Apron and Tea Towels

A Christmas gift for a friend.

Simplicity Pattern 3670. Not sure I'm totally in love with this pattern
I picked up some tea towels from my craft store and added some fabric to match her apron. Loved this and will be making more in the future.

Christmas Cards

It's been driving me crazy that I don't have a spot for our Christmas cards to be displayed. We recently purchased a dishwasher and the frame below was in the box. A little bit of fabric, a staple gun, and a picture frame hanger turned this simple and free (with the purchase of a dishwasher) wood frame into a Christmas card holder.

Not fancy but definitely functional. I'm a happy girl!

December Daily: 2-5

I have been taking a few pictures here and there and realized I needed to get them into page form or it would never happen. I really am loving digital templates. I can always go back and add "real" stuff onto the pages later.

December 2 & 3:

(I combined the two days because I didn't have a ton of pics and I really didn't want Julia's mouth to take up an entire page.)

December 4th:

December 5th:

Products I used to create these layouts:

Templates by: Creativity by Design and Ali Edwards (Bread and Butter)

Paper: Michelle Martin Papers: Bergen Paper Pack

Embellishments: Katie Pertiet Crystallized Flourishes

Coffee Filter Foof

I saw the Coffee Filter Foof on the website Jones Design Company. If you are not following her blog you should. I love the clean lines/simplicity of her designs. Well back to the Foof. I decided I wanted to try and make one.

I had a little trouble with the hot glue. My coffee filters were not staying on. Looking back at the tutorial pictures I wonder if I didn't cut enough of the tip off.

So instead I used both hot glue and straight pins. Once I started using the pins I had better luck. See the little grey dots?
Julia helped me fold the coffee filters for this project. When she got bored I showed her how to cut out snowflakes from the coffee filters.

I also cheated a little and did not fill the entire styrofoam ball. See below. I used liquid nails to adhere my hook. I'm hoping it will hold up.
She probably still needs a little sculpting but I can't wait to hang it up in Julia's room. I might even make a few more in different sizes. This one took me probably 200 coffee filters and two nap sessions.
Thank you Emily for the tutorial!

December Daily

I'm toying with the idea of creating a December Daily 2010 album. I love Ali Edwards scrapbooking stuff. Since I'm pretty new to digital scrapbooking, her templates are the ones that I am drawn to for their ease of use. She plans on creating a 6x8 this year. The DD templates that I have are 12x12 and were purchased at DesignerDigitals.com. If I print one out for each day it will cost about 75 bucks for the entire album. So I might do some pages the traditional way instead of just all digital pages. And then again, I just might create all digital pages but simply upload them to a CD/DVD and have them as a slide show.

12.01.10: Day 1

A 7Gypsies Giveaway!

Well, I'm not giving anything away but I am entering a giveaway and so can you! Simply visit the blog of 7Gypsies to find out more about it. They are giving away 3 cute sets!!! See, I can win and so can you. Happy Times. :)

Be sure to visit their blog to see the rest of what is in the cute kit.

Below is the stamp set:

Better hurry though, the giveaway is closing soon!

Baby Tag Blanket

My sister-in-law and four of my friends are pregnant. Two of them are having girls and the rest are still have weeks before they find out. Although one said she just might wait for the surprise at the end! So it is time for me to get busy with my machine. First up: a Tag Blanket. And really it is more of a lovey than a blanket. It measure about 9"x9" so it is just the right size for small hands. I have seen these in the stores and have always wanted to make one so here goes!

The finished product

Start by measuring out your squares. Mine were 5"x5". Then simply sew them together. I used a 1/2" seam allowance. If you press your seams it will look prettier.

All pressed!

Cut out a square of fabric for the backside. I chose minky dot. Pink something soft and cuddly. The square should match up to your four square above. In fact, I just laid my four square on top of the minky dot and cut around it. Set it aside.

Time for the ribbon. Pin the looped ribbon to the right side of the four square. Baste stitch your ribbon to your four square. I used about a 1/4" seam allowance for this step. Also, be sure that your loops are facing in just like mine. Very important. It's okay if some of your ribbon hangs off. You can trim it after you have done your baste stitch.

All trimmed up after the baste stitch:

Pin right sides together of your soft fabric and your four square. Be sure that you ribbon loops are inside the pocket. Be sure to leave a space so that you can turn it right side out. Also, your opening should not be near a corner to make it easier. I used a 1/2" seam allowance for this step. Notice my opening below:

Before turning right side out clip your corners. You can find a great tutorial on clipping corners and other sewing basics at Make It and Love It. Ashley has the best tips. In fact, she probably already has a tutorial for a tag blanket.

Here is mine all turned out. Fix your corners. You can use a dowel or other pointed object if you can't get your hand in there. I also laid a light cloth over mine and pressed it again before I stitched my opening closed.

Don't just stitch your opening closed. Go around the entire square to make it look uniform.

I also sewed diagonally across the entire square to help it keeps its form.

Voila!

I have two more cut out and ready to go but I ran out of ribbon. I originally bought enough ribbon to make just one but with a bunch of babies on the way I'll be making more trips to the fabric store. I'm not telling which sweet baby girl is getting this one. It's a secret!

