Crafty Overload!!

Good morning!!!

I swear I'm on craft overload!!  With the wedding only 2 months away and the boys birthdays only 3 months away (their birthday's are the 17th and 18th of June) I have so many things to do!!!  I've been bouncing back and forth from my sewing machine to my desk where my modpodge is all set up waiting on me to use it. 

I even went thrifting last week and never got around to posting my finds!!  I'm going to my Mom's on the 31st so I'll be getting a break for a few days and I think it is overdue!!  She's going to take me to the Canton Trade days and I couldn't be more excited!!!  I've always wanted to go, but have never been able to afford the trip because it's so far from here, but my mom is only about an hour away so this is my chance!!!  I wanted to show you a few things I've been working on, keep in mind most of them are not finished and some are a rough draft of the finished project.  I have a tendency to try something before I decide if I want to actually continue on with it first, so I can see if I need to make any changes or if I even like it.  These are the things I have been working on for the boys birthdays............

First off, I followed this tutorial for the car caddy.  I was blog hoping one evening and my oldest son was sitting on my lap when I came across this tutorial and he got so excited I knew I had to bookmark it and come back to it later and give it a shot!!  Now let me explain something about my trial run, I learned a couple of things from it.

1.  How to sew on piping, this was my first time to use piping.  It was also my first time using my zipper foot for my machine!!

2.  I thought I should use interfacing on the turquoise corduroy since it wasn't as stiff as I thought it should be, but I was SOOOOOOOOO  very wrong since I used denim for the pockets!!!  It was so bulky that it was almost impossible to turn right side out!!!!

Now, I did purposely make the applique look a little sloppy since it is for a little boy.  On my second go around (which is not finished yet), the only thing I did was not use craft felt for the road so that I can wash it and I starched the material instead of using any type of stabilizer!!  Much, much better I must say!!!

This one is not finished either.  The explanation behind this one is, my Son's love fishing!!!  Every fishing toy I have bought them has broke within an hour of bringing it home and I'm so tired of waisting money on those cheap toys!!  I saw where someone had made something similar awhile back (can't remember where though) and it inspired me to make one for my boys.  I still have to make the pole for it and maybe a few more fish.  These are made of felt and have heavy duty magnets in their noses so that the boys can catch them with another magnet that will be attached to the pole somehow.

Do you remember this fishy sheet from this post????  I knew I would have plenty to make a quilt and a few other things :)  It worked perfectly for this project!!

This is the cape that I made for my oldest son.  I didn't follow any tutorials for this one, although I've seen them everywhere, it was so simple to make!!  My honey is a die hard Cleveland Browns fan and I'm a die hard Packers fan and seeing as how my team won the super bowl :)  I let him choose the colors for Landon's cape and these are the colors he chose!!  It was really plain with just the L appliqued on it so I used my sewing machine and added some of the decorative stitches around the edges.  Perfect, quick and simple gift for my little super hero!!!

Now let me show you what I need to get done for the wedding!!!

Those 2 fedora's need new hat bands so that they match what the boys will be wearing in the wedding and those 2 suspenders need to be made shorter so that they will fit the boys!!!  All 4 of those things only cost me $3 because the fedora's came from Burlington coat factory and were only $1 a piece and the suspenders were $.50 a piece at the thrift store!!!

I am working on making 2 of these ties smaller to fit my little guys and using the excess that I take off of them to make the hat bands for the fedora's.  All of the other projects I haven't managed to take photos of, but I will make sure that when I finally get around to it I'll share those with yall too!!!  So what have you been up to???  Until next time..........

Happy Crafting!!!

Some inspiration for everyone

Well, this morning I decided I would share some inspiration that I found out in the blogging world.  There are some really crafty people out there that inspire me and I thought yall might enjoy some inspiration as well. 

Now as some of you know I have 2 little boys, so because of this I love any craft projects that have to do with boys.  There aren't a whole lot of crafty things out there for boys so when I see one it inspires me instantly, which is why I had to share this Eddie cap from Mushroom Villagers.  Isn't it cute?  Who am I kidding isn't that little guy adorable?

This flower is truly beautiful, but I don't think I have the patience to even give it a try.  If you think you have the patience to try this you can find the full tutorial here.

Look at these great pinwheel coasters, aren't the just perfect?  I love them and I am on a coaster kick so I may have to give these a try and I will definetly follow this tutorial.

Ok, and last but definetly not least, this clock has to be one of the greatest teacher gifts I have ever seen.  This is on my to do list!!!  Just go on over here and make your kiddos teacher feel appreciated! I hope that yall feel inspired, I know I do!!  I know that after all the chores are don't I'm gonna get crafty.  So until next time............

Happy Crafting!!!

