Yarn Wreaths inspired by Agnes at KnockKnocking!

Oh hi bloggie!  I haven't seen you in a while!  I've been a busy bee, but have managed to fit some creative projects into the mess that has been life lately!  

So, inspired by some of the lovely yarn wrapped wreaths that Agnes has in her Etsy shop KnockKnocking, I decided to try my hand at it!   I'm quite pleased with how it turned out!  And it's a lovely TV watching craft!  The wrapping took some time (mainly because I'm a bit of a picky princess and wanted each wrap of the yarn to lay just right) but the felt flowers were super fun to make!  And although it took everything in me not to try and make them all exactly the same, I messily cut some felt spirals and lovely flowers were born!

I don't have step by step pictures, but it's pretty straight forward, and it's easy to find tutorials explaining how to make the flowers :)  I got a foam wreath shape and some pieces of blue, cream, brown and green eco felt from Michaels Craft Store, some lovely scrap yarn that I picked up but never found just quite the right project for, and my trusty glue gun.  I plunked myself down on the couch, turned on the TV and qued up Criminal Minds reruns and started wrapping.  And wrapping...and wrapping...it took 3 episodes of Criminal Minds to get the whole thing wrapped (although I will admit that I was slightly distracted by Dr. Reid from time to time and the yarn wrapping slowed down while I day dreamed). 

You can't really tell in the picture, but the big blue flowers are made from felt that is embossed with a pretty paisley design! :)  I'm a fan, and now this little number is hanging on my front door!  It makes me so happy to see when I come home!

I can see this kind of project becoming addictive...especially when I see all the pretty holiday themed ones popping up all over the interweb!!  Also - what a great stash busting project!  Yarn is starting to take over my life...kind of like the blob....everywhere you look in my house there a little ball of yarn or a half finished project.  It's becoming a problem haha!

I think the next one I'll tackle is an Easter tree.  I've never really felt the need to decorate for Easter...but somehow this year I am feeling the itch.  I think it's all the lovely light colours, and the ideas moving beyond diipping hardboiled eggs in food colouring :)

Hope you are all enjoying Spring!  

Halloweeeeen!

Well, I hope everyone had lots of lovely treats, and no nasty tricks!
We had a blast!  My 2 favourite people in the world (my little bro and his lovely girlfriend) and I had a fun little road trip and went to a Halloween Ball in a town close by.
WHAT.A.BLAST!
There was a great band playing nothing but AWESOME covers of 80's songs, and the costumes! Wow! People really went all out! 
I had a hankering to wear a tutu.  So, I found some lovely colours of tulle, netting crinolin...whatever that stuff is called...and some pretty silk material in this bright bright fuscia colour.  (I'm such a pink addict).  So, I just bought a couple meters and started ripping and knotting.  This tutu was so easy to make, and I love how pouffy it turned out!
Well, here are a couple pictures of us!

Getting into Makeup!

Marionette/Cirque de Soleil

Makeup done! (MY FACE WAS ITCHY!!)

My brother and I.  You may remember the costume of his from a previous post!

Three Muskateers! :)

I only had 10 little kiddies come to the door for trick or treats on Sunday.  But then again, it was SNOWING!!! (What the heck?!)  So I'll be eating candies for a little while...but I'm ok with that :)

Sooo, what did you dress up as?  Do you have pictures?  I love costumes!

Now to put my mind to Christmas stuff!  I can't believe it, but the stores have the stuff out already!!  What do you think....isn't it too soon??

Need a winter coat?! Here's a deal!

WOAH!
So...in keeping with the "frugal" theme of my last post, I just came across this AWESOME deal that Bargain Moose shared !
Old Navy has a tonne of super cute coats on sale now, and if you use the promo code OUTER50, you get 50% off the sale price!  On top of that, if you then use the code LOULOU15, you get ANOTHER 15% off!

