My Goodwill Find

So while I've been switching everything up in our house I decided to make half of our closet into my craft area...Not ideal, but not too bad either. At the moment I was taking up 3/4 of our closet, so I went through and gave a ton up to goodwill. I had a huge black garbage bag full of clothes and shoes to donate and after I dropped it off, decided to wander in for a little. I walked in and found the perfect sewing table to fit in my closet. Woohoo! The guy said he had brought it in only 10 min before I got there. And it was half off day so it was only $20. Score! So I loaded it up and took it home. My husband and I were trying to move it in the house and it was ridiculously heavy. So, we looked in the drawers and lo and behold they were full of stuff! Me being a secret hoarder was in heaven looking through everything. From vintage lace, to old patterns and newsletters from the 40's, loads of elastic, and all sorts of dressmaker supplies. There were literally hundreds of pins and 6 pincushions. I put most of the stuff right back in a box for goodwill but there were definitely some treasures that I am ecstatic about! Here are some pictures. Oh and my lace trim supply was getting out of hand so I decided to organize them. All I did was take some cardboard boxes and cut out holders for them, wrapped my lace around and secured it with a pin. Now they're all nice and neatly organized :)

I'm thinking this needs to be a sunny yellow...thoughts?

Paint Stick Projects

Hey everyone...It's been awhile...I've been trying to reorganize my house. It's been so chaotic and I'm trying to figure out the best way for our house to function. Half the time I decide where things will go and be organized and change my mind and have to start all over again. So, maybe someday I'll be done, and then I'll change my mind or have another baby HA! Anyways, I always have about a bajillion projects going on at once and here is one of the many I've had half done for months. I finally took the 15 minutes last night to finish it. Why is it that it takes 3 months to finish a project that will only take 15 minutes??? I have a love affair with Paint stick stirrers...They are free and they have so many possibilities! What's not to love?? Here is my favorite project I've used them for so far. AND the best part?? It only cost me 99 cents :) You know that's my kind of project... Here it goes:

1. Go to your local Home Depot or Lowes and beg for some {5 Gallon} Paint stirrers. They may look at you like your crazy or they may be super helpful like guy at our Home Depot down the street. Most the time they're happy to give you however many you need. For this project I used 7, with an 8 1/2 x 11 metal sheet. (OR if you're embarassed to ask you can buy some at wal-mart I believe) Go home and cut them to whatever size you want and give them a fresh coat of paint. I chose Glidden's antique white (I love that they will give out samples periodically, and they last forever!) *of course you can change the dimensions all you want to make it larger or smaller. I just love that you can buy pre-cut magnet board for $1!

2. After I let my paint dry, I sanded and glazed each stick like so...


3. Next, I hot glued in between each paint stick and then put hot glue allll over the back of the magnet sheet and stuck that on. I figure between all that glue it should hold right?? If you're nervous maybe use some gorilla glue instead?


4. Then I felt like it needed some jazzing up (haha sometimes I use words that sound like an 80 yr old woman. Not that that's a bad thing...) So, I decided to add some fabric around it. This is great because it uses all those scraps I save! I LOVE when I actually find uses for them. So, I started out with one long strip of the blue and white striped fabric. I hand stitched and pulled until I got the rosette look I was going for. Then glued the flower down with the end of the fabric running along the edge. At the corner I just folded and hot glued until I got the look I wanted.


5. Keep gluing your fabric down until you run out. Which in my case was too early. OOPS! I probably should have measured, but if you know me at all you know I don't measure anything. So instead of worrying about the huge space of missing fabric, I added some more flowers for fun :)


6. My husband came home and I proudly showed him my magnet board. He kindly asked why I stopped the fabric so early? haha I told him I had a plan...I did it on purpose?? Of course the answer is always a ruffle in my house so I added a ruffle and I actually like it better! Adds character right?


7. Here's the finished product! Even if I didn't have all of the stuff on hand I think this would only cost about $3. I love adding things to my home for next to nothing that serve a purpose.

