I'm backkkk

Hey everyone,

After much contemplation and wise advice from my Mr C and my great friends, I decided to keep Purple Umbrella as a personal blog.  I felt my work blog wasn't "Janet" enough, you know what I mean? It just lacked my crazy stories, random food pics and of course, random sound effects (wooohooo!!).  Anyways, this blog will mostly be for my friends, and people who randomly stumble upon this blog (a big hello to you!).  If you know me well you know I love telling stories all day long... :P  I guess this is just my outlet for doing just that...

Last week was American Thanksgiving and I had the pleasure to spend the whole week with Mr C.  We renovated the house and finally finished painting! Did I tell you the house is now an awesome shade of "Perfect Taupe", "Raffia Ribbon", and "Sandstone Cove"? I'm not sure if it's normal to feel so much love towards paint colors, but I can tell you I just sigh like a love stuck school girl.  I'll have to post some before and after pictures of the renovations.  I'd say we are 80% done, but we still need to finish up the stairs and the hallway.  Who knew hardwood would be so difficult to finish? It's been 6 months :P yikes.  Anyways, during that vacation, we also had the chance to do some yard work.  Unfortunately Mr C stubbled upon a hornets nest in the bushes.  Those crazy bees chased him all around the front lawn.  It ended with 0-1... Mr C being the 0, along with a bruised forehead. Strangely enough, I had avoided the leaves around that bush because I felt there was something there... :P The bees didn't get me, but the compost did! The bottom of my compost bag broke in our front lawn.. I was horrified.  lol, what do you do with compost all around you??? Use leaves to scoop it up of course. ;p

Black Friday came and went just like that.  We were originally going to line up for Wal-mart, but as many of you are aware it's crazy.  I'm kind of glad we didn't go line up, but part of me still wonders what it's like to have a mac. lol.  I did pick up towels at Macy's, that's as exciting as it gets :P

That's about it! I'll try to post more food adventure pics soon.  I've missed them!

Take care, catch ya later!

Janet

New blog

Hey everyone,

My new blog (http://dearjanetcreations.blogspot.com) is up and running.  It will mainly focus on my needle felting and paper crafts. If you're interested please stop by :)

I may pop back and forth and keep this blog as my personal life blog.  What do you guys think?

Cheers,

Janet

CAS(E) this Sketch #52

Hey everyone,

One last post on this blog before I make the big move.  I'm still on the fence whether to have two blogs--  one personal (cooking, everyday adventures) and an Etsy one.  What do you think?

Anyways, I recently got my October Studio Calico kit and I was blown away by the stamp set and the supplies.  Everything was well cordinated and beautifully packaged.  I've been having some creativity block recently, so while surfing on Pinterest I found this website called CAS(E).  They come up with a card sketch and you create the card using their layout.  I was pretty excited and made this card with some of the supplies in my October kit.  This is what I came up with.   I'm so obessed with mint greens and oranges this Autumn.  I think it's such a funky color combination! 

Enjoy and have a wonderful day :)

New blog domain name

Hey everyone,

Just stopping by to wish you a Happy Halloween! Hope you eat a lot of candy and have lots of fun.

Btw, I'll be changing my blogger URL soon so in case you follow this blog please update your bookmarks and or feeds!

My new URL will be dearjanetcreations.blogspot.com and I'll be changing it next week :)

Take care!

Janet

Needle Felting Ducks

Hello everyone,

A big sorry for the lack of updates! We've been pretty busy doing house renovations etc.  I'm glad to say that we've kind of settled down now so I can get back to the good stuff (needle felting, blogging, crafting!).  At least my craft room is up and running! We finally painted it a beautiful shade of grey (Behr's Dolphin fin).  If you look closely it's in the background of my pictures below.  It's my favorite spot in the house (it's also the warmest place because it gets all the sun light).  I just love needle felting there.  Here's a sneak peek at what I've created so far :) They are large versions of my small needle felted ducks. They'll be going up in the shop soon so please stay tuned.  The little grey girl duck is my favorite.  Isn't the bow darling?! :)

Needle Felted Mushroom & heart keychain

Hey everyone,

How's it going? Not much happening on our end of the world.  The weather in Washington is nice and hot.  We've been hiking quite a bit and I'm enjoying the outdoor activities.  I'll need to dig up all those pictures and write a post about it soon.  We hiked up Mount Si and also Rattlesnake Ledge.  Both are beautiful places and I can't wait to go back.

