Crafty Cara's Blog

Blues Brothers Flash Mob

craftycara — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 05:14:14 +0000

So, my sister in law sent me a video of a flash mob which turns into a wedding and was totally like “wedding idea!” At first it seemed really fun, but later came to the conclusion that, in fact, I actually don’t want complete strangers at my wedding. So, I thought maybe instead I could choreograph a dance to have spontaneously erupt at my own private wedding by my friends and family! My fiance and I love the Blues Brothers and all along I had been planning to use their music somehow in the wedding reception but just didn’t know how. So, I was thinking today about having to the song “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love” to be performed by my fiance and his best man as we welcome everyone to the reception (maybe with some backup dancers) and then maybe later on we can all perform a rehearsed dance to “Shake Your Tailfeather!” Well, it is just in the idea stages right now, but I am pretty excited about it so far. To get you in the spirit too, I’m posting this video from the movie in which there really is a fun flash mob that happens. (This is kind of the norm for musicals. Ah, how I love musicals.)

1/11/11

craftycara — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 01:32:57 +0000

It comes and it goes. Pretty cool number, right? Not as cool as 11/11/11 is gonna be though.

Tradition

craftycara — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 03:19:17 +0000

My dad started a tradition in my family. You see, he wanted to be an artist when he was young but came to his senses and studied chemistry and engineering instead. He now has his masters and a PhD, but once a year he goes back to the the passion of his youth and he paints. As kids, my brothers and I would paint alongside my father, inspired by Bob Ross (oh there’s happy little cloud). We would start out by slathering on a white base and slowly bring the picture forward. My dad would come around and see how we were doing and usually take over for a while making us look really talented when we brought them in to show off in art class.

Starting in high school we made this a sort of permanent tradition. We paint at Christmas. We go out and buy some canvasses and usually more acrylics (lots of white) and give them to my dad as an early Christmas present. A week before Christmas we are supposed to pick out what we want to paint, but I always wait until the last minute.

This year we had to paint at Thanksgiving. As we get older it is harder to come together for every holiday, but amazingly we manage to see each other at least once a year even with one of my brothers and his wife in Texas, and my youngest brother practically in Canada. So this year we had a big family Thanksgiving and so moved our painting schedule up for the festivities. We have a family art gallery in the stair well of our house, and paintings are all overlapping each other. That is, except for my dad’s paintings. They are all framed and hung around the house. He is kind of good and usually paints with oils instead of acrylics which I guess is harder? Or maybe just a matter of taste.

Anyway, I thought I would share my inspiration for this past year’s painting of mine and show you the finished product as well. I think this was the most difficult painting for me. I even started completely over at one point. Unlike Thomas Jefferson, “putting up and pulling down” is not among my favorite amusements. It is frustrating. I think it was so difficult because I was trying to paint realistically. In the end, this comic book style works for me, all except for my depiction of Molly which leaves something to be desired.

The original picture taken by me at Appomattox Court House NHP of my fiance and our dog Molly in the rain.

Inspiration

My artistic adaptation done with acrylics and lots of patience.

So you can see I am not really an artist, but I enjoy doing it (most of the time) and usually love the outcome. Maybe you could start a tradition with your family and friends, too.

Here are a few previous paintings of mine as well. Maybe they will inspire you to try painting for yourself.

2009

2008

2006

Also, here are some of my family’s paintings. You can see we all have our own styles.

Mom 2009

Dad 2008

Timothy 2008

Jonathan 2008: Incomplete portait of us as children (I'm the baby)

Christopher 2008

Dad 2008

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you have a great Monday!

The Obstacle

craftycara — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 04:30:03 +0000

As promised, here is what lies ahead for me. My future sewing nook.

My future sewing nook

Happy cleaning!

Epiphany

craftycara — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 06:27:04 +0000

My new Brother CS6000i came today! I am so thrilled. I unpacked it today and it is temporarily living on the dining room table. I am hoping to clear off the desk downstairs (I’ll have to post a picture of the task at hand) and make it into my new sewing nook.
Also, today (actually the 6th, I’m just up late/early) is my mom’s birthday! We went to see The Drowsy Chaperone at a local community theater in town and my brother actually didn’t completely hate it. Good show. I am so bad because I saw it on Broadway a few years ago and just can’t help but compare the two performances but it was really fun and my mom and I enjoyed it overall! Oh, I miss being involved in theater!
I hope you all had a good Epiphany. Tomorrow (today) our Christmas tree and all other decorations come down. Sad day. But, I do have my new sewing machine to cheer me up! I hope you all have something to cheer you as well. If not, why not make something? If you make something and want to share it, go ahead and take a picture and post it or send me a link! I’d love to see it!

