Sewing a Village ~ New Felted Wool House

Happy Wednesday everyone!

R-Chee & I are so excited to show you the new house we just made to add to our growing up-cycled wool village!

Ta Da!

It even has a shingled roof made from scraps of leather from my slipper redo stash!

I just love how it turned out complete with a pug on the front waiting to greet us at the door!

Melanie and I are working on these new houses every time we craft together!

We made them at the craft retreat we just went on to her little house in the mountains in July!

Here is the one Melly made!

I just adore it!

The roof was created from the actual design on the wool sweater she upcycled!

See... those terrible holiday sweaters that always get teased about at holiday parties are not ugly!

We are hunting for them at every thrift store we visit!

Tee Hee!

I just cut out a few more from my pattern so I will be able to show you new ones again soon!

xoxoxo

Melissa & R-Chee

Batik Owl Pillow

Happy Monday everyone!

I am so excited to show you the new batik I just finished!

This is the 3rd batik I have made so far! 

In case you missed them, here are the links to my bull and rabbit pillows. :)

To make my owl, I sketched out a couple of ideas and then picked the one I liked the best to draw in pencil on a piece of cotton fabric.

After I sketched him out, I painted on the gutta resist to save the white lines and then started painting in the color with the fabric dyes.

When it was all done, I sewed it on to a 20 x 20 green pillow that I had just asking to be decorated! :)

My final step was to hand-sew an orange pom pom trim border!

Voila!

A new pillow to add to my decor!

I just love how it turned out!

It was so much FUN to do that I already have my 4th one in the works!

I promise to have it ready to show it to you next week!

What FUN things are you doing this week?

Please leave me a note and let us know!

We cannot wait to hear all about them!

xoxoxo

Melissa & R-Chee

Friday Funnies ~ Archie's Oodles of Noodles & Doodles

Happy Friday everyone!

It is me...

R-Chee!

I have been sitting here all morning at the kitchen table under my momma's feet!

I am waiting for them to move to signal to me that it is time for lunch to be served! :)

I have a menu request for spaghetti & meatballs!

I wonder if I will get any!

My momma has been doodling in her new urban journal that auntie Lynne inspired her to make!

Today she is doodling Florence Italy from a photo that dad took of the Piazza!

Ta Da!

She says doodling & coloring with watercolors is a very FUN way to start the day!

She has no expectations of where her sketch will take her except hopefully to the center of the square in Italy! :)

Hey momma, while you are there, will you pick me up a pepperoni pizza too?

Well... you cannot blame a puggy for trying!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

What FUN things do you have planned?

Please leave me a note and let me know!

I cannot wait to hear all about them!

xoxoxo

R-Chee

My Updo Bag Project ~ The Knitted Bag Redo

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Just like R-Chee & I promised on Monday, here is the 4th bag we redid together while sitting in the Summer sun & shade provided by our patio umbrella!

We are having so much FUN making up new projects for us to learn things about and share with you!

Today, we are going to show you the new zipper we learned to sew into our already knitted bag!

You can use this tutorial we found to sew a zipper into any crocheted, knitted or fabric project!

All you have to do is measure the opening of your bag or pouch and buy a zipper that is 1" or 2" longer.
Then just follow the directions of the tutorial to pin and hand or machine sew in your zipper.

We chose to hand sew ours as I am not a super confident sewer on my sewing machine! :)

After I sewed in our powder blue zipper, I decided to sew some orange pom pom trim around the bag to give it a more whimsical look.

Ta Da!

What do you think?

I was so amazed at how easy it was to do!

Now I have a brand new purse or project bag to enjoy!

What new things have you taught yourself to do this Summer?

Please leave us a note and let us know!

We cannot wait to learn them too!

Thank you for always sharing with us!

R-Chee and I are so lucky to have friends like you that we can play with and have our own art camp with all year long!

xoxoxo

Melissa & R-Chee

My Updo Bag Project ~ Messenger Bag Redo #3

Happy Monday everyone!

R-Chee & I have been busy making FUN projects we wanted to do this Summer together before the busy Fall & Winter seasons start! :)

Last week we showed you two bags we gave a second life to by adding fabric & pom pom embellishments from our stash!

Now we have two more to show you this week! :)

Here is the front of the 3rd bag that I made a bit more colorful by painting non-toxic fabric dyes on the front, inside and side flaps. :)

Then I decorated it with a cross stitch I started 20+ years ago but never finished!  

This cross stitch kit was huge!  Like 18 x 24 huge that I just knew I would never get back to so I got out my scissors, fabric glue and binding and made a patch out of the part I did complete. :)


The only problem was that the bottom corner still had a blank spot.

So... to hide it, I just did the same thing to a little silk embroidery I had and I made a patch for my patch!

This is the fabric glue I use by Dritz.

It is called Unique Stitch and I just love it!

I can always find it at Joanns.com

The final touch to complete my bag was to use the Unique Stitch fabric glue to attach 2 vintage pot holders from my stash onto a piece of yellow craft felt, glue a ribbon border around the craft felt, a pom pom border around the ribbon and the two orange pom poms at the bottom corners. :)

Please come back on Wednesday to see our 4th bag we redid!

R-Chee and I will show you how we spruced up this bag that I knitted several years ago, but decided it needed a little more to make it truly complete! :)

xoxoxo

Melissa & R-Chee

Friday Funnies ~ Shake, Shake Shake Your Booty R-Chee!

