Wednesday, December 23, 2015

On The First Day of Christmas....

On the first day of SewCakeMaker Christmas...that just began today

She made a deathstar nerdy wood shelf...or she will..starting right now..I'm back guys!

See you again soon!!!


Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Last Minute Find!

 American Girl fans!  We went online Saturday and bought these three books.  They are AWESOME!  If you are interested in a gift that encourages creative play, these are it  

AND

They are on sale!
We went to the AG store at the Mall of America on Saturday and I noticed these books were NOT on sale in the store.  Guess what?  They have made new covers for them, so these three are half price online.  After spending like an hour in the store looking through the book and reading all the printed "toys" inside each kit, we knew we had to buy them.

I went online at like 7pm Saturday and ordered them.  Each book was either $11 or $12, shipping was $5 and something cents.  These arrived TODAY!  I was totally shocked.

Anyway, this is not a sponsored post, just wanted to give a shout out to any American Girl loving moms or Grandmas out there.  Buy these before they are gone!  My girls just spent 3 hours playing and they have only just begun ;0}


The books are full of play ideas, patterns, suggestions of how to make other props and more.  I am seriously impressed.

Just wanted to let you know!


Wednesday, December 9, 2015

More Rumblings...

Well, we have been trying new things lately.  Like these glitter ornamnets.  I have seen them, I have even made them once or twice, but I didn't remember them being SO FUN!

I couldn't find the exact stuff shown on other blogs, so I just grabbed what my local store had on it's shelf.  This stuff worked great!

Pour it in, swish it around, pour it out.  
Dump in Glitter.

Swirl the glitter around, then dump it out.
Not on the table like me ;0}  Not what I had intended, but when you hand the ornament to a 7 year old to help you....That is where the glitter ends up.

Smart people dump it into a cup then back into the bottle of glitter to be used again.


I have also been slaving away making these lovely sets of 12...

Eating these...cause they are my favorite candy when I am working ornaments for Etsy.

Check out these minis!  I wasn't sure the design would cut well this small, but it did!  I need to post these for sale on Etsy.

Then we had a request for snowmen you can put on the outside of a bulb.

Not perfect, but they work.

Then I finished weeding like 100 of these.  Not super fun, but they look cool!

Needless to say, after all of that work Madison and I needed to get out of Dodge.  

We like to run to Joanns, Target, or Hobby Lobby when we need a little break from the Etsy sweat shop we work constantly.

Mads found Starwars jammies that we were missing to make our set complete.

We finally bit the bullet and bought one of these naughty little guys.

And then I saw these cute burlap stockings.  Makes me want to get my sewing machine out and make a few.  One of these years I will get the sewing machine out in July and make something for Christmas, so when Christmas finally rolls around we actually have cute stuff for ourselves, instead of making it and shipping it off to everyone else.

When will I learn!?!

Monday, November 2, 2015

What A Turkey!

I hung this guy on my door this morning.  What a Turkey!  I am in love.  

I cut this guy out of 1/4" mdf handi-panels, sanded the edges to my favorite beveled edge, then painted him up.  I mod podged pattern papers to his feathers for some color, then distressed them a bit around the edges with the same paint used on the feathers and a dry foam brush.

It took me about a week to settle on what to put on this sign.  These things are very serious matters not to be taken lightly.  I like Give Thanks, and Happy Thanksgiving and all that.  However, I wanted this sign to be a statement of how I feel, not a command to everyone else.  Finally I settled on "We Are So Blessed" cause that is how I feel.  I LOvE Thanksgiving.  It is actually one of my favorite seasons.  There is so much energy in the air, no presents are needed, and it is just about family and reflecting on all our blessings.  Thus, my statement.


Now I need to make my letters for the shutter next to the front door.  I made a pattern today and have it all drawn out on my wood.  It sits there, leaning up against the garage door, waiting for the morning when the boy becomes a Man...or the wood becomes a work of heart.  
Until then, Happy Thanksgiving Season!

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Halloween Signage {Free Files!}

Check out my new Halloween signage born in the dead of night.  I had a photo session lined up out of town a little while back, and must have been worked up about it or something because I could not sleep a wink.  About 3:30 I finally jumped out of bed and hit the garage to find a scrap of wood I could make into a cute sign. I popped open Silhouette Design Studio to make a Trick or Treat sign, when I realized I totally needed to make a pumpkin stand.  I had spent days in a stupor trying to think what set-up to make for the shoot.

Here is a little peek at my process...  Make a little mark, shoot a couple nails...

Base paint black...

Topcoat amazingness...Beautiful!

I was feeling pretty proud of my self right about here...then there was more...

 I had made 4 signs, starting with a thought and finishing with total love by 7:30am.  I dragged my kids out of bed and we hit the road.

This was my setup at the park.  You have to love Minnesota and their ever abundance of lakes!  This is a sight for sore eyes when you are used to Arizona's deserts.  We have been in Minnesota almost 3 years and I still can't even wrap my head around the beauty here.  There are trees everywhere just dripping with life, not to mention grass that grows like thick shag carpet.  Love.

All I needed was a cute kid, and this little guy worked perfectly for that.

My Pumpkin's sign was made from one plank of cedar fencing.  I wanted a rough and rustic feel to the sign and cedar is perfect for that.

I did bring some witchy things too in case anyone wanted a setting with a little more Halloween and a little less harvest.

I made this sign out of a scrap piece of 1x12 pine too short to make into an iPad stand.  

It goes perfectly with the witch hat and broom I made last year.

On the backside of the Trick or Treat sign I made this "Here Comes Trouble" sign.  Yep.  It's reversible.  That makes for one less thing I have to haul into the site.

After all that was ready, we just inserted family after family.  



I took these pictures in my yard before I left town.  I loaded the car and went in the house to grab "just one more thing."  I came out to Eli...

In the tree.  My son has decided to go out for swim team and after beefing up a bit, has found a new passion in climbing anything that will hold his weight.  He is going to kill me.  If he doesn't kill himself first.  He climbs everything.  Why!?!  The boy either can't get off the computer or is at the top of a tree.  I don't get teenage boys.

I love him, but I don't "get" him.  My prayer is that we will make it all the way to snowy frozen trees this year without a broken bone.  This sign...
Was inspired.  Thank you Eli.

OH!  I almost forgot!  I have some silhouette cut files for you!!!  If you like these signs and want to make one of your own, you can download the files HERE from my dropbox account.  Don't have a vinyl cutter???  I do!  I will gladly cut you a piece or two, just comment below, email me at vanessa.cam5@gmail.com or message me on Etsy.  I will hook you up ;0}
Happy Halloween!


Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Just A Peek!

Oh!  Isn't he cute!?!  I have so many cute faces to edit, so little time.  
Be back soon to show you more!

Novelty Print Quilt Pattern

I have had a hard time finding good quilt patterns for novelty prints the past couple times I purchased them.  I made up this pattern so tha...