Happy End of the Holiday Season!

~Crafty Cara

Back from the Holidays

craftycara — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 05:59:03 +0000

I got to visit my fiance in New Jersey for Christmas and had a wonderful holiday! Family traditions are a funny thing and even though ours are a bit different we both made strides to accommodate the other. We all got oranges in our stockings (my family tradition) and we weren’t allowed out of our rooms in the morning until his parents said it was ok so we wouldn’t spoil the surprise that Santa had come (his tradition). I learned something also. His family knows how to do Christmas. I was amazed at the piles of presents under the tree and felt like one of the family getting spoiled with things I never knew I needed until I opened them Christmas morning. Ah! Bliss! Cookies! Feasting! Playing in the snow with my puppies! Vacation! What a lovely trip!

When I cam home my parents gave me this picture:

Merry Christmas, Cara! Love, Mom & Dad

Not quite what I was hoping for, but as it turns out it was an invitation for me to pick out any sewing machine I wanted! Luckily, I had been researching moderately priced sewing machines for a few months by then and came across the Brother CS600i which has glowing reviews. I am happy to say this is what will be coming in the mail in a few days!

CS6000i My first sewing machine!

I am excited to make some of my DIY projects go a bit faster with this new sewing machine. There are also numerous projects I had not even attempted to try by hand before that I can’t wait to make with this little machine! The sad part is, I haven’t used a sewing machine since home ec in middle school. I’m going to need to take a sewing class or watch lots of tutorials on youtube and study the manual before I can really get started.

Some projects I hope to make are:

Napkin Flatware Rolls

Cottage Chic Cooking Apron

Any suggestions on where to start? At least I’m trying, right? I am so excited to learn how to use my new sewing machine. I wish it would get here sooner! Did you get everything you wanted this Christmas?

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with those you love. Happy New Year! May it be filled with laughter, joy, and creativity!

~Crafty Cara

Cute Winter Hats

craftycara — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 01:23:50 +0000

So my fiance bought me a Knifty Knitter hat loom for Christmas a few years back and I love it! Otherwise the only thing I can knit are scarves. I like to embellish them with ribbons and also, thanks to my new Knifty Knitter flower maker, yarn flowers! These hats make perfect Christmas gifts.

I used yarn instead of raffia to make the flowers for a softer look, also I didn’t have any raffia. Then I followed the instructions. You just need 2 different colors of yarn so the middle shows up. I always use too much. I’d rather that then not enough. These are how they turned out.

Yarn Flowers

In order to attach these flowers to the hats, I sewed them onto safety pins.

Sew to safety pin

Pretty cute, huh?

Winter hats

Only a few more weeks ’till Christmas! Happy December! Happy crafting!

Sound Check

craftycara — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 13:37:55 +0000

So I am home from work today. This makes me very sad because I love my job but I do have a slight problem. I am a tour guide without a voice. Laryngitis, ladies and gentlemen, has stolen the sound that once escaped from my lips. But it comes as a nice gift. My birthday is in 2 days so I actually have time to clean the house, cooks something delicious and maybe even get a little creative.

Hopefully I’ll have something up soon. In the mean time check out this other cool blog I have just started exploring.

Also please check out Style Fluxus, created by one of my dearest friends!

Do something you love today!

Tutus: Finally!

craftycara — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:16:31 +0000

So about a month or so ago, I finally decided to attempt to make tutus. I went to Jo-Ann Fabric and bought some tulle. I have 2 little cousins and I think these will make good Christmas presents. I watched this video and looked on a few other blogs to see how to make them.

Mine turned out like this.

Thea's tutu (It's purple and white cause she is so over pink)

Ainsleigh's tutu- pink and white

Thea’s was the first one I made and I bought elastic and sewed it in a loop, but I was unsure of her size.

Sewing the elastic

For Ainsleigh’s I used a head band which I think worked even better. (Scroll down for next picture to see what I’m talking about.)

