Way back in June, I took a Gelli Plate Printmaking class from Celeste Douville at the Schack Art Center. It was a great afternoon of playing with paper, paint, stencils, and textures to create monoprints using a "gelli plate", which was new to me.

I have decided that anything can be an ornament this holiday season. This new mindset started with some old, very old, jar lids.

I bought a tub of rusty, retro jar lids from an artist several years ago for $3. I love them.

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I'd like to start by saying that from now on I will be sticking to sewing costumes, not making them out of cardboard, glue, and duct tape. 

But, when Henry suggested Thomas the Train as a Halloween costume back in August, I was instantly intrigued and excited by the possibilities.

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My son LOVES The Berenstain Bears. My mom saved all the books that belonged to my brother and I, then my cousin added some when her twins were young, so we have nearly ALL of them.

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All I wanted were some fresh, local strawberries, so we went to the Marysville Strawberry Festival on Saturday. Turns out there really aren't strawberries at the festival, which was surprising, but on the way out of town I spotted the Biringer Farm stand.

I almost forgot to post this fun fabric bottle/vase project I made for my mom as a Mother's Day gift.  I used the directions provided by Lucie Summer in the book "Modern Sewing Projects". 

Underneath the patchwork fabric bottle is an actual small glass jar with water for the flowers.

My husband LOVES Scrabble. He refers to it as "The Game".  We own several versions, although he mostly plays the online version now. And, no "Words with Friends" is not allowed.

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Last Saturday my mom, her friend Sydney, and I had a little Christmas craft party to create gift tags and experiment with wood burning, which was new to me.

My mom has been playing with wood burning for a little while. I can now see how it could become addictive.

This project has become an annual tradition. I mean who can resist this face, really?

I love compact, desktop calendars that fit into a CD jewel. I realize this is becoming an obsolete item and I may have to change my format eventually, but for now I cling to my CD jewel-sized calendar.

Like so many projects, this garland wrapped around my Christmas tree started out as one idea and grew, and grew....

Originally, I planned to use a few pieces of green felt and a modern-looking fat quarter I found at Pacific Fabrics for a handful of small, quilted Christmas tree ornaments.

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This isn't the project I expected to complete when I bought these children's blocks. I purchased the five blocks spelling "MERRY" for a holiday printing idea. But, after I got them home it dawned on me that the letters would be backwards if I tried to use them for printing/stamping.

Ever have an idea that you can't get rid of? It lingers on your "to-do" list for months, even years? I do.

This advent calendar idea has been lingering in my brain since Henry was teeny tiny.

In the midst of all my Halloween costume making and pumpkin carving, I also helped provide decorations for a co-worker's baby shower.

I made some of these tissue paper pom poms, both large and small, for another friends baby shower this summer and decided to reuse the idea.

I don't know if it was the candy or helping a very excited two-year old trick-or-treat, but I feel like I have a Halloween hang over today. (I know it's probably the sugar....)

Here are a few photos of the complete costumes from last night.

A perfect call day is sunny, but crisp. You get to spend the morning searching for the perfect pumpkin (or pumpkins) in the patch. Then a little pie from the Snohomish Pie Company.

And, finally an amazing Husky game where the dawgs annihilate the ducks.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I have always loved playing dress up. Perhaps this is why I started our costumes in early September.

Henry is still at an age where I can push him in the direction I want for Halloween costumes. He loves Elmo and it seemed to be an simple costume.

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Those who know me know I'm a fan of team apparel, when done properly.

My first set of felt food projects were great practice for my sewing skills, but my next group was all no-sew. I didn't really plan it that way, but after all that hand stitching it was nice to have a break and make something quick and easy.

When we decided to get H. a play kitchen for his 2nd birthday, I also decided to make him some food to go with it.

Well some food turned into several different types of food including lettuce, tomatoes, pasta, pancakes, and bread.

I didn't have much planned for Easter projects. I saw a blurb for "Tie-Dyed" eggs in the Relish Magazine probably a month ago, but finally tried it out today.

It is literally dyeing eggs with ties, as in 100% silk ties for men.

When I was a kid I kicked ass at the Memory Game. (I probably still do.) You know the game with all the small squares that you flipped over and tried to match pairs?

I know this isn't really something to brag about, but I pretty much always won, ask my brother about it.

We have toys in all shapes, sizes, and colors in all corners of our living room, but what does my son want to play with more than anything else.... sticks, rocks, plastic bottles, cardboard boxes, and my slightly broken old Sony camera.

It has been way too long since I was actively blogging. About 18 months to be exact, which is how old my son is now. Coincidence?

Along with everyone else I’ve resolved to get in back in shape this year, both in terms of my physical fitness and craft fitness.

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Like many projects this summer I got the idea for this artwork in June and finished it in September. I'm not sure where the idea to cut up magazine pages into strips and use them as a stencil background came from, but I really like how the finished project turned out.

Here's what I did...

I'd been racking my brain trying to come up with a clever idea for a baby mobile, but hadn't figured out a good solution until last week...

After receiving my hospital bills in the mail I wasn't interested in spending a lot of money.

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Exactly one month ago today I was giving birth to my most important project to date, my son Henry. Funny thing is I thought I still had more time to finish all my other craft and sewing projects before he arrived, but he had other ideas and decided he was done cooking 5 weeks early.

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It now seems like time is flying by as I try to work my way through the ever growing list of nursery projects.

Do I have my crib put together? No, of course not. Are my car seats in place? Heavens no.

But, I did finish redoing a pair of lamps this weekend. My new tree lamps look like this.

The few readers out there for this blog are aware of my love of sports and sport t-shirts. I'm often cutting them up for any number of projects, including re-purposing men's shirts into cute shirts for women.

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It's been a busy couple weeks, which is why I haven't been a very active blogger.

Had my first childbirth class, which was informative and helpful.

My three, dotted curtain panels from Ikea have been through a lot. First they were white and hanging in my grad school apartment, then a few years back I dyed them orange (1) and yellow (2) to match my guest bedroom , and now they are being reduced to two panels for my nursery.

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Like many (or most) baby items, I had never heard of tag blankets, tag toys, or "Taggies" before getting pregnant.

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Learning how to sew was a wonderful thing. It's now hard for me to imagine a time when I did not know how to sew. But, the other day I was reminded when someone borrowed the table runners I made for my wedding almost five years ago - using heat and bond.

As you've probably gathered from my other posts I'm not the kind of girl who's going to go crazy buying all matching decor for my baby's room. I'm also not that into cute, cartoon characters covering the walls. If I have to look at it, I want to like it.

I think everyone in the world might own Ikea's Stefan chair. It's simple, sturdy, and very affordable (only 19.99!). I have 4 in black that sit around my dining room table and a pair of natural ones I purchased many year's ago when I was in college.

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I've probably mentioned my project parents before, who are responsible for passing along the project gene, which I will inevitably pass along to my children.

As my mother used to say, "We move every time your father runs out of things to do to the house." I think that says it all really.

About Me
About Me
I'm Maren and I inherited the "project" gene. While this probably isn't a scientific term, I believe it is why I am constantly starting (and usually finishing) new projects. I focus most of my efforts on various crafts, sewing, art, home decor, recycled materials and anything else that peaks my curiosity.
Email me
Email me
madebymeo (at) gmail (dot) com
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