Things and stuff

It's been a loooong week.  I've been thinking one day ahead so all week I wake up and think I'm one day closer to the weekend.  Work has been busy, which is preferable--usually it makes the day fly by.  The down side to a busy day is that at night I don't feel like doing much of anything but munching and watching TV.  I've got piles of yummy fabrics and new bits and bobs to use for creating bags, but I'm just too tired to pay attention.  BUT I've been soaking up the craftiness of some of my favorite bloggers, and now I have so many things I want to make I can't decide where to start.  Here's what I've been ogling this week:

Meream, at Bored and Crafty, came up with a fun little lovely  for her main squeeze for Valentine's Day.  Just like me she can only hold a surprise for a short while, so she's already given her love his giftie.  Pop on over to see her totally original idea (I couldn't get the photo to post here or I'd have shown it).  She's also got some really original ideas for bags for the, shall we say, muscially inclined?  Stuff I'd never be able to pull off without mucho curses.

Rae Hoekstra, at Made By Rae, came up with this bright bit of fun:

She has several more photos of her lovely creation over at her blog, along with oodles of other fun crafty stuff.  It reminds me of those bracelets that were popular when I was young, the ones where all of the hearts kind of interlocked with one another...kind of like this but with slightly different colors:

So of course I'm thinking of how to cut out a squillion hearts in a time efficient manner so I can make some felted heart garland...for no good reason, of course.  Because what fun would that be?

Lisa Lam, the genius behind u-handbag, had a giveaway for the bag below, as well as an announcement that she'll be selling kits with all of the goods included so you can make your own:

I like how it's very Mary Poppinsy.  It's got one of those nifty tubular frames inside so your goods stay secure and the bag holds much more than you'd think.  The fabric combo isn't normally something I'd come up with, but she tries out all kinds of combos that just work great together.  She's my go-to girl for figuring out bag making intricacies.  She's currently writing a book, and the day it becomes available I may go into shock if I don't get a copy right away.  She's that good. Of course I placed an order with her right away for those frames and a pattern so I can make my own.  She's in the UK, but it got here quick.  She totally understands the impatience of crafters waiting for the goods.  Can you tell I heart her? 

I hope these ladies don't mind me showing their work here--the photos belong to them so I tried to give proper credit.  Like anyone would ever confuse my hot messes of pictures with theirs...

And finally, it was a little pricey, but I caved and bought this today:

 

This is from the new Michael Miller fabric collection 'Gnomes.'  I tried to quell the desire, but was not successful.  Because when I travel start traveling, I'm seriously going to need a traveling gnome bag to accompany me.  Because that's how I roll...