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?

Last Minute Holiday Ideas

Polymer Clay Ornament by Laura Bray

Last Minute Gift Idea:  Polymer Clay Ornaments

I never used polymer clay before, but after seeing a ton of clay ornaments this year, I thought I would give it a try.  It was really easy to use, fast, and economical.  The perfect combination for a last minute gift idea.  I was inspired by Nikki's tutorial.  My only addition was to use some of Plaid's Extreme Glitter paint in Gold to add some definition to the stamped design and sparkle to the ornaments. 

Colorful Snowflakes

Last Minute "Keep the Kids" Busy Idea:  Craft Supplies & Creativity

My daughter is the craftiest person I know and the box of holiday craft supplies I gave her has proven to not only fun for her, but has also bought me extra time to get things done without feeling guilty.  While I was working on a large project for a client this week, my daughter found some glittered snowflakes in her supply box.  She got out her markets, and colored them in.  I am seriously amazed with the results!  They sparkle, they glitter!  And she came up with the idea all by herself.  Which makes the whole thing even better. 

Felt Doll Stocking


Last Minute "Get Some Extra Sleep on Christmas Morning" Idea: Doll Stockings

When I was growing-up, we weren't allowed to get my parents up at the crack of dawn on Christmas morning.  We had to stay in our rooms and wait until 7AM.  Then we could go wake them.  I'm telling you the time seemed to drag by those mornings.  We have a similar rule at our house, but we've added a twist to make the time go a bit faster.  Last year, my daughter and I made felt stockings for her dolls and hung them on her dresser drawers.  I had intended it to be for decorative purposes only, but my husband took it a step further. You see, my husband is in charge of filling stockings at our house. (With Santa's help of course.) My family was never big on stockings, but his family treats them like the main event, so he's the expert. And that big, lovable man bought little tiny gifts and candy and filled the dolls' stockings last year. Our daughter was happily playing in her room with her dolls and their stockings when we came to get her on Christmas morning.  It was a little preview of what awaited downstairs.  I'm sure it's a tradition we'll continue from now on. 

I hope these last minute ideas came in time for you to add a little extra magic to your celebrations.  Wishing you a Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays from my family to yours!

Minimum Requirements of Self-Care

Laura Bray's Minimum Requirements of Self-Care

My Scrooge post seemed to hit home for a lot of you.  I think we all suffer from stress and overdoing.  The holidays just compounds it.  But, because I want my blog to be primarily positive, I thought I would share a few resources I've used in the past few days to pull myself out of the "pit".

The first thing I did was listen to Jennifer Louden's Minimum Requirement of Self-Care audio.  Basically, she gives a gentle reminder to do the basics for yourself everyday.  Since I have hard time remembering to do that, I made a journal page of what I need to do, every day, in order to be the best I can be.  I've been looking at the journal page a few times each day, and it's working!  I'm remembering to take a minute and do one or two of the items.  I'm thinking of framing the journal page, or even making it into a poster.  Cause I need to hit myself over the head a few times each day to remind myself to take a minute.

Then, I got a lovely blog visit from Susan Branch.  She left a comment, complimenting me on my cookie sketch.  This meant so much to me.  Years ago, I bought her cookbook,The Summer Book, and I've loved her artwork ever since.  So to get a visit from her on my blog left me a bit starstruck.  And then I went to her blog and saw her post with a wonderful list of ways to take of oneself.  It's just what I needed to hear!

Amaryllis in Bloom

Finally, Frane came through and cheered me up!  Look at how beautiful she is in all her red, Christmas glory!

And so, I still feel like Scrooge, but it's the Scrooge who, at the end of the story, runs through the streets, wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas.  The Scrooge who takes Tiny Tim into his arms and buys a Christmas goose.  Find some joy today.  Give yourself a present.  Take care of yourself and remember to enjoy the season.  Happy Holidays!

Scrooge

Journal Page by Laura Bray

Today I'm having one of those days.  I'm on a deadline for a huge craft project that needs to go in the mail tomorrow.  So I'm working away on it and, in between painting and gluing, I'm doing loads of laundry, fixing lunch, and trying to think of ideas to keep my daughter busy.  As I lifted a basket of clothes (for my 100th trip to the laundry room), I thought, "I don't get paid enough for this."  How did I end up with this life?  Sure, most of the time I'm happy that I can balance being home with my daughter and working from home on craft design projects, but on really busy days, I wonder if it's really that great.  When I'm really busy with a job, but don't get to go to the office or a studio and just work.  How great would it be if I could only focus on ONE thing for a glorious 8 hours?  Yes, I know the grass is always greener.  I know that there are women in the workplace who would kill to be able to work from home and be there when their children get home from school. And, most of the time, I do feel lucky.  But on days like today, it's hard to remember to be grateful.

So that's my little fit, right in the middle of the holiday season. My own personal Scrooge day.

