throw in a surprise or two!

There are 4 ways to enter to win (each counts as one entry)

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me which of my 12 Days of Christmas Crafts is your favorite and what else you would like to see on this blog.

2. Blog about my 12 Days of Christmas Crafts event and post a comment here with the link.

3. Become a follower of this blog and post a comment letting me know you're following me.

4. Follow me on twitter and post a comment letting me know you're following me.

I will choose a winner at random on Jan. 8th so you have until noon (CST) that day to enter!

If you have already entered you will still be counted!

Wishing Everyone a Safe and Happy New Year!

Stephanie
Multi-Tasking Mama

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 12

2009-12-24T09:00:00.003-06:00

Day 12 - Christmas Coloring Book

Yay! Day 12 is here! I've had a lot of fun making everything for this Christmas craft event and thanks for all of your kind comments!

As promised, here is a special project using all of the FREE Christmas embroidery patterns I posted during the 12 days. So if you haven't gotten them all yet, now's your chance!

When I was drawing these embroidery patterns they were just begging for color, so I thought it would make a cute coloring book for my kids. Then I decided I'd make one to hand out on Christmas Eve for every kid in the family. Sounds ambitious I know, but it's super simple.

Materials:
Free Embroidery Patterns
Color Foam Core Sheets
Scissors or Exacto blade
Hole Punch
Ribbon
Embellishments (stickers, jewels, buttons, etc.)
Glue

Step 1 - Prepare Your Pages

I found a package of color foam sheets that I thought would make good covers for the coloring books. The foam sheets are 9X6 so the first thing I needed to do was size down my embroidery patterns to fit that size. If you are going to keep yours at letter size, then you can skip the next step.

Step 2 - Create Cutting Guidelines

Open your pdf drawings in a program that has basic editing and drawing tools. Size them to fit your covers. Once your drawings are sized appropriately create a box the same size as your covers with a dashed 1 pt stroke around the drawings, making sure they are centered. These dashed lines will be your cutting guidelines when your print them on letter sized paper.

Step 3 - Create Hole Punch Guides

Create two small circles and spaced them evenly at the top. These will act as your hole punch guides, so all of the pages will be punched in the same positions, making the assembly process flow more smoothly.

Step 4 - Repeat

Repeat the above steps for all of the embroidery pattern pages.

Step 5 - Print

Print as many copies as you need to make your coloring books.

Step 6 - Trim

Trim around your drawings by carefully cutting on your dotted lines.

Step 7 - Punch Your Pages

Align your basic hole punch with the hole guides you made on your paper and punch them out.

Step 8 - Punch Your Covers

Use one of your punched pages as a guide to punch your covers by laying the page on top of the foam and punching through the holes.

Step 9 - Assemble

Take your 5 different embroidery patterns and stack them with a front and back foam cover. When you have your holes aligned, thread a piece of ribbon through each hole and tie in a bow or double knot to secure.

Step 10 - Embellish

Embellish the covers of your coloring books with foam stickers, felt, buttons, jewels, or anything else you desire. I let my kids do this part.

Step 11 - Share

Pass them out to all the kiddos along with a small box of crayons for each child or just bring a large box to share.

I really hope you have enjoyed my 12 Days of Christmas Crafts as much as I enjoyed making them!

Now as I promised, it's time for my first giveaway!

Win my Tropicali necklace that was featured on Cuteable! Plus I might throw in a surprise or two!

There are 4 ways to enter to win (each counts as one entry)

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me which of my 12 Days of Christmas Crafts is your favorite and what else you would like to see on this blog.

2. Blog about my 12 Days of Christmas Crafts event and post a comment here with the link.

3. Become a follower of this blog and post a comment letting me know you're following me.

4. Follow me on twitter and post a comment letting me know you're following me.

I will choose a winner at random on Dec. 28 so you have until noon that day to enter!

Wishing Everyone a Safe and Happy Holiday!

Stephanie
Multi-Tasking Mama

I'm a Guest Blogger on Diary of a Crafty Chica!

2009-12-23T12:35:00.005-06:00

Today I'm featured as a Guest Blogger on one of my favorite craft blogs, Diary of a Crafty Chica! This is so exciting for me! In my post, I talk about my 12 Days of Christmas Crafts event and I show my tutorial for Day 2 - Pet Portrait Stocking! Go take a look and share in my joy!

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 11

2009-12-23T09:00:00.000-06:00

Day 11 - Christmas Embroidery Pattern #5

This is the last freebie embroidery pattern! Tune in tomorrow for a special project involving all 5 free patterns, so if you haven't downloaded them all yet, now's your chance! These patterns are my own illustrations and are free for your personal use (no commercial use please).

Pattern #5 All Wound Up Over You

*At the end of the 12 Days of Christmas Crafts event, I will be doing a special project involving all of the free embroidery patterns, so be sure to get them all!

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 10

2009-12-22T09:00:00.010-06:00

Day 10 - Holiday Gift Box and Recipe

If you're like me, you have a hard time trying to find gifts for some people. Baked goods are always a good way to go. Why not make your gift extra special with a handmade holiday gift box?

Just print out on card stock, trim with an Exacto blade, and assemble!

*Print small box on letter sized paper and large box on 11x17.

Add some tissue paper and a piece of ribbon for a handle if you desire and fill it with your favorite cookies, brownies or cupcakes!

Download the boxes here:

Small Holiday gift box

Large Holiday gift box

And don't forget to print out my free holiday gift tags to attach to your gift box!

Here's what I'll be putting in my gift boxes this Christmas!

