Designer Jules:

New Fabric/New Find Friday #102

2012-01-27T08:37:00.000-06:00

These fabrics were purchased for a special project. I was working with a friend. She wanted me to make her a travel case with some specifics in mind and I gave her a few fabric options and this is what she choose. I have been wanting to use laminated cotton for a while and when this opportunity hit I went for it.

The fabric in the middle is the laminated cotton and this is the pattern of her choice. The fabric on the right is the coordinating cotton that was used for part of the case. Orange is a big color now and I think the contrast with the light blue is fun and different.The fabric on the left is from the same designer but I just bought it because I liked it, I did not use it for this project. It again has light blue, teal, and a hint of tangerine or light orange in it. The different colors almost look like shading on the fabric.

Here is the close up view of these fabrics, do you see the sheen on the bottom fabric? That is the laminated cotton and the regular cotton is right above. The great thing about the laminated cotton is that you can wipe it off if it gets dirty and it should help the fabric be waterproof. This way if you set it down on a wet counter top you will not have the water soak into the fabric.

I hope to show you this project next week.

Finished Basement!

2012-01-25T14:35:00.000-06:00

Here it is....the long awaited final basement post!! I was going to do this in two posts but decided that you were probably just way too excited to see it finished-and I am excited to show it to you. It has been finished for about a month, but there is still a TON of organization that needs to happen, not only on the finished side but on the unfinished side. Would you like to see posts about organization?

So here we are with the basement floor and rugs down. When we first put the rugs down I was not sure what I thought about all of the different patterns, I thought I might have made a mistake but now that it is all set up, it work. Sorry some of these pictures are not great, I tried touching them up but what can I say, a photographer I am NOT!

I am just in love with the animal print rug and I think it is my favorite part of the basement (well almost).
The faux wood foam tiles are great and make the basement warm and comfortable.

Here is another shot of the crazy patchwork rug. Do you see all of that fake wood grain? It took us forever to figure out how the tiles went together so you didn't notice the puzzle piece ends. I think it looks pretty good don't you?

Now on to the exciting part....

This first picture is from the stairwell looking toward the craft and desk area. I will have to do a close up of that area when I do my organization posts. I LOVE my new craft area, all of my tools right in one place and very little moving around if I plan my work correctly. Plus I get to sit right by my hubby as he does his paper work at the desk behind the pole. It is nice to finally be in the same part of the house together while we work, which is sometimes the only time we get to spend together alone.

Here you can see the desk a little bit better and file cabinet on the other side of the pole. This large desk is perfect for my husbands business paperwork. He can leave things out while working on them for days and it does not bother me or the rest of the household. Do you see our really old lame TV? We hope to one day move our entertainment center from upstairs down here and bring over my parents old, but new to us, TV. I will tell you more later about what we plan to do upstairs when we move the cabinet down. Do you see that little table and chair poking out of the bottom of the picture? That is my old kiddie table and chairs and I am so excited for baby bee to use one day. He already likes to stand at the chairs and bang on them. He can sit and color right next to me as I do stuff at my craft table.

This view is of the sitting area and play area. The shelves are bolted to the wall and already have a few fun toys in them that my nephews put into action when they came over. I need to get more bins or we will put book and long games in some of the shelves. I am not sure yet, I still have a lot of old toys to unpack. There is that nice open area perfect for trains and all sorts of lego building.The dehumidifier is there to be sure we have no mold problems, and after this huge renovation we do not want to have to do it all over again! I love the colors in the futon cover with the wall...almost a perfect match.

My craft table with cubbies (dark brown on top of the patchwork rug) is great. I plan put a big cutting mat on top to cut my large pieces of fabric. I also want to make a large ironing board that I can put on top when I need to iron but I can also move somewhere else when I need the table for something else.

Sorry that these pictures are so dark! I am in love with my new basement and I have a feeling that we will be hibernating down there all winter. I hope that it makes my sewing that much more productive. I already have been working on some items that have been in the hopper way too long.

New Onesies with Leggings

2012-01-23T23:55:00.001-06:00

I participated in a small craft fair and am consigning a few of my items with a local boutique so I thought that it was best to make few onesie and legging sets that were not personalized. This way someone could buy them as a set right away and give them as a gift. I have some that are more masculine and a few that are feminine. I have been working on these for a few months but I wanted to put them all in one post for you instead of stretching them out over a few posts.

First off we have these two for little boys! A cute blue and green houndstooth bow tie to go with the matching stripped leggings.

Loving this polka-dot tie to go with the argyle leggings. Reminds me of real business man. :)

I really like the purple fabric that I used for this star onesie, perfect to match with the purple on blue star leggings.

While we are speaking of stars, I like how that one little star-flower on the fabric ended up almost in the middle of the star. Perfect! These pink and orange leggings are in style now that the new color of the year is Tangerine Tango.

Now we have some sweet-hearts. This set of leggings was hard to find a fabric for since these purples are almost pink, but I love the fabric that I finally found to go with it.

Who wouldn't love these pink and white stripped leggings and the pink polka-dot fabric to match. This pink heart just pops off of the white onesie.

For those of you that need a neutral set and have no idea what the baby is but want to get something early I have this "Welcome Set". The onesie has a pineapple made from neutral and white polka-dot fabric. Pineapples mean welcome so how perfect for a new baby. The leggings are neutral as well and would go with anything, hey you could even layer them under or over another set of leggings--80's style.

You have already seen these back during Christmas but here they are again. I think this set is just perfect for a new little snowbird.

I would be happy to make any of my custom onesie and legging sets on Etsy with these shapes instead of an initial if you would prefer. These are also for sale on Etsy if you are wanting any of these. They make me so happy I might have to make a few more. Which do you like best?

New Fabric/New Find Friday #101

2012-01-20T23:50:00.003-06:00

It is about time for some masculine fabrics right?! Have you seen all of the new leggings that I have to offer on etsy with matching onesies? These are the perfect fabrics to go with some of the greys and I really love the paisley print.

This paisley reminds me of a western handkerchief or a guys shirt. What a great pattern and colors for a boy's room, grey with a hint of orange. The black on grey polka-dot is a perfect combination of grey and black. Like I said a few weeks ago I am not a huge fan of grey but this one seems deep and warm to me compared to others that are light and more blue.

Maybe it is just me but I am really picky about boy fabric and I have a hard time finding ones that I like that do not have baseballs and softballs on them. Sometimes the fabric goes too sports themed and other times it leans too feminine. I think these two are great for the "modern boy".

Christmas Baby Bloomers

2012-01-18T08:35:00.001-06:00

This baby was born a bit before Christmas but it was her first Christmas and she got these cute pair of bloomers from her Aunt. I am not sure if you can tell but the name on the bloomers is done in green as Emma's mom likes green. I think the green with the lace on the leg holes looks very Irish.

These bloomer posts are not the most exciting but they are a sweet little baby item and I can not wait to see a pair of these on a baby's bottom!

Flower Power Pins

2012-01-16T09:06:00.010-06:00

Have you noticed that in the last two posts there were pictures that were sideways?! I have no idea why blogger does this but when I save the images on my computer they are correct and then it flips them in blogger. I have tried figuring it out and I heard that it might be the canon camera I am using doing something strange when I take a picture. Any photographers out there want to help me out? It would be nice if there was a rotate picture option once it is placed on the page. Oh well I hope you can live with a few of these at a strange angle.

This is not the first batch of flower pins that I have made so these might not be new and exciting but I thought I would show you what I have been up to.

Some of these were made to order and were given as Christmas gifts and others are at the Pink Butterfly and you can find them on Etsy as well. I used to have one on my purse, until I gave it up for a diaper bag. I loved adding a bit of color to my neutral purse. It would also look cute on a coat, on a headband or just in your hair, or even on a sweater or a scarf.

I don't make these a lot but they were really fun to do so maybe I should go through my scraps and start making more.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #100

2012-01-13T10:13:00.010-06:00

I would call my husband the king of grey, he loves the color grey. He would be happy to wear it and paint our walls that color. The color grey reminds me of hospitals and basements and sad cold places with no life or color. I know some of you will disagree with me and that is fine. I am actually starting to warm up to the color grey, even telling my husband we can paint a room grey in the future. It is just a matter of finding the right shade of grey. I think I might have found that in these two fabrics.

Like last week's Friday post these fabrics were chosen to go with some baby leggings that I made. I was actually looking for a fabric for another project and found the fabric on the right from the same designer. I love the combination of the grey with the taupe. The flowers contrast against the light fabric but at the same time it is not in your face color like the one on the left. I love the whimsy and fun color against the grey background.

Now the next question is when and what room will we paint grey? I think a room with a lot of windows for sure.

Violette or Violet?

2012-01-11T08:05:00.001-06:00

Everyday I learn more about how to be a better business woman and that taking time and asking a million questions is always better than just guessing. I had this order for a friend who wanted to give as a gift a blankie and bib to a friend who just had a baby girl named Violet. She wanted something purple and cute and we found just the right things for her. The only thing I forgot to ask was how were they spelling the baby's name. I for some reason thought it would be cute and french and have more letters in it and be Violette not the normal Violet.

So off I went to make the blankie and bib and they looked pretty good. When I got a text saying that she got them but that the name was wrong my heart sank! GRR What was I thinking?! Of course it was spelled Violet!!! Only I would spell it another way and then use google to make sure that that way of spelling it was used somewhere (and it was). Just because it is on the internet does not mean it is true. So I learned my lesson and made another set.

Here is a closer shot of the other bib and blanket. You can not see it well in this picture but the blanket has small purple flowers on the flannel side. They are so cute and sweet. I even went to a boutique sale and no one mentioned that I had the name spelled wrong on the bib. I am sure they all figured that that was the way it was spelled.

Here is the correct set with the correct name, taken with my cell phone camera in the new fluorescent basement lighting. Not the best color rendition but you can now see those cute purple flowers. This time I used white around the V instead of the purple to let the name pop out a bit more.

I also did not realize that she wanted a V on the blanket so I added that to the blanket as well. All is well that ends well but I feel so badly that they had to wait for me to make my corrections when I should have done it correctly in the first place. You know sometimes we all make mistakes and I wanted to show you my mistakes. I hope to make not as many of these in the future. UGH :)

Now if anyone knows a Violette I have a cute bib for them! :) I also have one of these blankies (with no initial) for sale on Etsy if you would like one of these for your little cutie.

Tie Key Chain

2012-01-09T23:52:00.000-06:00

While making some vintage tie onesies I was left with a few scrap pieces of the ties. I was not sure what to do with them but I knew that they needed to be used. I was thinking of purses, skirts, and pillows made from the ties, but I didn't like those ideas mostly because if I wouldn't wear it or use it I don't want to make it.

I have seen key chains or key fobs like these around and thought this might be the perfect solution for these vintage tie parts. The detail at the end of the tie on the small end of the tie was perfect for a little detail on the front of the key chain and where the circle is sewn together. I love the little diamond detail that the point and the sewing creates.

Here is a different perspective of the key chain. You can easily slip it over your fingers and maybe your wrist depending on your wrist size. Easy to carry your keys or to find them in your purse. I know these might not be the most exciting item that I have but they are practical and would be great for a new graduate or someone with their first house or car to give them to put their new keys on.

They are listed on Etsy and note that you can choose the vintage tie that you would like your key chain to be made from.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #99

2012-01-06T15:33:00.000-06:00

I was out at the fabric store looking for some fabrics to go with some new baby leggings that I am going to make and ended up finding these three beauties.

The one on the left is a green on green houndstooth pattern. I really have a thing for a houndstooth pattern, maybe because we used to have a sofa when I was little that was covered in a huge black and white houndstooth pattern. The second fabric is one that I found that I was looking to go with a few of my new leggings. I love this floral, something about the dark grey background with those little flowers in rust, mustard, and aqua. It feels so retro to me in color and pattern. The fabric on the far right is just a simple polka-dot fabric. I am not in love with the grey-green color in the background but it looks perfect with some of the leggings and was the best I could find so I went for it.

I am excited to get an order and cut into these fabrics. I am not sure what I am going to do with the green houndstooth, maybe as part of an apron? Would be cute as an applique on an onesie too.

Patchwork Rug

2012-01-04T08:06:00.001-06:00

When I found out that I was having a baby I started planning out the baby nursery, oh heck before I was pregnant I was planning! We had a bunch of carpet samples that were discontinued at work and they were bright fun colors and I thought they would be great to make into a rug for the baby's play area.

The inspiration for this idea came from this rug found here.

I took the samples and started arranging them so that I could send them to a fabricator to have made into one large rug.

Here I laid the samples out and tried to evenly space the colors out. It was hard because there were a lot more blue samples than brown and black samples and it seemed so blue heavy for a while.

Here is the view from the other direction. I know that with them overlapping (there was not much floorspace to work on) it might be very hard to figure out how it is going to look in the end but I could see it and was very excited about it!! I labeled each one with a number and sent them along with a chart so that the fabricators would know what order to put them in. It was not cheap to have them cut and bound into a big rug but hey the samples were free, and the rug was unique.

Here is the finished rug in the basement! I love the way it turned out and baby bee already loves to touch all of the different textures of carpet and play on it. I can not wait until I can use this to teach him colors! I was just going to use this rug for his play area but it is a different size than I thought so he will have to share his rug with me.

You also get a sneak peak of the finished basement with no furniture. I will have that final basement post for you next week. We still have a few things to put away and into place before I can take some final pictures. It is coming and I know you are all so excited to see how it turned out...and I can not wait to show you.