To all my Toronto people, I hope you are all safe and sound.  I saw pictures of the rainstorm and noticed major flooding of the highways.  Wow, when it rains it pours huh?

Nothing new on the crafting front.  We are in the midst of another move so I am slowly packing up my paper craft items... tear.  :P No worries though, I've been needle felting in between color selections and home renovation research.

Since I love hearts I decided to make this cute little heart keychain.  

 

Also continuing with my happy needle felting series, I made this little happy mushroom ^^

 

Take care! Janet

Hello!

Hey everyone,

Yes! Friday is here and let's enjoy the hot weather shall we? :)  I heard that it's been really hot in the East coast for a few weeks.  I'm so happy that summer has arrived here in the West coast! Yippie.  I love the hot weather and the sun.  

I spent the afternoon coming up with some new needle felting friends.  I also made a delicious summery pasta dish, but you'll have to wait until the next post =p.  Take care friends.  Have a wonderful weekend.

 

How is everyone spending their weekend?

Needle Felting: OWLS!!

Hey everyone,

Wow, it's been a long time since my last post.  I apologize.  It's been crazy these few days and I was finally able to sit down to make these little cuties.  A long time ago my friend who is crazy about owls had suggested I make one.  When I tried back in the day, my owls looked hideous hahah.  I think these guys look a lot better now! Very happy and friendly right?

I hope you like them! You can find them in my Etsy shop if you're interested. 
Take care, and stay tuned for my next post.  I'll try to post more frequently!

<3 ya,
Janet

June 2013 Birchbox

Hey everyone,

How's it going? Guess what I got in the mail today?! My June Birchbox.  I'm so happy it didn't get lost in the mail.  The post office some how lost my April and May Birchbox (urgh, fists in the air).  I was so upset! The first time it said it was delivered but I'm guessing it got misplaced in the wrong mail box.  Then in May, my box just got lost at the Redmond post office for 2 weeks.  Luckily, the customer service at Birchbox is absolutely top notch.  It's amazing how great customer service can go a long way.  Anyways, enough talking, now for pictures.  This month is the new re branding of Birchbox.  They have a new logo and everything.  To celebrate their new logo they even gave all their customers a bottle of nail polish.  Some how I knew I would get their cream/white color.  Why? Because it was the most boring color.  :| I think they had a coral, lavender, mint and purple? Ah, I don't remember.  Anyways, they included a set of post cards which I thought was neat.  I'm really digging the mint green they used on the tiny box.  So pretty ^^.

 Overall, I really enjoyed the deluxe size of shampoo and also the face scrub.  I've been shopping around for a good face scrub after moving to the US so I'm glad I got this sample.  I'll just need to give it a try first.  It smells like lemons.  The perfume smells nice too, but I've never been a big fragrance person.  I'm glad we can now limit the number of perfumes we get in a year.  I think this is one of the best boxes I've gotten so far.  I didn't post April or May boxes because I felt it wasn't really different.  May's box wasn't the best because I just got whatever box they had left as a replacement.  I think I got a broken eye pencil (they're resending a replacement), cucumber sun screen, and a bottle of hair spray protector.

Take care for now, I'll post some new needle felting projects soon!

Janet

Needle Felting: Baby Duck

Hey everyone,

Happy Friday.  Yes, finally the weekend again.  Today I decided to do some needle felting and I came up with this baby duck.  I was actually inspired by a rice ball at the Japanese supermarket.  I did a little photo shoot and I hope you enjoy. What should I name this little friend?

Take care!

<3 Janet

Card Making: Pennant Inspired Cards

Hey everyone,

Hope you're having a great Tuesday.  Not much on my end, except we've been having really beautiful weather lately.  I'm currently working on a few new needle felting projects for my Etsy store.  I tried wet needle felting for these projects, so I'm just waiting for them to dry! Hopefully it will work out and I'll have 2 new creations tomorrow (I'm keeping my fingers crossed!).

Today, I decided I was in the mood for card making.  I came up with these 2 cards.  I really love pennants so I decided to make my cards focused around them  I'm hoping to stock up on more card stock as I only have purple card stock in my collection (so sad... :P).  I also decided to try machine sewing on them as well.  I think they came out pretty well.  Mr C was surprised you could sew on paper, but I knew my Singer could do it :D.   What do you guys think?

