Be my Crafty Valentine

When the amazing and crafty Mel from Needle and Nest posted a version of that status that has been making its way around the internet, promising crafty goodness to the first 5 commenters,  I knew my time to comment had finally come!

So here's me holding up my end of the bargain:

The first 5 people to comment on this post will earn the dubious (amazing? once in a lifetime?) honour of becoming "my  crafty valentine" and can expect a handmade gift from me  showing up in their mailbox sometime this year!

What you need to do:
- Leave me a comment below with your name and email address
- Post a similar offer on your blog, Facebook or Twitter (if you're not overly crafty, the gift doesn't have to be handmade -- I'll leave that up to you)
- Wait for crafty things to arrive in your mailbox!

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

♥ Craftzilla

Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving

Source: housetoyourhome.com via Gillian on Pinterest

It's been one of those months so far--my laptop completely died on Sunday night in the middle of an assignment a few weeks back, Zen and I were really sick last week, and we've been in that constant state of being pretty much out of food and clean clothes at home. School and work and placement stuff has been busy and stressful, and things won't be easing up any time soon.  But focusing on the negative really never gets me anywhere in terms of feeling better about things, so I decided to try to find a few things to be grateful about today, on the most appropriate of days, Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful I have a  roof over my head and an apartment I like

I'm happy I have the love of a sweet guy and adorable puppy dog

I'm thankful for this chance I have to change careers and do something more meaningful in my work, even if the going is sometimes tough

I'm so glad for the community of friends I've met via this blog and Twitter, for always listening to my problems and lending a helping hand

I'm thankful for the lend of a computer while I figure out buying a new laptop

I'm thankful for the ability to make things with my hands again -those days where I was really struggling with repetitive strain last year were very hard. Creating things keeps me sane.

I'm happy for the hours I have at my  job, since my wages are helping me to follow my dreams.

I'm thankful for the lovely cool weather and gorgeous colours of fall, and for the cozy sweaters and blankies that will keep me warm throughout the chilly days

I'm thankful for giant cups of steaming hot tea

I'm thankful for visits from friends --there have been a lot of those lately, which has been lovely

I'm thankful for the heap of leftover turducken that's sitting in the fridge --we had a lovely Thanksgiving meal that will keep on going all week!

What are you thankful for today?

♥ Craftzilla 

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! Here's a rare photo of my parents, my sister and I all together at my sister's wedding, so you can see my dad at his most dapper :)

♥ Craftzilla

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day everyone! The  "Love" art above is a gift I made for the boy for his birthday last year-cute, right? Valentines, our anniversary and his birthday are all within days and a month of each other, so often the lovely dovey Valentines crafts just don't get done until April or so for me. But it still counts, right?

I hope you're all spending time today or soon with people that you love that enrich your lives, and here's a song by  the amazing Chet Baker to help you all get romantical with someone you love :)



♥ Craftzilla

P.S. One of my heart photos is featured here today (and also for sale in the shop as a print if you'd like your own)!

And Now for a little Sharing: Christmas Crafts

Now that Christmas is over, and things are back to some semblance of normal, I figured I'd share a few of the Christmas crafts I made for people this year.

My sister left on Christmas Eve to go to Australia for 3 weeks with her husband and his family, and requested a headband that was like the flower and feather pin I made her for her wedding, but in more fun colours. I used this tutorial for the felt flowers, and ended up with this fancy headband.





This was actually a custom order, but got to my friend Sherri in time for Christmas, and she very much enjoyed it! I think I actually have enough fabric left for another tea cozy like this, so will be posting one in the Etsy shop soon!



On the failure side of things, I assembled all these reindeer I had kits for, and then did not at all figure out what to do with them. So eighteen reindeer have just been sitting on the windowsill and falling on the heads of anyone who attempts to sit on the couch. Fail.