New Resolutions for the New Year 2012!

2012-01-01T10:41:00.001-06:00

How is it already the end of the year? It seems like it went by so fast, maybe having a baby had something to do with it. Every year I like to go over the resolutions from the year before and see how I did and then make some new ones. I like to look at them as not only resolutions but almost like a mini business and life plan. I will not beat myself up over it if I don't do them but it is exciting when I find that I was realistic with what I could do and actually did most of them.

To look back here are my past lists:

List from 2010
List from 2011

List from 2011:
Non-blog centered:

Get used to having a baby around the house--will that ever happen? (Still an adjustment-but a good one)
Work on cleaning and cooking regularly- setting up a meal plan. (I have been cooking more often mostly because I am making baby bee's food too. I have not set up a meal plan yet. The cleaning didn't happen while we were in basement construction.)
Getting our budget set now that there are more of us in the house. (oopps probably spent more than I should. ;))
As always make family a first priority, make time for my husband. (I feel like I did a good job with this but I bet if you ask my husband he will feel differently.)

Blog/business centered:

Actually post items on my Etsy site. DONE
Put items on the products page on blog with updated pricing. DONE
Possibly attach a paypal checkout on blog. - I think it is easier to just route people to Etsy or mail a check
Continue to post three times a week (which might be hard with a child). DONE
Add a give-away at some point this year-quarterly? Not sure how often. DONE

Well I didn't do too badly with the business goals but the personal goals I did a horrible job with! ICK

So here is to a new year and new goals!

Non-blog centered: Most of them are going to stay.

Baby-proof the house now that mr. bee is starting to cruse around the house.
Work on cleaning and cooking regularly- setting up a meal plan and cleaning schedule. Also clean out stuff we do not need! Simplify!
Getting our budget set and look into CSA's for produce.
As always make family a first priority, spend more time with my husband and do things for him without asking and to take care of my son without feeling like anyone owes me.
Try to go to the gym at least once a week if not more.

Blog/business centered:

Continue to post new items on Etsy
Sign up to do more craft shows and have my items in more local boutiques.
Be better about time management when I get time to work at night.
Work hard to have more back stock items.
Continue to post three times a week and maybe try to add a post that is more personal or links up to other blogs.
Look into other blogs/shops to do giveaways with, either giving away my item or asking to giveaway theirs.
Promote my blog and maybe start linking up with other blogs to promote my business.
Look into adds on my page to bring in a bit of income.

I had a good run of people commenting on my blog for a while when I had time to comment more on theirs. So maybe I need to reach out more to others and then they will do the same for me. :) I know a lot of you just read the blog from Facebook and that is great! I am so glad it is easy for you to check it out that way. I am not as concerned about comments as I used to be but I would love to hear what you guys like and how I can improve what I make, so chime in if you feel like it.

Much love and prosperity to all of you and I hope to see more of you in 2012.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #98

2011-12-30T08:12:00.001-06:00

Cleaning house around here on the blog and I found more fabric that I have not shown you that is now out of season. So back to Halloween... two of these fabrics I picked up back around Halloween or probably right after on sale. I liked the little webs with spiders on them, simple patterns, no witches. Sometimes I just am not a bit fan of purple witch heads on my fabric. I wouldn't have minded some pumpkins but I liked these two fabrics the best.

The orange fabric with the black spiders is so much fun and you saw how it looked in a pumpkin shape here Wednesday on the hand towel. The black spider webs have orange eyes in between that make it look like the spider is black and hiding under the web looking at you with orange eyes. The third fabric is a really soft tiger print fabric that when I saw I had to pick up. I think the black background Mizzou fabric here would look great with this fabric as a blanket! Great for little Mizzou fans to cuddle up with while they are watching a game on tv. Could be good to make some mini tiger tails too. ;)

Doesn't that fabric at the bottom look like a tail already?

I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season! I am so excited to have another set of days off from work to get things done around the house.

Holiday Kitchen Towels

2011-12-28T09:04:00.002-06:00

This idea for a set of holiday kitchen hand towels came from a friend of mine after she went to a wedding shower of a mutual friend. I think it is a fabulous idea and perfect for all of the holiday fabric I had been stocking up but had no idea what to do with. I was not sure at first if I wanted to make the towels with the seasonal fabric at the bottom in a strip or ruffle the fabric at the bottom. After thinking about it I thought it would be more fun to cut the fabric out into a shape that goes with the holiday.

This idea was perfect to finally give as a gift to my cousin for her wedding present. Yea, she has been married for four years...opps. Anyway, she loved them and I hope they are put to good use their kitchen. These are made out of honeycomb fabric kitchen towels and then I appliqued the shape to the towel with a straight stitch.

Here is a close up of the first four towels. There is a birthday towel that you can put out to celebrate everyone in the family's birthday, a Valentine's Day towel, a St. Patrick's Day towel, and an Easter towel. I wanted to do a New Years towel but I need to find different fabric the one I found has a white background and I don't know if it will show up well on a white towel.

The second set of towels features The Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I have a few different fabrics to try out on every holiday so you might see more sets of these in the future with different fabrics. I also thought about doing a phrase out of the fabric for each Holiday, I hope to do a set of these next year.

These are on sale in my Etsy store if you would like to order a set for your family. They are made to order and I would love to make some for you! I think I am also going to try a softer towel that might be more bath appropriate for all of those holiday parties. You could have one in your kitchen and one in the bath.

A Bib for Baby Julia

2011-12-26T10:04:00.002-06:00

I happen to love this baby girl's name. ;) A friend from high school recently had a baby and named her Julia and I couldn't help but love it! I was working with this fabric below and thought it would be cute to use for her bib.

I actually have a feeling that this baby is going to be more of a purple baby but hey you know it is always fun to have pink in your life as a little girl. Something cute to tell everyone that she is a girl (everyone thought I was a boy as a baby) and to help keep all of those clothes free of slobber and spit-up.

I love making this little bibs and hope that there are more to make in 2012.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #97

2011-12-23T09:40:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas to all of you, my wonderful readers! I am posting my Christmas wishes now because this weekend is all about family and staying away from the computer...can I do it?! :) I have a few festive fabrics for you on this Christmas weekend.

The fabric on the top is like a bunch of candies on a red background with polka-dots. It reminds me of a candy dish my parents used to set out around Christmas time for parties. I loved those little hard colored candies. The bottom fabric cracks me up, I love all of the little Santa heads. They just make me smile. I think it would be a great print for the first Christmas bibs (I didn't have this when I made them...maybe next year).

I am so excited to have a few days off from sewing and work to just enjoy my family. I hope all of you enjoy your time with family and friends.

Merry Christmas!!

Eat Local Onesie

2011-12-21T11:55:00.002-06:00

A friend of mine was getting ready to have baby #2 and I wanted to make something for her, something small. She mentioned that she really liked this Etsy listing and I thought how perfect to make her something like this!

She is a big breastfeeding advocate and the logo is the international breastfeeding symbol. I think she got a kick out of the fact that it says eat local below the logo. She is also a big fan of, eating local food and buying local products. I think it is pretty funny as well for those breastfed babies.

As with all things handmade it has small imperfections but I sort of like the handmade look. The long sleeved onesie sack is a small white and yellow stripe and I screen printed the logo with a taupe/grey color. I like the grey on the yellow, not as harsh as black on the yellow.

I think there might be a few more babies out there that need one of these. I think a local shop would appreciate these and I might have to make a few more to sell here in town.

Embroidered Handkerchief

2011-12-19T16:22:00.000-06:00

I am not sure how many men still carry handkerchiefs but I know one who would appreciate it and I can not wait to give this to him as a birthday present. I am sure there are still young men who would like a personalized handkerchief but it seems like older men are the ones who carry them most often. Let's start a new trend! :)

This handkerchief is 100% linen and I just used a straight embroidery font for his initials. Red is his favorite color and I love how bold the letters look on the white. I think it would look so pretty in silver, white, or even grey thread; something subtle for those who do not want to attract attention. I really like the small detail around the outside with the small holes, makes it dressy without being over the top.

I hope to have this posted on Etsy as a custom item in the next few weeks. I am so excited that it is Christmas week and I am feeling a little overwhelmed with all there is to do. I will not be sewing between Christmas and January 7th (baby bee's birthday). I might be posting on the blog but it might not be as frequently. I will be back in full force in 2012 and cannot wait to see what next year holds. See you later this week...or next year.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #96

2011-12-16T15:00:00.000-06:00

Christmas is only a week away and I am not ready! The tree and decorations need to go up, cards need to go out, presents need to be bought and wrapped etc. As you can see from this post I am still in fall mode and still not ready for Christmas or winter. I guess I have a week to get myself ready.

I picked these fabrics up in preparation for a new hand towel set that I am going to start making. I needed something for thanksgiving and didn't like a lot of the typical cornucopia fabrics that I have seen so I was on the lookout for something really cute. I stubbled upon these two fabrics and got a little bit of each to try out. The top one is more fall and says Harvest Time on it, I like this one but the white is too light against the white towels. The second one could almost go more Halloween with pumpkins on it and I think it says in my pumpkin patch or some thing like that so maybe it is more of a fall image. I really liked the dark background and the different harvest fruits and veggies featured on the fabric. The third fabric is just a simple cream fabric with brown dotted stripes. This fabric will be great to coordinate with this and other brown fabrics that I already have in my stash.

I will have to let you know next week how my Christmas prep went and maybe I will have a more festive post next Friday. I hope everyone has a great weekend and that your prep goes well too!

Straight Laced and Fancy Free

2011-12-14T16:26:00.000-06:00

I can not for the life of me think of good post titles! There are some great bloggers out there with wonderful titles that entice and excite their reader. I, on the other hand, am not so good at thinking of exciting titles. How would you entitle a blog post about a M onesie with leggings and a vintage tie? WAIT one just came to me! Let me explain the new title.

Ties always remind me of a straight laced, respectable man and the pattern on the fabric M below looks so loose and free. Was I stretching it? Oh well maybe I caught your attention...anyway, the tie on the onesie is made from a vintage tie and I think it looks great on this white onesie. It has those golds and greens of days past with a fun paisley...so retro.

This set of leggings and onesies I could not photograph together because the client already purchased and took the leggings with her to give to her friend. They were not sure what they were having and wanted to wait to do the onesie until they knew it was a boy or girl. The boy fabric was a polka dot, blue on teal but the baby ended up being a girl so floral fabric it is! I know that I love a lot of the fabrics but I have to say that this is one of my favorites. The combination of greens with the blues and pinks is so sweet and whimsical.

I hope that these little babies love their new apparel. Guys...the basement is coming along and I can not wait to show you pictures. Right now construction has ended and moving and reorganizing has begun. FUN!

Floral Napkins

2011-12-12T16:00:00.000-06:00

While I was doing my 30 day challenge I made these beauties. Did I ever talk about my 30 day challenge? Maybe because I feel like it was sort of a flop in the end. I did end up making at least 30 items in 30 days but I did not always make one thing a day, some nights I just had to go to bed and was too lazy to get sewing. These napkins are 8 of the 30 things...see I wouldn't call it a big victory.
Even if it was not a victory I love how they turned out. I think they would hide a bunch of stains from everyday face wiping and are bright and cheery.

This first set is my favorite and if I didn't already own a TON of napkins I would love to use these in my home. They would also look cute in a picnic basket for a day at the park.

This set of two napkins sort of reminds me of something that would go well in a retro kitchen. Something with green tiled walls. This would also be cute for a picnic for two. I could monogram an initial on these so you are sure who's napkins is who's.

This set of two napkins might be a little bright but wouldn't these be great for a little girls tea party? I can just see a little girl using these as napkins, or towels for her play kitchen.

These sets of napkins should be for sale on Etsy asap!

New Fabric/New Find Friday #95

2011-12-09T10:12:00.002-06:00

When I was at the Cotton Babies Holiday Bazaar this past Saturday I met a these great women who were also selling their items. I wanted to show you what they had to offer and tell you a little bit about them.

This woman's company is called Cozy Crochet and she has so many cute items. Look at that white hat on the front left side of the table with that knit flower. HOW CUTE! I also really like that brown owl in the middle of the table and the little lion that is peaking out of the basket. You can get contact her via email at cozycrochet(at)att(dot)net.

This woman's company is called Sew Precious Creations and she makes all sorts of cute items.It seems as if her most popular item is her elephant made out of minky fabric. So soft. I really liked that little grey bunny with pink ears sitting right in front of the yellow elephant. I just think he is sweet and I had to stop myself from buying him but might just have to do so in the future. She has her items for sale at local boutiques and you can also contact her via email to order. Her email is rudyju(dot)hmbase(at)yahoo(dot)com.

This young mother makes wool diaper soakers and leggings for your babies and her company is called Wooly Babies. She started making them after she needed something to help keep her little girl dry at night. I think those little soakers with the skirt attached is so cute. She has also made a pair of paints with a skirt attached which was also so cute. She said that she can just make wool leggings and let me tell you that her wool is SOO soft. Not scratchy or rough at all and some felt like silk. If you would like to get in contact with her at woolybabies(at)gmail(dot)com.

Last but not least is Clean This Place, a woman run cleaning business geared towards families welcoming new babies. She specializes in cleaning your home in preparation for baby, so that the house is clean when they arrive at home. One time cleaning is an option and so is repeat cleanings. She uses only natural cleaning supplies and to learn more and see what kinds of packages she has to offer check out her website. http://www.cleanthisplacestl.com/ or email her at wendy(at)cleanthisplacestl(dot)com. I think this would be a great present for a new mom. Go in with some friends to help pay for a package or just put money down towards a cleaning. I would have loved this with baby bee.