Speaking of the holidays, I spent Saturday baking cookies and then on Sunday I took a little time to myself and sketched my cookies.  I wanted to have record of what I baked this year.  I think the sketch looks very Susan Branch, don't you?

Amaryllis



Frane the Amaryllis.  Photo taken today.

One of our Advent Calendar activities was to buy an Amaryllis bulb and watch it grow. I've always wanted to force bulbs for the holidays, but have never been able to get my act together in the Fall to start the process.  Lucky for me, Trader Joe's had amaryllis bulbs already potted and started.  We bought ours a couple of weeks ago and it's turned out to be one of our favorite, new holiday traditions. 

Frane's sign

My daughter has named the plant Frane (pronounced Franny).  I told her plants like to be talked to, so she reads to Frane almost everyday. Apparently Frane is a big fan of Dr. Seuss, because she's growing quickly.  My daughter has been taking photos of Frane's progress and is eagerly awaiting the red flowers.  Turns out we have a regular science experiment going on here, cleverly disguised as Christmas activity.  I'm tricky that way.

Frane a week ago.  My how she has grown since then!

Clothespin Soliders & Aliens

Clothespin Christmas Soldiers

We made Clothespin Soldiers this weekend.  I dragged out all the supplies and my daughter and I painted away, sitting in our PJs and listening to Christmas music.  We used Plaid FolkArt paints. 

Clothespin Soldiers by Laura & Olivia Bray

Our soldiers aren't in traditional colors, we decided to go bright and wild and I love how they turn out.  They match my daughter's pine cone tree creation perfectly.

Pine Cone Christmas Tree by Olivia Bray

While we were crafting away, my nerdy, scientist husband couldn't resist and asked to join us.  He made a clothespin alien.  Nothing says Christmas like that right? 

Clothespin Alien by Bruce Bray

Seriously though, I love the alien and I just know that it's going to be a family keepsake.  Every year, we'll pull it out of the box and laugh.  You can't plan stuff like this, it just happens, and when it does, it's priceless.

Dress Shoe Makeover

Glitter Dress Shoes After Makeover

My daughter is really tough on her shoes.  At six, she's not growing out of them as quickly as she used to, but all the playing she does wears them out.  As you can see, she's done a real number on her dress shoes and, with the holidays coming up, we need dress shoes, but I hate to buy new ones when these still fit her.

Dress Shoes Before Makeover

So I decided to try to fix-up her shoes and see if I could eek one more holiday event out of them.  I know all the little girls want those sparkly shoes that are out right now, so I decided to go for that look.  Plus, the rough finish of glitter helps hide the dents and scuffs in our well-worn shoes.  I think the shoes recovered quite well.  Here's what I did:

Supplies:
Worn-out dress shoes
Plaid FolkArt Paint in Licorice
Plaid Extreme Glitter Paint in Black
Plaid FolkArt Paint in Lipstick Red
Plaid Extreme Glitter Paint in Red
Paint Brushes
Green felt scraps
Craft glue

Instructions:

1. Clean-off the shoes with a damp cloth and allow to dry.  Trim any material off that is hanging from the shoes.
2. Touch-up any worn or scuffed spots on the shoes with black paint.  (My shoes were black, just use the same base paint and Extreme Glitter colors to match the color of your shoes.)
3. Once the paint is dry, apply two coats of Extreme Glitter paint in Black.  Allow to dry about an hour between coats.
4. For the flower accents, I used Lipstick red paint on the flower petals, let it dry and then applied Red Extreme Glitter paint.  I wanted my flowers to look like poinsettias for the holidays.
5. Cut small leaves out of your green felt and glue under the flowers.

That's it.  Really simple.  Even easier if you don't have flower accents.  I'm thinking I need to go dig a pair of black pumps out of my closet and make myself some shiny shoes for New Year's Eve. 

Someone loves their new shoes so much, they can't stand still!

Watercolor Journal

Journal Page by Laura Bray

I'm having trouble finding time in my life for my creative pursuits.  Every morning I promise myself that I will spend a good chunk of time in my studio.  Then I sit down in front of my computer, start answering emails and doing little office tasks and the next thing I know, it's time to pick my daughter up from school and I haven't set foot in my studio.  It's very frustrating to me.  And I feel like I'm doing it on purpose on some level. 

Journal Page by Laura Bray

So I'm sitting here wondering why I'm blocked.  What was driving me to work in my sketchbook everyday a few weeks ago, and now I'm finding busy work to do instead?   Or am I being too hard on myself?  Always looking for a "reason" for my actions.  Maybe I really am busy with other things.  Do you play mind games with yourself too?

Journal Page by Laura Bray

Top Tips for Decorating a Christmas Tree

My Cupcake Christmas Tree

You know how you see photos of Christmas trees and they look so very elegant and "designer".  All the ornaments are the same color and theme?  Well, my main tree doesn't look like that.  I have a collection of ornaments, that was started when I was a child, and let's just say they don't match.  At all.  As much as I love the designer look, I have never been able to make myself leave my precious ornaments in the box and go out and buy a ornaments that were all matchy-matchy. 

