Cartwheels In My Mind

Christmas Miracles.

Merry (almost) Christmas, everyone! We are scurrying around here at the Ametewee household trying to get everything packed up for a 2 1/2 week trip to visit my family in Ohio and despite the rushed feeling (we are leaving at midnight to drive through the night), the feeling of Christmas is alive and well here. We've got the tree shining, Christmas carols blaring from my ipod (ok, so Kanye's Christmas in Harlem can hardly be called a carol, but it's got Christmas in the name at least.) and I'm hyping myself and him up by reminding Londerpants every couple minutes that we are headed to Grandma's TODAY. Let's just say if there were a way to test us to see who's more excited it would be a very tough call. 

SOO...what does this trip mean for Cartwheels? Let me tell you. :) First of all, I have been hinting around for weeks now about those big changes that are coming to Cartwheels right? Well, that's one of the biggest reasons for the visit. My mom and at least one sister-in-law will be helping me get lots of art ready for the shop, and I'll be working on the new design at the same time, so to say this is a working vacation is putting it mildly. :) But hopefully it will be well worth it and you will be as excited as I am once you see the fruits of all this hard labor. But over the next week we will be for the most part be taking a break from posting on the main site to allow more time to get the new shop up and going sooner.

But in the meantime, and in the spirit of Christmas, I thought I'd share this little Christmas story I posted on my own blog a few years back when I was single and in art school and still living in Ohio. Because it still rings true to me...

so i was walking into the fort wayne hobby lobby the other day, stressed out about buying the perfect gift for my grandma, dreading the long lanes at the checkout, not wanting to face the cold, thinking about how bad my back hurt and how i had to walk to the far ends of the earth once i got into the store to get the gift i was thinking of giving her, basically facing the entire ordeal as a huge burden and wishing i could be home reading a good book, when i suddenly heard singing... 

he was singing the first noel.  and then jiggle bells.  and then oh beautiful star of bethlehem.  and i stopped what i was doing for a minute and just watched him.  the man was a huge black man, probably about 35 years old, standing all bundled up ringing the salvation army bell and singing for all he was worth.  every person that walked up to him was greeting with a cheerful "MERRY CHRISTMAS!! isn't this the best time of year? God bless you!" 
it was then that i decided i wasn't in so much of a hurry.  i stood for a long time by the side of my car watching him make person after person smile.  i didn't notice the bitter chill in the air anymore, my heart was warmed at the sight of this man bringing the joy of christmas back into the lives of rushed, distraught shoppers, just like me.  and as i watched, i began to notice something...there was not one person that walked by that man without putting some money in his bucket. not one.  he was getting to the point that he had to shake the bucket to try to make room for more money.  i saw him walk into the store and empty it twice from the time i got there to when i left the store. 
one obviously wealthy, obviously unhappy man asked him rudely if he got paid enough to stand out in the bitter cold and ring a bell and beg for money in a way that just annoyed people. his response? "i'm not doing this for money...i'm doing it to help others.  i look forward to this all year!! i love reminding others about what christmas is all about." and then he went back to singing.  and as i watched,  the man who had asked the question's expression began to change. the frown lines smoothed out and he had a thoughtful look on his face. and then he pulled a wad of bills out of his pocket and stuffed them into the bucket and turned away with a smile to replace the annoyed frown that had been firmly planted before he spoke to the man singing christmas carols at the top of his lungs.  
but what really got to me was when three mentally handicap adults, probably ranging from about 25 to 35, walked up with their caretaker to do a little christmas shopping.  the man instantly called out to them and when they got up close to him, asked them to sing jiggle bells with him. it's been a long long time since i have seen smiles that bright.  he handed each one of them a bell and the 4 of them stood there ringing those bells and singing for all they were worth in the sweestest off-key version of that christmas song i have ever heard.
at that point i decided to go inside.  but not without first stopping to talk to the man for a minute.  but the thing was, i could barely even get out the words MERRY CHRISTMAS because of the giant sized lump in my throat.  i could barely make out his features because of the tears streaming down my face. but i did smile at him.  and i thanked him for not being afraid to share what christmas is all about. and then i spent the rest of the day walking around with a huge smile on my face...

