simply sublime

Look What I Found

I was in Denver last week ago, helping my parents pack up their house.  They're downsizing -- moving to an apartment and starting a whole new chapter of their lives.  My brother and sister and I unearthed some boxes of keepsakes that we hadn't seen for over 30 years!  I found letters from sleepaway camp, Barbie dolls, preppy sweaters, even my diary from elementary school.  I also found these old Valentines.  I love the retro look -- very 1970's!  It was like rummaging through my own personally curated tag sale. 

XOXO

 

Candy Buckets

Over the weekend, I helped out a friend with her daughter's birthday party.  Her 10-year-old, Lauren, wanted a candy project, and I suggested we make these fun candy buckets using colorful wrappers and Mod Podge.

It turned out to be a great craft project for young kids.  No matter their skill level, everyone succeeded -- and the buckets looked great! 

And of course it's always fun when you can snack on the supplies...mmm.

Paint Chips and Patches

So excited to see my Paint Chip Valentines and Cozy Cardigan in the new February issue of Country Living (out now--YAY!)

You are going to have so much fun making these Valentines!  Just gather up some pretty pink and red paint chips (with paint names like "I Love You Pink" and "Hot Lips"), then hand stamp the letters and images as described here.  Or you can dummy up a design on your computer using these free fonts: Romantics and De Louisville. Once you’ve designed the text you want, print it out on plain paper then tape the paint chip (using a few loops of tape on the back) directly OVER the text on your finalized printout.  Feed the paper with the paint chip back through your printer, and print out your Valentine using a dark gray ink.  

Whether you stamp your design or print it out on your computer, I found that spraying the chips with a thin layer of aerosol hairspray first helps the ink grab onto the card and keeps it from smearing. 

To make the sweater, just cut out hearts from store bought suede patches, and stitch them on at the elbows.  (Place an index card or other piece of cardboard inside the sleeve, behind the patch before you stitch.  This will serve as a barrier between the two layers of the fabric, and help you from accidentally sewing the sleeve fabric together when you stitch on the patch.)  Check out Country Living's website for more info and blanket stitch how-to.  

 

New Year, Old Fun

I came across this old sewing book filled with lots of inspiration for the new year: "Sewing is Fun"-- put together by the Singer Sewing Machine Co. in 1958.

There are a lot of cute projects that I want to try...but I also fell in love with the illustrations by Catherine Scholz:

 

Happy Sewing and Happy New Year!