Side Notes

Maternity Skirt Tutorial

2010-01-16T20:59:00.001-08:00

Maternity Skirt Tutorial

Okay, so I totally found this too late. I WISH I had found this about 4 months ago when my church wardrobe decrease significantly as I increased dramatically. :) It is just a great tutorial to create your own maternity skirt. Check it out!

Heritage Blocks

2010-01-16T20:54:00.000-08:00

I found a blog a few weeks ago with a wonderful gift idea for someone special to you. We'll have to keep this in mind for Mother's day or birthdays or maybe a passing of someone dear to you. They are called Heritage Blocks and you can find the link here. You should check it out and see what they've done. You could use this idea and do some other really cool ideas. It's definitely started my wheels turning for upcoming gifts!

Christmas Stockings

2010-01-16T12:53:00.000-08:00

I drew one of my older brother's names for Christmas this last year. I had a really hard time thinking about what to get/do/buy/make for them. Then I had an idea. Last year, they had a little surprise join their life. A baby boy born 10 years after his last sibling. So I knew they wouldn't have matching Christmas stockings for everyone.

So I came up with a pattern by tracing an old Christmas stocking of mine. Found some really really cute thick striped corduroy and got to work. These took a LOT longer than I had anticipated. I was planning on just backing my fabric with wonder-under and then using my cricut to cut out all the appliques. But it wouldn't stick to my little mat, so then I had to trace everything and hand cut each little darn applique out.

(Later, I learned that the wonder-under doesn't stick to the mat, it's the fabric that sticks mat. And I was just too tired and frazzled to even think of that. Ridiculous, huh?)

So I ironed on all the appliques and stitched around each of them. Added an initial for each member of the family and added the top white fluffy and I had my stockings. I didn't do anything extravagant or fancy with my appliques as I left it to the last three weeks before Christmas to do them. So they are pretty basic.

All the stockings laid out. I even had enough leftover to make a stocking for gidget, their dog.

Remy's, Kendelle's and Hudson's stockings. Stars, hearts, and squares.

Steve's, Maddy's and Denise's stockings all hung up. Stripes, circles and trees.

Maddy's turned out to be my absolute favorite. Don't the circles just pop on that fabric! I would love to make some more for my family just like that!

Evie's New Room

2009-12-09T22:14:00.001-08:00

I've had a long absence on this blog. But I've been BUSY. Not busy crafting and creating, but busy with life. We have been moving and moving again and everything has been boxed up. It's taken me a while to get organized but most of my crafting is still in boxes in a storage room until the craft room is finished. (That will be a GREAT day!) A project I have started to tackle is Evie's room. We transitioned her from a nursery with a crib to a big girl bed in a big girl's room. It has been quite an experience for her, but a fun project for me to do. I'm still not done and the painting will have to wait until Spring after the baby comes--but we're on our way! I chose hot pink, cotton candy pink, chocolate brown and spring green to decorate with. I think they are so fun and they just pop in her room. I used all the same papers to craft with to make it all tie in together. So here are some pictures:

This is her new big girl bed. I still haven't found a bed skirt for her bed that I love, so I am just using a flat sheet for now, folded to fit. I LOVE her comforter, a hot pink minkee comforter that Evie says is just so cozy and comfy.

I used 8x8 canvas and decorated them with 4 paper patterns that I love. I just mod-podged the paper on and then sanded and distressed the edges to give it a softer look. I've had these white chipboard letters forever and finally found a use for them. I left them plain so they would pop better and just tied some matching ribbon around each letter. Yes, matching ribbon that I used in the rest of the room too. Then I just stapled ribbon to each canvas and hung them above her bed. Evie loves to spell her name whenever she sees the letters.

I found a little white clock that I just redecorated the face on. It's hard to tell, but they are white glittery number and flower stickers. I added some matching butterflies, spray painted the hands brown and added some buttons. I don't love it and might change it later, but Evie loves her butterfly clock.

I found these hot pink sheer curtains on super sale and added another sheer white curtain for the back drop. I think it frames the window nicely.

This is Evie's reading corner. I love organizing with these cubbies. I have two more fabric drawers in cotton candy pink and hot pink, but I took them out to make room for more books. So once I find a cheap bookshelf to make over, then I can add them back in to hold her animals and toys she likes to keep in her room. We got her a little pink rocking chair that has since replaced the bean bag (that is getting recovered and going in the baby's room to match her nursery). So she likes to read her little books there, it's awesome.

I had an old frame laying around that I spray painted brown, added some batting and covered with fabric. Just stapled it to the back of the cardboard backing . I found ribbon, (I'm thinking too much ribbon now) and stapled it to the back of the cardboard-weaving them through each other. I tied some ribbon to the top picture hangers and now Evie has a cute place to clip her hair bows.

And of course I had to do another butterfly frame. I spray painted the frame brown of course... This time I took out the back of the frame and used electrical tape to keep the glass attached to the frame. I printed out a piece of paper with dots marking where I wanted each butterfly and taped it to the glass. I used glue dots to attach each of the butterflies in their spot. I used my matchy-matchy paper to punch the butterflies out and folded the wings to give them that 3-D look.

Up close of matchy-matchy butterflies.

This is the top of Evie's big girl dresser.

I found two little matching frames at DI for $.50 and thought about what to do with them. So I got out my Cricut and starting playing around. I came up with these little birds. You probably can't tell, but they have little buttons and sparkles in their eyes which looks super cute. I had these cute little green polka dot puffy plastic stickers to work with. I took out the backing of each frame, spray painted them brown, and taped the glass back up with electrical tape to secure. Then I tied the ribbon through the hangers on the back. I love how they turned out.

I found this little birdhouse at DI for another whopping $.50 and decorated it one afternoon while Evie was napping. (I let Evie help me paint it brown though--she loves to paint crafts.) Then i just mod-podged bits of matchy-matchy paper to the bird house and sanded off the edges for that softer look. I am still looking for a hot pink bird to sit on the perch of the house. I was hoping to find one in the Christmas ornaments, you know those glittery feathery partridge looking ornaments... but no such luck. Maybe I'll just happen to stumble onto something great or venture into making my own.

I just used an old basket I had and spray painted it brown and tied the matching ribbon onto the sides of the handles. I put her animals in there when she wakes up so there is no losing them and we always know where they are.

The lamp is one of my favorites!! It was at Walmart for $1.50 when they were reorganizing the store here. It had a lampshade but I took it off and tore it apart so I could use it as a pattern to cut my paper. This is where I had to get creative. I cut my four panels and laid them all out. I used my ribbon to connect the panels. I taped the ribbon to the panels, two at a time and then stitched with my sewing machine to secure it. Then I just attached the ric-rac to the top and the bottom with hot glue. And added a touch of ribbon bows at the bottom of the panels. Then I used masking tape to secure the lampshade to the original wire frame to make sure the paper wouldn't be touching or anywhere near the lightbulb. I also spray painted the base of the lamp brown... it was originally silver.

Just showing the other side of the lampshade. And yes, a pink piggy bank that Evie painted and wanted in her room. I put little googly eyes on and a pink bow. Miss Pinky.

I had a wood block I wanted to use, so Evie helped me paint it green. I used my Cricut and cut out the letters in brown vinyl. I used scraps from the papers and hand cut a circle flower, added two buttons for dimension and made a stem out of green ribbon tied into knots.

diaper carrier - amy

2009-08-13T13:58:00.000-07:00

i recently finished this diaper carrier...if you're interested in one, click on the image on the sidebar to make it yours!

amy butler apron

2009-08-12T12:57:00.000-07:00

A great gift for a bridal shower....of course, along with the lingere! I recently made this for a friend and I like the colors I used! You just can't go wrong with Amy Butler patterns....

{my space}

2009-07-10T10:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'd like to say I have balance in my life, but this is pretty much where I spend the majority of my day...:) Since my sister moved out and got married in March, we transformed her room into a family room with my craft/office space in the corner of the room (along with a few of Tessa's toys so that she can do stuff next to me...very important!)...So on the other side, we have a couch and our entertainment center (which I love because our living room doesn't have a tv...so it's hardly ever on....that is the best! I guess it also helps that we don't have cable too!)

{Talk it out}: So Jay got this great counter top off a construction job he did a few months back. And we just bought legs at Ikea for $5 bucks a piece....I LOVE my desk....it's big and versatile. So for my fellow crafters out there looking for ways to get more organized and are wanting to find ways to be more efficient, I thought I'd share some tips and ways that work for me to keep my projects organized and my time more manageable!

{at my fingertips} I love being able to sit and craft/sew/blog/whatever and have everything that I need (well, almost everything!) at arms length.

{my all-things-computer-world} I heart my computer. I couldn't live without it. I've had this beauty for a little over a year and it's been great to me! Since recently adding CS4....I hardly ever leave her side. I'm rather addicted! I have to say though, because of its location, it's much easier to multitask while sewing/creating.

{basket organizer} I got this idea from my good designer friend Brooke, who posted this a while back. I have my pens, my notebooks which I am constantly writing project ideas, patterns, daily to-dos....my receipts and important papers. It's in a perfect spot because I use most of this stuff often, especially my flower pens!

{my palate} My rotary mat never leaves this counter. I do EVERYTHING on it. Because I do so much sewing/measuring, I need it constantly. So it's where I begin and finish all of my projects. It also prevents any damage to my counter top table!

{jars} I have all of my creating "tools" above on my shelf in these jars. I love it, because I always know where my little scissors, tweezers, small rulers, pens, pencils and other things are.

