The End of a 3-Month Whirlwind

Hi All! I hope you had a great Holiday season! I guess, technically, we have one more big one left - New Year's - but the bulk of it all is over and done with and as much fun as it was, I'm so glad to be done racing around!

Oh, and the day after Christmas my computer CRASHED. Nice. EVERYTHING was lost, but luckily I didn't trust my junky Dell so I had recently backed everything up in September. I only lost 3 months of stuff but it was still painful. So after crying my tears, I picked myself up and drove over to the Apple store where they hooked me up and made me feel SO much better! Aha! Thank you, Apple for making computers that WORK.

So now that most of the holidays are over, it's back to doing what I love - projects! It seems like the three-month fog that is Halloween through Christmas has lifted and everything can settle down a bit finally. It's fun and all, but I'm ready to be done with holidays!

Until I get my act together, here's what I'm drooling over:

LaLa's Paquinos

Aren't these things the CUTEST things ever?!










Meringue Designs
I'm in the mood to do a banner similar to this - maybe for Valentine's Day, and a generic "Happy Birthday" one for any time there's a birthday around here! I'm already getting excited...




These cute Penny Pockets from Happy Zombie would be fun, too - and she gives a GREAT tutorial on her blog.


If I had any energy whatsoever right now, and if I didn't need to go to the grocery store BAD....I'd jump up and make something...haha!

Light Bright!

Leave it to Martha (or should I say - her talented STAFF) to think of something like this! I love it! Don't know where I'd put something like this, but it's so darn cool! Here is a link for the directions. So when the holidays are over - don't put away the white lights - do something like this and get creative with your own designs.

Cute Brooch

Alright - I swear I'm going to make a hundred of these brooches! Think of the COLOR possibilities! What a great holiday gift! They are so easy and I'm pretty sure they're not geeky. Are they? Maybe I am a geek.

You can pin these to a purse, a hat, a scarf, your sweater/jacket, baby clips,etc. AND! (as Design Gal said below) you can pin these to a present as a bow and it's part of the gift! Thanks Design Gal!

I didn't find any cute felt, I don't have time or patience to make some, so I used fleece instead and it worked fine. (plus it was 40% off yesterday, so that makes sense, right?)

So if you missed the tutorial link, it's HERE. And you really should watch the video link HERE because Betz White shows you how to clip the back leaf and attach the pin correctly.






















I experimented a little here and I really like the look of the blanket stitch on the leaves. Great! Now my plain leaves look lame. If you'd like a fun tutorial on that, go HERE.

Idea Venture - Canvas, Paint, Fabric

MY GOODNESS! They've done it again and this time I'm going for it! The fine folks at Pottery Barn Kids have inspired me once again.

I am OBSESSED with trees and all things tree related, so when I saw this piece of art, I just about gagged on my cold cereal this morning! I'm definitely going to be doing my own version of this tree and maybe even some flowers like those below.

It doesn't get any easier than this, ladies - some paint, blank canvas frames from JoAnn's, your favorite fabrics, and some adhesive. The color scheme possibilities are endless! You could even do a "Family Tree" thing with this and write the names of your family members on the leaves. I probably won't do that, but it's a fun idea.

Okay, so my ever-growing to-do-list just got bigger! Better get going!

Abby's Pouch

Well I'm kind of embarrassed to post my version of this cool zipper pouch I featured from the Purl Bee! It was easy enough to do, but I didn't use the bias tape maker they suggested (remember, I'm a seeker of simple). Instead, I just used some twill tape I had in my supply and my twill tape ended up being too thick because the insides are a little bulky.

SO...I'll just throw this in my daughter's purse collection and practice some more because I REALLY like these simple little purses!

Idea Venture - Ribbon Jean Skirt

Again, this is where I take an already-created project and attempt to do it myself.

Here's the Great Idea Version

Here's My Version

This was such a fun project - and it's actually easier than it looks. I chose Fall colors, but you could easily do any kind of holiday or general color scheme. So in keeping with my "simple" motto, here's what I did:

This skirt was a resale store find I've had for a while. I just dug it out of my daughter's drawer and went to work.

First I measured a good length to cut off. Since my skirt had pockets so close to the bottom, I chose to keep them in tact and cut just underneath them.

I made sure to mark all the way around the skirt with my pencil and ruler, marking from the bottom as my guide. This helps keep your cutting straight all the way around.

Cut, being careful to stay on your lines - especially going over those seams.

Fold hem up about 1/4" and zig zag stitch it all the way around to keep it from fraying.

Determine how much of a loop you want to hang down from the skirt.

I liked my loops right at 2 1/2 inches. Using varying widths of ribbon, I ended up using 8 pieces of 6 different colors. Cut a few extra just in case you need them.