Security Envelopes

I love to recycle security envelopes because the inside of them is so pretty and there are so many cool things that you can do with them.  I was checking out some blogs I like to read and was going through some of their projects and I came acorss these security envelope napkin rings.  They are so cool I love them!!!  You should check out all of the other cool stuff she's made she's very talented!!

I hope yall had a great weekend!!  Until next time.....
Happy Crafting!!!

Christmas Gift ideas

I know it's October and I should be preparing for Halloween instead, but since we're moving soon I know that I will fall behind when it comes to all of my projects so I thought I would share a few things with ya'll tonight that I'm going to be making  for my boys and a few other people.  Some of these I've already made and some I have to get started on.  I hope ya'll enjoy, these aren't my tutorials and I haven't followed them all step by step some of them I've kinda done my own thing with and just used these tutorials as inspiration.

These crayon rolls are great and they're convenient for us as parents too because they can be carried in the diaper bag or your purse.  I did some tweaking to a few of mine for the older kids because my nieces love to color and prefer the 24 packs of crayons for more variety.  When I have the dimensions all figured out I will try to come up with a tutorial for the 24 count crayon roll, but in the mean while you should really go check out this tutorial it's so easy and fun to make.  It's also a great way to get rid or some or you scraps that you have laying around.

I didn't use this tutorial when I made these, but while I was doing a search for tutorials I found this one and I must say this is one of the best that I've found and the easiest to follow, check it out.  I actually made these for myself when I first made them and I ended up making a few for Christmas presents. 

This is one of my favorites so far because it's so simple and so easy to make and take along where ever you go just like the crayon rolls.  My boys love their cars and they tend to fight over who is going to play with which one.  I made a few tweeks to this tutorial because I added a pocket to keep the cars in and it still rolls up nicely for easy storage.  You should give this one a try and she even has a link to a girl version of the car mat, very cute!!!

Ok, this is one of the one's that I need to get started on so I can get it done in time.  I'm going to make it more like a barn, fire station or police department I think so it's more suitable for my boys.  She has a very detailed tutorial that seems easy enough to follow and once again it's another travel toy.  Are you starting to notice a theme with all of these tutorials........???  Anything to make traveling in the car easier on us and the kids I'm all for!!!

I hope ya'll have enjoyed these tutorials and I hope that they've inspired you and given you some ideas for Christmas!!

Happy Crafting!!!

Pink Tutorials

These are a few tutorials I found across the web and ofcourse sticking with my current theme, they are all pink!!!  Enjoy!!!

These are so pretty and not hard to make at all, and can you believe they are made out of coffee filters!!!  Go check them out I'm sure they will put a smile on anyone's face.

Are you looking for a new bag to make?  Well if so you should give this bias tote a try!!!  Her instructions are so easy to follow, I'm sure you could make several of these great totes before you even realized it.

This is super cute even though I don't own an Ipod I'm sure I could adapt this to fit other gadgets. Toaster pastry Ipod cozy








I hope ya'll enjoy these pink tutorials, I will be back with more pink stuff later.

Happy Crafting!!!

Tutorials, Tutorials and more Tutorials

Well it's been awhile since I posted some tutorials for you all so I figured it was about time.  I've been searching for awhile to find some easy sew tutorials that a novice sewer or even the most experienced sewer would enjoy.  I myself am a novice sewer.  I learned to sew years ago when I was little, but didn't pick it back up until a little while ago.  I started off by sewing pillows and things like that, I have since moved onto things that are a little more complicated and I've actually started sewing without paterns (a little brave I know).  I've learned through the whole sewing process that I have a photographic memory so I can see something I like and tear it apart in my mind and piece it back together so this is definetly a plus!!  I hope that y'all enjoy these tutorials that I've found.

Before I share this first tutorial I must tell you how much I LOVE vintage sheets, pillow cases, curtains and even clothes that I can rip apart and use again.  This tutorial is a wonderful apron made from a vintage pillow case......  SO awesome!!!  Give it a try and see how easy it is to construct.  This would be a great gift to almost any woman in your life!!  Oh and if you didn't want to use the snap style buttons you could use regular buttons, zippers or even velcro the possibilities are endles just use a little imagination and see what you can do to make it your own.

Now onto the next easy tutorial.  Since we are getting closer to halloween I thought this tutorial would be appropriate.  This is a simple bag to sew and you can also use the experience that you get from making this bag to make bags for different occasions as well.  I've been working on Christmas gifts already so this year all I'm making for halloween are costumes as I'm already overwhelmed with other projects, but I hope that y'all enjoy this tutorial and the final outcome. 

Ok now this tutorial isn't a sewing tutorial, but it is very cute.  When I see things like this I wish I had a little girl :(.  And this is super super easy and quick.

Well ladies that's all for today until I can get some batteries for my camera and take some photos of Bellas new wardrobe.

Happy Crafting!!!

