Cosmo Cricket

Life is Sweet

Using Sweet Disposition papers, I created this fun little illustration. Enjoy!

 

Getting Ready for Ray and Shirley

So, Eric's parents are arriving this afternoon. This is their first time visiting Austin and our home.

Ahhhhh, the home. We wanted to update it when we bought it, but we thought we would wait a year or two. Then it flooded, do you remember?

When my parents came, the guest bath looked only sightly better than this.

For Eric's parents, it looks like this.

Do you remember when you all got after me for not wearing a mask as I scraped the popcorn? (Please test your ceiling for asbestos before touching any popcorn!)

Well, it's almost all gone at this point. Below is the above room now.

I still have a few things to do in here, but it's clean. (That only took most of yesterday, but don't tell the in-laws. They're suppose to believe this is how it always looks! ;)

In the living room, we finished the floors, added baseboards and took out the fireplace. We are going to replace the fireplace with something cool. It's not done just yet, but I'll post pics when it is.

We did, however, hang artwork. All Eric's paintings are in Las Vegas at a gallery, but he had a couple prints of his work, Nate Williams, Jackson Polluck and Bill Flora. We've owned the map for years, but never hung it until now.

But forget the house. It took us two days, three trips to the pool store, and several squeamish screams as I cleaned out very large bugs and other gross stuff, but the hot tub is clean and working!

Please congratulate the winner of our S'more Love Jelly Roll,  Becky Greene.

Becky, please email S'more Love Jelly Roll Winner in the subject line with your info in the body of your message and send it to julie at cosmocricket dot com. I'll send you the sweet stuff!


 

Giveaway: S'more Love FABRIC!

Keeping secrets is the hardest part of my job. I'm not at all good about it and this one has literally been killing me. I have had this fabric for over a month, in my hot little hands and I've not shown a single person.... well a single one that hasn't been to my home that is.

Or a single one that didn't notice us holding it in this photo that we "accidentally" posted on facebook.

Nope, I have kept our S'more Love fabric line top secret. In fact, I think if I didn't hate keeping secrets so much I could get a job at the CIA or something. But now, April 15th I am free to tell the world and show them too!

Like this quilt I designed and the very talented Cindy Sharp created. It will be published in American Patchwork soon. I'll keep you posted.

S'more Love is being released in just a few weeks at the spring quilt market.

The line looks great in a log cabin design. I designed this one with a four patch in the center.

I love these two quilts too. The top one is by Barb Cherniwchan of Coach House Designs. I really like how she took some of the icons in the line and made them into large appliques. The second quilt is by my sister whose quilting shadow I will always live in. I think she is such a great quilt designer! Of course, she is Emily Bailey of Aunt Em's Quilts.

But, the very best part about this line is that we're giving away that jelly roll you see in the first pic. So, who wants it? If you do, let us know and we'll enter you into our random drawing. The winner will be announced tomorrow morning. Good luck everyone.

PS: Wish me luck too. My in-laws arrive tomorrow!

 

Simon Says Stamp with Summer Love

I spotted this yesterday and thought it was super cute!

Simon Says Stamp has a tutorial for the project over on their blog.  Check it out because summertime is coming soon!

ReThinking Super Woman

So, you may have noticed I've been MIA?

It all started with a big project and a short deadline. You see, I'm not actually Super Woman. In fact, I'm pretty darn average. When life gives me too much to do, I have to let some things go like the blog, crafting, getting dressed.....

But maybe this could be my new definition of Super Woman: the girl who doesn't have to do everything. I think there's a super power in that thought!

PS: My good friend Cathy Heck spotted our 2WENTY-THR3E fabrics at Mama Said Sew in Fort Collins, CO. Don't they look great?

3 Random Things: Pro-Bono Work, Fossils and Winners

Random Thing #1: A cool thing about being an artist is that from time to time you get to do work that you really care about. The Sandy-Hook Promise people asked Eric if he would create an illustration for them. Here's what he's done so far. Any guesses on the theme?!

Random Thing #2: There's a lot more bugs and critters in Austin than we ever saw in Utah. We pulled off the rock around our fireplace and this is what we found. I have no idea how long this guy was living in our rocks, but I'm sure glad I didn't find him alive! I wonder how many Austin cockroaches he ate to get to this size?

Ranom Thing #3: Today we have two winners. One from the blog and one from our facebook page. Congratulations go to Suzanne Shipler and Krista Rathkamp Reske. Ladies, send your info to julie at cosmocricket dot com with Blog Winner in the subject line and I'll make sure you get your goodies. Thanks for playing everyone!

 

Bits, Pieces, Tissue Paper and a Giveaway!

