Simple Headband with bow

Sewing my First Apron

A year ago my aunt gave me her sewing machine, and ever since then I have been wanting to learn how to sew. I took a class at Joann that was good at teaching me the basics. I tried sewing a few drawstring bags. I eventually abandoned sewing to give more time to card making and school. This Christmas break I wanted to sew something and improve my sewing skills.

My mother knows how to sew and made me a few dresses when I was a kid. She helped me pick out a McCall Simple Stitch pattern for an apron. She helped me sew my first apron.

I sewed the pocket and the tie strings. Check out the finished the product. I love my apron and can't wait to cook in it. I'm going to make a couple to give as Christmas gifts. I figure if I have a project that will motivate me to keep sewing:)

I hope you enjoyed this post. Happy Crafting. 

Treasures from an Elgin Antique Shop

Before I headed back to school, I stopped by Elgin to visit one of my college roommates and to spend time with her and her family. Elgin, a suburb of Chicago, is one of my favorite places to visit.

My friend Laura grew up in Elgin and showed me around downtown. We stopped at an antique shop where she found this.

I LOVE buttons!!! I probably would put them on every card, but since they are expensive, I use them sparingly. Good buttons are hard to find. When Laura stumbled upon this jar of buttons, I knew right away it was a treasure. The jar had red, white a few pink and black buttons, which was perfect for Valentine's Day cards. 

Some of the buttons were dirty or dull so I soaked the buttons for a few minutes in soapy water. I wiped them off with a paper towel and they looked like new. Here are a couple of my favorite buttons from the jar. 

I can't wait to make cards with these buttons. Check back for pictures of the cards I make with them.

Til next time... Happy Crafting! 

Share the love

In about a month, it will be the national day of love aka Valentine's Day.

Sometimes the holiday gets a bad rap - people say it was created for the sole purpose for card stores and other retailers to make an extra buck. That may be somewhat true. 

Regardless of its original intent, Valentine's Day can be a day you set aside to give more love. Send your spouse or significant other a card to say I love you. Let your children know that you are proud of them. Drop friends and relatives a note to let them know they are in your thoughts. 

Receiving a hand made card is sure to brighten anyone's day. Order your cards today. I will be accepting custom orders by Feb. 1. Cards can be sent to directly to the recipient.

Cool Canvas Photo Art

Most of my life I have been called the wrong name and the spelling has been the worse. Chesney, Charity, Chassidy and the infamous Chastity are the ways folks have gotten it wrong. It's pretty rare for me to meet someone with my name and if I did, they spelled their name with two Ts. I have never met anyone with the same name or the same spelling... until two years ago. 


Meet Chasity Kobernusz. 

She's a young professional from North Dakota. We both love Christian rap, thrift stores, pompadours and crafts! Chasity makes these incredible photo canvases that are a great way to hold memories and decorate a room. 

Chasity's canvas have so much detail. Look how she uses screws in her artwork. 

Any project with buttons is always lovely in my eyes. 

She uses magnets or fancy paper clips to hold pictures. The pictures can be changed creating a fresh look in seconds. 

These canvases make unique gifts or nice home decor items. Chasity designs and creates canvas that can be hung in a baby's room, the living room, office and the kitchen. She recently made a canvas for a beauty salon.  

Contact Chasity for pricing and custom orders. 

Give more love in 2012 with these one-of-kind photo canvases. 

Give More Love in 2012

A lot of people are talking about what they hope to receive in 2012. More blessings. More money. More sales. More. More. More. 
   It's nothing wrong with wanting increase in your life. I want the same. But we also have to pause and make sure we give and that we are intentional about it. 
   This year I'm committing to give more love in 2012. I want to send more cards to my loved ones who I only get to see during the holidays. I want to volunteer more. I want to go the extra mile for my residents. I encourage you to look for ways you can do the same in your life. 


Here are 10 ideas for how you can give more love in 2012. 

1. Bake cookies for a friend
2. Write a letter to a high school teacher 
3. Give flowers to your housekeeper or a custodian
4. Take someone's dog for a walk
5. Give a couple of dollars to a homeless person
6. Pay someone's bus fare
7. Read to a child 
8. Talk with a senior at a nursing home
9. Call your mom and tell her you love her
10. Cook dinner and invite someone who doesn't have a lot of friends

DIY Clothespin magnets

Here's a project that's a lot of fun to make and super easy.
You only need a few supplies:

• paper
• clothespins 
• scissors (or craft knife or paper trimmer)
• magnets
• Mod Podge (or other decoupage)
• paintbrush 

This is a good project to get rid of scraps. 

Set a clothespin on top of the paper and measure how long and wide each strip should be. You'll need two strips of paper for each clothespin. 

Cut the paper.

