It's the Most Wonderful Time....

....of the year...

We spent Christmas Eve dinner with the family at Aunt MaryBeth's house this year.  Can there be anything better than feeling crisp cold air, a wonderfully decorated house, great food and an evening of laughs?

Yes, Christmas Day Dinner and finally a family photo that my sister Alex states, "we've been waiting years to take this photo."

Happy Holidays!

Studio Madness

It's that time of year.

I am catching up on Holiday orders so its been a bit quiet on the blog lately, or should I say, I have been a bit of a slacker with keeping up on my blogging.   Not only has the blog been neglected, but my Studio as well.

I usually pride myself in keeping my Studio fairly organzied, but during this time of year, not so much...

Bags in various stages of completion, straps, lining and etc just laying all about....What a mess.

I'll be back after the holidays, a few more orders to ship before DH and I head North for Christmas in a few days.

Have a wonderful holiday.

Helen

New Messenger Bag

Just in time for back to school, I decided it was time to use the few yards of my Amy Butler's Soul Blossom's fabric collection.
 

Messenger Bag Back to School Brown & Bliss Temple Tulip Azure  

I made this Messenger bag with a heavy brown cotton canvas for the exterior and lined it with a print from Amy Butler's Soul Blossoms -  Bliss Temple Tulip Azure.

This pretty print is also used on the outside flap. The heavy canvas exterior and the double stitching used for both interior and exterior seams for make this a large and durable bag.


A very large messenger bag - big enough for a 17" laptop, which you can find here.

Just a Few of My Favoirite Things Treasury

A quick thank you to DistInk Designs for including my Tapestry Clutch in her treasury titled:
 ....Just a few of my favorite things....then I don't feel so bad.  


Are you searching for a summer clutch to take you into autumn?


Made from a lovely cotton print from Valori Wells Cinnamon Tapestry Collection in beige, orange and brown and an eco-friendly 10oz canvas cotton fabric  interior.  The clutch is finished with recessed zipper to keep all your valuables safe.  Perfect for evening parties with your favorite maxi or summer dress or great with a pair of jeans.

You can purchase this item in my shop: HMMills


 

DIY Cork Bulletin Board

A few months ago I moved my studio into a larger room in my house.  When I started putting the room back together, I decided not to use my old bulletin board which was about 20x30 as I have limited wall space and wanted to hang my thread racks.  I was finally inspired to use some of those wine bottle corks and two smaller Ikea frames to create a smaller bulletin board.

To create your own Cork Bulletin board you will need:

• Some type of frame(s) to hold your corks together
• Wine bottle corks
• Glue (I don't think regular glue is strong enough for this project, I was thinking about Elephant Glue but i expands or hot glue.)  I ended up using some marine glue DH provided. 
• Wall Mounts
• Hand Drill
• Patience

First I removed the paper backing from my frames... 

Next, using a hand drill, I attached two wall mounts that I picked up at Home Depot.

Next is the fun part, arranging the corks in a pattern. I found it's much easier to layout each row first as corks tend to be different sizes and I wanted a snug fit. This is much easier to due without glue.

Once I was happy with the layout, I attached a strip of glue to each cork and pressed into place.

At this point, the process is the same, arrange, rearrange, add glue, press into place and repeat until you are complete.

To help set the corks into place, I laid a few heavy items on top of the board while the frame dried overnight.

Ta da...