Oh Baby!

I know this might sound misleading, but no... I am not pregnant (not yet :)). I just finished an adorable baby doll crib, and wanted to share it. I found it on craiglist and fell in love with the possibilities of it's future cuteness, even though it was already pretty cute. I think it is from the 1940's or 50's... I just love old things!

Pretty cute huh? .... JUST WAIT!!!

See! Just kidding.... keep on waiting ;) This is me working on the baby doll blankie...( and no I did not cut my finger off like it looks I am about to in the picture (been there done that! I plan on keeping all my left over digits... thank you)

Ta Da! I love birds and I think this one is adorable, at first I was just going to do the bird white, but I am pleased as pink with the pink.

The bed is a little more distressed than it looks in the picture. It de-stressed me to do it, and Leigha helped, I told her if we sold it she could have $2. She thinks that is a rip off.

Our lovely Hannah is the beautiful model in this pic.

Just to let you know, this cute baby doll crib will be for sale (not hannah... Leigha would KILL me!) ... so let me know if you are interested... if not I will just re-post it on craigslist or ksl.

Thanks for stopping by! xoxo

First the Worst?

I had my first consultation with the first person who was crazy enough , had enough faith in me to commission a scripture case (it was actually her idea when she saw my mom's wallet (still to post) but now I am hoping it can be something that I can DO for people... so if ya know anyone...hint...hint). This will be my first scripture case and I am really excited about.

As I met with her, we kinda discussed that she might want something a bit different than the usual leather flowers and such because this is for her husband as a Christmas present. This got me to shaking thinking, searching, and praying about what I could do.

She had suggested that maybe she wanted wildlife, the only thing I could think of for wildlife was my kiddos.... just kidding. I just wasn't sure if wildlife was something I could wanted to do for a scripture case. I was looking at burned and engrawed leather and was amazed at their beauty (and their price), but they do not have the hand carved quality or story.

Just for your information: Burning is a process where they burn an image onto the leather with a machine, and it can be personalized with names and things like that (if you are interested there is a great company in Lindon that does all sorts of LDS leather burnings). Engrawing is also machined and it is a process where they print an image on with ink or stain. These can also be very beautiful and are primarily done in Chili, if you know of a missionary who has gone there, they might have one of these.

So I was looking and decided I would just try to carve the Saviors image when He was being baptized by John the Baptist. I used some scrap leather, that way no one would need to know I had even tried if I failed. But I really like the way it turned out, so I am sharing it with the World (on my insignificant blog). There are some other things I think I might try as well, like the First Vision maybe?

With Leather there are no rough drafts, once it is on there, it is on there. There are some things I know I will do differently when I do it again, I would like to try using an undercutting method to maybe bring out some more detail. I have never done undercutting (to my knowledge) so there might be scrap leather picture up for grabs later on... so keep following :). I also want to try some more things with staining... I am hoping to meet up with Grandpa to show him and see what he thinks I can do to make it better.

Well let me know what you think, and if you like it feel free to post it on facebook or share with your friends ( I know it is only by the support of my Heavenly Father, family and friends that there is any chance I will ever be successful at this). I love you and I thank you for your support!

One Webby Wreath-wahaha

So I was shopping at my favorite store (Dollar Tree) and was wanting to do something crafty that was not leather... I have been seeing some cute ideas for wreaths, and even though right now I do not have a front door to showcase my wonderful wreath I thought it might still be fun to make, and guess what: It WAS! Dollar Tree has some way fun stuff for Fall and Halloween, well here it is my webby wreath, and a hint on how to make it if you so desire:

Items needed: 2 creepy cloths, one wreath form, some fun ribbons, spider web, spider rings and twisty ties (a lot of this stuff you might already have on hand, total my wreath cost about $6 so you can do the math.

Just a warning after doing this I am feeling the spirit of the season, and somehow am channeling my inner Count from Sesame Street.

Step one-wahaha: Anchor the web onto the wreath with twisty ties and remove the glow in the dark spider. You can leave it on if it it is the spider you want, it is now Leigha's favorite toy so I was not able to put it back on. She makes me giggle.

Step two-wahaha: Fold the black creepy cloth in half and zigzag fold around the wreath anchoring at every bottom point where it touches the wreath.... I anchored mine about every 3-5 inches. The black creepy cloth was longer than the gray so I am guessing that sizes might vary and you might need 2 to make it all the way around. I did not do mine very even and I love the way it turned out.

Step three-wahaha: Add the gray creepy cloth by wrapping it around every 3 or so black zigzags. You can use the same twisty ties to anchor, or add some more. I used the same ones and it worked just fine.

Step four-wahaha: Add any ribbon you want, I loved the spider web one that was at the Dollar Tree. I just wrapped it so it was next to the gray creepy cloth.

Step five-wahaha: Add a fun ribbon or big spider or just something fun.

Step six-wahaha: Attach some fun spidery rings. Mine are not really anchored at all, except in the middle and I anchored that one by pinching it in back and then wrapping it with a twisty tie.

