Moving tip

We are packing up for our big cross country move. We've known all along that this time in DC would be temporary, so at least we've been mentally prepared for a while.

I saw a tip on Pinterest a while back to pack your necklaces for a trip, so they don't get all tangled, like this:

That's all good and fine, if all your necklaces are nice and thin. But what about these kinds of necklaces?

I have a lot of jewelry. It's a curse. I make a lot of jewelry and I buy a lot of jewelry. Although my jewelry purchases have dramatically decreased since having a child.

Anyway, since I am packing all my jewelry to move, I needed some way of keeping them together without them becoming a nasty mess. Last time we moved I just put them all in a ziplock bag.... That was a fun 45 minute detangle session. I decided to apply the same concept of using a straw, only on a larger scale. Ta-da!

I think this will be the perfect solution.

Next up... The 100+ pairs of earrings... I still have to decide how I'm going to do it.

Recent craft endeavors

I made a few pieces of jewelry while visiting Arizona in August. I absolutely love both pairs of earrings. The music notes for obvious reasons, and I just absolutely love the measuring spoons.

 

 

 

 

I feel weird even saying I made the measuring spoon earrings, because really, all I did was stick the charms on some ear wires... Not hard. But, I did put them together, so I guess I did technically "make" them. In any case, I love them, and wear them quite frequently. They always make me smile, and I really hope that someone will notice them sometime :)

This necklace was made from a kit that my sister bought. It was really fun (and easy!) to make, and I find excuses to wear it as often as possible.

 

 

 

And finally, something I have been meaning to make for quite some time... A diaper strap. This little beauty keeps the wipes and diapers together so I can just grab it and head to the nearest changing table. No more digging in the purse to find the wipes and a diaper. I really love the way it turned out. And, it will likely be the last thing I will be sewing for a while, since we are in the midst of packing for the big move back to AZ.

 



 

The next thing I will probably get to make will be Christmas ornaments for our annual exchange. I think I know what I am going to make, but I haven't comepletely decided. We are going for extremely cheap (on cost of supplies, that is) as well as extremely easy.

Card Making

I love visiting my mother. It always means we will make something. We've been doing some card making on this visit, and I've been so happy with the ones I've come up with. Each of them are inspired by ones I've found on Pinterest, but with my own twist.

Here are the four cards I've made on this visit so far:

Busy, busy

I've found myself doing all that I can to fit in some craft time at least once or twice a week. Here are a few of the things I've made over the last few weeks:

Pinterest sure has come in handy! I've found a lot of ideas of things I never knew I always wanted to make! Like this crayon roll up. Actually, I think I found this well before Pinterest, but having it on a board that I check frequently, reminded me that I wanted to make it. I used this tutorial, and I made it in about an hour. I love the way it turned out, and the picture does not do the fabric justice, at all.

Yet another Pinterest inspiration. I didn't look at a tutorial for this, but I used a picture as my inspiration and made my own. I made tags with everyone in the family's name on them. The person whose birthday is next hangs in the front, that way it's easy to remember all the birthdays. I made one for my mother and my mother-in-law.

It has been a long time since I've made any earrings, and I was seriously missing it. So, I made a goal to make 4 earrings in 40 minutes (or something like that), and I ended up with 5 earrings in 55 minutes. I honestly don't need another pair of earrings. I have well over 100 pairs, but I just needed to make some. I really miss playing with my beads.

Another great Pinterest find. This is one of the very first things I pinned. I don't have a little girl yet, I hope to someday, but I just loved this dress. Come to find out that my sister-in-law is going to be having a baby girl this summer. I jumped at the chance to make this dress. I even made it reversible by using snaps instead of buttons. I am absolutely in love with this, and cannot wait to be able to make one (or 10) for my own little girl someday.

It would seem that I spend all my time on Pinterest these days...hmmm... But, I saw this idea, and it was less than an hour before I decided I needed to make this. And, less an hour later, I had a fabulous new shrug! Can't beat that!! Now I am on the lookout for any other shirts that I don't wear that I can convert.

