Summer Crafts and a little Mumbo Jumbo

I'm feeling a bit better after my melt down on Wednesday - thanks for all the sweet words of encouragement and comments that helped to lift my spirits, I appreciate all the prayers I can get :).  After spending a lot of time doing N.O.T.H.I.N.G I've got an itch to craft and create (Stephen's super excited about this...yeah right!).

("why don't you get a job, Kari?!"  Well I'm hoping {and you can pray for this as well} that a research assistantship works out for me at the grad school which will PAY for my tuition.  This would be MUCH better than a second income for us as it will take the grad school bill off our hands.  They aren't hiring right now, but they possibly will be in the fall.  I'm praying that they do hire in the fall and that I'd be one of those that they hire...you can join me in that prayer if you'd like ;) ) 


I thought I'd use this post to share with you some of the fun things that I'd really like to get my little paws on to create!

Over at The Frugal Life Project I stumbled upon this:

I've seen these before while wasting time rummaging around blogland, but I really liked how she used them.  She made them as end of the year gifts for her kid's teachers.  What a great gift!  As a teacher, I would proudly display one of these in my classroom!  If you're interested, she has the step-by-step of how to make one of these look so amazing!

The next thing that I would love to make is something that I found on etsy at Letter Perfect Designs.  I'm all for helping out the individual sellers as opposed to paying the money towards the big industries that are taking over American retail, but when I see something that I think I can do, I look at it as a challenge.  When I saw this, I saw a challenge (a beautiful challenge at that)!

Isn't it gorgeous?  I have a thing for monograms...evidently I need help remembering what my new last name starts with :).  

I think I would do a letter more like this to throw on our bed.  I don't think our room is "fancy" enough to do the cursive, but I like the stately look of this font.  This doesn't look too challenging - the thing that would be time consuming is sewing each button on individually.  I've thought about just gluing them on, but I think that sewing would create a more lasting button fix.  Not only do I have a thing for monograms, but apparently I have a thing for pillows...

That, ladies and gentlemen is a place mat turned to a pillow!  What a great idea!  I can't tell you how often I see place mats that I love (mainly at Target) and think to myself, "there's no way I need that many place mats" :).  I had originally seen this at another blog but I couldn't find the original source that inspired me, so I googled it and it led me to Crystal's Craft Spot which is where I found another step-by-step for making these place mat pillows (super easy)!  Maybe I can find a solid colored place mat that I love and use it to sew the buttons on for my initial pillow?  Hmmm...maybe....

For those of you that are regular readers (or my friends in real life, not just blogland), you know that I've signed up to take a sewing class which will FINALLY happen tomorrow!  After I take that class, I'm hoping to really get it going on my new sewing machine :).  My mom is coming into town the last week in July (she does know how to sew) and I'm hoping that we can make 2 of these for my bed:

There's a HUGE textile outlet here in Chicago that my sister and I went to when she visited in April.  My mom and I are going to venture there and I'm going to see if I can find some linen fabric at a good price that I love to make a square one of these as well as a rectangular pillow...we'll see how that goes :).

This next project that I really want to get my little paws on is one that I think would make a great gift (again, I am evidently obsessed with initials)...

I stumbled upon this tutorial at Martha Shmartha this week and it looks super easy (she used the freezer paper method)!  

Another freezer paper project that I'd love to do (and would also be a great gift for birthdays or even Christmas) is one that my friend Jen did this past Christmas, just with another spin on it.

Aren't these darling?  Erin over at Lemontree Creations did these using the same freezer paper method that Jen did with her doily bags...can you say awesome?!  I can!

Okay, just one more craft as Stephen will probably already be sent into a frenzy when he finds out that I want to do all of these...

Isn't this so simplistic and beautiful?  I came across this Quatrefoil Art from Imperfectly Beautiful and if you head over there you can get a step-by-step on how to make one of these for your home...don't mind if I do!

I can't wait to tackle some of these projects this summer with my friend Amy (she may not know what she's getting into with me...I have BIG plans for us) as she is going to be on summer break from school and we'll be crafting together!

What about you?  What project can you not wait to get your hands on?  Why not comment with a link so that you can share the creativity?  I could always have another project (JUST DON'T TELL STEPHEN - HE MAY CROAK!)

Yay for Fridays!  Happy end of the work week to all you busy-bees out there!!!