Here's another shameless plug for all of the design work I've been doing.

The last few weeks I've been focusing a lot on hand-lettering. I named the collection Thesaurus, because each kit has eight different ways to say one thing. Here are a few of my favorites.

{oh, hello! kit: $1.99}

{so pretty! kit: $1.99}

{play with me! kit: $1.99}

{oh, baby! kit: $1.99}

{gee, thanks! kit: $1.99}

{oh, sweet! kit: $1.99}

Can you tell that I'm obsessed with cursive & calligraphy? Today is "release day" for this kit, so you can buy the entire collection here at 30% off ($6.99) for the next 24 hours.

I don't design with an eye so much toward scrapbooking as toward general print applications.  This word art and the rest of my Digital Design House work is meant to be versatile enough to use on web pages, personal cards, silkscreens, iron-ons or anything decorative. I get a lot of inspiration from seeing my artwork in action, so let me know what you do with these kits! I'm a sucker for uploads to the flickr group and/or comments.

Last week, I wrote about hosting a little friendly contest over at IS•LY's flickr group, and I'm totally serious about it. Seriously, serious. Here's the deal. . . I really want you to post your handmade projects (whatever they may be) in the flickr pool. Seriously, I just get so excited to see what other people are making, and how creative you guys are! Please show me! So if you show me something you've made, and I'm just in love with it, I'll send you this hand-bound book and some hand-drawn/designed stickers. Sounds like fun, right? So this month, only one winner will be chosen, and I will announce that winner next Wednesday, March 3rd. Here are the contest details:

• Items must be made and photographed by you (unless you're the one modeling the handmade item - but please, don't hire a professional).
• Photos must be uploaded and added to the flickr group by Sunday February 28, 2010 at 11:59pm MST.
• Judging is subjective and as non-biased as possible. Entries will be judges by yours truly & Susan Petersen.
• (1) Winner will be announced March 3, 2010.
• International entries are allowed.
• Multiple entries are encouraged.
• Comments on this post are NOT entries.
• To enter, join IS•LY's flickr group (click here) and add your photos to the pool.

Bonnes Chance, everybody. Next month's prize is going to be even awesomer, by the way. ;)

I'm really excited about Thrifty & Chic! Last week I was just thrilled to read all about your thrifty adventures. Thank you so much for sharing them with me. Seriously, keep it up. I love a good thrift story. This last weekend my friend, Susan, was so kind to let me tag along with her and Caitlin (super cute interior decorator with tons of great ideas) on an awesome thrifting/antiquing adventure. We headed up to the antique show up in Ogden and just ooh-ed and ahh-ed over nearly every single piece on display. There were some stunning pieces of furniture that would've looked so charming in my multi-million dollar dream home. You know, the one? The one that's in the Presidio in SF. I think my favorite part of the whole excursion was discovering vaseline glass. It's made out of uranium and glows neon green under black lights. SO rad. I feel a little lame I didn't take my cool camera with me, but I did manage to snap a few pics of some things I thought were awesome. If you'd like to see it, check out my whrrl story about it. Although the prices weren't bargain basement awesome, Susan and I still walked away victorious. See, I've been just dying for a felt cloche. I've wanted one since I discovered the handmade cloche hats of Behida Dolic. OH. MY. GOODNESS. They're stunning. If I were a million times richer, I would buy every single hat in her shop. I'm sure you'll agree with me. Since I can't justify the $300+ price tag, I've been searching high and low for one that's just right. I snatched up my little hat for $17. Not bad, right? I'm not usually one to spend over $6 on any item of clothing, but I was surely willing to make an exception for this beauty. After antiquing we did some more thrifting. This was where we found the bulk of our goodies. Luck was surely in our favor. Or mine. Susan found the most awesome moccasins, but they were my size, not hers. I'm sure she was re-evaluating our friendship at that point, but lucky for me she's a forgiving soul. I'm just gushing about my new moccasins. Who $6 could be this hip? I went a little crazy with the melamine plates. There are many things that make my heart all gushy, and one of them is good old melamine. There's something about the bright colors and smooth finish that I just LOVE. I think I'm going to plan Penelope's second birthday around these colors. The lady at the checkout stand was really, really nice to me and gave them to me for 33¢ a piece rather than the usual 50¢. Sweet. Did you find any good deals over the weekend? Please share in the comments, or email me! I'd love to hear!

