Scrappy Fourth of July Wreath

This morning this post showed up on my dashboard and made me realize I have absolutely no Fourth of July decorations up.  What shame!  I wasn't going to let Cher show me up, so I climbed over a bunch of boxes to get to my crafting stash to see what kind of red, white and blue thing I could whip up.  This is what I had:

So I decided to throw it all together into a scrappy wreath.  And, let me tell you, it felt good to be crafting again for a change!  I cannot wait until this move is over!  But anyway...I just wrapped all the red, white and blue scrap fabric I could find around a straw wreath that my friend Alejandra brought over a few days ago.  I tied and hot glued the fabric in place and added some embellishments to spruce it up. 

I whipped up a couple of loopy flowers with some leftover red and white felt and hot glued them down.  I think they look like fireworks kinda, don't you?

I also used some leftover Christmas ribbon to tie a bow above the loopy flowers and hot glued on a bunch of white buttons above that to complete the look.

I think it turned out pretty well.  I especially like how the red and white stripped fabric next to the blue and white polka dot fabric looks sort of like a flag.

I'm sure you all have much more sophisticated decorations than this for fourth of July, but with the move this is all I could manage.  So let me see what you've made for fourth of July!  Upload your crafty creations in the Flickr pool and I promise to show them off here for you. :)

Until next time, happy crafting!

--CC

Quilting Widow(er) Appreciation Day

So, I'm not a quilter, but I do sew a lot (and blog a lot) and it does take me away from my beau for many hours at a time several days a week.  Not only that, I tend to get a little snappy with others when I'm trying to finish a project. So I thought this idea was a wonderful one when I first heard about it over on OCD.

The Plaid Scottie came up with the idea to reserve September 24 as "Quilting Widow(er) Appreciation Day."  What is that, you ask?  It's a special day to honor our significant others for all their patience and support by sewing something for them for a change.  (Read more about it in the original post.)The date is far off in the future, so there's no reason not to join in!  What will you be making?



Happy crafting!

--CC

Savory Spice Shop (Picture and Text Heavy)

Last week this little thing followed me home and proceeded to live in my bathroom for two days until we found him a new home.

One of my friends over in St. Petersburg took him.  So, naturally, after my boyfriend and I dropped kitten off to his new home we had to stop and look at the little shops by the marina.  And that's how we came across this boutique called Savory Spice Shop.

It. Blew. Our. Minds.

The entire store is just walls and walls of spices.  Spices you've never even heard of.  They had big barrels just filled with cinnamon sticks and more varieties of salt than I even knew existed.  They also had all kinds of cocoa and sugar. 

You could buy your own small jar of spices, or you could fill these cute little muslin bags with different amounts of spice.  It definitely gave me some great ideas for  homemade Christmas gifts that I'm sure I'll share with you later this year!

 Each different kind of spice had suggestions on the label for how to use it.  They also had gift sets of various spices that they've paired for specific purposes.  Since it was just before Father's Day, I found the perfect gift set of coffee spices to give to my dad.  (He's replaced alcohol with coffee since he quit drinking.  Lol.)

What's cute about the gift sets, too, is that they separate each spice with Bay leaves and cinnamon sticks that can actually be used.  They also garnished the gift set with whole nutmeg, chili pepper and [insert something fancy that I forgot what it's called here] that can be used, too.

I wrapped it up and mailed it to him.  I also sent off a handmade card, but it was so ugly I couldn't bring myself to share it with you!  (P.S. The reason I'm just now sharing this post is because I didn't want to give away the secret before my dad opened his gift!)

Boy, was this a bugger to wrap!

And of course we had to get something for ourselves.  I picked out a chai mix.  They pre-selected all the different ingredients for you and put them in a bag with a recipe for you to follow.  Mmmm.

And Tyler, who loves baking chocolate chip cookies with lots of cinnamon, got this Ceylon "True" Cinnamon.  Did you know the usual store bought cinnamon isn't actually real cinnamon?  It actually comes from the cassia tree.  We bought this real cinnamon and haven't had a chance to use it yet, but it smells different (and more delicious!) than the kind of cinnamon we usually buy.

