Changes and Changes...

Wow, its been months absolutely months since I have posted anything.  Truth be told I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep blogging.  My blog hasn’t gotten the response I thought it would.  I’ve been doing some soul searching and decided to give it one more shot.  We changed a few things around as well.

First…  Welcome to Anna Noelle Designs!!!   Yes, I changed the name.  The name now reflects the combined efforts of me and my daughter.  It will also be easier to link it to our Facebook page and upcoming etsy store.  I also want to let you in to our lives a little too.  Our struggles and our successes, as we work towards our dreams with lots of fun and Craftiness along the way.  Feedback is requiring if not necessary.  How else can one improve if we don’t receive feedback?

Now let me share what we have been up to lately.  We have been involved in several swaps mostly from Instagram.  Check out our Instagram @kraftykat16.   I was also a winner of a blog post, my first ever.   I won  a copy of Lori Holt's  new book  Great Granny Squared. Debbie from a  Happy Little Cottage blog hosted the giveaway.  I was thrilled absolutely thrilled.  If you have time hop on over and check them out.

On a sadder but more inspirational note, I recently lost a very dear friend several months back.  My friend left behind many loved ones, but the most tragic is her 5 children and husband.  I have taken on the task of working on picture quilts for these amazing little people.  It has taken much longer to complete this task, simply because I did not realize the magnitude of emotion I would be feeling.    As the quilts get closer to completion we will be sharing.  In the meantime, please check out the fundraising page for my Amazing friend    http://www.youcaring.com/other/loving-support-for-megans-children/140432.

Screen This Too!

I want to take a moment and use my blogging site for a very important service announcement.  I want to address a topic that is very near and dear to my heart.  October is Breast Cancer month … and all the pink is popping up.  I am in no way demeaning breast cancer or those who suffer from it.  I am a survivor myself but not from breast, from Colon.  I was diagnosed 5 years ago this past August with Stage III Colon Rectal Cancer.  During my journey I blogged about it at www.mymomhasbuttcancer.blogspot.com .  It was awful experience, however its one that I am eternally grateful for.  Nobody wants to hear the big C.  It changes your life, you can never return. Even when they say its gone, the thought never is.   I was so embarrassed when I found out.  We called it Butt Cancer as a way to make it seem more light hearted for our young children.  So as we enter October with all the pink ribbons and breast cancer awareness, I  would like everyone to  to join my friends at the Colon Cancer Alliance with another mission..

Please DO NOT DIE from EMBARRASSMENT.  Nobody wants to talk about their butts, several  years ago women did not want to talk about their breast.  Look at the response now.  I can only hope that we will be able to bring as much attention to Colon Cancer as has been brought to breast. 

Kat

Post Cards

I am so excited to tell you about a new activity the kids and I have been participating in.   I am a firm believer in writing.  Writing stuff and then actually mailing it.  We all remember the best part of the day was opening the mailbox to see what came, well at least me. I worry that with all the electronics we lose the sense of connections that items use to travel, that we would actually mail letters.  I wanted my children to have the excitement of letter writing and getting something in return. 

With all that in mind, I reached out to my friends and family that are FAR away, at least several states away and I have wrangled them into a letter/postcard writing campaign.  We are lucky ( for this project)  that we are on the West coast and most of our family is on the West coast.  To my sons, the west coast is a brand new world.  This past weekend we created

and printed our post cards and off they go. It was super easy too.  We searched Google images for images we liked and printed them on card stock.  Cut it down to 4 x 6 and there you go.   I cannot wait to get the responses and see the excitement on the kids’ faces when they get mail from them.  Do you have a favorite childhood activity that you would love to pass on and share with your kids.  Anyone looking for a faraway pen pal?  Hit us up, we love to send and receive mail.

Playing with scraps..

I recently signed up for my very first block swap.  The swaps we were making were scrappy string blocks. We all used the same tutorial from Bonnie Hunter, who is amazing.  The string blocks were paper pieced, another project we jumped at trying.  I love them

 I can't wait till I receive mine in the mail.   The best  part is I get to send 2 of these all the way to Australia.  Now how cool is that. Scrappy String Blocks  are the coolest way to reduce your stash.  If you decide to make some, I would love to see the pictures.

I am not Martha Stewart

  but I want to be!  I would love to be the queen bee of crafting and have tremendous ideas with gorgeous results. I want to have a billion dollar craft business.  What a dream if my real life full time job was to craft all day long? In reality that is not the case. I do more  fails than successes , in-completes vs. completes and have to have a real office job to pay my bills.  For instance, I decided to make a clay impression of my grandson’s hands and feet with salt dough.

 That was an epic fail.  The dough didn't set correctly and the foot prints were recognizable.  It was a waste of salt,flour and time.  The only lesson I learned was maybe this is not the craft for me. Do you have an epic fail?  My list of craft not’s is a lot longer than my list of Yes, I did it’s.  My list includes Mosaics, glass etching, glass painting,  anything involving dough or plaster is not the medium for me.  My completions are a much shorter list to date, how about yours.

