How much is that doggy in the suitcase?

I thought I would share something neat that I made...

Its a pet bed made from a vintage suitcase! My animals LOVE suitcases! So why not a suitcase bed? It could be for a cat or a dog, but it comes with a squeaky dog toy. I made a strap that snaps on the back so that it won't close on accident while your pet is inside. I also have a hat box, and two other suitcases that are larger than this one so if your pet is bigger or smaller let me know and I can make one for you. You can purchase it from my etsy store.

Shop Update! (finally!)

Whew! That took long enough! Its later than I wanted for Christmas but still in time...shop away!

Yummy Soup

I made my favorite soup tonight and I thought I would share. It is so super easy and FAST! Enjoy!

Italian Wedding Soup
2 cans of chicken stock
Italian meatballs (Sometimes I make the from scratch, sometimes I buy them; cut in half or quarters, your choice. You don't have to defrost them they cut up well frozen, just be careful.)
Spinach (Use as much or as little as you like, I cut mine up half frozen into tiny bits.)
1/2 cup of orzo type pasta (any teeny tiny pasta will do)

If I feel like taking more time and feel like adding veggies I saute some carrots, onions, and/or celery before adding stock.

Bring to a light boil and simmer for about 10 minutes til the pasta is al dente and EAT! Yummy!

And now I wait for my hubby to come home. Poor thing his flight was delayed and then he is going to miss his connecting flight and will have to wait from 9 pm to 8 am for the next flight! Maybe something good will happen and he won't have to do that. UGH! Traveling can be so stressful!

Oh, I have crafted my little heart out lately. I sold stuff at my hubby's work, they have a Christmas bazaar and employees, spouses, and volunteers can sell. Lots of jewelry and food stuffs including some divine fudge. Remember that song from Sesame Street "One of these things is not like the other, One of these things just doesn't belong?" Well that was me. Not in a bad way, but my stuff was just different. But I made $100! I'll take it!

I will be adding the things I did not sell to my etsy site as soon as hubby helps me take pictures. He knows how to use the fancy camera. I'm still learning.

And if you want to see the cutest video of my sweet baby click here.

Cozy song...

Ok, this is a random post. I love this CVS commercial the artwork is amazing. All of you wonderful Aussies and Britons that read my blog. You much watch this commercial. It makes me so happy and cozy. Anyways, I found out that you can download the song (originally sung by Sarah McLachlan for the Charlotte's Web soundtrack) for free here. I love this version of the song, which is sung by Kathy Fisher. This song feels like a wonderful rainy afternoon with a good book and hot chocolate.

Enjoy!

birthday goodness!

my mom bought me last-minute patchwork gifts! yeah! it is so beautiful and it is really inspiring me to make a quilt! i have always been kinda partial to functional art so i like making clothing, toys, etc. but wall hanging quilts don't appeal to me as much. i want to use them, cover up with them, get all cuddly. my mom once had to find one word to describe me and her word was "cozy." i think she is definately right! so maybe i will make the wall hanging quilts larger or make it for miriam to use. but the day after i got the book (which joelle signed! i felt so special! i know she probably does it for all the books, but i don't care i loved it) i made the puzzle ball! it was really easy to follow her instructions. i didn't quite understand why she said to do certain things but i just did it and it turned out perfect! i didn't have any safety pins to hold it together while i sewed it but i made it work. i just sewed a few pieces at a time.

and bethany at bitty betty sent me some awesome shoes and a cutie little doggie for my birthday. she was doing a birthday give-away and i shared the same birthday as her son so she made me a little something! isn't he adorable!!! thank you bethany!

my artsy crafty space

we recently moved my stuff into the now official "office." we put the guest bed in miriam's room and put me with mike's stuff. so now we are sharing. scary. neat freak hubby sharing a room with artsy crafty messy wife. this should be fun. we still haven't painted this room but that's ok i like all my stuff i put up! see that tree? i made it from a felted thrifted sweater and am going to decorate it with felt "bumps" (sounds weird i know). i think i am going to sell it on my etsy site.

i love the cork trivets from ikea, they make great bulliten boards! and my hubby made those green shelves for me. good job honey! and i made the ribbon organizer out of two finials that i found in someone's trash for cleanup day! i loooooove cleanup day. everyone can put out anything they want thrown out, people throw out tons of awesome stuff. i'll have to take pictures and show everyone my loot!

Taking a break from the alphabet...or my first quilt!

