Material Girl

As expected, I haven't had much time for sewing in the weeks since baby N joined our family. I did squeeze in one little project for a Christmas gift. It was for my mom, a fabulous seamstress and quilter. I can't remember a time when there weren't stacks of fabric around her sewing machine. It has been something my dad has teased her about for years. There are those of us, however, that can completely understand the addiction.

Marie-Thérèse Gown GIVEAWAY!!!!

Marie-Thérèse Gown GIVEAWAY!!!!

This is the most amazing little dress. Someday I might attempt something like this. I could never ever give it away! I don't know how she does this, but I think you can see why this is one of my favorite blogs to follow.

Paper dolls for little fingers

This is an idea that I've been dying to try for a while now. A little background: I love paper dolls. My favorite are Dolly Dingle. I had a huge collection when I was a little girl. My sister and I spent hours cutting them out and playing with them. We each had a little yellow pencil box that we kept them in. When I saw some Dolly Dingle books on eBay I couldn't resist. Emma is still too little to manage the paper tabs and since these seem to be out of print, I came up with an idea for how she could enjoy them without their being destroyed. This is the result of my trial. I copied a set onto window cling and cut each outfit out, trimming off the tabs. The color isn't as vibrant, but is good enough. Then, I laminated the doll. The window cling dresses adhere perfectly to the lamination and to the glossy folder I am storing her in. Emma can stick and pull off the dresses and hats over and over. I have no idea if the color will begin to wear off after awhile. I guess we'll play with this set and see how it goes. A friend who saw this thought it would be cool on the inside of a car window while taking a longer trip. Great idea!

Activity Bag

Not much time or energy for all the projects I want to do these days... but I have managed to squeeze in one or two more little things. First is the Activity Bag. I think these are great for church, for longer doctor's office visits or even for road trips. Similar to Emma's preschool bag, we personalized a tote for her friend Morgan's birthday present. Then I made a crayon roll in coordinating fabric. These are so easy and so handy! (You know the box or ziploc baggie full of crayons will inevitably be dumped all over the floor.) Then we filled the bag with a princess coloring book, a few other coloring activities, notebook, flash cards, and other little toys. For an older girl I think paper dolls or lacing cards would be great too. I've already started a second crayon roll for Emma who had a hard time parting with it. It should be finished before she is home from the birthday party.

I've also been sorting through and getting clothes ready for new baby and realized I needed some more drawer space. I found a really inexpensive, narrow set of drawers at a yard sale (just perfect for a small corner or closet) and repainted it white and added a few decals to girlie it up. I have a lot to learn about refinishing furniture! This was my first ever attempt but it was fun to try on something that wasn't valuable.

Personalized tote for Emma

Big "E" little "e" what begins with "e"? Emma's starting preschool... E... E... E! (There are so many cute alphabet books, but Dr. Seuss is still my favorite!)


Emma is starting preschool this week and she needed a bag for school. I already had this pink canvas tote and I decided to embellish it with some ribbon and felt to make it special for her. She's been carrying it around since I finished it, so I guess she approves. With Emma, you really can't go wrong with pink and polkadots!

Applique detail.

Baby Rattle: Take Two

So I made a few adjustments to my pattern and made up another version of my baby rattle. I like how this one turned out even better.

Handmade Baby Rattle

Made from flannel and felt scraps, she's asleep on one side, and awake on the other. When you shake her you hear a little rattle from muffled jingle bells sewed inside. I've been wanting to try something like this for awhile. I've never done much embroidery, so don't look too closely. I did enjoy making her though. I'm in the mood for baby things.

Reversible Pillow Case Tote

I found these great pillowcases at a thrift shop and I loved the print so much I knew I could make something out of them. There was another set in a sage color, and I could picture the two together in a bag. I've never sewed a bag before and I kind of made it up as I went along. I lined everything with interfacing because the fabric was kind of thin. The finished bag seems pretty sturdy and I even love that the fabric is used and really soft. There are a few things I will do differently if I make another one... mainly I will make the pleats go the other direction than I did on the floral side. I've never done this before, but I made my own little label based on this blog because I liked that other crafters "signed" their work this way. The grand total for materials was about $3.55 so I'm feeling pretty thrifty.

