Christmas Craft Fever

I have been very busy lately making things for the Christmas Craft shows that are coming up.. The first show I'm doing is tomorrow. Here are some of the things that I am going to be selling

I made a candy cane snuggle pod. I think it would look so cute on a little one for Christmas.

I've been making tons of Crayon Rolls

My new favorite creation is these Tic Tac Toe games for kids....or for adults if they are bored too.

The games are enclosed in a plastic pocket, so everything is contained neatly, and you can take it along where ever you want.

All the pieces are hand stitched felt. The game board itself is felt as well so they stay where you put them. So fun, if I do say so myself. I will be selling the games for $15, so if you are interested in one for a Christmas gift or something just let me know. They are a little time consuming to make with all the hand stitching so the sooner the better :)

I have a good reason for not posting for more than a month now. *wink, wink* I am 17 weeks pregnant. Due the end of April. So that has put a little wrench in my energy and creativity levels. First trimester is out of the way and I'm feeling much better now, so hopefully I will be back to my regular crafty self.

Le Grand Crayon Roll

A friend of mine has a little boy in Parent Pre-school. They had been asked to bring 24 crayons to class to work with. The standard crayon rolls I make have 16 crayons in them, so she asked me if I could make her one that held 24. With a few measurements and altering of the pattern, I made up these cute crayon rolls for her and a couple other ladies in the class.
I really like the material I used on the top one. It's actually material that I bought for my older daughter's layered skirt. Which I have yet to do lol. Add it to the list eh!

I found some fun boy themed material and made up this one for her son. I didn't want to use ribbon for the closure, because i think it's a little too girly, so I used some elastic and a button. I think it turned out really well, don't you?

I will be adding these to my shop and they can be purchased for $15, that includes crayons.

New Fall Colors

I have some new colors for Snuggle Pods that I was able to find, however they aren't colors I can normally get so these are while supplies last :) If you would like a snuggle pod in one of these colors for your little one I wouldn't wait.

So Precious

I had to share these pictures that were taken by Rebecca Cooper using one of my snuggle pods. The baby is just a newborn so the standard size is a little big on her, but I think she doesn't mind one bit.
Makes me wish there was one big enough for me to curl up in :)

Thanks for taking these Rebecca :)

Sew Happy and More!!

One of my cousins asked me to make her some crayon rolls for her nieces. So I pulled out my stuff and whipped these ones up. They are so fun, and have princess crayons too :)

This same cousin also happens to be pregnant, but not for much longer ;) So I made her one of my snuggle pods to swaddle her new little one in. Nothing could be better, they are so soft and totally washable.

I made two of the blue patterned crayon roll so I have an extra one that is for sale if anyone is interested. They are $10 ea. Send me an email if you are interested.

Ruffle Skirt

Yesterday was a holiday and my hubby didn't have to work, yay! Normally we would do something as a family outdoors, however, it was rainy :( So I decided to work on a project that I have been thinking about for a while now. I pulled out my fabric and made a cute ruffle skirt for my 4 year old using this tutorial It worked out quite well allthough I think I will make a few changes to the sizes of material when I make one for my older daughter.

I wanted the under ruffle to show a little more so I think I will make those pieces a little longer.

I added some decorative stitching and some cute ricrac to the ends to give it a little something extra. :)

I hope you like it and if you try this skirt I would love to see your version.

Little Hoot

I have a friend who likes owls. We were going to get together and so I thought I would make her a little something special. You see, she lives very far away, so I thought she would like a little owl to keep her company :) He was fairly easy to make and so cute if I say so myself.
After I made him however, my girls started asking me if I could make them all sorts of little animals. I can tell it's going to be a long summer. LOL

Happy Canada Day

Sorry this post is a little late....The celebrations around July 1st are rather time consuming. I hope you all had a splendid holiday, and hopefully some good BBQ's.
I took a picture of the gigantic flag at our town hall while we were going on a wagon ride.

I made some of these flowers to decorate the food tables with. I liked the way they turned out. My husband asked if they were fireworks.....I guess that could work too ;)

I made this wood flag at a class a friend did. I'm ashamed to admit I finished it the night before the first :o We couldn't find a compressor to nail the pieces on with the brad nailer. So my hubby suggested just using wood glue, and that's what we did.

