Hand Towels

I hit target clearance when these dish towels were 50% off. Then found more at 75% off & go the price adjustment. This will be my new birthday gift for the year (I sort of bought a bunch). Inspired by this. Though, I made a tube & turned the fabric, otherwise, the ruffle is the same. I was going to do two ruffles, but I think one keeps it nice and simple. I've got a lot more to make!!!

 

 

Luggage Tags

We have some good friends moving to the land down under next week. Our family is so sad, but at the same time, so excited about all of the great adventures they will have! Their girls have been big sisters to my kids & Teagan sometimes even prefers "That Daddy" to her own (and old term...now she just calls him Adam). No offense to Ryan...it's just that Adam is a package deal that includes three fun girls and a dog. What's not to love?!

So, since they're travelling during the holidays, and hopefully doing lots more travelling once they arrive in Australia, I thought I'd make them something to help them out during their trip(s). Luggage Tags!

 

I used the tutorial at Skip to my Lou. I used ribbon instead of fabric...less steps, just as cute.

 

Hopefully, this will make their bags easy to find as they sit waiting at the baggage claim. No lifting huge bags just to find they belong to someone else!

Happy Owling

 

I had grand ideas to make these for neighbors and friends. But if you're my neighbor or close-by friend...don't expect one of these on your doorstep. I think I'll max out at the 4 I've already cut! But they sure are cute!

Hmm...and I stuffed mine a bit more than she did. Not sure which one I like better. And mine aren't hanging from a tree yet either. Maybe this weekend?

Bright & Cheery for a Hospital Stay

Our friend's daughter is going into the hospital tomorrow to have open-heart surgery. Yes, she's four. And saying open-heart surgery at any age is scary, but especially so for a four year old! She'll be in the hospital for 10-14 days afterwards, so Kai and I have been trying to come up with things to do for her. We got her a care package with candy, snacks, a craft kit from hobby lobby, etc. But, I felt like she needed a little bit of color in her hospital room. So, here's part one of bright and cheery.


A butterfly pillowcase. I followed Dana's tutorial here.  So easy & fun.  I can see why she made 10 donate!  I know she'll bring one from home too, but this way, her mom can wash one and still have another at the hospital.

Part two of bright and cheery will make it's debut tomorrow. Or maybe Friday, depending on when I finish!

As for now, my house is clean (except for the "catch all the junk" room that is my craft room). So, I'm going to go clean my craft room. And then I'll be able to walk through it enough to make Bright & Cheery #2!

Say a little prayer for little Chloe that all goes well tomorrow!

A Clutch...variation

So, I tried something new. I originally thought it needed 3 ruffles, but when I was sewing them on, it seemed like too much.   I'm waivering back to three. Maybe it'd be cuter if the ruffle fabric contrasted just a little bit more?  What do you think, compared to the gathered clutches?

Already gifted to my friend Andrea...albeit four (or maybe five) days after her birthday. She's still my friend though, I think :)

Next variation? A clutch that's just big enough to fit a size 4 diaper...would that still be a clutch? Unless my project next week is to really get my girl potty trained.  And that would be my most dreaded and hated project ever.

Birthday Banner

Last fall, I made this beauty.


Unfortunately, though I have had a few opportunities to use it, I have failed to do so. Finally, I remembered to pull it out for some special days in our family this month. We loosely followed this tutorial. But sometimes, simple feels so good!

Oh, and if you want to see MUCH prettier pictures of the finished product?  Here is my friend Sarah's post about it.  The colors in our homes are very similar so it was easy to join forces on our fabric purchases.  Plus, isn't always more fun to have someone to create with?  She can capture things much better than I (still hoping for a photography tutorial Sarah!), and yes...it was almost a year ago.

The Really Big Bib (aka Smock)

A couple of years ago, I picked up a smock at a garage sale for a dime. A dime! It was awesome. T was still little, so we (I) felt it was better put to use as a bib. A really big bib. It was my favorite diaper bag bib--the material is thin, mostly waterproof, it rolls up really small & it covers almost her whole body, so I didn't have to worry about a change of clothing in addition to her bib. Originally, I wanted to try this smock, but why mess with a good thing?  When I finally found a similar fabric at IKEA, I knew it was time to just replicate it!


And I replicated it in two different sizes...I wanted to have one a little smaller to give as a baby gift.

So here's my smaller version. I now need a baby to try it on to see if my pattern actually works (it looks a little narrow on T, but I think that's okay since a one year old should be narrower than her). I also made the bias tape for the first time too...that may not be my favorite thing to do.

And here's the big girl smock with packaged bias tape. T rarely wears a bib, so I'm pretty sure I'll hold onto this one for a smock.

Easily tied in the back so little ones can't yank it off.

Now a question.  Do any of you know what this fabric is called? It's thinner than Oil Cloth (it's thickness is similar to regular fabric), but still has a shiny/plasticy feel on one side & cotton on the other. I've heard about laminated fabric, but haven't gotten my hands on any yet.  This could be it?   Help? 

Stylin' on Sunday

I made this back in January, and just shipped it off to a friends new baby this weekend. I love this Amy Butler stripe for the tie! I followed Crap's tutorial here.  I've seen a lot of these ties & I think her pattern is the best!

Fabric Key Chain

You saw my lanyard.  Well, I did make the keychain too...and I can find my keys so much easier now.  It took me maybe 15 minutes to follow this tutorial.

A Matching T-shirt

I couldn't resist this little elephant. He's just too cute. You can learn more about applique here.


