It’s just easier with the iPhone. Bing. New e-mail. Mid-day inspiration while my children are fighting over light sabers in the backyard. What’s not to love?

Since I cleared my reader, I found a few projects I love that you might as well, so I’m dumping them here. Seriously, it’s my blog, I can do post what I like, even if it’s just for my own convenience. <wink>

First up, for those who love embroidery or want to learn. I firmly believe anyone can pick up this skill and should. Lots of tutorials online, lots of free patterns, lots of uses for this skill. On to the find…

From my internet friends over at Sibling Craftery, a quirky wedding present, embroidered tea-towels of LOVE.

There are three images in the FREE set, but the macaroni and cheese is my favorite. Click over to see ‘frosting on my cupcake’ and ‘cookie to my milk’. Who doesn’t love embroidered food with faces?

For those who crochet, check out these adorable and not too kitschy Fruity Trivets and Pot Holders from The Purl Bee.

I love that it’s the same pattern for all 3 fruit, and they give you the exact colors used on each. The photos are beautiful and easy to follow, especially the demonstration of how to create the seeds.

Make sure if you plan on making these you read the instructions carefully. To be practical and actually protect you from heat, the yarn is doubled and the pattern uses a size K crochet hook.

Please don’t forget your crafty internet etiquette. If you download or use these patterns, leave the creators some comment love and if they have Flickr groups, upload images of your finished project to their group. They are sharing their hard work for free, so it’s a nice way to say “Thanks”.

Father’s Day handkerchiefs

Originally uploaded by wistfulwrists

Are you running out on time for a crafty Father’s Day gift? These are some handmade handkerchiefs I created last year for my father. Since these were made when I was just beginning to embroider, I had limited resources. These were both made from basic clip art you probably already have sitting on your computer.

You can use plain pre-made handkerchiefs, new or vintage. No, I’m not being disgusting, I’ve seen many brand new packages of plain handkerchiefs on thrift store shelves. With very basic sewing skills, you can make your own from 100% cotton fabric. Feeling especially green & thrifty? Upcycle one of dad’s old cotton dress shirts.

Embroidery floss is cheap, about 3 skeins for $1, less if you catch a sale. This whole project could be done for $5 or less. Depending on your sewing and embroidery skills, the project should take 1-3 hours per handkerchief.

Print the images you want onto plain paper. The fortune cookie was a single file. For the bowling one, I used 2 different clip art pieces together, only tracing the parts I wanted with my transfer pencil. You can use tracing pencil or tracing papers, whatever you have on hand.

I made an entire set of handkerchiefs using images that were significant to my memories of my father. My parents participated in a bowling league when I was a child, so I have great memories of evenings spent at the bowling alley with them. My father has perfected his own recipe for “Springfield style” cashew chicken. I can’t tell you how many weekends he spent cooking it for the whole family.

There were a few other images in the set, but you get the idea. Take your favorite memories, find an image that evokes that memory or inside joke, and stitch away!

This month’s packet included some lovely handmade papers, tags & paper ribbons, googly eyes, tan embroidery floss and brass buttons. My first thought was “CRAP! I’m not a paper crafter! What am I going to do with this?” Thankfully the fine print says you only have to use some of each material and although it must be one craft, creative packaging can count. Ah Hah! My loophole! I did some quick internet searching, found a project I liked, requested the book from the library and waited. Waited for the book to arrive, waited for Mr. T to depart so I could have some quality crafting time alone, and waited for divine inspiration on how to use the paper.

When I finally sat down to work on my project Sunday evening… Don’t judge me, I know I procrastinate! Well, let’s just say my initial project fell through. As did the next variation. Frustrated at how to use  both a whimsical googly eye and a stately brass button on the same project without coming off with something destined for Craft Fail, I turned to the internet. Did you know there is a hilarious blog all about googly eyes? After scouring the internet, I finally had an idea.

Armed with a base set of instructions from Wee Folk Art, I set off to make a cute little felt business card holder. After all, I did just buy my ticket to attend my first BlogHer conference, so it’s only logical I’d need something crafty to display my business cards. But as I was cutting felt, the project evolved one last time. Last December, while working the intense holiday production at church, a wonderful woman with fiery red hair and an awesome spirit to match, blessed me with a Starbucks gift card in this adorable little holder:

I love to give handmade gifts, but you know there are those recipients who aren’t truly *ahem* appreciative (or *cough, cough* worthy) of the time and care that goes into such a gift. This seemed like the perfect way to blend crafty with practical!