Ruffly Onesie Dress

We've had a lot of cute babies being born the last couple months, so I've had the chance to make a lot of fun presents for them :) Here is another little gift, that isn't expensive and is very easy to make. So maybe I'm such procrastinator that half the time I remember the shower the morning of. And maybe I make presents up until the minute before I leave...I'm not the only one right?? Anyways here is a little outfit that will look adorable on any baby, including my own (Why do I always make other kids cute stuff while my own children look a little like orphans?? Sad. My next tutorial will be a little something I made for my own child. Mark my words. Or don't.)

1. Start out by buying a plain onesie, and some cute fabric. I chose jersey knit because it's super comfy for those newborns. This tutorial is for 18 month onesies, so measure accordingly.Cut your jersey strips 5-5.5 inches by 4 times the width of your onesie. You want to make sure that once you ruffle the fabric, it will be long enough to wrap all the way around.

2.Ruffle your strips of jersey by setting your machine on the highest length of stitch possible. Mine is a 6. I also adjusted the tension and my jersey ruffled up nicely by itself.

3. Once your strips are ruffled, check to make sure they are the right length. Then, sew it, right sides together. Now you should have a ruffled tube of fabric.

4. Pin your ruffles down onto the onesie where you want them placed. *Tip: I like the ruffles to dip a little lower in the back to accomadate for the diapers...And cute little buns :)

5.Sew your ruffles on with a zig-zag stitch, and pair it with a matching bow and Taggie Blanket and you have the perfect little shower gift!

Taggie Blanket Tutorial

Hey all! I've been making these little blankets for all my friends having babies lately and have had a lot of people ask how to make them. So, here we go! (Let's just keep pretending that these aren't the easiest things in the world to make mmmkay??)

1. Cut out 4 squares of coordinating fabric, Sew 2 and 2 together.


2.Sew the two strips together, right sides together.


3. Cut out a backing fabric the same size as your new square.


4. Gather some scraps of ribbon that look cute with you're fabric you've chosen


5.Pin your ribbon tags onto your blanket


6. Put your backing fabric, face down, then sew right sides together. Leave about a two inch opening, but make sure that all ribbons are sewn in :)


7. Turn you're blanket inside out and topstitch all the way around. And you're done! Perfect little tag blanket to keep those chubby little fingers interested :)

Fabric Buggy Shower Invites

I saw these invitations and decided I'd make them when I got the chance...Well, I helped throw my friend's shower and thought it was the perfect time :) What's fun about these is I used up all of my fun girly scraps that I saved because I didn't want them to go to waste, but really thought I'd never find a use for... The other good thing about these is they are really easy & cheap! All you do is cut a circle, then cut a quarter out to make the buggie. Zig-zag stitch on, and make the "legs". Add buttons or pearls and viola! You're done :)

**Edited to Add** I've had a couple people email/ask what the saying is on the side of the invites so I figured I'd put it on just in case anyone else is interested?

"Tiny fingers, tiny toes,

litle itty-bitty clothes,

Dresses, dolls, hair & curls,

guess what...it's a girl!!"

Happy 4th of July!

My cute friend Laura brought be the cutest 4th of July treat the other day and I decided to copy her and send it to some friends.I know I'm the worst procrastinator ever, but here are my little 4th of July treats. I made these for my visiting teachees (except for two are out of town and I didn't drop them by in time...) But these could be cute cupcake toppers or Thank you treats. I first started out with a 8 1/2 by 11 piece of paper and cut it in half.

Then, fan fold it, just like we did in my Spring Banner Here. I did about 1/2 inch folds. But play around with it until you get something you like. Then fold your fan in half. Hot glue each end together to make your Pinwheel? (what are these even called??)

Next, Cut a straw, skewer, dowel or whatever you want to size like so:

Put a big glob of hot glue on the back side to hold the fans together as well as to hold your straw on. (I don't want to talk about the fact that I'm using straws, because that's all I had and I didn't want to go to the store...)