{yet again, more containers} I use buttons on many different projects. It's so nice to have to organized by color because I know/see exactly what I have. I also have a couple containers (behind these) with my safety pins and magnetic snaps....Plus, not-to-mention that the colors are so fun to look at!

{bucket o' glue} ...and a couple other essentials. I always like to have various adhesives on hand, plus my tape measure and my lighter....yes, my lighter....I use it for burning the edges of ribbon! Next to my bucket in my rotary cutter. Again, I am always using it, so it's nice to be able to grab it when needed!

{roll it on out} Moving on to my craft closet, which I manage to get all of my crafting stuff in, besides whats on the table. I love this roll out storage shelf. It allows me to store my file cabinet right behind it for easy access while also saving me space. The things on these shelves are things I use a little less, to it's nice to tuck it away in the closet!

{the closet} Okay, so it doesn't look that organized, right? Well, look at when I shut the doors! Ta-da! It's all gone....That's probably my favorite feature with using this cabinet. So I keep all of my scrapbooking, photos, patterns I've created, and sewing notions in here. I love it and know where everything goes! I also keep all of my tissue paper and wrapping stuff on top of it. I also store my ongoing projects in here to reduce any clutter on my table.

{"to the side" shelves} My lovely husband put these three shelves to utilize all of the closest space. I covered the splintery wood with draw liners so no accidents would happen! I also use this area alot. I have things divided up in baskets. I have a basket with paint, my glue gun, and things of that nature....and another with fabric in it. In the above basket, I have yarn and felt....I also keep all of my photography discs and other misc. things in here! A GREAT storage space!

Okay, so I think I've covered all of my favorites. I just have to say that I am SO thankful that I even have this space. This is the first time that I feel like my "craft" area is completely functional, and everything has a place. It's also really easy to keep clean because of those two reasons! I hope that I've given you a few ideas how to be more organized so that the creativity can flow!

Happy crafting....

burp cloths

2009-07-09T21:02:00.000-07:00

In preparation for baby h {6 1/2 weeks to d-day}, I have been wanting to have plenty of burp cloths on hand! So I waited for flannel to go on sell at JoAnn's and bought 11in. of six different fabrics, of it ended up being super cheap for each one. I made sure I pre-washed the fabric, so there was no chance of the fabric bubbling and laying all weird. I just drew my own pattern on a piece of paper and whipped em' up! I love the smaller rounded shape....they don't hang over like the white cloth diapers, which annoyed me at times.

baby {h's} quilt

2009-07-09T14:24:00.000-07:00

My dear Aunt Cindy was sweet enough to make me this gorgeous quilt for my soon-to-be-little-man. I am in love with it and can't wait to wrap it around his little body! She had some left over squares, so she made a matching (duh) tag blankie for baby h to cuddle. So cute! Thank you Cin for sharing your talents with me! It's turned out beautiful and it matches his room perfectly!

blue suede shoes

2009-07-09T13:25:00.000-07:00

These little guys are one of the cutest things I've made...You can't tell in these pics, but they are like 4" long! They're teeny-tiny! I found the pattern here...download it for free! Since you don't need hardly any fabric, I bought 1/8 yard of blue suede and used white fabric I already had for the lining. The suede is so soft....I LOVE how they turned out! I am going to be making my little man many of these!

Diaper Carriers

2009-07-08T18:58:00.000-07:00

They're here! I've made a few diaper carriers for ya'lls choosin'. They're going fast, so grab 'em quick! I love the fabrics that I chose...so fresh and colorful! More colors coming soon....

Again, if you are interested, please email atnickihoxie@gmail.com

Each diaper carrier is $30 (plus $3 shipping) unless your in the California East Bay, to which you can pick yours up!

**I really took the time and care to make sure each one is made well and sturdy! Enjoy!

The below pictures are of previous diaper carriers that are no longer available...If you are interested in purchasing one, we can discuss what colors you would like, and I'll make you one!!

Amy Diaper Carrier

Lila Diaper Carrier

Sawyer Diaper Carrier

{This one is no longer available....Just wanted to show with diapers!}

Miss T's glorious quilt!

2009-07-08T12:47:00.000-07:00

When I found I was pregnant, I wanted to make something grand for my miss tessa so that she felt special. It's taken me a few months to get exactly what I want. I bought the cutest Amy Bulter and Grand Revival fabrics at my favorite local quilt shop a while back.

I went in the shop with one idea...saw a quilt hanging up on the wall for display and decided to change my plans and do the one I saw. I took a pic of it, bought 1 1/2 yards of 7 different fabrics. I went home and made a pattern!

After piecing the top and back, and buying the batting, I took it to a quilting store in Utah when I was visiting family and got it professionally quilted. I LOVE how it turned out. And then all I had to do was bind the edges! The quilt it MUCH bigger than I originally planned, but I don't care. It'll just grow with her! The finished quilt is 76 x 94....it almost fits a stinkin' queen!

Here is the finished product:

I love the quilt pattern that I chose. It was a penny per square inch....not bad!

handmade jewelry

2009-06-29T09:00:00.000-07:00

My friend Paige makes the cutest handmade jewelry called Tiny's Trinkets. She has everything from necklaces, to bracelets, necklaces for little girls, earrings and my favorite, the mother's necklace that you can get engraved! Her products are very well made and are truly beautiful! To check out her website, click here.

Up and Coming

2009-06-21T11:36:00.001-07:00

One of the beauty's about visiting my parents in Utah is all of the wonderful deals and great selection for pretty much everything. I have been to several fabric stores, Roberts, and have a few more places on the list to visit....Here are a few items that I can't wait to show their finished creations!

Diaper Carriers for sell.....

2009-06-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

I have to say that when I made the first one, I didn't ever imagine I'd get so many people interested in them! I have a baby on the way, I am excited to make myself one!

Purchase info:

I currently don't have any made, so you can tell me what colors you would like, and we can go from there.

Allow for a couple of days to make it and time for shipping...so around 1 to 2 weeks...And if you are local (East Bay, CA) shipping is obviously free if you pick it up!

I'm selling them for $22. (plus $3 shipping)

So total is $25.

If you are interested, please shoot me an email

nickikhoxie@gamil.com

and we can get creative with your unique one-of-a-kind diaper carrier!

Thanks to everyone interested...

Hooded Baby Towels

2009-06-17T16:00:00.001-07:00

One of my standard baby shower gifts is a hooded towel. Not the little tiny ones that fit them for the first week of their life, but a big, soft, over-sized, cushy one to wrap your little ones up in and keep them warm. I always like to embellish mine just a little bit-- whether that be to coordinate with their room or bathroom colors. I even decorate the boys towels with "manly ribbon." I haven't gotten into decorating the towels as animals yet, but I might in the future. These are just so quick and easy, but I'm sure I'll try it out sometime soon.

Just a few finished hoodies, my favorite is the chocolate brown with baby pink ladybug hoodie.

All folded up nice and neat, ready to wrap up.

Laid out so you can see the front details.

Hanging up so you can see the back details.

Here is a boy's hoodie.

The inside of the "hoodie" part.

Detailing on the top of the hoodie part for a boy.

I have included two tutorials that I have generally based my hooded towel off of. Since I'm not a huge fan of doing tutorials, these will have to do. Let's face it, there's would be better than mine anyways, right?

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2007/11/29/hooded-towel-tutorial/

http://www.instructables.com/id/Hooded-Baby-Towel/?download=pdf

1 large bath towel

1 hand towel

Coordinating ribbon

Cut your hand towel in exactly half widthwise.

Discard or save the other half of the hand towel for a future hooded towel.

I always stitch a little bit of ribbon or ric-rac along the front ribbing of the towel for some added decoration and to up the cuteness factor. You can press it on with a little bit of stich-wichery if you’d like first to hold it in place before you stitch the ribbon on straight.

Fold the cut hand towel in half, right sides together. Now measure 3” or 4” over on the top half folded side on each side and mark with a pin. Draw a line with a pencil from the marked spot with the pin all the way down to the bottom corner, on each side. This will make a sort-of upside down right triangle. Now stitch along this line. Turn right side out and the hood is done.

Fold the bath towel in half, wrong sides together.

Measure over 4 inches from the fold and 4 inches down from the top and stitch. You should have just sewn a 4” straight line.

Open bath towel and lay flat. Flatten the tuck. I always baste this across the top to keep it in place for the next step.

Now lay your bath towel flat on the floor with the right side on top. Now take your hood, turn it upside down and lay it on the top edge of your bath towel, with top of hood facing up. Line up exact center of hood and exact center of towel and pin together. Stitch from one side edge of the hood to the other side edge of the hood, connecting it to the edge of the bath towel. Go back along the same line and zig-zag stitch across the length to secure the stitch.

flower it up!

2009-06-11T09:54:00.001-07:00

So here are some new creations that I'm really excited about! I've been playing around with hair bows/flowers for a long time now and I feel like these are the cutest things I've come up with!

So here are a couple of samples of ones I've made so far...many more to come. And I'm thinkin' if ya'll are interested, a giveaway might be coming up! I'm also thinking about selling them too, if anyone is interested...Let me know what you all think!

This one is an "adult" one that I made for a friend....The one above is a little bigger and looks cuter on a little girl!