I'm sure there are better, smarter ways of getting the loops to lay flat, but I chose to glue them down. There's nothing worse than trying to work with ribbon that won't lay where you want it, so I decided just to make it easy on myself and glue them together using a washable glue stick.








Once my loops were glued and ready to go, I measured my ribbon band to go around the skirt, overlapping it about 2 inches so I'll be able to finish it off.

So here I have my measured ribbon and my loops. Starting in the middle, I lined up my loops in a pattern, keeping the bottoms straight. You can keep them close together like I did, or spread them apart. Be creative and do what you like. Use a ruler to push them in place if you need.

Then, I got my strip of fusible webbing, cut it to fit the exact length of the line of loops, and laid it across the very top. Then I placed my top (cream) ribbon on top of the webbing and ironed everything down, careful not to move the iron, and careful to keep everything lined up straight.

Here is the finished band of loops all pressed together with the iron-on adhesive.

(Whoa! A little blurry! Sorry...) I pinned my band of loops onto the bottom of the skirt, starting in the front middle, keeping the bottom of the cream ribbon lined up with the edge of the skirt. Because I'm going to stitch on the top and bottom of the cream band, I want to make sure I catch the skirt all the way around on the bottom.







In the back, tuck the cream band under and pin in place.

Because I want it to look like one continuous band, I'm going to figure out if I need another different colored ribbon to go on the band so I don't have any gaps. You can take off or put on as you like towards the end here. Nobody is going to pay attention if the pattern is off just a little there in the back.





I've got exactly the right length and I've folded my cream band over the red loop, ready to pin in place.

Here is what the back should end up looking like. You're going to begin and end your stitching in the back right there.

Now stitch all the way around, starting at the bottom edge of your band first so you secure all of your ribbons, and then stitch the top edge of your band.

I couldn't resist doing a little band for each pocket. My machine couldn't get into the tight space, so I had to hand-stitch this down.

My daughter LOVED the finished product! (nevermind the purple shirt - it's her favorite.)

Now what would really complete this outfit would be a cute t-shirt with 3 of my ribbon colors stitched across the chest like I've done with my onesies. And, for those REALLY ambitious people, a matching hair bow is absolutely necessary. At least do the hair bow and coordinate a matching, unembellished t-shirt. But with all of this cool ribbon, it's crazy not to make matching stuff with it, don't you think?

REMEMBER: If it's hand made, you should hand wash. At least use gentle cycle.

I hope some of you try out this

great idea and show me your pictures! Thanks, again to Chantel for sending this my way. Another project that these ribbon loops would work with is a baby blaknet border. Babies love to play with loops and different textures - and you can hook their little chains and pacifier holders onto the loops. However, that will be another project for another day!

It's a Chick Thing - Idea Venture Challenge

I love a good challenge!


Well, in my opinion, my version does not look as nice as the boutique version - but I guess that's why I don't own my own boutique, right?! Anyway, here's my take on the design:















I cut out my pieces. I made sure the beak was a little larger than it needed to be because I wanted to make sure it got all the way stitched underneath.



Then I ironed the pieces into place with some fusible webbing or iron-on adhesive. This held everything in place very nicely.













Then I satin stitched around the entire shape. Because of the curves, the stitching got a little tricky.













Finally, I put some fray liquid on the edges of the beak and feet to prevent any fraying. I stitched the beak down (I love how it turned out) and stitched the eye in place. Now I've got a chick shirt.



While I was at it, I stitched up a couple of baby onesies. Now what baby girl wouldn't look adorable with one of these?! With a cute pair of pants or a skirt, that baby will turn every head. (well, yours at least)



If I had more time and no children, I would have probably created some type of embellished pants to go with these shirts, but alas, that will have to wait.

Boutique Treasure

Okay this is where I find a really cool idea and figure out how they did it. This is not one of my projects, I found it on Blossom Street, and I think it's such a great, simple idea. If your little girl's pants are getting a little high-watered, then roll them up and stitch on some cute ribbon and trim!

And that little chick shirt couldn't be cuter. Here is how I will tackle this project:

1. cut out a chick shape, cut 2 legs out of ric rac & cut out a small beak

2. put some iron-on adhesive on the chick

3. place the legs & beak just under the chick's body, iron and secure them into place, satin stitch around the whole chick. Secure the beak and the legs halfway down with a hand stitch or washable fabric glue.

4. For the eye, I would stitch on a little red button or maybe use a little snap (before ironing the adhesive in place, of course).

Okay, well I'm definitely going to come up with my own version of this adorable idea. I want to know if any of you come up with your own version! (Maybe change the shape up a little or use a different animal and trim.)