Magic Cookie Bars

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 and 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 and 1/3 cups Bakers Flake coconut
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
1 can Eagle Brand condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in microwave and pour into 13 X 9 dish (I use glass). Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs over melted butter and press down with a fork or spatula. Sprinkle coconut over crumbs, then add a layer of chocolate chips and pecans. Drizzle surface with condensed milk. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool and cut into bars.

Enjoy!

Be sure to visit again tomorrow for the last FREE Christmas embroidery pattern!

Until then...Stay Crafty!

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 9

2009-12-21T09:00:00.000-06:00

Day 9 - Christmas Embroidery Pattern #4

Only 3 more days to go!

Here's another fun freebie embroidery pattern. These patterns are my own illustrations and are free for your personal use (no commercial use please).

Pattern #4 Nuts About Each Other

*At the end of the 12 Days of Christmas Crafts event, I will be doing a special project involving all of the free embroidery patterns, so be sure to get them all!

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 8

2009-12-20T09:00:00.002-06:00

Day 8 - Holiday Gift Tags

If there's one thing I never seem to have enough of when wrapping presents besides tape, it's gift tags! I created some just for you! Print them out on card stock, add a hole with a regular hole punch, and tie on some yarn or ribbon. You could also print them on sticker paper or use the round tags as cupcake toppers by attaching toothpicks to the back!

Just click the image below to download a pdf!

There's another free embroidery pattern tomorrow and don't forget to download the whole set so you can make my project on Day 12!

Stay crafty!

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 7

2009-12-19T09:00:00.000-06:00

Day 7 - Christmas Embroidery Pattern #3

We're half way through the 12 Days of Christmas Crafts event! Have you liked what you've seen so far?

Here's another fun freebie embroidery pattern. These patterns are my own illustrations and are free for your personal use (no commercial use please).

Pattern #3 Meet The Clauses

*At the end of the 12 Days of Christmas Crafts event, I will be doing a special project involving all of the free embroidery patterns, so be sure to get them all!

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 6

2009-12-18T09:00:00.016-06:00

Day 6 - Shrink Plastic Ornaments

This is a fun and easy craft that the whole family can make using common childhood materials!

Materials:
An oven
Christmas coloring book
Shrink Plastic ( I used Shrinky Dinks Frosted Ruff N' Ready)
Colored Pencils
Regular no. 2 pencil or black colored pencil, black Sharpie optional
Paper clips
Scissors
Regular hole punch
Craft wire
Wire cutter
Needle nose pliers
Brown paper lunch bags or brown craft paper

Step 1 - Preheat Your Oven

Preheat your oven according to the directions on your shrink plastic.

Step 2 - Choose Your Design

Pick your design for your ornament from your Christmas coloring book pages. *As long as you are not selling your ornaments you can avoid copyright infringement. If you want to sell them you will need to pay for the rights to your images or create your own.

Place a sheet of your shrink plastic, rough side up, over your selected image and paper clip at top and bottom to prevent sliding. *You can also trace your image on the smooth side with a black Sharpie if you prefer and then add color on the rough side, but since I had my children doing this I chose to avoid anything with the word PERMANENT.

Step 3 - Trace Your Image

Use your black pencil to trace your image, being careful not to smudge with your hand. The best way to avoid smudging is to rotate your picture as you trace. I traced Abbie's image since she is only four, but the older two were perfectly capable of tracing their own.

Elijah tracing his image.

Hannah carefully following the lines.

Step 4 - Add Color

Now come the fun part, adding the color! Use colored pencils to fill in the areas of your design. Remember to color on the rough side.

Abbie had so much fun coloring in her design.

Elijah did a great job with his too.

The toy chest design is the one I did.

Step 5 - Trim Your Plastic

Once your designs are all colored in, trim your plastic with scissors. Leave about a quarter to an eighth of an inch space around your design when cutting because the baking process will be more successful with less intricately trimmed pieces.

Step 6 - Punch Your Holes

Use your regular hole punch to punch a hole at the top of your ornament for your wire hanger. Remember that the hole will shrink too.

Step 7 - Bake

Use your brown craft paper or brown paper bags to line your cookie sheet. Place your designs on cookie sheet color side up making sure they do not overlap each other or they might fuse while baking. I baked two at a time.

Bake according to package directions. If it doesn't come out right the first time, don't worry you can repeat the baking process until it comes out right.

As soon as you take them out of the oven, carefully lift your brown paper with the ornaments on top and quickly move it to a flat surface. Press down your plastic with a flat object, I used the coloring book, for about 15 seconds. You have only 10-20 second before your plastic hardens! If your plastic hardens before it can be flattened just bake it again to re-soften.

Step 8 - Make Your Hangers

While your ornaments are cooling, make your ornament hangers. I used some left over red craft wire to make mine.

Cut about a 3 inch piece of wire. Insert one end of it through the hole at the top of your ornament. Bring the end up over the top of the ornament and wrap it around the remaining wire. Use your needle nose pliers to create a bend at the top of the wire for the hook part. Repeat for all ornaments and voila!

Step 9 - Hang and Enjoy!

Come back tomorrow for another FREE embroidery pattern!

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 5

2009-12-17T09:00:00.000-06:00

Day 5 - Christmas Embroidery Pattern #2

Hello everyone! Here's another fun freebie embroidery pattern. These patterns are my own illustrations and are free for your personal use (no commercial use please).

Pattern #2 There's Snowbody Like You

*At the end of the 12 Days of Christmas Crafts event, I will be doing a special project involving all of the free embroidery patterns, so be sure to get them all!