Ah, the ever popular burp cloths. I loved the fabrics on these, and I was so excited to be able to use some ric rac as an accent. They matched some super cute blankets I made with a friend, but I didn't get a shot of the blankets before we gave them to the recipient.

And that same cute dress pattern from above, but for another friend. I forgot to take a picture of the other side of the dress. But you can see the fabric peeking out. What I am most excited about is the fact that I was able to use some of my heat transfer vinyl AND create my own accent design for the dress. It turned out perfectly, I only hope it holds up to the washings and such... It's supposed to, but we'll see...

I think that is everything for now. I am finally getting into a groove where I'm able to fit in some crafting along side taking care of the cutest little monster there is. And he loves to help whenever he can, so that's an added bonus (or something)!

Fabric Rosette Tutorial

I am sure that many of you have seen the plethora of fabric flowers that are around these days. I love seeing all the different styles and colors that are available. The nicest thing about most of them is how easy it is to make them. Here is my tutorial - to be added to the, I'm sure hundreds of available -to make a simple, rolled fabric rosette. Here is what the finished product will look like (pardon the horrible picture quality!):

Supplies:

*Hot Glue Gun
*Fabric Strips (around an inch - inch and a half wide)
*Felt that somewhat matches your fabric (it technically won't be seen, but if you have something that matches, it is good to have)

Optional:
* Coordinating beads for embelishments

Let's get started.
First, plug your hot glue gun in so that it is good and ready.

Let's start by talking about the strips of fabric. I like mine to be just a little bigger than an inch, but I also do not pull out my ruler to measure. I cut a snip in the fabric, and tear it. If you've never torn fabric before, and it makes you nervous (it used to terrify me), this is a great project to try it out with. The grain of the fabric will give you a straigh tear, I promise. Plus, I like the way the edges fray a little on these rosettes with the torn edges.

As far as the length is concerned, it depends on how big you want your flower. My strips are the width of the fabric (44" or so), but I do not use the whole strip for one flower. I'd say you will want at least 12-15 inches to play with.

Now that you have your strip of fabric, take one end and fold in one of the corners, like so.

With that as your starting point, you are going to twist/roll the fabric around itself, almost like a rope (see the picture two below if you are a little confused, I forgot to take a good picture of this step). You can be as exact or as sloppy as you'd like. The great thing about these flowers is you do not need to be perfect in any way to make them look cute.

You don't need to do much to begin because it gets tricky to hold your roll, and glue. So, with your first little bit of the fabric strip rolled, take the end of your roll, and start to spiral the fabric in on itself. Using just a dab of hot glue (I like to use the little drip that is hanging off the tip of my glue gun, so I don't even have to push the trigger), secure the end to the rolled fabric. Like so:

It looks almost like a little knot, and if that is easier for you, go ahead and tie a loose knot instead, and you can hide the tail with a little hot glue. Now, you are going to continue to twist your fabric, and make a spiral.

I add a little hot glue in at least one spot on each curve of the spiral. You are adding the glue to what has become the sides of the spiral. Be careful not to touch the glue too soon after you have added it to your flower. I have many a burn from glue that I thought was cool. Like I said earlier, I like to try and use the glue that is dripping from the gun so I don't actually have to squeeze the trigger and risk getting a whole lot more glue than I wanted. You don't need much for securing the rosette edges, just a dab will do.

Continue rolling your rosette until you have reached a size that you like. Once you are happy with the size of your flower, cut the excess fabric strip (if necessary), leaving around a half an inch or so unglued.

Twist the fabric and carefully glue down the tail, hiding as much of the end as possible.

And technically, you've already created a rosette! Admire your work, if you'd like :) But, if you want to finish it off, go ahead and get your felt.

Pick a side of the rosette that you like best, and want to be seen. I typically end up liking the side of the rosette that I was not working on with the glue, but it is up to you. On the back of your flower, add some hot glue, and attach it to your felt.

Carefully cut around your flower, making sure not to cut your rosette, but trimming as close to the edge as possible.

Now it is up to you, how you want to use your new rosette. I love using these as headbands such as this one:

After I had finished making the rosettes, I glued plastic beads in the center to create a little more accent on the flowers.