These bottom two I made for babies/little girls. So precious!

yellow diaper carrier

2009-06-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

*I really need to come up with cuter titles....sorry for the boringness

Another one sold! Thanks Melissa for taking interest in my crafting. You're the best!

diaper carrier measurements: 10 x 6.5 x 2.5 inches

Sold!

2009-05-29T14:49:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the lovely ladies who were interested in my diaper carriers.....2 sold! I really like how colorful and bright they turned out! Enjoy :)

circle quilt #2

2009-05-26T13:03:00.001-07:00

i made this quilt for my good friend Shannon who is having a baby boy in July. I love the fabric that I chose and it conveniently matches the baby's nursery! The quilt it approx. 38"x45"...a perfect baby size blankey! I constructed this quilt the same way i did the first circle quilt i made. The only difference is instead of doing swirls for the quilting part, i simply sewed around each circle and then around the borders where the seems were. I love how it turned out!

prego dress

2009-05-26T08:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've been wanting to make a summer maternity dress that I can lounge around in. I got the idea to use knit from those cute summer halter dresses that I see all over. And the embellishments around the neckline, I got from a top I saw on a friend that she got from Nordstroms. I loved it so much that I wanted to recreate the look. I love how it turned out and how comfortable it is. Now my belly can get as big as it wants...bring it on!

head bands

2009-05-18T17:50:00.001-07:00

I saw these cuties on this blog and on this etsy shop and simply fell in love! They are so fun and cute...I just had to bust these babies out! (No sewing needed...just twisted strips of fabric hot glued into a circle!)

posh baby banner

2009-05-18T17:41:00.000-07:00

For my friend's shower on Saturday, I wanted to spice up the decor with a little banner. I wanted to make something that could be used multiple times for either a boy or girl...so I thought black and white would be cute and trendy! This is what I came up with....I love the look of raw edges and I saw the scallop border on a banner at a quilting store and that thought was a cute touch!
I used my fattest and tightest zig-zag sitch for the letters and just drew with pencils first. And then did a wider zig-zag to piece the triangles together.

Diaper Carrier

2009-04-06T20:04:00.001-07:00

I made this diaper carrier for a baby shower. It's as you can see fairly small considering the number of tiny diapers/wipes in it! (It probably could fit 2 to 3 size 5/6 diapers in it.) I thought a diaper carrier is perfect if you just need to take diapers and wipes somewhere, and not the whole diaper bag. It's also good to keep your diapers creams and such in it too....keeps things organized. The magnetic clasp also adds a nice sturdy feature. I used thick interfacing for long lastingness too.

Again, I used scraps of fabric and tried to use bright fun colors that don't necessarily go together. I also tried a new kind of fabric flower with buttons and I really like how it turned out!

Circle Quilt

2009-04-06T18:52:00.000-07:00

I got this idea of a circle quilt off a photoblog I follow. She had one for her son and I fell in love with it! So I made my own version of it for my daughter. Each circle is the size of a cd...which I wonder-undered each one to a white piece of cotton. The circle spacing is 1/2" apart. My goal with this quilt was to use what I had. I used scraps and whatever I could find. The blanket finished is 58" x 69 1/2". I made it as a "blankie" for my daughter for her to use and abuse. It's actually big enough for me to use, which I like....because it can grow with her. Total, I spent around $15...because I used what I had! I also quilted it myself with my sewing machine. I didn't use a pattern, I kind of did swirls and curves and made it up as I went. I have to say that every quilt I do from now on will be quilted. I love the way it looks and feels...and it's also so much more sturdy and long lasting!

Bloomin' Bathroom

2009-03-24T16:26:00.000-07:00

I added these a while ago to my bathroom, but I guess I have never posted pictures up of them. This is one of my favorite quotes from growing up. My mom gave me this framed Mary Englebreit picture to go in my room while I was growing up. Every year this quote seems to take on more and more meaning. Luckily, and somewhat patiently, I have finally learned to bloom wherever I am planted. I love really bright, happy colors--so of course when I get the chance to decorate my OWN bathroom (that's right, my husband has his own and it is WON-DER-FUL!!), I just had to use these decorations.

This is just a little wood plaque I made to go on my shelf. I just cut out some letters with my cricut, and modge-podge'd it all together. I added black rub-on lettering to finish the quote.

I downloaded pictures of flowers off the internet and printed them out through Wally-world. I spray painted some cheap frames to match everything else.

I found these really cute Gerbera daisy wall stickers at the dollar store. There were like 20 to a package, so I put them on everything. As seen above.

Flowers, flowers, everywhere. I think I'm ready for Spring to come.

I told you I put those flowers everywhere.

Everywhere. I mod podge'd them onto a dollar store candle.

And some clippy-on sunflowers got attached to my laundry basket and to some towels tied together.

This is not in my bathroom, but it is just one more thing I didn't post yet. This is the vinyl over my kitchen. I cut it out using my Cricut as well. Pretty handy, isn't it?

Goodwill Makeover

2009-03-24T16:13:00.001-07:00

This is just a little dollar diddy I found at Goodwill. I had extra material from this tablecloth that I had made for my kitchen table (pics of that later) and I thought it might look cute replacing the corkboard middle of this shelf. It will now hang above my table, finally making my front kitchen and my living room match.

Felt Brown Bag Lunch Tutorial

2009-03-13T13:11:00.001-07:00

Felt Brown Bag Lunch Tutorial

Posted using ShareThis

I love buttons!

2009-01-14T08:37:00.000-08:00

My sister-in-law and I decided to try our hand out at button painting. We saw this ad in the Pottery Barn Kids magazine and thought it wouldn't be that hard to do. Theirs isn't made out of buttons. If you look really closely, it is a print of fake buttons on canvas stretched over a frame. Obviously ours didn't turn out exactly like the magazine, they turned out better we thought! I mean, who wouldn't prefer to use REAL buttons! This way we were able to use our own colors to match our girls' rooms. They were a little tedious but only to glue them all on without messing up any of the others. We went through at least 4 boxes of glue dots to finish these babies. Here are our finished projects.

A flower I made for Evie's room. I used all the biggest buttons I could find b/c the canvas itself is 12"x24".

Butterfly for Evie's room, matching colors of course. Sorry for the glare on the buttons, I just haven't taken another picture since.

My sister-in-law's butterfly in pink and brown for her daughter's room. Cute, huh!

Recipe Book

2009-01-14T08:24:00.001-08:00

I made a quick little recipe collection for a friend of a friend's this Christmas. Since this was such a quick project, I decided to use some leftover pages from my friend CJ's bridal shower advice book. That way, all I had to do was print off some recipes, make a front & back cover, and then punch it. I just made the page pockets into dividers with the recipe selection on the front pocket and I slid some notecards into the back pocket for when she finds new recipes she can add them. This wasn't really meant to be a functioning cookbook, but more of a favorites collection she can go back to when she wants that special recipe.

mini calendar

2008-12-23T14:30:00.000-08:00

I made this a few months ago for Christmas presents. I made four of them so I could have several gifts for people. The calendar is a little bigger than a card and has magnets on the back to hang up on your frig. The idea was that its there as a reminder of what day it is and something cute to hang on your frig! Enjoy.

stockings

2008-12-22T14:12:00.000-08:00

This Christmas will be our fifth Christmas together for my husband and I and we've never had stockings. I figure since our daughter is old enough to know what is going on, and my sister is living with us, it was time to make some. I went to a speciality fabric store and bought some coordinating fabrics, enough to make many matching ones for future kids and came up with these.....

(btw- I made up the stocking shape)

doll bed

2008-12-22T13:55:00.003-08:00

I've had a few projects in the works that I've been wanting to post for a while, so now here they finally are!

I saw a doll bed on a blog and had to make one. Well, my husband made the bed and I made the bedding and doll. We wanted this Christmas present to be from both of us for our daughter....

I made this yo-yo quilt, pillow, sheet, and doll so that they all go together. I got the measurements for the bed, matress, pillow, and quilt here. and the doll pattern here.

'Tis the Season to be Jolly!

2008-12-10T20:50:00.000-08:00

I love to decorate for Christmas. I've added just a few small things to my stash this year.

This is a paper wreath that was so easy and fun to make. Here are the directions link:
paper wreath

Here are some stockings I made. I was going to make a bunch of stockings for later down the road when I had more children, but for some reason I stopped at 4. No, there are no more kids coming at the moment. I followed the Amy Butler pattern & here's the link:
Christmas Stockings

These are just some dollar store candles I covered with glue and glitter. I love sparkly things!

Just some old blocks I covered with holiday letters.

little craft apron

2008-11-24T10:17:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to make my daughter an aprong for when we cook/craft/create. I finally broke down and went to a specialty fabric store and found these cute prints! They were rather expensive, but I figured I didn't need very much, so I got it! I love how it turned out. And I even have enought fabric to make her a dress/shirt. I got the pattern online here. I added my own flair by adding the pocket and fabric on the bottom. I am going to give it to my little one for Christmas...also a great kids gift for bday/xmas.

beanies and scarfs!

2008-11-10T19:37:00.000-08:00

I love the fall because I get an excuse to crochet. It's so relaxing and doesn't take very long after you get the hang of it! Here's a couple of things I made...I like the ribbon threaded through with a bow...adds a little flair!

presents.

2008-11-07T09:38:00.000-08:00

I saw this cute garland here and had to make it. All it took was one smallish sized packing box, packing tape, scrapbooking paper and ribbon! I LOVE how it turned out and the best part about it is that it was free to make! Also, you can make it as long or as short as you need depending on where you put it!

step 1-cut pieces from packing box and use packing tape to tape together.

step 2-cover with paper as you would wrap a present. (and I just used the packing tape for that too.)

step3-wrap with ribbon and string with twine...and Whala! You've got a cute holiday decoration!