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 4

2009-12-16T09:00:00.002-06:00

Day 4 - Christmas Wine Bottle Lights

This is a quick and fun holiday project that I like to make every year. It is very inexpensive and has a lot of visual impact. It's basically Christmas Cheer in a bottle!

Materials:
Empty wine bottle with the label removed
A short string of Christmas lights (I used a 35 light string) in either white or colors
Paint - acrylic or glass or snow writers
Beads or other embellishments
Wooden stars (at least one large and 2 small - I bought a bag of various sizes)
Strong Adhesive (I used E6000)
Glitter

Step 1 - Create your design

I like making Christmas trees because of the shape of the bottle, but you can create any design you wish. To make this dark green bottle, mix a gold metallic acrylic paint with copper glitter. Draw a very basic tree design on the front of the bottle with a paint brush. While the paint is still wet, sprinkle it liberally with more copper glitter until it has the effect you're looking to achieve.

Step 2 - Paint your Stars

While waiting for the tree to dry, paint 3 wooden stars (one large and 2 small) with your gold and copper glitter mixture. Set aside and let dry.

Step 3 - Add your Embellishments

After paint on bottle is dry, use E6000 to adhere your beads or other embellishments to the bottle. Place beads on tree like ornaments. Next glue your stars to neck of bottle at top of tree. Place large star on bottom, small star right above, and a small star directly on top of large star.

Step 4 - Insert Lights

Now you're ready to insert your lights. Stand your bottle upright.

With one hand on bottle to make sure it doesn't tip over, insert the string lights one light at a time with the other hand. Leave out the end of the wire with no lights just before the plug.

Step 5 - Plug in and Enjoy!

Here's the finished bottle light!

And here it is with a few other design variations.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for another FREE Christmas embroidery pattern!

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 3

2009-12-15T10:00:00.000-06:00

Day 3 - Christmas Embroidery Pattern #1

I know everyone loves freebies, so starting today and every other day for the remainder of my 12 Days of Christmas Crafts event, I will be posting a downloadable embroidery pattern. These patterns are my own illustrations and are free for your personal use (no commercial use please).

Pattern #1 Sweet On Each Other.

*At the end of the 12 Days of Christmas Crafts event, I will be doing a special project involving all of the free embroidery patterns, so be sure to get them all!

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 2

2009-12-14T09:53:00.000-06:00

Day 2 - Pet Portrait Christmas Stocking

Our newest addition to our family is experiencing his first Christmas, and it only seemed fit for him to have his own stocking to hang along side the rest of them.

This idea is based on DudeCraft's Paper Cut Portrait tutorial, only using fabric instead of paper.

Materials:
Plain Christmas Stocking or material to make your own
Photo of your pet
Photo editing software
Felt or other fabric (at least 3 colors for highlights, shadows, and midtones)
Fabric glue
Embroidery thread and needle
Scissors/Exacto
Straight pins

Step 1 - Find your photo

Step 2 - Posterize

Open your photo in a photo editing program (I use Photoshop CS3). Print a copy of the original photo to use as a reference later on. Save the file with a different name so you don't copy over your original photo file. Desaturate your photo to give you fewer tones to work with, keeping in mind the colors of fabric you intend to use for your portrait. In PS, under the Image>Adjustments, choose Posterize. Adjust the setting to your taste. Ideally, you want your image to have definable shapes for each color value, so choose the setting that allows the most flat areas of color without losing detail. I chose to set my level at 6 which gave me a nice balance.

Step 3 - Crop your image

Crop your image as close to the subject as possible to give you a smaller work area.

Step 4 - Define the areas

Create a new layer. Use your Eyedropper tool to select one of your 3 color values. Use your Paintbrush tool to paint over the areas of the color you selected to clean up any grainy areas and create crisp edges. Repeat for remaining color values. Refer back to your original image if needed. Your image should look something like this with flat clearly defined color shapes.

Turn off the visibility of your posterized layer and you should have just the painted areas visible.

Step 5 - Crop

Crop your image to only the portion you want on your stocking.

Step 6 - Add background if needed

Since my subject is mostly white, I needed a guide to know where to cut out my white pieces in the next step. If you are not using white then you can skip this step. I just added a new layer, dragged it underneath my painted layer and filled it with a solid color rectangle.

Step 6 - Print

Print a copy for each color value you are using, plus one for reference. For instance, I have 3 color values, so I printed 4 copies of my graphic. My photo was quite large so I printed it at 20% on letter sized paper. It is important to remember that the design needs to fit on your stocking–so measure accordingly.

Step 7 - Cut Out Your Pattern

The next step is to cut out your paper pattern pieces from the prints you made. Figure out which color value is going to be your background (this is usually the largest area; in my case mine was white). Trim around the entire shape and lay aside.

Cut out the rest of your pattern pieces by cutting out all of the midtones from your second print, and the remaining color values from your remaining prints. Piece them together by using your graphic as a guide.

Step 8 - Cut Your Fabric Pieces

One by one, pin your pattern pieces to their corresponding fabrics and cut them out so you have a bunch of fabric shapes.

Step 9 - Layer Your Fabrics

Again, referring to your graphic, start layering and gluing your fabric pieces accordingly.

Step 10 - Add Details

Once your layered fabric piece is dry, add details using embroidery thread. If you are using a thin fabric, you may want to add stabilizer before stitching, but since I used felt layers, I felt mine was sturdy enough on it's own.

For the white dots of the eyes, I made french knots. If you don't know how to make a french knot already, Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching has a fantastic, easy-to-follow tutorial. I got it right the first time using Jenny's tutorial!

I also used a satin stitch to create the brown patches on my pet. Here's Jenny's tutorial for that as well.

