Homemade Easter Skirts

Hi all, happy Wednesday.  I hope you are having a great week.  We are having a pretty good spring break here.  Especially since my oldest said "This is the best spring break ever"  and that was before we went to the dollar store to get kites.  So glad to hear that we don't have to do much to be happy!!!  Anyhow, in continuing with the Easter theme this week, I have some homemade Easter outfits.  Well, half home-made!!

I made these starboard skits all by myself!!!  It is the first thing I have made that can actually be worn.  I was so excited when the came out so good.  This skirt was made by following this Simple Simon and Company tutorial, no pattern needed.  Here are some close ups of the skirts.

So these were definitely the least expensive Easter outfits we have ever had.  The fabric was $8.00 per yard and I only needed half a yard for each skirt.  The shirts are actually boys dress shirts from Target that were on sale BOGO, so only $15 for the shirts.  The shoes we already had.  So the total for two Easter outfits was a whopping $23.00.  Not to bad!!!  
Well I hope you enjoyed today's post.  I know the kids didn't, because it was freezing this morning taking those photos.  But now we have Easter pics to send to the family!!!  Have a great evening.  

Easter Home Decor

Hi all, hope you are having a fantastic start to the week.  I have been spending some time with my sewing machine lately, and can't wait to share some of those projects.  Also this weekend was so great weather wise that we spent the entire weekend outside.  That was really fun.  Oh and we have another big girl in the house.  My four year old got off her training wheels with one push this weekend.  So proud of her but a little sad to see my baby growing up.  
Anyhow, I did make some Easter decor crafts last week.  I meant to make an entire mantel display, but didn't get a hold of any burlap this week.  So I only made two framed pieces.  I think that they came out really cute though.  

Both pieces were made with my Silhouette Cameo.  The bunny at the top was cut from some fat quarter chevron fabric and then appliquéd onto some white fabric.  I used some white yarn for the tail.  The subway are was made using the print and cut feature.  I then created some stitching wholes on the paper and used embroidery floss to create the outline.  
That's all I have for now, I hope to be back later this week with some Easter sewing that I was able to do.  Have a great week.

Decorated Birthday Frame

Hi all Happy Wednesday.  Hope the week is treating you well.  I have gotten back to being a little crafty the last couple nights.  Guess the spring weather has kind of inspired me.  So around these parts it is Spring Fling time and with that comes Silent Auctions.  My daughters school is having one as well as one of my girlfriends' kids.  Although I am a little jealous of hers because it is for the adults only!!!  Anyways, I wanted to contribute to the silent auctions in some way and came up with the idea of donating my crafting services.  I am going to make 10 personalized birthday invites in any theme and some matching paraphernalia to go with it.  A little work on my part but it benefits the kids at school.  I had to come up with a way to showcase my items and decided to make a keepsake birthday frame that the recipient could use to hold a photo after the party is over.  

I found this cute frame complete with chevron mat at Michael's on clearance for $6.00.  I them added the birthday banner, title, and balloons to the frame.  I also made the description with the print and cut feature of my Silhouette.  Sorry about the weird camera angle, it is hard taking pictures of things with a reflective glass surface.  Anyhow, that's all I have for you today, hope you get a chance to craft some stuff of your own today.  

Quick Sewing Journal

Hi all, hope you are having a great Monday.  We are doing great because we finally have some nice weather.  The weekend was miserable with the rain and snow.  As I am typing this I am sitting outside watching the kids ride bikes.   Today I have a really quick project to share with you.  Recently I have started sewing, and I need a way to keep track of my projects and the math associated with them.  So I made this really quick journal.  

It was super quick.  I used a stencil with some white paint and Heidi Swapp color shine to tint the paint.  The scissors and thread spool were cut with my Silhouette Cameo.  Click the links to find them in the online store.  The I heart sewing saying can also be found in the store.  I then just adhered everything to the cover of the notebook.  Easy Peesy!!!!  That's all I have for you today hope you have a great evening.  