By the time I finished, I had decreased the original pattern by 70%, changed from two pockets to a single pocket for a gift card, and had enlarged the bird so that it would be closer to scale with the smallest googly eye from the package. I used the most minimal amount of paper possible to be the “card” that accompanied the gift card for the recipient. This was my end result:

Made of el cheapo acrylic felt (because it’s what I had), I’m thrilled with the results. Family and friends be warned: if you receive a gift card from me in the next year, you now know how it will be packaged! The photo doesn’t show the deep violet color of the main felt well, but in real life, it’s snazzy!

Once I had decided what I was doing, this was a quick and easy project. It took 2 days, because I was being careful. I stitched the design in a few hours one evening, then used hot glue to adhere the eye and left it to dry overnight. I did the rest of the assembly in a few (interrupted) hours the next day.

My felt still had the price sticker on it, I purchased it at 5 for $1. So with 3 colors used, that’s about $.60. Add 3 colors of embroidery floss and that’s another $1. Googly eyes and buttons you may have on hand, but if needed to be purchased for $1-2 per package. A cheap craft for sure, could be as little as free if you have these items left over from other projects, but not more than $5 even if you had to purchase everything! I suspect these sell for close to $5 at Starbucks each.

I truly loved working this craft challenge. I thought it would be much more difficult than it was, but the unique supplies provided just the right amount of difficulty to inspire and drive me to work a bit harder. It was a nice change of pace after having several big projects that took a lot of time and didn’t allow for as much creativity. Definitely helped me to bring my crafty mojo back.

Now I get to sit back and watch the voting for the next few days to see which project prevails. I hope the other entrants blog about their process as well, I would love to learn more about what appears to be a bracelet, listed as #1 for the vote. Click here to see all the entrants and cast your vote (no registration required)!

If you are inspired and want to join the crafty challenge, you can purchase a single month like I did to give it a whirl, or get a discount by subscribing for multiple months.

This year, I chose my own valentine. I chose this beautiful print from artist Jennifer Katherine. I stumbled across her blog more than a year ago and began following her. I loved her style, I loved her use of digital, graphic tools and yet, she made things with buttons. Then, after following her a few months, I saw her delve into sewing. This was a girl after my own heart. Although I’ve put my digital art days behind me (for now), I have a great appreciation for the blend of technical with traditional arts and crafts.

I recall when Jennifer put the early sketches of this piece on her blog, and then a while later when she showed a glimpse of it with color. I was in love. It was one of those moments where art spoke directly to my heart. I went months without catching up on my blog reader, and wouldn’t you know, the evening I finally caught up, Jennifer had posted just days before that she opened an Etsy shop. And guess what was for sale?! The surprising thing was that she had a note on her shop about a portion of proceeds going to one of my favorite charities. I just HAD to have it. I sent Mr. T the e-mail with the link to purchase. Then I became impatient and just asked him one night if I could buy it, since I have an Etsy account and he doesn’t. A few clicks for me, a journey through a snowstorm for Jennifer and a few days later, it was in my hands!

One of the best parts of the piece for me is what’s happened behind the scenes. I shared through the Etsy convo feature why I was so excited to purchase it, she shared some of her heart and personal story of why she made the piece. It’s truly amazing how the whole thing is stitched together. I almost didn’t share with you on here on my blog, because it’s so unconventional to have a broken heart as a valentine’s gift. But, it’s the truth, my heart is being mended, our marriage is being mended, life right now is a season of healing and restoration. Nothing could better represent this season of life. Even down to the part where it arrived in the midst of my medical testing for those chest pains! Literally and metaphorically, this speaks to me in so many ways. I love passing by it multiple times a day, and am surprised by the variety of emotions and thoughts is produces. This piece of paper speaks to my soul. That is truly the best kind of art!

If you love it too, Jennifer has placed another print for sale in her Etsy shop. Be sure to stop by and leave her some love on her blog: Elegant Journey as well.

If you have a piece of art that speaks to your soul as well, I’d love to read about it. Share the story in the comments or a link if you’ve already blogged about it.

For the next few posts, I’ll share some of our valentine’s day fun.