   

Take care,

Janet

Needle Felted Yellow duck and paper adventure

Hello everyone,
A happy Friday to you! Today I had some time to make a larger version of my mini ducks! I think he came out pretty well :) Now there's a mother duck for the baby ones :). 

Anyways, yesterday I had mentioned my paper adventure and I just wanted to share some paper projects with you.  While in Toronto, I picked up this neat 3 in 1 paper tag puncher at Michael's.  I know what you're thinking.  I'm a little crazy for lugging this heavy metal brick from Toronto to Seattle.  In my defense, I got a 50% off coupon and I really liked the fact that this paper punch had a lever to press down on.  With this neat puncher, I've been making some pretty gift tags.  I'm just not sure what to do with them yet!

 Happy Weekend! :)
Janet

Needle Felting: Large Blue Duck

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the lack of updates! Due to unforeseen circumstances, Mr C and I had to go back to Toronto to attend to some family matters.  It was a really rushed trip back home, so I didn't really have time to make any updates.  I'm back now, and working really hard to come up with new things for the shop and for the blog! I've been trying to come up with new items and cooking up new dishes (stay tuned).

This month, I've been noticing that a lot of people have been looking my tiny little duck.  I even had a fellow Etsy buyer suggest to make a larger duck.  So I did it guys.  I made a larger one!

What do you think?

I'm going to post this happy duck? penguin? hybrid in the store soon!  He came out really well, and I hope to make a yellow one soon.  Too bad these furry friends take so long to make... :P

Anyways, one of my closest friend has introduced me to the world of cardmaking/scrapbooking.  It's a magical world, filled with beautiful papers, stamps, ribbon, and paper punches.  While in Toronto I picked up a paper tag puncher.  I also brought back my Martha Stewart heat tool (which I love) for some wet embossing.  This is a little sneak peek of what I've been working on.  I'm still on the search for a small hole puncher/setter tool.  Hopefully next month since I've kind of destroyed my crafts budget.  Whoops? :P haha

Take care! Woo hoo, almost the weekend!

<3 Janet

Craft Project: Decoupage

Hey everyone,

How's it going?! Sorry for the lack of posts guys.  I've been keeping myself busy with different crafts. Last week was sewing and this week is decoupage! hahah, yes you read it correctly.  After getting my crazy $3 paper cutter, I knew I had to get myself a bottle of Mod Podge for decoupaging.  I've always wanted to decoupage since seeing it on the Rosie O'Donnell show (circa the mid 90's).  I know weird right? She talked about it in a few of her episodes, and I thought it was pretty cool how you could glue paper to anything you wanted.   I used my mod podge to glue my favorite paper to a magnetic box.  It came out really well and now I have a perfect tool box.  I've recently become obsessed with magnets as well.  I decided to decoupage some Japanese Washi paper to some heart shaped glass.  Now I just need some magnets for the back! 

 

I also made some tiny magnets from some brads I picked up on the weekend.  I was really attracted to the cute little designs.  Perfect for the fridge or small magnetic message board.  You can find this set in my Etsy store.  Just click the banner on the right side.

 

 

Sewing project: Cord Organizer

Hey everyone,

Hope you're having a great Tuesday.  I haven't been needle felting lately, instead I've been sewing.  After some minor hiccups, I think I finally know how to use the sewing machine.  In fact, I find sewing so peaceful now... my beautiful sewing machine.. how I love you

I know I know, I should be needle felting and coming up with new creations for my store, however I felt the intense need to make this little creation.

Don't you hate it when your cords are a mess? This weekend, I spent 15 minutes trying to untangle my earphones at the gym.  I was so annoyed that I decided to sew these little cord organizers.  I used some fabric I had from my previous project to make this.  It's not really complete yet as I'm waiting for my snap fastner pliers to come in the mail.  I'm really excited though because they look so cute.  I can't wait to use them.  I'll see how they turn out once I add a fastener.     

 A made a couple of these cord organizers with different ribbon designs.  I found some beautiful ribbon from Marshall's this weekend that I had to incorporate into the design. 

I'm so obsessed with ribbon right now! I love the happy cheery designs :)  What do you think? Should I add these cord organizers to my store?  Also what's your current obsession? I'd love to know

Take care,

Janet

 

What's for dinner?

