Currently crafting

COME ON OVER

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:37:00 +0000

I’m up and running. My archives are not and I still need to re-format and change links in just about every post seeing as I’m combining 3 blogs into 1. So there will be a lot of changes happening each day until I have waded my way through all of my blog posts to ensure they are up to scratch.

You will find 2 new posts up though. A finger puppet bat to make for Halloween and our trip to an organic farm earlier in the week.

Please update your subscriptions to ensure you are receiving my future posts and head on over for a visit, I’d love to see you all. Fingers crossed your subscriptions don’t go a little insane while I’m updating each of my posts into the new format.

www.tonyastaab.com

MOVING ON

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 23:52:00 +0000

Big news!

My blog is moving.

The new digs are a work in progress, but will hopefully be up and running early next week. In the meantime I won’t be updating this blog with new posts … well except for a post letting you all know where I’ve move to of course.

I just want to take this opportunity to thank all of those who have followed along and subscribed to my blog. You have all brightened my day with your comments and even though I’ve been really lame at times responding to your questions, I’m hoping that my new streamlined site (which will incorporate all 3 of my blogs) will leave me more time to get to know all of you a little bit better.

So please stay tuned.

Love,

Tonya

DOLL BLANKET

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:06:00 +0000

A few months ago I purchased a gorgeous moses basket for Marisol. She loves to play with her dolls, she pushes them in their stroller and has tea parties with them. The next step was being able to put them to sleep at bedtime. Of course her dolls needed a very special blanket.

This one was very simple to knit. I have a lot of leftover yarn from previous knitting projects so this was a great way to use a few of those up.

Individual squares:

4mm needles
4ply yarn

Cast on 10 stitches

1st row: knit

2nd row: purl

Repeat until 12 rows have been completed

Cast off leaving long ends.

Border

4mm needles
Plymouth Heaven yarn

For the top and bottom pieces cast on 50 stitches. Knit 6 rows. Cast off.

For the side pieces cast on 6 stitches. Knit 96 rows. Cast off.

Assemble

Lay your squares down in the color grid you want them in. Hand stitch the squares together using the long ends. Then stitch the borders on using leftover white yarn.

But shhhh, please don’t tell her because this basket and blanket are tucked away for Christmas.

UPPERCASE LIVING

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:36:00 +0000

Last night I was invited to an Uppercase Living party.

A couple of friends and I made these cute coasters for Marisol’s kitchen.

I think this may become a new addiction for me - ‘cause like I need a new one.

Here is my Whrrl story if you would like to see more of what you can do with this amazing product.

Oh yes, I will be making a few purchases this week and will be sure to share some of the fabulous ideas I have brewing.

MY LITTLE ARTIST

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:00:00 +0000

Marisol definitely takes after me.

Since starting school she has come home with some beautiful art projects.

The first thing she does when she gets to school in the mornings is draw. Today she brought home the beautiful necklace in the center of the picture.

Flynn takes after his daddy. Although he does come home with fabulous art projects every now and then, he is much happier hanging with the other boys in class building towers with lego and blocks or assembling train tracks.

Tomorrow my not so little babies will be turning 3. Time flies.

HEAVEN

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:31:00 +0000

When I first felt this yarn I knew I had to make something for Marisol.

Something soft that she could snuggle up to.

So while we were on our road trip from San Diego to Monterey in June I started knitting a cushion cover. Yes I dragged bags of yarn, needles and even 3 cushion inserts that I’d purchased from Ikea for a couple of dollars mere days before our trip around with us.

Yes I only just finished the first cushion.

Marisol thinks it is the softest cushion she has ever put her head on. She rubs her cheek on it like she is in pure heaven.

The back is knitted with Caron Christmas Glitter in white and silver and has a green velvet ribbon threaded through.

I had a little ‘heaven’ left over so when she wasn’t looking I knitted her a scarf too.

and then with even more yarn left, I decided to knit matching scarves for her 2 favorite dolls (who barely ever leave her side).