I like to make my life easy, so we pick up premade paper cards for the kids. With 3 boys in school, we had 48 valentines (minimum) flying out of our house, I just don’t have the energy to do completely handmade. But, crafty as I am, I had to help my crafty kids add a unique touch. We love melting crayons in this house, so when I saw silicone ice cube trays in heart shapes at Target last month in the ‘dollar’ section (they were actually $2.50 for 2 trays), I knew what we had to do.

There are instructions for melting crayons all over the internet, so let me just share my tips.

• I like to melt at 250 degrees. It takes a bit, sometimes up to 10-15 minutes depending on your oven and the brand of crayon, but just keep an eye on it. I set the timer for 8 minutes to start, then check every 2-3 after until they have turned to liquid.
• The most difficult part of this project is prepping the crayons. I highly recommend using a craft (X-Acto) knife to slice the paper off and then to chop the crayons into appropriate size pieces for your mold.
• Don’t worry about gaps. I just place crayons inside the mold in a single layer, with a few gaps, so you get a nice flat result.
• Watch your brands! You can see in the photos we had a few restaurant crayons sneak their way in. Some brands just won’t melt. I only buy Crayola crayons for our house for many reasons, the easy way they melt is one of those. Don’t fret though, if you have bad crayons weasel their way in, it just makes for some unique texture.
• If you don’t have shaped molds, my favorite melting containers are individual silicone mini cupcake cups. With ridges that mimic paper liners, they create great edges the kids love to color with!
• We used hot glue to fix them to the paper valentines. This was tricky and may not be the best solution. I used a generous amount of hot glue, let it cool a bit (so it didn’t melt the wax too much), then pressed the flat side of the crayon into it. Some I didn’t let cool enough and they melted, some cooled too much and they popped off. At their best they removed easily, but it made them stick long enough to travel to school and make it into valentine boxes.

If you had fun, crafty ideas you used this year for classrooms, be sure to leave a description and link in the comments to share with me!

I was seaming this beauty together on Christmas Eve. Yes, I am the queen of procrastination. I finished all the details and wrapped it somewhere after 11 p.m., resulting in a single, terrible lighting, iPhone photo. I was too caught up in the family festivities the next day to snag it back for a better, natural light photo. This just doesn’t do it justice:

It is the Little Luxury Kimono pattern from Lion Brand Yarn. It was a really quick knit and in my opinion a great first project if you are thinking about making garments or sweaters. It went quickly, was basic and gave me some practice on how a garment is put together. The down side is that if you are used to quick projects, like I am, it gets a bit boring at the end. Once you are finished knitting, you need to block, seam, maybe add some edging details, etc. Not exactly my cup of tea, but I liked learning and practicing some of these news skills. The pattern includes 5 pieces (back, front left, front right, and 2 sleeves) and the individual pieces knit up easily. This is a great evening, television project with the stockinette stitch pattern used. Easy decreases shape for the neck, so if you know knit, purl & decreases, any beginner can knit this project!

The yarn I used was Vanna’s Choice Baby in the Sweet Pea colorway. This was my second project using the Vanna’s Choice line from Lion Brand Yarn. My first project was the Luigi Hat. It took about 2 skeins to complete the project, with enough yarn left over to be comfortable (errors, details, edging, extras, etc.) I chose the green color because it is one of my sister’s favorite colors and it’s gender neutral. We are still waiting to find out if B.O.B. is a girl or boy. The Vanna’s Choice yarn is really soft and easy on your hands as you are knitting. It is one of the softest acrylic yarns I’ve tried. It is a worsted weight (weight class #4) which means it knits up pretty quickly. I believe this project was knit on size 7 or 8 needles. My only complaint about the Vanna’s Choice Baby is that the strands tend to separate a tad more easily than some other acrylics. Not too bad, but I’m just being completely honest here. The softness and the rich, almost jewel tone colors (compared to other baby yarns), and the fact you are likely using larger needles totally compensate for this issue. I loved the yarn so much on the next sale I grabbed one of each of the Vanna’s Choice Baby colors to play with and use in other projects. They are soft, yet vibrant, a nice change of pace from many chain store yarn brands.

It remains to be seen how well the kimono will survive in the wash and dry process necessary for newborns, but with $5 in yarn and only a few evenings worth of labor involved, it was a good trial into this sort of project. Sure, I wish I could make these for every new baby in my life, but I really don’t like seaming and blocking, at least not yet. Maybe once my children learn to feed themselves more often, or Mr. T builds that feeding trough for them, I’ll have more time and won’t mind the tedious parts as much. So for now, because of my life situation, not the pattern itself, this will remain and “family only and maybe not even them” project.