Step 11 - Attach to Stocking

Once your stitching is complete, it is time to attach your pet portrait to the stocking. If you are making your own stocking, you can easily sew your applique on before assembling, but I used a ready made, dollar store stocking so I simply attached my pet with fabric glue.

Step 12 - Hang and Enjoy!

Hang your pet's new stocking and stuff with treats from Santa!

Don't forget to come back tomorrow to see another fun holiday craft!

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 1

2009-12-13T11:00:00.000-06:00

Day 1 - Letter to Santa Stationery

What kid wouldn't love to write a letter to Santa? To download this festive stationery, click on the image above. It will take you to my Scribd document.

Tip: Click DOWNLOAD at the top and then click ADOBE PDF. This will allow you to edit the text fields so your child can type their own letter to Santa, print, and mail.

You can drop your Letter to Santa off at any Macy's. They have a special mailbox in store for Santa letters.

Or According to Time magazine you can mail it to:

1 Santa Claus Lane
North Pole, AK 99705

12 Days of Christmas Crafts

2009-12-07T15:31:00.001-06:00

Starting December 13th, I will be posting a new Christmas Craft every day for 12 days, ending on Christmas Eve. There will be lots of hands on goodies complete with tutorials as well as some freebie Christmas downloads. At the end of the twelve days, I will be having my first giveaway. Stay tuned for details and in the meantime....Stay Crafty!

Cuttin Paper and Cuttin Hair

2009-11-17T12:07:00.000-06:00

We've been cuttin' up things like a storm over here!

I recently helped my daughter with a school project about a historic building in our small town, Naegelin's Bakery - the oldest bakery in Texas (141 yrs). We had to build a 3D model of the bakery in addition to her report and poster. We used a small cardboard box, scrapbook paper, embroidery thread, beads, colored pencils and lots of glue! Even my 4 year old was excited to get in on the cutting and gluing action.

Here's the finished model of Naegelin's Bakery:

And I just got my hair chopped off too! I really love it!

That's all for now! Stay crafty!

Hancock Fabrics Security Breach

2009-11-13T08:03:00.000-06:00

If you've shopped at Hancock Fabrics lately, your financial security could be breached.

I used my check card at a Hancock Fabrics here in San Antonio a few months ago and then recently my check card mysteriously stopped working. Whenever I tried to use it I'd get "SALE DENIED" even when I knew I had plenty of money in my account. A few days ago I received a new check card in the mail with a new account number on it and had no idea why. I didn't request a new one and my old one doesn't expire until next year. I called this morning about it and they asked if I had used my card at Hancock Fabrics because there was a compromise of their computers. When I told them I had, they told me that's why my old card wasn't working and why I got a new account number. I applaud my bank for doing this however it would have been nice to be notified by Hancock Fabrics or my bank that this was happening. Now I have to wait another few days to get my new PIN or use my lunch hour to go to a branch to activate my card. This whole experience has been a hassle.

So if you have shopped at Hancock Fabrics lately, keep a close eye on your bank account and if your check card mysteriously stops working this could be the reason.

And incidentally, I have not been able to find any comments from Hancock Fabrics on their website or through other media. It is their responsibility to inform their customers of this matter. Or to even release a blanket statement as a warning to customers.

All Hallow's Eve

2009-11-03T10:19:00.000-06:00

We had so much fun on Halloween this year! And we totally rocked the costumes! The kids looked awesome and even got into a bit of role playing - The Wizard defending Rapunzel from the big, bad Wolfman. LOL

Elijah doing his "Thriller" move

Grrrrrrrrrrr!

Expelliarmus!

You can see that the Princess Cone Hat that I made in my previous tutorial turned out great!

Patches even got in on the costume action even though he didn't like his Shark headpiece.

After, taking the kids around the neighborhood, we got all dressed up for a night of fun on Austin's famous 6th Street.

Marie Antoinette and The Executioner

My costume was a surprise hit and everywhere we went people asked to take their pic with me! I felt like a movie star! Here you can see my complete costume including the French Court Costume Shoes and "Severed Neck" Choker that I made in earlier posts.

We had a fabulous time and I loved hanging with my sis! Can't wait til she comes back to visit!

Halloween Craft Super-Storm

2009-10-30T11:26:00.000-05:00

Ever have one of those days where you're caught up in a whirlwind of creative goodness? I sure had one yesterday. It was a super busy day. In addition to working 8-5, my 4yr old's soccer game, and having to run to the store to buy a pumpkin (with my fingers crossed there would be some left, because I promised my kids I'd get one), I had a few projects on the agenda:

Craft 1 - My daughter is going as Rapunzel this year so...

Princess Cone Hat

Materials:
colored poster board
ribbons
jewels
feathers
yarn
hot glue gun
hole punch
scissors

Step 1 - I cut a half circle diagonally from the one of the corners of my poster board.

Step 2 - Roll the ends on the cut piece together and hot glue them making sure that the bottom edges line up and they meet at a point at the top, but leave a small opening.

Step 3 - Hot glue a piece of matching ribbon down the seam.

Step 4 - Take four different colored ribbons and thread them through the opening in the top of the cone. Reach up in to the cone and gently pull the ribbons down but make sure not to pull too hard or they'll come through the opening. Once you have enough length, knot the four ribbons together. Then from the outside, pull the ribbons up until the knot rests at the inside top of the cone. Let the ribbons dangle to the sides.

Step 5 - Use the hole punch to punch 2 holes on the bottom sides of the cone. Cut 2 pieces of yarn long enough to tie under the chin. Thread each piece of yarn through a side hole and double knot it to secure.

Step 6 - Hot glue feathers around the bottom rim of the cone.