There are a few other gifts that I forgot to take pictures of (my lovely dad will be taking some for me)  and some that I just haven't gotten around to taking photos of yet,  so I will share those too when I have them! In conclusion though, as usual, I need to start Christmas gift making MUCH earlier than I usually do, and even more so this year with school and exams going on.  So I resolute now, anyway :) I'll definitely be getting back into the blogging swing of things too--I've missed all of you, and hope you all had a great holiday!

♥ Craftzilla

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

 

I'm at my parent's place for the holidays with Zen, so limited access to the internets but having a relaxing time so far! It's definetly been awhile since I've gotten to sit around in my pjs and do not much of anything, and it's pretty great so far!

I'm even mostly done my Christmas gift making for once, and my mom collected a huge bunch of crafty things (fabrics, screenprinting kit, various crafty bits and bobs) for me that I'm going to look through today! I hope you're all enjoying the holidays so far, and after everyone receives their Christmas gifts, I'll be sharing some of them on here!

♥ Craftzilla

P.S. I'm trying out blogging from my phone for the first time, so forgive any formatting weirdness or odd-sized pictures!

Things I made and Saw: Crafting! And a Giveaway winner!

Now that I'm done exams, I've been trying to work on my Christmas crafting, as well as to tie up some loose ends and attend some fun Christmas events. Here are a few glimpses, that will likely continue over the next few days, since there's a lot of random crafty fun to share! I accomplished most of the things on my crafty to do list even, so feeling pretty accomplished! However I have so much left to do!

Tasty sugar cookies made (edited to add--I used a recipe similar to this one for the cookies and this one for the icing)



Lip glosses in peppermint, coffee-vanilla and orange made:



Penguin finished and sent off to his forever home:






More sugar cookies made for a potluck!



Zen made some s'more pie which was amazing! I think the addition of just some coconut to the base and something on top to tame the stickiness of the marshmallow, and it will be even more perfect! Perhaps there will be a recipe to follow, once it's perfected.



Fancy pot luck gift that I put together! It contains one of the coffee lip glosses, as well as some home-made chocolate spoons for stirring into the coffee. That was fun and easy, though I think I'll roll them in crushed up candy canes next time.







Additionally, I chose a winner for my Sew Mama sew give away! The winner is Robyn! Feel free to check out her blog and congratulate her! I'll be emailing you later today Robyn!

Thanks to everyone for entering, and welcome to all my new followers! I'm excited that there's 70 of you lovely folks now!

♥ Craftzilla 

Crafty and Cooking to do list

I finally finished up my exams and papers for the semester last night (yay!), so now that I'm full of freedom, I'm mildly freaking out about how messy my apartment is and how many Christmas gifts I have yet to start and make. So I figured I'd get a bit organized in terms of my craftiness and Christmas baking that I want to do in the next few days at least, and gather some tutorials for things I want to make all in one place.

I really want to make this lipgloss--and hoepfully not explode a glass jar like the LAST time I made lipgloss!

Source: pulchritudefest.blogspot.com via Gillian on Pinterest

I want to try out a metal chocolate mold pan I thrifted, and I think one of these recipes will be just the ticket!

Source: framed-mylifeonepictureatatime.blogspot.com via Gillian on Pinterest

The icing on these ones is pretty fun!

Source: our-everyday-art.com via Gillian on Pinterest

These look amazing--wonder if I can put this inside a molded chocolate?

Source: bbcgoodfood.com via Gillian on Pinterest

The idea of cheesecakes in chocolate size form is pretty darn awesome also!

Source: roxanagreengirl.com via Gillian on Pinterest

There may also be some sugar cookie making and Christmas movie watching to try to get into the Christmas spirit a bit.

Source: peppermintplum.blogspot.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Source: motherthyme.com via Gillian on Pinterest

What are you cooking up this holiday season?

♥ Craftzilla 

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day Giveaway!

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED! 

It's giveaway day today on the Sew Mama Sew blog, so I thought I'd join in the fun and offer something fun to win on my blog today!

