The Perks of Being Busy

Hello there little blog…it’s been way too long since I last visited you! Sadly the web gremlins (the mean kind, not the fuzzy little gizmo kind) took you away for several months but thankfully our favorite web designer, Joy, was able to bring you back after my pitiful attempts failed.

I have several posts partially finished in the draft folder from before the gremlin attack that I need to sort through since I’m pretty sure it’s too late/too early for Christmas decoration posts.  Hopefully I’ll be back to pseudo-regular updates soon.

In the meantime I leave you with this….
Cupcake Wrap Photography
…the single best thing to come from new product photography. Edible props….and no I don’t mean the plate! 🙂

Welcome to Dill Pickle Picnic

Hi!  Welcome to my new little piece of internet real estate.  I’m still cleaning up old posts, so just overlook that for now…but I was itching to get back to blogging so here we are.   I’m sure a few of  you are curious about a few things so in this post I’ll try to answer those questions and then tomorrow…back to crafty fun!

Why the new blog?
I’ve know for a while that if I were ever going to seriously “blog” I would need to rename it.  While I loved my CraftySmurfette moniker (and still do), the name still contains a trademarked little cartoon creature.  As a personal blog it was fine, but even opening an Etsy store with that name seemed like a bad idea.  Right now my crafty little creations aren’t getting a lot of traffic, but they have started to grow a small bit which made me realize that now was better than later.  So…here we are:  a new blog, all the old posts, a backlog of posts to catch up on since I’ve been away, room to grow,  and most importantly a fun new name that is all me!

What’s up with that name anyway?
It was a childhood thing…my BFF from childhood and I used to spend summer days and Sunday afternoon at my grandparents farm.  We LOVED dill pickles, so as kids we would pack our picnic baskets with a jar of dill pickles, napkins, plates, forks, & 2 cans of Mt. Dew.  Basket in hand we would set off to find our picnic spot…far away from random chores my grandma could dream up.  My grandmother, however, thought we were crazy.  Why on earth would we want to pack just pickles when she had all sorts of fried foods ready for us?  Thus, our dill pickle picnics were born, and are still a running joke with my friend & mom. For example, it’s not odd for me to receive a jar of sliced dill pickles as part of a birthday gift.  Dill pickle picnics are one of my fondest childhood memories, so carefree and fun.   Memories of summer days full of endless creative adventure, friendship, and whimsy…don’t we all wish we could feel that type of joy again?  This is my attempt to bring some of those feelings back, well, that and my outlet for my crafty stress relief.  Plus given my love of mason jars, it just seemed perfect 🙂

Who made it look so cute?
The amazingly creative Joy of HowJoyful.  Seriously, she is possibly the most creative person I’ve ever known (in real life & online).  Want a blog template?  She can whip you up one in no time.  Need an ugly dress recreated?  She’ll whip it into something amazing.  Need a new camera case or teddy bear pattern?  She has tutorials on her blog to help you out.  I’m thinking she might be able to help us all achieve world peace as well.  Seriously, Joy is a pleasure to work with.  I’m in the “online” world professionally so I had quite a few ideas of how things need to look and act, Joy took it all in stride and created exactly what I was dreaming of in ways I hadn’t imagined.  If you need a new look, shoot her an email.  While you are checking out her blog go ahead and comment for your chance to win one of her handmade handbags.  Go ahead, it’s ok….

What will you post about?
I still plan to use this as my space to talk about all things crafty.  There will still be tutorials of projects I’ve completed, in addition I’ll be posting photos of other projects, reviews of crafty products I like, and other stuff as I think about it.  Suggestions are always welcome!  Talk to me, what would you like to see more of?

Will you post about anything other than crafts?
Yes & No.  No, not on this particular blog.  I’d like to keep it pretty craft focused…but…Yes, I’ve also decided I need a place to randomly blog about our life.  So, once I get everything cleaned up here on Dill Pickle Picnic, I’ll be adding a sub-blog “Dill Pickle Picnic at Home”.  There I’ll share photos from vacations, talk about shoes I’m in love with, and vent about things that annoy me.  I’ll still be blogging anonymously but I think it’s still possible to “get to know us” without knowing our last names & where we work.  Sound fair?

Speaking of crafts and since I read that all posts need photos 😉 How about a teaser of a project I’ll post about next week

I think that covers it all…now you tell me:  what would you like to see Dill Pickle Picnic become?  What would you like to see more of?  Less of?

DIY: Weekend Teaser

We had a busy but relaxing Saturday and then today I’ve been busy, busy working on…well work!  Which means I still have a few finishing touches to  a couple tutorials but thought I’d give you a little sneak peek of what’s coming down the pipe for later this week and in the weeks to come.

  1. I’m excited to be hosting my first give-away of sorts! A few weeks back I was selected to participate in “Craft it Forward” over at the Nifty Newlywed.  So I’m excited to continue the craft-it-forward movement with 5 other fun crafters!  Look for more information mid-week and start thinking about what you could make & share with 5 people if you are chosen!
  2. Cupcake Toppers! There are quite a few templates out there for cupcake toppers, but I’ll share my easy way to make last minute toppers with dollar store supplies & a craft tool or two (or even things you have at home).
  3. Baby Shower Gifts: With 4 baby showers in 2 months, I’ve been hard at work on a few handmade gifts.  The first shower was last week so that means I can finally start revealing a few of the goodies.
  4. Craft Room/Office ReLocation/ReModel 2010: We are in the packing portion of the process of switching out our guest bedroom and my office/craft room so that I get the bigger room with more light!  I’m super excited and the guest bedroom isn’t getting the bad end of this deal since the new guest bedroom is getting a makeover as well.  Out with the ugly dark blue industrial carpet and in with some plush and relaxing (and easier to clean).  So I’ll be asking for lots of suggestions along the way…for example how can I best organize all my crafting supplies and still maintain a clean look?
  5. And finally…wedding projects! I’m determined to write up tutorials on several of our DIY wedding projects …and also determined to do that before our 1st Anniversary!  So be on the lookout for quarter-page bi-fold programs,  activity book programs & crayons for the kiddos, rehearsal dinner menus, jam escort cards, and photo thank you cards.  That’s quite a few tutorials to write up…

What about you…what did you do this weekend?  And do you have a growing “to-do” list you want to finish before summer?

Rock the Vote: I Love SW Photo Contest

So this is the post where  I shamelessly ask for your votes!  I just realized I am one of the finalists for the I Love SW photo content on Southern Wedding’s blog….and right now I have no votes 🙁  To show me some internet lovin, click on the link below and leave a comment with which photo you like best!

http://www.swsmag.net/blog/2009/9/29/photo-contest-finalists-i-love-sw.html

CraftySmurfette

PS. Stick around a few weeks and I’ll show you what those cute little guys were left over from 😉