I have some fun crocheting projects I'm working on.....I'll be sharing them later on this week.

Dragonfly

I just can't stop making these adorable dragonfly bows. I think they are so cute and I think I may even like them better than the butterflies.......Hmmm, maybe I better make some more butterflies and then decide ;) They are very cute don't you think??? Now I just need some more ribbon to make more cute bows :)

Garden Party

I decided to do a garden party theme for my daughter's party. Here are some of the pictures from her day. For the decorations I made some balloon flowers and hung them from the ceiling in the living room and dining room. I also decorated with butterflies on the patio door and pendant light above our table.

For the craft we put together these fun little flower pens.

I just wrapped floral tape around the pen and the stem of the silk flower. The girls loved them.

I made these little bug clippies to go in the treat bags for each girl.

I found these fun felt house treat bags at the dollar store and filled them with the goodies. As well each girl took a pinwheel home too.
I finally decided on a ladybug cake, and had a friend help me make up the icing. (I've never done red before) I think it turned out quite cute. The spots are junior mints, the eyes are green gobstoppers, the legs and antennae are black nibs cut in half and I used oreo crumbs over chocolate icing for the head and body to make it black.

One of the girls commented that it was the best birthday party she had ever been to, so I think it was a hit :)

Canada Day Bows

I sat down to make some bows to give the girls who are coming to Sadie's party, and needless to say I didn't really get them done. I was distracted by making these. I haven't put them on the alligator clip yet because I didn't have any. I had to go to a friends to get some from her stash. Thanks Heather :) First I made these
And Then I made these to go in my girls hair for the Canada Day festivities. The 'blue ribbon' looking ones happened by total accident, I was going for a flower looking bow and this is what I ended up with. However, I totally think they are cute so it was a good accident. :)

Now I have to actually get the bows done I was going to do. I'm going to attempt some bugs, I'll show you how they turn out when i'm done.

Feelin a Little Patriotic

It's starting to creep up on me. Canada Day, that is. In the small town in which I live, this day is a 'big deal'. We have tons of community stuff going on around that day. I'm not going to bore you with the list of events. My kids favorite though is the parade. I bought a new countryfied (is that even a word?) hat to wear at said parade. I love having a little fun once in a while ;)

I think that I was feeling a little of the patriotic vibe when I made this card. It however is a south of the border vibe slightly based on the colors. Nonetheless, it still made me start to anticipate the coming events.

Flowers on the Brain

It is my oldest daughter's 7th birthday on June 13th. I have decided to go with a garden party theme. Now I'm trying to think of all the details to make it the "perfect" birthday party. Cuz that's what we do right? Go all super mom crazy trying to throw our kids the best birthday's ever.......Or maybe this is just me, hmmm. Anyways, it should be fun and different from princesses, which I think I will just have to die rather than throw another princess party. She's turning 7, she should be over princesses by now right? I sure hope so. I will post some pictures of some of the decorations after the party. In the mean time, I am open to any suggestions you may have regarding the decorations, or games and all that good stuff. ;)
For now I leave you with a flowery card. And I do hope you have a wonderful day.

Peace........

........This is something that is hard to come by at the moment, LOL. Summer is almost here, it stays lighter much later and it seems the kids will never go to sleep at night. Which makes it harder for me to find time to create. On the flip side it is beautiful outside so if they will play outside "nicely" without tormenting each other too much, I should be able to squeeze some creative time in somewhere. It was by such means that I was able to create this card the other day. I hope you enjoy it and don't have to feel the sorrow of losing someone.

If however you have lost someone dear to you then I hope someone will make you a special card from their heart, to help ease that pain.

Spring has Sprung

And with spring comes new babies. I have so many friends who are pregnant right now or have just had a beautiful little baby. I made this set as a gift for one of my good friends, who just had an adorable little girl last week.