I LOVE CHRISTMAS-TIME. and i especially love that there are people brave enough to stand up and remind others what christmas is truly meant to be about. :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS, MY FRIENDS! AND THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT YOU HAVE ALL SHARED OVER THE PAST HALF YEAR SINCE OUR VIRTUAL DOORS HAVE OPENED. EVERY CLICK, EVERY COMMENT, EVERY REFERRAL HAS MEANT THE WORLD TO ME. I COULDN'T HAVE DONE ANY OF THIS WITHOUT ALL OF YOU.

xoxo, Cheryl

P.S. I'll see you in the new year! :)

Handmade gift : headbands

  
 

The countdown is on and you still need a few stocking stuffers or a simple gift?  We've gotcha covered.

Here is a rockin' little idea that will just take a few minutes of creativity but will be a great handmade gift.  All you need are some stretch elastic headbands, ribbon, felt scraps, a hot glue gun and some flowers.  I got my headbands at Target.  The ribbon & flowers I had in my scrapbooking supply stash that often doesn't get used for scrapbooking.  So this project was a perfect way to use up some of those supplies.  Some of the ribbon is from Hobby Lobby and the rose ribbon is from American Crafts.  Flowers are from Prima, often found in the scrapbooking section of most craft stores.

American Crafts has this great rosette ribbon that's pretty sheer.  So lovely!  Simply handstitch the ribbon onto a handband, tacking it on here and there, for a super simple & fast headband.

 

For these next several headbands , I used Prima Flowers and some felt.  I cut out two felt circles that would fit the back of each flower.  One circle is hot glued onto the headband.  The other circle is hot glued to the back of the flower.  Then I just hot glue the circles together, sandwiching the headband in the middle to create a good solid base.  I have a photo of the back of the flower below.

 
 I used the same method here on these Prima Flowers.  Just a felt sandwich with the headband glued inside and the flower glued on top!

 

These headbands with the ribbon and beads were a bit more time intensive but still only took about 15 minutes each.  That tells you how fast and easy the others were!  First I cut a felt circle about the size that I wanted to flower to be.  Then I applied hot glue a little at a time, starting on the outside of the felt circle, glueing the ribbon a little at a time in a spiral shape toward the inside of the felt circle to create the flower.  I used a toothpick to help me glue the edges of the ribbon easily without burning my fingers.  There's no real science to this.  It's just glue as you go and it'll turn out just perfect in its own way!  Then you can hot glue beads in the middle or handstitch a few sequins if you'd like.

 

And there ya go.  A little preview of the felt sandwich on the back of the flowers.

Seriously so simple, I'm telling ya!  Fast and easy and a great way to create a few last minute handmade & thoughtful gifts to share! 

Enjoy!
Merry Christmas!

Digital frames from Andie Smith Designs. 

25 Days of Christmas: freEbies

On the week of Christmas my true love gave to me.... gift tagies for freeeeeeeee.  That's right people, for F-R-E-E. And by the way isn't my singing beautimous? Thank you very much... I'll be here all week. {One of my dreams is for me and my hubby to be musicians.. wouldn't that be fun??} BUt, seriously, are these not the cutest gift tags ever??? And yes, they are for free. MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

I must warn you though... if your gifties are already wrapped up and sitting cozy under the tree then they will be momentarily disturbed. You will be ripping off those old tags and replacing them with these pretties. Just sayin'.