Step 7 - Hot glue colored jewels randomly to the cone.

And here you have the finished Rapunzel cone hat!

Craft 2 - Pumpkin Carving

I usually carve 3 pumpkins every year, one for each of my 3 kiddos, but this year I only had time to do 1. After finally getting the kids to agree on a design, I carved our:

Skull Pumpkin

Craft 3 - Cat Tail

For this last craft, I don't have any photos (boo hoo) because it was very last minute. My middle child informed that she needed to dress as a cat for her Fall party today and she needed a tail. So I scrambled to come up with a makeshift cat tail and this is what I came up with:

Step 1 - Find a pair of long, dark socks (we used soccer socks, but knee highs would work too)

Step 2 - Stuff one sock with all the fiber fill it can hold, squeezing it as you go.

Step 3 - Safety pin the opening together

Step 4 - Use a 2nd safety pin to attach the tail to a belt or belt loop and....voila!

That's a lot of crafting in a short amount of time! Whew! But it was fun just the same!

Stay Crafty!

Severed Neck Choker

2009-10-29T10:55:00.000-05:00

I knew when I decided to be Marie Antoniette that I would want to "slit" my throat somehow for the costume. I'm really not into blood and gore, plus I didn't want to risk messing up my costume as fake blood can be quite messy. I decided to "fake" it with a choker style necklace that will give me the illusion of having once been beheaded and, like Humpty Dumpty, put back together again. Here's the sketch I made of the finished look.

So as promised, here is my tutorial for a "severed neck" choker.

Materials:
Red Bead Stringing Wire (I used 20 gauge but this is to your discretion)
Red Glass "Blood Drop" Shaped Beads
Necklace Clasp (I used a toggle)
Wire Cutters
Small Pliers With A Flat Edge
Rounded Needle Nose Pliers

Step 1 - Measuring

I used a dressmakers tape measure to measure the circumference of my neck. I then measured out a piece of my beading wire to the same length and added an extra inch. My neck circumference was 14.5 inches so I used my wire cutters to trim my wire to 15.5 inches long.

Step 2 - Bead Placement

Once my wire was cut to the proper length, I strung 3 of my red glass drop beads to figure out the placement of my "blood drops". I decided to place 1 bead on one side and 2 on the other for the most realistic effect. I checked the placement by wrapping the choker around my neck and looking in the mirror and making any adjustments.

Step 3 - Wire Wrapping

I needed a "stop" to keep my beads from sliding along the wire. You can buy ready made bead stops, but I didn't have one so I made my own by wrapping a few smaller cut pieces of wire very tightly around the choker wire. I think this also added a nice decorative element. The best way to do this is to hold the choker wire very tight with your fingers or the smaller flat headed pliers and then wrap both ends of the smaller wire using the rounded needlenose pliers. After a few tight wraps, use the wire cutters to snip off as close as you can get to the choker wire. Then curl the end piece over with your pliers.

I placed a wire wrap stop on both sides of the beads to prevent sliding.

Step 4 - Finish With A Closure

I finished my choker with a toggle clasp. I attached the clasp parts to each end and then wrapped the wire I pulled through the attachment eye of the clasp around the choker wire and crimped it with my pliers. Then try it on and smooth out any kinks in the wire.

And taaadaaa....

Here's my Severed Neck Choker!

Excuse the quality of the photos. I took these with my iPhone this morning.

Shoes Fit For A Queen

2009-10-26T09:45:00.000-05:00

I had a super busy weekend with my kids having 4 soccer games and putting up our Halloween decorations, but I did manage to tackle my costume shoe project that I mentioned in my previous post. I captured photos of the process so I decided to write a tutorial. So here it goes!

French Court Costume Shoes

I am dressing up as Marie Antoinette for Halloween this year and I needed some fabulous French shoes fit for a queen to complete my ensemble. After pricing similar shoe styles online, I decided to spiffy up a second-hand pair for a custom look to match my blue and white frock.

I went to my local Goodwill and found a shoe style conducive to the look I was going for:

Original image from here

I found a basic black leather mule, in like new condition, with a wooden block heel for comfort.

I gathered all of the materials needed for this project:

Materials:
Second-hand shoes
Acrylic Paint
Textile Medium
Sanding Block
Liquid Varnish
Embellishments
Lace
A few different kinds of adhesives (I used Tear Mender Fabric and Leather adhesive, E6000, and Elmer's glue)

Because of my busy schedule, it took me two days to finish this project.

Day 1

Step 1 - Preparation

Lightly sand shoes to remove any coating and raise a small grit for the paint to adhere.

Step 2 - Priming

To prime my shoes for my base color, I used a mixture of 2 parts white acrylic paint to 1 part textile medium. It is very important to use the textile medium. It will help adhere the paint to the leather. If you use only the acrylic, the paint will crack and chip off. I applied 2 coats of primer letting it dry fully between each coat.

Step 3 - Painting

Once my primed coats were completely dry, I use the same 2:1 ratio for my base color mixture. I used a Pearl Blue Metallic acrylic paint for my base color. I also applied 2 coats of the base color and let it dry overnight. *Tip - if the top part of your shoe tends to flatten as you paint, place something inside the shoe to prop it up. I used small paint bottles and a sanding block. This will prevent missing any cracks in the leather.

Day 2

Before moving onto the next step, I made sure that my shoes had adequate paint coverage and were no longer tacky to the touch. I just love the metallic sheen!

Step 4 - Varnishing

Next, I used a very soft brush to apply a liquid varnish. I used a glittering varnish to give the shoes some extra sparkle, but you can use a clear one if you prefer. Again I applied 2 coats to seal the paint.