Now hot glue the "Happy 4th of July" Printable to the "pinwheel"


Fill small jars with red and blue candies, I chose peanut m&ms because they are delicious. AND I might have cheated and used other colors on the bottom because I covered them with scrapbook paper and fabric scraps. (Remember, I didn't want to go to the store?)


Attach a little note and deliver to a friend!


Now you have a fun little gift for 4th of July. You have about 2 days to actually use this, but there have got to be other procrastinators out there like me, right?? Please tell me your one of them! :) I included my Fourth of July Printable if anyone would like to use it! Please let me know if I did this wrong because this would be my first time trying this...I'm pretty sure you can right click and save it to your computer...Easy Peasy. I hope everyone has a great long weekend!!

Ruffly Apron Tutorial

I know graduation had come and gone but I figured I'd post this how-to anyways. I decided for my SIL & sister (sorry Katelyn yours will be ready for you when you come back!) I'd make aprons for their graduation gifts this year. I figured college was when I had to learn how to cook so they might as well do it in style while their learning, yes? Although graduation is over, I feel like aprons are a good present for every occasion. Who wouldn't want a fun apron? You can't ever have too many... I completely made this up, so it's for sure not perfect. AND I'm sure there is a much better way to make this. But here is my thought process through making this in the off chance someone else wants to make one too :). I hope it makes sense!

Step 1

-Cut a square of fabric (I folded mine over so it would be thicker) So, fold your fabric and cut a 14 x 14 square with the fold at the top.

Step 2

-Cut a second piece that is at least 22 in. Fold in half and measure where 14 in hits and then cut a diagonal line straight up. (Like I said I made this up as I went so my lines & measurements are a little ridiculous. But, as I make my other one I'm not sure if I'd change anything.)

Step 3

-Next, I worked on the ruffles. I decided I wanted 3 ruffles for this apron, so I laid out my fabrics and decided about how much of the bottom half I wanted used up and in what order I wanted them to go. My pre-ruffle strips were about 4.5in x 36 in.

-Take your strips and make a basic ruffle. (run a basting stitch on the highest length your machine will go, mine is a 6. Then pull on the strings and ruffle as much as you want to fit on the apron appropriately)

Step 4

-Find a purple crayon and some scrap paper and free hand a pocket ha! just kidding but that's seriously what I did...(I'm sure if you'd like a more exact pocket you could probably google a template)

Step 5

-Lay out your apron body, ruffles, and pocket and play around until you get something you like.

-Decide what order you want the ruffles, and the layout for your pocket. (After this pic I decided I wanted the pocket on the bottom half.)

Step 6

-For the waistband (for lack of a better term) Cut 2 pieces that are 14 in x 2.5 in (obviously you can change any of these measurements as long as you keep the basic square consistant)

-Sew the ends of the two pieces, right sides together making a tube.

-Now you're ready to assemble the body. Sew the top piece to the waistband, right sides together and then connect the bottom piece. You should now have one big apron body.

Step 7

-This is where I stopped taking my measurements...so sorry. But I know the ties and straps were 2.5 in x something? Ha. I just used up the longest portion of my fabric, but you can make them as long as your heart desires!

-Sew the ties & straps right sides together and end it with a diagonal strip to make it pointed. Turn it inside out and iron! (this was a good point to take everything I had been working on and give it a good ironing, which I usually skip because I'm lazy.)

-Sew the straps and Ties on the the top and sides of your apron.

Step 8

-Cut out your pocket, following your pattern and some trim if you'd like (I used white ric-racbut the possibilities are endless)

-Sew the ruffles and pocket where you want them (I actually pinned on this project and it helped a ton. Normally I don't pin because, once again, I'm lazy but I would recommend it here.)

*AND DONE!* I know this seems like a lot of steps but it was verrry easy. I sewed the straps in the middle of the top and I would definitely sew them at the ends next time but I love how it turned out!

*Pair this with a super cute cookbook and you have the perfect gift!

(I didn't get this cookbook but I wish I did, it's adorable and has a fabulous name :) )

I hope this tutorial made sense, but if you have any questions please feel free to ask me! And if anyone attempts to make one let me know, I'd love to see!