It all started with a wish, a vision, and a mission...

I have always loved crafts and being creative.  From a very early age, I was encouraged to be creative and think outside the box.  My mom used to make silk flower arrangements and make clothes.  She entered and won several contests in our local county fair.  I definitely have my mom to thank for my resourcefulness and creative talents.

My interests are varied.  I love to create graphics using Photoshop and editing pictures.  I can absolutely lose myself in designing scrapbook page layouts.  I also enjoy cross stitching, sewing, photography (this interest is from my dad), drawing, calligraphy, and even interior design, among other things.

"So, what inspired this blog?" you might ask. Two years ago, my husband saw a blanket made out of alpaca fur that had pictures of pandas (my DH's favorite animal) on it.  It was beautiful, but extremely expensive.  Therefore, it became my goal to create a blanket for him that featured a panda that was more within our budget.  I came across how to make a tie fleece blanket online and immediately found my inspiration.

I wanted to make an over-sized blanket, as my DH is a big guy, so I got 3.25 yards of black fleece and 3 yards of white fleece to make a panda blanket.  I looked online for pictures of stylized panda drawings, and, using regular old printer paper, drew the eye pattern and cut out two copies.  I also drew out the nose pattern and cut that out.  before prepping the material for tying together, I pinned my eye and nose patterns to the black material and cut out the pieces.  I kept the selvage and used it to form the mouth pieces.  All of the pieces were pinned to the white material in the places they needed to be sewn and then I sewed all the pieces together.  After sewing, I trimmed the black and white materials to make sure they were the same size and followed the instructions to tie the blanket together.

I think it came out adorably!  He really loves the blanket, too!!  After I completed this blanket, I immediately thought that making a lion would be great.  However, the lion didn't actually get constructed until this year...two years later.