Holiday Items

2011-12-07T16:49:00.000-06:00

Since St. Nicholas day was yesterday I thought this would be a perfect week to continue talking about Christmas gift items for sale on Etsy. I have a few pairs of leggings with snowflakes on them and thought it would be cute to create sets for them for the Holidays. I wanted to have something a little versatile for those that want to use these for more than just one day, these can become more of a winter more than Christmas item.

This one shows the leggings and onesie set with the snowflake cut from red and white fabric into a snowflake. I think this is so cute! I would totally use it over a long sleeved red shirt with the leggings on under a red skirt for a girl. For those of you living in warmer climates just the onesie and leggings would be cute.

Here is a close up of the onesie so you can get a better idea of what the snowflake looks like. The red fabric has white dots that almost look like snow...perfect for the design. This set is a 6-9mon onesie and is on sale in my Etsy store.

For those of you that might not want to layer a short sleeved onesie in the winter time or live where it is just frigid try this bib and legging combination. You can layer this bib over any top and again put the leggings under a skirt or pants for a warmer combination.

Does it seem like Christmas is coming fast this year? It does for me. I have half of my shopping done and have no idea what to get some people on my list. How are you doing with your shopping? All finished or still need the last min item? Last year while 9 mon pregnant I went to target and bought something for everyone. HA

Christmas Bib

2011-12-05T15:34:00.000-06:00

It seems as if having a baby has inspired me a bit this year with some of the baby items I have been making. I also have great friends that share ideas with me too. Thank you to all of you! I wanted to make a First Christmas bib for baby bee and it was a bit of a progression but I like what I ended up with.

This is version 1: Christmas fabric cut into a 1 and then embroidered st and Christmas around it. After making it I really didn't like how the word was distorted too much over the 1 so I did a second one with the word Christmas below the one.

Here is a cute picture of my little one modeling the bib so you have an idea of the size. Sorry that is about as much of a picture of bee as you are going to get on here. ;)

This is version 2: I like that the word Christmas is not as obscured as it was on the first one. Much easier to read.

Version 3: This is the same idea with just a different fabric. This might be better for those in the crowd that would rather have a more modern feel to Christmas. I also had someone who asked for a 1st Hanukkah bib. Great idea! I might just have to search out some fabric that I like and make one up.

These bibs have been posted on Etsy already I am placing orders through Dec 13h for Christmas or if you are desperate shoot me an email and I might try to squeeze you in. I am trying so hard to get things finished and move my sewing area to the basement so we can finally get our Advent items out and get ready for Christmas.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #94

2011-12-02T17:01:00.000-06:00

It is time for some pink girly fabric! I feel sometimes like I am surrounded by boys and boy things and every once in a while I like to just go all crazy with the pink. I never was really a pink girl, I have always liked blue or green best but over the past five years or so I have developed a love for pink.

I got these fabrics when the Ben Franklin by my house was closing and I was so surprised to find pretty fabrics like this there that I snatched them up. I have always looked but never really liked anything that they had but this time they had some great modern patterns like these.

I think that I like the brown one on the top the best, the brown with a little bit of pink and yellow really pop. The other three go so well together that they would be great to cut into squares for a quilt or even for an apron or something. I would probably use the cream floral with the small amounts of pink with the small printed pink for an apron and then the large pink and creme floral for a breastfeeding cover. I think the brown floral would be great as part of an apron as well or maybe even some napkins. The dark color will help hide the stains.

I hope you have a great weekend, it sounds like it is going to be nice and warm here (in the 60's). I guess these fabrics will fit well with the feel of the weather.

Basement Part III

2011-11-30T17:27:00.000-06:00

You have seen parts I, II, and the design boards and layout and I just realized you should have seen part III before the design boards. I hope seeing these might give you more of an idea of how the space is coming together but maybe you just need to wait until the end to figure it out.

Here is an image from the far right corner of the basement looking towards the stairs. The double door are leading to the unfinished basement which will be a storage area with lots of shelves and bins with out of season clothes and other such items. I love to organize so I can not wait to get my hands on this area and show you the final result. The door to the left of those double doors leads to the furnace. We decided to put a door there so that we can access the ac/furnace unit until it dies. It is old and we know that will happen soon. Once that does happen and we are forced to buy a new one we are going to have it face the other direction (toward the unfinished side). We are putting vents in that small section of wall between the doors so that there is airflow for the furnace.

Do you see those small paint swatches hanging to the right of the double door? Those are the ones we were looking at to make our final paint decision. We went with the top color, nice and bright apple green.

This is a view from the same spot looking towards the stairs and bathroom door. The wall between the room and stairs we decided to open part of it so that you the stairs do not feel as closed in as you walk down. It is nice to see the basement as you walk down the stairs. The door to the left in the corner is the bathroom door. There is already an old not usable bathroom under the stairs that we have to gut and redo in a year or so. The door that was there before was a bi fold door and I just hated it. This door is going to be much better and feel more secure.

Here we have a view of the entire wall. The walls needed to painted and the doors and woodwork. Look at that mess!

The stairs used to be open on the left side (looking into what is now the unfinished side). We closed that up and put up the half wall (has to be 3' off the stairs for safety) to open it up a bit like we are used to. It felt so closed in and tight when we first walked down them after closing the space up but now we are used to it and love the concept of compression and release as we go from walking down the stairwell and then it opening up to the basement.

Here you can see the set of stairs that was there already (the grey part) and then we had to put new backs on them because they were open, and then also put baseboard on the sides of the stairs to finish it off. It took a while for the husband to make all of those cuts but the stairs are so sturdy now, no creaking, and look great!

Oh I am so excited to show you guys more. Be ready for Part IV which includes all the painting, baseboards, flooring and rugs.

Where's Waldo?

2011-11-29T23:42:00.000-06:00

I loved that book growing up! I could spend hours looking for Waldo in all of those crazy places. Well I wanted to let you know where you can find me and my items for sale.

I will be at the Cotton Babies South County store this Saturday for their Holiday Bazaar. I will have my baby items with me and be sure to stop by Friday night as they will have other local vendors with things just for Mom's.

To keep track of where I am going to be check out the right side of my blog under "Where to find me?"

Cover Up In Green

2011-11-28T16:44:00.000-06:00

I am pretty sure that this is a new favorite color of mine. It is so bright and happy during these dreary winter days. We FINALLY finished painting the basement and I just realized that it is about this color. Don't freak out, it is not on all four walls and it looks great. I hope to show you another basement update this week and then the finished product in the next few weeks! It is coming together.

Here is a very neutral but feminine breastfeeding cover. I this the slight flowers in this fabric are rather pretty and feminine for the woman wearing it but it is not in bright bold pinks and purples so that it can be worn with either sex child if the mother is concerned about strangers not being sure what her child is. Don't worry that happens even if they are dressed in all blue or all pink. Go figure.

This was for a friend of a friend and this baby came to this world with a minor issue and I am not sure that the mom was able to use this. If nothing else it is a great cover for when pumping and even over the car seat to keep the sun out of baby's eyes.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, back to the daily grind.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #93

2011-11-25T11:32:00.000-06:00

I am taking it easy today so this post is going to be really short and probably not as exciting. BE WARNED. I am trying to figure out today...black Friday...if I need to buy these two items for my business or not. I told myself I wouldn't do it yet but they are calling to me! AH Do you ever have that problem where you want to spend money but know you shouldn't but know if you did it would make everything you do easier?! The day is not over and I could still click the buy button...we will see.

Anyway this fabric I picked up when the local Ben Franklin by my house went out of business. I was making THIS Halloween costume for my cousin and used the ribbon and blue felt for that vest. These items were perfect and I think the vest turned out pretty good.

The black and yellow I was going to use to make a Halloween costume for baby bee. I even bought a little hat I will have to show you later. I decided to do something easy and use a sleeper/costume that I already had. I might make the bee costume next year when he can fit into the hat a bit better and we can take him house to house for candy.

I hope all of you aren't too full from yesterday's meal and that you are enjoying the day off, if not the weekend is almost here!

Basement Design Plans

2011-11-23T22:12:00.000-06:00

I wanted to show you the basement design plans. I have a feeling that a few of these images are going to be too small so try clicking on them to make them larger so you can read the labels. First off we have three pieces of materials that are the main focus of the basement. The antelope carpet (small square with white dots), the faux wood foam floor (small puzzle piece), the futon cover (stripe) and the carpet for the office area (large stripe carpet under everything).

These were the pieces that I had to work with when designing the space. I knew I wanted to use the antelope rug and you heard how the faux floor came about here, and the stripe rug I had a small piece of so I thought that would be perfect in the office area. The futon cover I saw at Bed Bath and Beyond one time while shopping and it was on sale and I just liked the way it looked (better than the old black cover) and thought the colors would go great with the two carpets that I already was using.

So here is my design board of the basement, it is sort of a mish mash and I will do my best to walk you though it. Using the pieces that I already had (the carpet, floor and futon cover) I started working on the space. Let's start at the top left of the image and work our way around. The image of the shelves with the desk coming out of it gives you an idea of what is going to be back in my craft area. The shelves are going to be white with a white Ikea desk coming out from it and a white ikea 2 x 2 shelf on the end where they have those clear plastic shelves. I am going to put my sewing machine table to the right of where those clear plastic bins are to create a U shaped work area.

Next is the wall color, bright green! I pulled that color from the futon cover and since it is really only on one wall and two posts of the basement we thought a bold color would be great. I am excited about this color. Next you see again the futon cover and an image of what our futon (from the hubby) looks like now. I think the new cover will be a great improvement. Especially since it will be sitting on the antelope rug that you see a picture of just below the futon image. I love this rug and it will be on half of the basement floor.

The squares of carpet where discontinued from work and I had them put together to make a fun rug for baby bee. That rug is going to go under his small table and chairs which should be great to hide the marker and paint stains, or at least blend right in with the bright colors. There is another picture of the faux wood floor, I think it is going to look great.

The green stripe rug almost has a sisal textured look to it but it will be much easier to clean and it is in the same color palate as the wall color and futon cover.

Then there is the really awesome craft table that I bought one just like it on craigslist for a steal! I am so excited about it and can not wait to show you this particually when the basement is finished. It is counter height wich is going to be great as a cutting table and I will probably make an ironing surface and iron there while I cut. The sides will hold all of my fabrics in bins.

This is a rough floorplan of the basement so you can get an idea of where everything is going. Not all of the furnature is labeled but you get the idea. I just can not wait to finish it so we can move things back in and show you how it turned out.

I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving. We are going to be working hard on the basement!!

Holy Family?

2011-11-21T23:56:00.001-06:00

Ok not really. I just thought it was too cute that I made two bibs for a Mary and a Joseph, just in time for Christmas. I really am starting to love these personalized bibs and they make me so happy each time that I make one. I really hope they catch on for new babies.

One of my friends had baby #2 named Joseph. I was already working with this fabric and thought it would be great for a girl or boy so I decided to use it. I also saw that a friend "my muse" used a lower case j and I wanted to give that a try. I like how it turned out but maybe I should have used the lower case j in the name as well.

Baby Mary is the sweetest thing and I have gotten to spend several visits with her and she is such a cutie. I used again this fabric and instead of pulling out the red or orange I decided to pull out the sweet ice blue that is in the fabric. I really wish it was a bit bolder of a combination but I think it is okay and I also wonder if the name was in script font if that would have looked better. There is always next time.

I had a great weekend with a lot of exciting things coming down the pike that I can not wait to tell you about and LOTS of work done on the basement. I am so excited to be near the finish line with that.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #92

2011-11-18T17:00:00.000-06:00

Just a reminder that you have until the 20th to enter this giveaway for the ruffled scarf. If you haven't gone to this Facebook page to win this breastfeeding cover her page is only 100 likes away from picking a winner.

Today I have some fun baby fabrics, I picked these up in hopes of turning them into blankets when I catch up with myself. I think they would also work for applique on kids shirts depending on the age.

I really just love the animals on the top fabric, they have those cute big eyes and look like cartoon versions of the animals. This would be a fun "boy" fabric with out being over the top blue. I think it would also work for on a girl's shirt for those who don't really like pink everything.

The small flowered green fabric is just such a sweet print. I think those mom's who hate pink might be able to get over the small amounts of hot pink in this fabric since the main focus is on the green and purple. Couldn't you see this with a purple fabric on the back?!

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Are any of you going to shop local this Saturday and most importantly next Saturday for Small Business Saturday? I love local boutiques and can not wait to go out and see what I can find. Feel free to shop my small business via Etsy or email me for Christmas orders....I can still make things in time.

Georgie Porgie

2011-11-16T17:00:00.020-06:00

This set is for a new little baby whom I finally got to meet a few weeks back and he is a cutie! My husband has done some work for them and we are becoming friends and he thought it would be great to make them a little something and I agreed. :)

Just a simple bib with a matching burp cloth for cleaning up what I hope will not be a lot of spit-up. I like the way this set turned out, the burp cloth is not a coordinating pattern by the same maker but I think they look great together. The name George is so cute and it seems to fit the little man. Hope this little man is doing well and enjoying his new wears.

Personalized Napkins

2011-11-14T23:49:00.018-06:00

I have been wanting to explore the world of napkins for a while and I finally pushed myself to make some from fun fabric (you will see those in a few weeks) and personalize some plain white ones that were already made.

