buttons and felt

another felted and embellished little zip pouch. this one is only half-felted, actually. i only put it through one run in the washer.

deco

i've been kinda into art deco patterns lately. i've been doodling them a lot... and then did some drawings on paint chips, then mounted paper to the back and turned them into postcards.

another half-cocked idea

these are all pages from an antropologie catalogue that i modified... my idea was to make subtle changes, and then take the catalogue back to the store and put it in the pile of regular catalogues. why? i dont know. now it just seems like way too much work for something that most likely wouldnt even be noticed.

queen of tarts

i bought myself some tart pans and tried my hand at tarts. i think i'm in love.

for the record

i had a dance party for my birthday -- and really geeked out over the invitations that i sent. I spent a ridiculous amount of time on these -- but think the end result was well worth it.


I bought the black circles pre-cut from Kate's Paperie, designed the record label in Illustrator and then cut out the circles and attached them to the "record" using eyelets.



originally, i was just going to make the records and put them in a regular square envelope. but then i thought it would be great to make a sleeve for the record, so i did. it took a bit of experimenting to figure out a pattern that worked, but i was pleased with the result!

meet craft monster

he may be famous someday.

recent haps at the chez

this weekend -- there will be a whole lot of knitting, aaand knitting, aaand knitting... starting with a scarf with pockets made from this quick-knitting ultra bulky yarn


someday soon, when my work-life becomes a little less busy, i will finish these two ALmost complete cross-stitch projects.


this past wednesday, chez-sucre-chez teamed up with general/mountain-again for some more soap making experimentation. we started figuring out how to make the dull, craft-store-offerings of melt-and-pour soap-making at least a little more cool.

using my silicone ice cube tray as a mold...


throwing in the big plastic ring that greg and i have matching ones of from-the-time-we-went-to-jillian's-in-boston-together-years-and-years-and-years-ago.


saying, "f-it, let's see what happens if we just throw some lemon and lime zest in there." (seems to have worked -- smells great, and it hasn't really browned yet.) and using dried lavender. and using take-out containers for soap molds -- they look cool.


looks just like a cupcake. sweet. i wonder if the non-pariels will make cool colors in the shower.

cross my heart with x's and o's

over the weekend i learned a new craft - cross-stitch. i spent the weekend with my mama, and learned that she is the one who instilled, inspired, and encouraged my craftiness. and for that (and so much more), i love and thank her.
i was recently inspired to learn after seeing a beautiful little collection of antique black on white silhouette cross-stitch pieces in the foyer of a certain apartment building in greenpoint. so, i went out and got my supplies, and then asked my mom for a lesson. well, she pulled out a whole three bags full of supplies and half-completed projects. (a-HA! i also see where i get my proclivities for excessive-craft-supply-collecting and starting-but-not-always-finishing projects!) well, i consolidated her stash into one bag -- and came back to new york with the supplies and the know-how to start my own projects (which i hope to finish.)
i did this last night -- the cross-stitching isn't perfect, but i was happy that i was able to trace and make the pattern myself (using freezer paper as a stencil to guide my lines).

and this -- man, i can't even look at it without cracking up -- is one of my mom's projects - she had it ALMOST finished, and i learned by finishing the rest. ATTACK CRABS?!!?!?!? HAHAHHAHA. i will be hanging this on the door to my house.

more fun with soaps

i was a little disappointed with my first round of soaps. yes, some of them turned out pretty, but they just weren't quite interesting enough for me. and then sweet baby aidyn came along with inspiration.
i found some google-y eyes, stuck them on my hand, and made a funny little hand-puppet-like thing -- you know, when you kinda make a sideways fist and you roll your thumb up and down to make it look like a talking mouth? well i did that for aidyn and he didnt quite know what to think - i think he was a little scared of it. and then i put the eyes on my knee, and then over my eyelids -- and he thought all of this was kinda funny, but he was still a little hesitant about those google-y eyes - he wouldn't get too close and although he was laughing at them, he said, "me no like those eyes." well, then he went to bed and i had the idea of making him some google-y eyed soap.
the other soap that i made him was inspired by his favorite breakfast food. okay, so that was more accidental than intentional, but the little squares are exactly the color and size and shape of ham, right?!?!!
when it was time for handwashing the next day, i showed him the soap.
we ended up playing in the sink for half an hour.



by the way --
did you notice the sweet baby mohawk?

adventures in soapmaking

tried my hand at a new craft this week --
soap making.
the stuff that i did wasn't the complicated kitchen science of real, from-scratch soapmaking; i didn't get involved in the lard and the lye and the toxic vapors and all of that.
nope, this was simple melt-and-pour.
the results were okay -- not quite as exotic and exciting as i would like, but i learned the basics and what you can do with materials bought at a craft store. i think that to do the really good stuff and to make some really great soaps, you may need to procure some better quality materials -- better soap base, better scents, better colorants, better additives. and you may need to get into some of that more involved kitchen science soap making stuff.

country retreat

spending a few days in the "country" (okay, south jersey) with my mama as she recovers from minor knee surgery. this is a great time of year to be here -- getting to see, hear, smell and feel springtime so much more than in the city.

taking drives through the country --



drinking pre-mother's day margaritas (yes, martha stewart's recipe) --

hearts and crafts affair re-cap

thanks to those who came out to the hearts and crafts affair event on sunday. thanks to kira and stephanie for organizing it. all went well -- i sold some stuff and i met some cool fellow crafty ladies, that's a good day.

risque sachet

i whipped (HA! whipped -- get it???!!) these up on saturday. i absolutely love them. filled with smelly dried lavender.
the fabric was left over from when i sewed two of these sheets together to make a duvet cover (one was king sized, one was queen sized - they were the last ones in the store, at sleep, in williamsburg, and the story at the time that i was trying to buy them was that these sheets were going to be discontinued because the company that made them was having a difficult time getting them produced, due to the naughty nature of the print -- and i LOVED those sheets -- so i had to have them - which is why i bought one king and one queen and just made my own duvet. wow, that was a long story).

ribbons and letters

in pink -- makes me happy.





new tags -- i knew i'd find a use for all this ribbon and trim i have been collecting.

mayflower(s)

new spring hairpins!

brand new bag(s)

camo wristlets!


dotty pouches!