Valentine's Day Countdown Calendar

Valentine Countdown Calendar by Laura Bray

Check-out my super cute, felt, Valentine's Day Countdown Calendar over on the Buttons Galore and More blog today!  It's one of my project designs that actually came out exactly the way I originally envisioned it.  (That doesn't always happen!)

Will you be my Valentine in 14 days?

CHA Winter 2012

I know I've been missing from the old blog lately.  It's CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) time though and you know that what means.  Busy, busy!

I wanted to pop-in and show you one of Plaid's displays at the show.  It's for the Extreme Glitter product and I'm super proud to say that I did the projects!  It was so fun to work with their product and even more fun to walk onto the show floor today and see my work in their booth.  They had me make accessories for a bunch of different celebrities.  FUN!

If you are at CHA, please stop by Plaid's booth and see it.  Hope you are all well.  I'll be back to my regular blogging schedule soon-I promise!  While you are waiting for me, why not check-out some of my new friends blogs.  I've met all of these people in person over the last couple of days.  Isn't it fun when you realize your favorite bloggers are actual, real, live people?

Cathe Holden-Just Something I Made
Elise Ann Durenberger-Mamacow Creations
Ken Oliver-Ken Oliver's World in Progress

The Perfect Snack

I had the perfect snack last week: A hot cup of tea, a clementine, and an anzac biscuit.  It made me inordinately happy just to look at it, let alone eat it.  The flavors went perfectly together and I felt all warm and cozy inside while I ate it.  And it was fairly healthy.  The cookie recipe was from Cooking Light and had oatmeal and coconut in it. 

Sometimes I wonder, do other people get as much joy from food as I do?  Tell me, what's your perfect snack?

Button Note Cards



Haberdashery Projects b Laura Bray

As you all know, I'm on the design team for Buttons Galore and More. One of the products I love the best is their Haberdashery kits. Just the name alone is enough to make a retro-style girl happy. 

Spring Garden Haberdashery Kit from Buttons Galore & More

I love how the kits come all boxed up together, it makes crafting quick and easy.Inspired by the buttons, ribbons and embellishments I created a set of sweet, matching note cards. When I was done, I used the box as a place to store the cards. Wrapped up in a ribbon from the kit, I have a great little gift and all I needed to add was some card stock and glue.

Haberdashery Note cards

I'm so excited by these kits, I'm thinking I might need to throw a haberdashery party. Wouldn't it be fun to invite the girls over, hand each one a kit, and craft together? You could make cards or you could even make one of my Haberdashery Hearts.  I used one to kit to make 3 note cards and the heart and still had some goodies left over. Have a great weekend!  Do  something creative.

Haberdashery Heart



Travel Jewelry Pouch

Jewelry Pouch by Laura Bray

I'm not a jewelry maker.  There I said it.  Like knitting, I have always admired jewelry makers, and I have a strong desire to make it.  But, also like knitting, I can't do it!  I've tried and tried, but I am just challenged.  My jump rings are always wonky and nothing turns out the way I would like it to.  So, when Cousin approached me about being a guest blogger, I thought they were crazy.  I mean, they sell jewelry supplies.  But it turns out they wanted someone to share some ideas about how to use their products in areas other than jewelry making.  Ah!  Playing on my weakness.  I get it.  Seriously though, the greatest thing about the arts and crafts industry right now is the very fact that we have the option to use products for non-traditional purposes. 

So, long story short (not really), go over to Cousin's brand-new blog and get my tutorial for making a super cute and easy felt, travel pouch.  It's a great little project that can be used by makers of jewelry and collectors or jewelry alike.

Jewelry Travel Pouch by Laura Bray

Color Cafe

Journal page by Laura Bray

Do you love color?  You must know by now that I do!  While I was avoiding getting ready for the Craft & Hobby tradeshow this weeekend (ahem), I sketched and sketched.  I recently bought myself the book, Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists: 52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun (Lab Series) by Carla Sonheim. 

I'm tickled pink by how much my drawing has improved by using her simple advice.  My six year old daughter loves the book too.  All week, I've been finding her hidden away with my book, drawing away.  It warms a mother's heart.


Journal Page by Laura Bray


I'm also over at Color Cafe today.  Hop over and take a look around.  It's color inspiration on steriods.

Felt Food: Ravioli

Felt Ravioli by Laura Bray

Here's another play kitchen idea for you!  Felt ravioli!  Makes me hungry just thinking about it!  Here's how to make them.

Ingredients:

• White or cream colored felt
• Stuffing
• Red felt
• White embroidery floss
• Sewing machine

Recipe:

Ravioli:

1. Cut white or cream felt into 2" x 2" squares.  You'll need two squares per ravioli. 
2. Place the squares together and stitch 1/4" in from the edge.  Leave one side open.
3. Stuff with polyfil or stuffing of your choice.  Sew last side closed.
4. Using pinking shears, cut round the edges of the ravioli.

Sauce:

1. Cut a free form, amoeba-like shape from the red felt.
2. Embroider on Parmesan cheese with white embroidery floss.  I did a straight stitch because that's what our Parmesan looks like.  If you buy grated Parmesan, you might want to do french knots.