First let's start with these monogrammed napkins. I bought these white napkins with a slight pattern on them and thought they would be great for our table and put our monograms on them. I am really trying to use less paper napkins so these cloth napkins are going to be great for us to use at the table. We end up using the same napkin for several days since they don't get that dirty at one meal so it will be nice to know who's is whos.

Then I decided to make something a bit universal and saw ones like these on Etsy and thought these were cute. Something you could put on your table for guests or at every seat when having a dinner party. These were done on plain white cotton napkins with black screen printing ink.

These next napkins I also saw on Etsy and thought these would be great to have a set. Now really how fun would these be to have at a dinner party where you can tell your guests that they are sitting at seat number 1, 2, 3, etc.

Finally I thought one simple initial would be a nice touch. I did all of these in black but how fun would they be in the colors that coordinate with your house. You could do all of them the same, last name initial or all of them different, for each member of the family's first name. A red letter or number to go with a red dinning room? Fun.

Well I had a lot of fun making these napkins and think custom ones would be great, have any ideas? What about ones with orange turkey's on them for Thanksgiving? That would be cute. Maybe I will have to make a set for my family.

I have these posted on Etsy so if you feel like you need to have some napkins like these come on over and get some for yourself.

Fall Pinterest Challenge

2011-11-12T14:50:00.000-06:00

I am a week or so behind but I wanted to post this anyway because I had such a fun time making my item from Pinterest that I wanted to share it. Do you remember when I participated in the summer challenge that Young House Love put on? You can see that post here. Well here I am to show you my fall Pinterest challenge entry.

A good friend of mine was making some Merry Christmas Bunting and I have seen so many on Pinterest that when I found some pretty red burlap fabric at the store I thought I should make a bunting of my own for my Christmas decorations.

Inspiration photo one was found on Pinterest (I did change it a bit to make it my own) and you can find the original link to the Christmas bunting Here. I liked the idea of stenciling or stamping the letters onto the burlap.

I also saw this image on a friends board and this got me thinking to use this bunting that I made not only as a decoration in my house but also for our Christmas photo (which we are taking tomorrow). How sweet is this picture, it came from this photographer's website. I think we are going to have to break the words up like the first image to get it to fit into our picture. We will see.

And....here is what I came up with.

I am sorry that I did not take any process photo's for you this time. I was doing this late one night and did not really think about taking picture in my dark and MESSY family room. I can walk you though the process though and maybe that will help you. I bought the red burlap and thought of this project immediately. I thought it would be great to use black screen printing ink to put the letters on the burlap. I cut the shape of the flags out of vinyl with my silhouette machine and then stuck that on my burlap as a template. That made it VERY easy to cut the shapes out since the burlap moves a lot. Then I used the vinyl as a stencil for the letters and painted in the letters. It was very easy, the hardest part was making sure that I put enough black paint in it to show up and not getting that black paint on anything that I set it on while it was drying.

It is really simple but I like the that and I think this is going to be a great addition to my mirror in my living room at Christmastime.

Check out the other women who put this challenge on, Katie, Sherry, Ana, and Erin. Also go Here to check out other bloggers like me who took the challenge and actually did it in time!

New Fabric/New Find Friday #91

2011-11-11T23:11:00.001-06:00

I am having a strange fascination with seersucker fabric. I keep seeing it at the fabric store and cannot stop myself from buying it. It reminds me of my father-in-law and I think baby bee would look so cute in a seersucker outfit.

The lady at the fabric store made a comment to baby bee "I bet all of these fabrics are for you," well those weren't but I think this will be. I am thinking it would be cute to make summer jumpers out of these for him. Simple ones that button at the shoulders and I can do one short pair and one long pair. I would like to get working on them now but I think I might wait a few months since I have no idea what size he is going to be in the spring/summer.

Don't these just remind you of those cute seersucker blazers? If I get adventurous I might try a pair of pants (elastic waist) and a jacket. We are so traditional around here with our clothing that I think he is going to look so cute in these!! I can't wait.

Also I wanted to say thank you to all of the Veterans who make our country safe. Thank you!

New Scarves

2011-11-09T16:51:00.000-06:00

Speaking of scarves here are a few new scarves that I made a few weeks ago that I thought would be fun for summer, but really you could wear them anytime of the year.

This first one is made from a grey cotton jersey fabric that has some small yellow flowers with gold overlay on some of them. I gathered it with some elastic thread to give it some bounce and movement. I like how casual it looks compared to the other scarves I make.

This scarf was supposed to be the same look as the grey scarf but ended up being a bit thinner than the grey one and so it looks a bit more wispy than I was going for. It is made from that shirred tee-shirt material that has some voids in it, making the cotton a bit lighter and it also is cut on the bias so it curls up a bit more than the other. I actually like how thin it is and is perfect on hot days when you want to just add something of interest around your neck, sort of like a soft necklace. That is great these days for babies to play with and not be able to break.

Finally there is this black beauty. This one is made from a shear fabric and is gathered along the width making small little ripples or bubbles down the scarf. I think this one is fun to wear long or wrapped around your neck. This one could take you from summer to winter.

These have been posted on my etsy site and are ready for purchase!

Pretty Fall Scarf (Giveaway)

2011-11-07T22:15:00.000-06:00

I had a great weekend and thank you to everyone that stopped by the Christmas Boutique, we had a great time. I am still catching up on sleep from all of those long nights preparing and I will have to report later if I made it through my 30 day challenge.

Today I have another exciting giveaway today but this time it is for a scarf! I am hoping that more of you will be excited about this than a breastfeeding cover, or at least more of you would use this than a breastfeeding cover.

The details:

What: One grey scarf seen in the pictures below(does not come with the broach shown in the pictures)
Where: Go to http://ajillofalltrades.blogspot.com/2011/11/youll-love-it-too-giveaway.html to enter.
When: You have until the 20th at midnight to enter
How: Winner chosen randomly and you must go to her blog to enter (all comments here are just for fun and to be nice, comments there actually count). Here is how to enter the giveaway on A Jill Of All Trades....

1- Become a follower of this blog via GFC or Networked Blogs and leave a comment with your e-mail address.

2- Go to You'll Love It Too and tell me your favorite item and leave a comment with your e-mail address.

Here are images of what you will win....

Now go enter! Good luck!

New Fabric/New Find Friday #90

2011-11-04T17:08:00.000-05:00

This is a really quick post today as I am trying to get everything finished for tomorrow. I bought these fabric while I was at the fabric store last for baby bee's quilt. I needed a few more solid fabrics to go with the fabrics in his room and here is what I picked out.

I have a feeling that I might be using this bottom fabric for other items as well as his quilt because I think it is so cute! A nice texture for a onesie with a letter on it.

Below are the fabrics that are in his room and the solids that I already bought for his room. I hope I can get started on this after Christmas for his Christmas/Birthday present, good thing he isn't old enough to know better. :)

I will be back next week with another giveaway and don't forget about THIS one that I told you about last week. She needs 1000 friends on Facebook before she draws a name and yours could be one if you "like" her on Facebook.

Basment Part II

2011-11-02T09:08:00.001-05:00

I think it is about time to show you Part II of the Basement saga! I posted part one with the before picture here and it is coming along! Now not only do we have the walls up but we also have the ceiling grid up and tiles in place!! Whoot Whoot!

Here is a view of the right side of the basement. You can see how the walls looked before we put the panels up. We also fixed that window leak, can you see all of that grey haze running from the corner of the window to the ground? That would be where the water leaked, not anymore! Well we hope.

This is the left side of the basement. The house was built a while ago so the space from the floor to the ceiling is not that tall, to pass code we needed at least 6' of clearance so we were not sure about a traditional drop ceiling. The ceiling tiles would have been pretty close to the joists which would make it hard to push a tile up and out. We talked about a million options and finally compromised and decided to do a ceiling grid that attaches to the joists and the tiles clip into the grid. I said that I wanted flat tiles with no ripples etc so they look the most like drywall, which is what I would have preferred on the walls and ceiling.

Here is that same view again of the right side with everything in. We still need to paint the columns and soffit around the duct work but one step at a time. :) Is it starting to look like an office?!

This is the left side again, along with wanting flat ceiling tiles I also wanted can lights, not fluorescent tubes. We were going to do incandescent bulbs in the cans but they were so hot we decided to change to fluorescent. I just do not like the color that fluorescent lights put out and I also hate that they take so long to "warm up."

Anyway that is part II. Part III will be the fourth wall that divides that finished side from the unfinished side, the stairs and maybe even some paint?! We will see.

Halloween Costumes

2011-10-31T23:03:00.000-05:00

My cousin needed my help with a Halloween costume for her daughter and I owe her so I was happy to help her out. Her kids wanted to be the Super Mario brothers and wanted the "baby" to be Toad. She had the hat under control but the vest she needed some help with so I asked for a shirt that would fit the baby and then made the vest out of felt and ribbon.

This is a picture that she emailed me of a Toad costume and from this I knew that I could help her. I think she said she was going to make the hat out of a shower cap and red felt.
And here is what I came up with.

Originally I was going to sew the felt vest to the shirt that she sent me but it ended up being easy to make with out sewing it to the shirt and I thought she might like to use the shirt again or use the vest with another shirt.

You have seen an onesie just like this here but this one was an order from etsy that I mailed to another state. I think that it shipped just in time for the party that this baby was going to with its parents. This one you might notice looks a bit more yellow in the design and that is because I waited for the white to dry before I put the glow in the dark ink over the white. So it should glow a bit more than my try #1.

Well here you have what I was working on for Halloween! Happy Halloween

New Fabric/New Find Friday #89

2011-10-28T09:50:00.036-05:00

I was waiting to show these two fabrics until after Homecoming and for some reason I forgot about this fabric last Friday. I found these two fabrics while shopping a month ago and I just had to get them. I know they are nothing new and maybe you have seen them before but I guess because I was in a nostaglic mood last month I was excited to pick these up.

You saw the top fabric that I used for a burp cloth here and I really like the way it turned out. It can not only be a burp cloth but also a rally towel, right!? :) The bottom fabric looks more like the new MU logos, a bit more updated. I have something planned for this fabric that I hope to show you next month.

Black and gold fabric. Go Mizzou. Is this fabric fun or cheesy?

Come, Rest, Shop

2011-10-27T13:17:00.006-05:00

Being a first time Mom I am learning so much about what it takes to be a Mom....a lot of hard work! I have also learned that it is also one of life's greatest blessings! If you stay at home, work part time, or work full time you probably do not have any "time off" from your job as a mom. We all need a moment to ourselves once in a while, take an hour or two or three away from the kids and come join us for commodore, get in the Christmas spirit, and maybe even scratch some gifts off of that gift giving list. You would be supporting three moms with babies under one who do what they love in their spare moments.

It is only one week away!

First Etsy Sale

2011-10-26T17:10:00.000-05:00

Finally after about six months of having items on Etsy I received an order! I was so excited to finally have a sale. This set of baby leggings and personalized onesie turned out pretty great! The leggings are an orange and red wide stripe and I think that color combination is great. The fabric that I paired it with is a sweet little random dot pattern, red background with multicolored dots. I think it is fun and youthful and I used it again for two other items that you will see in a few weeks.

A fun punch of color on a white onesie. Since this order I have had a few more Etsy orders, some from people that I know and others from new clients. I am so glad to meet new people even though an order. I hope they are just as happy with the finished product as I was making it for them.

I am working hard to create more things for the Etsy site and I hope to post them in November after the Boutique November 5th.

Who Wants To Win?

2011-10-25T14:59:00.000-05:00

Well this seems crazy but I have another giveaway to tell you about this week...and maybe even another one next week. I was asked to sponsor a 1k Facebook fans giveaway with a breastfeeding cover. I made this cover just for this occasion and there are a lot of other great items up for grabs.

To win go Brandy Louise Photography's Facebook page and "like" her page. When she hits 1K fans she will randomly draw the giveaway winners. The items up for grabs are listed here on her blog. There are some very cute things that I would certainly be glad to win.

Good Luck!

Fresh Poetry Ink.

2011-10-24T16:21:00.001-05:00

You first heard about them in this post and now I am back to show you the new tablecloth that I made for them! I was asked to make a tablecloth with their name and website on it for when they are out on the town writing poems. I thought it would be a fun challenge to work on something like this and said yes! The font I used resembled a typewriter font and the typewriters on either side I thought would add a nice touch and frame the wording.

After pricing out the fabric I decided it would be more cost effective to just buy an already made tablecloth and screen print on that. I found this light grey Ralph Lauren table cloth that was large enough for their folding table and went to town designing the font and images. We worked on sizing and made it a bit bigger than I thought in the beginning to be sure that it can be seen from across a street.

I finally finished and gave it to the owner a few weeks ago and he seemed to like it and even said it was better than he expected it to be! I hope that he still feels that way and that this ends up being a great way to attract people to his table.

As I said before you can also have them create a poem for you via their website. Check them out! http://www.freshpoetrystl.org/

New Fabric/New Find Friday #88

2011-10-21T12:50:00.005-05:00

Everyone needs a few black accessories in their home and wardrobe. It seems to go with everything and I think these two fabrics are going to be a great addition to my growing fabric stash.

The top fabric is a gathered gauzy fabric that was very difficult to photograph. It screams scarf to me and I have already made a few scarves out of it. I am not sure if I am going to sell them on etsy or not...still deciding.

The second fabric is a black with white polka-dots. You can never go wrong having black and white fabrics. I think this will be used for an apron but I have yet to cut into it.