I'm pretty sure the Purl Bee's free rose barrette pattern has taken the crafting scene by storm. I first saw it here (how cute, right?) and in the week since, I've seen little rosebuds popping up all over the place. I've made a few since seeing the tutorial, and last night I thought I would change things up a bit by attaching 3 of the rose buds to a headband. So easy. I used darker felt and enlarged the pattern for the one in the middle, for contrast. I really like my new headband! I may just wear it through the whole weekend. Like my new 'do? My sister cut and colored my hair on Monday. I'm loving it! She always does such a great job! Well. . .  there was that one time when I was 12 and she was 16 . . . she gave me a mullet. But, that may have been intentional because I was an annoying 12 year old. I hope you have a crafty weekend. If you make something, be sure to post it to the flickr group! You might win something if you do! Cheers.

Chris and I use the term obvi all the time. We're much too lazy to pronounce the extra two syllables to say "obviously". We're hip like that. Last night I made napkins for the first time ever. They're so easy, why haven't I made them before?!? I had a bunch of coarse linen floating around, I thought why not? I looked like I had enough fabric for six napkins, but turns out I was about 2 inches shy of getting my set. Guess I'm going back to the fabric store for more! At least I was able to make four of them so I could take some pretty pictures. They're much better than my dark charcoal napkins. I feel like they're not as starchy and stiff. Funny, I dress up my table more for photos than I do for company. Sad, right? Well, since I have the table all set up, I may as well surprise Chris and make dinner a little fancier than usual. Maybe tonight's dinner will make up for my lack of plans on Valentines. I was SO pathetic on Sunday, we ate tuna sandwiches and crackers. I didn't even really make him a valentine. Not really. I've still got to finish it and share it with you first. I was really pleased how the natural fabric goes with the orange thread I used. They're a little on the plain side right now, but I'll be silkscreening them soon. Really soon. I just have to nail down the design first. I'll keep you posted. Do you like the skinny napkin rings? I found a set of 10 of them at a thrift store for 25¢ total. Awesome, hu? I like the natural wood color, but there will always be a part of me that wants to spray paint them a crazy color. Like teal. {P.S. Don't mind that there are only three glasses in the last photo. I broke the fourth glass while taming the twigs. I'm clumsy.}

I'm starting a new column here on IS•LY dedicated entirely about finding awesome things on the cheap. I really hope you enjoy reading it as much as I'm excited about sharing it with you. Many of you who know me personally, know that I'm a very thrifty person. A lot of this comes from my mom; she's the quintessential frugal woman. She learned as a stay-at-home mom while my dad was in school to make do & stretch every dollar. Even when the success fairy bestowed my parents with a comfortable living, my mom still made it a point to keep spending at a minimum and saving at a maximum. I remember being so embarrassed when my mom would take me thrift shopping for clothes, etc. I just wasn't as creative back then, and now I've made a complete 180! I just itch for any chance to go and peruse the aisles for hidden treasures. This Saturday I went with Susan on a sans-kids thrifting excursion. She was looking for a desk, and I was looking for a side table. Neither of us were successful finding exactly what we were looking for, but we still scored some awesome goodies anyway. These shoes might be the reason why I'm starting this little column. I am so excited about them, I'd make up any excuse to share them with you. These shoes are all leather, made in Brazil (my favorite country ever), remind me of some shoes my mom used to have AND they were $3. Score? SCORE! Are you the type of person to gossip to all of your friends about the good deals you find? If so, please consider me your closest friend and best listener. I want to hear all about it!

A little history: When I was 12 or so, my mom found a pom pom kit that she used ages ago. I tried making pom poms out of it (there may have been Japanese instructions), failed miserably and gave up. Then just over a year ago, I saw an adorable post by Jenn over at Ambrosia Girl about kid friendly Christmas Decorating ideas by Martha. They were all pom poms. I died. I made a bunch of white poms for my Christmas tree. Then I made a bunch of poms for winter hats. Then I made more poms for my Christmas tree this year. Then ALT happened. At ALT, I met so many cool people with fabulous style. Each person was trendier than the next, wearing unique handmade jewelery and accessories to make anyone swoon. One of the many stand out pieces that I remember was Erin's necklace. I remember things like that. Erin had the raddest embroidered necklace on from etsy seller spinthread. I want one. As soon as I got home to some internet, I googled spinthread and was delighted to find so many cool things! Mostly I was blown away by her pom pom headbands and her crazy curly hair. You need to check it out. AND buy one of her headbands. Too bad they're not in my budget. Boo.