Just a litte Leprechaun Gift

Happy hump day everyone.  Hope your week is going great.  It seems that here we are on our way to a warm up, yeah.  So today all I have for you is a quick little Leprechaun gift.  Monday I showed you that tray of cupcakes that I had made for the kids, and adults.  Well I can't keep that many cupcakes around or else they will end up on my backside if you know what I mean.  Therefore I must gift them, and I tried to make it cute.

I found this cute cupcake box in the Silhouette store here.  I changed it up a bit by adding the shamrock to the band.  These were easy to assemble and make a really cute gift.  
That's all I have today, hope you have a great day.

Happy St. Patrick's Day - T-shirts and Bloopers

Good evening everyone.  Hope you have had a fantastically green St. Patrick's Day.  We had a pretty good day here except for the snow!!!!  Really sick of the snow!!!  Anyway, we made it a fun day, except for the cleaning.  Because the girls were supposed to go to school today, I made them some shirts that would keep them from getting pinched.  My youngest was especially scared of being pinched this year, so I went with that and made her a "Pinch Proof" t-shirt.  

I used my Silhouette to cut out this shamrock from some fabric that I had purchased last year.  I then appliquéd it onto the t-shirt and used the embroidery feature on my sewing machine to add the Pinch Proof text.  

For this t-shirt I used the same technique as above with the shamrock.  I then made a stencil with some freezer paper and my Silhouette for the words.  I coated the stencil with some Fabri-Tac and then sprinkled some green fabric glitter.  Super simple, but we will see if the glitter lasts through the wash.  I was trying to avoid using the E6000 glue because it stinks so bad.

I also made some simple hair bows with some some leftover green ribbon and some strips of the shamrock fabric.  

Here are my cuties.  I am not sure why Corianne always looks like she is about to cry in these photos, I really don't make her take the photos!!!

See now she looks happy.  Rainbow cupcakes will make anyone happy and smiley right.  So that's all I have for today, hope you have a great week and it is warm where you are.  I am going to leave you with a blooper photo of what happens when you leave your embroidery machine unattended.  

Her t-shirt went from long sleeve to 3/4 sleeve because of this!!!!  

Did you know Girl Scout Cookies are Here!!!

Hi all, how's the week going?  My week has gotten drastically better since I don't feel sick anymore.  I even went to the gym this morning.  Yeah!!!  So are you sick of Girl Scout Cookies yet?  I hope not because we have a booth sale coming up this weekend.  It is one of the last weekends of the season, I am just hoping not to many people in our area gave up sweets for lent!.  
So with that I had to make some cute and practical stuff for our booth.  The first being a table cloth.  We are a Daisy troop so we don't have any supplies for the troop as of yet.  I decided that I would make a table cloth that we can use in the coming years and can be re-used once my younger daughter joins the Scouts.  

Please ignore my horrible ironing skills.  I suck at it and hate it all at the same time.  So to make this table cloth I went to Jo-ann's and bought 2 yards of blue cotton canvas for $5.00.  I then spent $10 on some flocked heat transfer vinyl from Silhouette.  I actually bought it on Amazon, so it was shipped for free.  The next thing I did was go to the Girl Scout's website and download their logo.  I then opened the logo in the designer edition of Silhouette studio and used the trace function to make a cut file of the logo.  I will make a tutorial of this soon, I always forget when I am in the middle of a project.  Anyhow, I then cut the logo, and the text and ironed then onto the blue table cloth that I had hemmed.  One thing I did learn:  The instructions on the vinyl say to place a towel between the vinyl and the iron.  I tried this and it did not work, or I wasn't patient enough, so I just put the iron directly on the vinyl.  It came out fine, and the plastic transfer material didn't melt.  
So the next few things I did for the booth are straight from Pinterest, and not too much creativity on my part.  I am not very creative when I am sick!!!.  Here is my Pinterest page with the Girl Scout stuff, so you can find the sources.  

I made some lanyards for the girls, so they could easily calculate how much the customers owe.

I made this cute table topper with some scrapbook paper, vinyl and a dollar store tin.  

Here is what the booth should look like during our sale.

