Recent Stuff

I made these "count down" blocks...don't know if you've heard of "Pick-Your-Plum"...it's kinda like groupon, only it's just craft stuff. Anyway, about a month ago, they had the supplies to do these. I thought they were super cute...unfortunately, I don't really like the way mine turned out. I think I should have just done something more nuetral...like painting over the vinyl letters in black or gray and then peeling the letters off so the letters were white. Oh well. Too late now, unless there's a way to remove layers and layers of modpodge.

Craft Warehouse is closing their store on 185th. All their fabric is now 50% off. My craft closet is getting out of control. Here are a few pics of my ever-growing stash.

Other than the zig-zag and food prints, I don't have specific plans for any of it.
Zig-zag: Ties (Won't that be ADORABLE)

Food prints: Oven mits and chef's hat for the play kitchen - thanks Kristina for being my inspiration there. :)

Maybe some stockings (I could use two sets) with the Christmas fabric...

So, if you have any ideas, feel free to shoot them my way. :)

I did make this skirt last week. I found the fabric on my first visit to the bins. So, it was like a $3 skirt after picking up some 2 in. elastic for the waist and some cheap cotton for lining. Not bad. I REALLY like the fabric. You can't tell in the picture, but it has kind of a shine to it and it's a little stiffer than your regular cotton plus it has kind of a vintage appearance. Brandon was not super impressed...with the print that is...I think it reminded him of dirty grandma drapes or something.

I have also been attempting to cut up every scrap of fabric that is too small to do much else with(or that I just don't like anymore) into 3 in. squares...I'm planning to do a zig-zag quilt to take outdoors. Sorry for the crummy photo...here's my progress so far.

I have also been disecting our ottoman. The fabric was totally falling apart, so I decided to see if I could re-apoltster it...we'll see if this project is a success. Seriously, lots more work than I imagined. So far, I've got it all taken apart and now I'm just taking the fabric peices apart so I can use them as a pattern for the new fabric. I guess if all else fails, I 'll just chuck it in the dumpster...in the name of "decluttering" of course.

Miss you ladies!

Jen

Stuff...

I haven't posted anything on here for a super duper long time...so here's like four or five months worth of stuff...

Braided rosette headband:

Braided fabric headband:

I just sewed the ends to keep them in place and then attached them both to one piece of elastic in the back...if you do this, make sure you cut your strips of fabric extra long cuz it took more than I thought. Just an FYI.

Gathered pillow cover...of course it's turquoise!

Kissing balls...Kristina's idea! I LOVED these for V-day!

So, I made a red one to put in the bird cage and have the stuff to make a tan one too to pop in there. I'll get around to it.

Crocheted beanie (spelling???) for Jemma...initially it was for me, but my stiches were too tight and the darn thing wouldn't fit on my head. So, I put a pink and purple flower on it instead of a red one like I had planned. Maybe the next one will fit me. :)

Gavin's quilt...that's been done since October or November I think.

Fabric Valentine bags for Jemma's preschool. (Honestly, I just didn't want to spend money...so I just used a bunch of scraps.)

Jemma's quilt.

That's it! At least that's all that was on my camera. Enjoy!

Christmas pjs!

So here are the pjs I made for the my little ones:

Shannon had no hand in these puppies! Hattie is really into Ballerinas and all things ballet. Her fabric is ballerina silhouettes, then I found an image of toe shoes i really liked and went with it. I am now addicted to applique! It is so fun! this time around, I decided that I would try a zig zag stitch around all those intricate curves and edges, and I am SO very glad I did! I was done in NO time! Sorry you can't see that detail very well in any of the pics! I will remember that for next time!

Miles and Hawlkey:

Hattie and Miles with their antlers on:

Hattie posing: She is such a HAM! Can you see the zig zag on this one?

When I bought Hattie's shirt for her jammies, it was cheaper per shirt to buy a three pack from old navy. I couldn't just leave the other two plain! I did the grey with a ballerina, and the pink one with a simple white bow:

I also zig zagged the bow. I just tied the bow and pinned it flat and went for it! I was inspired by a little girls onsie at play group. It was store bought, but I thought I could re-create the same look. What do you guys think? I would in the future move the images up closer to the neckline.... next time!

What I made this Christmas

I feel like I spent the entire month of December crafting! Here I am to share the results.

Here we go… starting with….

The 'symbols of Christmas' box. I grew up with this story, but my mom's was filled with itty-bitty pieces. I wanted mine to be a bigger. I found THIS blog and got used a lot of her ideas. I lined the box with felt to make it look a little fancier.

Ties. We all know how to make these, thanks to Jen (which, by the way, I still feel weird about copying your pattern from). But, I thought they turned out cute, so I'm sharing.