All because...

2008-10-15T15:28:00.000-07:00

...someone gave me brown pillow cases.

My creative friend Brooke handed me a hand full of these pillow cases and said, "I know you can make something out of these!" That was about a year ago, and I'm finally getting around to using them! Better late than never. The first three creations are from the brown cases. The rest are a result of my recent spurt of creative juices! {Enjoy}

pic 1-This messenger bag is inspired for a Christmas present. I love having someone in mind to direct the creativity to! The bag is 10 x12 inches and is made with thick interfacing. I also make three pockets inside...Two of them are large, and one small for keys. I am obsessed with Heather Bailey's broaches and I just discovered how to made them...yo-yo's and felt! Too fun.

pic 2-This dress was inspired from here. I love neige clothes and wanted to create something as close to that as I could. I made this dress for our family pics we are going to soon take. I promise to post pics of those, but the dress looks so much cuter on! I love this dress for two reasons....A) it's much simpler than I would normal do on a dress and I love that. B) it's the nicest quality of dress I have ever made. I love pushing myself to improve and think outside the box.

pic 3-I love this hat. This creation was inspired after I finished the brown dress. I was so happy and pleased with the way the dress turned out, I wanted to make a complete outfit. Yes, I designed my own pattern and was quite surprised that it was fairly easy to make. I try to have everything I make be washable and this definitely is. We all know how sweaty and dirty those little heads get! I like this hat because it fits a variety of sizes of heads...I've tried it on a 2, 4, and 5 year old and they all look so cute! I definitely want to make many more of these....and the flower embellishment adds just the right touch of color and flair.

pic 4-The Cha-cha skirt, I used a pattern for that you can get here. This skirt and matching tank I made as the outfit Tessa will where for Thanksgiving and I made myself a matching one too.

pic 5 & 6-I made these stretch knit tanks without a pattern. It was rather simple and it was the first time I have ever used a stretch stitch on my sewing machine! It was pretty cool...I love trying new things. I added the cute yo-yos for Tessa's shirt because all clothes could use a little flair!

pic 7-This Yo-Yo Madaleine skirt I made for a friend of mine who's 5! She's the cutest thing and I wanted to make something that would reflect she cuteness! I love again the simplicity of the skirt and yo-yos are always a good thing to add....I guess it's been my theme lately!

2008-10-13T13:41:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine passed away and these are two cards I made up for the mom and the grandma. I tried to make the tones really soft and peaceful. I love the butterfly card.

Mod Mum Pouch Slings

2008-10-07T15:14:00.000-07:00

I found this blogger that is giving away one free pouch sling. All you have to do is check out her blog and leave a comment with which one you like and the size you'd like. It will be from Mod Mum and they are totally cute. I am not sure if any of you have ever used a sling, but they and are a life-saver with Evie and I am definitely using them again with our next baby. Check it out.
http://roselemonade.blogspot.com
www.modmum.com

Dear Nicki,

2008-10-01T07:56:00.000-07:00

Bed Pocket: handy bedside organizer to hold various items you use for bed; i.e. glasses, scriptures, ipod, hairbands, phone, etc...

This is a bedside organizer from one of my Amy Butler books, In Stitches. Mine is like that, just different material. You hang it off the side of your bed, there is a long end you tuck into your sheets under your bed. I can't wait to use it. Well, that is once it is finished... That's what a bed pocket is.

Sincerely,
Leslie

More Baskets

2008-09-29T16:23:00.000-07:00

This is a basket that was given to me last year. It was bright blue. It was super cute, but it didn't match anything in her room. I kept telling myself I would paint it and I never did. So last week at like 11 I spray painted it and just got it done. And now it matches super cute.

Evie's Short Lived Modeling Career

2008-09-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

I made this outfit for Evie during the Summer, I have just never taken her picture in it. The shirt was from a pattern, although I did have to cut off the straps so it would still fit her. I just sewed on some extra blue binding for the straps. The skirt I made from scraps of stretch denim. It is too cute and so easy to make. I have to say, it fit her better two months ago then now... as you can tell by the mini-skirt in the picture!

I am SO excited!!

2008-09-29T15:45:00.000-07:00

I just ordered my copy of this book and I cannot WAIT for it to get here. I think I'll want to make presents for every baby I know is coming and everyone that has already had a baby! I'm prepared to go nuts. And well, talking about nuts, I went nuts and got her Sew-It Kit as well. It was SUCH a good deal, my little "agree to purchase" trigger finger couldn't stop. Check these books out. YOU will want them too!

amy butler's little stitches for little ones

20 keepsake sewing projects for baby and mom

In my new lavishly illustrated sewing projects book, you'll find all new charming and contemporary projects for the nursery, baby wear, soft toys, and many more surprises! The projects are designed for babies 0-12 months and their mothers, featuring beautiful photos of the finished designs by our friend Colin McGuire. It was fun to produce these little treasures, and I think you'll find many projects in here for all the wee ones in your world.

amy butler's sew-it kit

15 simple and stylish sewing projects for the home.

A great giftable kit with 5 new sewing projects to accompany my IN STITCHES book. The kit includes fabric and notions to make one of the projects and 15 beautiful project cards with easy-to-follow instructions, all packaged in a unique box format.

My to-do list...

2008-09-29T14:12:00.000-07:00

This is my to-do list. Of course there is always stuff being added, finished or taken off. This is the basic list though. As you can tell I have a zillion little project I want to do,.. and then I can start in on some fun stuff or some other projects I've had going for a while.

Spidy Cover & Pillows: This fabric is going to be a couch cover for a mini Spiderman couch we picked up on clearance at Wal-mart. It is just too ugly to be sitting in our front room, which for now doubles as Evie's play area. The rest of the fabric is going to be pillows for our couch and basket liners for evie's toys.

A reading bench for Evie's room: I just got some foam and some green fabric on sale at JoAnn's to make a little seat for her room. I just turned her bookself on its side and sat it on the floor right by evie's crib. I put all her books the other way so she can just sit on the bench and read. She loves it. I'm coordinating the colors with her room, obviously-- like I would do it any other way. I'm going to make a pillow for the bench out of the left over fabric from her wall pocket and a pillow out of the green for her rocking chair.

His & Hers: I'm going to make matching his and hers gifts for someone I know, I cannot say more.

Elmo cover: This is going to cover the Elmo chair. I know Evie loves her Elmo, but seriously-- who wants to look at a giant elmo all the time. So we're going to cover him up. The rest of it might turn into a table cloth or table runner, basket liners... we'll see.

Bed Pocket: This is something my mother-in-law started but found other material she wanted to do instead so I got this. A yellow chenille bed pocket. I don't know about you guys, but I always have a million things on my bedside table. I hate it. Especially because I wear glasses and can never find where I put them at night. This will solve ALL my problems. Okay, so maybe not all my problems but it surely it will help me find my glasses at night, right?

Dress: This is going to be a brown & pink polka dot courdaroy dress for Evie... once it is done. I have a couple of SUPER CUTE patterns to choose from, that is my only problem.

Shirt: This is going to be a two-tone shirt for Evie. I have this really cute pattern I'm going to use, just need to do it. Go figure.

Vinyl: This is above my kitchen. Remember when I posted this summer about getting free vinyl just by posting something about her website? Well I chose the birds (I got three) and they are super cute. I'm deciding on a quote for my kitchen I'll print out in vinyl on my Cricut and place it somehow up there.

Vinyl Clock: Since our original clock died that we got from our wedding and this is the ugly clock from Paul's desk at school that is replacing it for now, I need a new clock. So I'm going to make a vinyl wall clock. Just buy the little ticker part and put it directly on the wall and then cut out the vinyl numbers and decorations and put them right on. I haven't seen it done anywhere, but I think it will turn out dang cute. I hope.

Numbers Book: This is from my mother-in-law. She is so cute. She sends little holiday boxes to Evie every year. In her Halloween box she included a little Martha Stewart numbers book. It is all iron-on and SO cute. I might embellish a little extra and I might not. We'll see what I feel like doing.

This is the ugly elmo chair.

Spidy some how made his entrance into the house too. I know, I know... I am the one who bought hime.. but why do they have to be so ugly!!

R is for Riley

2008-09-29T14:07:00.000-07:00

Just a baby shower present. Her colors were dark brown, medium green and light blue. I mod-podged the paper on, cut it out with an exacto knife, sanded & distressed the edges, tied some boyish ribbon & hemp on, added riley in puffy brown stickers, added a button on for the "i" part, rubbed on "boy", tied on a button or two with the ribbon and it was done!

Baby Shower Season!

2008-09-29T10:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't know about you all, but it seems a lot of my friends are having babies. And seeing how I think babies are the cutest things ever and parties are so fun to throw... I've thrown 2 babies showers in 2 weeks. They were a lot of work, but they turned out so fun. Luckily I got some good people to co-throw the showers with! But I totally forgot to take pictures of the actual parties, so here are just the two invitations and one of the games we played.

This first invitation was made almost completely by my Cricut. I love that thing. It makes crafting so easy. Granted it takes out a lot of the originality of it all, but it sure does cut the time in half! I just put the little sign in the trunk of the elephant to hold. I just used my scraps for this too. The green was left over from two years ago X-mas cards and the grey is some scraps I found from another project. I just found bits of blue ribbon and tied them into a knot. So easy,... and well that was nice because I had only a few hours to make them before they needed to be delivered!