Countdown Calendar

I saw the cutest "We're going to Disneyland" countdown calendar on The Crafting Chicks. Jamie was kind enough to post her templates for free and tell where/which digital papers she used. So in just a few minutes I had a cute countdown calendar too! I had it printed off at Costco and then stuck it in a temporary frame. I actually planned to use this frame for something else but it isn't ready just yet. The only problem with printing I had was that my circles to cover the numbers turned out bigger than 2" when they were printed. I'm not sure why this happened but if someone out there does, could you pass me the info? I can fix my circles with a simple circle punch. Now we just have to pick out date to go to Disneyland! Thank you Jamie from The Crafting Chicks!!!!

Iron Cord Chaos

I have an iron in my craft room with a cord that I usually wrap up with a ribbon. But I keep losing the ribbon and having to cut another one. To solve this problem I put a permanent strap on my iron cord.There is Velcro to hold the strap to itself and the strap is sewn to the cord so I won't lose it. :)

Ahhh, all neatly wrapped up. Happiness.

Labels

I've been doing a lot of canning lately. I'm a hoarder when it comes to canned goods. I'm not very good at giving it away but I am getting better. When I do give a jar away I like to have a cute little label on top.

Pickle Relish-Yummo!

So I have these circles or flower shapes ready to go with adhesive on the back. I use a Xyron to put the adhesive on the shape. Then I slap it on top.

iPad cover

My hubby bought me an iPad for my birthday. He also has an iPad and we have matching covers. This makes it difficult to know which one belongs to me. So I made a cover for my case. :)I used the buttonholer on my machine to make openings for where plugs and headphone jacks need to go through plus holes to access the power button and volume control.
I also need access to the stand in the back so I created a little flap to cover the hole. The flap closes shut with velcro.

I can still use the stand on the case.

I'm pretty sure he won't mistake this iPad for his anymore. ;D

Staircase Banister Project

We recently decided to have our staircase banister replaced due to a broken baluster and the fact that our balusters are not up to code. Do you see that upper railing on the landing? That just screams to my little boy "Climb on Me!" Luckily, I have a friend who also happens to be a general contractor. He was able to build our half wall and help me find someone reputable to replace the banister. But to save a few pennies on the project I took on the painting and staining and my husband took down the old railing.

Before

After

I still have painting to finish. The color on the left side of the new half wall will be our color. Behr Pecan Sandie 700C-3

Before

After

Much Safer!

Before

I hated how the carpet wrapped over the edge of the step.

After

Detail of false tread

I'm so glad to slowly be getting rid of all the honey oak throughout the house.

Birthday Shirt

I got this idea from my friend Missy who creates the cutest little birthday shirts for her daughters. I use Wonder Under to fuse the number to the fabric. I used my Cricut to cut out the number this year but in the past I have simply printed out a large number through Word to use as a stencil. Last year I did not have the right color thread to sew the number to the shirt. I simply used puff paint. It was also the wrong shade so I sprinkled some glitter over the puff paint that matched the fabric and hid the paint. This year I used a blanket stitch in a matching color.
If your child only wears it a few times you can probably get away with out the extra sewing or puff paint. I did notice that last years shirt did start to come apart after many washings.

A Place to Hang Our Hats

I've been working on remodeling my laundry room. We sometimes like to grab a hat on our way out. Here is a little way to keep them off my newly installed counter. :)Just bead board behind the same frame I used for my Dry Erase board and I added a few hooks.

Easy Peasy!

Dry Erase Message Board

We are remodeling our laundry room. It is, for us, the main entry into our home. I needed a place to drop my purse and keys. We added a new counter top and the back splash area was screaming for a message board. I love all the picture frame message board tutorials on the Internet! I originally saw the Message Board on Make It and Love It. What a great idea. Here is how I made mine:

Start with a frame you like. I purchased mine at Michael's yesterday. It is a 16 x 20 collage frame complete with mat. I saved the mat in case I decide to use this for pics again someday. I don't really see that happening but you never know when you might need a mat. BTW, I got this frame on clearance for 5 bucks! It was normally 20 bucks. I picked up 5 of them for our laundry room.
Find a fabric you like. I picked a neutral fabric that would coordinate with my laundry room color scheme. At least I hope it does. :D

Cut your fabric slightly larger than the picture frame backing.

Do you have one of these? A Pampered Chef stoneware scraper. I love these things. I use my for caulk work and for when I use my hot glue gun.
Hot glue down your fabric onto the back side of the frame backing. Below you can see how I do my corners.

All tidy!

Now for the lettering. I used my Cricut to cut vinyl. I have cut vinyl for my friend's projects but never for my own. I learned a lot this time around. First of all, you want the vinyl to go on the back of the glass so when you are writing you won't accidentally write on your sticker. That isn't a bad thing except that you will eventually have dry erase "crumbs" collecting on your words. Make sure you use the "Flip" function to create a mirror image. If I had been smart I would have also entered my letters in backwards so I could take the letters off in strips instead of individually.
I ended up using transfer paper to help me place the letters so I wouldn't have finger prints on my vinyl. Just picture when you are wrapping presents and you get finger prints on the tape.
On the front of the glass I used a dry erase marker to draw a line so that I could attempt to have straight letters. Then I placed each letter. Again, wish I could have just dropped one whole word down.

All the letters placed.

Backing back in the frame.

Voila! But be sure to erase your guide line.

I can't wait to try something like this for a chore chart for my kiddos! The bead board in the background is part of the remodel! Pics of that coming once it is all done. Funny how a project I think will take one weekend takes one month.