Dawn

A couple months ago my friend Dawn brought me a big box of stone heart charms that had turned up as freebies at her work. No one else was taking them home, and she knew I make jewelry so she delivered the whole stash to me.

I can't tell you how much fun we've had with these. Sam loves to count and sort them by color. I love to imagine the project possibilities. So far, I've only managed to use them in one project, this set of earrings for Stephanie. But when I learned that Dawn recently had a birthday, I knew the hearts had to make a prominent appearance.

I paired turquoise hearts with shell discs for a bracelet and earring set. My photos, unfortunately, did not turn out well this time (and the camera may be permanently broken, so that doesn't bode well for future photo shoots either), but in person the set is really quite pretty. I love the movement of the bracelet. The look and feel is just perfect for summer. And luckily, there's no shortage of supplies for these babies. So there might be a set just for me sometime soon.

Party all the time

I'm way behind with posting projects, and mostly it's because I've been doing too much partying. For example, a few weeks ago my friend Tiffany organized a fun and crafty group of ladies to make and exchange baby girl hair bows. I'll admit I'm not a make-a-million-of-the-same-thing kind of crafter, but I powered through and made these beaded flower clips.

They came together pretty quickly and I'm happy with how they turned out. But I'm even more happy with the stash I brought home.

One of each of these babies. (Picture stolen from Tiffany.) Pretty sweet haul!

Speaking of sweet, here's Grace modeling one of the pretty daisy clips made by my good friend Angela. Unfortunately, Grace is not as keen cranial ornamentation as I am, and most of our hairdressing sessions end like this:

But still, it's cute while it lasts.

In other party news, there's been a epidemic of little girls having birthdays. I tried out this pattern for adorable little girl purses and came up with this for my sweet three-year-old friend Arabella.

I wanted it to be reversible, and have a button closure, and be equally cute on both sides. And since I'm not very good at planning ahead when it comes to three-dimensional inside-out construction, there was some trial and error. I spent some time with the seam ripper. But in the end I loved how it turned out enough that I considered (very briefly) keeping it for myself, and then (more seriously) making a big-girl version of my very own.

Sharp-eyed observers will note that the ribboned ornamentation on the polka-dot side of the purse is one of the hairbows I brought home from the exchange a couple weeks ago (see photo above), made by none other than the hostess, Tiffany. I felt kind of weird including someone else's craft with my gift, but it matched so perfectly -- entirely by coincidence! -- that I had to include it. Besides, my chances of ever getting it to stay in Grace's hair were slim, so it might as well belong to another little girl who might actually wear it.

And then (I know I'm stretching my credibility here, but it's true!) it happened again! I made another little bag for another little three-year-old which happened to match another bow from the exchange.

See? Look!
This one went to Ella, who shared her birthday with four-year-old Alison (green purse) and five-year-old Caroline (black and pink).


Alison's purse is embelished with a wire-wrapped star. Her mother, Angela (of the pink daisy Grace is wearing above), made a necklace at one of my jewelry parties using one of these stars, and I knew that Alison loved it. I thought for her birthday she could have one of her own.

The embellishment on Caroline's is another hair clip, but this time it's one I made myself. The black and white disk was from a package of pre-made yo-yos I purchased at the infamous JoAnn Fabric Closeout Sale. The pink yo-yo I made myself -- my first ever! -- and then I sewed it all together with a button and glued on some fancy feathers. It's almost my favorite part of the bag. Except for the handles, maybe. I really like the double handle version, I've decided.

Here's the reverse on all three.

(In the background, right behind the garden hose, you'll see a little sneak peek of the backyard patio I coerced my sweet husband into building for me. More photos will be coming soon!) The only other thing I have to mention about these purses is that my almost five-year-old Sam is the one who assigned the purses to each birthday girl, and if you knew these birthday girls, you'd be amazed at how accurately he pegged their personalities. As always, this boy is frighteningly good with the ladies.

The last party in my circuit was this morning, a baby shower for my friend Briste. I used this pattern, created by the crafty host of Homespun Threads to make her a trio of baby shoes. The shoes turned out pretty cute, despite a several maddening blunders and way too much time with the seam ripper. But now that I've made three sets, I think I have the process down.

Only, I don't have all my processes down, obviously, because in my rush to make it to the shower on time (I was still late!) I forgot to take pictures. So until next week, when I make some more for my friend Rozannah, (shhh! Don't tell.) you'll just have to use your imagination.