This invitation was actually for the first baby shower. As you can see, I just backed paper onto more paper--onto more paper. Added a wrap around piece, tied it with a ribbon and then added a little Martha Stewart picture on the top part. I LOVED those little stickers. As soon as I saw them in Wal-mart, I bought a few packs because I knew I had to do something with them. Well this was it.

This is just a little baby cut-out from the cricut. I added a little blue diaper on and we had ourselves a game. It is, "Pin the baby to the Momma!" You blindfold the shower guests and spin them around and you have them try to tape the baby to the momma. Whoever gets closest to the bellybutton wins! It was pretty fun to play and everyone gets a kick out of it.

This is Evie helping me make the little babies. She is such the little crafter lately. She loves to glue things with glue sticks and color on paper(and her lion). Something makes me think she's got the crafting gene in her!

Get Festive

2008-09-25T11:48:00.000-07:00

Since I already have my Halloween decor out, I found some places I wanted to add to, so this is what I created for my kitchen.

The details:

"TRICK"-2"wide 7x9inch squares. spray painted black with sanded edges. I drew all of the letters free hand and mod podged them on.

"or" - used pressure treated wood. 4x4inch block. I used a distress ink pad like it was paper on all of the edges. mod-podged the letters on. (I did not use paint)

"TREAT" I used a 2x4 and cut it 4 3/4" blocks. After painting them orange and green, I distressed them with my distress ink pad and them mod-podged the letters on.

"TRICK" is in different heights because I proped three of the letters up so you can see them better. All of the blocks are the same size.

Decorative Pillows

2008-09-18T16:39:00.000-07:00

My friend and I came up with these cuties. We appliqued the brown flowers and the "k" on with a zig-zag stitch. And added the yo-yos to give it some dimention. I love the ball tassel trim! She made this cute matching doll from a pattern found here. The pillows are 20" and 14".

A few decorations

2008-09-16T20:48:00.000-07:00

Just attempting to make a few things for the house. Some turned out, some didn't.
The red ones are for the kitchen. The black together is for the family room. And of course the butterflies are for Evie's room in her signature colors. The butterflies are from one of the new Martha Stewart punches. It is so cute. You just fold the little wings and poof! It's 3-D butterflies!

Twins Card

2008-09-16T20:40:00.000-07:00

Here is proof that a redo is necessary sometimes. I finished this card, or so I thought, but it just wasn't looking right at all. So I gave it a few minutes and redid a bit and voila! It turned into a different card!

The Lilly Apron

2008-09-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

This is my 2nd project since being back home, but the first I didn't take any photos of. It was baby shower I helped throw for a friend. Time consuming, but really-- who wouldn't like throwing a baby shower! It was so much fun to do. This project is a birthday present for one of my sisters. My husband's sister found this pattern and we all had to buy it. I was so excited to make it, I've been perusing fabrics for quite some time now trying to find the right combination. I think this is very cute, almost good enough to eat. (Probably because it looks like a giant watermelon!) It just fits so cute and has this fun tie in the back with those adorable little pockets. It is called the Lilly Apron by Busy Bee. I modified the sizing and the pleating. I also changed the colors up instead of having it just be one solid color. I have heard that people even use this as a maternity shirt... I think I'd have to find the right material--but it could definitely work!

So this is the picture that comes with the Lilly Apron pattern, cute huh?

And this is the apron that I made, pretty cute, huh?

The back

The detail on the front

The detail on the pocket

The matching card of course

The final package. I even made a tag out of left over fabric, used some rub-ons, punched a hole in it and tied it around with ribbon!

a la rustico

2008-09-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

The idea with creating this recipes book was to use materials I already had. I've been wanting to make a book with these rings and I thought cardboard would look really natural and rustic. All of the recipes are in page protectors, so when I go to use it I just flip open to that page and then swing it around so it lays flat. I used my stampin' up tab punch and stamps and stamp pad for the word dividers. The cover was printed on velom by a friend and back with some cute paper! I love how simple and functional it turned out! Oh-and it's just 8 1/2 x 11 size.

skirts squared

2008-08-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of skirts I made for myself...and each of them were under $5 to make! I have totally discovered that I like using patterns and it's way easier than I thought it would be. Although I still like to design too! I got the pattern for $3.44 at Walmart (simplicity- pattern # 4188).

Cutest paper on the block{s}

2008-08-21T17:33:00.001-07:00

I LOVE these blocks...the young women were doing them in my old ward and my craft buddy and I have been talking about making them for months!

I bought a 4x4 thing of wood (which isn't a true 4x4...its actually 3 3/4...lame)
Cut them to be true squares
Sand all the edges and corners (an electric sander is faster)
Paint all of them edges and corners brown (or whatever color you prefer)
Mod-Podge paper with a sponge brush on all sides and there you go! (Less mod-podge is better...then that prevents bubbles on the paper surface
the letters I traced and cut out and then mod-podged on!

Design Tip

2008-08-21T12:49:00.001-07:00

Love what you do:It's so important to remember when crafting that you make things that you love and are inspired by. Sometimes it's good to look at crafty websites/blogs, magazines, or just playing around with an idea. I find that when I am creating something I love, it turns out so much cuter and is a little part of me. I have definitely made things where I just wanted to get it done, a check on my list...and the end result sometimes isn't what I wanted. So remember to make that the number one goal and you'll be sure to have a great time doing it!

Lately, most of my inspiration has been coming from photography blogs. I could spend hours looking at great photos! Here are a couple of my favorites:

everything i love

little labyrinth

captured by carrie

Enjoy!

unforgetable

2008-08-21T12:45:00.000-07:00

This style was definitely inspired by the 1950's era. I love the way the woman dressed and their feminine style. These particular creations remind me of the song "Unforgetable" by Nat King Cole. Classy and timeless. I LOVE this fashion duo and am pleased with the end results. I used a pattern for the skirt and the clutch was an after thought....I had a bit of inspiration left over after the skirt so I used scraps and came up with this! It is my own design, and I love that it has that vintage feel. I wore the skirt and used the clutch yesterday and I felt like a million bucks!

pj's

2008-08-21T12:40:00.000-07:00

I am really into using patterns right now. I used to be so intimidated by them, but have recently discovered that they are much easier than I thought! I used a cute little girl pajama pattern and made them a little big so my little girl can wear them a long time. I used a knit fabric so they are extra comfy. There is something so cute and old fashioned when little girls wear night gowns! I love it and they were fairly easy to make! And again, instead of using a button, I used a tie...cute and won't hurt them or by uncomfortable while they sleep!

headbands

2008-08-14T16:50:00.000-07:00

I saw these really cute headbands on Esty and I had to make them...they're so easy. You just cut out felt...I love how it turned out. Stay tuned for many many more!

Orange is in.

2008-08-11T18:03:00.000-07:00

{I have no business} blogging right now considering my house is an absolute disaster. Not to mention that the only thing I have been doing all day is making this dress. I have unofficially locked myself in my craft room determined to finish, and finish I did! I am so pleased with the results and LOVE the fabric...which always helps with inspiration. Two reasons for making this dress...1. Tessa needs more dresses, she's down to three that fit her (barely) and 2. I need to use my many yards of fabric before I go crazy! I have too much!

I have been falling in love with Amy Butler fabrics, prints, and products ever since Les posted her cute Amy Butler Bag....That was sort of the inspiration mingled with my own design.

I used a basic $3 pattern from Walmart.

Again I used buttons with loops instead of a zipper because I didn't have one handy. I like to use what I got, and sometimes it's better that way because it forces me to be even more creative.

I added the bottom layer of the skirt and add the sash as well with the same fabric as the under layer of the skirt.

I think my favorite part is the flower. The theme of my life: {its all about the details}

I used the complementary fabric for the flower.

I drew a basic leaf pattern on a piece of scratch paper.

I traced it on the fabric and left enough space next to the leaf to fold in half for the back.

I then took a piece of thick interfacing (a long retangle shape) and put it in between the folded fabric.

Zig zagged around the leaf edge and cut it our after.

Sewed the leafs together with a piece of interfacing in the center to hold it together.

Hot glued the pom poms on.

Then sewed it to the dress.

Lovely.

Wall Art

2008-08-07T15:48:00.000-07:00

My friend and I made this wall art with scrapbooking paper. We cut out all of the pieces, sanded the edges and then glued them on. We totally copied these from some wall art found at Anthropolgie for $104 a piece. And we made them for next to nothing. Besides the cost of the paper, I bought MDF board at Home Depot and them cut two 12 x 12 squares and them mod-podged the paper on and mounted it on the wall! I love how they turned out and it was fun to copy someone elses idea to chang things up!

Place Mat Bags

2008-08-06T09:02:00.000-07:00

I bought these cute place mats a little ago with the intention to make them into bags!

Left one.
I got this one for $3.75 and I had the rest of the materials. I literally sewed the pocket on with some ribbon trim, sewed the strap on and them folded the place mat in half and sewed up the sides! So easy and cute! It's so bright and cheerful and is going to make a wonderful birthday gift for my grandma!

Right one.
I got each of the place mats for $2.75, so a total cost of $5.50. I just sewed the handle on and then sewing along three of the edges and then sewing the pocket along the top. I made this to use for my church bad. Something sturdy and durable and functional. I added the key hook with ribbon so that I can just clip my keys to, so they don't get lost in my bag! I love the way both bags turned out and they are so easy to make! Perfect summer bags....