I used scissors, a measuring tape, 3 yards of pink/purple tulle each, 1 yard of white tulle each and a headband to make the tutu itself, then I added little embellishments which I can show you in a bit.

My tools

I folded the tulle and then rolled it.

Rolling the tulle

Then I measured 3 inches and cut. I did this every 3 inches down the whole roll.

Cutting the strips

I cut it all until I ended up with these.

3 inch tulle rolls

Then I unrolled them and cut them in half to make strips. For Thea’s I just unrolled them to leave them longer, but ended up having to cut them at the end to make them a bit shorter.

Cutting rolls into strips

I did this with my pink and white tulle until I had all of this.

Tulle strips

Then I put the elastic headband around a roll of paper towels to begin tying the tulle strips on.

Paper towel roll with headband

I then began tying the tulle strips on to the elastic. I have a picture here that is a bit blurry from when I made Thea’s tutu but you can see I just basically folded the strip in half, tucked the loop side under the elastic and then pulled the rest of the tulle through, securing it in place.

Tying on the tulle

I tried out a few different patterns of white and purple/pink and ended up with 2 purple and 1 white for Thea’s and then 3 pink then 1 white for Ainsleigh’s. I also triple layered Ainsleigh’s, using 3 tulle strips for each knot, making it fuller.

Thea's Pattern- 2 purple, 1 white repeating

Ainsleigh's Pattern- 3 pink, 1 white repeating

Once I finished making the tutus themselves, I chose to add little embellishments because I thought they looked a bit plain on their own.

Plain tutus

I chose purple flower buttons for Thea’s and mirror jewel buttons for Ainsleigh’s.

I sewed the purple flowers on at different heights around the skirt so they didn’t look too formal.

Purple flower button

I sewed them all around the skirt.

"randomly spaced" flowers

For Ainsleigh’s tutu I used these.

Mirror jewel buttons

I sewed them on in a similar pattern, spaced evenly around the skirt.

Mirror Jewels sewed onto the tutu

So I finally did it. I finally made the tutus I had been yearning to make for months now. They didn’t take long, maybe a few hours and were lots of fun. If you don’t want to put any embellishments on them they don’t require any sewing. I bet you could use a hot glue gun too if that would be easier for adding little buttons or jewels.

Finished tutus!

I hope you are inspired to create something for yourself or a loved one and enjoy life to the fullest today!

Thanks for reading!

-Crafty Cara

Tuna Cheesies- Like a tuna melt only better

craftycara — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 19:07:16 +0000

I am living in Charlottesville, VA for the summer and found out of my parents some 12 channels, they have a station called “create” and you can visit their website here.

I have been busy with my first ever 40 hour a week job, but I do enjoy doing a little cooking some nights for my parents when they work late. I pulled out my mom’s old Betty Crocker’s cookbook and found a recipe for Tuna Cheesies, like a tuna melt only tastier. It is described as “An unusual combination of favorite foods that makes a hearty open-faced sandwich.”

I am going to list the ingredients and recipe here, but as usual for me I improvised with what I had.

1 can (6 1/2 ounces) tuna, drained- I used 2 of the small cans

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped celery

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

8 slices bread or 4 English muffins, halved ( I had 2 slices of bread, and 2 hamburger buns. Luckily I was only feeding 3 people and we aren’t picky. Still delicious.)

Butter or margarine

8 slices tomato (I don’t like tomato so I didn’t use any)

8 slices process American cheese ( we didn’t have any, so I used shredded colby & monterey jack)

mayonnaise

Mix tuna, onion, celery, 2 tablespoons mayonnaise, the salt and pepper. Set oven control at broil and/or 550 degrees. Spread bread with butter and toast in broiler.

Spread tuna mixture on toast. Place tomato slice (if you want) on each and top with cheese slice trimmed to fit (or put some shredded colby & monterey jack like I did). Spread mayonnaise over cheese (I skipped this step).

Broil 5 inches from heat 3 to 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden brown. Serve immediately. If desired garnish with parsley or crispy fried bacon slices (totally not necessary since it was so tasty without, but you can if you want).

Makes 8 sandwiches.

Just out of the broiler

The onion provides such a delicious flavor to the tuna, and the celery provides excellent texture. It is a summer sandwich that is super easy and tasty. I served mine with extra celery stalks and leftover pasta salad (also using onion and celery and usually black olives) I had made the night before.

With celery and pasta salad; the perfect summer dinner.