A quick note for all my fellow knitting and crocheting iPhone/iPod users: Lion Brand Yarn recently released (FINALLY!) an iPhone app that makes it much easier to cruise their listing of patterns while mobile. It’s an early version, has a few quirks, but it is so much better than having to use Safari to navigate the LBY website! It’s a free download too, pick it up here.

Today’s deal is especially great for stocking stuffers for the infant you know. Burp cloths are $5, custom burp cloths are $6.50, and I even picked up a burp cloth to send to Operation Shower for $3.60! Resa is incredibly generous as she discounts any items purchased for Operation Shower and ships them to the organization on your behalf for FREE!

Speaking of Operation Shower, I recently participated in a MomTV special show hosted by Danielle of Extraordinary Mommy. Danielle highlighted Resa and many other mom-made businesses that are participating in Holiday Shoperation. It was really amazing to see what these fantastic women are doing to support military families. Catch the replay of the November 17th show here on MomTV. Choose Menu – View Movies – Live Recording 11/17/2009 to learn more about all the shopping deals.

Another mom business I was introduced to during the show was My Doodle Bop. Kristin has created several different styles of signs to hang on your infant’s carrier to help friends and strangers think twice before touching your precious cargo. The signs sport the phrase “My hands are clean, Are yours?” The signs are only $9.95 with free shipping & during the month of December, 10% of all sales benefit Operation Shower. Kristin gave out some of her signs as prizes for those chatting during the MomTV broadcast & I won one. I am so impressed with the design, a bit larger than I expected, they are sure to grab everyone’s attention. They are very sturdy, I suspect they would last through many babies, so they’d be a great gift for a first time mom.

What is on your shopping list for those experiencing their first holiday season?

First, I’d like to introduce you to Owlishly. Quite possibly the cutest amigurumi crochet patterns I’ve seen in my whole life. Seriously, so sweet, you might need an injection of insulin after browsing her shop. Owlishly is run by Mia, and you can stop by her blog to learn more about her life & her art. I love her signature style and can’t wait to crochet some of her dolls for the little ones in my life. The patterns are digital, so that means you’ll receive the PDF within 24 hours of payment receipt (or less). Who doesn’t love near instant gratification? If you want to see what others have done with her designs, check out the Owlishly Flickr Group. The Owlishly sale runs from today until 11:59pm PST November 28th, 2009. Note: the discount is given as a refund. (Etsy really needs to work on a better way for sellers to run temporary sales!)

The second great 29% off sale is for 3 or 4 pattern packs in Wild Olive’s Etsy shop. My newest craft infatuation is embroidery, and if you like cutesy stuff or inanimate objects with faces on them, Wild Olive is for you! Again, these are digital patterns, delivered to you via e-mail for you  to print on your home printer so you can get started right away. One of the things I really love about Mollie’s creations is the emotion on the items. Check out the 1 + 1 is one patterns and see how sad they are until they join together. Sweet! Not a stitcher? Don’t worry, Wild Olive has some great printable crafts as well! You can find out more by reading Mollie’s blog and see what others have done with her designs in the Wild Olive Flickr group. The Wild Olive sale only runs through Friday, November 27th, so don’t delay!

I’m carefully & prayerfully considering how our family will approach the holidays this year. First, we’re trying homemade items. I should have started long ago, but I’m working on it.

Photo by Steve Rhodes

I’m also considering alternative methods, especially those that might be green. When it’s acceptable by the person (and for my kids), I’ll try to gift used, but still in great condition items like books & DVDs. Seriously, why does everything have to be new? There’s no need for us to cut down more forests so that everyone can have their own personal copy of Harry Potter or Twilight to sit on a shelf forever, never to be read again. Swaptree is your friend.

Lastly, I’m thinking about people. This means I’m really considering how & where my money is spent. Sure, I can save a couple of bucks if I go to the big box, but where does that money really go? Does it go to corporate greed or worse yet, China or other countries where children may or may not be stitching everything together in poor conditions? Or can I spend a few more minutes and a few more dollars and purchase from an artist or a crafty stay-at-home mom who understands the value of hard work, who is passionate about what they do, and most importantly supports charities or other artists with their well-earned dollars? Take a moment and think about it. Will your child even recall in 5 years what piece of plastic they are begging for this week? Will it be a treasured item that they’ll remember their whole life? Let’s get back to what’s important.