I was in heaven, and when I went home my fingertips smelled like spices.  My boyfriend and I rambled about how great the store was for about 15 miles on the interstate on our way back home.  I can't wait to visit again!

Hope you've been crafting up a storm while I've been off rescuing kittens and galvanizing in spice shops!

--CC


Note:  This post was not commissioned or prompted by Savory Spice Shop.  I actually loved it that much! :)

Moving Progress

Just popping in to show you how ridiculous my crafting corner looks now that we're making headway with the packing...

Instagram!

 Le sigh.  I really wish I could sew.  Can't wait to get to the new house where I'll have a whole room for crafting!

Housekeeping: Social Media

I jumped on the bandwagon.

And I admit it.  Pinterest is awesome.  If you haven't heard about it yet, it's a social bookmarking website.  I think it's a little like if Wanelu, Delicious and Twitter all got together and had a baby.  Awe. Some.

But, if you don't use any of those websites, here's another description:  Pinterest allows you to "pin" anything from anywhere on the internet onto your own virtual idea boards.  You can use it for making a shopping wishlist, organizing helpful links, keeping track of tutorials you want to use...you name it!  Plus, you can see what others with similar interests have bookmarked to find new great stuff for yourself. 

I'm hooked already.  So go follow me on Pinterest!  (If you don't have an account yet, I'd be more than happy to send you an invite.)

Which brings us to today's discussion!

I've really wanted to find a way to give you guys more control of your experiences with CraftyCritique.  I want to see what you're making and hear from you, because my goal with this blog is to inspire you, after all!  So, using Pinterest yesterday I got the idea to create a board for CraftyCritique.  I made the board public so you all can pin your own crafty creations on the board.  So if you made something using a tutorial here and uploaded it somewhere online, I'd love for you to pin it!

And while I was at it, I got around to finally creating some other social media accounts for crafty critique.  I made y'all a new Flickr group where you can show off what you've made using tutorials or inspiration from this blog...

A Facebook page where you can follow along with my crafting as well as upload your own pictures and comments...

And a Twitter account for just one more way to stay connected. :)

I've updated the sidebar to include links to all the social media I just mentioned if you decide you want to use them now or later.  ------->>>>

So if you're already a user of these websites (or if you wanna be), go follow and like away!

Until next time, happy crafting!

--CC

Preparing for our Move

I've probably mentioned we're moving to a new house on July 7th.  Moving day is fast approaching, and we've been packing up all our stuff.

Okay, so we had to unpack some of those boxes.  But our living room really is full of boxes and patio furniture that we got at a great price for the new house but currently have nowhere to put.  What does this mean to you?  I barely have space to walk, let alone try and pull out my sewing machine.  Not to worry, though!  The new house has a spare room where I'll be setting up shop for crafting!

In the meantime, I've taken back up crocheting.  I haven't done it in years, but it requires minimal space, so I'm working on an afghan to match our new color scheme.

I haven't gotten very far.  Don't judge.

Again, I apologize for the lack of posts (or at least quality ones).  Try and hang in there with me until the move. ;)

Until next time, happy crafting!

--CC

Happy Belated Father's Day

I was out most of the day today with a migraine so I know it's a little late, but I still wanted to say it!  Father's Day this year is very important to me and here's why: it's my first Father's Day with my dad sober (to my recollection).

My dad and I at my college commencement ceremony this past May.

Coming up on a year ago now my dad joined AA and has been sober ever since.  Dad, if you read this, I just want you to know I am so proud of you and so happy to be able to foster a new relationship with you.  I love
you!

To all my readers out there, I hope you spent some quality time with a dad for Father's Day this year, whether it was your own father...

Your grandfather...

Man, that was a bad haircut I had!

The father of your children (or "children," as it may be)...

My wonderful boyfriend, Tyler, and our dog, Monica, in 2007.

Or someone else who's been like a father to you.

My big brother, whom I admire and love greatly.

 Happy Father's Day, everyone.

Until next time, happy crafting!

--CC

P.S. I know I've been a little lacking craftwise lately, and I apologize.  We're in the process of moving and I'm coming up on finals for a summer class.  I promise to try and stay connected with you one way or another, though!