Blue&red make the perfect Christmas couple. Click here to download. Download Papercrave-labels

 

That is the cutest glove I've ever seen! And do you see that hot chocolate cup?!?! Yes, please. Download these pretties right here. Download Black-apple-free_tags_download

 

Birdies. Need I say more??? Download Birdtags

 

Martha has always got it going on. Download Martha-stewart-tags

Feeling whimsy? Download HolidayTags

Whether you're traditional, vintage,whimsical, colorful or whatever... there is a gift tag style just for you. Happy Christmas tagging :D

25 days of Christmas....Subway Art

 

 

Each year I sit down and make a list of who I need to buy gifts for and what I'm going to give them.  And each year I try to come up with one handmade gift to share with family and friends.  This year I decided to make Christmas subway art canvases.  My original idea was to make lots of them to share with family and friends....but after actually working on the project I decided three was my quota for this year!

I fully intended to take photos of the whole process, but I ended up getting so involved in the art that I forgot! 

 

TI started with a 12x12 canvas and painted it red using craft paints.  It took 3-4 coats to completely cover it to my satisfaction - red is not the most forgiving paint color!

TNext I used my Cricut machine to cut Christmas related words out of white cardstock.  I used three different fonts as well as different sizes for a little more interest.

TThen I arranged the words on the canvas.  I started with the longest words (Merry Christmas and December 25) and then filled in the other words.  I tried to vary the placement of the different fonts and sizes.  I then cut snowflakes to fill in a few blank spaces.

TAfter they were all arranged, I sprayed each with spray adhesive and attached it to the canvas.  Then I used mod-podge and brushed 2 coats over the entire canvas.

TI have seen so many subway art samples all over the internet.  I think they are so fun and versatile.  I love that you could come up with a countless amount of variations using this idea!

Now...if only I could find a little more time to make just one more for ME!! 

 

 

25 Days Of Christmas...A Vintage Banner For The Tree.

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you are all having a fabulous week! We, in typical Ametewee disaster-prone fashion, have been dealing with an exploded garbage disposal and all the stuff that comes with it. But looking on the bright side, I didn't have to do dishes for a week so when I wasn't calling the people to come fix it I was able to get a little extra Christmas shopping and fit in a tiny bit of art. :D 

SO...today I wanted to share a fun Christmas project that I did to add a little vintage/handmade appeal to our sad little empty Christmas tree...a vintage fabric banner.

When I started the project, I fully intended to use some of the new funky fabric I have picked up over the past few months, but when I was going through my fabric cases I came across this little hand-stitched quilt that I bought a couple years ago when Amy and I were on one of our many antique shop runs. I had intended from the first second that I saw it to use it for a project where I could keep it intact, but when I saw it the day I was working on the banner, I just knew it would be perfect for what I was trying to do with this tree project. And after the first few chops I didn't mind cutting it apart. :)

To make the little banner pieces, I cut little diamonds from the fabric quilt by folding the fabric in half to make them each exactly match up when I folded them and attached them to the piece of twine I used. 

Next, I just folded them over the twine and then stapled them into place. I know that it would probably have looked cool if I stitched them, but A. i don't know how to use a machine, B. I was feeling too lazy to stitch them all by hand and C. I'm not a perfectionist and think the staples make it look a little more effortless. 

Once I had them all stapled, I took a few shots to share with everyone while letting Londerpants play with them for a bit...

And then I wrapped it around the tree to get the decorating process underway (there are now a few more things added to it to make it a little fuller).

And the best part? This will go perfectly with Gracie's new nursery theme (I'll start back up with sharing the process of decorating her room after Christmas) so I'm thinking that I'll be able to use it as art on one of her walls! 

And THAT, is why I like to make sure my Christmas projects aren't all about the red and green...because 1 month a year just seems like a waste to me when you are creating a project that you love. :)

P.S. I wanted to apologize for not sharing the give-aways this week like I said I would. I promise that I will still post them all...even if I have to do it after Christmas. Everyone still loves fun free stuff no matter what month it is, right?! :)

25 Days of Christmas: stop motion inspiration.

Have I ever told you how much I LOVE stop motion films?!? I have yet to attempt to make one but when I do you'll be the first to know {and see}. Until that day comes, here's a video I came across to get you in the Christmas spirit! Enjoy.