Amy Butler Diaper Bag

2008-08-03T22:31:00.000-07:00

This is an Amy Butler pattern, her "Nappy Bag" that I finally finished. I love the fabric and the colors that I used. It was really quite easy to do, just took a lot of prep work-- the cutting took forever! But it has tons of space. I know it is huge, but it is the perfect diaper bag to take on a plane ride with you. It holds everything!!!

This is just another blanket I made for a new nephew. Silky blankets, nothing better right?

A few of our favorite things

2008-08-03T22:07:00.000-07:00

This is the book I made for my parents this last Christmas. I just didn't ever take pictures of it. It's a favorites book. I took three favorites from each of the grandchildren and scrapbooked them together with their pictures. The girls were circles and ribbons and the boys were squares and buttons. I used different fonts for each kid, that matched their handwriting and or age. Turned out cute, take a look if you like.

Crayon Roll II

2008-08-03T21:49:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick crayon roll I whipped up in about ten minutes. I just used a cloth diaper, divided it into three sections. Folded the ends in, stitched the bottom portions together, an inch apart. I stitched a length of binding in half at the ends to tie together. Then just added a few iron-on transfers to the top and it was done. I just wanted something to hold Evie's crayons together on the plane so they wouldn't fly around everywhere, literally.

Itinerary

2008-07-31T14:27:00.000-07:00

This is the book my siblings and I gave my parents when we surprised them with their trip to Hawaii! It's a detailed day-to-day calendar of their activities as well as extra things to do and see. The whole book is handwritten besides the driving directions. The album is 6 x 6...a perfect traveling size!

Guest Sign-In

2008-07-31T13:44:00.001-07:00

This is the guest sign-in that I had at my parents 25th wedding anniversary party. I included far away family and friends by having them email me their thoughts to my parents which I included in the scrapbook. Those that attended the party signed it as they arrived!

A few key points:
the scrapbook is 8 1/2 x 8 1/2
I sewed all of the paper (the ones with the letters on them) to the background sheet and then spray glued the pages together.
The cover I pretty much sewed everything on.
The word "together" on the cover is my handwritting.
I used mounting tape on some of the elements on the cover to give it dimension.
Most of the paper I used is Basic Grey...I have found with themed scrapbooks that it always looks more cohesive and complete when the paper and embellishments match!

Step 3: Details

2008-07-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

Like I said before, it's all in the details. Before the actual party I mapped out the backyard into sections and made sure that there was something going on in every party of the yard to maximize the space. Some of the areas we had included: obviously the tables, we also had a cotton candy machine (a great gathering location), a fire pit where I displayed my parents wedding photos, the outdoor kitchen that had water and butter mints along the bar, and a deck with seating on it as well. Here is what I did for the centerpieces. Lots of candles, buckets with sand and tons of sea shells! Totally simple and cheap! The buckets I got for a dollar each and I got the sea shells at the dollar store and the candles my aunt already had! What a deal! The serongs were also a great way to incorporate color and my aunt already had them. It was very elegant and romanic!
The outdoor kitchen area. (That's my husband BBQing the chicken for the party dinner!)
I hung serongs not only to give some more color, but to hide their yard stuff. It was as great way to stick with the theme and to hide things! And to the left is the cotton candy machine.

We borrowed some surf boards from a friend to really give that beach luau feel! It was a fun touch to add!

Step 2: Signs and favors

2008-07-29T19:12:00.001-07:00

I made these signs with the intention that my mom can scrapbook them later. One of my goals with this party was to have it run itself. This helps a lot when you have the proper signage. No one had to stand at the door to answer it because the sign did it for us! Two commonalities in all of these signs:

1. They all are framed with layers of paper in different colors

2. I distress EVERYTHING!!!! This Aloha sign is made from two 12 x 12 sheets of paper. I first made a pattern no scatch paper and then traced it onto the real paper. And as you can see I did layers. It always looks so much better when you frame what you are doing. The letters for Aloha I designed on scratch paper first and then cut out each letter in two different colors to shadow.
I am totally loving my handwritting after reading that handwritting book. It's so fun to play and see what I can come up with.
I love this sign. It took a long time to make, but it was worth it. The letters are from stamps and the 25 is my desing. I used eyelets to lace the three pieces together.

I made a place where I hung pictures of my parents wedding for people to look at! And the other sign went above the guest sign in table.
I placed this sign above the favors as people were leaving.
I love these favors. Chocolate covered raisins. And the "k" is for Kenning(my parents last name). These were so fun to make and cheap too!

Step 1: Invitations

2008-07-29T15:04:00.000-07:00

Party Planning Step-by-step
For my parents 25th Weddning Anniversary, I threw a surprise party for them! I was so excited of course for all of the wonderful crafty things I would be able to craft! I had so much fun making the signs and the invitations. I wanted everything to be perfect and it was...the party was a hit, not to mention that my siblings and I surprised my parents with a trip to Hawaii. You're probably wondering why that would be relevant to a craft blog...but there is and you'll see why in just a little bit!

Step 1: Invitations

When planning a party, each detail is important....from the votive candles, to the lemons in the water, to the lighting. And it all starts with the invitations. I wanted to show our guests that this party was going to be special and very nice...we started calling it a reception because that's pretty much what it was! Here are the invitations. I make 70. I played around for a long time before I came up with this idea. I really wanted to be in love with what I was creating and sometimes that can take a while. Now 70 invitations this details might seem like it took forever. There is a secret I used when combining all of the pieces together. SPRAY ADHESIVE. You can buy it at Walmart for 8 bucks. It's called Super 77 - Multipurpose Adhesive.

I was able to get three invitations per 12 x 12 paper. So they were 4 x 12 inches.I used five different prints for the paper because it was fun to see the different colors! The inside...There was a lot of information, so the three sections worked out perfectly. The first was to explain the party, the second the party info, and the third was the RSVP.
Inclosed in the invitation was this insert. I really wanted to include family and friends that were not local. This seemed like a perfect way to do that. You can find the book here.

I love this "handmade" stamp. It seemed like the perfect way to complete these little pieces of art!

Wall Organizer & a 3 Hour Nap

2008-06-27T13:20:00.000-07:00

Well, my daughter decided to take a three hour nap today, so I was able to catch up on a few things. This project being one of them. It is a wall organizer for her room back in Moscow. The colors in the fabric match her room perfectly. All I need to do now is find a curtain rod and paint it green to match for it to hang on.

I think the dimensions were 21"x 28". I just cut the pockets out whatever size I thought looked good. I ended up doing six pockets, three big, three little. I stitched some ribbon on to the tops of each pockets. I added pink tied bows on to the smaller pockets for a little bit more pop. I made three tabs for the top so it could hang on a curtain rod or in her closet. I made them 6"x 4".

Cut out two large rectangles 21"x28" and your pockets, and three or four squares for the top tabs.

Fold over 1/2" and iron on each pocket. Pin in place where you want pockets. Sew pockets in place. Iron.

Pin tabs in place on top of this rectangle.

Put other rectangle on top of this one and pin in place. Make sure fabric is right sides together. Do the basic straight stitch all around this rectangle, leaving an opening to turn it out through.

Turn it out and iron. Top stitch all around. You're done!

(I also stitched around my pockets twice once it was all done to secure them to the back. It makes it hang better. And I top stitched twice around the whole organizer, just because I like the look of it.)

Baby blue....shirt!

2008-06-24T17:50:00.000-07:00

I am having so much fun sewing for my daughter. I used a basic dress pattern for this shirt. (I used less than a yard of fabric. Here's a few things I altered from the dress pattern:

Instead if doing the length of the dress, I just shortened it to the length of a long shirt.
Instead of gathering at the waist line, I did a few pleats.
Instead of using a zipper for the back, I used buttons with ribbon loops.
I added a collar, just a strip of fabric that I gathered.
I added the ribbon across the waist line and a bow with some buttons.

Perfect Pink Blankie

2008-06-22T21:36:00.000-07:00

Evie loves her pink silky blankie from Target. My friend Amber taught me a fun new way to make a baby blanket, so I tried it out using the minkee & flannel backed satin. For the first blanket, there were a few puckers, but I still think it turned out so cute. I made it for my sister's new little girl. It will be such a soft blankie for her. I want to make a big one for me!
All laid out.

All tied up with a tag.

General Directions:
You need 2 squares or rectangles, one bigger than the other with equal distance on either side. I used the dimensions of 27"x 27" for the small square & 45"x 45". That means you should buy a 1 1/4 yd. for the main fabric & 3/4 yd. for the middle.

I then ironed each square in half and then in half again--to find the middles of each side. (Just picture a square divided in half widthwise & lengthwise.) Then match the middle of smaller square to middle of larger square. (Your fabric should be facing right sides together.) Then sew a straight stitch from the middle to the end of the smaller square on both sides. Then repeat on all sides. Leave an small opening on one side to turn the blanket inside out to finish.

Then lay out your blanket so the excess main fabric is laid out equally around the smaller square. Iron to make a nice crease. You will notice you have these flaps of fabric on each corner. You need to iron these corners to make a diagonal crease. It will be one crease but you need to iron in two directions to make this crease. Straight stitch on this crease, for each corner. Trim the excess fabric. Turn inside out.

