Not One, Not Two, But Three Finished Crafts!

I have recently finished three crafts....long pause here while I wait for you to pick up your jaws.

Yes, I know - this is highly unusual for me. But I have some extra time on my hands, and I wanted to declutter my laundry room where the half-finished projects were starting to accumulate. It all started about a month ago when I was hunting for some cute hair bows for Natalie (now that I am actually taking the time in the morning to make her hair cute with ponies and bows). I have a few leftover bought ones from Kimberly and Alicia's toddler days, but I needed to get some pink and purple ones. I have not been successful at finding bows anywhere unless they are the agsorbent priced ones at gourmet craft stores. My friend suggested we make them, and even found a website with mostly good instructions. We headed off to the store in search of cute ribbon, wire, and hair clips. We came home with an armload of supplies, and got to work. They were really quite easy! I made several, but set the rest on my dryer to be finished at a later date...last week when I got tired of pushing them aside to finish my laundry each week. They look so cute in Natalie's hair and I am so excited that I made a handful of bows for less than $5.

Next on my craft list was watch bracelets. My crafty friend took me with her to see another gal that sold these, and we each bought one and carefully examined how it was made. It didn't look hard at all, so we once again headed off to the craft store (this is starting to become a habit for us I see) for beads, clasps, and some stretchy string. They turned out to be way easier that we expected!! I finished two bracelets in under an hour. They were a little pricier than the bows - about $10, but still cheap compared to the $20 I spent on the first watch bracelet.

Lastly, I made this oh-so-cute purse for a night on the town or for my scriptures and hymn books. A neighbor of mine had one of these at church and I begged her to show me how to make one. It was so easy! It is simply a flower sewn onto a heavy duty cloth placemat, with handles I bought at the local craft store...so easy and way cute!! I can't wait to use it! I have to admit here that John helped me sew on the handles. I was going to use fish wire like my neighbor used to sew on the handles, but John cleverly suggested ribbon or a small piece of fabric to attach the handles. I let him do the sewing because I was having a hard time envisioning the process.

It was funny while I was finishing up the bows last week - I was showing John some of my work, and he said, "I'm not sure what to do with you now since you are this changed person crafting all the time!" The other thing John says has changed of late is how addicted I have become to the computer with blogging and facebook. I think we may have to buy a second laptop so John can actually have some computer time!