Thanks Electrasol

I finished using all the dishwashing tablets that came in this tin and thought it would make a handy storage container. (I've been trying to organize my craft supplies.) Emma and I got out some paper scraps and the Mod Podge and turned it into the perfect storage container for my glue sticks.

My Quiet Book

My mom made the greatest things for me when I was little. I have such great memories of them now. One of my favorites was a felt quiet book that she made for us to look at during church. Last year I signed up to make a quiet book for my girls with a group from church. It was taking a lot of time, and the truth is, I didn't really like it. It wasn't even half as cool as the one my mom made. So, I trashed that one and decided I was going to design my own. Well, it has been over a year in the making (working on it a little here and there) but it is finished at last! Unlike my mom, however, I cheated and used a number of pre-made things on some of the pages. I think it turned out pretty cute though and hopefully is sturdy enough to make it through a few kids... we'll see about that. In case it doesn't, I decided to make a record of it.

The animals were these little ribbon bookmarks I found. You can pull their feet and they slide down into the boat. The dove fits in the pocket or in the sky with velcro.

The farm animals are foam stickers, double thick. They fit in the barn (the door is a big pocket) or you can arrange them around the farm on different velcro spots.

I found the terry cloth duck pouch and sewed foam numbers into plastic circles to make the bubbles. The bubbles also fit inside the "rubber ducky".

I "felted" an old wool sweater and used it for this notebook pocket and the pencil pouch. The best part was that the zipper was already part of the sweater so this was the easiest page of all.

Aren't the ladybug and flower buttons the cutest things? I crocheted the flowers and they button on or off around the little flower buttons. You can match the flowers to their background colors, or mix the colors to "grow your garden" any way you want. The ladybugs don't come off (even though Ava sure has tried) but are just there to look cute.

This page is really similar to one in the book my mom made with a worm that lives in an apple. She made her worm out of felt but this one is just different sizes of pompoms strung together... he is really soft though.

This is E's favorite page. You can turn the wheel at the top of the page to change the weather outside, and then pick an outfit for bear. I found the foam bear shapes, and made the outfits. They attach to bear with magnet strips.

I'll probably just carry it in our ginormous diaper bag, but after I had finished it I decided to add a handle down the side so it could be easily carried on its own if I wanted.

Window Makeover

When we first moved into our house I put these curtains up in my kitchen, and have disliked them ever since. I've also never liked the cheap plastic blinds that were there. They were too long for the window and too heavy to lift up to let more light into the kitchen. The other day at the fabric store while I was getting a zipper for Emma's dress, I found a pretty colored brocade fabric in the remnant bin and it inspired an idea for a new valance for my kitchen window. I found another remnant of the cream colored fabric that I thought would look really nice in contrast to the dark brocade. I kind of made up the design as I went along, and I like how it turned out so much better than what was there before. The plastic blinds are history, there is room on the windowsill to display some of my ceramics, and just having more light in my kitchen every day lifts my spirits. I even found a small rug that matches.

One funny thing about my whole makeover project was Jeff's reaction. The first thing he said was, "skulls?" I was pretty confused until he pointed out that from where he was standing, a part of the pattern in the brocade looked like a skull to him and the lighter color crossing behind it like crossbones. I would never have seen it. Crazy! Now that I've said this you all are going to notice it too. Oh well, I still really like it much better and will just try to forget about the skull thing. He assures me that he does like it and thinks it looks a lot nicer than the previous curtains too. He has to say that right?

Child's Apron

At Walmart there is a little bin in the craft/fabric section that has end pieces of fabric at a discount. Emma loves to dig through it while I shop and pick out her favorite pieces. That is where her blankie came from. It was a scrap that she carried around for days and I finally pieced and edged it and made it into a blanket. Months ago, before Christmas when I was busy with the quilt she found this cute green floral fabric. I've been meaning to do something with it for awhile and finally got my inspiration to make a pretty apron for my little chef when I found this cute pink ruffle – also in the remnant bin. Emma seemed to like it enough that she didn't want to stop playing to pose for a photo. It reminded me of going through my mom's fabric scraps and making things for my dolls. Ava helped by taking a little nap, and Emma helped by handing me pins (pokeys) and giving me directions. I was really impressed that she sat and watched me the whole time. It made for a fun Saturday afternoon.