Shhhh though, please don’t tell her, because I’ve stashed all 3 scarves away to give to her on her birthday later in the week.

CHOO CHOO

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:46:00 +0000

You may remember my little boys obsession with trains. I made this play mat for him a while ago.

Well he keeps that ‘train mat’ inside a tent in his bedroom where he loves to sit and drive his trains around the track. However in the kids play room we have a large train table.

While my parents are visiting they wanted to buy him some more pieces to build on the basic track he already had. Train tracks and accessories are E.X.P.E.N.S.I.V.E though. So dad and I put our creative heads together and made a few bits a pieces.

So using a Pringles container, a plastic apple juice bottle, an orange juice carton and a coffee creamer bottle we set to work.

First we cut each piece to the size we required, then put a couple of coats of paint on.

Then we cut a piece of ply wood to make an arch for a tunnel, which was glued inside the orange juice carton. The reason for this is if you leave the box rectangular it can start to lean or bend out of shape very quickly. The ply wood adds extra support so the tunnel holds its shape. Good thing I picked up a little woodcarving tool set about a year ago on clearance … see, I knew it would come in handy one day.

Before adding finishing touches to each piece. Including a coat of sealant over the top of each piece, this helps to prevent the paint from chipping, especially on the plastic.

The end result:

The orange juice carton made a great tunnel, once the plywood archway was added. Flynn can reach his hand into the other end to pull his trains through and loves that I painted it black inside to make it ‘spooky’.

The end of the coffee creamer bottle was turned into a mountain and grass and ladybugs were painted on the side.

The plastic apple juice bottle was turned into another tunnel complete with graffiti (thanks to the teenager) on the inside. We only painted the inside of the plastic, not the outside.

Lastly, the Pringles carton was cut in half and made into 2 train depots for the trains to go to sleep at the end of their very busy day.

Flynn loves it and there is nothing better than free accessories for his most beloved toy.

Oh and I have to show you one last thing that we added.

One section of the train table has a construction theme. So what better item to put there than a ~~dinosaur egg~~ boulder painted by Flynn at pre-school last week. Let’s just hope it doesn’t hatch :)

* UPDATE: This post was featured on 733 and Craft Gossip

CONTEMPORARY VISUAL ART

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:16:00 +0000

While visiting the Steinbeck Center last week I saw this in the art gallery:

It is part of a collection for the exhibition From This Stone and Anvil: Arthurian Legend Exposed and Abstracted.

Okay, so this may not look like much until you see what it is made of.

Recognize it?

Twist-ties. You know the ones you get on bread packets.

Ingenious.

Artist: J.R. Uretsky, who by chance has a blog which I found while google searching for other works of art she may have done.

Information about the exhibition: National Steinbeck Center

ITSYVILLE

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 01:39:00 +0000

A couple of days ago on a long drive home from sightseeing we noticed a little woodcarving store on the side of the road.

Today we popped back there with dad ‘aka the woodcarver’ to take a closer look.

If you are ever in the Monterey (California) area or are looking for something just a little out of the ordinary, take a moment to have a look at Blanchard’s Wood Sculpture, the website is a must to look. You will delve into the world of Itsyville, a magical place where the wood spirits dwell.

Steve Blanchard is extremely talented. I absolutely fell in love with the little house out in front of the store today. Thank goodness I didn’t find out how much it cost or I may have fainted on the spot.

One can dream. Right?

THE BIRDIE BAG

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:32:00 +0000

While the kids are at school, mummy gets her craft on.

I picked up the plain green, ready-made felt bag in the clearance section of (I think it was) Michaels quite a few months ago for 50 cents.

Marisol is an avid collector of bags (a trait she obtained from me) … something that daddy is not happy about, especially when she goes from 50 cent bags to $500 bags in the years to come.

The plain green bag needed to be prettied up a little.

So armed with:

the green bag
a pink fat quarter
white felt
embroidery thread
a needle
black fabric paint
and a paintbrush

I set to work.