The butterfly is one of the patterns out of the Amy Butler sewing book I reviewed in this post. It came out ok I thought. I'm pretty sure subsequent butterflies will be a little more polished though. I added bells in each of the wings so it makes some fun noise too. It's fun trying out new patterns, I really enjoyed it. I'm trying to get up the courage to try one of the bags. :)

Ribbons and Bows

A friend invited me over the other day to make bows. I was excited because I have looked at lots of stuff on the internet about how to make your own bows, however I'm a visual learner and it helps me out a ton to see things done right in front of me. It was lots of fun to get out and visit with other women, while making some cute little bows for my girls hair. Here is what I got accomplished.

My oldest is really into blue right now, so I thought these would be very fitting for her. No girly pink, but a pattern that still gives it femininity.

Then I had some fun creating this cute butterfly. It had a learning curve that took a little time to figure out, but once I got that it wasn't so bad. I really wanna make some adorable little ladybugs, but I need to source out some red ribbon with black polka dots. Anyone have any suggestions of online sources for some inexpensive ribbon?

Pajamas Take Two

I made a set of pajamas for my son for Christmas. It was pretty much the first time working with children's clothes. I'm not sure if you remember the lesson I learned with pattern matching. It was funny to me when it happened. I'm so used to trying to get the most use out of a sheet of paper with as little waste as possible. Well when I was cutting out the material I adopted the same theory. Little did I know that you needed to watch the pattern of the images on the material and keep them going the same way.



I give you Exhibit A - Note how some of the penguins are upside down and others are upright. Hahahaha. I know what you are thinking. I totally should have known better. Ah Well. That's what I have to say. It's not like my son will care one bit, right?

I made another pair for him and this is how they turned out. I will have you note that I did everything right this time. :) The stripes are going the same way. I must be getting the hang of sewing clothing Eh! Isn't he just a little cutie. He points to each ball saying "see ball?" over and over.

Similar......Yet Different

Spring has sprung around here for me and I couldn't be more pleased. I have planted my seedlings to start growing indoors, and I can't wait to get my garden planted outside. I put together two cards that were very bright and fun. They use similar concepts and paper but are different. I like doing this sometimes because it's nice for my brain to only have to come up with one type of card and then tweak it a little so that it's different. Thinking of You

and a Thank you card.

I can't wait to sample some real cherries soon. Delish!

Birthday gift for a Princess

My niece had a birthday a little while back, and I made her a crayon roll to go with a coloring book. I've been really trying hard to make handmade gifts for birthday parties this year. I guess that the coloring book isn't handmade, but we will just look the other way on that one, because there is no way any child would want to color in my drawings lol. I found some really cute princess crayons that I thought would be very fitting for a little princess to color with as well.
I saw a crayon roll made by someone else on the web, forgive me I can't remember who :( But she hid the seam lines and I just love the way it looks. So shamelessly I copied, I admit it. Genius whoever she is cuz it makes it look so finished and beautiful.

I love making these, they are so fun, and easy too. Perfect to take with you anywhere to keep little hands busy.

Baby Legs Tutorial

I know there are lots of tutorials out there on the web for these, but I thought I would just add mine to the mix lol. I am one who is all about simplicity, so mine is a little different from the one you find on flickr. So here goes...Find a sock that is for an adult and comes to just below the knee. I got these at AE on clearance for $2.50 nice eh! Cut off the toe portion and the heel like in the picture.

You should then have two pieces that look like this.

Turn the smaller piece wrong sides together to form the cuff.

Insert that piece into the larger tube with right sides together. (see picture)
Pin in a few places around to hold things together properly.

Sew around those edges using an edge finishing stitch.

Pull the sock right side out and you are done. Voila! Easy Peasy, just what I like.

Here's a shot of Ellie wearing them, don't they look cute. My girls wear them when they are playing dress up, but want to keep their legs warm as well. They also wear them under their nightgowns for the same purpose.

I made another pair that I stuck on Vanden, he thought they were great, Dad however, didn't think they were that awesome :)

I however think they accentuate his chubby little thighs quite perfectly. ;)

Back in The Saddle Again

I haven't quite found a place for everything in my new craft room. My hubby put up some shelves in the closet and I used some crates stacked for my material and yarn. I hope to get it totally organized soon. Then I will show you a picture. I have a card to share with you that I made the other day. It was quite fun. I got the inspiration from Heather's blog (click the Ustamp button on my sidebar to find her)

The stamp set is from Rachelle Anne Miller and the Papers are SU. I used watercolor paper to stamp the image on with Staz-on Black ink and colored her in using my ink pads and waterbrush. The ricrac ribbon is CTMH. The sentiment is a rub-on.

