painted floor mat

I got the idea browsing Martha's site, I think she calls them canvas mats, but she lost me at gesso, since I'm not paying for canvas and gesso to make a floor mat. But the idea sprang back in my head as I was de cluttering- I had some old scraps of fabric (sewn together) and some left over wall paint in the basement- and I needed a mat for my front hall. This one ended up being 7 feet long and cost zero dollars.

March Update

I've been staring at this page for far too long, so I'll just dive right in. The beginning of the month was strange, an hour after toasting the official/legal birth of our company with delicious sparkling wine, we learned of the sudden death of the husband's aunt due to cancer. I mean it was just a few weeks ago we learned she was sick- added to our guilt that we didn't take the time to visit her, is the fact she was such a nice lady. sigh.
As we were leaving the funeral, her husband (my husband's uncle) gave us the flowers right off her coffin- they were really beautiful, but after a day I couldn't stand looking at the arrangement (you know the bridge-like shape that goes over the coffin) so I pulled the arrangement apart and sorted like with like flowers into different jars and spread the new arrangements all over the house- now the house felt like spring was coming.
Other than that I've been keeping busy working (well not getting paid for anything yet), de- cluttered the entire house for charity, started a vegetable garden from seedlings, and I'm learning french cooking from my new best virtual friend Laura. Oh yeah and crafts. Speaking of which, I'm going to be posting a few tutorials with hand written text and we'll see how that works. Although not as nice, I'm finding it harder and harder to find the chunk of time to ink and type etc etc.
If you can't read the writing, just post a comment -oh yeah I'm a terrible speller, so mea culpa in advance.

still to do this month:

• apply for EI
• re pot seedlings
• go see the snakes of Narcisse- well this may be next month since it just snowed again

glove frog

Small, cute and really quick to make. My husband says he looks angry- but most frogs do ;)
I admit that I hesitated to post this, because there is a small amount of wasted material (see step 12)- but you can felt this and save it for a small separate project. I used a non-stretchy glove that was wrist length- so you may have to adjust step one for your glove (and most likely you'll have less waste!) supplies:

• one glove
• needle and matching thread
• 2 pipe cleaners
• fiberfill/ stuffing
• beads/ buttons for eyes

click on the tutorial to print/ save, as usual it fits on a 8.5 x 11" sheet

catching up

I've been away visiting lawyers and accountants with my husband and our business partners so I have a few things to catch up on. First, as usual, a big thanks to everyone for the encouraging words. I try and read/ respond as much and as fast as I can- but this week I dropped the ball (if only you knew how backed up in craft tutorials I am!) - I apologize to Rachel who asked me a question, and it took a while for me to respond. I will edit the about me section to include that it's okay to link to any of the posts.

Tomorrow I will try and post/play this beautiful blogger game Amy recommended. There are so many great sites out there that I regularly visit - and not just the "big ones" either- I'm a bit of a Luddite, so it may take longer(!) to figure out.

Last but not least, a big thanks to Heather of Dollar Store Crafts for posting the Owl Oven Mitt tutorial

dachshund pillow

The inspiration came from admiring Charley Harper prints (and a dog in an old blueprint magazine). I used 2 pieces of T-shirt transfer paper and a piece of canvas. Once I had cut out the separate pieces from the transfer paper I arranged them on the canvas like a puzzle (upside down in my case) and began to iron. Please be sure to not overlap the pattern pieces ( I assume it could mess you iron up). If you don't like the small gaps created by the seam, fill them in with embroidery, acrylic paint or a permanent marker.
The only issue I had was that the area you need to iron is huge and can make it difficult to peel off the backing. If this happens to you do the following: after you have ironed down the whole pattern according to the instructions, place the iron on one corner, wait 5 seconds, take off the iron and peel back that corner as much as you can. When you get resistance, place the iron over top that section for 5 seconds, and repeat this process as needed, making your way across the pattern. Once the iron on was set (and cooled) I cut an approximate 1" border, sewed it to a backing fabric, and added a little stuffing (mmm it's so soft). Click on the images below to save/ print

Happy Valentine's Day

With a lot of hurry up and wait company wise, and even more snow on the driveway, we broke down and decided to celebrate Valentine's day early this year and went on a inexpensive vacation to Mexico (we were supposed to be going to Asia this year) . Despite the sunburns, we had an awesome time. Now it's back to business.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone! ( and Happy Louis Riel Day while I'm at it)

Circus Mouse Door Stop

This guy takes less than 1/2 hr to make and he's pretty strong for his size ;)
Click on the images to save/ print - as usual it will fit on an 8.5x11" piece of paper.