 I love Vietnamese food.  Banh mi's, Pho (beef noodles), cold rice noodles with yummy deep fried spring rolls make my mouth water (hehe).  One of my most favorite dishes/appetizers are these cold spring rolls.  I don't recall the proper name for them (if any of you know, please let me know). 

We are trying to eat heathier by incorporating more seafood and veggies into our diet.  This week is shrimp week.  I decided I had to make this dish. 

 These spring rolls are so easy to make as it requires a bag of rice noodles, shrimp, some sort of veggie like lettuce (I used spinach instead) and of course rice wrapper (resembles pieces of paper made our of rice and tapioca). The hardest part of the process was cleaning the shrimp, but I think this could be eliminated by using tofu or even sausage. 

You have to boil the noodles first and then place them on a flat surface to dry and cool down.  Next you boil the shrimp and now you can assemble :D  For each spring roll, you'll need to quickly soak the rice wrapper in warm water and then quickly place it flat on a dish.  Then you put some shrimp, noodles and lettuce in the middle of the rice paper.  Fold the top down and roll a bit before you fold in the sides.  For my first few rolls I attempted to do the sides first, but realized everything just stuck together (these darn things are so sticky!).  

All done :) Make a peanut sauce and you're good to go.  I think I'm going to try this with tofu tonight!

Take care,
Janet
  

Joann Haul + Needle Felted Magnets

Hey everyone!! Happy May 1st!

I can't believe it's already May.  I can't wait until we have summer weather!  Then I can eat frozen yogurt outdoors without the fear of brain freeze ;)

Guess what? I got my first sale today.  Thanks to the person who purchased my little camera charm <3.   I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.  I was so excited/happy that I made some new things today.  After shipping the package, I decided to walk around Joann's and Michaels.  I got a lot of crafting stuff at Joann's. I even found a mini x-acto cutting board.  Guess how much it was? Only $3.94! Yes, you read that correctly.  I was floored because it was such a great deal! It was on final clearance, and I had to get it.  I even walked around the store once to make sure I really needed it.  I've been wanting to get something like this for awhile (I hate cutting paper with an exacto knife/scissors).  

 My beautiful new x-acto cutting board.  Haha... chop chop

 I made some furry friend magnets! :) I will do some "vanity" shots sometime this week.  Just wanted to come up with more things before the weekend.  It's just a baby chick and a rabbit... you know just chilling around the Washington area.

I finally made something for myself!  It's a little flower for my bag or jacket.  Unfortunately the pins I bought from Joann are terrible... urgh.  I don't think they are useable, but I'll see...

Take care :)

Janet

Needle Felted Camera Keychain Reworked

Hey everyone, just a quick needle felting post! So I've launched my Etsy store, but no sales yet.  I've been checking my stats lately and I've noticed people seem to look at my other camera charm a lot.  This made me decide to mod the existing one into a key chain! What do you guys think?  I'm going to put this one up on my store tomorrow. 

Thanks for the encouragement (esp to Mr C, JessMadeThis, Paperandflair).  I'll work hard to come up with new creations once I get over this nasty flu... yuck. 

Take care,

Janet

Weekend in Seattle

Hey everyone!

 Hope you all had an awesome weekend.  We had a wonderful Sunday in downtown Seattle.  We went to the Seattle Cherry Blossom Cultural Festival at the Seattle Centre.  We saw some awesome Taiko drumming, hands on arts and crafts and ate some good food.  The drums were so loud we could hear them at Alki beach which is across a body of water from the Seattle Center. 

 

We had the chance to try hot dogs with Japanese flavors.  I think the famous one (Japadog) is originally from Vancouver... oh well... close enough lol.  Mine was pretty good with lots of bonito flakes nom nom nom :P. 

We also had to try my favorite, Takoyaki!  These are my favorite and I love them so much.  It's basically a wheat-flour based batter that is poured over a metal pan shaped as balls.  In the center there is usually a piece of octopus.  The top is usually sprinkled with seaweed, bonito flakes and takoyaki sauce. 

How did you spend the weekend? :)
 Janet

Etsy Store Grand opening & needle felting scene

 

Hey everyone! Happy Sunday, it's the weekend and I finally launched my etsy store.  Thanks for the support and please check it out and let me know what you think :)  Just click on the side link .

Take care and have an amazing weekend ^-^

Janet