Cynthia Shaffer

Christmas Quiet : : 2011

 After lots of preparation, cooking, shopping and wrapping ...

Christmas 2011 is a quiet Christmas ...

Yes, my husband was in town for this Christmas ... Playing with his camera while waiting for our dinner guests to arrive ...

The table was set and ready for prime rib and lobster ... our favorite ...

Then came the sweet treats ...

Yes, that is Harper sitting at the dinner table ... patiently waiting for someone to pop open the lid of that cookie tin.

And a little quick check of facebook ... Really Cameron?

 Then ... the exchange started ... Harper led the way and was more than thrilled with her little chipmunk she got from cousin Lucky.

And there's Corry sort of spacing out after a few too many sweets?

A few things that really stand out in my mind about this Christmas ... lights ...

And even more lights and color ... 

Here's to having a wonderful Christmas with friends, family, lights, color and the quiet.

Merry Christmas! 

The Painting Studio : : Exploring, Sharing, Being

The Painting Studio is a safe place to explore ...

A place to share heart felt stories ... 

To be encouraged ...

It's a place to learn new skills ...

To make a mark or 10,000 ...

The Painting Studio is a place to listen ...

It's a place to connect with the essence of our loved ones ...

And a place to give a little piece of ourselves in every brush stroke ...

To try new things, then cover it up and start anew ...

It's a place to bring back the old and be willing to start fresh ...

And a safe place to make really bad choices ...

And best of all, it's the perfect place to see something through the good, the bad and then on to the even better and finally ...

To completion ... at least for now!

 

 

 

Scrappy Wool Scarf : : Tutorial

The weather has definitely taken a turn around here and in fact it is down right cold out, all the time it seems ... well, not Minnesota cold, but cold for California. And, when the wind picks up a bit, and I'm outside watching a baseball game ... a wool scarf is about the only thing that really warms me up to the core.

Here's what I did to make this quick scrappy scarf:

• First I gathered a couple of wool sweaters in coordinating colors. I found these 2 sweaters at my local thrift store, and the pink one had been felted, just slightly.
• Next, I dusted off my serger and then just dove right in and serged the bottom rib, cutting off about 1/4 inch as I went.
• To make the knit ruffle, all you have to do is pull or stretch the sweater as it is going under the machine foot. If you want the serged stitch to be dense than shorten up the stitch length on the machine.

• Then, I just started cutting out panels from the 2 sweaters. Each panel measured about 8 inches wide and as long as I could possibly get. I even opened up the sleeve and found a nice long 8 inch wide piece there too.

• After I had several segments cut, I lined up the pieces the way I wanted them and then started serging the seams together. Note: If you look really close at the above photo, you can see that I have serged the brown piece to a non-ruffled pink piece, then placed a ruffled pink piece overlapping that seam but meeting at the top of that non-ruffled piece. 
• Now seam the 2 or actually 3 pink pieces wrong sides together.

• Piece the scarf together until you have about 70 inches total in length.

Ok so, as you can see these are pretty darn cute and so simple to make and makes really cute Christmas gifts! Needless to say, the cost was minimal as well ... let's see, I think each sweater was $1.90 and I still have lots of the brown sweater left to make a second one in a different color way ... 

Enjoy and Stay Warm!

 

Family Photo Shoot

Meet the Furry family ...

Such a great fun family of 6 ...

Here's Jen and Larry ...

And Ella ... We started up on the train tracks and then ventured down to the river bed ...

Here's little Olivia ... so sweet and innocent ...

Until all the attention is on big sister Ella ...

Mom Jen and the girls ...

Dad Larry and his boys ...

We were starting to lose them towards the end here. Mom was pretty determined to get all the shots done and was not humored at all by this time ...

And things got a little out of hand but I just kept on shooting ... Some of my favorite shots here!

But by the end of our time together everyone was back to holding hands ...

Infinity Scarf + Rolled Roses

How cute is this? Doubled up or hanging down!

While I'm on a roll here, making these infinity scarves from old tee-shirt, thought I'd show you my version made from a tee-shirt my husband tossed in the Goodwill bag!

The funny part to the tee-shirt story ... there's a part of this tee-shirt that I cut off and am saving for a later project that says ... "I'm probably not" ... Soooo my husband ... kind of surprised he was tossing this tee-shirt out.

Another infinity scarf, this time made from thrift store finds, then cut into strips and the tied together. This could be a no-sew project, although for this scarf, I did do a little hand sewing to add a little stitched interest.

Needless to say, the rolled roses are super addicting, and make that perfect little something to pull the scrappy look of the scarf altogether.

Oh, and these would make the best little decorations for ballet flats, headband, or just to clip on the outside of your purse!

Happy Thrifting ... Happy Crafting!

 

 

Yesterday : : So Cozy ... So Great!

Just a few photos of your 'Oh So Cozy" class yesterday at Studio Crescendoh ...

The room was set and ready ...

After everyone had arrived, Jenny gave a little welcome and housekeeping speech ...

Then a quick ice breaker with lots of laughter ...

And in no time we were doing a little embroidery ...

Doing a little planning, cutting and sewing of our neck cozies ...

And making these beautiful rolled roses, all from recycled thrift store finds ...

Here's Wendy and Lynn ... showing off their finished neck cozies ... so fun ...

And Amber arranging her neck cozy to show off the super fun screen printed words she loved ...

Even Baby Zsa Zsa was sporting a neck cozy by the end of our day ...

Here's Tracy Schultz demonstrating a few skills needed for Lorrie Spotts to finish up her cup cozy ...

And Jenny  helping out Lynn as she dives into the world of crochet ... 

In hopes of creating one of these Oh So Cute ... apple cozies ...

And best of all ... connecting with old friends and making some new firends all while crafting and creating during this Oh So busy time of year!

 

The Kits are Ready!

The kits are ready and my rolling crate is all packed with all the goodies needed for the 'Oh So Cozy' class this Saturday.

There's 3 very cute gift-giving projects being taught, just in time for the Christmas. This scarf is what I will be teaching ... Rolled Rose Brooch instructions included.

And in case anyone wants to purchase a cute gift for that crafty friend,I've put together a few rolled rose brooch kits with pre-cut strips, ready for crafting!

There's still a little time to sign up ... so hop on over here and check it out!

 

 Hope to see you on Saturday!