sunday funday.

i really like crafting. and this weekend, i realized i have not been doing enough of it. lately, i've been keeping busy with perfectly reasonable things like cleaning and laundry and studying (ohmygoodness i haven't had to study in a long time and it is exhausting!) but none of that involves creating, or making, or ending up with a real finished product.

so i did something. i started my day at the fabric store with half a plan.

and i am so excited with what i was able to accomplish with six hours and my new sewing machine.

my favorite gift of the year.

last year, i gave a lot of homemade Christmas gifts - wooden signs, soap dispensers, personalized mugs, large paintings, i was gettin' all pinteresty all over the place. and i loved every minute of the madness.

 

this year, i did more shopping than i did crafting, and i am thrilled with all of the gifts i am giving. but when it comes to homemade gifts, i have to say that i might have outdone myself this year on one of the most epic homemade gifts i have ever made: a personalized stationary bottle opener for my brother-in-law-in-law. 

 

i got the idea for a bottle opener from one of those lame gift guide lists that are all over the internet in December, and i knew it would make a perfect gift. but i also knew that instead of spending $34 plus shipping to buy the finished product, i could probably make a better version for less. so i did.

i found a stationary bottle opener online, and decided to add a cap catcher for good measure. i designed the sign in powerpoint, (with some inspiration found here) prepped and cut and stained the wood, then finally painted it over the weekend. i applied the third and final coat of poly around 10:30pm on Christmas Eve, and then finished putting it all together Christmas morning. considering i ordered all the parts on December 2, i didn't think it would wind up being so down to the wire, but i guess that's just how it goes sometimes.

all told, i invested $22 in the opener and the cap catcher, and several hours of quality time spent with some powertools and my paintbrushes. the finished product is so worth it. i am ridiculously happy with how it all turned out, and was even more thrilled that Russ liked it too! i'm not sure if people are supposed to have favorite gifts that they have given, but this is definitely mine for this year.

(g)name this gnome.

since yardsale season is starting to wind down, my yardsailing buddy Nadine and I decided that we needed to find an alternate activity for girl time, because the thought of not having our weekly-ish hangouts was kind of depressing... so we're thinking crafts might be just the thing to fill the impending yardsailing void.

we held our inaugural craft-time over the weekend: while the boys were being sporty and watching weird kung-fu movies, we were painting a couple tiny garden gnomes.

(their faces and hands came pre-painted)

i think mine looks kind of like a Frans, what do you think?