Mod podge the paper to the clothespin with a paint brush. Press down with your hands to ensure it has a sturdy, smooth hold. If you have any paper hanging off the end, trim it. It's easier to do it now because after you put Mod Podge on top it will harden and be difficult to cut. 

Try not to have excess Mod Podge on the sides of your clothespin so that it will look neat as possible. 

Let your clothespins dry for a couple of minutes. Then, apply Mod Podge to the paper. Dry for 5 minutes. Then apply Mod Podge to other side. Dry for another 5 minutes. You can apply another layer of Mod Podge if you like. But one is usually enough for me. 

Apply a small magnet to the back of the clothespin with a dab of glue gun. When I first did this project, I used magnets with adhesive already on the backs. How horrific it was. The clothespins stuck to each other and when I take them apart, the paper ripped and my clothespins were ruined. 

Let the glue dry. I spray a coat of acrylic sealer on the front of the clothespins and let dry. I got this tip from Amy, who blogs about Mod Podge crafts. This also keeps the clothespins from sticking to each other. 

Here are some ideas I would like to try in the future with this project:

• spray painting the clothespins 
• using gift wrapping paper or old magazines or newspapers
• adding buttons for embellishments
• stamping days of the week or months for organization
• using rub on letters

I purchased my clothespins at Wal-Mart in the laundry section. I got 100 for $3 compared to 25 for $2.50 in the craft section. The clothespins in the laundry section are just as good if not better. 

I bought magnets at Michaels. Fifty or so for $4, I think. I used a 40% off coupon so I don't recall the exact price. When I first made these, I bought larger magnets. I think the smaller ones look nicer. 

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Crafting! 

You can do it!

In the last post, I gave three tips to help you reach your New Year’s Resolutions. This post continues on that theme. As previously mentioned, about 75 percent of people abandon their resolutions. So in a room of 10 people, only 2 to 3 wILL achieve their goals. You can be among the few with these tips. 

1. Lower your standards. 

This probably sounds strange and may go against some school of thoughts. From my personal experience, I am often guilty of setting over ambitious goals. For example, I would set a goal to sell four items a week in my Etsy shop. Sounds good right? What Etsy seller doesn’t want to sell more items? I would list more items, tweak my listings and market on social networks, but the sales wouldn’t increase. I would get discouraged and feel like my efforts were in vain. But the reality is, I was doing the right things but expecting too much too soon. It would have been more realistic to set goals based on previous sales data. Setting goals too high can make the task feel impossible and create frustrations that cause you to give up completely. 

2.  Break goals into bite sizes.

This is particularly helpful for goals that take several months or a year to achieve. Let’s go back to my goal of selling four items a week. What I could have done is said: I want to sell one item a week from January to March. Getting one sale a week is more doable than four. Getting the one sale gives me the encouragement and motivation to reach a little higher. Once I have consistently sold one item a week, I could raise the bar a tad. 

A lot can be said for small steps. I don’t think big leaps are what help people reach goals long term. But a few small steps is doable and means that you are constantly moving in the direction where you want to go. 

3. Focus on frequency not duration. 

Exercise is the easiest way to relate this tip. Ideally, I want to workout five days a week for 45 minutes. Realistically, that isn’t always possibly. Stuff happens and life gets in the way. I could forget exercising all together or I could find 15 or 20 minutes in my schedule to walk around the block. No, it’s not the 45 minutes I want, but something is better than nothing. Sometimes squeezing in those short workouts is what allows me to maintain a workout routine.

The key is to stay on the saddle consistently. How long you ride the horse doesn’t matter. When you fall off the horse and stay off for an extended period of time, it’s like starting all over.  Focusing on frequency allows your to retain what you have worked so hard to achieve and keeps you moving forward. 

4. Celebrate along the way.

As long as you are breathing, you will likely be trying to improve some area of your life. Recognize that this is a life long journey and, you might as well stop every now and then and pat yourself on the back. Your very attempt to improve is a reason enough to celebrate. You’re going to make mistakes and wander off the path. When you do this, it’s a just a reminder that you are human. Celebration lifts the spirits and encourages your heart. It’s a crucial part of achieving your goals. Celebrations don’t have to be big or extravagant. You don’t have to celebrate in a way that works against your efforts. So say you work out consistently for a month, don’t eat an entire tub of ice cream to celebrate. Just go out for a ice cream and get an extra scoop.

5. Surround yourself with other ambitious guys and gals. 

I am fortunate to have hard working ambitious friends. Their work ethic motivates me to step up my game. They are my cheerleaders. They are my coaches. Look at the people close to you. Do they have goals for themselves? Are they trying to improve? If not, you might want to add finding new friends to your New Year’s Resolutions. 

Go forth and conquer!