Step 5 - Lace Placement and Treatment

While waiting for my varnish to dry, I pulled out my roll of lace to decide placement on my shoes. After planning out my design, I measured and cut my pieces of lace.

Once my lace was cut, I soaked it in a fabric stiffener mixture (Elmer's glue and water) and let it dry. This will help my lace stand up around the edges of my shoe.

Step 6 - Attaching the Lace

Once my lace was completely dry and stiff to the touch, I started attaching it to the shoe with Tear Mender Fabric and Leather Adhesive. I started with the sides of the shoe first.

Once the lace was firmly attached to both sides of the shoe, I moved onto the front. Here I attached two shorter rows of lace leaving a space at the top for my embellishments.

Step 7 - Embellishing

I decided to embellish my shoes with jewels and feathers to give them a very regal look. I glued three white feathers together to get the look of one fluffy one. I then attached a blue jewel to the bottom of the feathers. Using E6000, I placed the feathered jewel in the center of the top portion of my shoe and used 2 flanking jewels rotated 90 degrees to achieve the look I was going for.

And here you have my finished Marie Antoinette Inspired French Court Shoes!

I absolutely love how they turned out and I can't wait to put them together with the rest of my costume!

Next time, I'll show you how to make a "severed neck" choker to top off the Marie Antoinette ensemble.

Til then...Stay Crafty!

Let Them Eat Cake

2009-10-22T09:23:00.000-05:00

Working on my Halloween costume. This year I am going as Marie Antoinette. Unfortunately I don't have time to make the costume myself so I just ordered the dress. I am making the accessories though, including fixing up pair of $6 black leather mules I found at Goodwill to resemble the fancy shoes worn by the French Court. I will take photos of my progress and hopefully show the successful outcome in another post. I've never attempted to paint shoes before, so we'll see what happens. This is the type of shoe design I am going for:

Original image from here

Here's a quick sketch of how I hope my finished costume will look.

I'm also going to make a "severed neck" choker out of red bead stringing wire and red glass "blood drop" shaped beads to finish the illusion.

Wish me luck! More photos to come!

Design Dazzle

2009-10-14T09:42:00.000-05:00

I am in LOVE with a blog I just found called Design Dazzle (there's also a hot button to them on the left side of my blog). It is perfect for a person like me that loves all things designed. There are fantastic posts and photos about room decorating ideas, awesome DIY projects, and fantastic party ideas! It is a must read for every designer, artist, do-it-yourselfer, and mom.

Check it out for yourself you won't be disappointed! And right now, they have an awesome giveaway going on until October 24th, so don't delay!

Polyvore Fun

2009-10-02T10:26:00.000-05:00

Lately, I've been playing around on Polyvore, where you create looks by mix and matching items from your favorite stores. It's so much fun! Here's my two latest creations:

Urban Chic by shufreak13 featuring Prada bags

Retro Glam by shufreak13 featuring Christian Louboutin shoes

Best Philosophy on Life

2009-10-02T10:19:00.000-05:00

Original image found here

Meet Patches O'Houlighan

2009-09-02T10:11:00.000-05:00

This is the newest member of our family. He was born 7/8/09 and came to his new home yesterday, 9/1/09. We named him Patches because of the brown spots on his white coat. My son, Elijah, came up with O'Houlighan as the middle name after a character from the movie Dodgeball. He's a very sweet and playful puppy. He fits right in with our family!

All My Babies!

Invitation

2009-08-26T09:08:00.000-05:00

Okay, here's the better quality photo I took of the finished invitations.

I got word that the bride received the invitations on Monday and she LOVES them too! Yay me!

I'm Featured!

2009-08-26T08:49:00.001-05:00

Today, my Tropicali necklace is featured on one of my favorite blogs, Cuteable! This is so exciting! Check out the post! It's the first one!

More Invitation Photos

2009-08-24T11:02:00.000-05:00

I finished up the wedding invitations and shipped them out on Saturday. Here are a few progress shots and finished product shots taken with my iPhone. I took a few of better quality with my camera but I haven't had a chance to upload those yet.

It was a lot of hard work assembling them, but overall I think they turned out great! I hope that the bride-and-groom-to-be will be happy with them.

Work in Progress

2009-08-21T11:01:00.000-05:00

This is what I've been working on lately. I was asked by a dear friend to design her wedding invitations. She wanted a pocket folio in a fall color scheme since her wedding is in October. I had them professionally printed and I am hand assembling them.

Here's a progress shot:

Assembling the card stock and printed layers now. Still lots to do including attaching them to the folios and adding the matching satin ribbon. I need to have 75 assembled and shipped off tomorrow. Stay tuned for pics of the finished product!

New Stuff

2009-08-19T08:52:00.000-05:00

I have something potentially huge in the works right now. I cannot discuss the details at this point, but wish me luck!

On another note, I have been working on some more jewelry designs and will be listing those soon. I already have another necklace completed as well as some adorably stylish earrings! I can't wait for you all to see them! Stay tuned!

Reunion Logo

2009-07-16T16:15:00.000-05:00

My husband is helping organize his family reunion next month. He asked me to design a logo for the event that will be used on the evite, invitations and t-shirts. Here it is!

Tropicali Necklace

2009-07-14T12:05:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the long hiatus between posts friends, but I took a much needed vacation with my family to the beach. I have finally listed a new necklace in my Etsy shop since I had my first sale! I have some more designs in the works, but here's my latest creation.

The wait is over!