And iron one more time all the way around the blanket. And to finish, stitch around the smaller square to secure the blanket together, being sure to stitch over the small opening to close it up good. One day I'll have nice tutorials, but these will have to do for now. Sorry!

2008-06-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

Yet another baby gift. But this one is for my good friend, my old college roommate Chels. She is about to have a baby and I am so excited for her! So I finally got around to making her one of these, I hope she likes it. I love the material, it's a yellow and gray Amy Butler fabric. It is so cute I want to go buy more and make something for me with it!
Here is the changing pad, all rolled up and tied to fit in a diaper bag.

Here is the nursing cover, made with a little inside pocket as well.

Here is the changing pad all laid out on the outside so you can see. It is the fabric and two strips of canvas for the outer edges. The inside fabric is the waterproof flannel material, it's GREAT!

And of course, another little matching card.

all DRESSED up

2008-06-21T13:00:00.001-07:00

I was online looking at some fashion websites for children's clothing and totally got a burst of inspiration. I love to do a variety of crafts, but last night, I wanted to design and sew. I came across the most gorgeous clothing for little girls...simply breath taking, truly an art. You can find these beautiful clothes here. After reviewing what dresses I had seen, I was already creating something I could make for Tessa. A spring dress with a color that you don't normally see on babies and toddlers...black. I have so much fabric, I just simply picked something out that I liked and began to design. This is definitely my FAVORITE creation yet. I hope you enjoy. It was very easy to make and only took me a couple of hours. I made it in one evening and will probably make more since they're perfect summer dresses. I used a basic black polka dot cotton. I lined only the bodice and zig zaged the hem. I used a yard and a quarter of fabric.

I love how the dress is long. It's hard to find dresses that are just the right length!
To close the back of the dress, I used round buttons, with ribbon loops. I did this for two reasons, 1) it's much easier than button holes, snaps, or a zipper. 2) I really like how it looks because it's not something you see on clothing very often.
Instead of making straps, it was much easier to use ribbons to make bows! The bow is securely sewn on so they cant come undone!To bring some color to the dress, I added this pin which is removable. I hot glued these buds together and sewed on a button in the center. I then glued it to the pin. I like this feature because I can make other pins with different flowers on them to give it a whole other look!

make ordinary extra-ordinary...

2008-06-18T10:58:00.000-07:00

I went to my aunt's recently and noticed an array of colorful flowers on her work desk. I asked her what the occassion was, and she replyed, "I'm sick of my boys taking all of my pens and never putting them back!" I just laughed! What a great idea! I have the same problem--I'm always loosing my pens. This not only makes them a little more noticable, it also gives a little color and uniqueness to them! I held the flower stem as I wrapped floral tape all the way down the pen and there you go, a beautiful pen! I love them and they make me happy just looking at them on my desk! My husband also enjoys them...hehe!

Top 10 Reasons Why I Love My Daddy

2008-06-16T11:15:00.000-07:00

Alright, so here is Paul's Father's Day present. It's a top ten count down book of why Evie loves her Daddy. It is a 6x6 album, made from cardstock. I first picked my pictures for each reason, put them together with the page & picked a picture or two, then made a space for the number & last I made the textbox the size I needed to fit. Then I sanded & distressed the pictures & wording. I used BasicGray chipboard letters & numbers which I covered in different green Bazzill to match the paper. I sanded & distressed each of them. Then I zig-zagged the writing and straight stitched the number squares in a pretty green thread. Then I made him a matching card to go in the last page, which I made into a pocket, so he can always keep the card together. Then I backed the pages with each other and stitched around edges to make it more sturdy. And last, I tied on some brown colors of hemp and "man-ribbon" on the rings. I love how the brown & green colors all went together so well!

Album cover

Dedication & Reason 10

#9 & 8

#7 & 6

#5 & 4

#3 & 2

#1 & pocket page

Father's Day card

Album back

Tweaked

2008-06-16T11:12:00.000-07:00

This is the updated, tweaked version of the card I made last week.

Oops

2008-06-13T16:16:00.000-07:00

Okay so this is not mine, I borrowed this picture. But it's only because I was a dork and forgot to take a picture of my dad's father's day gift! I'll have to get a picture when I'm home in July. But this is the item that I used to create the gift.
This is a business card holder. Has little plastic sleeves in it to hold them. I just covered the front with a red plaid paper, distressed it, and added a square of white cardstock with a father definition printed on it. There were ten descriptions in the definition, one for each of the "card holder" spots. Then I used a chipboard "F" covered in blue cardstock on top.

Then for every card spot, I printed out a word like "patriarch" to glue on the front page. Then for the back of the page I just printed out my own "definition." I just used stories or thoughts I had about him with this role of father.

I know, it is hard to visualize but I promise it turned out super cute!! I just wish I had taken pictures. Luckily I still have Paul's gift... but I can't post anything about that until after Father's Day.

Free Vinyl Wall Decals

2008-06-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone, I stumbled upon this blog. Anyone who likes vinyl wall decals should totally check this out. She has some great stuff in her store. Plus, if you blog about her website before the 12th, she will give you your choice of vinyl for free!

A) your color choice(s) for two small monkey decals
or
B) your color choice for a set of bird decals (one color for 3)
or
C) your color choice for a small rocket ship decal
or
E) either olive green or apple green small fun leaf decals

Visit her blog to see how to get some! www.creatingcupcakes.blogspot.com

Check out her website to see all of her items. She has some really cool things. www.vinylwallart.com

Father's Day Card

2008-06-11T17:02:00.000-07:00

One of my all time favorite things is gift giving. I really try to give something that I know the person is going to like! In this case, my dad loves my daughter Tessa! I wanted to do something inexpensive and from the heart. So I compiled several videos of Tessa over the past few months and made it into a 30min video for him. I made this pocket for the dvd case to go in...and the outside pocket is for the card to go in.

I saw something similar to this card a few years ago and have always wanted to try it. It was fairly easy to make and didn't take very much time. Instead of doing a regular size card, I just cut it down to a square, just to change it up a bit.

I know my dad is going to love his Father's Day gift. My number 1 rule is always love what you make before you give it to other people. Be confident in your gift giving!

Arrangement

2008-06-09T14:02:00.000-07:00

I love flowers! They are such an inspiration of creation and they, of course, bring a smile to my face. I got these flowers for my birthday...I received them in the usual way....flower.stem.vase. They were so beautiful and I thought it would be fun to enjoy them a little differently. Instead of the usual flower arrangement (in a vase), take a floral foam block and cut it down to 2 1/2 x 2 x 2 1/2. I got it at the dollar store...so you can get them really inexpensive. In the process of making this, I was surprised at how many flowers you need to how small the foam ends of being. I used approximately 35 mini roses. I cut the stem to about an inch away from the flower and stuck them in the foam accordingly. I added the bow on the top to hang in my kitchen! I love how it turned out. The next time you get flowers, try something new like this!

ABC Book

2008-06-06T16:00:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to do an ABC book for Tessa and the rest of my future kids for a long time now. But I wanted to do a book with pictures of Jason and I as kids. So when my kids look at the album, they see baby pictures of us! So I started the task last weekend and just finished a couple of days ago. It took 30 hours, but I really wanted a sturdy, nice album.....so here it is!

The album is 9 x 9. I distressed EVERYTHING! and sewed almost everything on. I used a zig zag and straight stitch with different colors of threads (brown, yellow, red.) I used an assortment of embellishments, brads, buttons, ribbon, and my own little creations! I also used a lot of mounting tape to give it dimention. ENJOY!

a & b - airplance, apple, ant, bridge, baseball, birthday, button, brads, buttefly
c & d - chair, curlers, cake, dance, daddy, ducks
e & f - eat, eyes, flowers, family
g - grass, grandma, grandpa, grow, graduate
h & i - hair, horse, hat, hand, ice creamj & k - jason, jack-o-lantern, jar, jelly beans, kids, kite, kittyl & m - learn, laugh, ladder, ladybug, mommy, missionary, musicn & 0 - nicki, nail, outside, oceanp & q - pancakes, pig, quilt, queen r & s - rest, rodeo, rain drops, ribbon, sand, snail, sister, santat & u - tree, t-shirt, umbrella, unclev & w - violin, vest, vase, worm, watermelon, winter, water polo, wavesx & y - eXplore, xoxo/huges & kisses, yarn, yo yo

z - zebra, zoo, zzzz (sleepy time!)

I wanted to sew a cover out of some cute fabric I have, but thought that it would be better to have something even better. I already had this cute leather binder that ties closed....perfect! I was also debating on weather or not I should put the pages in page protectors because I wanted my kids to be able to touch and feel the pages, but in order to preserve my 30 hours of work, I opted to use them anyway!

2008-06-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

Just made a few more cards. I have been doing some other crafts, but haven't taken any pictures yet, so more to come later I guess. Some of the crafts have already been made, shipped & received... so I missed the boat on that one. Sorry, guys. I'll get better at this I promise.

This is just a simple card I made for my husband's friend. His brother had passed away, so I just did a simple little sentiment card.

This is a birthday card I made for my mother-in-law. It turned out pretty cute. I have since made a few more cards for my relief society birthdays and revamped the card a bit. I'll show those later.

Sport your favorite page

2008-05-30T00:31:00.000-07:00

When I was doing my friends wedding album a while ago, I started this page and had so much fun creating...I think I spent a little over two hours on this one page! I didn't care because I was having so much fun! So I decided, since I'm putting so much energy into one page, I might as well "sport" it. So I went to Michael's and bought a plain wood 12x12 frame for 7 bucks, painted it black, distressed the edges and put the page in! It was a great added little something to give to my friend for their anniversary! Another thing you could do, is switch out the pages every so often to keep things updated, and it shows off a little talent and creativity as well!

