Category Archives: fun finds

Crafty British imports part 1

Posted on December 20, 2010 by SewTara| 3 Comments

A little while ago I stumbled upon some really fun looking craft books I wanted to order.  For some crazy reason I couldn’t find them here but I did stumble across them on Amazon UK.  Lucky me my in-laws live just outside of London right now and so I ordered and had them pile them into their ‘returning home for a Christmas visit’ luggage!

This first one is absolutely PACKED with information.  I’ve only flipped through it once so far, and the kids were around so it wasn’t exactly a ‘deep’ reading but I love it!  It’s called The Bag Making Bible by Lisa Lam of U-Handbag and has a forward by Amy Butler.  I have to admit, despite my newfound love of creating bags, I had no idea about her site.  It is also fabulous just like her book! Sadly it seems the book won’t be available this side of the pond for another month or two so hope you can wait (or have a British connection).

I *must* make this one, it’s like a grown up messenger/laptop/purse/bag/awesome thingie.  I need it.  The instructions are fantastic in this book and it really explains in detail how to use all sorts of fun hardware that really enhance the appearence and functionality of the bags.  Some of the things I don’t even know the names for, so I guess the book will help greatly!

Here’s another glimpse inside.  The fabric choices are fantastic too!  I think I might have to make another tea and go curl up with this book again.

Lisa also has a section of free tips on her site if you’re in need of some info or if you’d like to preview her informative and entertaining writing before you rush off to try and get your hands on a copy of this gem!

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Well duh!

Posted on December 17, 2010 by SewTara| 1 Comment

Ok so how lame is it that I’m a teacher, and a crafty one at that and I’m only realising now I should have made my son’s teacher a gift!?  Again a sign of how busy I have been these last few weeks.  So while I don’t have a gift to send in with Wesley today I’m totally planning on making this lovely teacher one of these before the school year ends!

It’s super cute, functional, personalized and handmade!! How can she not like it!  From a crafty sewer perspective my son can help with writing her name and choosing the buttons and fabric and I get to use up some of the fun scraps I have lying around.  It’s all win win. Thanks for sharing Make It Perfect!

Probably the reason I hadn’t picked her up a gift yet is because I know how tricky it is as a teacher at Christmas/end of year when you get gifts.  It’s sort of a weird time especially depending on the school you’re at.  Not every student will get you a gift and the ones who do might want to see you open the gifts but you don’t want to make a big deal about it if some students don’t have the means to buy gifts.  It can be awkward.  I’m also a terrible lair and have a horrible poker face and Christmas teacher gifts tend to be of the mug/snow globe/ornament nature, which while totally thoughtful there’s sort of only so many you can have.   So pencil case it is!  Perhaps I’ll even use my 2 weeks off to craft one and send it in for January, random gifts are cool too.

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Posted in fun finds, gifts, kid fun, repurposing, sewing

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Wishlist

Posted on December 16, 2010 by SewTara| 1 Comment

Wow, I’m swamped!! I’ve got a bunch of *must* ship items still to get on the way.  Then I have some things to make for friends and people I can see in person, I suppose my weekend tasks.  I changed things up a bit and spent some time Saturday night organizing my craft space in an effort to tidy up our basement, something I know regret since I’m behind on my other TO DOs now.  Note to self – holiday rush is crazy!

Here are some glimpses of things I have accomplished these past few days,

My growing collection of Keyka Lou keychain pouches, well and other pouches.  Plus a cute little donut ornament I was given as a trade for a scrappy pincushion and a crocheted hair clip from my Camp craft swap.

Collection of fun things including some handmade wooden buttons I also picked up at the craft show on the weekend.  I found this GINORMOUS roll of baker’s twine at Crate and Barrel!! I’ve been looking all over for this stuff and short of ordering it on Etsy, haven’t been able to locate any.  This is over 700 meters and it was only $9.99!! Score!

I’ll be glad when this week is over!  Hope you’re all having a productive gear up to the holidays!

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One of a kind craft show scores.

Posted on December 7, 2010 by SewTara| Leave a comment

Headed out to the One of a Kind Craft Show on the weekend.  Had a lovely day out wandering and looking at all the pretty things.

I picked up this fun little basket hamper thingie from Lovell designs. It’s super handy for all the ‘on the go’ crafts I’m constantly toting upstairs when I go to bed in the wee hours so I have something to craft while the kids are around in the mornings.

I also got this fun little button from Sister Sister Buttons. They had many silly buttons that made me smile, but I limited myself to this one.

The best find of the day was this old wooden tool box thingie that’s been refinished and makes an awesome display for my cup cozies in action! Can’t wait to use it on the weekend.

On Sunday, if I’ve recovered from the inventory building blitz, I’ll be sure to link some more of the fun, creative and handmade things I came across at the show.

