1.Tell us a little about you and your blog.

I love creating, whether it’s sewing, knitting, cooking, or painting walls, and my blog is a reflection of that. Dukes and Duchesses began as a way to share life in our family but evolved into a portfolio of my crafting adventures with a bit of family fun tossed in for good measure.

2.How and when did you start crafting?

I think I’ve been crafting almost since I left the womb. I remember making a pile of those woven potholders one summer when I was about eight years old and that may have been when the crafting bug bit me. My tastes have {thankfully} improved since then but I still get great enjoyment from making something with my hands.

3.How often do you craft?

I try to do something creative every day. I even write a daily project on my to-do list {I’m a little Type A like that}. It’s my way of ensuring that I make time to do what I love, even if that means just sitting down to knit a few rows on a current project.

4.Where do you get your inspiration?

A lot of my inspiration comes from my family. I’ll think of something my kids would love and decide to make it or I’ll come up with a way to improve the house and go for it. I also get a lot of inspiration from other bloggers. I’m amazed at the talent that’s out there.

5.What is your favorite medium to work in?

If I had to pick one thing, I’d have to choose knitting. There’s something so relaxing about sitting down with needles and yarn and watching it transform into a garment or other item. Plus, the yarns available now are amazing.

6.What is your guilty pleasure?

Archer Farms Peanut Butter Fudge ice cream. It’s chocolate ice cream with strips of peanut butter in it. I could eat a carton.

7.What makes you smile?

My husband and kids. My baby’s sweet voice. Great theme parties. Beautiful yarn. Thrifted treasures. Transferware. There are a lot of things that make me smile.

8.What is your favorite thing to do (other than crafting)?

Read. I love to get lost in a good book – the kind where you feel like the characters are your friends and you miss them when the book is over.

*Congratulations Randi for a fantastic job during Season 8!  You can learn more about Randi and see her SYTYC projects on her bio page.*

1.Tell us a little about you and your blog.
- I have been married for almost five years to the best man on earth! I have two kids Aubrey, my son, is 3; Addison, my daughter, just turned 1! My family is super important to me. I love them more than words can say. I am a little sarcastic, always dress comfy, and LOVE to laugh : )! I started my blog at the beginning of the year and have really enjoyed sharing bits of my life. I love reading other’s blogs. I get so much inspiration and I really have so much to learn! I hope I inspire others they way I have been inspired! Oh, and I probably overuse exclamation points and smiley faces when blogging : )!!

2.How and when did you start crafting?
- I always enjoyed crafting, but really got into it when my kids were born. I taught myself to sew and crochet since my kids were born and absolutely love it. I am a very visual person so I just have to do something if I want to… and I have a really hard time with directions! I generally do things “my” way.

3.How often do you craft?
- Whenever I get a chance. Since my son doesn’t nap anymore I craft alot standing up at my kitchen counter and late at night… luckily I’m a night person!

4.Where do you get your inspiration?
- My Family, my kids, and photography

5.What is your favorite medium to work in?
- Fabric, definitely!

6.What is your guilty pleasure?
- Sonic happy hour… every.single.day. I’m so ashamed! I love Dr. Pepper!!!

7.What makes you smile?
- My family! I have the cutest family every : )

8.What is your favorite thing to do (other than crafting)?
- I love watching a good movie with my husband, and spending time with my kids. There is no greater joy than True Love! : )

*Congrats to Ashley for being the runner up of Season 8!  You can read more about her and see her SYTYC projects on her bio page.*

Oh. My. Goodness.  Did you guys see how close the polls were this week?   Every season the finale gets closer and closer!  In the end this season, Randi pulled ahead of Ashley by just 6 votes.  You guys did amazing!

Congratulations Randi!!

Here are the projects that Randi made for the challenges.  Her stuff was great all season long!

or in the case of Laura, what they’ve already won   The crafters work so hard for this contest and they deserve some awesome swag. Thanks to our Season 8 sponsors the top 3 crafters will be getting some awesome prizes.

*If you would like to sponsor a prize for a future season of SYTYC you can learn more here*

For her 3rd place win, Laura @ EmmieLu Designs will receive … an accessory gift basket from The Toasted Coconut!

The Toasted Coconut is a fun little shop full of vintage inspired accessories. Cute things like earrings and necklaces and scarfs and headbands and belts and leggings and bloomers. Just about anything you could want.  Emily will be providing a fun gift basket for our winner with a few of her creations in it.