Man this post seems so boring with no color, maybe that is just because I am so excited about the Cardinal's being in the World Series that I just can not be excited about black fabric.

Bloomers

2011-10-19T09:48:00.015-05:00

Yes the title is so original, but I just can not think of anything original today. I embroidered this set of bloomers as a gift for a new baby. This was done in the same colors as the "Poppy" bloomers from here. I like this thread color, it is pink with some coral in it making it not as bubble gum pink as you see for most baby girl items. It has some punch to it and stands out against the white bottom.

I am realizing how different my laptop screen is from my desktop screen. When loading this on my laptop the color looked fine but now as I go to post this on my desktop (without the original file) I realize how discolored the image is. I hope that you just get the idea of what these look like and look back to the "Poppy" post for a better idea of color.

I have posted these bloomers on Etsy and would be happy to work with you to create a custom item. I can do a name like shown above, an initial embroidered, an initial appliqued in fabric, or even a shape like a heart or shamrock or something like that. Please email or convo me on Etsy so we can talk about what I can create for your little girl.

Professional Student

2011-10-17T09:46:00.040-05:00

GO MIZZOU! Homecoming was this past weekend and not only did our family enjoy time in Columbia but the Tigers crushed Iowa State! How fitting that right after this Homecoming weekend I have a Mizzou item to show you. I found this Mizzou fabric (and one other) and was so excited to make a burp cloth with it for a friend whom I met at Mizzou and is having her first baby in a month or so. Now she has a burp cloth to use with this new baby while watching football...ok or just to remember the fun times at Mizzou. I haven't actually made a burp cloth in a while so it was actually fun to do that again.

They found out that they were having a boy and did not have a name picked out so I thought it would be cute to make an oneise with a tie on it. I made the tie out of an old tie from my Father-in-law that has been sitting around the house waiting for me to make something. I made the tie short so that this onesie could be worn with pants and you can still see the bottom of the tie.

I really like the way this turned out and am all ready to make more of these onesies with the other old ties that I have. I will be posting a listing on Etsy for these very soon, a lot of the ties that I have, have a very vintage feel to them and I think it is going to be so much fun to make these. I also have a lot of different fabrics ready to go to make more burp cloths, maybe these will be part of my 30 day challenge nights- burp cloths and tie onesies. We will see.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #87

2011-10-14T15:21:00.000-05:00

This is a cotton print that I found on sale a few months ago and this picture does not do it justice. It is a pretty pink color with a stylized paisley in grey with areas colored in blues and light orange-yellow. I hope to show you a better picture later when I finish the project I have in mind.

First I was thinking that I would use it for a scarf but then I realized that with a distinct pattern on the front and a solid back it might not work well for a scarf. I then saw this (see image below) and thought that is what I will do with it!! I will make a dress out of an old shirt and this fabric for the skirt and make it so that it can be also used as a maternity dress. I remember while being pregnant and right after having bee that dresses and skirts were my go to clothes because they fit so much better than anything else.

I have everything ready now I just need to figure out how to put it together. I have only made one piece of clothing for myself and that was in 8th grade and it was in a class-this should be interesting. I will not be able to work on it until after the first of the year but I will be sure to show you how it turned out when I do.

A Gift To Help Mommies

2011-10-13T15:09:00.000-05:00

I was laying in bed last night at midnight when I realized that it was Wednesday and that I missed this post! Opps. My days are all messed up and it still feels like Wednesday today but the best news of all is that it is almost Friday!

Well there have been a lot of exciting posts this week with the Christmas Boutique info, giveaway, and now a special gift for a charity is close to my heart. Every year the local Natural Family Planning office holds a trivia night to raise money for women with infertility to help pay for adoption. Having many friends with infertility whether for a short time or on going and experiencing it a bit myself I feel for couples who want children so badly but can not have one of their own. They asked me to donate some items for the silent auction and I was happy to do so. I gave this gift basket the first year and attended the trivia night the first year. This year I can not attend but did donate these items below.

I did not have time to make as many items as I did the first year so instead I made two burp cloths, a pair of baby leggings, and a cute oneise with a cat on the front. This picture does not do them justice but they all have yellow and orange in them and they all coordinate with out matching too closely. I think this set is perfect for a boy or girl. I hope that the person that get this really enjoys it!

Here is a closer picture of the cat. I had this blue fabric with the cat already appliqued on it and I thought how cute and perfect for the oneise. I just stitched it to the onesie and I like how bold the cat is and how whimsical.

The event is this Saturday evening and if you would still like to attend I am sure they would love to have you. You can find out more information here.

HUGE Giveaway

2011-10-11T16:43:00.000-05:00

Fresh Art Photography, who you heard me talk about here, is doing a HUGE giveaway-32 items over the next day.

Go here to enter to win the giveaways (specify which number you would like to win if you have one in mind). Go here to view the item that I donated to the giveaway. Good luck.
Here it is...

Let me know if you win something...there are some REALLY great items.

Christmas Boutique

2011-10-10T21:09:00.000-05:00

Please mark your Calendars for the first annual Christmas Boutique. Come join me and some friends and cross some gifts off your gift giving list.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #86

2011-10-07T17:02:00.000-05:00

These two fabrics are a bit of a random paring. The top fabric is a leftover Christmas fabric that I found on sale a while back but I think it could go Holiday or if you love green and red together it can be used for something else. It sort of looks like bulls eyes doesn't it? Not sure yet what it will be used for but I am sure I will find something.

The bottom fabric is a fun plaid fabric that I bought so I can make it into a bow tie for my husband. I would like to try to make it for Christmas as a present but we will see if that happens. I have not made a bow tie before so this would be an interesting experiment.

I really like the plaid fabric a lot and it sounds like plaids are coming back in style...or were they in style and now they are going out?

Well tonight is day 4 of my 30 and so far I have been doing well. I have finished three items and went to bed before midnight one day...not too bad if you ask me. I hope to have more info on the Holiday Boutique posted tomorrow. Have a GREAT weekend.

A Cute Baby Set and An Announcement

2011-10-05T14:33:00.000-05:00

Yet another friend of mine had a baby a few months ago and she is precious. It is sad to say but I do not remember bee being that small and it wasn't that long ago. I made this special little girl an initial onesie and a silky blanket with her name on it. I think they are pretty cute, I especially love the blanket! Every girl needs a little leopard in her life, a little something soft and smooth to cuddle with in bed (when she gets older and is allowed to have toys in bed with her).

The E on the oneise is done in a chocolate fabric with pink polka-dots, I played with a new font and like the feminine curves it has to it. The leopard blanket has brown flannel on the back so one side will feel warm and one side will feel cool, it will be great when she starts exploring textures. I have one more of these blankets available and will post on Etsy this week.

The announcement is that I am hosting a Holiday Boutique one month from today with two friends! I will have my items as well as two other lady friends and their items (Jewelry and Soap/lip balm/lotion bars). I will have more info in a few days and will do an entire post about it then. Please mark your calendar for Saturday November 5th, and come anytime between 10am and 2pm to do some pre-holiday shopping!

Now you know why I have to kick it into high gear and get my sewing machine buzzing! One night down 29 more to go! Oh and I also watched the new Jane Eyre movie...now to read the book. I loved it.

30 Day Challenge

2011-10-04T10:40:00.000-05:00

I have a lot of things I want to sew and make and I seem to fiddle around on the internet at night and don't get any sewing done. Now mostly I am spending time uploading pictures and starting blog posts but I always feel like I have done nothing at the end of the night, especially when I had plans to sew after I uploaded those 10 pictures. It is all very necessary but no one tells you that uploading pictures and writing posts, that are somewhat interesting (I hope) and free of errors, takes time...time that I don't have a lot of these days.
I am always trying to balance my time and I need to do that more now with bee. I am a night owl and when I get going I get jazzed instead of tired. So I am going to set my bedtime to midnight no matter what, and earlier is always better, so that when bee wakes up in the morning I am not a grouch.

So what about the challenge you ask? Well I have a lot of things half finished and ideas I want to move on so I am going to challenge myself to make one thing a night for 30 days. Now the hard part will be finishing something before the clock strikes midnight. I have my list and I am ready to get started!!
I will of course blog about it but not until December, I have a few other posts waiting patiently in the wings and I would like to feature those first. I will also be posting new items on Etsy, as I have been working on those for a few days. So not only will I be doing the 30 day challenge of sewing every night but I will be posting to Etsy, the blog and of course Facebook.

Wish me luck!!

Candy Stripe Apron

2011-10-03T15:38:00.000-05:00

My mother-in-law loves to support all of her children and step children, so every once in a while she will order something from me. This is the second apron that she has ordered and I always love making something for her. I don't know if you remember but I have told you before that she is a woman after my own heart having BINS AND BINS of fabric in her sewing area.
She wanted me to make an apron for a woman that she sponsors in South America. They have the same birth month and so she likes to send her a little something to celebrate her birthday. She gave me a picture of her and told me to pick fabric that I thought would look nice on her. In the picture she was wearing a teal dress and her skin was a beautiful deep tan color. I thought that this brown and blue strip apron would be something that she would like to wear and would look nice on her. It sounds like she wears an apron all day long while she is doing her chores.

Here is my sister-in-law modeling the apron for me before I gave it to my mother-in-law. This time instead of using two different fabrics I wanted to try using the same but changing the orientation of the pattern to give the contrast. I hope that her friend enjoys it. How fun to have someone like that from far away sending you items once a year. It is like having a long distance pen pal something that I always loved to have as a child.

I will be sewing a few more aprons this week, I hope to make one a night so be on the look out next month for new aprons.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #85

2011-09-30T17:00:00.000-05:00

Sometimes when I go to the fabric store I pick up fabric that I think is so cute; then I get home and think what am I going to do with this?! Well these two fabrics are the product of such trip. I saw these two fabrics and thought oh these would be great for kids stuff. When I got them home I was not as excited about them.

The top fabric is the cutest ballerina fabric! It would be really cute as an applique on a ballet bag for a little girl or even on a shirt for a little ballerina. I remember when I was little I LIVED in a red leotard and black leggings and patent leather shoes and I thought I was the best dancer ever (yeah I only took one class). ;)
The bottom fabric is a flannel fabric with baby bears on it, it is really soft. It is not my favorite flannel but I am sure someone will love it. I am sure it would but a cute taggie blanket or soft on a burp cloth.

I am so glad that it is Friday! Is anyone else just excited to get on with the weekend? I have some fun plans this weekend and tomorrow is going to be a busy but fun day, with what should be great weather. What are you doing this weekend.

Baby Gift Set Part II

2011-09-28T16:53:00.000-05:00

I showed you the first part of this gift set HERE and I have finished the set and sent them along to the happy momma. She is pleased with how the set turned out and I wanted to show you the final pieces. When making these onesies I had some problems with the screen printing and I thought you might like to see a screw up!

I first put the letters on the onesies and then screen printed the word months. Well it was hard to see the shirt through the inked screen so some of the placement was not how I would like it and some of the letters are faint and there is ink outside of the lettering. You might not be able to see that from this picture but they are not up to my perfectionist standards. Would anyone like to buy a "seconds" set of three onesies? I will have them on my etsy site asap.

So here we have the final set ready to go. This time I think I screen printed the words and then applied the numbers after I was sure they were how I wanted them to be. I am really happy with how they turned out and hope to sell more of these sets in the future. This first year gift set includes one initial with name onesie, a 3,6, and 9 month onesie and a one year onesie with a name on it. This set is $40.00 which is a discount of $5.00 from what it would be for each onesie individually.

I wanted to show you the onesie up close. The material on an onesie is really hard to embroider on so I have started putting fabric on the back to help stabilize it. I am still not totally happy with it but I think it is cute. I could always screen print the name on the onesie as well.

Anyone need a set of onesies. These could be really great for photographing your baby the first year, I can always add more onesies or take some out of the set. I hope to have this set available on etsy as soon as I have time to get it on there.

Halloween Onesie

2011-09-26T17:03:00.001-05:00

A friend of mine is having a baby due on Halloween. Now you have to know her to know how perfect this is, she LOVES Halloween. Loves scary movies. Loves dressing up etc. I thought it was so fitting that she is due Oct 31st that for her baby shower I knew I had to make her a little skeleton onesie.

They are waiting to find out what they are having so this is a perfect unisex outfit and even if baby comes after Halloween it will be cute to wear right after as well. I used white screen printing ink and then tried for the first time the glow in the dark ink. It looks pretty cool. It glows slightly in the dark and makes it look a bit like a zombie...zombies glow right!? Well they sound like the should. I think next time I will wait and put another layer of glow in the dark in on top so that it glows even brighter.

I paired this onesie with this set of baby leggings perfect for either a boy or girl and for fall to wear with this onesie and make diaper changes easier. These grow with baby and I am sure that they can be worn in spring with any white or black onesie...perfect for tummy time or crawling.

I think the gift was a success, she seemed to like it and now I can not wait to find out when this baby is going to arrive and what it is going to be! I have the perfect "welcome home" for the baby that I can not wait to make.
Does anyone need a onesie for Halloween? Put your order in!

New Fabric/New Find Friday #84

2011-09-23T23:00:00.000-05:00

Wow these posts keep getting later and later, I don't know how some parents get it all done in a day-and blog! I am trying to keep up the pace.

Several months ago I saw on some craft blogs that the makers of Yudu came out with new products for the Yudu. I was so excited to hear about it and of course had to buy all of the new stuff myself to try out. They added a new screen that you can use a special glue to screen print an image on your item and then use glitter, foil or flocking to embellish your item. HOW COOL.