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Right about now,

Posted on November 30, 2010 by SewTara| Leave a comment

Wow, the last 2 weeks or so has been a bit of a blur – craft show prep, steady Etsy sales, general SewTara stuff, my kids, my job . . . life!  Now I’ve gotten the show out of the way and a few nights of good sleeps I can get back in the swing of things.  I’m not a morning person at all but sometimes I think it would be better if I worked mornings at school and not afternoons.  It would get us up and out and then I’d have the whole rest of the day instead of this broken up day I have.  I usually start our lunches at about 11, so I can walk the kids to the sitter for 11:45, then I have to get to work for my 12:15 yard duty.  It’s still a pretty sweet gig considering school ends at 3:10 and I’m usually back home with my kids by 4.  Not a lot of people get this much time with their kids.

Hrm, I seem to have babbled a bit!  I was posting to share my awesome happytownUSA print that just arrived moments ago.  I love, love, love it!  It’s so silly and fun.  Can’t wait to find a spot for it in my craft space.  She also included 2 fun little postcard prints which was a nice bonus.

Ok, 11:30, I’d better get moving!

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Posted in fun finds, papercrafts

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My new awesome bag!

Posted on November 14, 2010 by SewTara| 2 Comments

I bought this Reisenthel bag today at Solutions.

It folds right up into practically nothing! Another good feature if I should happen to sell loads of stuff. Then I can put the things back into the large suitcase and only have to wheel 1 thing out. It will also make a great crafting on the go, overnight, or taking a lot of stuff to work bag.

I have 2 craft shows to go to in the next little while and I carry my stock in our large suitcase but I find I’m always scrambling to keep the little things organized, my business cards, tissue paper, bags, signs, cash box . . .  So rather than have to carry in a ton of things I figured I’d be able to wheel in just 2 things and be done.  Oh other than carrying in my 2 display units.

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My new favourite Etsy shop.

Posted on November 5, 2010 by SewTara| 2 Comments

These prints over at HappyTownUSA are awesome!  I love silly sentiments and the vintage toys and fun photography makes me like them even more.

I’ll resist the urge to post all of the prints and make you wander over there to see them, it’s well worth the time for the chuckles you’ll have. Heck, you might even make a purchase!

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Super cute kawaii contest.

Posted on September 24, 2010 by SewTara| 1 Comment

Over at Spoonflower they’re having a kawaii fabric contest.  The wonderful Wild Olive has her fun bacon fabric in the race for first place.

Since I already own some it’s a given I like that one but here are a few of my other favs.  Click images to be whisked away to the listings.  Head on over to see all the entries and vote for the one you like best.

They’re all sooooo cute!  Wish I had a room just for fabric collecting!

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Another part of my day in Toronto, Mokuba!

Posted on August 21, 2010 by SewTara| 3 Comments

While wandering Queen street we spotted some ribbon through a store window and figured, as crafty gals, it might be a fun store. So we went it and couldn’t believe it. Mokuba is an entire store of ribbon!! Lace, trim, ribbon, ruffles, frilly stuff . . . it was crazy. It’s a huge normal store sized store just full of shelves and rolls and bins of ribbon!

Strangely enough I didn’t actually need anything but I did wander through and snap some pictures on my phone.

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Posted in embroidery, fun finds, neat spaces, other crafts, sewing

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Vintage finds!

Posted on August 16, 2010 by SewTara| 3 Comments

Managed to sneak out to some yard sales 2 weekends ago.  I really wanted to look for an old suitcase to an underbed storage thingie I saw in a Better Homes and Gardens Storage magazine I picked up.  Since I only had 1 kid with me I thought I could quickly stop and check out a yard sale or two.  I made it to 2 and hit jackpot at both!!  The first one was right across the street from me!

Found this cool bar set thingie at my almost neighbours house. She sold me 3 things for $1, so I guess that means I paid $0.33ish for this little gem.  She didn’t even know what was inside.  When I shook it and asked, ‘what’s in there?’  she said ‘I don’t know it was my Dad’s’.  It even has the key!

Then I decided to just follow signs if they happened to be along my way to my final destination and I happened upon this lovely find.

I was so nervous asking how much it was, in my head I was praying they didn’t notice how great it was and name some crazy price. She said “$2?” I couldn’t believe it! So I just acted kind of cool and said “hmmm . . . . ok I guess”. hehe! As I was walking away I heard her say it was her great grandfathers!! Who sells something like that!? It’s in wonderful condition. I can’t see any year or anything that tells me what year it’s from. There is some writing on the front that says “Made in Czechoslovakia” but that’s it.

Here’s a shot of the project I was hoping to find a suitcase for.  It’s in the summer 2010 Storage magazine by Better Homes and Gardens.  I can’t bear to cut the top off to use it for the underbed storage, I’ll have to keep looking for one suitable for that project.

The next weekend I wandered around some sales with some friends and found these awesome dishes! They’re in fantastic condition.

I also grabbed these cute little mugs!  It’s a set of 4 and they were all individually wrapped in plastic and then they were sitting in a little cardboard tray and wrapped in plastic again.  They are flawless, such a cute and fun find.

I can’t wait to go out again before the summer is over!

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