might i recommend...a wee bit o sweetness

 There's a gal I know who is a bit of a dabbler. She's one of those who dabbles a little here and a little there and does it so well that you find a wee bit of envy creeping into yer noggin. Her newest bit of dabbling, methinks, is here to stay and like everything else, she's mighty good at it. What is it you ask? Why, it's Confounding Confections, Boiled Sweets for Singers of Shanties and Perusers of Tomes, handmade vegan hard candies made in California with natural ingredients.

 

 

Each little bit of wrapped goodness is full of flavor and staying power (trust me, I sampled a few).  With sweet collections such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Seafaring collection (the scurvy sea dog is quite tasty) there are all sorts of nifty flavors to choose from. Now, for the holidays your happy order can be wrapped up in a nifty tin and they are vegan (the candies, not the tin)!  A perfect gift for oodles of folks in yer life. Don't miss out!

 

**and just so ya know, I am not affiliated with Confounding Confections. While I do know the candy mistress in charge, I was not contacted to feast these sweets upon you, it is all my own doing. Lookie how pretty they are, how could I not? I simply find their product delightful. 

crafting for craft: vintage linen tablesetting

Click here to see how I turned one vintage pillowcase into a placemat, coaster and napkin. It's super easy and makes for a nifty gift, methinks. Hop on over to craftzine and give it a looksie. Share it on facebook and twitter if you like...please?

christmas countdown: make a festive garland a la dottie angel

Oh do I love me a garland or what? I think any excuse to make one is a good excuse. Back in September I dug out my crazy ENORMOUS stuffed to the gills bag of thrifted and felted wool sweaters. In my very-good-and-on-it brain I thought I would make felted throws for the holidays but it seems like that may not happen, but a garland is do-able..more than doable really and so I tucked that thought into the back of my mind and let is nest for awhile.

While my brain tumbled about wool sweaters and cookie recipes, it is after-all, THE holiday season, I decided to do a bit more towards the purge and rediscovered my small collection of vintage laces. These, I thought will look lovely stitched to some wool and bunted about. I pictured a lovingly faded stretch of lace with a dollop of wool prettiness spaced from one side to the other. I was thinking scallops and circles and old pearl buttons but then, THEN I saw the goodness that is Dottie Angel and swooned when I saw her lovely crocheted garland. I thought, I cannot crochet or knit but I can hack a sweater to pieces and add a bit of trim and so I did.

Here is my tribute to her lovely garland. You really can do it in a number of ways, here's how I did mine. Thank you Tif for your always inspirational blog, photos and craftiness!

You will need:

*felted wool pieces
*a bit of lace
*scissors
*bias tape
*sewing machine

First I dove into my pond of wool pieces and came up with three I thought would look festive for the season. I rummaged through the lace box and found a nice and perfectly sizes strand of yellow goodness. All I needed was to grab my scissors and get to cutting...I am not a person who measures. This may be why I simply cannot sew clothing but I like to think of it as an open book to crafting. Mix a little here, add a little there, cut a little bit and we're off! So the first thing I did was determine about how long I wanted my garland to be. I planned on making it for the bed so I felt that eight little flags would be a good size. Looking at my wool, I decided to cut three red, three green & two blue pieces. I determined the size of the flags by the size of the lace which I ended up cutting in exactly eight pieces as well.Next I used a zig-zag stitch to attach the lace to each flag.I then lay out my piece of bias tape and played with the pieces to figure out how I wanted them to dance. I pinned them in place and used a small running stitch all across the tape and the wool pieces.Finally I trimmed the threads, hung up my garland, did a little dance and snapped some happy pics! See? Super easy...also, hop on over to scrumdilly-do for a How To kids version. Happy December!

dillydilly: the photo book!

with the holidays coming up you just may be ready to start yer shopping. may i suggest my first photobook through lulu? twenty pages of happy-pretty scrumdillyumptious pics by little ol' me. check it out here

**order it before Sunday and you can get 15% off...coupon code is AHOY...shhhh...:)