Make this Duck!

Felt Duckie
Originally uploaded by IamSusie.

If you are local... Chicago/NW burbs.... you SHOULD join the Chicagoland Craft Collective! We will be making this ADORABLE felt duckie next Month (March 22nd).

You can Visit the Chicagoland Craft Collective at Meetup.com and check us out... we are a diverse group of women (and hey men are welcome... we don't bite). We have been meeting in Schaumburg, IL. The members take turns offering a craft for the group to make. We always bring Crafts to share and we leave feeling inspired!

This adorable duckie was made by my CCC friend Susie Z. You can see all her work... and some of the cool crafty swaps she's received HERE. She is what I call a "supercrafter"... everything she makes is just dripping with adorable!

A Super-Duper Swap!

My friend, fellow Chicagoland Craft Collective member and fellow Craftster fan Susie Ziegler is an amazing artist. She does everything; but I especially LOVE her little felt characters. Susie had pointed me in the direction of a cool swap on Craftster called a "Sweat Shop" swap; a bunch of crafters who work in different mediums swap different handmade items in small groups. What could be more fun?

I just couldn't commit to the swap with all that's going on with Sell-a-bration, (look HERE for info on MY Sell-a-bration specials by the way!) but Susie was nice enough to offer a personal swap with me!

I created this little Valentine Note Purse for her with Stampin' Up! Purse Boxes and Tags. They are templates that you just punch out and fold into shape...super easy! I created six 3" X 3" note cards to tuck inside of them. I punched 3/4" circles out of the Loves Me Designer Paper from the Winter Mini to use on the notecards. The heart and the letters are Cuttlebug die-cuts. The project was made much easier with Stampin' Up! circle punches and the fact that it's so easy to match all the Stampin' Up! stuff together! The paper matches the card stock which matches the ribbon and ink. Easy peasy!

You can read the specific details about the inks, paper and everything else in my Splitcoaststampers Gallery.

Look at what I got in return! I love these little cuties; and my son loves them even more! Aren't they so funky?!? I will be making the little rocket into a pin, and my son is already sleeping with the Robot! The pattern is from a book Susie used that she ordered from Yes Asia. She will get me the ISBN # for anyone who's interested... just email me and I will forward you to Susie.

Failed Craft

Aren't these sweet!


My friend and fellow Chicago Craft Collective member Melanie Silver made these cute little beads... out of even SMALLER beads. At the CCC meetings we take turns leading the others in a craft; and we all loved Melanie's beads so much we asked her to be the instructor this week.

Melanie took so much time packaging up all the beads; and even ran off some great instructions for us. When CCC member Martha Bonneau (Pug fan and Super Scrapper) and I first saw the instructions we were overwhelmed. "This looks like Math... I quit" said Martha.

It all fell apart from there. I mean, we could barely thread the required ridiculously thin needles... it was insane! Basically we gave up, and decided it was worth the $3.00 just for the realization that we should not invest more time or money into beading. I at least got a layer of the bead done, but with TONS of help. Regardless, we did have a blast! Thanks Melanie!

You can read Martha's take on the beading fiasco on her awesome blog Mugsy Boo. Please don't neglect to check out her killer scrap pages. She only scraps about her photogenic Pugs... or at least as far as I know. She also makes very cuddly Felt Puggies. I don't know Martha too well yet; just that she is very talented and likes good music.

My Failed Bead