Friday, July 31, 2009

My Birthday Month!

I realize that technically it's the last day of July, but that means tomorrow is August so I figured I'd get a jump start. My birthday is at the end of August, the 25th to be exact. And in honor of that, I am going to post a list of things I've been lusting after. Anyone who feels like buying me a birthday present, here is the perfect list!

1. These red heels. I don't know what it is about them. They're retro, but sassy. I could totally wear these going out or to work. I'm a size 6, in case anyone is wondering.

2. These rings from Bellabejewled on Etsy. I love the way they look all stacked together and that they are made from beach glass. I'd want the lime green, cornflower blue, and soft white stones. This is the set of three, which is perfect because for stacking rings you obviously need more than one.

3. This fabric. Just think of it. The options are endless for what I could do with this fabric. This is the love-of-my-life fabric, as I've been referring to it. It's out of stock now, but should be back soon. Hopefully that will be going into Sam's order for me! I'll splurge for it.

4. Anything from this shop on Etsy. I LOVE to cook. Every chef needs an adorable apron. Well at least this chef does! Every one of these is beautiful, but I think my favorites are this one, that one, and this.

5. A puppy. But that won't happen for a while.

6. A Mario game for my new DSi! Have to go with a classic.

7. This green Red Sox hat with a shamrock on it. Part of my birthday present is a Red Sox game the day after my birthday. Right now I have no Red Sox apparel, so I need to get some!

8. A ruler like this one for sewing. It would make my life and drawing straight lines so much easier while I'm trying to measure pieces for sewing project. Being able to see through it would especially be amazing. That way I could see where I've marked fabric for cutting.

9. While we're on the subject of sewing, I really want pinking sheers. Silly, but true. They cut zig-zags and look awesome to finish off a project.

10. Pretty much every print from this artist (azuzephre - aka Jeff Thomas). He draws Pon and Zi, two little creatures who are terribly in love. Somehow I feel like he captures emotion in a way that is so easy to relate to and comforting.

So there you are. A ready made list of everything I'm currently wishing for. You are welcome.


Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Loooove, love, love (dum duh dum)

(that little ditty is from All You Need Is Love by The Beatles in case you want to sing along)


I made this bag today, and it's in the shop. I really like it and am thinking it's so easy to customize, I could totally make one with different words. I feel like I want to make myself one with imagine, or inspire, or breathe. This is a larger tote, so I made the letters large. This could definitely get changed up depending on the size of the bag and how long the word is. Hmm, the possibilities could be endless.

Anyone have thoughts on words that might work for this? I'd love some new ideas!

Monday, July 27, 2009

Girlfriend's Guide to Gaming

I cannot thing of a better way to have spent my Saturday evening than with these lovely ladies and Nintendo. Brand About Town sponsored this event (which was held at 60 State Street. seriously.) and featured food, wine, and the Nintendo DSi. In my happy place here.


I was greeted by the host, Julie, and then was off to play some games! I learned a bit about the DSi, then stopped by each of the four stations to try a different game. Still can't decide which was my favorite. They were all fun! Not to mention that I got to meet some awesome people, all bloggers and twitterers (not a word, I made it up just now).

Me and Becca Jane.

All the ladies at the event.

Best part, if it's possible for it to get any better, is that we all left with a free DSi, the new MarioKart game, AND a Nintendo charm bracelet. Hooray for bloggers!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Weekend Recap

I feel like I had a really busy weekend. Here's a recap in list form (thank you Corinne for sharing your writing style with me).

Friday
Up early
Sewing, sewing, sewing
Cute blue and white bag
Scared by Dane when he came home early from work
Sam, Jason, and Ben come over
P.F. Chang's for dinner with awesome waitress Liz
Pour House
Beer the size of my head
Soco LimeSnails on the sidewalk (in JP? Yes, apparently)
Sleep


Saturday
Wake up at 11am (yikes!)
Lunch with the Torchies and Megan (who's having a baby!)
Sam and Jason's place
Pool
Laundry
Fettuccine Alfredo (my delicious recipe)
Drive back to Boston
Traffic
More traffic
Late
Get ready for Girlfriend's Guide to Gaming party
Orange Line
Nintendo DSi's and white wine (Perfect.)
Free Nintendo DSi's!
Meet some of my blogging heroes from Wearenotmartha.com (Susie and Chelsee, both lovely and oh so talented!)6B Lounge for martinis (where we also tried on our Nintendo charm bracelets)Orange line revisited
Sleep

Sunday
Wake up
Brunch at Fire and Ice with Dane
Newbury Street
David Spade and Colin Quinn walk by
Bead Works (which I was honestly more excited for than seeing the celebrities)
Home to plan our IKEA trip
U-Haul
Traffic, a ton of it
Frozen yogurt, couch shopping, fabric shopping, swedish meatballs, and overall happiness
Home where we're met by Nino and Ben
Old couch out, new couch in and assembled
Swedish meatballs for dinner (Yum!)
V for Vendetta
Blogging

That brings me up to speed to where I am right now. I'll have more pics up from the Nintendo Girlfriend's Guide to Gaming party soon! Such a blast. Thanks to the wonderful host, Julie! Go see her over at www.jqlounge.com.

Friday, July 24, 2009

In love...

... with this bag! This fabric is from a $2 table runner that Sam bought for me at IKEA. I'd never use it for what it's intended use is, but she knew we'd both like the fabric. I was intending to put this in our Etsy shop, but I like it way too much to part with it. I'll use this design again for some more bags. They're a good size and so cute!

Why didn't we think of this?

I danced for 13 years and am now the Dance Team advisor at Lasell College. Dane is a theater geek and was the Dance Captain for his high school musicals. Why didn't we think of this?

