Ugly Sweater Party

For our bookclub holiday party this year, the hosts came up with the idea that is sweeping the nation...the ugly sweater party!! Unfortunately, this gem of crafty goodness was thrown in with my other crafts in December and due nearly on the same day!! But how often do you get the chance to make something truly, madly, ugly...on purpose?! I tried to go the ugly route, but I couldn't do it, something in my crafty genes wouldn't allow it. So instead I found my inner Gaga diva and went for tacky. If a little shine is good, a WHOLE lot of shine is great, right?!?

The party was a blast, and those who participated, ahem, really turned it out. The other participants were more old school with their approach and went with things that had been actually worn/made by someone without the intent of irony. Not so with my disco ball approach to sparkle it up. I even went the extra mile to make a hair accessory. Watch out project accessory, if you sponsor a "tacky" challenge, you might have competition in me. Of course, I had to stay true to my roots of reusing whenever possible, so...I found this sparkly cardigan and sewed on a swath of RED stretch sequins along the front all the way around the collar and back down, and then both cuffs.

The part that made the sweater had to be the glittered poinsettias I scored at the dollar store. I had 3 but the sweater was so small, I really couldn't find a good place for the 3rd one, which is why I made it into a hair accessory...

Shell, nook, and sandal

Helloooo reader!!

I've been away for a while, but only from my blog, and not my craftsphere. Here are just

a few of the things I've been working on...to wrap up 2010, I made a sparkled sequin ball, just

over 275 sequins and pins. No, I'm not OCD like Mr. Monk, but rather, I went through a whole pkg of the straight pins (250) and some change on a new one. Sparkles everywhere. I tried sewing them, but they aren't the flat kind that smart tailors use, they are the concave/convex dish shaped ones perfect for pinning.

I love the sequins because they take up so little space, but have high wow factor, and they can take a project from wooo, to WHOA!

I have also been caught up with the saying from merry old England, "Keep Calm and Carry On" from world war II, legend has it.

I found this clever site where you can come up with any saying and it produces it to 'make it yours' so in honor of the cool temps, I came up with this one, with a cute kisser to go along with it.

 I used the Cricut and sure cuts a lot to free the saying from it's bland paper prison.

Then I was inspired by this old movie that was on the telly. 1958, Bell, Book & Candle starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak. The story was not as great as I had hoped, but the decor was beyond! Novak's character is a Witch who has a shop all decorated for Christmas with the coolest tree I'd ever seen in a movie.

 It totally reminded me of notmartha's 2010 incredible creation. When I get handy with a jigsaw, I just might try to make something similar to the one in that movie.