simply sublime

Knuckle Tattoo Gloves

(photo via Country Living/Lara Robby/Studio D)

 Looking for a personalized gift idea?  Check out these embroidered gloves I made for the December issue of Country Living.  They're a riff on knuckle tattoos -- and the good news is, if you get tired of one "tattoo", you can just switch to another saying!  For instructions on how to make these, head over to Country Living's website.  And if you decide to tackle a pair, here are a few inside tricks:

- Print out your sayings on a piece of plain paper first, in a font you like, such as "Print Dashed". Your letters should be about 5/8" high. Next, cut out each individual letter and transfer it to the gloves.  (You can do this by covering the back of each letter with chalk using chalk pencils. Place the letter, chalk side down where you want it to go, so that the letter falls just below the knuckle (first joint) and above the second joint on each finger.  Place a few tongue depressors or cardboard strips inside the gloves, one finger at a time.  Trace over the outline of the letter using a sharp pencil.  Remove paper to reveal the transferred chalk outline. Repeat for each letter.)

- Embroider each letter using the stem stitch, and 6 strands of floss.  Place the tongue depressors or cardboard strips inside each finger as you go, to act as a barrier, and help you from sewing the front and back finger fabric together.  Knot each letter on the inside and trim any extra thread.

- This is a really good stem stitch tutorial in case you need an embroidery refresher.  

Borrow the sayings above, or personalize the gloves is countless ways with your own eight letter expressions.   

 

Country Living's Live Holiday Pinterest Party!

I'm really excited to be a part of a very cool event tonight hosted by Pinterest and Country Living.  The magazine has asked several New York City-based craft bloggers including Brett Bara from Manhattan Craft Room, Natalie Soud from A Dose of Delightful , Laura Fenton from Little House in the City,  Michelle Edgemont, and me to join them for their first ever Holiday Pinspiration Party.

Country Living's Pinterest followers voted on which projects each blogger will make and this is the final list:

Pinata ornaments
Jingle-bell wreath
My potato wheel wrapping paper
Pom-pom gift bows
Infused vodka

Tonight (December 4th), Country Living will be live-pinning the party from 5-8 pm ET on their Pinterest board, showing you step-by-step how each of us make our crafts. Then, they'll post all the projects on CountryLiving.com.

Make sure to check out the how-to photos, or feel free to pin one of your own DIY holiday projects to the magazine's Pinterest board. To get more details, check out Country Living's website.

P.s. If you make one of these projects, be sure to let me know, or Pin it and tag Country Living!

 

Horsey Draft Dodger

It's starting to get chilly, so this draft dodger pillow is just what you'll need to keep out the cold. It's inspired by a project in Dianna Rupp's super cute book, Embroider Everything Workshop.

(photo via Country Living/Burcu Avsar)

Dianna's book is filled with all sorts of adorable stitching projects, but I made this pillow sans embroidery for the November issue of Country Living.  The horses look like they've been silkscreened onto the linen fabric, but actually I just used iron-on transfers for DARK fabric. (Using transfers made especially for dark colored cloth is the key to creating these opaque designs.)  The complete how-to's can be found on Country Living's website along with several other projects that will keep you busy and warm.

Straw Coasters

Several months ago I shared some photos of oddball supplies that were piling up around my house, including lots and lots of plastic drinking straws:

Well, I finally have the finished project to show you -- some colorful woven straw coasters that are feautured in the July issue of Country Living.

(photo via Country Living/Miki Duisterhof)

These were a lot of fun to make and would be a cute 4th of July project if you whipped them up in red, white, and blue!  You can get the full set of instructions for these and a bunch of other warm-weather crafts on Country Living's website. 

Now I just have to get my hands on that drink recipe...yum.

 

Tattooed Easter Eggs

Ooh...I'm so excited!  The tattooed Easter eggs I made for the April issue of Country Living ended up on the cover!  (Well, at least some of the covers.  The magazine put out two versions, and the eggs are on issues at selected newsstands around the country.)  So just in case your copy doesn't have eggs on it, here it is:

And now, about the whole tattoo thing.  That's right, these eggs are "tattooed" with beautiful images I found online.  Most of them are from The Graphics Fairy -- an amazing free clip art site and one of my favorite blogs.  If you don't know about this site, you're going to become an instant fan.  I also found some beautiful graphics at the Vintage Moth.  These eggs were so much fun to make, and very simple. (The step by step instructions can be found on Country Living's site, along with links to all the supplies I used.)  But I have to mention one more thing here:  the eggs themselves!  I got these beautiful pre-blown eggs from Bracken Ridge Ranch.  The woman who runs the ranch is also named Jodi. She went above and beyond the call of duty to get these eggs to me in time for the story.  And when the box of eggs arrived at my house -- in shades of blues, greens, browns, and soft creams -- I was awestruck.  The eggs were simply GORGEOUS.   I couldn't believe the eggs "came" in those colors. 

Make sure to check out all the goodies for sale at Bracken Ridge Ranch.  You'll love the eggs, whether you tattoo them or not.

Happy Spring!

 

Cross Stitched Canisters

I just learned how to cross stitch about a year ago, and now want to embroider everything I see.  I designed these "stitched" canisters for the March issue of Country Living using a free embroidery font called Home Sweet Home:

(photo via Country Living/Seth Smoot)

You can find glass cracker jars like the ones above at the Container Store.  And the other day I saw some at Target, too.  Get the full set of instructions to make these kitchen canisters on Country Living's website, along with lots of other ideas for "practically free" crafts.  

 

DIY Heart Pincushions

I'm so excited to share my latest Country Living project with you:  Heart shaped pincushions made from vintage cookie cutters.  

(photo via Country Living/Seth Smoot)

These are really easy to whip up and make great Valentine's Day gifts.  Hunting for the cookie cutters is half the fun -- (I found the ones above this summer when I was in South Carolina, but I've also spotted several on eBay listed for just a few dollars.)  You can find all the instructions to make these and lots of other gifts from the heart on Country Living's website.  XOXO!

 

Bouncing Eyeballs!

A couple months ago, this box arrived at my door:

The box was filled with over 100 bouncing glow-in-the-dark eyeballs.  Oh, the things I could do with these eyeballs!!  And here's what I actually did with them:

(image via Country Living/Seth Smoot)

Just in time for Halloween -- make your own glow-in-the-dark eyeball wreath!  The wreath was a project for the October issue of Country Living.  And you can get the full set of directions to make this eery decoration (and lots of other fun Halloween projects) on Country Living's website.  It's surprisingly easy to whip up, and will glow for several hours.  

Now is also the perfect time to stock up on bouncing eyeballs for next year. When I made this wreath a few months back, I had to order my eyeballs (ha!) online, but with Halloween right around the corner, you might be able to find some on sale at Target or Michael's.  Happy Halloween!