2012 The year of new crafts

Oh 2012, what a year you were! It's a full year now of us living in a new place (we love it here!). Discovering a new city and new people *plus several fellow crafty folk*. Going to new craft & arts fairs and venturing out on weekends. For myself, it's been discovering new sewing techniques, patterns and learning new skills.
~ I started to learn about applique and how to do this properly
~ How to better market my etsy goods for sale
~ Taking better photographs of my handy work
~ Visiting local craft fairs and meeting new people
~ Redesigning my craft room *just over the past month*
~ Learning more about 'zakka' and Japanese crafts

The above are some of my favorite things I made this year. I'll start from the top left:
~ Purple owl hand-held plush
~ A 'doodle stitching' embroidery of a cute hooded girl {doodle stitching by Aimee Ray here}
~ A zakka inspired bunny cell phone case
~ Felt food cake roll from a Japanese craft book

My etsy shop {sewingB} has done decent this year but I always wish it would pick up more new customers. Maybe I will try some small craft fairs in 2013, get my feet wet. I really can't handle large ones so I need to start small. And I already have several more items I want to list in my shop!

A beaded bib necklace in progress

Nearly finished tote bag

Mala/meditation bracelets

I hope the New Year finds you in good health and much happiness! Please feel free to write me ~ I love meeting new people and fellow crafters. Have a Happy Holiday everyone! 

Ribbon Powder Puff DIY

Hello, I hope this finds you well. And may I say to everyone ~ Happy Holidays! I simply can not believe it's already December. With all this gift wrapping, shopping and running around you might be feeling craft-deprived. So I put together a little something for an easy, simple and fun project. The supplies you need are: a 'puff' ball of your choice, ribbon of your choice, thread and needle, some sort of craft/fabric glue.
And if you are still shopping for handmade items, I offer *FREE* U.S.A. Shipping on all orders placed from my sewingB etsy shop. 
Let's get started on the DIY ribbon powder puff tutorial!

Step 1: pick your supplies out

Step 2: starting with the ribbon, cut length for the 'bow' part

Step 3: fold both ends to the middle

Step 4: pin ends in place

Step 5: we have our bow pinned, now cut a second ribbon

Step 6: pin both bow and ribbon in the middle, as shown

Step 7: cut a short piece of ribbon

Step 8: this short ribbon wraps around the middle (pin in place, sew)

Step 9: you now have a pretty bow, decide where you want it on the puff

Step 10: using your craft/fabric glue, glue the ribbon to the puff

Step 11: you are finished! one powder puff with pretty ribbon bow on top

Thank you for following, please return for more crafty blog posts!