To store, I bought some foil containers with lids at the grocery store.  And, yes, I actually delude myself into thinking they will be carefully put away after playtime.  Hope spring eternal.

Ribbon Pasta for a Play Kitchen



Play Pasta Tutorial

You all know how much I love to come up with faux food for my daughter's play kitchen.  She spends a lot of time in there, making dinner and breakfast for her dolls.  Whenever she has a play date, she can't drag her friends away from her kitchen.  I've found that little girls love felt and homemade food toys way more than those cheap plastic foods you can buy at the toy store.

Ribbon Pasta

My latest creation is probably the easiest one you'll ever make.  Spaghetti made from ribbons!  Here's how I made the set.
Supplies:

• Empty pasta box with a window
• Scrapbook paper
• Glue
• Spool of off-white ribbon

Directions:

1. Cover the empty pasta box with scrapbook paper.  I created my label with clip art I found in Microsoft Word.  (Or, if you want to make this really easy on yourself-just use the pasta box as is!)
2. Cut ribbon into 12 inch pieces.  Place in box. 
3. Let child's imagination soar.

*Please note!  This isn't something that is safe for small children!  They could definitely choke on the ribbon if they momentarily lost their minds and tried to eat it.  Remember, even if you child is old enough to know not to put faux food in her mouth, other children may not.  I always have a little safety session before anyone plays in my daughter's kitchen.  If I know a little one will be around, I put choking hazards away for the day. 

Stay tuned!  I've got some more pasta toy ideas to share with you in the next couple of days. 

Journaling

Roses by Laura Bray

A peek inside my journal today.  I love to work in my sketchbook and I've found that the more I do it, the better my drawing and painting skills get. 

Rilke Quote

I have some exciting art journaling news too!  I'm so excited to tell you that my mom, my daughter and I wrote and article for the lastest issue of Create With Me magazine.  The article is called, "Three Generations of Art Journaling", and we write about our different experiences as art journalers and how looking at one another's journals has added another level to our relationships with one another.  It was so fun to be the "pickle in the middle" and write this article piece with my mom & daughter.  What a treat!  Be sure to pick-up a copy at your local bookstore or order one from Stampington.

I have add art to my "to do" list in my journal!

Today, the Designer Blog Connection is working on journaling, so be sure to hop around using the button below and get peek inside my fellow designers' journals.

[ DC Connection ]


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Laguna Beach

Laguna Beach (Laura Bray)

Just in case you are wondering...I made good on yesterday's promise to myself.  I spent my morning at Laguna Beach, California.  I watched the waves, surfers, and took inspiring photos of flowers.  I hope you did something good for yourself too!  Happy Weekend!

Photo by Laura Bray

Photo by Laura Bray

On Being an Adult

Me

The surf in Southern California is supposed to be quite large today and tomorrow.  I love to watch the waves and, since I only live about 15 minutes from the beach, I was planning to go sit on a cliff overlooking the water and watch the water for a bit today.  But today has dawned and I'm thinking about all the other things I should be doing: Working on getting ready for Craft & Hobby trade show, working on some projects, cleaning my house, getting my taxes ready.  A million excuses for not taking an hour or two from my day to do something just for me.  I'm making deals with myself as we speak, "You can go AFTER you get the deposits entered in the computer." When, in reality, I know that I'll just keep working and then it will be time to pick my daughter up from school, and I'll not have gone to the beach at all.

What happened to the adulthood I always imagined as a child?  I used to dream of being a "grown-up".  I was sure I would go to bed when I wanted, I would eat what and when I wanted (like raw cookie dough for dinner), I would play instead of cleaning my room.  I now have the freedom to do all those things I dreamed of, yet I'm stricter with myself than my mother ever was. 

My new year's resolution this year to take better care of myself.  Not just diet and exercise, but take time for me.  Today, while I was journaling about this whole adult concept, I realized it would be easy to take care of myself if I would just be the grown-up I dreamed I would be.  You know, a seven-year old's-version of a grown-up.  How about you?  What did you imagine adulthood was going to be like?  Have you let yourself down on those dreams?  Please tell me, but don't expect me to answer back anytime soon.  I'm going to the beach.

Living Room Couch Make-over

Pillows by Laura Bray

Like most people, we are trying to cut costs around here.  Do I want a new couch?  Yep.  Can I justify getting one right now?  Nope.  

Couch Before

So the only answer is to drag out the sewing machine and change out the pillows to give my current couch a new life. I've done this about 3 times and I'm always amazed by what a difference it makes.

Couch After

I used Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush fabric to create my pillow.  The green brocade fabric on the larger pillow is fabric my grandmother gave me, and the lace on one is from an old table runner my mom gave me.  I think the pillows look very "Granny Chic".  I'm pretending I bought them at Anthropologie.

Granny Chic Pillow by Laura Bray

Romantic Homes

Romantic Homes Article-Chandelier Pillow by Laura Bray

Happy New Year!  I hope you all had a safe and happy holiday season. I'm starting off the year with some good news.  I have a project published in this month's Romantic Homes magazine!  I'm very happy about it.  Although I've been published before, this is the first time I've been published in a "mainstream" magazine, so it feels a bit different.