The point I am trying to make is that while I am not a Suzy homemaker, I am a crafty queen with ideas that sometimes turn into successes and some days even amaze me.   I ask you to come on the journey and dig deep, create and find your Crafty queen.  

We didn't know!!!

It amazing how you can complete something when you don’t know that you can’t.  For instance, we didn't know how to quilt and we did.  We didn't know that Free Motion quilting was hard and we did it. We didn't know that sashing was supposed to be difficult but we did it.  We didn't know all those things but did them and ended up with a very impressive quilt.  There are still something’s to be done, but I feel it is gorgeous and will be loved by my niece, I hope for her whole life.

The binding still needs to be completed, which is not something I am a big fan of or enjoy doing.  I think that is because I have not figured out a easy way to do it.  To this point I have only machine quilted binding.  However on the majority of blogs, I see that a lot of quilters, hand bind.  This may be something I do next.  So let me ask all you out there, do you machine bind or hand bind.  Which do you prefer and why? 

I am also honored that my NON crafty daughter, said to me the other day .”Mom, I think I might want to make a quilt, on my own.”  All because she doesn't know.

Hexagon Crazy

Yes. I the queen of unfinished projects has taken on another task.  I found this  EPP Tutorial which made everything so clear and so easy.  I just knew that I had to try it out.  I also had the perfect fabric.  Here is my shot at hexagons, thanks to Sarah!

 I also recommend you check out the entire blog as I am now a big fam.  So as far as what I am going to make with them... well check back in a few weeks and I should be done.  They will be quilted into a gift for my niece.

A finish.

I actually got over the Overwhelmed and buckled down.  I started with some basic organization of my ideas and projects to be complete that are already started.  Once I had a realistic list, I actually set to work.  I was able to buckle down and complete my daughters lap quilt. This was made of scrappy fabric that I received and a $3.00 fleece from Wal-Mart.  In all actually it took me 2 hours to complete!  I cannot believe Only 2 hours and I was procrastinating for months!!!  

 The thrill is she is so HAPPY with the end result.  I also complete the embroidered bag for my other daughter’s birthday that was July 3.  I was greatly surprised with how well it has come out and am thinking of offering these in our future store.

I do have to share a comment that my son made when we were shopping the other day… Mom ,every time I look at something I see FABRIC.  Yep, I have now trained all my children to view everything as either something we can make or as something that can be made into something else.   And the list is 

·          My sisters Mother’s day quilt (yes we are WAY past Mother’s Day) 

·        ·         New Grandbaby quilts (2 are in unfinished status)

·        ·         Post crossings postcards.. a great idea I’ll cover in another post.. still need the post

·        ·         5 Mug Rugs… 3 were supposed to be END of the year teacher gifts, but have not turned into beginning of year.

·        ·         Glass bead magnets (this is in hope of using up all those Mosaic craft supplies

·        ·         Embroidered pillow         

·        ·         Hexagon quilt …just started set a goal of 25 hexagons this week

Until next time, happy crafting to you.

Overwhelmed and Incomplete

I should change the name of my blog from Idea queen to overwhelmed idea queen.  I have so many ideas that I want to try that I am not completing anything.  I wonder how many of you out there are over loaded.  When do you decide to put certain ideas on the back burner???  How do you Organize what’s gets done.  This is my current dilemma.  Let me give you an idea of the many projects I have out there in a uncompleted status….

·         My sisters Mother’s day quilt (yes we are WAY past Mother’s Day)

·         Daughters Lap Quilt

·         New Grandbaby quilts (2 are in unfinished status)

·         Post crossings postcards.. a great idea I’ll cover in another post

·         5 Mug Rugs… 3 were supposed to be END of the year teacher gifts, but have not turned into beginning of year.

·         Glass bead magnets (this is in hope of using up all those Mosaic craft supplies

·         Embroidered pillow

·         Embroidered Tote for Daughters birthday that was July 3

·         Hexagon quilt …just started

And that’s what I can remember off the top of head.  So please share, what is your process when you are whelmed and do you feel frustrated when ideas don’t go as planned.

New Obsession...

I cannot believe it has been months since I have posted.  That is crazy.  Good news is that I have been going crazy with ideas and working on my latest obsession which I think is the one.  I have been quilting like crazy.  Prior to last winter I have never quilted anything in my life, I didn’t even have a sewing machine.  Well now I have 3 machines, one which embroiders and my kitchen has turned into my craft room.  The wonderful thing is the sense of accomplishment when completed.  It is such an outlet for creativity and such an expression of love.

I also accomplished something I wanted to do for a LONG time.  I was finally able to give back and donated a quilt to the Message of Hope Cancer fund.  

The quilt brought in $200.00 so I am super excited.  Not only is quilting consuming me, I have am starting to branch out in other areas of sewing.  Do you have something that started small and then consumed your life but all for a good cause?  