Laura Bray's Cupcake Christmas Tree

But I do like a nice looking tree and over the years I've picked up some tips that give my tree a bit more polished look without sacrificing my hodge-podge ornament collection.  Here's what works for me.

1.  Start by buying matching balls.  Pick a color or two and buy a few boxes of plain, old, cheap balls.  Once your lights are on the tree, start hanging these balls in the inside branch of the tree.  In the end, it's going to give your tree the look of being packed full of ornaments and it's also going to give you a cohesive background that tricks the eye into thinking you actually do have a "theme" to your tree.

Laura Bray's Traditional Tree

2.  Buy some floral picks and stick those into the branches.  Stick with the color theme of your balls.  For example, on my big, traditional tree, I hang red & white balls and use large poinsettia floral picks.  The floral picks really fill in the tree.  Once you have both the balls and floral picks in, your tree is going to look very color-coordinated.

3.  With this beautiful, designer-style base, start adding your well-loved ornaments, but organize first!  To give your tree incredible visual interest and really show-off your collection, sort your ornaments by theme and hang them together.  I put all my gingerbread man ornaments together in one spot on the tree, then move to the next spot and have a little Santa section and so on.  You've probably read how impactful it is to display your collectibles together and this concept goes for your tree too.  Don't think you have a themed collection?  Guess again.  I was surprised to discover the number of Santa ornaments I had once I started making a pile.

Santa Ornament Collection

So those are my top tips for decorating a Christmas tree.  Do you have any to share?  To inspire you, I put together a Pinterest Board of my favorite Christmas trees on the web.  You can check it out here.  Happy tree trimiming!

Designer Connection: Sock Monkey Blog Hop

Sock Monkey by Laura Bray

It's time for the monthly Designer Connection blog hop and this month's theme is sock monkeys!  Remember the sock monkey I made for my daughter's birthday gift?  And how I had great success because I used When Creativity Knocks' Go BanANAs VideoBook to do it?  Well, the folks at When Creativity Knocks challenged all the designer to make sock monkeys and you aren't going to believe the results!

You also have a chance to win a prize!  Just go to the When Creativity Knocks' website.  There's a Member Log-In Box in the right sidebar.  Click on "Create an account"* and use Entry Code: Sock Monkey.  That's all you have to do for a chance to win this great prize package:

-Sock Monkeys Go BanAnas WCK VideoBook
-One (1) sewn Sock Monkey body ready to be stuffed
-One (1) pair of original Rockford Red Heel Socks
-Button Eyes, needle, floss and stuffing
Prize package worth over $40.00

*Signing-up for an account will get you on their mailing list so you can keep up to date on all their latest episodes and crafting advice. In fact, I write a regular column in their newsletter called Mommy & Me, so of course you are going to want to get it anyway, right?

My daughter loves her sock monkey.

If you can't wait to start making sock monkeys for holiday gifts, you can order the VideoBook here.  Use coupon code: sockmonkeybloghop and you'll get $2.00 off your purchase and a free 2012 WCK Go BanANAs eCalendar!

To see every one's sock monkey designs, visit my Sock Monkey Pinterest Board.  Be sure to click on the links as many of the designers have darling posts about the adventures their sock monkeys are taking!

And don't forget to visit the blogs of my Designer Connection collegues!  There's always something inspiring to see!  Just click "Hop Forward" on the button below.

[ DC Connection ]


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Hot Water Bottle Comfort

Our hot water bottle cover collection

We are all sick here. Terrible colds with sore throats and coughs and sniffles. I've personally been sick for three weeks and my daughter and husband are close behind at two weeks. When you are sick you are miserable. Everything hurts and you can't get comfortable. Unless, of course, you employ hot water bottles to the cause. In today's world, we're all trying to find "natural" cures and are looking back to our grandparents' day for solutions to our aches and pains. You can make all kinds of potions, but sometimes, all you really need to do is a fill a hot water bottle up with some warm water and get cozy under a quilt. We don't just use this remedy for colds either-we've found it works great for comforting someone after a long, hard day too.

Lamby Love

We have quite a collection of hot water bottles covers. The lamb cover (aka "Lamby") was my favorite before my daughter came along. I would walk in the door from a taxing day as a business consultant and declare, "I need Lamby!". The next thing I knew, hot water was boiling and I was cuddled up on the couch feeling much better. These days Lamby is my daughter's favorite. I've upgraded to a cashmere sweater cover and my husband has "Moosey Moose" to comfort him and melt away his aches and pains.

If you don't have a hot water bottle, please go out and buy one now. You can buy tons of cute covers or check-out the list of great tutorials for making our own on Tipnut. You are going to feel much better. I promise! These would make holiday gifts too. Comfort & Joy. Literally.