Packaged together with the Toddler Backpack and on its way to baby Max.

A Toddler Backpack

I made this adorable Toddler Backpack for a friends baby. It was super easy because there's no closure on the back--it's just a flap, which makes it manageable for toddler and baby hands.


Because she modeled it, she believes it belongs to her. Hmm...I may have to make a second. In pink.

I personalized it with an "M" for Max.

And yes, Teagan is wearing her completed Market Skirt. Luckily, I've convinced her it's a "princess dress." Otherwise, it wouldn't see the light of day (like all of the shorts, capris, pants and T-shirt in her dresser).

ID Badge Lanyard

On my to-do list of creativity is this fabric key chain. It's so cute and has made me think about all of the other strappy things you could make along those lines. My mind has been on teacher gifts lately, and I realized that a cute ID Badge Lanyard just might be perfect. Cute, huh?


I did mine a bit differently than The Idea Room's key chain--if you look at her tutorial, see where she folds over her fabric 1/4" and presses? I tend to steam my fingers when I do that (ouch).  So, I switched it up a bit.  Here's what you will need:

Two strips of coordinating fabric "cut to 1.5" x 40"
Two strips of interfacing 3/4" x 20"
One strip of 5/8" or 7/8" ribbon about 3-3.5" long
One rotating clip (I found these at JoAnns in a two pack)
Other clips will work, this is just what I had on hand. If you use different clips, make sure that the finished width of your strip will fit

Iron the interfacing onto the "wrong" side of one of your fabrics. Where one strip ends is where I start ironing the second strip. You can see that I didn't iron the interfacing perfectly straight. Just do your best. Then sew your two fabrics together with right sides together. I tend to sew with a seem allowance just bigger than 1/4", which works perfectly for my clip because I wanted its width to be a bit smaller than 1" finished. (Note: If you are really good at doing a 1/4" seam, you can start out with your strips at 1.25" instead of 1.5".)

Turn it right side out--I use a safety pin. Press it so it looks nice and clean and even and then top stitch down both sides to give it a finished look.

At this point, slip the hook onto your lanyard and line up the unfinished ends to overlap by about 1/4". You do not want it to be a perfect loop. Instead, there should be ONE twist (is it a half twist?) in the lanyard. When you have your fabrics connecting at the unfinished edges, one end will have fabric "A" face up and the other end will have fabric "B" face up (where my pin is up at the top in the picture). This will allow the lanyard to sit nicely when worn.

 Sew the 1/4" overlap with a zig zag. I did the zig zag stitch 2-3 times.

Now take your 3" of ribbon. You can seal the edges carefully with a lighter (or cut it with a woodburner, it's safer!). Position the buckle next to the zig zag seem. You are going to cover the seam with the ribbon.  Tuck both ends into the middle of the two pieces of the lanyard and pin (I pinned the top and bottom of the lanyard so the ribbon wouldn't slide). Sew the top and bottom of the ribbon--horizontal across the lanyard (make sure to back stitch so that it doesn't come apart).

 Voila!  A finished lanyard. The perfect accessory for your favorite teacher/accountant/social worker/nurse, etc.  When I was at school, people wore their dorm keys on these.  Does that still happen?  If so, maybe it's even a good graduation gift.  Oh, and trust me...mind mind is flying on all of the ways to accessorize these--ruffles, patchwork, etc.  So fun.  Good luck crafting!

More Clutches

Did I ever tell you I am compulsive? I did tell you I was going to disappear because I'd be making these, and I did. Plus I have 6 more with fabric and zippers picked out too. i LOVE them.

Gathered Clutch

The best project for using scraps. Ever. I love this clutch from Noodlehead. If I disappear over the next few weeks, it's because I'm making these. Lots of these. For birthday presents, and Christmas presents, and teacher gifts, and for anytime I need a quick little present for someone. It takes hardly any fabric at all, and though it requires a zipper, if I can do it, so can you...and in about an hour, too.


Hobby Lobby only carries 7" and 9" zippers. The pattern calls for an 8" zipper so I bought 7" zippers. On my first clutch, I cut the fabric to 8" instead of 9" so that it would fit the 7" zipper. Bad idea. As you can see in the picture below, my zipper end covers on the pink clutch don't show much. In fact, they were a pain. On my second clutch, I just made the zipper end covers longer (4.5" x 1.5") and let them take the place of the extra length of the zipper. That was a much easier process and looks so much nicer. Hopefully on number three, I'll be able to center the zipper too!

These are for Kai's preschool teachers who are graduating this year. Stuffed with a few little treats.

Steel Stamps

First, an apology to my friends to whom I said, "Let's steel stamp together!" I had to get these shipped for Mother's day & at least now I've gotten through the trial and error bit...I'm still up for an evening of steel stamping.

I saw this about inital necklaces & knew I had to try it. After MANY failed necklaces (those charms are CHEAP in all ways), this is the best I could come up with (shipped off to my SIL who had a new baby yesterday):


So, I decided to try these (I had grabbed them to experiment with). They say "Made with Love" on the front, but the back is solid. Hmm...

So much better. Sure, if your necklace flips, it doesn't look as nice, but 10 tags for $1.24 (50% off right now at HL), you really can't go wrong. And until I really decide to invest in good supplies at Beaducation, it will do.

Gift Card Holders

Thank goodness for scraps because the wedding's tomorrow, and I don't have time for anything else.   These are WAY cuter than anything store bought!