For those of you who are new to my blog, I'd love if you go to know me a bit as well as took a browse around my blog! Nice to meet you all:)

Here's what I have to offer:

Printed fabric, backing fabric and sew-in interfacing for five Christmas ornaments (Nativity scenes, Christmas tree and small stocking). I have a tree skirt that matches this, and it came with a bunch of these smaller prints that are great for ornaments, or even quilting up a small table runner or banner if you're so inclined.



Close up of some of the ornaments:



Four different kinds of Christmas fabrics - holly, bells , Christmas bears and winter country fabric - each print has enough to make a small gift bag. You get two pieces of each print that measure roughly 11' by 10" )



Two green and two red blank cards with envelopes
- Four pages gold and silver origami paper - for the cards, origami or maybe even to make some fancy snowflakes
- A bunch of embellishments for the cards and ornaments - sequins, brats, ribbon, wire, rope, different sizes of buttons





How to Enter and win all these fancy things:

1) Leave me a comment telling me what your favourite part about the holiday season is--I'd love to hear stories! Please remember to include your email in the comment so I can contact you if you win!

Additional entries:

2) Follow my blog --using Google Friend Connect or Blog Lovin' (leave a second comment with your name and email saying that you did this)

The giveaway is open to anyone in the US/Canada/international readers, so get your entries in now:) The giveaway will close on December 16th at 5pm PST, and a winner will be chosen by random number generator. I'll announce the winner on the blog as well as email the winner by December 18th.

Don't forget to head on back to the Sew Mama Sew blog to enter some more amazing giveaways !

♥ Craftzilla

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED! 


The Winner was announced on the blog on this post . Click to see if you won!

Handmade Gift Exchange Goodies!

I recently participated in a handmade gift exchange run by Linda from Craftaholics Anonymous, and thought that I should share some of the lovely things I mailed off to my partner with all of you!

I had cross-stitched this cute deers ornament a while ago, but I finally got around to doing the finishing.





Quick and easy handmade card--I got this houses stamp at the dollar store and just glued on a few shiny flower gems!



I love how this cabled headband turned out! I may have to make a few more of these sometime soon. The pattern is called Criss-Cross Cable Headband, and is a free download on Ravelry,  available here if you're interested. I think the yarn is Blackstone Tweed, or at least something pretty similar to it. (note: when you buy a TON yarn at an amazing yarn store sale like the one Knit-o-matic has once in a blue moon, you will lose a lot of the tags over the years while trying to use up the 80 balls of yarn you bought)


Back and closure:



And here's me wearing the headband, please excuse the messy hair!

Custom Order : Penguin Stocking Holder

I was asked to create a penguin stocking holder by a friend of the family, for her new little nephew, Murphy.
She really had no requirements other than that it be a penguin and be sturdy enough to hold a stocking, so I got to have a lot of free range and fun doing this project.



I really love how this turned out, and am already thinking of other stocking holders I can make!



♥ Craftzilla

Getting in the Spirit of Things - What I Love about Christmas

I saw this quick little quiz over on Caitlin's blog and I knew I had to participate to get a bit into the Christmas spirit --as well as do something fun to make my brain happy!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? I actually hadn't really tried egg nog til last year, since I went through a large period of time where I didn't eat eggs. I do really like it now, but it's no hot chocolate! I mean, come on-white hot chocolate, chocolate hot chocolate, putting candy canes in there--much more versatile!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa sometimes just puts them in plastic bags, let's be honest. When he's feeling fancy, he might use some newspaper, brown paper with stamps on it, or just wrap it in some fabric or into a reusable gift bag. 

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I think I have just white lights..since I also think they look nicer on the tree and less like a kiddie tree.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope...too poison-y with puppy around--and he is awesome at finding bad things to eat. Same with poinsettias.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Whenever I get around to it--usually early December, but with school being crazy, we'll see when I have time this year!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? The last few years it's been Turkey and all the things that go with it, since I didn't have it for so long!

