The Big Peep Show

After weeks of agonizing over peep diorama plans, the final projects are finished. And now, in no particular order...

Craft Night Presents

The Big Peep Show

three entries respectfully submitted for consideration in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press Marshmallow Peeps Diorama Contest

The Saint Paul Winter Peepival

By Laura

The Mona Peepsa

By Monica and Windy, with special assistance from Jane and Sarah

New Peeps Eve in Times Square

By Becky and Vicki

Indicate your vote for best Craft Night contest entry by leaving a comment below!

To view more photos, visit http://picasaweb.google.com/unlevelseas.

Peep Peep!

Last night was craft night! We all made peep dioramas to enter into the Pioneer Press contest.

Here's a sneak preview, but you'll have to wait till Sunday for the full photo album, including the final finished products.

I'm not going to lie, our little friends were not only cute, but tasty!

And they make amazing s'mores. S'meeps, if you will.

Stay tuned, you're not going to want to miss the pictures of the finished projects.

The Return of Craft Night

It's been two months, but craft night is back! This time, we'll have a specific agenda: we'll be making Peep Dioramas for entry into the annual Saint Paul Pioneer Press contest. I've never made Peep art, but I sure can't wait to try my hand at it. Jane's already planning on a mini-Peep-Jane. Becky wants to do a Peep rights protest march, and Sarah just wants to eat Peeps. Tune in next week for our creations, but in the meantime, here's some inspiration!


Last year's winner, March of the Peeps, from http://peepscontest.blogspot.com/.


Peep My Ride from http://peepscontest.blogspot.com/.


Check out the entries from last year's Seattle Times Peep contest. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/photogalleries/living1179/1.html

And perhaps the most inspirational, check out Peep Haikus at http://www.raavensroost.org/peephaiku.html.

VOTE T-shirts

In October, my co-worker Monica asked if I could join her for a Get-Out-The-Vote drive at a local bar one Friday night. I decided we needed cool shirts if we were going to do fairly uncool things at a bar. Don't get me wrong, voting and getting other folks to vote is cool, but I usually feel pretty uncool when I try to do that second part. So on Friday after work I picked up a package of t-shirts from the boys department at Target, then went home and started cutting up some old green and blue t-shirts that didn't fit me for the letters. The end result was quite a hit. That's pretty much how craft night got started.

Throw Pillows Update

Well, it's been a month and a half since I created my prized throw pillows. I'm still super proud of the design and all, but it turns out I made a mistake on materials. I chose felt because it seemed durable and cuddly for pillowcases. Plus, it doesn't fray, which made a lot of sense for the leaf appliques. Unfortunately, the felt started pilling and collecting fuzzballs and hair that happen to float around the living room within the first week. It hasn't gotten bad enough for me to trash the pillowcases, but I'll be sure to choose my fabric more wisely next time.

Umbrella Onesie

Snow Day! I got to leave work early yesterday, and got today off because of the foot of snow that slammed the Twin Cities this week. So I finally got to work on some crafts. Last night I made this:

I'm hoping to work on some more projects this weekend.

Pillowcase turned shoulder bag

I have a real affinity for used pillowcases and sheets. You can make such fun things using already professionally-finished edges. I found the pillowcase for this project at a garage sale. I trimmed some of the length and width, keeping the finished edge intact to use as the opening of the bag. After sewing up the cut edges, I used the scraps to create the straps. I used strips that were about 3" by about 18". I folded each strip right sides together, sewed them into a tube, and the turned it right sides out. I pressed the strap so that the seam was centered on one side, and then covered that seam with my orange 1" grossgrain ribbon. I sewed the straps to the outside of the bag, and then covered my work with a grossgrain stripe. When I carried my new bag to work for the first time, a coworker's gasped, "Holy Jan Brady!" Apt, I guess!