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Bookmarks

How cute are these? I've been reading quite a bit lately (just finished My Sister's Keeper, and now I have about two chapters left of The Lovely Bones) and realized I didn't have a bookmark. I've just been leaving the books open on my nightstand. So I had some leftover scraps from different project and I decided to make some bookmarks. I really like the way they came out! One side is a pattern and the other is a coordinating solid.

Thinking of selling these in bunches of three in our Etsy shop. Not sure yet.

Sleeve for YOUR phone!

So it looks like quite a few people like the idea of a little sleeve to keep their phone cozy and snuggled. I can absolutely make you one!

If you are interested in getting one:

1. Go to www.wearekindredspirits.etsy.com.

2. Click "Request Custom Item" in the toolbar on the right hand side of the page.

3. Give me the height and width of your phone in the details, as well as the color you are looking for.

4. As soon as the item is ready to be purchased (they are priced at $5 each), I'll let you know and put it up as Reserved for (Your Name Here) in our shop!

Friday, July 17, 2009

Mom's Birthday Present

Some of you might remember the bag I made for my mom awhile ago. Well, her birthday is coming up, and she had some suggestions for me. First, she LOVES the little whale, but wanted it to be on the pocket in the front of the bag because she likes to show it off. Second, she wants more pockets on the inside. And I noticed that the straps weren't holding up as well as I would have liked. So, to remedy this, I made her a smaller tote version of her bag, with the whale on the pocket, pockets on the inside, and sturdier straps.


Then, since I couldn't just give her that, I made her a matching wristlet. Complete with little whale! Don't these two look cute together?


Next up, some bags for our Etsy Shop!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

iPhone Sleeve!



I saw something like this, except knit, in a store the other day and figured I could totally replicate it. My iPhone has a little case, but I thought it might like to be snuggly in a sleeve. Thinking these will be in our shop soon!

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Launching a new project!

After being crafty with Sam for what feels like forever, we finally decided to open our own Etsy shop for our creations! I'm SO excited about this. We'll be featuring our handmade accessories including jewelry, handbags, belts, hair flair (my technical term for pretty hair things), and various other creations we come up with.

Please come visit us! And if you like what you see, let us know!

We Are Kindred Spirits

Monday, July 13, 2009

HP 6 is coming!

Dane and I just purchased 6 tickets to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for Wednesday night to share with 4 of our fellow Potter fans. We also now have shirts to wear to the movie. We are total geeks and totally excited for Wednesday!

That is all. Just needed to express my excitement!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Screen printing?

Awhile back, Sam found a tutorial for screenprinting. I can't remember where the original one was but here's the basic idea. We went out and bought some sheer fabric, embroidery hoops, and fabric paint. Seems easy enough.

Turns out that I kind of messed up making my first one because I almost glued it down to the paper I was working on. Oops. Now it seems obvious that it was a bad idea to do it that way, not sure why I didn't think of it at the time.

Anyway, I drew a cupcake free hand and used Mod Podge to fill in the tulle where I didn't want the paint to go. I finally tried it out today and it worked!



Friday, July 10, 2009

Vintage inspired clutch

So about two weeks ago I found this awesome fabric in the remnants section of Joann's. It was orange, so I obviously couldn't put it back. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but I then found this tutorial and knew it was the perfect thing.

I love how it came out, but I won't lie, I got really frustrated quite a few times while I was making it. It was definitely a learning process. It forced me to figure out how to use that elusive one step buttonhole attachment that's been intimidating me since I got my machine. There's some little changes I would make if I do this again, but at least now I know. What do you think?

Monday, July 6, 2009

Sifting sand

My mom decided we needed centerpieces for the engagement party this past Saturday. So she bought some cute little heart shaped glass bowls and we filled them with sand, seashells, and a pillar candle in the middle. They came out really adorable.

The only issue with this is that we needed to get sand. Since we are on an island, this doesn't seem like it would be a big deal. We headed down to the East Islip Marina, and we couldn't get in because I'm not longer a resident of Islip. Then we went to the Connetquot River, which was really more dirt than sand. The only other place we could think of without driving to the ocean beaches was a playground nearby. We got our sand by sifting it through a colander to get all the bigger rocks out, and it definitely took longer than we expected. After getting all we needed we treated ourselves to some time on the playground.


Yup, that's a coffee can. First we tried just letting the sand fall through on its own. That didn't work. Then we tried shaking it. That didn't work either. I ended up having to swish it around with my hands and that went much faster.


Dane found a teeny shovel and used it to pick the best sand for me to sift. We kept the shovel to give it a good home.


Melissa lost interest quickly in sifting. She started working on burying my leg.


And she definitely made a mountain. I almost couldn't get my foot out when it was time to get up.



Melissa jumped up to play on the bridge. We're both small enough to still fit on most of the things on the playground. The only thing that didn't work for me was the monkey bars. Those really hurt your hands! I remember it used to be my favorite thing growing up, but not now.

Dane and I took some time on the swings together too. Aren't we just adorable? All this for some sand :)

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Teeny watermelons!

This is the cutest idea ever. I wish I had seen this before this morning so I could have made them for the engagement party! Now I'm going to have to have another get together just so I can make them. Enjoy!

Friday, July 3, 2009

Aunt Kristen's little helper

I made Abby a little skirt that matches mine last night. When I took out my sewing machine, she realized she had a new toy. She immediately took the thread and figured out how to put it on the machine and spent about a half hour putting it on and taking it off. I think I might have a little apprentice.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

So fashionable...


Along with the purse I made for Melissa, I made myself a skirt. This was a super easy project, and the skirt came out really cute. It'll be perfect for the summer (if it ever stops raining). I found the tutorial on the Grosgrain blog here. Love her ideas and style.

 
template by suckmylolly.com