2nd place will receive … a gift basket of vintage sewing notions from Sweet Old Ecetera & a gift basket of handmade items & Norwegian fabric from Bless, by Tone!

Sweet Old Etcetera is a small design company that finds inspiration for it’s products in vintage and re-purposed materials. Items range from jewelry featuring vintage fabrics to hand dyed silk scarves. They believe that even the simplest items can be beautifully made by hand and bring joy to the user. The newest line of products from Sweet Old Etcetera is a collection of handmade and vintage inspired sewing notions. The winner will receive a large gift basket with a sampling of each of the styles of items in this newest product line including one of their popular tea cup pin cushions, various bias tapes, appliques, and fabric covered buttons. Timothea is the one woman show behind Sweet Old Etcetera. In conjunction with her handmade craft business, she also writes a blog.  When she isn’t being crafty, Timothea is either teaching other people how to be crafty, or trying to teach her dogs how to do circus tricks.

I’m sure you all recognize Bless, by Tone.  She’s the most recent champion of SYTYC and she’d like to pay it forward a little bit.  Tone is one of our international alum. She lives in Norway with her two daughters.  When she’s not teaching Sunday School or at an adult high school she’s at home crafting.  Her blog, Bless, by Tone, lets us have a peek at what she’s working on.  She’s made some amazing children’s clothes and fantastic items for her home.  Tone will be providing a gift basket filled with some goodies she has made and some fun Norwegian fabrics from the shop Stoff & Stil. How fun to get a little package from Europe!

1st place will receive … a medium tote from Lisa from Scratch, a $30 gift card to Funky Polka Dot Giraffe & 4 ebooks from Whimsy Couture

Lisa from Scratch is a great shop with fun little totes and clutches and iphone pouches and all sorts of fun little goodies.  Lisa is one of those lucky ones that quit her day-job to sew full time.  I’m soo jealous.  I love her fabric choices and color combos (especially the orange and green stuff). And if you can’s just decide on one she has or you need a million of them (million may be a stretch) she does custom and wholesale orders too.

Funky Polka Dot Giraffe is a little shop by Kyla and has the coolest mom/baby accessories.  And they’re not just the same old stuff you see.  They are crazy awesome things like little monkeys and bananas and Disney princesses and the classic favorites like cute little bows and zipper headbands. Not only does Kyla run her shop, but she’s got a really funblog too .

Whimsy Couture makes some of the cutest patterns for little girl clothes I’ve ever seen – and some ready made stuff too!  Not only are the patterns adorable, but you can sell any garments made using the patterns in your own shops.  They have over 40 patterns available so you’re sure to find something you’ll love.  I’m loving the little romper.

Hey Hey Everybody!  This week has been so fun, yet a tinsy bit stressful for me.  My sister and her family drove in from Cleveland for a few days.  We had a blast!  However, our only computer (that we’ve had to take in to be fixed 2 already this year) won’t start again.  Since we had family here we weren’t able to get it in to be fixed (tinsy stressful part).  Right now I’m bumming off my fantastic neighbors (thanks Cari & Jeff!) to get this post up.  I wanted to make sure you get the full week of voting, but I’ll be waiting until tomorrow evening (after we have our super shiny new computer home – finally) to put up the results and let you know the 10 ladies that will be competing next season.

So, the finale is down to Randi from Dukes & Duchesses and Ashley from Cherished Bliss.  They’ve done some awesome stuff for this challenge.  Voting will be open until Friday night so vote and tell everybody else to come vote too!

Craft #1 – Pintuck Comforter & Bed Tray by Ashley @ Cherished Bliss

 

 

Craft #2 – Love Note Shadow Box by Randi @ Dukes & Duchesses

*Tutorial made by Randi @ Dukes and Duchesses for her win of the Thrift Store challenge*

Emmie·Lu (em-mi-looo): noun/the combination of two best friends [Emily: Emmie; Laura: Lu) exploring their deep desire to cover the world in glue and sparkles. Self proclaimed “Craft-Pickers” who scour the earth in search of props and supplies to use in their exciting creation of DIY Home Decor & girly Accessories. Two average females completely obsessed with all things quotable and free.

About Laura: Laura is in love with anything rusty, shiny, old, or new as long as it is free & she can re-make it into a piece of art. She is married to her post-high school sweet heart & lives with her stinky dog, Boss.

www.EmmieLu.Blogspot.com

1.Tell us a little about you and your blog.