I made my very first quilt!! Well...my first quilt was in high school and I made it for my mom, but it was so bad it doesn't count! I made Amy Butler's Bella Quilt. My quilt store didn't have all of the fabrics to match so I used a mix of Amy Butler and Heather Bailey's FreshCut. I have the top done so far and need to go buy the fabric for the border, back, and batting. My husband and I have a deal that we have to self-fund any of our hobbies cause we're poor like that! So I sell stuff on etsy and he does freelance projects. It works out well, it's great incentive. So here you go...my first quilt. Look how organized I am!

M and N

M is for Merry Christmas! I know I know its not even Halloween yet (have you noticed that's when they start playing Christmas music now!). I so am excited about it this year! We did not get a tree last year. My husband was out of town for two weeks and then we left to go to Georgia for Christmas so it wasn't worth the hassle. I was sad though, I really missed that tree! Oh, and I have this great idea for a tree made from a green felted sweater I found at a garage sale. Anyways I want to get onto N!

N is for Nest! Behold my mother's Birthday present! I am so proud of it! She loved it of course, she would love anything I made, she's my mom of course! She really likes bird's nests and robin's eggs. I used aluminum and copper wire from the hardware store and wooden eggs from Michael's and that glorious Martha Stewart glitter from Michael's. think I might make some to sell on etsy...

L is for Little Things!

Sometimes its the little things that make me happy. Miriam's smile when I get her out of her crib, chocolate chips, new makeup, clean sheets, a new book, diet coke, the new quilt store i found, happy music, and progress...I feel like I have kinda sorta caught up with putting things on my etsy site! I only had 8 things since Miriam was born and things have been selling sorta well this last week. It always makes me flattered and humble that some one would want to buy something I made. I love to make!! Oh, if you would like to make these cute little buttons...check this out!

K is for Kirsten

Yeah I couldn't come up with anything else! Kirsten, that's my name. In high school everyone called me "K." I was Miss Kirsten when I taught homeschool art in Milledgeville, GA in college. I have been Mrs. Schueler when I taught middle and high school art in Augusta, Ga. I have some friends who call me Shue. But, for my whole life I have answered to Kristen or Kiersten. I don't care. Call me what you will. Its Kirsten though. Names...they're so funny.

For anyone who wanted the embroidery pattern from the vintage wrapping paper...this one.

Well I finally cleaned it up a good bit and there are still some little parts where you will have to fill it in. The wrapping paper is so old and pretty fragile that the corners have been damaged. I had to scan it in in sections and...well I am not a graphic designer. I did my best :) I hope you enjoy it! Its a large file though.

J is for Joint Effort Craft Force!

My sweet husband helped me ALL day make these stuffie dachshunds for my etsy site! He did baby wrangling and cut out fabric and turned them inside out. He tried his hand at stuffing and we both decided he was not good at it. It felt so good to have an entire day to sew! I had had some customers ask when I was going to list some more dachshunds. So I felt compelled to make as many as I could in one day. I got 5 done. We started at 8 am and decided I couldn't do any more at 6 pm.

I is for Internet

Hi, my name is Kirsten and I am addicted to the internet. Yes, I don't know if I could live without it. Well of course I could live without it but I sure don't want to. I used it for recipes, crafty inspiration, shopping, attempting to make money, silly things, communication, news, work (I'm an at home secretary), and much more. I check my email way to many times. Oh, and I currently have 72, count them Seventy-two RSS feeds! Yes I have subscribed to 72 blogs! What am I thinking? Only about 15 of them update each day so its not that crazy, is it? And I am constantly finding new ones...

gratuitous Miriam picture...(we were giving her a break from her carseat on the 8 hour drive to GA two weeks ago)

F, G, and H is for....

I really want to post what H is for. So here is F and G really quick!

F is for...Food and Fitness. I am dying to lose my baby weight! I started Stroller Strides here in town and man it kicks my tail! Its really fun and it is a serious workout. I am also trying to eat better. I know I will not do well on a diet but I am changing my eating habits and I hope that will do the trick.

G is for...Goal. I have never been really good at goals. But my one of my new goals is to be good at goals! My current goals are to trim up and lose this baby belly. I don't have any specifics weight or size necessarily (although I have and idea) I just want to wear jeans and cute shirts and dresses! I feel like my clothes are part of my personality and I want to wear things that scream me, instead of things that just fit. My other goal currently is to be able to sell more of my handmade creations. I want my etsy store to do better. Which is hard to do with a new workout routine that takes up almost the entire morning and having a 3 1/2 month old. Its frustrating because I feel like I can never finish anything, I'm constantly interrupted by dinner, dogs, baby, husband, laundry, phone calls, etc.