Last but not least, I made some door hangers to let the people we sold door-to-door know that their cookies had arrived.  This helped a ton with the delivery, because we didn't have to stop by people's houses over and over.  They just called and let us know when they would be home.  Also my daughter made thank-you cards to pass out with her orders.  Hopefully this will get us some return customers.
So that is all I have for today.  Hope you have a great week, and wish us luck selling cookies!!!

A Valentine's Post Lost: Fox T-shirts made with Silhouette

Hi all, whew it has been a crazy couple weeks.  Between being sick, girls scout cookies, and other general craziness I haven't been able to keep up with my posting.  So I am back and going to really and try to keep up with my posting.  I hope to also feel better soon, can't stand being sick. 
So anyway today I have what was supposed to be my last post in my Valentine's installment.  I made some super fun shirts for the girls to wear on Valentine's day.  They both are really into "What Does the Fox Say", so I thought it would be cute to make them some Fox t-shirts.  Here they are:

Aren't these just adorable.  I used my Cameo and some super cute chevron fabric from Hobby Lobby to cut out the Cute Fox.  Click the link to take you to the shape in the online store.  I then used my sewing and embroidery machine to applique the fox to the shirt and embroider "What the Fox Says" on the bottom.  The girls love them and continue to wear them all the time.  Next time I do a fabric project with the Cameo, I will try to make a tutorial video to show you how it's done.  

That's all I have for today, hope you have a great day.  

Valentine's Week Day 4 - Easy Valentine's Tea Towels

Hi all, I am back again!!!  I am getting caught up on Valentines Week with this Day 4 post.  I wanted to show you how I have come to love to decorate for any holiday : Making Tea Towels for the kitchen.  You can buy a pack of three white linen Tea Towels from Target for about $4.  Then you just let your creativity take hold.  Here are the towels that I created for Valentine's Day ... 

So I realize that the pictures are kind of hard to see, that's what last minute picture taking gets me.  Anyway the top tea towel was super simple and fast to make.  I used my new sewing and embroidery machine to embroider the cupid and word Love onto the towel.  It was fast and easy and didn't take much effort on my part.  
The second towel I actually made from scratch.  I had some leftover fabric, well a bunch of leftover, from some kids shirts that I will share with you tomorrow.  I actually hemmed the towel all by myself.  It was super simple, but I was nervous, as this is the first sewing project I have made.  After I made the towel, I used my Cameo and some heat transfer vinyl to add the designs on the towel.  
The third towel was a bit more complicated, but I think worth the effort.  I took all my different Valentine's ribbon and arranged them in a heart pattern.  I then used the sewing machine to sew the ribbon to the towel.  This took a little bit of effort, and it is by no means perfect when you see it up close.  But it was good practice for sewing straight lines and using pins.  
That's it, I hope you have a fabulous day.  I will be back tomorrow with my final post for Valentine's Week.  

Valentine's Week Day 3: Easy Mantel Decor

Hi all hope your week is going well.  We are currently digging out from over a foot a snow, with more to come tonight.  It is fun though when you have this much snow!!!  So I missed yesterday because I had to take care of our Troops cookie delivery.  It was a very busy day ...  and might I mention that it is not fun being on a diet when there 450 boxes of Girl Scout cookies in your living room.  Anyway ... today I wanted to share my Mantel Decorations for Valentines Day.  One of the things I wanted to concentrate my crafting on this year was home decor.  Especially for Holidays.  So here is what I created ... 

I really love Burlap, but wasn't quite sure what to do with it.  I ran across a roll of this burlap ribbon and decided that I could stencil it.  When one of my friends was over for a play date we decided to cut the roll in half and each make a banner or table runner for Valentine's Day.  I used my Cameo to cut some stencils out of Freezer paper.  We then used the stencils with some paint and foam brushes to paint the designs onto the burlap.  I think they came out pretty cute.  
I also decided to create the framed art works.  Here is what they each look like ... 

I used my Cameo and the print and cut feature to create these posters.  To add some visual interest, I cut some parts of each of the words out of double sided sticker paper and added glitter to them.  It was simple project, but I really love how they add and anchor point to the mantel.  
That's all I have for now, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!!!