Hair Clips

2008-05-29T09:46:00.000-07:00

I saw these cute hair clips on a website for $7.00 for two of them. I thought, I could make them just as cute for way less, and I did! I bought the metal hair clips at Sally Beauty Supply, a pack of 100 for $5.oo and the brads and Michaels 12 for $5.oo. And I already had the ribbon. So each clip came out to about $.50 a piece! I just hot glued the ribbon to the clip. I cut off the metal pieces of the brad and hot glued that to the ribbon on the clip...I'm also going to make more with just ribbon and some with buttons as well...so many possibilities!

Crayon Roll

2008-05-28T19:52:00.001-07:00

So I have seen these crayon rolls for a while now, I just haven't had a reason to make one... until now! My little niece is turning two! I think this will be just perfect for her. I used a couple of different patterns, but mostly one from

http://skiptomylou.wordpress.com/2007/04/25/on-a-roll

I was in a hurry to make and send this off, so you get to see it without crayons. I know, pretty disappointing. But I'm making a few more because this one was so easy! I used a cute bright animal flannel on the back, a lilac flannel for the inside and a terrycloth chenille for the pocket(which I lined before hand. I used a pink grossgrain ribbon across the pocket and a separate pink ribbon for the tie.
And of course, I made a matching card. I love how it ties on the side just like the crayon roll does. I put patches of the animal flannel on the front and the back with a zig-zag stitch. Then stitched the ribbon across the front and back. Threw on some little stickers, stitched an inside to write on and it's done!

A Birthday gift for Mom

2008-05-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

I used the theme of our other memory gifts. This time I cut out tags from coordinating paper. I had my husband think of things he loved about his mom (since this is for her birthday) and memories he had of growing up with her. I typed up each one and sewed them on to each tag. I wrote the cover tag and embellished it with chalk , a stamp and ribbon. I then assembled it together on a ring, adding more ribbon!
Here are one of the tags!
I did 19 memories, plus the back and cover tags, making a total of 21 tags.
I wrote what the gift was for, who it was from and the year...That way, if she still has it years from now, she'll know exactly who gave the gift and when she got it!

Handwriting

2008-05-24T10:38:00.000-07:00

I read that that handwritting book I posted a while ago. I did the exercises along with it and I absolutely LOVED IT! It was so much fun and I learned so many awesome techniques. I highly recommend purchasing the book. I will forever use what I learned in my future scrapbooking! I always looked at pages with the gorgeous writing and it made me sick to see good it looked and then reflecting my own writing and how I don't feel it's "good" enough. Anyway, I learned that you should ALWAYS write with pencil first and then with pen! Along with many other techniques, I now feel confident with my writing and MY many different fonts! Here is my first page after reading the book! I used different thicknesses of pens to give it more dimension. I also encorporated different fonts and sizes to give it that added touch! I cut out the title with sissors, but that's only because I didn't have a razor cutter to use. I never knew you could have so much fun writing!

Sis. Beck's Book

2008-05-10T20:39:00.000-07:00

I have this posted already on my family blog, but I thought I'd link the two together since this is my craft blog. I made this little book for my Relief Society to sign. We just wanted Sister Beck to know that we love her, support her and sustain her. It turned out really neat! I sent it off to Sister Beck the week before General Conference. I received a thank you note from her in return that next week! She really loved the book, but she loved most what we were hoping. The kind-hearted and thoughtful words that the book was full of for her. Thank you, Sister Beck for leading the women of this church in the way that only you could! We love you!

Here is the link to the page on my other blog if you want to see the rest of the book.

Just another birthday card

2008-05-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

This is just another birthday card I've done for our Relief Society. I really do love being the secretary, it gives me so many opportunities create things! This is just rub-on wording on top of layers of different colored cardstock and stitched together. I added "glossy accents" to the wording to add a 3-D look. Then added a little ribbon bow and it's done!

Mother's Day Card

2008-05-09T13:26:00.000-07:00

Here is my first attempt to sew on paper. I was just so inspired by Leslie and her beautiful creations! So here it...I made several of this card, for the grandma's and sister-in-laws. The "happy Mother's Day" and the circle of dots are fonts that I printed and the "m" is obviously a stamp. Thanks Leslie for showing me a new way to create! You rock!

Swaddle Me

2008-05-09T13:07:00.000-07:00

I bought this flannel over a year ago and it's been just sitting in my craft room waiting to be made into blankets! I'm proud to say they're complete and ready to be given! I just need more friends that are pregnant! The blankets are approximately 40" x 40" and are perfect size for swaddling. I swaddled Tessa in these from when she was a newborn to about nine months...so they last a long time! The "tummy warmer" was an idea that my aunt got with her little one. It really does help to sooth the tummy for babies! So here are the gift sets...
I added the tag to sort of explain the gift and give instructions on the tummy warmer.

Mother's Day Gift: Part Deux

2008-05-09T09:57:00.000-07:00

Alright, so here is the second part of my mom's gift. The 42 reasons jar just had snippits of reasons, short phrases. This book has the complete list of reasons for each child. This way she knows who each reason came from and what else they had to say about it.

I found this really cute scalloped Bazzill chipboard book and I couldn't pass it up. Then I just tried to find some matching papers that "looked" like my mom, you know soft, pretty & grown-up. I made it a 6x6 album. I just glue sticked the paper to the chipboard and then cut out the scallops on the paper, for each page. That was the only pain. I made a page for each of my ten brothers & sisters. I put a pocket on each page, zig-zag stitched on. Then I printed out their reasons to a 4x4 size, distressed, added a tab that matched their page, then added either a ribbon or a button. (Ribbon for girls and buttons for boys.)

For the front I stitched on some matching left-over paper and stitched together some strips of the colored paper, cut a heart out and stitched that on the front. I used rub-ons for the writing. Added a little label on the back, for that little extra. Then I just added the clip rings, tied some ribbon around, and there you have it. The book!

The front of the book.

The back of the book.

This just shows the reasons pages that are in each pocket. See the cute matching tab on top?

Another view of the front.
Deborah's page.
Steve's page.
Blair's page
Ryan's page.
Doug's page.
Janelle's page.
Brad's page.
Amanda's page.
Jared's page.
My page.
Another view of the back.

Burp Cloths

2008-05-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

I think the best part about giving gifts is the presentation. I had so much fun making this cute matching tag. I simply used a scrap of the left over fabric and ribbon and created this (thanks to Leslie for the inspiration!) I thought the sewing added a nice touch since I sewed the burp cloths too! I got this cute scrap of flannel fabric on sale over a year ago, and it feels so good to have made something I'm really happy with! I made a gift set of three burp cloths 9" x 16" and added a little ribbon to give it a little somethin' extra! I love how they turned out!

Wedding Album-Part 4

2008-05-07T23:47:00.001-07:00

The Honeymoon...was my favorite sections to do. I used really bright colors and was on a roll with my different layouts. I love the dynamic of the printed flowers on the paper and the fabric flower addition. They compliment each other nicely!
The circles below are of one picture. My Aunt Cindy has this really cool tool that crimps a frame around the circle. So I took a picture of a landscape and spruced it up a bit by using these circles...a little more interesting, huh?

Oh circles...how I love you! I LOVE this layout. The journaling around the circles are rub-ons...and the title "Ocean View" is made up of various chip board and acrylic letters.
This was the last page of the whole scrapbook. It's important to end strong. This was their engagement picture.

Wedding Album-Part 3

2008-05-07T23:35:00.000-07:00

I love tags...So I created a tag shape to frame the picture, and then used rub-ons to put their name at the bottom.

Wedding Album-Part 2

2008-05-07T23:23:00.000-07:00

The pages are shiney because they are in page protectors...To get a closer look, click on the picture itself... I love thinking outside the box, "literally". Using circles to frame brings a whole new dimension to the page and the picture itself!

Before I started this page, I had all of the pictures of friends and family standing around on the temple grounds...I had so many, and none of them were really great, so I created a collage layout. I love doing collages because you get a lot of pictures on the page without it feeling like there's too much. And, in this case, the theme of the pictures goes well with the layout.

Wedding Album

2008-05-07T19:54:00.000-07:00

So I recently finished the large task of my friend Brooke's wedding album. The album turned out to be 98 pages in three different binders! It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed every minute of it! Here are some of the highlights of the book...

I love doing simple layouts, because sometimes that's all you need.

This was their wedding announcement.

This was part of the "dating" sections that I did.
At the temple...

Mother's Day Gift

2008-05-07T14:40:00.000-07:00

I took Nicki's idea from the can filled with memories and ran with it. I turned it into a mason jar filled with 42 reasons why my brothers & sisters and I love our mother. One reason for every year she's been our mother. The reasons in the jar are just simple phrases. I'm still working on the book where each brother and sister will have our own page with a pull-out page listing our reasons and stories and memories.

I made a little label on the jar saying, "How do we love thee? Let us count the ways..."

I added ribbon around the jar, then used rub-ons to add my brothers and sisters names all around it.

I made a new top for the jar from two papers stitched together. Says, "42 reasons why we love our mother!"

And these are the tags that went in the jar. They are just strips of paper distressed and tabs made of paper or ribbon stitched on the end. That just makes them easier to pull out of the jar.