Re-Gifting Made Nice (8 Reusable Gift Bags)

I started with an idea from a friend. Then I moved onto this sketch:

From there, it was just pretty fabric, and some sewing. The bags virtually made themselves!**

These are the first three I made. I really love how they turned out.

These five are a different pattern. I don't think the bags are as elegant as the ones in the first few pictures. The sewing did go much faster, and I was happy to get through all these bags in a relatively short amount of time!

Another friend asked for a rush job on Christmas Eve Eve, making 10 wine bags (from the green, orange and red polka dot fabric above) for their annual Christmas party. It was a challenge to fit it in (and get all my own presents finished in time), but it was worth it. Everyone apparently love their bags!

What did you use to wrap your presents this year? (Check out this lady's awesome little touches to her gifts - maybe next year....)

I guess in the same way that the cobbler's kids had no shoes, the reusable giftbag maker's Christmas presents were wrapped in paper this year. Next year, hopefully I can do projects for myself, too!

**This is not true. While it is a pretty simple project, unfortunately the bags DID NOT make themselves.

December Calling - Shall I Put You Through?

As many of you know, our December was a tad bit difficult, so as the saying goes, Sebastien and I made lemon curd from the lemons (isn't that it?).

Short story long - after moving back to Portland in the beginning of November, I miraculously got a job with a great office within a month. That is very good. Then my job got a little sidetracked (distant past - I LOVE my office now!). Basically though, for December we landed in a new apartment, with lots of time and very little money. We started S'ope's Creations, and were off to the races! It turned out to be a GREAT time to start a little side business, and it kept us very happy, healthy (we would have gone a little crazy, me thinks!), and slightly more flush. Here is one of the fun projects we worked on in December (this particular project was making 17 bags of granola and 2 jars of lemon curd for a friend to give to family and work clients):

counting up each type of granola and lemon curd

We had a choice of Apricot-Ginger Pecan, Blueberry Almond, or Cranberry Walnut Granolas.

We've Come a Long Way, Baby!

I am writing this post in response to my sweet, intelligent, and wonderfully creative friend Jenn. She is always doing fun projects around her house, and with her kids, and recently she asked, "So what is your favorite thing in your house? Something you or your child has done or something thrifted/bought out and about? I love sneak peeks into everyone's special spaces!" So, I thought I would give her (and many of my friends and family who unfortunately haven't been able to visit Vancouver) a sneak peek at my favorite part of our little home.

When Sebastien was away this past fall, I was pretty down in the dumps for a while. I was very busy: studying for a really big exam, going out a lot with my friends here, taking walks and having dinners, and using every opportunity I had to talk with Sebastien. --But I was still sad. I considered moving to a different apartment in a different neighborhood (just for kicks), but then thought it would be too much work, on top of my already busy schedule. I decided to put my energies into positive changes around our apartment that would be a nice surprise for him, when he returned. In a day of cleaning, I found some picture frames, and then I went out the next day to find 3 more matching frames in the alley (if I haven't told you about our "magic alley," I would be shocked - it has given us the most interesting stuff we have in our apartment)!

Anyway, I wanted to feel some productive creativity, and finally inspiration struck. I spent over a month arranging and rearranging all these frames on a table in the middle of our living room (I had been listless around the house, to say the least). Finally one Sunday, I wanted to turn my mood around, so I went to the hardware store around the corner and got a few new bottles of paint, and went to town on the frames. My idea was that I wanted a whole wall that would complement the paper poppies I made, and that would cheer me up a bit. The paints I bought were magenta with glitter, fire engine red, basketball orange, some light hard red, and some french grey (I already had yellows, black and white).


It definitely took me WAY too long for this whole project, but I am STILL cheered up every time I look at the fun frames and photos of family and friends. I think it is nice in the context of the rest of our bedroom too - it definitely brightens it up a bit!



Thinking back on the many projects that Sebastien and I have taken on in our three years here, we've definitely come a long way. I am very happy with all the work we've done, and look forward to more fun projects like this (although I hope they go a little quicker!).

To conclude, I will repeat Jenn's question: "So what is your favorite thing in your house?"

I (HEART) Graphic Design

I have been doing a fun design project lately for a friend of mine. She makes jewelry in her spare time and sells it on Etsy. She would like to get a little more serious about making and selling it, so she asked me to make business cards for her. I am so delighted she asked me, because it was so fun and such an honor that she thought of me! I am quite happy with how they turned out. Here is the finished product:



This was one of many iterations that we discussed. Here are some of the others. I definitely had my favorites, although Sandra and I had a very similar vision of what the end-result could be.




I basically figured out what she wanted in terms of colors and basic design elements and we went from there.



If you check out her Etsy page, you will see the banner I designed for her too! It is so much fun!

Which is your favorite card design?

Sew.... Long Time, No Talk

Okay, so Thia's website isn't the only thing I have been doing. Last week our internet was down, and I set up my sewing machine. It is kind of a pain to get the machine out and set up, and then take it all down when you are done, and I would love to be able to just leave it up, so I could do small projects on it, without getting annoyed. Once I get it set up, though, I love to do little projects on it. I finished our bedroom curtains, and we are very happy with them. They are linen, and the light that comes through them is so nice, although I couldn't capture that in the pictures.

I have also been getting more and more excited about some gorgeous fabric I got from Marie-Helene (Sebastien's mother) when she and Tim (his dad) were in Vancouver. I was super excited about the fabric when I first got it, but then it just sat in the corner, in a bag, making sad eyes at me. The summer was really busy for me, and there wasn't much sewing going on..... So, the fabric sat and sat for much longer than a month, calling to me when I came into the room, "Hey you! I'm still here, in this bag! Take me out and use me!" So last week I did. --Or at least I started.

I finished our curtains before anything else, and then moved into hemming some of our tableclothes, and then I finally took the fabric out of the bag, and (gulp) made something. And it felt good. And what I made was a tiny little bird.

I thank my wonderfully crafty friend, Jenn, for getting me going again (she gave me the pattern). I am going to try (please, please don't quote me here) to make enough to make something for our room, and sell some at a Christmas church bazaar.

I sewed for a large portion of the weekend, and once, when I got up to get some air by the window, I even had a little friend in our parsley! He was so cute that I had to take a picture.