I have not actually had time to play with these yet but they are on my list of things to do when I am feeling adventurous. Maybe this will come in handy for a Christmas project that I have in mind. Flocking is big right now in wallpaper and fabric so I think this is something great that I can add to items that I make to give them a fresh look.

The foil and glitter I think will be great to layer with the standard ink, to accent and give a bit of bling to a design. The flocking and glitter I can totally see on a card to add some zing and dimension.

Oh so many ideas so little time! Now back to sewing..I have a few things I want to get finished and out in the mail. I hope everyone has a great weekend and that you get to enjoy this beautiful weather. I think I see some walks in my future, need to get them in before it is too cold to walk outside.

Image found here http://www.capadiadesign.com/2010/07/few-more-cha-photos.html

Perfect For A Girl

2011-09-21T23:25:00.000-05:00

As I was saying in this blog post I made a cover for a friend that was really not what it should have been. She had her sweet baby girl last week and I finished this cover just in time to give it to her. She ended up using it in the hospital and I was so glad to hear that!

I think this fabric is perfect for her, colorful but not too over the top. It actually reminds me of an afghan or handmade quilt and I know that she loves things like that so that is why I choose it. I get to visit with her and the baby tomorrow and I am sure I will get to see this cover in action. ;)

Like I said before the other cover is on my etsy site ready to be purchased. I also have custom cover listing in case you want to order a cover, I would be happy to pick a fabric that is perfect for you.

L Is For...

2011-09-19T22:44:00.000-05:00

Lincoln! This cute oneise is for a baby due next month. A classmate of mine from collage saw one of my previous onesies on facebook and asked if I would make one for her to give as a gift- of course! I used the argyle fabric that she requested and embroidered the name on top of the appliqued letter.

Nothing you haven't seen me do before but I had to show it off on the blog. Every baby item is different just as every baby is different. This little boy will be cute in his little onesie and can you imagine a little sweater over this onesie to keep baby warm during those chilly October days? CUTE.

I am off to get my "to do" sewing items together. It is so helpful to have everything organized and ready to go when I have time to sit down and cut, sew, or iron. Everything takes me longer to do these days and it is so helpful if I have everything together. Sadly some of those projects might sit in the "to cut" box for a long longer than I would like. Paying customers come first and my fun items take a back seat to money! (Even if sometimes that money just goes to feed my fabric addiction).

New Fabric/New Find Friday #83

2011-09-16T14:00:00.002-05:00

These two fabrics signify the last sun and glimmer of summer for me. The weather is getting colder and I am just not ready for it, I was just getting used to summer fun skirts and dresses. I do love all four seasons it just feels like they come and go so quickly! Anyway these two fabrics just make me happy on a sunny day in between two rainy days.

I didn't have a project in mind when I picked up these two fabrics. The floral I just thought was so cute, it would make a great little girls dress or skirt. I might actually end up making it into some napkins. Did I already tell you that I am trying to be more "green" by using less paper products? So far so good but I need more napkins with patterns to hide the stains.

This little purple gingham is so precious! Is it because I only have a boy and all things pink and purple just make me smile or just the simplicity of this fabric that I like? I don't know. I am just drawn to gingham and I might just have to use this for a baby blanket or lovie or I a might even save it and make a quilt with all of these pretty "on the whim" fabrics.

I wish there were more hours in the day!!! I have a bunch of projects that I need to get a move on and do over the weekend, lets hope bee takes a good nap tomorrow so that I can get a lot of things finished. Sleeping five hours at night getting stuff done is just not any fun.

Little Lovies

2011-09-14T09:57:00.000-05:00

Back when I was making a ton of silky burp cloths I had some extra fabric left over that decided to make into small blankets or lovies as I have heard them called. These are about 24" x 28" and are the perfect size for a little one to cuddle with while sleeping or sucking their thumb.

Bee used to love his burp cloths that I would put in the car seat as we were driving (for spit-up accidents), he would chew and suck on them to go to sleep. I see these being very similar in use, something to help the little ones feel cozy and go to sleep. Soft and silky on one side and warm and cuddly on the other and totally machine washable.

I love the two fabrics together, the textures are almost like total opposites but the colors together are great. The brown is perfect to ground the leopard print. I hope to feature these on etsy as soon as I am feeling better and can add some different personalization options that I have in mind.

This blanket is again a scrap piece from another blanket I made. This is not quite large enough to call a blanket but is perfect for a lovie. Something cozy and cute for baby to cuddle and hold. The fabric on top is a cotton print with abc's and baby items on it. I think it is neutral enough for both boys and girls but it looks like it has a few more "boy items" on the print, helicopters and dinosaurs.

The fabric on the back is a really soft material that I have used on several blankets before. It is as soft as the minky fabric but a different texture. Again a very nice neutral color that would be great as a shower gift for a family that has not revealed baby's gender. This will also be featured on etsy in a few weeks. Be on the look out, I hope to add several new products in the coming weeks.

Hope you are enjoying this cooler weather, there is something about this dark, rainy morning that makes me really prepare for fall. Can it be here already? I am still in love with summer.

Brain ReCOVERy

2011-09-12T09:22:00.030-05:00

I have realized that even several months after having a baby your brain still does not fully function. I thought for sure once I started sleeping more and Bee got a bit older that my brain would come back but I still find myself forgetting things, a lot!

One great example is this gift for a friend of mine who is due any day with her first baby. I was getting ready to make her a cover for her baby shower and I was looking for a neutral fabric because for some reason I had it in my head that she did not know what she was having. I found this stripe and thought it was pretty neutral and figured if she had a girl I could always trade her for a more girly one.

I get to the shower and all the gifts she is getting are girl related! WHAT!? How embarrassing- everyone knew she was having a girl. Now the sad thing about it is that I KNEW THAT TOO! Haha yes I did. She posted a few months back that they were having a baby girl and I forgot all about that when making this cover. So of course when she opened it I apologized and said I would be happy to make her a different cover. I did so and this one is on its way back to me.

I have posted this for sale on Etsy and anyone that would like to buy it for themselves or someone else please feel free to do so Here in my shop.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #82

2011-09-09T23:59:00.031-05:00

Where did Friday go!? I was all ready to get this post out earlier and here we are late again. Sorry I hope that you weren't just biting your lip you were so nervous about where this post was. haha who am I kidding.
These again are some pictures I took at night in bad lighting...the colors are more vibrant in real life. The top fabric, the green stripe is going to be great for initials on a little boy onesie or bib. Could make a great tie if cut on the diagonal. The second fabric down I just love! I got a little piece of it go to with a coordinating dot for a future apron.

The third fabric down, the overlapping floral, has a great color combination, green with blue and brown. Are you sick of seeing brown with green and blue yet? Not me. The stripe on the bottom is not my favorite fabric by itself but when you see it with its coordinating fabric you will see why I choose it. I know that purple is big this year but I can not really get myself to like that shade of purpley-pink. I am sure there are a lot of you that really like those fall colors but being a "spring" in fashion this fabric does not thrill me. To each his own for sure!

These don't look too bad together, or maybe that is just the muddy lighting making them all look dirty. Now that I think about it I think all of these fabrics went into an apron. I think these were fabrics that I bought to go with fabrics that I already had but needed a mate to finish cutting aprons. I can not wait to get these aprons sewn up and show you the combinations I have. Some of them are so cute that I want to keep them for myself.

A Sweetheart Little Girl

2011-09-07T09:22:00.027-05:00

I recently went to a first birthday party for my cousin's daughter. I wanted to get her a little something but she already had a first birthday shirt so I couldn't do that. I could have bought her a present but making something is so much more fun. After thinking about it and going through a million options I decided to make her a shirt with a heart and rhinestones.

I cut the heart out of a pink and white polka dot on pink fabric and applied it to the tee-shirt. Then I applied rhinestones around the edges of the heart and made them into the shape of an L on the front. The L is her first initial, it does not stand for love...but it could. :) This could turn into a Valentine's Day shirt for the next baby girl since I am not sure she can wear this when the next holiday comes around.

Here is a closer look at the heart. I think it is really cute and simple and perfect for a little one year old girl. The rhinestones give it a little shine, but it isn't over the top.

I hope this little girl enjoys it!

Shirts With A Second Life

2011-09-05T10:01:00.023-05:00

Happy Labor Day!!!

This is going to be a quick post with even fewer words than normal and some fun before and after pictures. I think you will understand them with out a million explanations.

I had two polo shirts that I really liked and they both had grease stains on them that I could not get rid of. I tried everything but before getting rid of them I decided to see if I could do something to hide the stains.

This first one the stain is below the polo emblem and I decided to monogram my initials on it to hide the stain, since it was right below the logo I thought that might help it make sense. I thought since it was close to the logo doing some screen printing might be too much.

I think it turned out pretty good! You can still sort of see the stain but when wearing it you don't even notice.

This shirt the stain was too large to just do a monogram so I decided to try screen printing this one.

Here it is all finished and I have even worn it a few times. I love the way it turned out and actually can not wait to take more old tired plain shirts and embellish them with ink!

Have a great and safe holiday!

New Fabric/New Find Friday #81

2011-09-02T20:40:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to write a quick post to tell you about the cool flooring that we are going to use in the basement. After some discussion and compromise the hubby and I decided that this faux wood foam floor would be the way to go in the basement. You can take one tile out if something happens to it and if the basement leaks (which it has done A LOT) you can just pull these up, clean up and put them back down. They do not absorb the moisture and are soft and fun for kids to play on. Bonus they look like wood, ok maybe not really but hey they are better than bright red right?

You can go learn more about them here, this is where we hope to buy them from in a few weeks.
http://www.rubberflooringinc.com/interlocking-tile/foam/soft-wood-tile.html

Here is a picture from their site of what a piece looks like.

We had two samples of the two different wood colors sent to us and we decided to go with the lighter color in hopes that when and if the surface gets scratched and dented you will not notice it as much since the foam backing is light.

I did talk to someone who has this in their house and they love it. Now they just use the space for a play room and probably do not have as much furniture as we plan to have but then again we are also going to put rugs over this. I am not too happy about the "foam texture" you can see in the picture above but hey marriage is all about compromise. :)

*I am never paid or perked when I show "new" finds. I just wanted to share something I think is cool with you!

More Silky Burp Cloths

2011-08-31T14:17:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since I showed you these silky burp cloths, and these and these. I cut this fabric last winter and just did not have time to get to them until a few weeks ago. I really love the combo of the leopard with the brown flannel. Soft on one side and smooth on the other.

I also found this cute purple fabric with the white flowers and knew that this would make a great burp cloth for those who love a floral. It is a bit of a modern flower and purple is a big color these days so how great would this be for a new mom?! I paired this color with the white since that purple was a hard color to find in flannel.

Last but not least is this black and white floral pattern with white on the back. I love how this floral pattern is so abstract that sometimes it looks like a zebra print. For those who are not so daring with color I think even though this pattern is larger the colors are a bit more traditional. This fabric is not as shiny as the others and would draw a little less attention.

I think these are fun and different burp cloths and ones that mom will appreciate and so will baby. Something soft to rest their head against and for mom something cute to put on her shoulder. The flannel sort of grips your clothing and stays on your shoulder pretty well.

I have some fun projects in the wings and can not wait to get them finished to show you what I have going on.

Monogram Shirt

2011-08-29T15:00:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine was celebrating her 31st birthday recently and I wanted to give her a little something at her party...but what?! I feel like it is getting harder and harder to get gifts for people as we get older. The idea came to me....what about a tee-shirt with her initials on it?! Someone came into my work a few weeks ago with one on and I just thought it was so cute and really wanted to make one for myself. I thought this would be a really cute simple present for my friend.

I bought her a black fitted tee-shirt and asked her husband for her initials and then monogrammed them in the center top of the shirt in a small script font. I am finding black is hard to photograph in sun, it makes it look faded but I swear it is new-I did wash it to prevent shrinking issues.

I like the way it turned out, so simple and cute with the hot pink letters on the black shirt. Something so small that people might not notice but at the same time a little personal touch if they do notice. I am totally loving the monogram trend and hope that it never dies. I have to stop myself from monogramming everything!

I might just have to try this on someone for baby bee, not sure what yet, maybe a shirt or maybe I should make a cute ribbon belt with his initials!

New Fabric/New Find Friday #80

2011-08-26T16:49:00.000-05:00

These are fabrics that I purchased about a month ago and I have already cut into two of them. This picture was taken at night before cutting into them so that is why the colors look a bit dark. I went shopping because I was looking for some fabric to make something for a friend and ended up buying the fabric at the bottom...and a few more. I love how big the pattern is and how bold the colors are on the background without being overwhelming.

The stripe fabric in the middle is a really bright stripe and this has already been cut for a future project and I think it is going to look great for what I am planning. I have not used the top fabric yet and am not totally sure what I am going to do with it. I might need to find some coordinating fabrics for an apron or maybe it would make a cute applique on a onesie or burp cloth. Not sure yet.

These look so much better in better lighting and just wait until you see them in their finished state. I can not wait to get sewing!

Retro Onesies

2011-08-24T10:03:00.054-05:00

These onesies were for a good friend of mine who's little boy is three months older than baby bee. We had so many events to attend for them that I did not get presents for, so these are sort of make up gifts to show her how much we really care.

She was a huge Monkees fan growing up but I remember most in high school listening to them with her. I thought she would appreciate a onesie with the band on the front. I found an image on-line (now I don't remember where) and went about making it into a screen printed image. I think the original might have been an album cover? Not sure. Doesn't it look so cool and retro?

