Swants!!

Pin It Now!

So my friend, Liz, sent me a swants video in the beginning of December.

I loved it, however I was leaving for Costa Rica in a few days and had to put the swants idea/project on hold till then.
Well it's the new year and time for new projects, so I tried my hand at swants today.  I followed this tutorial provided by West Knits:
http://westknits.com/index.php/2013/11/swants-tutorial/

I need to work on the shaping, but I think I figured out where I went wrong.  Here are a few pics.  I hope this inspires you to make your own pair! or not laugh when you see someone wearing a pair :)

Cut out neck for crotch.

Stick crotch together.

I took in the side seams to make them more form fitting.

Sew it all together, this is where I made the shaping error.

They look better on my sweetie.

He has a sweet new warm pair of swants to wear around the house and look adorable.

I think I will try again tomorrow.  I found a few good sweaters from Goodwill.
Happy Swantsing!

Happy New Year!

Pin It Now!

January 1st is my bday and this year is my 40th.  I hosted another NYE Game Night and I have to say it was quite fun.  We played Speed Scrabble and three very heated and intense games of Catch Phrase.  We rang in the New Year and then a few of us stuck around and played Wits and Wages.  I believe fun was had by all. 
Here's a few pics:

Pre-party Pic

I had forgotten about this dress.  I got it for free!

Brandon patiently awaiting

My Martha Stewart heat shaped ice cube in this cranberry orange ginger juice I made.

Heather and myself ringing in the party

Wits and Wagers about to begin.

Happy New Year!!!

Even my decor got dressed up.

I hope the new year brings lots of inspiration and wonderful crafts to experience and share.
Much Love,
Bece

DIY Fair 2013

Pin It Now!
Yesterday was amazing!  I went to the DIY Fair at the Imago Dei church.  It was super cool.  It was about 20 to 25 tables that showed you how to make a gift for the holidays.  I was in heaven.
At each of the tables they had printed out tutorials that you could take home with you.  I grabbed quite a lot and so I will share some of the ideas and crafts in a few blog posts.

The first craft I would like to share with you is handmade wrapping paper.

The next craft is cookie boxes or gift boxes:

There was also this cool table next to the cookie boxes that made silhouette pictures.

Next up is handmade envelopes:

There was also a band playing...so fun.

And last, but not least for this post are Holiday Cards:

There was a table where kids were making holiday cards.

 I went with my friend, Gabby.

And finally, there was an adorable dog.

I hope this inspires you to have your own DIY Christmas, and don't worry, there's more to come!

Thanksgiving Centerpiece on the Cheap

Pin It Now!

Everyone has been posting their favorite Thanksgiving decor ideas and so I thought I would join in on the fun.  Actually I love to make flower arrangements using Rosemary.  Now rosemary is pretty ubiquitous in Portland, Oregon.  It's hard to walk down a street and not see a hardy rosemary bush growing from which you can more than likely procure a few stalks and be on your way, so it makes for a very cheap resource.
Imagine my delight on Saturday when I came home to find my neighbor was cutting back her plants for the winter and there was tons of rosemary and marigolds and golden oregano and regular oregano and fennel just lying there on the sidewalk waiting to be composted.  I grabbed up an armful of various plants and headed home.
Here's the outcome.

As you all know I have been merrily making terrariums for the past couple of months, so I would like to add that a terrarium perhaps decorated with some fall themed figurines or objects would make the perfect centerpiece as well.
Here's my latest terrariums.  They are not fall themed and I am up to 10 terrariums now.  I bet everyone knows what they are getting for Christmas!

Matchbox Shrine Crafternoon

Pin It Now!

This past Sunday I hosted a matchbox shrine making party, which felt great.  I haven't hosted a craft day in quite a while.  It was long overdue.  Myself and five other lovely ladies attended and we all dived wholeheartedly into making our shrines.  It was wonderful.  Here are some of the results.

Cory made two amazing shrines.  They are very different from each other, but I love them both:

This one is entitled:  the Key to my Qi

There's a rusty bullet on the bottom of this one that I collected the day before.

Meghan made an adorable shrine for her twin nieces.  I can't remember their names, but their initials are E and F.

I love the winter theme.

Judy and Meghan working hard on their shrines.

Judy made a larger box.  Her daughter will be graduating from High School this year, so this is a shrine dedicated to her.  Judy said she will continue to add to this shrine throughout the year.

Gabby made two amazing and adorable shrines.

 I love it.

Carye made a simple and adorable shrine of an elephant that she is going to give to her sweetie.

And I made three shrines that will become a larger project involving a large diorama or shrine dedicated to my walk across Spain this past summer, aka the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, which I met Judy on by the way, and it turned out she only lives approximately 10 blocks away from me.   I had not met her before the Camino I should add.

I made copies of the stamps from my Pilgrim passport.

I collected these shells off the beach at Finisterre.

Halloween Costume 2013

Pin It Now!

I went to a clothing exchange a couple of months ago where I found the perfect dress for this costume.  In fact, I wasn't even going to dress as this person, but when I came upon the dress, I couldn't not be this person.
Also this summer I was on a super sweet scavenger hunt and our team name was the Knotty Nauticals.  We got amazingly dressed up.  In fact, I won best individual costume and our team won best overall theme.  We won the scavenger hunt, which was pretty sweet because they had amazing prizes.
Why am I telling you all of this?   Well, here's my costume and check out my helmet.  I felt like this was a precursor to what I would be for Halloween:

Have you guessed it yet?  Yes, I was Tippi Hedren from The Birds.  Sorry if the clues were a bit abstract.  I had this hoop that my mom gave me.  She used it for her baton twirling troupe, and I attached all of the little crows and a couple of the seagulls from my helmet to it for a pretty sweet prop.  Of course I put a crow in my wig as well.
Here's the results:

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Halloween!!!
Hearts,
Bece