My sister modeling the elastic pom since my hair is far too short for that sort of thing. Isn't she so pretty?

I had to make some sort of accessory right away with a pom pom. I'm such a copy cat. I used some of my yarn stash (very small) to make one, but I wasn't getting the volume that I had hoped for. Then it struck me, I have 5 yards of white jersey fabric, why not cut strips and use those to make the poms? It was perfect. I'm going to make my pom poms out of jersey from now on. For sure. There are a few tricks to getting it just right, so I thought I'd include a little tutorial on how to make them, just in case anyone else is interested in making some outlandishly large poms for head ornaments.

Materials: scissors, needle & sturdy thread, cardboard sheet ~ 3x5 inches, knit fabric cut into 1/2 inch strips

When cutting fabric, cut strips parallel to the stretch so each strip. Run each strip through your fist, stretching the material slightly. Each strip will curl around itself, forming a hollow string.

Wrap each string around the card. The longer the card, the larger the pom. Don’t worry that the string isn’t continuous, just keep layering each segment on top of the other.    

  Once you get a nice pile of jersey wrapped around the card, you’re ready to tie it off. Before removing the pile of strings, tie one side of the loop off. This helps to keep the strings organized when you pull it off the cardboard. Carefully remove the pile of strings from the cardboard. Tie the entire bundle with string as TIGHTLY as possible. You may need some extra hands for this part. With your awesome sewing scissors, cut each loop in half. You’ll want to do this over a garbage can, it gets messy. After you’ve cut each loop, fluff the material out to make a ball. Trim the ball down to a round sphere, fluffing as you go.

Penelope loves this headband, even though the pom is nearly the size of her head. I can't get enough of her wearing the headband, either. I think I'm going to be making more. LOADS more.

• Put them on headbands, elastic bands, teeshirts, newborns or in a basket for admiring. Enjoy.

To download this tutorial, Please click the download button above. This tutorial is free for personal use only. Thanks!

Ok, I sort of alluded to it last week, but it's official now. I started a flickr group called 'I Still Love Handmade'. Fitting, no? I've been thinking a lot about starting one; but mostly since the community building session at Alt. I think it might be a little fun for you to do some showing and telling. It may end up being a time suck for just me, because I just love to see what you've been up to.

{click on the image above to join the flickr group}

In celebration of the new flickr group, I'm hosting a little competition this month! Whoever wins the best flickr group photo for the month of February will get all sorts of cool prizes. I haven't picked out the prizes, but rest assured there will be a hand-bound book, some calligraphy and other goodies in there. You're going to like it. PROMISE. So please, join my little group and show off what you've made! It can be anything! A drawing, a refashioned shirt, the awesome dinner you made last night, you get the idea! Please post a picture or 12, just as long as it's made by you, photographed by you and very PG.

I really hope you'll participate. I'll keep you posted as I figure out what exactly will go to the winner. This contest ends February 28 at 11:59pm MST. Winners will NOT be chosen randomly. 3 judges (me & two other guest judges) will vote on a winner. Judges' entries are not considered part of the contest. Multiple entries are encouraged. You must have a flickr account and entries MUST be added to the flickr group pool to be entered. Am I forgetting anything? Sheesh. Comment or email if you have questions. Good Luck!