Her husband is a huge Star Wars fan and I though that this might be something he would appreciate. The image I found on-line (again I didn't save where I found it) was made out of a lot of lines but those did not end up showing up well when I transferred it to my screen so I ended up just making them silhouettes. The words "Star Wars" was not part of the original picture but was taken from another image and put together to make this image. I like how they turned out.

I actually printed two other onesies but those did not turn out 100% the way I wanted them to so you might see them on my etsy site at a reduced price. I would also be happy to make new ones if you would like to order one and I will be sure that they look great. This makes me want to come up with more "vintage" images that I can screen onto onesies and tee-shirts. So much fun!

Here is the little cutie wearing one of them. Look how cool he looks!! Very retro.

I don't know if you noticed but I have a new button on my blog for the "most valuable blog" nomination. You can vote for me here or click on that button once a day until September 9th. I really doubt I will win but would love a $50 gift card to Amazon!

Bath Towel Additions

2011-08-22T23:17:00.000-05:00

This is part of a gift that was given to a friend's new niece. She wanted me to embroider the baby girl's name on a towel she bought. She also had some wash cloths so I thought it would be cute to put the name on one of the wash cloths as well.

We went with a green color for the letters because of the green lettering in the embroidery that was already on the towel from the store. I put the name on the bottom corner of the towel so when the towel is open and baby is about to be wrapped up it is visible at the same time as the image at the top of the towel is visible. I mimicked that idea with the name on the washcloth, putting it on the bottom left corner of the cloth at an angle.

I used the same font on both of the towels, I just stitched them in different sizes. I really love the way it turned out and hope that this little girl loves her personalized towels, especially as she grows up living in the house with siblings. She can always call dibs because it has her name on it.

These would be great for a large family where everyone can have their white towel with their name on it so no one confuses towels, I hope to do that with my family one day. White would be easy to bleach to keep the towel looking white too.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #79

2011-08-19T07:26:00.032-05:00

So do you need a traditional first anniversary present (paper) or something cool and different at your wedding reception? How about some custom poetry? I know this is not fabric or a new sewing find but I think this is a cool new phenomena happening in St. Louis right now, poetry on the go with Fresh Poetry Ink.

A designer that I work with has a blog and while reading it she mentioned that her daughter and friend were hitting the streets of St. Louis with their typewriter and rug and composing poems for passersby for a donation. A new cool twist on street musicians these cool cats are street poets. You give the title and they do the rest in ten minutes.

I have a friend who LOVE poetry and old typewriters and thought that she would get a kick out of this. I even thought it would be a great going away present for her to have a poem written. I really wished that I could have gone around town to find them and ask them in person for a poem but having a baby makes it hard to drive around at night - unless you are trying to get baby to sleep. Alas I had to email them and ask them to write a poem for my friend. They did and I did pay them, and my friend LOVED them. I mean she told me several times about how cool they were...success!

I think this would be a great 1st year anniversary present for that special someone in your life. You name the topic and they write the poem for you. They have even done weddings, how unique would that be to have someone at your wedding writing poems for your guests.

GO visit them and maybe even like them on Facebook!

Best Blog?!

2011-08-18T01:31:00.002-05:00

My husband listens to a lot of talk radio while working, sometimes sports, something Catholic radio and other times news. He was listening to KMOX a week ago or so and told me about a contest they have going on. It is the Most Valuable Blog in St. Louis contest with the prize being a $50 amazon gift card.

I don't ever feel adequate as a blogger but I love to do it. It is a bit of release for me to put something out there on the internet, like birthing a baby a few times a week only easier. He kept telling me I should enter and I thought to myself humm can I nominate myself with out feeling stupid? If he is telling me to do it I probably should. He is not always happy I spend time late at night writing blog posts but mostly because it sometimes affects my happiness level and productivity around the house. Ahh he will get over it and he obviously knows how much it means to me if he wanted me to enter.

Whew was that word vomit or what? Anyway I nominated myself and also sent it to two people whom I thought should nominate themselves as well (just so I wouldn't feel too silly plus I thought they had a chance to win). So if you would be so kind as to go HERE and vote for me it would make me very happy.

Thank you!

Poppy On The Patootie

2011-08-17T08:14:00.030-05:00

I love these little bloomers for baby girls. I was admiring one that a friend of mine had a few months ago and was sort of sad that I could not yet buy one for my kids (I am sure the boy would hate me one day for making him wear something like this). The next best thing to owning something is making it for someone else. You still feel all good inside when making it and knowing that someone cute is going to enjoy it.

When I got an order for a pair of these I was really excited!! I could not wait to get it finished and give it to the client hoping that they would think it is as cute as I did. I was lucky, she did! I hope that Poppy's family likes it as well. What about that name, too cute isn't it?

I know this might not look like much but I don't think it needs much more, who needs to draw attention to that part of our body- really. I am usually not a big fan of having something written on the bottoms of older kids or adults clothes but something about a little girl having something small on her bottom is okay with me. Cute to see this poking out from the bottom of a dress to covering up that generic diaper.

I am working on something equivalent for boys...not sure what that is yet, boxers? Nah that just seems silly. Maybe just something on a onesie? Humm any thoughts?

A Bib for Vianney

2011-08-15T02:01:00.023-05:00

I was busy over the weekend cutting into yards and yards of fabric. Once I get a bunch of things cut I hope to spend the next few weeks sewing, sewing, sewing. It is so helpful when I can just sit down and cut for hours and then sit down and sew for hours. When I go from cutting to sewing I often times find myself getting distracted and end up leaving the room for ice cream or something else silly and then an hour later realized I was just wasting time! ARG

Speaking of getting distracted....sorry. :) So here is one of the few girl bibs that I have made, you saw the others here. There were a lot more boys born recently than girls and I was so glad to pick out some girly fabric again rather than just work with the boys.

This baby's parents are friends who live out of town and we have yet to meet their first girl, and now they have had number two! The baby girl's name is after St. John Vianney and I think it is such a sweet and unusual name.

I hope that this little girl enjoys her bib and I can not wait to hear more about her as she grows.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #78

2011-08-12T09:31:00.022-05:00

I saw this cardstock when looking through the Silhouette website a few weeks ago and thought that it would be a great thing to try. I have not made note cards in a very long time but always think about how great it would be if I had some fun stationary on hand to mail out to friends as thank you notes or just as "how are you doing" notes.

There are four different packs of colored cardstock that are adhesive backed so all you do is cut it out and stick it to your scrapbook or note cards. How genius! I went with the "winter" color pack and I was surprised to find out that it was the exact colors of the colored note card set that I have at home. Happy coincidence.

I might just have to force myself to cut something out of this and send it to a friend just to see how it works. Or maybe I will use it to finish my husband's scrapbook that I made him for our wedding. This would be great to cut out little shapes to embellish the pages. No matter what I do you know I will be back later to show you how it turned out.

Boy Bibs

2011-08-10T23:46:00.000-05:00

You saw last week that I have been working on new bibs and I am totally in love with making them. Good thing too because I know a few new babies being born soon and these just seem perfect to give to the new little ones. Great to catch the spit up and drool that comes with being a baby. Today I wanted to show you a few boy bibs that I made. They are all made the same way so I will save you from looking at two boring posts that look the same and combined them into one.

I know two people who had their babies with in a few weeks of each other and both named their baby boy Charles and call him Charlie. So these bibs are actually for two different families.

This bib is for another baby boy that was born just a few months ago. I used a different font for the large letter this time and I love the way the S looks. I can't tell you what about it I like but I just love the curves and think it mimics the embroidered S.

There will be some more bibs to come in the future and other fun baby items. I can not wait to show you what I have been working on. I am just loving combining all of the different craft tools that I have to make cute baby items. There are also some non-baby items coming up as well.

Baby Gift Set Part I

2011-08-08T08:36:00.037-05:00

I am working on a first year gift set for a little man from his Godmother. We are doing an initial with name onesie, a 3,6, and 9 month onesie and a one year onesie with his name on it. I finished the initial onesie and as soon as I have the other four finished I will post them for you to see.
I was wanting to finish this one asap so that the baby could wear it for any newborn pictures while he is still little. He didn't wear it for that but did wear it under his baptismal gown. What a cute idea!

This bib is my gift to this sweet boy. I wanted to use a different fabric than the other items but have it coordinate so I choose a polka dot pattern in the same colors. If he ever has to wear the bib with one of the onesies he will look smashing!

This is what happens when you have no time to take photos in the morning. These are not my best pictures but I think you get the idea.

I am excited to show you the second part of the baby gift set. I think this set is great for the new little one in your life so they are set for all of the important milestones during their first year.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #77

2011-08-05T09:11:00.000-05:00

I found this picture back in my file and realized that I never posted a NF post about it. We have been so hot and sunny here lately that I forgot what cloudy days are like. They make me want to take a nap and sleep for hours then get up and watch some movies while laying on the sofa. Too bad I can't do that today. I am thinking of doing some chores before heading off to work. TGIF

Here are the fabrics, they are two pieces of terrycloth. The one on the left is a light blue color which does not come through so clearly on my camera, maybe because it is being out shined by the bright orange. You might remember this orange terrycloth from the Bjorn cover I made for a friend here.

I honestly didn't know that they made orange terrycloth but thought my friend would like this color better than a lot of the other colors that they had. You would be surprised at the colors that they do have. Terrycloth is one of those fabrics that reminds me of towels but I have seen my mother-in-law successfully use them as tablecloths (with a cute runner on top) to help take care of the constant milk spills that would happen on their table while the kids were growing up and now that the grand kids come over to eat.

These might have a future in becoming burp cloths or I might even experiment with making a towel. We will see what the future holds for these not so soft but absorbent fabrics.

New Baby Item

2011-08-03T10:05:00.007-05:00

I have a new item that I have been slow to debut mostly because I have been busy making them for friends who are having babies. We know about 20 women who are having babies and I am so excited to have so many little ones around the same age as my baby bee.

The new baby item is a personalized bib! I am still working on what type of bib is the best so you will see different ones below as I see which will work and I like the best. I have applied the baby's initial and embroidered their name over it. I just have a soft spot for personalization especially for babies.

These little boys are going to drool or eat in style with their personalized bibs. As I said I was playing with different bibs. The one on the left is just a plain cotton bib in white and the one on the right is a white cotton bib with a coordinating binding, this bib is larger.

Look I even got a picture of Bennett modeling the bib for me. It looks like he is not bothered by the bib...that is a good sign right?

Here are the female bibs that I worked up. I realized later that the all white bibs were a bit smaller than the other bibs. They fit on baby bee but he is also a tiny baby, I have a feeling that baby Stella only wore hers for a short time. The bib on the left is for a baby that is yet to be born so I hope this baby gets to use this bib a bit before she grows out of it. I like the colored binding but I feel like it limits me to the fabric that I can use as the letter and I think it stands out too much and takes away from the letter and name.

There will be more of these to come...like I said we know about 20 babies on their way. I also am going to be adding this baby item to Etsy.

Pinterest Challenge

2011-08-01T08:43:00.004-05:00

One of the million blogs that I read is Young House Love. I have been following them for years and love watching them change their house one room at a time. I was reading their blog the other day and saw that they issued a Pinterest challenge. I just decided the day before I read this challenge that I wanted to tackle one of the things that I pinned last week. So because I was already going to do it, and how fun are challenges, I am going to participate.

The pinned item that I am going to make is a pressed penny charm bracelet found HERE originally. This is totally different than most of the things I make, jewelery is not my usual medium but how fun to try something new right?! When I saw this bracelet I knew I had to make one. I used to collect pressed pennies and have 11 of them and had no idea what I was going to do with them since they were just sitting around taking up space but didn't want to get rid of them. This is such a great I idea that maybe I will get even more when traveling to add to this bracelet. I went shopping and picked up a chain, jump rings, and a clasp.

Then I gathered the tools that I needed from my toolbox, an awl, hammer, and needle nose pliers. I ended up borrowing another pair of pliers from my hubby, that helped a lot when opening all of the rings.

I really love the way it turned out!! I am a huge fan of charm bracelets, I have loved them ever since I was a little girl. My grandmother had one and I always wanted to know what the charms were and where they came from. I have a traditional charm bracelet and I just love the sound of those charms hitting one another while you wear it, maybe because it reminds me of my grandmother. Good memories.

So I followed the instructions from the original blog and it was really a lot easier than I thought. I was thinking I would have to ask my husband's help poking the holes in the pennies but that was actually not as hard as I thought. I did not follow the step of sanding down the hole openings and if I find that they get caught on things I might go back and do that but as of right now I don't think that I will.

I skipped every other link in the bracelet and even have space at the ends for more! I stopped getting these when on vacation because I thought it was pointless to have them. Now I am trying to think of the next place I am going that I can get a pressed penny! I really like how it turned out and can not wait for a chance to wear it out, hopefully baby bee will leave it alone and not pull the pennies off of the bracelet.

I hope to make a lot of other things that I have pinned on my wall. Some are going to have to wait a bit longer for me to try but I am so glad that I could actually use one of the ideas that I pinned.

If you would like you can follow me on Pinterst HERE. (I hope this link works to find me) If you want to see more people who took the Pinterest challenge be sure to visit Young House Love and Katie, Emily, and Lana as well as all of the others that posted their links to the challenge page . Thanks YHL for giving me a kick in the pants!

New Fabric/New Find Friday #76

2011-07-29T09:51:00.020-05:00

How cute are these pink fabrics?! I love love love my little boy but I hope one day I get to dress a little girl in pink. When I saw these fabrics in the "scrap bin" I had to pick them up. Who doesn't love a little pink for some projects?