Valentine's Week Day 2: Kids Classroom Valentine's

Hi everyone, as promised I am back for day two of my Valentine's crafts week.  Today I wanted to share with you the Valentine's that the girls and I created for their classroom exchanges.  They had definite opinions on what they wanted.  
First I will start with my youngest.  She saw me perusing Pinterest one day and saw some Owl valentines that she really wanted.  Here is the version that we created ... 

To make these, I used the Set of four Owl shapes from the Silhouette online store.  I then placed a heart in the center so that it would be cut out of the front of the shape.  To get the the candy in the center of the heart, I used a snack sized zip lock bag.  I then had to sew a smaller pouch to attach to the front of the card.  I then attached the back to the front and made sure to squeeze the candy through the heart.  It was a little intensive with the sewing but otherwise they were easy to do.  My daughter had a blast putting the eyes and noses on and signing them.  

My oldest daughter is into the same things every other school aged child.  For that reason she chose Fox Valentines.  I admit I did have fun designing these ones ... 

I wanted to use hearts to make the base shape.  I then used the tail and ears from a cute fox I found in the Silhouette shape store.  It is hard to see but the pattern on the card frame is a heart pattern.  Of course, the sentiment on the front of the card says "What does the Fox Say", and the back "Happy Valentines Day".  She had a good time assembling them and signing them as well.  

That is all for today.  I hope your week is going well!!

Valentine's Week - Day 1: Wedding Card

Happy Monday all!!  And I am back.  I have taken a break from the blog for a while I know.  I haven't stopped crafting, just been taking some time off to get things in order around the home.  So I thought I would kick off my return with a week of Valentine's crafts.  I have been very busy working on outfitting the kids with their Valentine's and some home decor decorations for "Holiday".  
So for today, I don't have a Valentine's item per say but it does have to do with Love.  I needed to make a wedding card to go with a gift being delivered.  Here it is ...

I chose go with a black and white color scheme because the wedding was black tie.  I used the cuttlebug to emboss the card frame with an embellished fleur-de-lis pattern.  I then chose to make a flag shape with some black paper with the same pattern on it.  I cut the label shape with the Cameo.  I then used the Cameo and a black glitter sketch pen to write the sentiments on both the front and inside of the card.  
Well that is all I have for you today.  I will be back tomorrow with some real Valentine's crafts.  Thanks for stopping by.  

Happy New Year

Hi all, wanted to wish you a Happy New Year!!!!  I always love the New Year holiday.  It is a sort of personal fresh start where anything is possible.  Not that I have very big resolutions this year!!!  I haven't even really though about it.  Maybe after my kids go back to school on Monday I can sit down and jot some things down.  Kinda ready for the kids to get back to school, if you can't tell.
So for New Year's Eve we had a family that we are close with over for a sleep over.  We had four adults and four kids running around acting crazy!!!  So to spruce up the house for the party, I made a couple New Year's inspired decorations.  
First I made a banner, for some reason no party seems complete without a banner!!

I used Lori Whitlock's banner shape from the Silhouette store for the shapes and letters.  The patterned paper is from Heidi Swapp's holiday collection.  The letters where cut from Silhouette double sided adhesive and then covered with some Martha Stewart gold glitter.  

Second, I made some table decor for the food table.  

These are some 3-D top hats.  Interestingly, I couldn't find just a 3D top hat in the Silhouette Store.  I had to purchase the Snowman Top Hat with Face file and remove the snowman face.  I then added the 2014 from the Lori Whitlock photo props file, some feathers and ribbon.
Finally, I made some photo props.  Wanted to have an excuse to take a fun group photo to remember the night by.  

I used Lori Whitlock's New Years Eve photo prop files found in the Silhouette store.  Just used a variety of different papers and colors to cut the props.  I then glued a skewer to the left side and wrapped it with some black washi tape.  They were super fun and the kids especially had a blast with them.

Here we all are with the fun props.  So that is all I have for you today.  I hope you have a fabulous New Year and accomplish all your goals and dreams.