Little things that make me smile...

Thought I would share with you a few of the little things that have made me smile lately...

Fun colors on my cast iron.  I made up these little handle covers for my cast iron to protect the fingers.  And to look adorable.

Baby goats!  Two of the resident goats at the ranch had themselves some babies.  I can't wait until we have our own goats that have babies!

Exploring the area.  With a little bit of rain (and hopefully a little more this weekend) we have just a little touch of green here.  And it makes for pretty exploring in the sun.  (I am currently wearing a skirt and no shoes.  I am loving it!)

My mom and I down by a naturally occurring spring bed.

Walking with the doggy.

View from our place on a foggy morning.

Pretty views.

Ric and JB at the beach of Morro Bay.

Making fun things from things discarded.  I realized that with my hubby working at a little fabric store, they get rid of a lot of cardboard.  I have begun creating little shelves and stuff from the cardboard bolts and having so much fun with it!

And finally, seeing the cute little creations that Rocketpack Crafts come up with!  How cute are these bows?

And this working clock?

So cute!

Little fun things that have made me smile. :)  Hope they make you smile, too!

Ash

Crafty Market Fun...

Just before the holidays, Ric, Kaitlin and I set out to sell our crafty wares at a couple of the local fairs and markets here in the area.  First we set out to the Saturday Farmers and Crafters Market in nearby Paso Robles.  Held every weekend, year round (unless really increment weather…like rain…haha!) this little market is very sweet and a lot of fun to be involved with.  While it was chilly, it was sunny and bright. 

After closing that table up around 1:30pm, we drove out to our little town of San Miguel to set up for the Christmas Electric Lights Parade and Craft Faire.  It was a great showing of all the folks in town and a great opportunity to meet some of the people who reside here.  We had a lot of fun chatting with the kids that just loved Rocket Pack Crafts and showing off upcycled goods from my side, 23 point 4 degree tilt. 

The little parade held after dark was just adorable!  We had so much fun seeing all the cars in the parade lit up, Santa on the fire truck, and the mariachi dancers of all ages (the kids were too cute!  Sorry, no good pics from it, though.)

We have since decided to continue doing the Saturday Market and have now done our 4th one this last Saturday.  With gorgeous weather, Kaitlin, Ric and I have had fun talking to people and selling our goods.  We have been working on a better displays, etc, each time, and each time we are little nicer!

Hope you had a great New Years!!  Can’t wait to share the new New Year’s thoughts and ideas with you soon!

Ash

In my free moments...crocheting, knitting, perler beads and a little sewing

The last couple of weeks at work have kicked my behind. (Oops!  I missed last week's Feature Friday!)   But I have been doing small projects whenever a spare moment came up.

Recently, my hubby and his friend have gotten into perler beads.  And I wanted to try it out, so I created a few coasters in a 70's design inspiration.  So far I have....

I think they are fun....(sorry, not the best pics ever...)

I have also been knitting on the bus to and from work.  I am using my new found cabling skills to make myself a laptop sleeve!

This is what I have so far.  I think I will be sharing the pattern once I have completed it, so keep an eye out for that, too!

I also just got some new cast iron cookware, which I am seriously loving.  No going back for me!  But the handles get pretty hot, so I crocheted us a few handle covers out of cotton....

I think they came out cute. :)

And finally, I just started cutting out a dress that I bough material for probably at least 2 years ago!  I am pretty excited for it, and happy to be getting back into sewing more.

I absolutely love the Sew Serendipity book that I have.  And I need to get the new one!  Here is the dress I want to make - mine will be out of the above material - the floral pattern is the main fabric and the pink dotted material will be the accents.

Can't wait to share all the finished products with you soon!

Ash

Pom Poms!!

I am loving the pom pom craze right now.  I have decided to make my own pom pom rug for my future travel trailer.  It has a bright orange vintage oven in it, which made me want a fun, squishy rug that is also super colorful.  Here is what I have so far....

Actually, I have made a few more since I took this pic.  I am pretty excited!  But boy does it take a lot of pom poms!  

 Pom poms are such a great stash buster.  I have decided that I must finish all unfinished yarncrafting projects before moving on to a new one, and that I can not buy yarn unless there is a planned project and I don't have suitable yarn in the stash.  I am happy to say that I just finished a VERY old UFO (un-finished object...hehe) and that got me caught up.  (Pics to come soon.) Now I need to use up all my yarn so I can buy more!  :)

What projects are you working on?  Here are some other pom pom projects that I have recently come across and just loved....

From Design Mom

Great tutorial at Annika Likes

Giant pom pom scarf at Johanna Rundel (in German)

And these adorable pom pom flower...love them in the Ball Jar...over at Eclectically Vintage

Yay!! 

Ash

Feature Fridays....Tea Rose Home

I sorta missed my Feature Friday last week.  Whoopsy!  But I am back this week!  And this week I am excited to share a fun, crafty blog called Tea Rose Home.  It is a very sweet blog, with a lot of great tutorials.  I just love her style, and am having a lot of fun checking this site out.

I have been way into pom poms lately.  So I was loving this post on this great scarf!

I also just love this chair re-do!  I have been thinking about how to re-do some of my furniture lately.  Check this adorable chair out!

And then there is this awesome tutorial on an adorable embellished cardigan.   This is how I found this great blog, from a pinterest post with this fun tutorial.

SO, so cute!  I love this site now!  I am off to go peruse more!  I hope you will check it out and enjoy as much as I do!