So basically I found a great puffy hooded vest that was originally $49.50, on sale for $39, less 65% for a grand total of $16.58!  And some of the coats can be had for less than $13!!  There's a bunch of stuff on sale on their website, and the LOULOU15 code is good for any online purchase!  So even if you don't see a coat you like, you could pick up a pair of flip flops for next summer...$2 - 15% = one heck of a deal! :)
(p.s. that 15% off works on Gap and Banana Republic items too!  The 3 sites are linked, so it's one shopping cart for all three stores!)

Here's a link to the Bargain Moose post for more info! Happy shopping!

Everyone Loves Freebies!!

Ok, I am ADDICTED to stationary supplies.  I love pens, markers, post it notes, colourful thumbtacks and paperclips in cute shapes (which basically includes anything found in your local office supplies store, and even better, anything in the Perpetual Kid store!)

You can get 3 free pens from Newell Rubbermaid Canada!  They give you a selection, and you just pick the three that you want to test drive!  I picked the bio degradable one, the sharpie pen (I love sharpies!) and the gel pen!  I wonder if they'll send funky colours, or just the regular old blue/black.  Either way - free pens! Woohoo!

So for any Canadians out there who want to save (and who doesn't right?), check out the Fabulous Savings and Bargain Moose blogs for great deals and coupons that are actually valid in Canada! :)

Halloween Costume Spooktacular!

Happy Wednesday everyone!
Oh we're getting so close to Halloween.  I love playing dress-up!!
My brother asked for help with his Halloween costume.  My brother is just about my bff/favourite person in the whole world.  So I said yes, of course.  (Also, he was installing new closet doors for me, so I figured it was the least I could do!).
The closet doors took about 45 minutes.  From start to finish.  The costume took a million times that, but was so much fun!
I present - THE MAD HATTER! :)

His "spools of thread" sash

Sports coat from Value Village.  I added cuffs made from round doilies from the Dollar Store, furry trim fabric from Wal-Mart, and random buttons found in a "pound of buttons" bag

Close up of sleeve.  I just cut out the centre of the round doilie and hot glued it to the outside of the jacket sleve. Then sewed the furry trim over top and hot glued the buttons on.

Starting the hat!  Bristol board for the body, and thick cardboard for the top. Taped in place and hot glued to within an inch of its life!

First layer of material hot glued around the top of the had and stretched down. Hot glued in place.  Covered with more dollar store lace!  For the brim it's a large circle of heavy gauge craft wire taped together with fabric stretched over it.

Made the tag from Bristol board and burned the edges. Added a pink scarf (Dollar Store!) and some left over craft wire with buttons glued on as the "hat pins".

I don't have a picture of the finished hat.  It has since been spray painted with black, green, pewter and bronze paint to give it the same look as the Johnny Depp version.  It looks great I think!

All put together: TADAHHHH:

By the way, if you want to try, I had a LOT of help from this great video tutorial from ThreadBanger's YouTube channel!
It took a long time, but we had a blast!  My brother was a huge help too (post closet door install).
What are you dressing up as for Halloween?
I'm putting the finishing touches on my costume now, but unfortunately didn't take step by step pictures.
Will share with you once it's all done though! 

Inspired By...Tatertots and Jello!

Ok, so I know I was all "I'm going to spend the evening making the vintage wreath" - and I did start it!  And it's so much fun! (I'll post once the piece is finished)...but I got distracted along the way by these: Halloween themed specimens from Tatertos and Jello, and I thought "what a great use for my new pumpkin punch!"
So I went to it, with a frame I had picked up during one of Michael's frame sales and some super cute halloween cardstock I had!

I think it turned out really well!  Adding the stripped border was a last minute decision, but I really like it!
I didn't have the patience to do the math reqiured to make sure that each pumpkin was spaced exactly, so I eyeballed it....I think it turned out ok though!

Cutest pumpkins ever!

Doesn't it look spooky all covered in spider webs?!! :)

Thanks for the inspiration everyone!!

Inspired By...The Crafting Chicks!

So...I know what I'll be spending my evening doing! Thanks to Brooke over at The Crafting Chicks, my night is planned! I love love love the vintage look of this square wreath, and Brooke shares a tutorial so we can all make it! I think there is very little spookier than weathered paper and silhouettes, so I think I'll try to make my own version.  Stay tuned for the results!