December Daily

I created a mini-album for our Decembers in 2008, 2010, and 2011, and they are some of my favorite projects to look back on. This year, I'm not sure if I will follow the "daily" format or just fill it with festive photos and memories from the month. I do know that having the base album ready-made makes the documenting so much easier. As I set out to make my album over the weekend, I decided to make three - one for our family, and two to sell at Craft and Fancy.

My supplies came from Studio Calico and Elle's Studio, and a few things from my holiday stash. I stuck with the traditional red and green color scheme, with a few neutrals as well.

The three books are very similar, with all the same background papers and embossed stamp designs. In some places I've used different embellishments when I didn't have three of the same (as pictured above).

I think this is my favorite page. I just love those polaroid cut-outs! I can't wait to pop a little Instagram print behind one!

Here are the back covers. Sparkly snowflakes!

I'm planning on making more 4x6" albums in different themes to bring to Craft and Fancy. I love these because you can easily hole punch 4x6" photos to add between pages. The rings look really big right now, but I know from experience that these get thick quickly as photos are added. They would also work to use as journals for writing memories of the season, even without photos. Let me know if you have any special requests!

Craft and Fancy 5

I'm very excited to be part of the Craft and Fancy event at Home Ec Workshop again this year. I'll be posting sneak peeks during the next couple weeks here on the blog, and you can find out more on our Facebook page!

my Instagram profile

Did you know that Instagram has new web profiles for users? It is a neat and different way to view and interact with the Instagram community. You can find mine at http://instagram.com/kirstenw

The photos on the header rotate around randomly. It’s pretty neat! Find yours (or others) by simply adding their username after : http://instagram.com/

Caeli's Baby Shower

I had the pleasure of making the decorations and party favors for my sister-in-law's baby shower this past weekend. Caeli and Thor are having a baby boy in January and we couldn't wait to shower her with gifts and baby advice.

Caeli's sister gave me some hints about the color scheme for the nursery, and that argyle is Caeli's favorite pattern. So I was pretty excited when I found a digital patterned paper with an argyle in those very colors! The gluten-free argyle cake was made by Cake Me I'm Yours in Des Moines.

The gorgeous barrel room at Jasper Winery in Des Moines really didn't need any help being lovely and festive, so I focused on decorating the tables and adding flower arrangements. I made "vases" for the flowers with recycled cans and glasses that I wrapped with patterned paper and twine.

I also made a "congrats" banner by machine-stitching felt letters to fabric triangles. I sewed binding tape across the top of the pennants, then tied coordinating fabric scraps between each letter.

The first table in the room held a tree with photos from Thor and Caeli's baby albums hanging from the branches. The second table had a bowl with cardstock cards for guests to write well-wishes and/or advice for the new parents. I've scanned these (and included photos from the shower) to make a Shutterfly book  for Caeli to keep. The third table had a banner hanging between two potted succulents, which invited guests to take home a favor. I found small glass jars at Hobby Lobby and filled them with honey from our local farmer's market. Then I hand-carved the little bee hive stamp, heat-embossed that image and circled punched them to glue on top of the jars. The tag hanging from the jar said, "You're so sweet - thanks for coming".

photo from my Instagram account: kirstenw 

cute superhero burp cloth made by my mom 

Each guest told a funny story from their own childhoods while Caeli opened their gift. It was a fun way to get to know each other and give Caeli some light-hearted advice on parenting.

I loved being part of the shower planning team and I can't wait to meet that sweet baby boy!

Tree Huggers

my tree, before

There are so many things that I could blog about from our busy month of October, but I think I will just jump in with photos from Iowa City's tree hugger project. I was so excited to hear from Codi at Home Ec Workshop about this project, and I knew I wanted to participate right away.

my tree, after

Here's an article explaining a little bit more about the project. It is an art installation project organized by the Iowa City downtown association. I love the color and fun the tree huggers bring to our downtown. Plus, it is a wonderful display of the talented fiber artists in our community.

I helped install this tree hugger after I finished mine and after the bikers moved their bikes

I joined over a hundred other volunteers on Sunday afternoon in installing our knit (or in my case, crocheted), fabrics around each assigned trees. I knew right away that I wanted to make a chevron pattern for my tree. I love how it turned out, and I hope I can find time after the holidays to make an afghan with the same pattern for our family to keep.

 more artists installing their work

It was fun to be on a busy corner downtown - while I was installing it, I had several people stop and ask me about the project and compliment me on mine. The only negative comment I got was a random guy in a car shouting out - "you've got to get rid of those zip ties!". Ha! But that was just part of the process - we secured the rectangles of fabric with zip ties, then sewed up the seam with yarn.

I love the way each artist created a unique design, yet they all work together because of the cohesive color scheme. My favorites are the trees with little shapes like hearts or leaves worked into the color blocks.

I think the plan is to keep them up through February, but if you are local you should check them out right away! My photos don't do justice to the color and whimsical feel they bring to the area. I'm thrilled that I could be a part of this amazing public art project!

Find more photos in my Flickr set.