Now I’ll step off my soap box and put my money where my mouth is. As a continuance of the Handmade Holidays theme, I’m going to share with you some of my favorite people I stalk online and share with you their sales. If you have an Etsy shop or other online presence and are planning a sale, drop me a line at wistfulwrists@gmail.com. Tell me a bit about yourself, what you are passionate about; link me up to your shop, blog, Twitter & don’t forget to share the details of your sale (especially start & end dates). I’ll share them at the appropriate time.

Remember, each of us has the ability to make a difference. Small changes can have big impact. You can make someone else’s holiday brighter and create memories for your own family at the same time.

Over the past few years, we’ve found a few titles that work pretty well for us. We’ve enjoyed Go Diego Go: Safari Rescue and Pajama Sam in Don’t Fear the Dark. But both of these left us wanting. Pajama Sam had the educational value we liked and allowed for exploration within the game. Diego really used the unique motion qualities of the Wii platform, but was primarily just a 2D Mario-style video game. My newest, favorite child-friendly game is JumpStart: Escape from Adventure Island.

We’ve been testing this great new game for a few weeks now. It has the great JumpStart characters and 3D virtual world format that many of you may have tried in the online version. At JumpStart, they’ve done a great job at blending the educational game format that they’ve perfected with the abilities of the Wii remote, all while keeping it accessible to even a preschooler. My sons were thrilled to recognize many of the places and games they visit online, but I appreciated that you do not have to have internet access to play the Wii version, unlike the computer version. Sure, it may not be much of a difference in your home, but if you’ve ever given a young child a turn on the computer, you know how many “oops” and wrong clicks they find. By playing on the Wii, they can explore the world much better on their own than on the computer version. Which is especially handy if you are a one computer household. No one wants Jr. messing up the computer that adults need for work, finances, and social networking.

Unlike Pajama Sam, which took the traditional PC game format and moved it laterally to the Wii format, Jumpstart Escape from Adventure Island actually uses the tilt features in the Wii remote in the games. On Pajama Sam, we were limited to clicking. For children used to the active format of the Wii, this gets very boring very quickly. Another benefit of the JumpStart game over Pajama Sam is that the buttons and instructions are voiced over for those emerging readers. There was a particular section of Pajama Sam we were quite disappointed to find had a lot of reading and required supervision and adult assistance. No, I don’t use the Wii as a babysitter. In our house Wii is reserved for after school, weekends and on rainy days. However, I do expect that a game can be played with assistance initially and with limited supervision or help thereafter. Momma does have to do laundry and dishes after all, I can’t sit around playing video games all day!

Another great feature of the JumpStart game is that there are lots of levels within the game. It will take a long time for our kids to get bored with this game. Both Pajama Sam and Diego were rather limited, and after a few weeks and several times mastering them, the kids were bored and haven’t asked to return to them.

My sons love making their Jumpees and houses, the navigation of the customization pages is easy for the kids and they love earning, shopping and purchasing these accessories. I really like the reward system that encourages them along the way to the main goal, escaping the island. It will be interesting to see how long it takes the kids to master this game. Both Diego and Pajama Sam were games they completed on the first day they played them.

There are a few items in the “cons” list for the JumpStart game I should make you aware of. First, it is a single player game. That said, the games can be replayed and because of the map format, it’s easy to create your own house rules for taking turns. Second, there are only 3 spaces for saving games. So if you have more than 3 children, this could be an issue as each child would not have their own individual game. Third, the graphics are juvenile. Sure, it’s a kids’ game, but I don’t really care for the nature of the graphics. I’m not sure if it’s a lack of quality or a style choice, but I tend to expect a bit more out of a game and system designed to play on high definition televisions. All of these things are definitely outweighed by the great educational games and the way it encourages the children to move and think as they play.

Now for the good news: the JumpStart blog is having a contest! The theme of the contest is “Time to Escape!” JumpStart wants to hear how your family uses imagination to escape the everyday
and turn life into an adventure! Tell them your story for a chance to win a Family Escape pack worth over $1000 including this Wii game, a Wii console, a Flip camera, JumpStart.com memberships and a SpaFinder gift certificate and more. Don’t delay, the contest ends November 16th. Click over to share your story now.

I received a complimentary copy of this video game to play and review courtesy of JumpStart. These are my personal opinions, no other compensation was received for this post.