Cooking accessories for Reagan's kitchen. I used THIS pattern for the hat, THIS for the oven mitts, and THIS tutorial for the apron

I snagged this doll bed from a garage sale this summer, but the bedding was a flimsy piece of cotton. I bought some foam and made the mattress, a couple fitted sheets and quilts. I used THIS tutorial for the pillow and pillowcase, but adjusted the dimensions for the bed. I hate changing my own bed, but I'm a little obsessed with changing the sheets and pillow case on this bed….. over and over.

Inspired by the tee pee Jen made for preschool last year, I made this one for the kids (they think it's from Santa). I used THIS tutorial. It was surprisingly quick to make.

I saw THIS idea on Red Envelope and thought my mom and mother-in-law would appreciate it…. but not for $60. So, I bought the little pots and seed packs and we made our own. My kids painted the pots, colored all the flowers, and wrote the flower names. What did I do? Not much…. I just mod podged them and put the seed into envelopes.

Watches for the boys. Using dollar store watches and THIS tutorial.

Oh my goodness, I just about died when I found this ironing board at Goodwill….. DIED! I couldn't decide which fabric to use on the cover, so I made it reversible. I found the iron HERE on Etsy.

Leg warmers, leg warmers, and more leg warmers. There are tutorials all over the internet, but I used THIS one.

Muffin Tin match for my niece. These were fun to make, and Reagan had fun playing with them. I used THIS tutorial. Instead of painting matching colors, I glued the fabric to the bottom of the tin.

Here's my finished USA quilt, well almost finished, I just have to bind ½ more. Did I already post about this? I can't remember. It's all made of fabric and batting I already had… so it's a free quilt. Of course, I at one point had to buy the fabric, but it was so long ago, I'll call it free!

And to finish up this extremely long post, I will show a sneak peek of my work-in-progress. (I just realized I have yet to finish my last 'work-in-progress' string quilt). I finally cut up my stash of jeans I've saved for 2 years. This is what I have so far….

Anyways, ladies, I'm outta here. It's the New Year in just over 1 hour. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I can't wait to see everyone's Christmas projects... hint hint.

Kristina

December Craftiness

So I was crafty in November, just in time to get these hung for December.

So before I go any further, Kristina, your crafts were freeking awesome! Thank you for posting them. I, for whatever reason, cannot leave a comment. The cursor won't appear in the box...I am not sure why, but I wanted to tell you K that I LOVED EVERYTHING you made! You rock! I am totally sending those flower pots next year! Genius!

And Jen, LOVE The little rocker! I soooooo LOVE the color!

Ok moving on to the craft: I made all new stocking! Yay for me! Well, in the spirit of FULL disclosure, I did only part of the work. Shannon would kill me if he knew...He helped me a ton! I found the idea here. I would pin the ric rac and he would sew, Oh and I did cut out the stockings... I think Shannon finally started to feel bad for me. So he crafted with me. He Rocks!

This is Miles stocking in the making:

This is Hawkley's stocking in the making:

This is Hattie's stocking in the making:

I found the flowers here. Don't let the tutorial on Martha fool you. These are much more difficult to make than you would think! These puppies took me like 8 hours and I am not even kidding! I think they were worth it and once I figured out how to make them, I was golden. But they are hard. Also Martha says to use floral pips for the center of the flowers. Those are expensive, and if you look at your pin cushion like i did you would see hundreds of free floral pips. Maybe they aren't expensive, but I wanted to get them done. so I just snipped the heads off a few pin and voila:

This is the makings of our NEW tree skirt:

I also found it here. This link will send you to ALL of Martha's tree skirts... I wish I would have looked at all of them before. I LOVE the one with all the cut outs.... maybe next year. I do have to say, that the one we chose, was so easy. She has the pattern for it and everything. We did enlarge the pattern--we--I mean Shannon enlarged the pattern. We were much happier with the bigger piece. We wanted a fuller tree skirt.

Here is the finished product:

You like?

So this is the only picture I could find of the tree skirt... I am lame i know. I have pics of the tree, but we put the presents under them...so you can't see the tree skirt... ah well you get the idea. How do you like Hawkley's runny nose, and no shirt?

October Craftiness

October was a busy month for us. I made invitations, decorations, and cleaned cleaned cleaned! Here is a picture of my table the day of the party:

Here is the invitation:

I found it here

Here is a picture of the party room the day of:

Here is a picure of my rat garland:

I found the idea here

The idea was neat and i tried to tape them to my stairs, but Hattie and Hawkley just had a blast taking them off...so I sewed them together. I also thought it would be fun to make a bat banner as well. That one is hanging over the fireplace in the photo above.

could not delete this...how embarassing...

Here are the little face hanging from the tree on the table.

Was inspired by this. I made mine smaller, and they took hours to complete. I always think that Martha's crafts are do-able and easy, but alas, for me they are not...

Found this in our basement and asked our landlord for it. She was more than happy it found a new home. I spray painted the bird black and.... ta da:

So I want both of you to know how sorry I am that it has taken sooooooooooo long for me to get this stuff up! You both inspire me to be better at everything! Love and hugs to you both!