Well you already saw the pink and black leopard in my post Monday and I think this is one of those fabrics that is great for a little girl but I could see an adult having the inside of a purse or something made out of this fabric. The middle fabric is a pink cotton and will be great for blanket backs, solid but a pretty shade of pink. The gingham seems to be big again and the pink and white is so sweet.

I am so glad I was already able to use one of these prints and I know I will be using the other two, it is just a matter of time.

Baby Presents for E and C

2011-07-27T22:45:00.000-05:00

I am learning more and more about my embroidery machine each day, what I can do with it, how to make it do what I want it to do, and just simple things like how to thread the needle. Let me tell you automatic needle threaders are great but tricky sometimes!
When I was working on these items that a friend commissioned for two new babies I ran into some more embroidery problems. I put the name Evan on this onesie and it ate a few holes in the onesie and it was puckered between the letters. I hated how it looked and decided to do it over again.

The second time making the onesie I thought I would try using my Yudu machine and screen print the name instead! I think it turned out MUCH better and I even changed the pattern and color of the outfit since I went ahead and gave them that other onesie for free, now they have two with different looks.

I really like how it turned out but I also wanted to fix the problems that I had on the other onesie so I went to learn more about my machine from the store where I purchased it and boy did I learn a lot. I hope that my future embroidery projects go so much smoother than this one did.

She also wanted me to add some initials to burp cloths so that she could apply ribbon and make them more personable for the two different babies. I love how simple the one initial is on the burp cloth, and thank goodness these went well on my machine!

There are more projects like this coming down the pike, be on the look out for a lot of personalized items.

Four Years Old!

2011-07-25T23:32:00.021-05:00

My cousin's daughter just turned four over the weekend and my cousin wanted a shirt to go with the pink tutu that she was going to get her to wear that day. I suggested to do a pink leopard print 4 with her name embroidered below. I love the punch of pink on the black shirt.

Here she is all ready for her party with her new tutu skirt and shirt.

By the expression on her face I would say that she loves it! Okay maybe she loves the skirt more than the shirt...who wouldn't. :) Happy Birthday Claire!!

New Fabric/New Find Friday #75

2011-07-22T23:35:00.002-05:00

Man is it hot this week, whew! I love summer and I wouldn't mind this but when you have no car AC you start to be a bit bothered. These two fabrics just scream summer to me, they remind me of summer dresses that I had as a child. I love the bold colors and all of the reds, pinks, and oranges.

These would make a cute baby girl's dress or shirt but I think I am going to use them for napkins. I have gotten on a kick of using cloth for as many things around the house as I can. We do still use paper towels sometimes but I am working on that. These would make such great cheery napkins and go really well with the colors in my house. Now I just need to find the time to make them!!

Basement Part I

2011-07-18T15:04:00.001-05:00

It was a year in April that everything was moved out of the right side of our basement in preparation for being finished. We were going to hire someone to do the wall system (an indestructible removable system) and then finish the rest ourselves. Well here we are over a year later and we don't have much more, well the three walls are finished and there is a window back where it was boarded up. I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE! Everything that was in this part of the basement is not all over our house. Here is a before picture of the basement after we cleaned it out and before the walls went in.

I am really trying to be so patient with my husband and I know that so many things are out of his control (having a baby, breaking an ankle etc) but I can not wait to have this chaos removed from my life. I worry about when Bee starts crawling and how there is no part of our house that is and can be baby proof because of what we are doing in the basement and having stuff all over the house.

The good news is that when it is finished it will be a glorious space where we can all hang out and be together while doing what we need to do. There will be an office type area for my husband, a crafting area for me and a play/entertainment area for Bee. I realize we might have to gate off the craft area until Bee learns what he can and cannot play with, ie. the iron, but that is okay. It will be nice to contain all of the mess to this lower level and have some order upstairs where guest will enter.

In preparation for this moment I have been pinning lots of organizational ideas on pintrest that I might want to use in the basement. It is going to be so fun to finally have a space to decorate again from scratch. I have to pick the wall color for the fourth wall, flooring, arrange furniture and organize all three of the zones that I talked about earlier. I AM SO EXCITED!!! I get to do what I love, design and organization in order to make my hobby/second business easier to do.

I hope to keep you updated as the progress continues and show you more pictures and maybe I can even find a before before picture, one with all of our stuff in that part of the basement before we cleared it out.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #74

2011-07-15T23:25:00.002-05:00

This is a few hours late, could not stay up last night to get this post finished. Two green fabric alike and totally different, and both say summer fun to me. The green on the left has very small tone on tone flowers. This picture does not do them justice. They are really pretty shades of greens with intricate lines and shapes that make up the flowers. I think this fabric will be great for a quilt or even part of an apron.

The fabric on the right I was so excited to get. These green flowers go from small to large as they go down the fabric. If you can tell the row of flowers on the top is a bit smaller than the row on the bottom. I would love to make this into a skirt for myself but I might make it into an apron instead. I think it would be just daring!

So glad that summer is here but I am not loving the 100+ degree days. Makes it hard to go on walks with the baby and he LOVE his walks. We did squeeze one in this morning and maybe tomorrow will be a pool day!

Rhinestone Bride

2011-07-13T09:10:00.009-05:00

Who doesn't love everyone to know you are the bride and about to get married! A friend was going to be in her really good friends wedding and wanted to make a "bride" and "mother of the bride" shirts for two of the most important ladies at the wedding. I helped her create the word images with my silhouette and rhinestones and she took care of ironing them to the shirts she got for these lovely ladies.

I think they turned out to be pretty cute. Great story from the bride is that she wore her shirt while they did stuff to prepare for the wedding, pedicures in this case, but her mom the MOTB wore her shirt at the rehearsal dinner! How great is that!

I love rhinestones and keep thinking of things that I want to add rhinestones to in my life. Maybe I will start out small with some flip flops or a small detail on an old pair of jeans. Can boys wear rhinestones? Rhinestone Cowboy? Probably not, guess I have to wait to have a girl before I can make cute personal rhinestone kid items. Although I already made something for my Goddaughter here.

Rain Cloud

2011-07-11T16:30:00.007-05:00

Another really good friend and client who always sends me fun custom projects had another one up her sleeve. She sent me this picture and wanted me to create something for her like this (picture below). I said...sure! I love that this was created for a photo prop and I think it will look great in her son's room...or maybe she is going to put it in her room. :)

Well I took some blue fabric to make the cloud and tried to mimic the shape of the cloud. Not too bad for doing it freehand! Then I used a bunch of different colored ribbons to make the rain streamers. I think the original streamers were actually paper streamers but I didn't think that would hold up for very long so I thought ribbon would be the best.

I started out with one ribbon that had blues, browns, and creams in it and used that as my base for all of the other ribbons. I used some blue, brown, cream, grey, and blue ribbon. Some with polka dots, some with stripes and some solid. I also cut them different lengths to add some dimension. I think it turned out really cute and I think she likes it too! Bonus.

I always have fun doing things like this especially when I do not have a "due by" deadline. I can take my time and do these when I am not as busy with other items. What do you think?

New Fabric/New Find Friday #73

2011-07-08T08:13:00.001-05:00

I do not usually pick up tee-shirt material but when I saw these two I knew I had to get them up for a few projects that I have in mind. They were on sale and I just want to try out a few ideas that I have. I hope to have more time to work on this before fall so that I can use what I am going to make in late summer and fall.

The fabric on the left is a grey cotton with small flowers printed on it in a yellow/gold ink. The flowers are made up of a lot of small dots. It is very subtle as you can tell from the picture and not my favorite but I think it will be okay. A little pattern that you can only see close up. The white on the right is a cotton as well and sort of looks like it has slubs, parts of the fabric that is thinner and part that is thicker. I have seen a lot of tee-shirts made out of this fabric lately, you know the ones you have to wear tank tops under and usually have a design printed on top. Very interesting texture.

I can't wait to get playing, there are so many things that I want to do and just no time with a full time job and baby! So I stay up until midnight to try to get something done! I hope for more productivity over the weekends to come.

Cocoa Cover

2011-07-06T06:19:00.017-05:00

I made this cover a few months ago for a friend who had her baby boy just a few weeks ago. I wanted to make her something neutral since she was waiting to find out what she was having. Surprisingly this is neutral but now that I know she has a boy those blue dots in there stand out.

I know in the beginning she had problems with nursing and might have to be pumping at bit, this would be great to have at work while pumping. You wouldn't have to worry about someone walking in while you are pumping. Maybe it would be a pain to wear but hey it is another use for it.

Christmas in July

2011-07-04T08:18:00.026-05:00

Continuing the theme of Christmas in July from the Friday post, here are some Christmas items that I embroidered for a friend this past month. She and her husband have a tradition of buying a stuffed Christmas animal with the year on it to remember when it was given. There were two years that they could not find an animal with the year on it so they got these two guys. She asked me to embroider the year on them so they would not forget.

Well the moose was up first and I had to take his ear apart to get it into the machine. I didn't like this font in numbers as well after it was finished so I went ahead and changed the font on the reindeer's scarf. I like that font much more and of course the scarf was much easier to do than the moose ear.

She also asked me to embroider their names on their stockings. She loves purple and decorates her Christmas tree with purple and silver (or at least she did when we were college roommates). We of course did their names in purple and I think they turned out pretty good.

It is sort of hard to see the names from some angles because of the fluff but actually in this picture it isn't too bad. I hope that she likes how they turned out, they were more challenging than I thought they would be. Maybe because I am still new with my machine.

Hope you are enjoying some fireworks and a day off! I hope to get some things done around the house on my day off.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #72

2011-07-01T12:19:00.006-05:00

Like I have said before I don't usually love to buy novelty fabrics, you know those fabrics that are for holidays and with cutesy animals on them. I was at the fabric store a few weeks ago and they had these on sale and I thought, well I guess it isn't bad to have some of these on hand. So here are some for the Fourth of July weekend and some for "Christmas in July". Maybe it will make us feel cool on these HOT days. :)

Now that I have a boy I thought it would be great to have some Cars fabric on hand, this might just be perfect for his first birthday party as he was born in winter and he loves cars, not the movie but the real ones that drive down the street. If not I know so many boys that just love Cars the movie, this would make a cute blanket top.

The patriotic fabric I was thinking might be great to make something for my Father-in-law who was born on flag day or even to make some cute shirts for kids. I was going to work on that this weekend for the 4th but I am not sure I am going to get it done now that we have family in town and lots of fun planned for the holiday weekend.

Have a happy and safe Fourth of July!!!

Big Brother Big Sister Shirts

2011-06-29T09:11:00.029-05:00

A friend and great supporter of my items wanted to do a big brother and big sister shirt for her older kiddos in prep for baby #3 that was due to arrive any day. Really all I did here was help her cut out the big brother and big sister. The shirts turned out to be so cute! She cut out birds from my scrap fabric and sewed them on the two shirts and one for herself.

Here are two pictures from the photographer that she used (and also works for) showing the kids with their shirts and her with her shirt. On hers she put three birds, one for each child out of fabric matching the bird on their shirt.

If you notice there is a third bird and I do not have a picture of the third little bird shirt. He was born after this photo was taken and so I will have to follow up with a picture of that one later. You can learn more about this photographer HERE and read about the deal that they picked up for all of these photos HERE.

I can't wait to see how this new little bird completes this beautiful family!

Father's Day Shirts

2011-06-27T22:13:00.000-05:00

I was not sure what I was going to get my husband for Father's Day last weekend. I didn't think too much about it and then a friend of mine showed me a shirt like this but it said Grandpa est 2010. We were thinking this would be great for our husbands to celebrate Father's Day.

I went ahead and made this for my husband I thought it was especially fitting because it was his first Father's Day. Below is a closer view. I loved the way it turned out and so did my husband. He is not really a big gift giver no does he really love gifts but I think he really liked this one...he even took it off when eating food he normally gets on himself. I am so excited to see him wear it more often.

Instead of this shirt we made my friend's husband a "big daddy" shirt. He was commenting that he should have a shirt that said big daddy after he saw his kids with shirts that said big brother and big sister (you will see those soon). What a great idea! So I put this together for them and I actually saw him wearing it when we went to visit the new baby-always great to see someone loving something that you made.

Here is a closer view. I love this font...it looks even better on kids shirts.

Well it seems like we both hit it big this year with our Father's Day presents. Now to start thinking of what I can do next year. Maybe a coupon book for daddy with coupons for things that dad loves!

What did the dad you love get for Father's day?

New Fabric/New Find Friday #71

2011-06-24T11:48:00.004-05:00

I have been sending out a few packages lately (more on what is inside them in a few months) and needed to find some envelopes to send them in. I didn't want to use the ordinary brown ones and I saw on a website about how to make your own out of paper. That is when it hit me- I could use wallpaper to make the envelopes! And so my recycled, cool, simple envelopes were born.

I went down to my stash in the basement and picked out a few that I thought would be large enough to use for what I was sending. I wrapped the item in tissue, sewed up the sides and then put the item in the package. folded over the top and sewed up the top.

I did not use bubble wrap and wanted to see how these arrived at their destination. I heard back from both people saying that they arrived in good condition!! I even got a compliment from the woman at the Post Office! I can't wait to send some more items out in these homemade packages. For larger items I am thinking I might use two different pieces of wallpaper that coordinate -one for the front and one for the back.

I am pretty excited about these...oh the possibilities.