I did a rough sketch of what I wanted to put on the bag.

I cut out a template and then used a fabric pen to draw the outline onto the fat quarter and felt before cutting.

Then I hand stitched the bird and her pretty wing onto the bag.

Done!

1ST HALLOWEEN

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:12:00 +0000

I know, seriously, I’m already mentioning Halloween.

But, I got to thinking about costumes last week. You see for the first time I plan on making my own … you know with all those extra hours in a day that I seem to have.

So I started looking at photographs from Halloween past and came across a photo of Flynn in his first Halloween costume. Marisol had an identical one (of course) but with a pink bow stitched on. It was just begging to be turned into a scrapbook page for his album.

BOOK STORAGE

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:46:00 +0000

We purchased book storage containers for the kids a couple of years ago … I think they were from Avon. Now that the kids have a playroom that has their book shelves, we keep these book storage containers next to their beds. The kids rotate their books in and out of these every few days for reading in bed at night time.

During our move their nameplates went missing though. So while I was with my scrapbooking group last night I made some new ones.

In other kind of crafty news:

I made a few things to throw my kids a Potty Party last weekend.

I also re-decorated my teenage sons bedroom and I’m hosting a $500 Walmart Gift Card giveaway.

#GNO WITH CRAYOLA

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:55:00 +0000

RSVP for TONIGHT’S #GNO on Twitter here.

I’m one of the panelists. Hope to see you there. 9-11pm ET

ART & CRAFT AT THE FAIR

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:26:00 +0000

Last week we headed to the Monterey County Fair. Aside from taking the kids on every ride imaginable, one of my favorite things to do at fairs is to wander through the craft areas and look at the amazing work of so many talented artisans.

If you would like to see more photographs from our day at the fair, please visit here and here.

WATCHING AN ARTIST AT WORK

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 22:03:00 +0000

Cannery Row, Monterey CA

LOOK WHO I MET …

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:23:00 +0000

Caroline of jcaroline creative and Jessica Jones of How About Orange.

They were at BlogHer. j.caroline did a little post about BlogHer and meeting me here and for my full BlogHer recap (parts 1, 2 and 3) right here.

I also met Marie of Make and Takes, Melissa of IS•LY, Christy Nelson and Erin of Schlosser Designs. Somehow though I forgot to get a photo with them .. well I did get one with Marie, but the quality was bad, bad, bad.

And, if you haven’t read it, here is the link again for Gabrielle Blair (aka Design Mom) Yudu demonstration.

And now that all things BlogHer are officially over including my lengthy posts, I can get back to crafting.

ROD JONES – WOOD CARVER

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:27:00 +0000

I’m going to give a little personal plug here, but I’d love it if you visited my dad’s new website. He’s moved into the modern times, as he put it, and I’m so proud of him. He’s so very talented.

LEAVING A LASTING IMPRESSION

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:50:00 +0000

As you may remember I made a last ditch effort 2 days before BlogHer to design my business cards. Then I was left printing them myself at 11pm the night before flying out. Seriously. I was not on the ball with this. Yet I should have been. Why?

Look at these: (click on each one to take you directly to their website)

Front and back. Loved the long, thin card.

This one is a sticker:

I absolutely loved this one.

and this one was my favorite of all:

A friendship bracelet by Christy Nelson. She sent a message out on Facebook asking if it was cheesy to make friendship bracelets. I immediately wrote back to her and said I thought it was a great idea … while secretly kicking myself and wondering why “I” hadn’t thought of such a brilliant idea. If you want to make some, here are her instructions to make the shrinky dink logo.

These have left a lasting impression on me. Each time I have looked at them, I am reminded of that person. I collected so many business cards while I was in Chicago, yet these few creative ideas seem to have stuck with me. Oh and I’m still wearing my friendship bracelet. I absolutely LOVE it.

Next year I’ll try to come up with something that will leave a lasting impression on others. Or maybe I might have time to get my creative mojo going before SITScation in October.