If you are interested in making a clump of rosettes, such as the one above, I would suggest waiting to glue the flowers to the felt backing until  you have all the flowers made, and you can move them around on the felt until you like what you have.

You can also turn the rosettes into a pin or a hair clip. If you decide to do a headband or hair clip, all you need to do is cut out an additional piece of felt that matches the back of the rosette, and sandwich the headband between the rosette and second piece of felt. For a clip, cut a slit in the second piece of felt for the back of your clip to fit into and glue the whole thing to the back of the rosette.

Here is what the back of my headband looks like: 

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

Reusable Menu Board

I have had this on my list of things to make for quite some time, I just hadn't found a good frame to use. After looking at Goodwill and Target, I finally found what I was looking for at Ross, for quite a good price. (Along with a lot of other cheap, but good quality craft supplies..who knew?!)

I didn't take any progress shots of this project because it really is quite self explanatory. Here is the finished product: 

This frame is 13x16 so I used a few different scrapbook papers taped down to the backing of the frame (so they would stay in place). I then cut out some vinyl with my silhouette machine to add the titles and days of the week to the glass.

If you don't have a craft cutting machine, this is still a completey doable project. You can use stickers or you can even write the titles/cut them out by hand and add it on the scrapbook paper background.

I love it so much, and having my To Do list where I can see it often throughout the day has really helped me stay on top of things I would otherwise forget to do.

Crafting does a Mommy good

I've been able to complete a few projects that have been on my mind recently, and it just feels great to have them finished!

The first is a set of onesies that I embellished for my sister and my best friend from high school, both of whom had baby boys in December. I made two of each. The picture quality isn't very good because I had to snap a picture of the last set before I gave it to my friend, while sitting in my car...

The first is just a basic tie onesie.

I love the fabric for the tie. It was left over from the onesie I made for my friend's little boy, and it worked perfectly.

The second one is probably my favorite.

My little giraffe. I love how versatile he is. And, it was fun to add the stitching to him for his little accents.


I finished this next project yesterday. I started in back in August of last year when we were visiting family in Arizona. I got stalled on it for a stupid reason, but once I solved the problem, I was able to finish the shirt in about an hour.

The flowers are super fun. I think I may go back and add a little more stitching in the middle of the big flowers because the petals are just a little too heavy, and the top petals flop forward. We'll see.

And finally, a little something for my little man. Another little guy tie.

I made this for him today. It only took about an hour and a half. That was including all the extra "help" my little man decided to give me. I love making little boy ties. They are super easy and so gratifying. I am planning on making him some bowties soon, but I just needed to make this for him today.

The completed quiet book!

I finished the book last night. I am in love with the way it turned out. So without further ado:

We have a slight pizza obsession in our home, so I thought Boston would appreciate building his own.

The postcard is written by Justin and embroidered by me, so it is daddy's handwriting, but it won't fade and is pretty much indestructible. I will make one from me eventually, but for now he'll just have a note from daddy.

What did you think? So far Boston has loved playing with it! Hopefully it will help keep him busy during our flight to AZ and also during our church meetings.

The Quiet Book

I am working on a quiet book for Boston right now. I've finished over half the pages, and my plan is to have it complete by our trip to Arizona that will be taking place the second week of February. I was going to wait and do a big reveal of the book once I finished it completely, but I'm just so happy with how it has been turning out, that I just can't wait! So, here are some of the pages I've finished so far:

"Pick an apple." The apples snap on an off, and can be put in the basket once they've been picked.

Match the shapes with Velcro shapes.

Noah's Ark

Finger puppets that live in the Ark. These are one of my favorite things about the book so far. They turned out so adorable, and I didn't even have a pattern for them.

Mittens to put his hand in.

Balloons that snap on and off

Flowers to be picked.

Mr. Potato head. I love the way he turned out, as well. He's a lot of fun.

The alphabet page. There are extra letters in the pocket so he can spell his name and other words that need two of the same letter.

A mailbox. I'm working on some notes from both me and Justin that I am embroidering on some felt post cards so he'll have some mail.

I also finished a counting page, but I don't have a picture of it for some reason.

Just 6 pages left and then I can bind it and stitch it together. Here's hoping I'll get it done in time.