flower hair pins

Have you heard of Pick Your Plum? It's a site that sells a different crafty item daily for super cheap. The only catch is you have to get to it before it's sold out. A few months ago I came across a listing for hair pins with flowers. All I had to do was glue the flowers on to the hair pin. Perfect! These are super cute and were super cheap. I gave some of them to "my" YW for helping with a service activity. They were thrilled. I have a few left and am just needing an occasion to hand them out.

Flower Hair Pins

These beauties arrived in the mail after winning a giveaway. Yes, I enter giveaways all the time. You should too. I win some and it's sooo much fun getting stuff in the mail.

These are Circa 52 in organic cotton by Birch Fabrics. Super cute. Any ideas what to do with them?

And here's my son with a little craftiness of his own. He had to make a poster or display using 100 items for the celebration of being in school 100 days. He made a temple using legos and I used my new Silhouette to make the sign in the back. He picked the font, but I glued and cut. He was very proud of his project.

Halloween

I hope everyone had a fun, candy filled night! We had a fantastic time trick or treating and stayed out until 8:45! I'm sure some people were wondering why my kids were not in bed.

This year I was able to make costumes for my kiddos. My son wanted to be a ghost. I browsed the internet to find ideas for a ghost costume besides the sheet over the head deal. I used this spooky ghost costume as my inspiration and set out to make it awesome. Instead of using a sheet, I used two old white dress shirts. For the base layer I cut down the arms, cut out the neck, and seam ripped off the pocket. I ripped off the buttons and sewed the shirt closed, leaving a V opening at the top to make it easier getting on and off. I added a button and elastic to hold it closed.  I also cut off the bottom hem and made a few slits around the bottom. Next I cut strips of the second shirt and cheesecloth. I zigzag stitched two pieces of cheesecloth to one piece of shirt. I zigzagged each of the strips to the shirt until I was satisfied it was ghostly enough. I didn't want his dark shoes showing, so I made him some shoe covers out of white fleece. I got the idea from Tara.

My daughter said she wanted to be a butterfly and I thought, perfect! I'd saved some wings from a birthday party and had been meaning to make the tutu from Oliver + S: Little Things to Sew. I used pink, blue, 2 yellows, and purple tulle for the tutu and loved the way the colors played off each other. All I need to pick up was a white shirt to go with it. For the antenna, I glued a little ball to one end of a pipe cleaner. I then twisted the pipe cleaner around a head band.

I think their costumes were cute and they looked super cute in them!

Reusable Snack Bags

I know, I know, these have been out for a while, but for some reason I'm just finding them now. I think they are so cute and I love how it helps the environment plus my wallet! I spent one evening reading up on what type of fabric to use or not use. There were a lot of different views on what was safe and what wasn't. So I decided to try a plastic I knew was food safe. Ziploc. I wasn't sure how the plastic bag was going to sew, and am still unsure how long it will last attached to the fabric. (I'll keep you updated.) I used a sandwich size bag and used its measurements to decide how big to cut my outer cotton fabric. It's a little big just for snacks to send to school, but it was the only size plastic bag I had. I think I will make a few with both sides cotton since I only send dry food to school anyway.

My son sure liked it and couldn't wait to show it off to his dad. The outer fabric is something (I think Transportation collection) by Michael Miller. It was left over from James' birthday quilt when he turned 1. Has anyone else made snack bags? What fabrics do you use? I'd love to hear how you make them.

Spring Bow Tie

I've been wanting to make my son a tie for quite a while now. I've seen a few patterns, but haven't committed to anything yet. Now that Easter is almost here, I thought what better accessory is there than a tie (for boys anyway). And since he's loves the Doctor, I made it a bow tie, because after all, "bow ties are cool."

I found this quick and easy tutorial over at A Lemon Squeezy Home last night while searching for bow tie tutorials. I love that you don't have to tie it each time you wear it and a new neck piece can be easily installed when his neck grows.

Aren't polka dots fun?

I was hoping to make a bow tie to go with his striped Easter shirt, but didn't have any fabric I thought went really well. I have some solid light pink and dark pink fabric, but I'm thinking it needs a green. Instead, I whipped out some polka dot scraps so he'd have a bow tie to wear tonight while we watched our favorite show.

Final Days of the Celebration for Boys!

If you haven't checked out all of the amazing goodies posted by MADE and Made by Rae, I suggest you grab a drink and some snacks because you're going to be on your computer for a while! Celebrate the Boy is in its final days and I have one more post geared towards boys. I made this quilt for my son when he turned one. The plan was to make each of my kids a quilt on their first birthday. (Don't tell me daughter, she's 17 months and doesn't have one yet.) I found this fabric while in Oregon on a family vacation and loved it! The fabric is by Michael Miller. The different modes of transportation came as a panel in large and small versions. I fussy cut each to become the center of a block. The top was pieced using the Boys Toys pattern by Marinda Stewart, while the back was created by me (and my husband if you count him calculating the measurements. Isn't nice when you can get the men involved!?) 

I love the outer border.

Simple designs can be the best.

The pattern only used the larger blocks and I felt that it would be a waste not to use the smaller ones. I centered the left over large block and staggered the small blocks.

Quilted with a bubble motif.

This quilt was my fourth and I wanted something special for my little guy. I passed on stitching in the ditch and opted for a long arm! I found a fabulous lady in Pittsburg, CA who had a long arm machine in her garage, turned quilting studio. We picked a simple pattern so as to not take away from the large blocks. I love the bubbles and wish I would take the time to learn free motion quilting. It adds a whole new element to the quilt. The finished quilt measures approximately 45" x 42".

I hope you enjoyed the boy centered crafts I shared with you and are motivated to start making goodies for your little ones or yourself!

Boys Should Be Celebrated!

A few months ago I was doing a lot of sewing and it seemed as all of it was for my daughter. I didn't think my son really noticed until he asked what I was making for him! Oops. I guess they really do pay attention to what you're doing. I had been making dresses, so I wanted to make my son something he could wear as well. A vest was perfect! I found a pattern I liked and got started. This was my first go with a vest and some parts were definitely tricky. Okay, I didn't really understand them until I was reading them out loud for the 50th time to someone else. And oh, how nice it was when the light bulb turned on. The pattern only called for 3 button, but I thought 4 made it look nicer. I didn't add the pockets or make it reversible. This vest was made to wear to church, but since he looks so cute in it I will have to make a casual one too.  The pattern is from Jocole. The fabric is a polyester from Joann Fabrics. I have tons of the front gray left over. Perhaps I should make a skirt and we could match.

The size is a 4T

I really like the back fabric.

 

This is a pattern where you need to keep track of fabric direction. The stripes in the front and the slight crinkles in the back (can't see from the pics.) What boy projects have you done in the past? Any projects you feel don't receive enough attention?

Celebrate The Boy

I still haven't made it to the store to buy zippers for my current project, so I thought I would share some past projects. Over at MADE and Made By Rae, they are celebrating boys by hosting an all boy month.  Everything is geared towards boys, which I think is great. Boys need to be represented in the crafting world!

To start us off I'm showcasing a car cozy.  I saw this on Sew You Think You're Crafty. It was made by Jill of homemade by jill fame. I knew I had to make one for my son. I made it for him and his cousin two Christmases ago, working backwards from the finished dimensions Jill gave. She didn't have the tutorial finished when I made it, but you can find it here. The car cozy was really fun to make and didn't take that long. Both boys loved their cozy and it is a church favorite with mine.

I sewed the car, but glued the wheels. Sewing with curves is tough!

Cars all safe and cozy.

Running the roads.