Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Gettin' My Craft On

Sometimes I have the urge to be crafty. These urges usually come after I spend time mentally mocking other women who talk about how much fun it is to create things with their hands. Really, it's just a coping mechanism for denying my inner craftiness. After all, you all know I never want to be "one of those" types of women. One of these days I'll grow up and realize being "one of those" is exactly who I really am.

Last weekend when my parents were in town, Renae and I headed to Barnes and Noble with my Mom so we could all enjoy the atmosphere of a bookstore. I have to admit I felt like Meg Ryan in "You've Got Mail" when she entered the mega-bookstore only to realize it does have a nice feel to it. There is just something about the smell of 1000's of mass produced books combined with the aroma of coffee and the sound of soft music piping through the speakers. Renae and Nana enjoyed browsing through the kid's section while I found myself in the craft section for the first time ever.


And there is where I found my inspiration!

I flipped through the book, "Fa la la la Felt" for quite awhile mentally making a list of all of the things I could make using the felt I'd purchased the day before. This book has so many fun ideas! Although a purchase of the book was not in my budget, I went home and found tons more ideas on craft blogs, Etsy and other sources. Here is a list of the things I hope to eventually make using felt:
  • Christmas ornaments-Can double as "bows" or name tags for gifts and the receiver gets a new ornament too!
  • Gift tags-Someone in our family already has a personalized felt gift tag with his initial on it.
  • Hair clips-I have 4 nieces and a daughter. Can't wait to attempt these for cute Christmas gifts!
  • Play Food Sets-Click here to see what some people are selling on Etsy! This stuff is amazing!
  • Napkin Rings-See below. I plan on taking this with me for Thanksgiving with Jesse's family. They turned out all right!



So that is what I'm enjoying while I have a little bit of down time each day. Anyone else up to some fun holiday (or non-holiday for that matter) crafting? I'd love to hear your ideas! Jenny . . . how I wish we could spend an entire weekend watching girl movies and making fun crafts together!

Click here to see some pictures of the book and click below to buy the book.

5 comments:

Jenny said...

I'm hooked! Your napkin rings are so cute! I'm going to check out the felt food b/c I've been drooling over the sets they sell at IKEA. I would love nothing more than a weekend crafting with you!

Anonymous said...

Ohhhh don't get me started!!! We have FELT the felt bug big and bad here at the Dewhurst house in the past week!! Here are a few of the projects I'm doing or have done in the past week or so... I'm going to post pics on my blog soon of the finished products...
http://juicy-bits.typepad.com/juicy_bits/2008/09/32-felt-birthday-crown-tutorial.html

http://juicy-bits.typepad.com/juicy_bits/2009/12/131-give-a-hoot-for-the-holidays.html

I actually just free handed a tool set like this one so I wouldn't have to buy the pattern... if you're interested I'll email my patterns to you... http://www.etsy.com/listing/19471253/tool-box-and-tool-set-felt-toy-pdf

Senegal Daily said...

How cute!

kpjordan said...

Very cute, Julie!

Anonymous said...

I TOTALLY like the idea of hair clippies for your nieces! ;)
(FYI - Kaylin has thick hair and Krystin has thin.... just in case you needed to know) ;)
-Britt