I hope you love your Wreath! Happy Haunting :)

A Little Knotty Wallet

This Sunday is the 7th Anniversary of the Day we met (I have decided that just like the 5th Anniversary is Wood, the 10th is Tin, the 15th is Crystal, the 20th is China, the 25th is Silver, the 30th is Pearl, the 40th is Ruby, the 50th is Gold, and the 60th is Diamond, the 7th should be Leather). We celebrate in September because we were married in December and there is WAY TOO MUCH going on then. My sweetie, Don, served his mission to Ireland so I decided I would be ambitious and make him a Celtic Knot wallet... I was afraid it would turn out to be a Celtic NOT... but I think it turned out okay, and he loves it so that is all that matters.

I also thought that it might be helpful to show a little bit of the process of making a wallet (there is a lot I left out, I'll just have to show you the others with a different wallet) , it is QUITE the process. So here goes:

Yay! It is done! I think I will take a break from wallets for a while, but I am so pleased that my hubby loves it and that it is something he will use for a LONG time!

The Sound of Happiness Makes ALL the Difference

Today was not an easy day to say the least.... it seemed to me that some kind of energy monster sapped all my energy and magnified for my kids! Do you ever have days like that? I frequently seem to.

Back to the story, after a long day of carving and staining my new project (CAN"T WAIT TO POST IT!!!) I put the kiddos in the tub for a soap bubble scrub, and a relaxing 10 minutes away for me (yeah right!) I can hear them SPLASHING (against the rules) and SPITTING bath water out of their mouths (also against the rules, not to mention super gross). Instead of going in there to bust them I just listened as my 2 year old son lets out the most joyous laughter... he sounded like one of those laughing baby dolls, and even though there was still a MESS to clean up after, I loved to hear the sound of pure joy.

Here are a few other examples:

One thing I loved about living in the Midwest (or Mideast as I referred to it, because we were east of the Mississippi (by about a 1/2 mile)) was shopping at Aldi, not only were there great deals but I LOVED the names of the brands. i.e. Happy Farms Cheese, Chef's Cupboard, Happy Harvest Vegi's, Friendly Farms Dairy, L'oven Breads, Sweet Harvest Fruits, Baker's Treat Baking Goods, etc. I enjoyed buying the food because it sounded happy, and even though it was the same generic brands just like Western Family or Great Value, it made me secretly smile as I bought it.

Another example, when I was pregnant with my oldest, Leigha, I LOVED going to the doctor, and I think the Doctor I had made all the difference (Dr. Craig for those of you in Logan, Utah). I loved going to hear Leigha's heartbeat because Dr. Craig ALWAYS said she sounded happy. That made me feel so good, like I was a good momma (if only Dr. Craig was here to say that 6 years later).

I know Leigha's heartbeat was just a heartbeat and that Happy Farms string cheese is just string cheese, I also know that I have a mess to go clean up in the bathroom, but if the sound of happiness makes all the difference maybe I will giggle as I mop up the puddles :).

school daze

I feel officially OLD! My baby is now in school (for a whole week, that makes me even older!)... you need to know a little bit about Little Miss Leigha, she is the MOST social child you will ever meet. Since we have moved not having consistent friends has been...well... a struggle for us. But she has managed it so well. Everywhere we go she asks someone to be her best friend. The first day of school, as soon as we get to the school yard, Little Miss asks if she can go make some best friends.

It was so funny to see as this little kindergartner walked up to 2 sixth grade girls and says: "Excuse me, will you be my best friend?" I am so grateful for those girls that they were kind to this little girl. They actually check up on her and make sure she is liking school... I love that!

Here is my big girl sitting at her desk... notice the little guy next to her? That's my little prince Conner-Nonner, isn't he cute?

"And so Nauvoo, we say farewell to you"

My cute little family just moved from Nauvoo Illinois back to Utah (yay mountains!) to be close to family (yay family!).... It has been a wonderful change for our family, but Nauvoo will always very much be a huge part of our lives. My hubby and I met there 7 years ago (this Sunday... Happy Anniversary Love!). It was wonderful and we loved it there, the thing we miss most (other than the amazing friends we made) is the gorgeous LDS Temple.

Although we miss it one of the perks of being back in Utah has been being close to my Grandpa who has been teaching me leather work... I am a novice but I love it very much, and I love the time that I get to spend with him doing it together. As a reminder of our love of Nauvoo I tooled this temple for our little family to keep. I hope this helps my kids remember the feelings we had while we were there.

hopes and screams

So I have tried the whole family blog and failed, somewhere life got too hard or too personal and I just stopped... however I am hoping to renew my efforts... I have entered a new stage of my life (which basically means I have yet again fallen in love with a new craft) and my hopes for this blog are that I can share my love of leather work with the world (or you poor saps who are silly cool enough to follow), as I try to figure it out myself. I hope I can throw in some fun life stories as well... there are plenty of those to go around.

**Please note** this will not just be a blog about leather work, but a venue where I can express thoughts and insights as well.... and maybe some cool other crafts or projects too... and some bragging about my INCREDIBLE family, because first and foremost I am a devoted wifey and silly mommy:).

The hopes part of this is that I hope you will enjoy this, I hope that you might learn to appreciate the beauty in leather and the art of leather tooling... it is awesome. The screams part is that I am a real life woman who is majorly imperfect, and I hope that we can share as we make weaknesses, strengths.