'Tis a gift to be simple...

Even though I specifically requested no presents for my birthday, it was inevitable that some people in my life would defy my orders. I guess some people just have minds of their own. Ha.

Anyway...

remember how I told you I have some amazing friends?

Yep, the girls in my life are uber-talented. I'm constantly spurred on by the creativity I'm surrounded by. (And I'm including all of my cyber-friends in this statement as well! Constant inspiration, I tell ya'. And remember, I'm a copycat.)

Check what my girl Katie made for me!




Okay, so she didn't exactly make the adorable Alice in Wonderland plate...




but the clever girl DID turn it into something even more fun! She bonded it to a glass candlestick and turned it into a tiered cake plate! Cute, right?

Never in a million years would I have thought that one up. But you can bet your bottom dollar that I will be keeping my little crafty eyes peeled for cute plates and candlestick holders in order to copy this idea!

I am going to use it in my crafting dungeon rather than only drag it out for food purposes. I think it would be quite lovely holding sewing notions or something like that, don't you agree? Then I can see it every day. Seriously, she knows how to pick 'em. Alice in Wonderland? Love it. Goes with my bloggy blog title? Love it. Aqua and red? Love it. A winner all around.

Katie, in turn, had a birthday this past week, so I seized the opportunity to whip up a little something from a tutorial I had bookmarked on my laptop. A cute little gathered clutch, complete with dividers and card/driver's license pockets!






Who dreams up these stinkin' cute tutorials anyways? If I had to make a tutorial, it would pretty much end up being a tutorial of how to watch paint dry because I rarely come up with clever ideas on my own. But my friend, Katie, she is so nice she would probably tell me it was the best paint-drying tutorial she'd ever seen! Oh yeah, she's super nice like that.

Thank goodness this turned out. I'm the type of dope that tries something new in the 11th hour -- you know, like trying out a new recipe right before guests are coming over with no back-up plan whatsoever, not even frozen pizza.

Yep, that's me.

And this tutorial involved a zipper {insert violent shudders here} and not only that, but it required me to cut my own zipper to the correct length {insert wailing and gnashing of teeth here}. Both of which I survived by following the steps one at a time. Baby steps, people. I got this finished with baby steps.

Now I have no idea what I was supposed to really do with those fancy zipper tabs. I couldn't figure that step out, so I fudged it. And I added a strap to make it a wristlet. {Cue choirs of heavenly angels and sunlight streaming down from heaven.}

And now I totally want one for myself.

Who's got a birthday comin' up? I've got loads more tutorials I'm itchin' to try out...