Happy Friday everyone!

It is me...

R-Chee!

Guess what I am doing today?

I am learning how to shake my booty!

It seems I have some new competition for cuteness in the house and I need to get up to speed fast!

Auntie Melanie found these salt & pepper shakers at t a flea market for $6 if you can believe it and surprised my momma with them as a gift!

You can only imagine the smiles these two puggies created!

...and so now I had better get to shaking my booty too to keep up with the "new neighbors" so to speak. :)

What FUN things are you up to this weekend?

Please leave me a note and let me know!

I cannot wait to hear all about them as I practice my new moves!

xoxoxo

Archie

My Updo Bag Project ~ Messenger Bag Redo #2

Happy Wednesday everyone!

On Monday I showed you the first of several bags I decided to give a second life to by simultaneously clearing out some of my fabric stash while practicing my sewing skills at the same time this Summer. :)

Today, I am so excited to show you the second bag I redid just by sewing on another retro napkin that I got at a garage sale and a scrap of pug doll fabric from my stash!

Just like the inside of the first one, I added a couple of internal pockets by sewing on a change purse I purchased at Quit-A-Fair a few years ago and a vintage appliqued tea towel that I got on Ebay ages ago! :)

The final touch was to add a row of orange pom pom trim to the front edge!

Ta Da!

The two bags are pretty similar in style, but I like how they match each other without being exactly the same.

Next week I will show you the last two bags I redid.

I am so proud of myself because I even added a zipper to one of them which I never thought I could do!

Thank goodness for the internet and all of its wonderful resources!  I just googled how to sew in a zipper and ...

Voila... I found this tutorial that showed me that even I could do this! :)

What new things have you learned to do this Summer?

Please leave me a note and let me know!

I cannot wait to hear all about them!

xoxoxo

Melissa

Updo Your Favorite Bag ~ Messenger Bag Redo #1

Happy Monday everyone!

I cannot believe we are starting the last week of July already!

The Summer is just flying by!

When I sat down to write this post I realized that I think part of the reason the Summer has gone so fast is that I have been at art camp this whole time!

Even though the one I had planned to go to with Melanie was cancelled by the people running it, we went anyway!

We went to Melly's mountain cabin and crafted together all weekend!

Besides not letting that stop us from our crafts & learning we also took a fabulous Batik class together!

I also realized that I set my whole Summer into a perfect crafting motion this past Spring by closing my eyes and making a whole wishlist of projects I wanted to do and learn in the coming months.

I am having so much FUN doing each one and actually checking them off of the list!

One of my wishes was to practice sewing and feeling more comfortable with my sewing machine in addition to the hand sewing I have always enjoyed doing since I was a little girl.

As I was organizing my craft closet I found several wonderful bags I have collected over the years to carry projects and art supplies in.

What a perfect way practice sewing!

Without having to spend any $, I decided to "updo" them with my scraps of craft stash to make them into brand new bags!

The one at the top of the this post is the first one I did!

All I did to remake my plain burgandy canvas messenger bag was to take an old vintage napkin and sew it down to the front flap with a remnant of my pug doll fabric that I made into a pug patch!

To remake the inside, I sewed a few pot holders and patches that I had collected & made and turned them into pockets and patches!

...and what project would not be complete without a pom-pom trim? :)

I think I have been putting pom poms on everything I have been making this Summer!

Ha Ha! :)

I liked how it turned out so much that I did several more and will show them all to you in the coming days. :)

What FUN things are you up to this week as we begin the last full month of Summer?

Please leave me a note and let me know!

R-Chee & I cannot wait to hear all about your plans!

xoxoxo

Melissa & R-Chee

Friday Funnies ~ 2 Colorful Characters!

Happy Friday everyone!

It is me...

R-Chee here with my bird brother, Gilbert!

He would not stop singing at the top of his lungs this morning until he got to come and blog with me today!

Chirp Chirp says Gilbert !!!

"Hello and Happy Friday to you!"

I spend most of my day perched above R-Chee in my luxury apartment cage watching my silly pug brother clown around!

R-Chee just got tummy scratches when he rolled over so I think I should get some too!

What do you think?

Momma says we are two colorful characters just like the colors of the rainbow that light up her day!

Dad captured this photo of a double rainbow the other day on his way home!

I guess then this is a photo of me and R-Chee playing together outside in the warm summer air!

How FUN!

What FUN things are you doing this weekend?

Please leave us a note and let us know!

We cannot wait to hear all about them!

xoxoxo

R-Chee & Gilbert

Cutie Patootie ~ Pug Snuggles from Coast to Coast!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

R-Chee & I are so excited to have you meet & greet some of our wonderful furiends from coast to coast who have recently shared their FUN photos with us! :)

Meet Walter & Beluah from OH enjoying their custom made Buckeyes dog sweater vests that we made for them this Spring!

Tweedles, in OR, just loves her tote bag!  

She is very busy this Summer watching over her mom's yarn stash to make sure all of the colors of the rainbow are fully stocked at all times! :)

...and Zack & Zelda in NM are beating the heat by napping in the one & only original pug cave that inspired R-Chee's!

Thank you so much for playing with us and sharing all of your photos!

We would love to see your favorite photos too!

Please feel free to contact us anytime with them!

Hearing from you always makes our day!

xoxoxo

Melissa & R-Chee