A few for you

I figured since I haven't posted any tutorials in a few days I would go ahead and do that tonight while everyone's asleep.

I love flowers, you can do pretty much anything with flowers from embelishing scrapbooks to making cute accessories for clothes and so much more.  I was blog hopping the other day and came across a great blog called 17 tutles and she has some really cool stuff over there and these flowers were among all that great stuff. You should go and check her out and make some of these flowers for yourself.

Now, I'm not the biggest recycler there is, but I try to do as much as I can and not to mention it helps to save money on crafting supplies.  This project is awesome it would be great to put presents in or just to have around for everyday use for jewelry or craft supplies.

Ok, one more and then I'm off for the night.  I posted a no-sew flower tutorial awhile back and while searching for more tutorials to post for you all I came across this one.  These are so easy and so cute I hope you all enjoy. 

Happy Crafting!!

P.S. Did you all notice that I learned how to link the tutorials to certain words instead of having to post the whole www.... thing?  I'm so proud of myself :)

Sunday Update

Well, not quite as promised but I have a few things to show you.  I was pretty busy yesterday between cleaning and sewing.  I managed to make a few things one of them still needs his wings but other than that he's complete.

First I will start off with this vintage bird cage I bought at a Goodwill a little while back for only $2.00.  It needs a little bit of TLC, but I love it anyways.  I figured since it was going to be on display in my home it needed some little birds to go in it, and what better little birds than homemade ones.  The colors of the material that I made them out of are so bright and refreshing I love them.  The one with the blue back with touches of pink and white is the male bird (I know I know I sound like a little girl with a new baby doll) and his name is Max.  The one with the pink and yellow and blue back is the female and her name is Molly.  They are going to look so great when I get them perched in that cage I can hardly wait.

Next is this little flower pin I made out of material with squares and rectangles printed on it.  It reminds me of something from my childhood I just can't put my finger on what yet.  No I just need to find the perfect thing to pin it to. I also made a rose out of the left over petals that I had already sewed up and didn't need for my pin, but I forgot to take a better photo of it.

And finally I found a great tutorial while surffing the web yesterday for a little owl stuffed toy and decided I had to make one to sit on my desk.  He still needs his wings, I will be finishing him up this afternoon.  This is my version of him, but you can see her version when you follow the link below. 

http://melsownplace.blogspot.com/2009/05/owl-tutorial.html

I hope you've enjoyed all of these photos and projects and I hope you can make your own owl to sit on your desk or to even cuddle up with.

Happy Crafting!!

Saturday Morning

I've been working on several projects this week and I should probably use today to get some of them done.  Maybe soon I'll show you some of my very own tutorials, but until I can gather my nerves I'll post a few of my favorites off of the web.  When I finish my many projects I'll be sure to share them whith you all.

I'm gonna start off today with this tutorial.  I have a bunch of old spools of thread that belonged to my grandmother and I can't bring myself to throw them away because they were hers.  So I think I'm gonna have to do this when I actually find room for them.  http://www.designspongeonline.com/2010/06/diy-project-haylies-spool-hooks.html

We've all come across an ugly fram or mirror at one point that we thought there had to be something we could do with it.  Well this is a pretty good solution I think, and I have the perfect mirror that I think I'll use.  I need to add some inspiration to my craft area anyways. 

http://www.craftynest.com/2009/05/ugly-plastic-mirror-bulletin-board/

This is the perfect project to make before a road trip. You could use different scraps to make it more fun or even use it as inspiration for another project.    http://mygratitudeattitudes.blogspot.com/2010/05/fabric-tic-tac-toe-game-tutorial.html

A few tutorials for today

I've made some of these before myself, (and seeing as how I'm not quite ready to make any tutorials myself) I figured I would post this full tutorial.  These are photos of her flowers.  The link below is to the full tutorial.

http://www.ohmyhandmade.com/2010/what-we-know/tutorial-felt-flower-embellishments/

Aren't these the cutest things ever, I can think of so many things to do with these!! I'm going to have to give this a try and see how they turn out.  The photo belongs to the tutorial, here is the link. http://easymakesmehappy.blogspot.com/2010/07/6-petal-puff-stitch-flower.html

Sticking with the theme I seem to have started today, I figured I would link to this cute tutorial.  I remember when I was little we use to play with pipe cleaners.  I don't think we ever made anything this cute out of them though.

 http://www.makeandtakes.com/crafty-flowers-for-mothers-day 

No-sew-flowers with link to full tutorial

I really hope that this works because this will be my first attempt at linking something that I really like to my blog.  These are great no-sew-flowers from dana-made-it.com.  These are so cute and so easy to make, I made some to put in a cute little Milk Glass vase for my desk.  They make me smile everytime I look at them.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!!  The photo is part of her tutorial, aren't they cute?

http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/07/tutorial-no-sew-flowers.html