I Started, I finished , It looks good!

I actually started and completed 3 DIY ideas.  I utilized all three items in my daughters room and so proud to share the pictures. Two of the ideas I learned from Pinterest.  What an inspiring site.  My daughter was afraid her room would be so cluttered because I had so many things that I wanted to do.  We decided on what what she needed and wanted in her room and here is the end result.  The projects are:

 Headboard Curtain - Used a spare curtain we had and wrote positive quotes on it with fabric markers, whats so cool is that even Dad wrote a few!






Decoupaged Letters -  She really wanted her on the wall with colorful unique letters.  So this is where i got crafty. To save on costs, I bought foam board (on sale 2 for $3) and decoupaged with black and white napkins, I found at Walmart.  As we were on a role, we also decided to do the switch plates as well.  I am amazed  how awesome they came out.  Not too bad for a beginning Crafter, huh! -Krafty Kat

Well, that didn't quite work out....

Well it’s been a minute and a half since I blogged any ideas but that does not mean that my brain is not over run with them.  I expanded myself this summer and decided to try a multiple of things with the hopes of selling something.  What I ended up with was a dozen unfinished projects and major craft supplies that I have no clue what to do with.  Maybe that’s not entirely true, I actually learned a lot.  The first thing I learned is that I am a very impatient person and need instant gratification. Second, what my opinion is really doesn’t matter; because oneself is not the best judge of ones work.  Third, I learned and figured out exactly what crafting I like and what my talents are!  So in the end , my crafting experience was not a total bust, more of a learning experience and now I can really focus on what I like, what I am good at and what I know I would be proud to sell!

Do you any of you have ideas that seemed oh so great until they were started! 

Treasure Hunt ...anyone?

Let’s go on a treasure hunt.   Yes, where you follow clues, use a compass and actually find a hidden treasure (in a sense).  I am talking about Letterboxing.  “Letterbox” is the term used for a mail box in England. Modern letterboxing probably has roots in the 1850s, when an English man left cards in a bottle with a note inviting others to do the same. Pretty soon people began leaving messages or letters for other folks passing by to find.

Modern letterboxes are plastic boxes instead of a bottle. Here’s how it works: Someone hides a box, maybe under a log in the forest or tucked into a crack in an old stone wall. Inside the box, the hider places a rubber stamp and a notebook. Letterboxers post clues about how to find the box on websites like www.letterboxing.org.  The boxes are all across the U.S. and in many other countries. 

When you find a box, open the notebook you find inside. Remember to be secretive if other people are nearby; if they don’t know about letterboxing, they might take the box away.

Write your name, hometown, the date, and a short note in the log book. Don’t forget to make your mark with your own rubber stamp. Then take the special stamp from inside the box and make a print it in your own notebook. Collecting as many stamps in your notebook as possible is a big part of the fun. Then wrap the box up carefully and return it to its hiding place for the next letterboxer to find.

This is a great activity for the young and old.  And most important you get the kids outside exposed to nature, and learning some new life skills.  Ah, the thrill of the hunt.

We are going this weekend to find our first letter box, let me know if you try this!

Craft a Mania

So I have another GREAT idea... lets sell crafts for money.  Which is actually kinda funny because right now I have no absolutely NO crafts done to sell, just alot of images in my head.  Well the kids and I did come up with a list of things to make and the hope to build a client base from the local flea market.  We headed off to Michaels and spent over $100.00 (yikes) in supplies to make "samples"!  Once I have the samples and can actually show people I will get a better idea of which product we should make more of and thenn buy supplies in bulk.  If nothing else, everyone will get some great homemade gifts for birthdays and Christmas this years.  Here are some of the ideas we are trying out this weekend:  Herb Garden Center pieces, Mosaic Mirrors, Etched Vases , Custom painted wine glasses and Hemp bracelets.  Sounds like a lot, it is.  I am trying to decide which one to focus on but I love them all so much.  Will keep you updated with pictures when we start the projects. 

A GREAT IDEA

Another great idea!  For those that know me the most common phase out of my mouth must be... I have an idea.  Only problem is they stay ideas, some may get to some beginning stages but mostly just stay an idea!  I thought if I created a blog to share MY ideas and entince others to think about their ideas.. maybe someone will benefit or at least turn an idea into a thing.

When I say I have an idea, I really do.  We have all seen how many people take an idea, and poof it becomes a product and they are RICH.  Not me,  my ideas stay as ideas even though all have the potiential of making me some money or at least a feel good. So, this blog is also another idea only time will tell if its a great idea.  I hope that many of you will dust off those ideas and move them forward.  I am not an expert  but I know what I like, I know what works for my family and I sure know a good idea when I hear one.  Sometimes a person just talks to me about doing something and my mind runs off in a 100 different directions about how to make it succeed. Many times I wonder do others think this way or is it just me?