AND!

H is for Highchair!! I found this highchair at a garage sale Saturday and I am so giddy about it!!

Don't you just love it! That bunny makes me so happy! I am going to sew up a oilcloth strap to help hold her in. Its very similar to the one that my brother and I ate in growing up. Who says I have to have a new plastic highchair?! We all grew up with wooden ones usually. So why not?! It was only $15 and I didn't even care that they weren't willing to negotiate cause I am in love.

E is for Embroidery

this is a project i have yet to finish. (that pretty such describes everything right now) the design is from a vintage piece of wrapping paper. if anyone wants it i can send it to you. now that i think about it, it would look gorgeous in redwork! but alas it is green (that also pretty much describes everything right now)!




this is a piece i did in college. it was for a class project, we had to make something that was eastern in nature. i decided bamboo embroidery on red silk. done. that described what i loved about asia, visually at least. i haven't done anything with it yet. i have been thinking about just a simple frame. does anyone have ideas??

D is for Dachshunds

i love dachsies! i had a red short haired girl named holly (on the right) when i was growing up. i loved that dog so much. she passed a couple years ago but now...



i have hershey! this silly little dog is the best. i just think he hung the moon. aside from my hubby and miss miriam of course. i am also currently dog-sitting for my mom. she has a dachshund named copper. hershey and copper love each other! they are the best of friends, its adorable. herhsey is on the left and copper on the right.



they inspire me so much that i made some dachsie stuff that i sell at etsy!

C is for Chairs

i love chairs. i want one of those awesome row houses with super high brick walls that i can cover with chairs. have you seen people do that? anyways, i love chairs. i love small ones (i want these at ikea) i love old chairs especially. anyways here are some chairs i own...

a little elephant (mccalls 3903) i made with some vintage fabric that used to be a skirt

my mom bought me this chair at an antique store in augusta, ga and i made the seat pad

i bought 5 of these chairs at a garage sale for $11...for all 5!

my sneaky sister-in-law bought me this chair at an antique store in milledgeville, ga. she is sneaky because she "bought it for herself" and she knew i was in love with it and gave it to me for christmas, so sweet!

this is a chair that my mom bought with her sofa/loveseat set back in the eighties and she got it restained and recovered for me and miriam

B is for baby

my best work of art ever. miriam (our first) is 3 months old and was born april 26 weighing 7 pounds 12 ounces at 6:37 pm. she is perfect. happy, healthy, and as of tonight teething (i think). my husband said he's not ready to see her with a tooth. i told him to get ready, there are going to many many things he is not "ready" to see her do!

A is for Art

i miss being an art student and an art teacher. i became very nostolgic yesterday in an art supply store for the college of charleston. my hubby and i were having a little 2 day vacation from life/baby in charleston. i listened to students ask questions about the supplies they need for classes such as drawing 1 or 3-d design. i wanted to go and talk to them and answer their questions! so nosey! i loved looking at all the pencils and kneaded erasers, the canson books, micron pens, printing inks, and of course my favorite markers! i fell in love with art markers while in fashion school. mmm...they don't smell so great, makes you a little lightheaded. but they are so much fun.

i miss learning in a classroom of eager and talented students. and being surrounded by creativity. i have found a good bit of this online with all the awesome craft blogs i have discovered. i love creativity and the desire to make new things.

one day i want to get my m.f.a. in fiber arts. hopefully when the kids are older. i would love to teach in college. dream job.

i left teaching last year when we moved to richmond and i miss it. right now i am staying home with miriam which is what i want. but i feel like i need to get back in and take a class or teach a class. i talked with hubby on our trip about this. maybe i will look into something this fall semester...

inspired

i have been so inspired to start a craft blog. i love visiting craft blogs. i love finding new craft blogs. SO i am making a craft blog!

i love being inspired by others and i would love to share my ideas with others.

in case you are wondering about the title...i used to love blue. that color of the sky on a perfect day, that blue at the top of the sky, the most gorgeous sky blue color you can imagine. don't get me wrong i still love blue. but...well green has taken over my life! my husband likes to tease me about the sudden change of color obsession in my life. our wedding was totally blue. then suddenly about a two years ago...i found this cute shirt at jcpenny's of all places. it was the most wonderfully yummy green color. i was hooked...and green became the new blue.

and if i'm not careful red might take green DOWN!