Happy weekend!

Ash

Hair bands and bike seats...

I just love yarn carfting!  I love the fact that I can create something fun and functional from a piece of string.  And I love the fact that that piece of string used to be from an animal or in some cases, an old plastic bottle.  I love the process all the way through.

I recently learned how to cable knit, and love it!  (I think I may have said that verbatim in a previous post! hehe)  I have also been loving headbands as of late, so I decided I needed to make myself a new headband with a cable on it.  Super fast and easy, but also really rewarding!

I had fun playing with design and deciding how 'long' the cables should be.  I will try and share my pattern soon.

I also love to crochet, and I definitely better at it than knitting.  I have been doing it a lot longer, for one thing.  So it is fun for me to get inspiration from something and try and duplicate it.  For example, I found this picture on pinterest of a 'bike seat cover' that someone crocheted.  I could not track down the original poster or creator though.

(Source and creator unknown)

Soo....I decided I'd try something like it.  I used a much larger hook and different yarn, but here is my version....

I was recently given a bunch of colorful acrylic yarn, and I thought that it would hold up pretty well to the occasional (or not so occasional here in Eugene) weather.

I love the way it turned out!  I may have to come up with the pattern for this to share, too.

Happy yarn crafting!

Ash

Feature Fridays and Jane's Apron

I have admittedly been spending way too much time on Pinterest and Craftgawker.  I have this funny routine where I check both of them after work to see what is new, and sometime I look at Pinterest in the morn while still waking up.  But, I am justifying it today by the fact that I have come upon some great new blogs to share with you all.  One of which is Jane's Apron.  

I have been on a serious vintage kick as of late.  Loving the 'glamping' style, my 70's dishes, and just a different time.  While peeking at fun stuff like this, I found Jane's Apron, which is just a fun, vintage sewing inspired blog.

I love all the vintage fashion, sewing related things she finds and makes on this blog.  The thing that first got me on her blog was a how to on printing onto tags.  I am planning on doing some of this for my etsy biz, and I wanted to see how she did it.  And the images she chose are also adorable!  

I also like this sweet and simple journal that she made.  The papers that she has found are too cute!

Such a cute idea.  I need to make one for me!

AND...I have been wanting to do this forever and I am even more inspired now....check out these super cute clipboards!

LOVE!  I have so many vintage patters that I could make color copies of or just take the pics from and use to make something like this.

And of course, she also shares her thrift shop finds.  I love these mugs that she found...

So go check out her fun blog, click around and get some vintage inspiration for your weekend.

Happy Friday!

Ash

Feature Fridays presents My Sister's Suitcase!

Ok, first, let's just pretend it is still Friday.  I have realized that I have to set a reoccurring time on my calendar that will remind me it is Feature Friday time!  Silly me!

But nonetheless, I have a great blog to feature this week, so a day late or not, I want to tell you about My Sister's Suitcase!  I love this blog, and I love the premise of it.  It is a blog for two sisters, Nat and Holly, who live far from each other, but love to craft and get inspiration from one another.  So sweet!

Their blog is kinda a big deal.  I mean, they have some serious followers, and have put a lot of time into their blog, and it def shows!  I aspire to someday be as big as them!  And from my perspective, a lot of it has to do with their awesome creative crafts that they share.

First, you know how much I love upcycled crafts.  Well...check out this adorable apron made from a shopping bag!   

That is pretty ingenious!  I have a few of these that are kinda on the edge of usable now, or need a little help...might be time for them to get a cool new life!

They also have a special Friday segment they do on their blog, which is $5 Fridays.  Seriously super cute items that they find cheap and make better.  For example, this lamp into a flower vase.  I am impressed that they saw the potential in this funky old lamp!

And if you go to My Sister's Suitcase Project Gallery, you will find all their projects laid out in a super organized fashion.  Like their cute series on decorating their mantle.  I love their spring mantle!

So go check out My Sister's Suitcase and tell them hello!  

Happy Fri....err....Saturday! ;)

Ash

Feature Fridays and....Tales and Trials of Mrs. P!

Whoops!  I went M.I.A. again!  But hey, the holidays kicked my butt.  I worked really hard on gifts for friends and family and then we traveled through crazy weather conditions to see family and then drove back!  What a whirlwind!  But more on the holidays later.  

Right now I am excited to present this week's Feature Fridays blog, Tales and Trials of Mrs. P!  The blog is written by a friend of mine, Laura, aka, Mrs. P.  She has a fun blog talking about life with a young child, being a busy professional, and then, of course, her creative side.  Food, crafts and decorating! 

For example, she recently took upon herself to make her daughter a freakin' awesome 1st birthday gift.  I mean, this is something I totally wish I'd had as a kid...a teepee!  It came out pretty adorable...

How fun would it have been as a little girl to curl up in the little teepee to play or read?  Check out her blog post about her teepee and living room here.

And how about this adorable baby costume for Halloween?   Little dinosaur baby!

She also posts lots of great recipes.  We both love to make sure our family is eating healthy but still make delicious foods, so I like to see the recipes she shares.  Like this one - pasta with italian sausage and vegetables.

I actually don't eat meat, but I think this would rock with a meat substitute if you are also vegi....looks so good!

So go check her blog out and say hello.  As I mentioned earlier, it is fun to see what she and her adorable family are up to, and get some great ideas for around your house, as well.

Happy Friday (and happy almost New Year!)

Ash