2009-06-15T16:00:00.000-05:00

Here's what I have been working on over the past few weeks. I have a love affair with vintage jewelry and I think it is reflected in my designs. I also wanted to bring something fun and unexpected to the mix so I thought introducing felt in juxtaposition to the metal and vintage buttons would add an eclectic feel to everyday jewelry.

It took me a little while to figure out my process but now that I have it down I hope to be making a bunch of these pretty lil necklaces. I've been steadily sketching out designs as they come to me and I have a whole page of ideas to bring to fruition. But for now, both of these beauties are available for sale in my Etsy shop.

Tallest Day of Summer

2009-06-11T16:24:00.000-05:00

For those of you Austin folks who like great haircuts and cold beers, come to Birds Barbershop on Father's Day, June 21st, for "Tallest Days of Summer." Get a free Lone Star Tall Boy with your haircut. What a great way to treat the Dads in your life or even use it for yourself. For more info visit Birds Barbershop. Incidentally, this is the same place where I just had my hair done by Lindsey. Their stylists are amazing!

Sneak Peek

2009-06-10T16:54:00.000-05:00

Here's a sneak peek at what I'm currently working on...any guesses?

Creativity Rocks

2009-06-01T10:26:00.001-05:00

In celebration of my ROCKIN' new hairstyle, I'm changing up my profile pic to reflect my eclectic style. A humongous thanks to Lindsey at Birds Barbershop in Austin - YOU ROCK GIRL!

Too Good To Be True

2009-05-28T11:33:00.000-05:00

I'm sure you've heard the age old saying "If it looks too good to be true, it probably is." Case in point there are a few "companies" targeting crafty and DIY Moms with their scams. I just saw an ad on Facebook to be a craft product tester, so just out of curiosity I clicked on it and was brought to the Creative Home Arts Club website. It looks and sounds reputable, but I'm always leary of too good to be true offers and the fact that you get to keep the expensive products you test is definitely suspicious, so I did some further research on the Club. Google led me to the Associated Content website that confirms my suspicions that this Club is a scam. I wanted to share my findings with you all so you too can avoid being scammed by this crooked company. It just goes to show you that you can't always trust someone because they have a nice website with well written content, so please be careful and research any offers of this nature before signing up.

Over-stimulation and Laziness

2009-05-26T12:49:00.001-05:00

Have you ever felt so overwhelmed by the amount of ideas that you have that it actually prevents you from making anything? I found myself with a few hours of free time this past Memorial Day weekend and I wanted to get in my studio and make something, but I was so overwhelmed with choices that I didn't end up doing ANYTHING! I ended up watching the Grey's Anatomy Season Finale that I had DVR'd instead. Not that Grey's disappointed; it never does. But, why does my crafting always get put on the back-burner? Either because of a chaotic schedule, over-stimulation or pure laziness. Excuses...excuses...

Mother's Day Goodies

2009-05-12T08:51:00.000-05:00

Hello all! I hope that all you wonderful, crafty and creative mothers had a fantastic Mother's Day! I know I did. I just wanted to share some of my fabulous gifts with you. My mother was in town so we got to celebrate together by going shopping! We went to one of the best stores in the world, Target, and loaded up on all kinds of goodies.

My mother bought me these incredibly comfortable and super stylish black patent sandals. Me lovey!

I started to drool the moment I saw this Erickson Beamon necklace in the glass case, so I got that too. Here's a shot of me wearing it out to dinner on Mother's Day.

I also scored a really cute bikini that miraculously doesn't accentuate my extra baggage. Here's a pic of what it looks like (the model is NOT me of course).

I will get a chance to sport the bikini at the Coast this weekend because of my best Mother's Day present of all. My son's soccer team is going to the District playoffs in Corpus Christi for a chance at the State Tournament! They had two games this past weekend. They tied 1-1 on Saturday and on Mother's Day they took one of the top 3 spots when they won 2-0! It was an amazing victory! I'm so proud!

I'll close this post with a photo of me, my mother and my daughters when we went to dinner Sunday night at The Gristmill in Gruene, TX. It was an exciting weekend and a very memorable Mother's Day!

Easy Embroidered Mother's Day Cards

2009-05-08T14:25:00.000-05:00

Boy what a week! Our school district was completely shut down due to the H1N1 (swine flu) scare. But everyone went back to school yesterday. Whew! Thankfully, I was able to work from home while the kids were out, but staving off cabin fever was an even bigger challenge. I think we rented about 6 movies from Redbox in 4 days! Of course, I didn't want the kids to spend all their time watching TV and playing video games, so I got them busy in a few crafty activities, one of them being making Mother's Day cards for their grandmothers and great-grandmothers. When I wasn't busy helping Abigail with her cards or chasing after her (once she got a hold of scissors, she wanted to cut everything in sight including her own hair and her dolls' hair), I managed to get a few cards done of my own. Here's what I came up with:

Easy Embroidered Mother's Day Cards

Here's how I made them using stuff I had in my studio.

I dug out my big stash of scrapbook papers, stickers and stamps that I've been hoarding over the years. I had bought some blank white greeting cards and envelopes in a value pack from my local thrift store a while back. They also come in colors if you don't want white or you can cover them with decorative papers.

After I thumbed through my stack of scrapbook supplies and found the elements I wanted to use, I designed my cards. Most of my elements were just peel and stick but some required some extra cutting and gluing to get the effect I wanted. You can also hand draw your embroidery designs or use transfers but I wanted something super quick since I had so many cards to make, so I used the stickers.

With my designs were placed where I wanted them, I used a paper piercer to create holes around the designs where I wanted to embroider.

I created holes for my embroidery using a paper piercer.

