Mrs. WYA! will never forgive herself for not learning how to sew from her Grandma. If she knew how, she could be making some of the stylish clothes and bags from the patterns at Burdastyle.com (many are even free!).

Make your gifts- they'll appreciate your effort

We keep reading about how handmade gifts are making a comeback this year because of the economy. We have always loved getting handmade gifts. Mrs. WYA! was in charge of beverages for her work holiday get together and she thought about how she could put her creative spin on that. She thought about fancy spiced hot beverages and mocktails but then she decided to focus her creativity on the glasses. Meijer is a great source for cheap, plain, clear wine glasses, champagne flutes, and coffee mugs. She picked up a set of flutes and came up with a design using colors of the Plaid Folk Art Enamels paint that she already had. These paints are great. You just clean your glass with isopropyl alcohol (which you can also use as an eraser if you make a stroke that you don't like), paint your design (there are usually workbooks near the paints at the store if you need inspiration), bake the glass in the oven to set the paint, let them cool and you're ready to present a unique present. On the back of the paint bottle it says that the glass can even be put in the top rack of the dishwasher. Don't worry about making it perfect- any machine can do perfect. It's the handmade touch that will appreciate.

Beautiful yarn to support women entrepreneurs

We like entrepreneurs and we especially like when female entrepreneurs work hard to come up with creative ways to make a living so that they can spend more time with their family. A couple of ladies in Montana are doing just that. They are making beautifully dyed yarn inspired by the colors they see in their Montana valley. You can see what they have to offer at http://www.mountaincolors.com/ but you can't order off of their website. According to the site, you can purchase their yarn locally at Mass Ave Knit Shop (located, curiously enough, at 862 Virgnia Ave. and in Broad Ripple at 6406 N. Cornell) and Keepsakes Fiber Arts (30 S. Rangeline Rd. Carmel). https://www.keepsakesfiberarts.com/home/

Discovering mosaics thanks to the Indianapolis Art Museum

I just finished a mosaic class that was held at the Indianapolis Art Museum. If you have any creative inclinations at all, check out their website for class offerings. They are reasonably priced and, a plus for commitment-phobes, short term (http://www.imamuseum.org/). This one was 3 Thursdays for 2 hours each class. A mosaic project is good even for those who don't consider themselves that artistic. Patience is the most important trait that you should possess since gluing the tiles is time consuming. This website (http://www.mosaicbasics.com/) is where the IMA got most of their supplies. All you need is your project piece (which the website sells), tiles, glue, a nipper to cut tiles, and grout. If the cold days have you daydreaming about spring and planning your garden, these projects will pleasantly fill your time and a garden would be a great spot for some of the pieces.