I like thrift shopping. A lot. Last week I was in the little boys department looking for my favorite button-ups (for me) when I found the most adorable button up in greenish-teal plaid. I had to have it. It was a boy's size 8, which is too small for me, and too big for Penelope. I bought it anyway. It was just too cute. Maybe Penelope will fit into it in 6 years? After I brought it home, I knew that in 6 years not only would fashion be different, but she'd be dressing herself by then. I had to make it fit her now so I could take advantage of my great thrift find. So, what do I always do? Make it work. Sorry for the crappy before & during photos. I couldn't wait for decent lighting to work on the project. Here's what I did in list form:

• lay the shirt flat
• cut out the sleeves
• lay one of Penelope's shirts over the new shirt
• marked the waist & shoulder measurements & cut
• cut the sleeve to 3" long on inseam
• cut a 1" strip of biased tape - for sleeve hem
• cut 2 strips out of sleeve remnants for ruffle
• zig zag stitched edges of ruffle
• gathered ruffle
• attached ruffle
• stitched sides up
• gathered sleeves
• sewed sleeves to the shirt
• sewed biased tape to sleeve hem
• cut strip of jersey fabric for waist tie
• zig-zag stitched all seams

This project cost $1 to make & took just under an hour. I would've finished it sooner, if Chris hadn't started watching Lost. Sheesh. I paired her new shirt dress with skinny jeans (Check out Susan's tutorial on skinnies) and saddle shoes on Friday (below) and then paired the shirt dress with bloomers, leggings and saddle shoes on Sunday (above). I love this color on her so much, but not as much as I love her. Ooo, she's such a cutie.

Many of you who know me, know that I'm not a scrapbooker. My mom has always been the one with the eye & the patience for scrapbooking. She's awesome at it. I do, however, have an unhealthy obsession with scrapbooking supplies. In the last 8 or so years, I'd say the scrapbooking industry has really come into its own. Papers & embellishments no longer boast of unsightly forest greens and maroons and the artwork is artwork, not some automatically generated microsoft clipart on repeat. Ew. Scrapbooking is all about pretty these days. No? I have a friend who works at We R Memory Keepers in the product design and development end of things. She's been back and forth from Salt Lake City and China a few times in the last few months in preparation for last week's CHA. WRM has been very busy coming out with new papers & tools to make our eyeballs pop out of their sockets. What you see above and below is a small fraction of what they've been working on. When Jen gave me the samples* to play with, I could tell she was really excited (and proud) of what they're releasing to stores soon. Aren't these papers and embellishments fun? I think I need to host a baby girl shower soon. I think these papers would be so cute cut out into little doilies for serving cupcakes. The stamps would be an easy & inexpensive way to add color & cute to black and white printed invitations. The pink flower lace you see above is adhesive backed. AND Glittery. Isn't that genius?!? Use that for a closure on an envelope or wrapped gift. Awesome, right? So, I didn't have time to plan and/or execute a baby shower, but I did have time to spruce up Penelope's room a bit. Remember the scalloped border I did a couple of weeks ago? First, I just want to tell you how much I loved your comments. I loved hearing from you & I really appreciate how nice you are to me. Thank you! Second, the scalloped border was getting a little lonely. A lot lonely. He needed a friend up there by the ceiling, so I made a little mobile for the Nels. This particular arrangement was heavily inspired by this beautiful nursery I saw here. I was just blown away at how gorgeous it was & had to have it. . . part of it, at least. I made tissue pom poms via Martha Stewart, attached them to ribbon and stapled them to the ceiling. Then, I cut a million and a half irregular circles out of the WRM Hippity Hoppity paper and sewed them together. Sewing paper is tremendously easy and SUPER satisfying. If you haven't done it, try it. NOW. You don't need any special equipment, a threaded sewing machine would do just fine. You can't tell from the picture, but the little circles spin around gently from even the softest little breeze. It's so mesmerizing. If you don't have a sewing machine, or you're too afraid you'd mess up the paper trying, you could buy pre sewn paper from WRM. I was just a little giddy when I saw the 12x12 sewn sheets of paper. Did I mention that I love sewn paper? It's wonderful! Not wanting to cut up this perfect piece of paper, I wanted to do something with the whole sheet. Again, I'm not a scrapbooker, so a pretty 12x12 with pictures of the Nels on it won't happen. A door sign with almost all of Penelope's nicknames was just what the doctor ordered. Penelope really has so many little nicknames, and they're all just so cute, so I did a hand-calligraphed cloud of her nicknames. When I showed Chris, he let out an audible, "ooOOoooOOoo!" That made me feel so good inside. The above paper is a nice cardstock, so I just needed some double-stick some tape, ribbon and a thumb tack to post it to Penelope's door. It's thick enough that it doesn't look silly all by itself, but I have to admit it would look cute framed in swirly gold. *note: I received free product.