What I Have Been Up To

Here is what has been going on in my neck of the woods...

First of all, I won a giveaway at Christie's Cottage that was sponsored by Lavon's Tees! Lavon has beautiful painted tees and she does such a nice job! I won this tee shirt- which is GREAT because all of my T-shirts are either too big because it seems like I have been pregnant for years, or they are stained out the wazoo. Thank you to both Christie and Lavon!
However... I was not the first one to be able to wear it - my 4yo stumbled and spilled orange soda ALL over herself at my sister's baby shower yesterday, so she got to wear it like a dress! Hence, no picture, because now it is in the wash!

For my sister's shower, I made this Amy Butler Birdie sling bag. I have been wanting to make one for myself for quite some time now, but I knew how much she liked the pattern, too. So, instead of making her a basket to hold all of the baby books I got her, I made this:

(she will need a bigger purse now- it comes with having kids)

I should probably expain a bit here. My weird family has a thing that whenever someone opens clothes and the like, they kiss it. I think it started out when one of the kids used to open nice, soft clothes. Anyway, she was warned it would be posted online. I finished this bag with minutes to spare before I had to leave for the shower, so this is the only photo op I got. You can see that this bag is soooo huge, it hides her enormous belly! Love ya, sis! :)
I want to stop here to thank my friend Sheila from sewfaithful for all of her help! She has a great shop on etsy and her sewn items are so professional! THANK YOU!!!

On another etsy note... this is what I am working on- your official sneak peak:

OK- I have to get busy- after I get my spring goodies in the shop, hang the camo curtains, and finish the quilt for my niece that I have been hand-quilting (intermittently) since April, I will reward myself with a trip to a real fabric store- not Walmart which is all I have- and buy fabric to make MYSELF one of those bags!

Littlest Pet Shop Bag

Camo is on hold for a bit, so here is the Littlest Pet Shop bag I made for my daughter. She likes LPS, but there are too many little pieces that her little sister likes to put in her mouth. I got this fabric on clearance to make her an apron that I am going to give her on her birthday. I would show you, but it is almost wrapped--meaning it is in the box and hiding. Maybe later… Anyway, I only used about half of it and this is the leftovers.

I also used some old jeans that my hubby wore out. This was my first time working with denim, besides an occasional repair job on some pants, and I was really surprised at how sturdy the bag got. I used denim for the bottom and sides on the outside and for the entire inside. I even used some of the pockets (they were carpenter jeans) for the one side.

I wanted lots of pockets on the inside. I made them all by sewing a tube from two pieces of scrap- these are from the sides that you cut off from a pre-printed panel to make a pillow. Then I just sewed the tube down along the bottom. There are two pockets on each side- the short pockets work great for holding the little pets.

For the long bottom pockets, I wish I had sewn a seam down the middle because they are a little too loose for my liking. Too late now…

I wanted Velcro on some to hold those teeny tiny pieces. (Actually- the only thing I bought for this project was Velcro!) So, the two top ones on the long sides have Velcro. It was my first time using sew-on Velcro and truth be told- I like it a lot! I foresee much more Velcro in my future. I also made a flap to go over the top that (you guessed it) Velcros to the front!

The best part was when I gave her the bag, she was super excited to fill it up sop she quickly picked all the little things off of the floor! This is why I gave it to her before her birthday!

I am linking to:

Snow Day

Snow is so pretty to look at! And today it was sunny with clear blue skies! Here is what we did this afternoon...

We made chocolate chip cookies!I think they were good!And we made a heart garland to hang in the window. It is just construction paper hearts with holes punched in each side. The girls decorated them with new fun foam stickers, glitter glue/paint stuff, stickers, and pictures cut from those messed up valentines. Then I strung them with paper twist because someone awesome bestowed her craft supplies upon me and I don't know what to do with paper twist- but it is thick and worked nicely.
Here it is from the outside- with the cat and our icicles!

We get really big icicles coming off of our roof.
We also have them on our bushes...

And I even had some hanging from my ears!

(I got them from peekabooproductions!)

Here are some more pictures of the snow...
This looks a little different than a few weeks ago...


(My milk can is almost buried.) My son made a snow fort using a plastic planter.My husband made an igloo last night.

Gee, I wonder why I am having a bit of trouble being inspired to make spring crafts for my etsy shop!

Camo Curtains- Part One

I started these curtains a looooong time ago, so when someone asked for some camo fabric I came across the tan camo panels which were already cut. My son's bedroom has a camo theme, but he only has two little windows. I figured the darker camo would also darken the room too much. A short wall is covered in the dark camo fabric and his bedding is army green, so I wanted to tie it all together by sewing a strip of dark camo on the bottom. I hemmed all the way around. They are not lined because we hope to remodel his room one day and they are just two dinky windows anyway.


I wanted to make them like tab tops, so I used some camo grosgrain ribbon. Each one was cut to 5 inches and I sealed the ends with a lighter. I started at the very edges and carefully pinned them in place at even intervals on the right side of the fabric, with the loop towards the bottom (I have to stop here to mention that I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new pins- they make me smile!). I sewed the ribbons on with a quarter-inch seam. Then I flipped it down and sewed again on top of that sewing line so that the edge was hemmed and the loops pointed up.


Here is one panel all finished. More to come later (Part 2) as I find a creative way to hang them.


I am linking up to a few places- can't get the buttons to work for some reason... http://firefliesandjellybeans.blogspot.com/2010/02/show-off-your-stuff-party-15.html

http://mybackyardeden.blogspot.com/2010/02/make-it-yours-day_09.html

http://makingtheworldcuter.blogspot.com/2010/02/making-world-cuter-monday-feb-8.html

http://asoftplace.net/2010/02/diy-day-with-the-cupcake-tower/

Oddly Inspired Painted Heart Box Tutorial

OK- don't laugh here!
Inspiration comes from the strangest places sometimes… for me I was inspired by a tissue box.
(And another product packaging for something feminine- no picture- I am too shy)


I picked up one of these little boxes in the craft section so that I would have a place to put the wonderful jewelry I got here. First, I painted it baby pink all over, then I took a cotton ball and dipped it in light green that I had left over in the paint tray from an order from my etsy shop. I dabbed some off on the old magazine I was using underneath, then sponged all over the inside of the box- just so it isn’t so plain when it is opened.



On the bottom part of the box, I painted wide stripes in a darker bubble gum pink all the way around. Now, I didn’t get them all perfectly even, but that is OK- when I went back around to put thin burgundy stripes on, I just overlapped where needed to even them out.


Now, for the top of the box- a few secret tricks! To mark my swirly pattern, I used an eraser- it won’t leave a lasting mark and blows off when you are done!
To make the dots, I simply dipped the end of a paintbrush (the solid end- not the one with bristles) in creamy white paint, redipping it in the paint as needed. It is pretty easy to make motifs this way.
Last, I glued a piece of rosy pink ribbon around the lid and… TA DA!

Please excuse the widely varied lighting- I usually only get to work on things in short spurts, especially stuff for myself. All together it did not take very long. This would also be good for valentine treats- and when I say that I mean chocolate ones! I hope this gives YOU a little inspiration! :)

I am linking to these: