Valentine's Tunic for My Sweetheart

As promised to all 4 of my followers (love you lots!!!), I have made another dress with the Charlotte pattern (from Mama Stellato) I used previously here. And here is Annelise in her dress:

It all started with this valentine ticket fabric from where else? Hobby Lobby, my favorite! I'm pretty sure I don't approve of the ticket that says "hottie" for my 14 month old, but I'll just have to ignore that one. It's kind of like playing "Where's Waldo" with the tickets.

 I made a couple of changes to the original pattern for this dress. I shortened the hem about 1 1/2 inches to make it more of a tunic than a dress.

Instead of sewing a fabric sash, I used a wide ribbon. I cut the ends at an angle and heat sealed the edges. Side note: do you know about heat sealing ribbon? I just found out about it last year. You simply pass the cut edge of ribbon through a flame (candle, lighter, etc) a couple of times. Not enough to catch it on fire, just enough to slightly melt the edge and keep it from fraying.

And my final change to the pattern: I cut the sleeves about 1/2" longer, then made a casing and inserted elastic.

 

Here's one more shot of Annelise. She was so over having her picture taken, but I couldn't resist showing you her amazingly gorgeous blue eyes. If you look up on the edge of the hutch (top left corner of picture), you can see where I put her pacifier. That's probably the real reason for this expression. Oh well, I think she's still pretty darn cute!

Coming up next: Valentine's Hair Clippies

Happy crafting,
Julie

Life a Little Easier (and Cuter!)

So after seeing several posts about making items to go in your purse, I decided there were two that I needed/wanted. And I have plenty of fabric that is either left over from another project or I can't remember what I bought it for. I bought these two coordinating fabrics from Joann's several years ago.

The first item I made is a keyring wristlet that I saw here. This was just what I needed. I carry my purse and/or diaper bag on my left shoulder, and I carry Annelise with my left arm. So if I don't already have my keys out of my purse when I pick her up, they are impossible to get to. Then, when I put her in the car seat, if I'm wearing something without pockets, I have to toss them somewhere to use both hands. (Besides, with 2 key fobs, 4 keys, and about 5 key tags, they don't usually fit in my pocket anyway.) So I thought the wristlet would solve my "problem." It's been really handy. Here's the one I made:

I pretty much followed the Craftaholics Anonymous tutorial exactly. The only change I made was my fabric choice. Since I used a lightweight fabric, I just fused interfacing to my strip of fabric before folding and sewing it. And I didn't add an embellishment. The only thing I had to buy for this project was a D-ring. I got a pack of four for about $1.75.

The next item I saw was a fabric checkbook cover. Since I rarely carry my checkbook, I decided to make a calendar cover. I know most people these days keep a calendar on their computer or phone, but I still enjoy writing something down on paper every now and then. I got a 2 year calendar from Hobby Lobby (did you just hear angels singing like I did?) for a whopping $1.49.

Again, I followed the tutorial almost exactly. I had to adjust my measurements just a bit since my calendar was slightly shorter than a checkbook. And I decided to make it a little cuter by adding a pleated strip across the front. The coordinating fabric is on the inside and really isn't seen, so the pleated detail brings a little of the 2nd pattern to the outside.

Outside:

Inside:

With the calendar:

All closed up:

Everybody loves getting things for free, and I think less than $4 for two cute crafts is close enough to free for me!

Next up: A Valentine's top for Annelise. It's finished and so cute, but I'm going to try to get her to model better for me than the last time. Keep your fingers crossed!

Happy crafting,
Julie

My daughter has a sippy cup, and she knows how to throw it!

So if you've read ALL 4 of my posts so far, you have probably figured out that I don't necessarily have original ideas, I mostly get inspiration from other sources and make it my own. My next inspiration came from several sources. I first saw a sippy cup leash here on Make It and Love It (used on a stroller). Since we don't often use a sippy in the stroller, I didn't think we needed one. But my daughter has recently become a pro at chunking her sippy from the high chair after EVERY sip. The dog has learned to run when she picks it up! When I saw on facebook that a couple of friends had made them for their kids, I realized we did need one after all. But we would use ours on the high chair. So here it is:

You only need a 9" piece of elastic and a 28" long ribbon. (See the Make It and Love It tutorial for full instructions.) I already had both items on hand, so this was another free craft! Yea for free!!! It probably took me 10 minutes to make!

I looped the ribbon through the slat on the side of the high chair.

And when she chunks it, it doesn't hit the floor! (Or the dog!)

Now don't let this initial interest on her part fool you. When we used the leash for the first time the next morning, it made her MAD. Three days later, we are still trying to get her used to it. We'll keep trying!

At least the living room looked deceptively clean from that angle! Next up, a couple of cute and functional items for my purse.

Julie

Charlotte Dress Update

 So here, as promised, is a picture of Annelise in the Charlotte Dress (see earlier post here) after church yesterday. Unfortunately, we had one of those nights, and she only had 4 1/2 hours of sleep on Saturday night. When I got her dressed for church, we were running late and there was no time for a photo session. On the way home, my sleep-deprived little girl fell asleep hard and stayed asleep for a much-needed 1 1/2 hours. When she woke up - cranky, mind you - she couldn't understand why Mommy wanted to take pictures of her instead of feeding her lunch. Bribing her with goldfish was the only way I could even get her to stand up! Sometimes you take what you can get.



When I tried the dress on her on Saturday, I realized the sleeve length was the tiniest bit too short. So I improvised and added a ruffle (about 1") to the sleeve ends. Now there's a bit of growing room, and I think it makes the dress even cuter.

 I wanted to make some kind of hair clip to match, and I found these buttons at Wal-Mart for about $1.25. The colors match perfectly! I had some brown ribbon, but didn't have any inspiration for a bow. I decided I wanted to use the dress fabric, and thought some sort of ruffle around the button would be cute. I've never made a yo-yo, so I just googled "making yo-yos" and found some simple instructions.

Here's the finished hair clip. I made the yo-yo about 2" wide, threaded ribbon through the button holes, and fired up the glue gun. I glued the button to the yo-yo, glued a bit of felt to the bottom, glued ribbon around an alligator clip, then glued that to the felt.


I went to Hobby Lobby today (favorite store ever!) and bought more fabric, of course. Hopefully I'll have another super cute something to show you soon.

Until next time,
Julie

Free (to me) Valentine's Decor

I was inspired to make some Valentine's framed decor after seeing this post yesterday at less cake {more frosting} - a genius title, might I say. The original item was color printed and put in an 8x10 frame. I wanted to make something right away and didn't want to go out to shop for supplies, so I decided to see what I already had on hand to use.

I didn't have a spare 8x10 frame, but I found one that's 5x7. I looked through my scrapbooking supplies to see what papers I already had that could be used for Valentine's Day. Since I was only going to need small pieces, I checked my little scrap pieces. I was so excited to find enough pieces of my very first favorite paper collection: Bohemia from My Minds Eye, circa 2006.

Here are the supplies I gathered:

 *5x7 frame

*1 piece of Kraft cardstock

*scraps of 6 patterned papers

*heart paper punch (mine is from Hobby Lobby)

--I have no idea why this picture flipped on it's side. It was the right way when I uploaded it.--

Trim your Kraft cardstock to 5x7. Punch a heart out of each of your 6 papers.

Arrange the hearts as desired and adhere.

Place your cute new decor in the frame...

...and display! This is the table in our entry hall. My husband made the awesome table! I bought the cloth in Colmar, France, the birthplace of my great grandfather (we went in 2007). The small heart dish is from Austin, and has bluebonnets on it - our state flower.

A close up of the shelf. I think the hearts look cute. And they aren't too holiday-specific. I might just leave them out all the time! (Our 1st family portrait was taken in November.)

I had intended to add some letter stickers to the craft, but only had room for 6 hearts. I think if I had found an 8x10 frame, I might have still used 6 hearts, but left a little room between the two rows for a single word, like "love." Maybe next time.

Julie

The Charlotte Dress

I came across Mama Stellato's blog a couple of weeks ago. She has some really cute patterns for girl's dresses and tops, and sells them on her Etsy page. Each pattern is $6.00 or 2 for $10.00. Your purchase is emailed to you as a PDF file. You get sizes 6M-5T all in one pattern and can print the pattern pieces for each size you want to cut. How awesome to get a pattern you can use over and over for 4-5 years!

I fell in love with the Charlotte Dress, and knew I wanted to make it for Annelise (13M). I had some adorable corduroy from Hobby Lobby that I bought a few weeks ago. At the time, I didn't have a pattern in mind, but bought it anyway (on sale, of course!) The pattern was simple to cut out, and the instructions are very clear and easy to follow. I made the dress in about 2 hours (only slightly interrupted by my daughter). Now you should know I learned to sew from patterns about 20 years ago (yikes, I'm old!) and consider myself an experienced sewer. I would consider this pattern "easy", and a beginner with some basic sewing skills should be able to make it.

Here are a couple of pics of Annelise's dress:

FRONT:

BACK:

I plan for Annelise to wear the dress this Sunday to church, so I'll try to get a pic of her wearing it then.

I can't wait to make more dresses with this pattern. I can imagine changing it up a bit for each dress to give them each a different look. You could use ribbon for the sash instead of fabric. Shorten the sleeves (I think elbow-length sleeves with a ruffle would be adorable). Shorten the dress to make a shirt/tunic. Add a contrast fabric band to the end of the sleeves and skirt. Sew some decorative buttons onto the front of the sash or around the neckline. The possibilities are endless.

I also bought the Lovely Dress pattern, and hope to make it soon, as well. When I have a chance, of course!

Happy crafting!
Julie

Here Goes Something

Okay, so I'm brand new to blogging. And if anyone actually comes and reads this, let me give this little disclaimer. This blog will likely not be updated frequently at all. I am a SAHM to a 13 mo. old daughter. I have always loved crafting of many varieties. I like sewing, scrapbooking, cross-stitch, crochet, and making things for my home. I tend to do things in spurts. I will get on a sewing kick and make several items over the span of a month. Then after a few weeks of no crafting at all, I will break out the scrapbooking stuff, spread it out everywhere, and tackle a project. (Of course, that was before children!!!)

Since I've been home with my daughter for a year now, I've become obsessed with crafting blogs. Many of my favorites have just announced that they've been blogging for a year, so apparently I'm not too far behind the trend. There are so many good ideas and creative people out there. I'm not necessarily one of those creative people, but I do love getting inspiration and adapting an idea to my needs/family/lifestyle/decor.

What I intend to do here is simply post the crafts I make and give credit to those who inspired the idea. I don't have as much crafting time as I would like. I've seen one craft blog whose title is something like "While He Was Napping." I would love to have a couple of uninterrupted hours of crafting time every day. But alas, lately my into-everything daughter only naps 45 minutes on a good day. (Sigh!) So I just get a little done here and there.

If for some reason somebody in blogland finds me here, I hope you'll peek in on my now and then to see if I've found a few spare minutes to make something - and a few more minutes to blog about it!

And if I don't have a new craft, maybe I'll have a funny story to tell about my daughter.

Julie