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? I think mostly just staying up late, listening to Christmas Carols and talking to my sister, since we inevitably couldn't sleep and had a slumber party. Oh, and also eating buns with jam and cheese on them as we opened stockings.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? My parents always played Santa and Mrs. Claus at Dad's company Christmas party. It was sort of a give away when Santa was your dad, or am I just overly observant?

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yup, we used to open one gift, but it usually had to be a certain one, like one from my mom's best friend or one from our aunt and uncle.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? My christmas tree is about three feet tall, so it gets full up fast. I have some fun painted wooden balls and a bunch of decorations that we had on the tree when we were kids. Also, the tinsel made from tin from Lee Valley is awesome!

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I love snow for the first while, and then I begin to hate owning a dog and living in Canada.

12. Can you ice skate? I can, but I don't go all that often, as I don't have skates anymore. Also, I tend to slip and fall on my butt a lot!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I actually can't even think of anything I got for Christmas ever, other than the time I got my first boom box, so I could play CDs in MY ROOM AS LOUD AS I WANTED (until Mom banged on the ceiling, anyways)

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being with family and eating my weight in cheese and nibblies.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? I really like fruitcake and Christmas pudding, because I'm an old lady in disguise.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I think mostly watching it's a Wonderful life together and eating as much random and tasty food (including all the kinds of cheese) on Christmas Eve.

17. What tops your tree? A metal star.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? I like gift giving, but it's stressful and time consuming to shop and make things for people. 

19. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? Generally a yum, but I can only take so much of the peppermint ones--the cherry ones are much tastier.

20. Favorite Christmas show? We always try to watch It's a Wonderful Life at the very least..any Christmas shows that are throwbacks to when I was a kid are appreciated - Rudolph, Charlie Brown's Christmas, etc.

21. Saddest Christmas Song? eMaybe it's not sad exactly, but Come All Ye Faithful is one I love to sing and gives me chills when I he

22. What is your favorite Christmas song? Given the fact that all my made up silly songs are to the tune of it, I guess I'd say Silver Bells.


♥ Craftzilla 

Holiday Ornament Inspiration

I'm getting on the Christmas boat a bit late probably, but considering the lack of time I have at the moment, I think it's reasonable. Also, I'm already listening to Christmas music non-stop whenever I'm at work and hearing about everyone else's Christmas-y projects, so that counts, right?

At any rate, I am going to have to keep my Christmas projects simple this year, so I'm thinking a lot of my crafting will end up being ornaments, so I hopped onto Pinterest this morning to start getting some ideas. All the pins below have tutorials links below if you'd like to make your own!

These Matryoshka Ornaments are so simple and cute! Good for Christmas, but good for people who don't necessarily celebrate Christmas.

Source: mysparkle.blogspot.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Tutorial

These cute tree ornaments are so colourful and simple!

Source: sewmamasew.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Tutorial

I admit to loving penguins, quite a lot!

Source: thetroublewithcrafting.blogspot.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Tutorial

Mmm Bacon, you should fill my belly and decorate my house! Yes please!

Source: blog.seremeres.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Tutorial

Cute mittens - I like the numbers on them as well, might even be neat for an Advent calendar.

Source: oliverands.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Tutorial

These houses make me die of the cute! Also would be fun for Advent Calendars, or even to personalize a bit with the person's address for gift giving.

Source: retro-mama.blogspot.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Tutorial

Oh my, how I love terrariums, and these are so sweet!

Source: designsponge.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Tutorial

Neat Idea as well--very classy and simple. I think I'd have to add some colour somewhere though.

Source: marthastewart.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Tutorial

I can always put a bird on it, and these are so pretty and simple.

Source: projectsforyournest.blogspot.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Tutorial

These silhouette ornaments would be a great way to personalize an ornament gift. It would be neat to do them over the years for kids too.

Source: modestmaven.blogspot.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Tutorial

Hope you found some interesting ideas! If you make any of these ornament tutorials, or have some other ideas to share, please let me know!

♥ Craftzilla