I have always loved to read Romantic Homes magazine. I would longingly look at their crafty articles, written by some of my idols like Sandra Evertson, and think it would just be the greatest to one day be there too.  Last year, around this time, I set a goal to get published in the magazine.  And then I dragged my feet.  I avoided submitting anything.  In fact, I created the pillow that is featured quite some time before I sent the submission query.  It sat on my desk, taunting me every day.  I so wanted to be in the magazine and was afraid that if I sent in the submission, and it got turned down, my dream would be dashed.  It was also far outside my comfort zone to approach an editor I haven't previously worked with.

But one day, I took a very deep breath, and sent an email query.  Once I hit "send", I felt better.  I told myself it could take awhile to hear back.  I told myself that if they accept it, it didn't mean I wasn't any good or that I would never get published with them.  Then I had nice relaxing lunch to celebrate my bravery.

And when I returned, there was a response in my inbox from the editor!  She told me the project had come at just the right time because they needed something for their Bed & Bath issue!  I was floored.  My husband said my voice was shaking when I called to tell him the news.  And now the issue is on newstands and that long ago dream (that I secretly thought could never come true) is a reality.

I'm telling you this story because, as you set your goals for the new year, I want you to dream big.  Believe in yourself.  Take risks.  Do things that make you feel uncomfortable.  Who knows?  In a year from now, you just might realize what seemed impossible in January has happened to you!

Button Pin Cushion

Button Pin Cushion by Laura Bray

I created this sweet little pin cushion from a soda bottle cap!  It was so easy to make.  Here's how to do it:

Supplies:

• Felt
• Bottle cap from a 2 liter soda bottle
• Embroidery thread & needle
• Poly fill
• Aleene's Original Tacky Glue
• Buttons (Citrus Splash from Buttons Galore and More)

Instructions:

1. Cut a 3" circle from the felt. 
2. Embroider a small flower shape into the middle of the felt circle.  The flower should measure approximately 1.5" across. 
3. Sew a button into the center of the flower design.
4. Sew a running stitch around the outside edge of the felt circle, leaving the tails at the start and end hanging.  Once you have stitched all around the circle, pull the tails to gather the felt into a ball shape.  Before tying off the ends, stuff with poly fill.
5. Glue the felt ball into the bottle cap.
6. Glue buttons around the edge of the bottle cap.

To create the cute, flower stick pins, I simply glued some flower-shaped buttons onto some pins that already had a leaf shape at the end.  (I got mine at JoAnn's in the bargain bin.)

Button Journal by Laura Bray

I created the pincushion as a companion to a button journal I created for the Buttons Galore & More blog. (You can get the instructions for creating that here.) I thought the two together would be a darling gift for a sewer in your life.  They could take project notes in the journal.

Tips for a Creative New Year

Journal Page by Laura Bray

I can't tell you how many moms I meet who tell me they aren't creative.  Or say they wish they could be creative, but think they have no talent.  Or that they don't like being creative.  But if you are reading my blog, some little part of you must like the whole idea of living a more creative life.  So I thought I would share my journey of how I became the creative diva I am today.  You know, just in case you have a new year's resolution about being more artsy/crafty.

If you have read my bio, you know that I was a very creative little girl until I was shot down by a wicked art teacher.  I spent a lot of years doing something I was good at, but didn't love as a result of her unkind words.  Not only that, I completely stopped doing anything that resembled art for many years.  If you are suffering similar fate, I highly recommend that you get the book, The Artist's Way.  It truly is a book that changed my life. 

Homemade Wrapping Paper by Laura Bray

As for that whole business about NOT being a creative person. Please.  You can't exist in this world without being creative.  All those years I spent as a business consultant and financial controller?  I was using my creativity everyday.  I wasn't making art, but I was thinking outside the box and finding CREATIVE solutions to my clients' problems.  I'm guessing you are doing the same.  Even if you are staying home and raising children-it takes huge amounts of creativity to convince a toddler to eat vegetables.  Everyone is creative.

My failed attempts at sewing slippers.

For those of you who think you have no talent to be creative-forget it.  That's not going to fly as an excuse either.  You just haven't found your niche yet, or you haven't given yourself time to learn.  See those slippers in the photo above?  I'm trying to make my daughter a pair of slippers.  Neither of the ones shown fit her, plus the seams are a mess, and I've said some VERY bad words while making them.  While I do love sewing, I struggle with making wearable items.  A few years ago, I would have thrown the slippers down and decided I didn't have any talent as a sewer.  But now I am confident I do.  I make some lovely pillows, quilts, and other items.  I just didn't have the benefit of having someone teach me how to sew and so it takes me a bit longer to learn something new.  It doesn't mean I don't have talent.  It simply means I need to relax and practice and take my time and appreciate the learning process.  Maybe after one more try, I'll decide I don't enjoy making slippers.  That's okay because I can just move onto something else that I enjoy learning how to do. 

So are you ready to make a 2012 a more creative year?  I'd love to hear your resolutions in the comments below.  Even if you have already embraced creativity in your life, how are you going to use it in the new year?