I started “Not Just Grannies” a couple of years (and kids) ago when I first learned to crochet. So many people commented that they thought crocheting was just for grannies and they were not used to seeing a non gray haired person crochet, ergo the title. I started it to show my family and friends my crochet projects. That was really my entry into the craft blogging world and it opened up a whole world of sewing and other crafts. Now it’s the whole gamut.

2.How and when did you start crafting

I was a scrapbooker pre kids, but my crafting really took off when I quit my job to stay home with our first born. I used to get my 40% off coupon each week and go to the craft store to push the stroller around and look for something to buy. As we all know, that can suck anyone in! The scrapbooking branched out into crocheting and later sewing. Different branches are sprouting all of the time. Now I have 3 preschoolers, so I just dream about perusing the craft stores on a weekly basis.

3.How often do you craft?

With so much to juggle with the kids, a part time job as a pediatric speech therapist, training for triathlons, and also a coordinating crafts for the 80 MOPS moms at my church, my personal crafting falls by the wayside alot. I can easily let my yarn and fabric sit for weeks and then attack it for 5 days straight when I have a little time or inspiration. My crafting corner is in our kitchen, so I can’t just shut the door when I’m in the middle of a project. That can be good and bad. It is true that if it’s a priority, one will make time for it. Thankfully it has been a priority that sometimes comes before cleaning and laundry, and my family and I are OK with that.

4.Where do you get your inspiration?

My granny and great aunt sewed in the 1930′s when sewing was what girls were taught. They are both master seamstresses and made all of their families’ clothes. That was the norm then, but I hope sewing will never disappear altogether. There is no amount of money spent on factory made clothes that will replace the satisfaction that someone made these clothes with you in mind. I love to see people take pride in things that I made them, even if I had to rip the seam out 10 times. You can’t put a price on that.

5.What is your favorite medium to work in?

Fabric for now. I learned to sew several years ago and bought expensive fabric and a tissue pattern and worked on it for days, then pitched it and cried. Then my sewing machine sat on the shelf and collected dust for a few years. From blogging, I “met” so many sewists that hated tissue patterns, too, and upcycled old clothes for fabric. I decided to tackle some of their tutorials/patterns. I figured that if I messed up, I just ruined a t-shirt from the goodwill pile, so what did I have to lose? The clothes turned out so cute and I have never bought expensive fabric! I am learning about making my own patterns and that has opened a whole new world for me also.

6.What is your guilty pleasure?

Movie popcorn. We don’t get out much, but when we do get to go to the movies, a few times a year, I get myself a huge bucket of buttery popcorn, eat it all, and get a refill. It’s about $8 and I am sick the whole next day but it’s totally worth it.

7.What makes you smile?

My husband and kids. My husband has a hilarious dry wit and my kids can make me almost lose my cool, and then I’ll see them be sweet to each other and I am in love all over again.

8.What is your favorite thing to do (other than crafting)?

I got an e-reader for Christmas and am always reading the latest bestseller. I also run and am training for a triathlon. I just bought a coupon binder and am starting to really get into that. I am blessed to have lots of hobbies and I only wish there were more hours in the day to master everything I am dabbling in.

*You can learn more about Ashley and her SYTYC projects on her bio page*

*Tutorial made by Laura @ Emmielu Designs for her win during the Kids Can Do challenge*

I can’t believe that I won last week! I was so busy with college finals [4 of them to be exact] that I didn’t really even have time to check the results all week – so to find out I won was fantastic. Unfortunatly, I didn’t make a tutorial as i made this project but I can certainly tell you exactly how I made it  

1. I found this large wooden board at a local thrift store for $1.50 but you could easily use a 1X4 painted in your color choice. 
2. To create a cute background on the board – cut scrapbook paper down to size & use cute scissors to create an interesting border. Using stick glue, attach the paper to the front of the board
3. Next, add the ribbon. Cut the ribbon into 6-8 inch strips and drape it across the front in a criss-cross pattern. Using a stable gun, staple the ends of the ribbon onto the back of the board to hold it in place. 

     4. To hold artwork and pictures, I glued clothes-pins onto the top and covered them with       

          scrap-book paper and a bow.

     5. Lastly, I cut out different shapes from scrapbook paper and glued them all over the board 

          to add a little something extra. 

 

My goal this week was truly to make something that “KIDS CAN DO”. I am confident that most children could create this with the help of an adult and it turn out just as cute as my creation. Thanks for voting