After all of my holes were punched, I started stitching with embroidery thread. I didn't have a paper needle so I just used a small yarn darner needle which fit through the holes perfectly.

Sewing up my designs with embroidery thread.

Once I finished embroidering my cards, I coated the insides with glue and covered the thread backing with coordinating scrapbook papers.

Applying glue to the inside of my card.

Covering the inside with coordinating paper.

Here's a view of how adding coordinating paper punches it up a notch.

I varied my style of card to match the elements I used. Clean and mod, bright and girly, classic and traditional, etc.

Here are my finished cards. I also decorated the white envelopes to match each card using more paper scraps, stamps and punches.

I'm printing out some Mother's Day poems and greetings to attach to the insides of my cards, but I could also hand write a note or glue in a photo as other options.

These embroidered cards were super fun and simple to make.

Impromptu Creativity Session

2009-04-28T13:03:00.000-05:00

This past Friday I had a half day off from work for Battle of Flowers, which I think is a parade having something to do with Fiesta in San Antonio. I didn't go. Instead, I took the opportunity to have an impromptu creativity session with my kids once the older two got home from school. My kids definitely take after me in the creative department and they're always begging me to do "art stuff." I decided to indulge them with a "create your own fashion" activity.

Create Your Own Fashion

On a few recent trips to Michael's, I acquired some great crafty supplies at a deep discount so I thought we'd put them to good use. They had a gigantic sale on all of their t-shirt blanks, so I scooped up 5 of them for $1.99 a piece. I also bought a red baseball cap blank for my son. I mistakenly, but luckily, wandered down the clearance aisle and found a huge assortment of cool embellishments and other stuff I felt I needed. I could hear the Hallelujah Chorus! Among my finds was this amazing Crafty Chica™ DIY Appliqués™ V alue P ack™

I love that these appliques come uncolored and undecorated. The kids loved them too.

I let the girls choose which patches to put on their shirts and let Elijah choose his applique for his hat and then I ironed them on. I gathered a whole bunch of art supplies including paint and glitter from my stash and we set them up on our outdoor dining table after I laid down my canvas drop cloth to protect from spills.

These are the supplies we used to make our fashions.
I made sure to protect the table surface since kids are prone to oops.

Close-ups of the appliqued shirts and hat.

It was inevitable that my children were gonna get some overflow of paint onto their shirts, but I tried to limit the amount of exposed area by cutting up plastic bags and taping them as close to the designs as possible.

The designs were taped off to limit the exposed area.

Once all of the surfaces were protected, I let the kids have at it and they turned their creativity loose. With the exception of helping Abigail, my 3 yr. old, with some small areas on her heart, they decorated the appliques all by themselves.

Elijah concentrating hard on his skull design.

Hannah painting the detail on her applique.

Abbie almost finished painting her heart.

After the paint was dry the girls put on a top coat of glitter. Apparently glitter is too girly for Elijah.

The girls finished up their designs with a glitter top coat.

Elijah's finished skull. He said, "Boys don't wear glitter."

This was a fun activity for all of us and the kids are so proud to wear something they made themselves. I snapped a few pics of them in their finished gear the next afternoon.

"Aww, Mom..." Elijah doesn't like his picture taken.

The girls, on the other hand, are camera hogs!

My kids REPRESENT!

My First Post and Recycled Easter Baskets

2009-04-27T15:49:00.000-05:00

I'm very happy to be writing my first post. After many hours of design tweaking and html editing I am pleased as punch with my new blog. I am using this blog as a creative outlet to showcase my crafty experiments and to share interesting finds in the design world as well as an inside look into my chaotic life. I knew upon starting this blog that I wanted my first post to be about crafting to kind of set the tone for future postings, so here it goes:

Recycled Easter Baskets

Shortly before Easter, I found this amazing tutorial by Dianne Gilleland of Craftypod via Craftstylish. I decided to give it a try instead of buying 3 cheap plastic Easter baskets that would end up in my garage no doubt. I probably should have started making these a few days earlier because at 11pm the night before Easter I was still gluing, but they dried in time for the Easter Bunny to fill them nonetheless. I did have to make a few alterations to some of my baskets because not all of my cereal boxes were the same size, but with a little measuring, a lot of patience, and some creative ingenuity, they turned out great!

I gathered empty cereal boxes of various sizes. I started out by flattening the cereal boxes. To do this, I cut along the seams and separated the panels.

Next, I took the two largest front and back panels and measured out the bases, cutting 1 inch slats 3 inches from each side. I then laid the two panels perpendicular to one another and glued them down in the center.

(Left) The square base from the larger cereal box. (Right) I made some alterations to the smaller cereal box bases in order for the sides to be even, making the baskets longer.

After deciding which side I wanted for the interior of my basket, I began weaving. I cut 1 inch wide strips from the side panels of the boxes and wove them into the slats on the bases alternating (over, under) and gluing as I went. I used large paper clips to hold the weave in place until the glue was dry.

(Left) I folded the 1 inch strips in half and started weaving from the corners. (Right) Continued weaving around all sides and held strips in place with paper clips.

I repeated the weaving process to create another row. Once all of the weaves were dry, I removed the paper clips and cut a long piece for the handle. I glued each end of the handle to the interior walls of the basket and reinforced it with packing tape. I then bent the edges down to form a lip around the basket. After the first basket was completed I repeated the entire process to make 2 more baskets so each of my children could leave one out for the Easter Bunny to fill.

(Left) I added a strip cut from a side panel as a handle and reinforced it with packing tape. (Right) One finished basket and two in progress.

Here are the finished baskets!

And since this is an Easter related post, I thought I'd share a family photo of us all dressed up in our Sunday best.