Since we call it "scrap" booking...

and

Since I've used up so much of my stash...

I thought it would be fun to create a layout with the leftover scraps from previous projects that are cluttering my desk. It was a great challenge and I LOVE how this page turned out!

Everything in this project, except for the background paper and photos was found laying on my desk. 

The tissue paper was leftover from something I purchased at a store. I had saved it thinking it would be fun to use. It was! I like how the patterned paper underneath shows through, but is muted enough to not compete with the subjects in the foreground.

I had three Gluber strips randomly left from another project and the gold glitter was out from something I worked on yesterday. So I decided to combine the two because who doesn't love gold and pink together?!

All the negative punched pieces on the layout were from cards and projects I've been showing on the blog recently. I did not punch anything for this layout. The punched hearts were leftovers. And that Tiny Text sticker was one of the last 4 left on the entire sheet.

I didn't have to cut the manilla tag or the little element card, they were just laying around that way. I can't remember why! I trimmed down the woodgrain that had a heart punched out of the lower corner and found a set of fabric stickers underneath my keyboard.

I think I'm going to have to give myself this challenge more often. My desk is still quite messy and I could probably complete about a dozen more layouts without getting anything new out except a few sheets of cardstock for backgrounds.

But, I'm sure you desk is perfectly neat and tidy. So I think I need to give away some stuff so that you can clutter it up like mine. How about two sets of the Summer Love and Sweet Dispostion paper along with a pack of the canvas brads and fabric stickers. We will have two lucky winners to announce on Monday. One will win by commenting here and we'll pick one random commenter from our facebook fan page too.

Good luck everyone and enjoy your weekend! 

Dollar Frame Home Decor with Honky Tonk

Donna always does the cutest projects. When I told her that I loved this one, she told me it's a dollar store frame. I love it even more now knowing about the thriftiness factor!!!

There are so many great things to notice in this project. At first, I didn't realize the center of the lower flower is actually a photo.

And using twine to make a little lasso embellishment is pure brilliance in my book.

But, what I love most is putting a story together outside of the scrapbook where everyone can see it all the time. My girls would especially love some of their favorite moments decorating their rooms. Hmmm, maybe it's time to head to the dollar store for a frame!

DIY Recipe Card Holder Featuring TV Dinner

I have no idea what I'm making for dinner tonight! In fact, I'm much more likely to make Donna Budzynski's cute recipe holder than an actual recipe. 

In my kitchen, the toaster oven bakes more UTEE than food.

The dining table is covered in a beaded bracelet project my girls started last night.

My blender was last used to make paper pulp.

I bought some cookie cutters... to make wind chimes with.

I want to sew an apron, to protect my clothing while painting.

And I wonder if I could get my kids to eat more oatmeal so I can have the empty box for a project?

Hmmm, on that note, maybe I will try my hand at some oatmeal cookies?!?!

So tell me, what do you do in your kitchen?

 

Tutorial: DIY Paper Easter Baskets

Warning: The following project is highly addictive. Once you make one, you may need a 12 step program for basket cases!


If you've got 5-10 minutes, a couple sheets of cardstock, a stapler and tape roller, you are set to make these OH-SO-CUTE paper baskets just in time for Easter!

Cut your strips!

Basket: 5 strips 10" x 1.125" (I love the woodgrain from Honky Tonk and have now used up every inch I had of that paper)
Rim: 3 strips 12" x .75"
Handles: For a single handle like mine, 2 strips 6" x .75".
For a traditional center handle, 2 strips 9" x .75"

Start by running adhesive along the entire length of one 12 x .75" strip. Then press and staple your five strips as shown here.

(Please note that I will refer to these strips 1-5 going left to right.)

Bring your rim around into a circle and staple closed.

Now bring strip #1, up and press it next to strip #5, staple.

Now #2 goes next to #1 and so on until you get to number five which squeezes into the last spot. You'll notice that each strip comes up a little shorter than the last, don't worry you've done it right.

Before you do anything else, you need to decide what to do for your handle if you're having one at all. I like mine to be the same print on either side and so I first glued two strips together. For a single handle like mine, staple in place with two strips in between. For a center one, staple in place directly across from each other. (I neglected a photo of this step... sorry!)

Now run tape along another .75" strip. With the seam at the front, tape this inside the basket and staple the ends once in place.

Now run tape along your last .75" strip and with seam at the back press this over the top of all your staples. Slide your stapler inbetween your handle and staple rim in place at center back.

Tah Dah!

Hang one on a door and you may never lose your keys again?!?

Surprise your kids with treats for after school.

I can imagine lots of uses, everything from storing hair ribbons, to neighbor gift containers to Easter Egg hunts. Really, the are so fun you can't make just one!