DESIGN MOM & YUDU

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:40:00 +0000

On Saturday I was lucky enough to return from a photo walk in time to see the amazing Gabrielle Blair aka Design Mom giving us a Yudu photo silkscreen demo in the Shutter Sisters Suite.

There she was in sexy heels and a white shirt doing this:

and making these:

She was kind enough to give us all a canvas bag to take home with us. Of course I chose the ‘Oh. My. Blog.’ design that you can see above.

She’s amazing.

This product has definitely gone on my wishlist.

OFF TO BLOGHER

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 04:37:00 +0000

I’ll be away for a few days, you can get the details here

I’m hoping to meet Marie of Make and Takes, Christy Nelson, j caroline and Design Mom Gabrielle Blair.

I’ll be back blogging on Monday, hopefully with some of the crafty fabulousness of BlogHer

BUSINESS CARDS

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 06:26:00 +0000

Not much crafting going on around here

*GASP*

We’ve been a little busy unpacking boxes and I’ve been trying to get things organized for BlogHer next week. You can view Miss M’s almost finished bedroom here though.

Apparently I need to take business cards to BlogHer. I left it a little late to order them without paying a fortune in shipping so I decided to make my own.

The kids loved that I had a reason to bake cupcakes today.

LAST MINUTE FLOWER CLIPS

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:59:00 +0000

This week we were invited to a picnic … Luau style. We are in the middle of unpacking boxes hell right now and although I will have a lovely craft room / office / guest room, the only thing I can actually find in there is my desk and as for my clothes. Still in boxes too.

What is one to do for a luau when one has nothing.

Quick trip to Michaels with the baby girl to assist in picking flowers from the 70% off rack. A packet of clips and a tube of glue later we were set. Well I shouldn’t speak so soon. The trip to Michael’s only happened yesterday. The clips weren’t made until 2 hours before the luau and when this mama checked the instructions on the glue it required a 72 hour drying time. Oopsies. Surprisingly though it was dry just in the knick of time.

I MAY BE ON VACATION …

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:20:00 +0000

but it doesn’t mean I haven’t brought a few craft projects with me.

This is me knitting in front of the fire at our hotel in Pismo Beach.

I had to forego packing a few clothes and shoes in order to fit 3 knitting bags in the car for our road trip.

What am I knitting?

Covers for 3 throw pillows that will go on Marisol’s new big girl bed when we are moved into our new house.

Yes I packed the pillows too … you know, just in case I get the covers finished and can get them sown up. I think the hubby will be giving me restrictions on what I can bring on our next road trip.

If you have an Ikea nearby, I picked up the 3 inserts for just a couple of dollars.

FINDING CREATIVITY EVERYWHERE

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:06:00 +0000

There are so many amazingly creative people in the world. So many people that you may not give the time of day to, who you wouldn’t even notice if you walked past them.

This gentleman is on hard times, as are so many others these days. I saw him sitting on the pier, making these

It was my birthday. So I had my husband buy me a rose.

So instead of just standing on a street corner asking for donations, he spent time making something beautiful with his own two hands hoping that people would appreciate his creativity. I was more than happy to oblige.

BUTTON SWAP

blogbytonya@gmail.com (* TONYA *) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 19:26:00 +0000

Recently I participated in a Button Swap through The Adventures of Wondermommy.

Yesterday I received buttons from my swap partner Tasha of Tashalou Creations.

Look at the gorgeous buttons she sent me

Don’t you love them. I can’t wait to make something fun with each of them. The silver button is for the Salvation Army and was made in Australia … my home country, which makes it extra special.

I absolutely love buttons. I (along with most crafters) have a large jar full of them. When it came time to choose buttons for the button swap Marisol and I sifted through my jar for hours. She loved looking at each different button and sorting them into little groups.

Here are the buttons she helped me choose for Tasha. You can tell who chose what. I chose the practical ones (gosh I’m boring ha ha) and she chose the cutesy ones. I think we balance each other out.