I hope you enjoy her she made me feel very much like spring.

Give Away at Yummy Mummy

My good friend Tisha is an amazing seamstress. She's who I call when I have no idea what i'm doing, need advice on my projects, and for a good chat. She has just set up a website www.yuumymummymaternity.ca and has an awesome sale going on as well as a give away. You can click the button on my sidebar or go to http://iamayummymummy.blogspot.com for details of the give away.

Long time comin'

I should be packing.....but I deemed it necessary to take a break :) I'm sorry that I've been neglecting to post anything as of late. Life has been way too busy. I promise to be much better after we've moved and settled in to the new house. Here are some of the items that I have completed in the last month or so. This is my nephew, isn't he just adorable. He loves to be snuggled in at night but always ends up kicking his blankets off. My sister asked if I could make him a snuggle pod so that he would stay warm and snuggled in at night. I thought it would be so fun to make one for him as he just turned 1. Seeing him in it made me giggle, i'm used to little babies being snuggled up in them. He thinks it's pretty cool and she says that he now stays snug and warm at night. I had fun playing with the stripes too.

I finally got around to making myself a pair of slippers. I decided to make them a mary-jane style with a strap. They turned out great I think and they keep my feet nice and warm. I may work on some kids sizes too, now to find cute buttons to go on the straps. :)

I've had these cute little buttons stashed away for so long now. I think they fit quite nicely with my new slippers, don't you think?

I had a gift certificate to amazon and I scored some very cool books. I Can't wait to plunge in and make some of the beautiful projects in them. Here's my take on the books, just so you know what to expect if you get them. We'll call it a book review.....lol.

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Bend the Rules Sewing (Amy Karol) - you can find her blog at http://angrychicken.typepad.com
If you are anything like me and you don't always follow all the instructions to the letter then this may be a good book for you. She gives you a brief rundown of sewing instuctions and tips which I thought was great. I learned a thing or two, who am I kidding I learned tons. The projects are fun, whimsical, and not too in depth. The patterns needed for the 30 projects are templates in the back of the book that you photocopy increasing the size of some. Generally though most projects are based on squares or rectangles that can just be measured and cut from the fabric.

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Seams to Me (Anna Maria Horner) - you can find Anna at http://annamariahorner.blogspot.com I love her fabrics and her playful nature. You will see this in her book. She gives you an in depth run through of all things sewing in the beginning. Which I thought was great, since I still consider myself a newborn to sewing. Her projects are fun, eye-catching, and stylish. I can't wait to make the Bo-Peep skirt for my girls, so cute, and the bags, Ohhhhh the bags (It's a fettish of mine, bags, purses and pouches, oh my) I'm just looking for the right fabric to make some of these. 24 patterns are all in an envelope pouch at the back, no copying and up-sizing, which is awesome.

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Amy Butler's Little Stiches for Little ones - You can find her at http://amybutlerdesign.com Who doesn't love Amy Butler's fabrics, I mean come one they are all the rage these days. So calming, beautiful, and elegant. Her book gets right in to the projects with a few tips here and there. The projects are perfect for those expecting a little one or if you have little ones underfoot. It gives you projects for everything you may want to have for your baby, yet stylishly done. She also rates the projects based on skill level. These handmade beauties will be cherished and passed down from generation to generation, i'm sure of it. 20 patterns are in a pocket on the front cover of the book, once again no re-sizing needed here.

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My dear husband surprised me one day and told me that I could finally purchase the camera I've been wanting for so long, pretty much since we got married 7.5 years ago. I now have the Nikon D90 in my possesion. It's awesome, I love it. I kinda felt guilty buying that much camera, but the thing that sealed the deal is that it will shoot HD quality video. The salesman said that they didn't have camcorders in stock that could compare to the quality this thing will do. I was beaming. We've been debating getting a new camcorder for a while now. We have the type that uses tapes, but I wanted to be able to put them on my computer. I still have some reading to do in the manual yet. I just discovered today however that the pictures it takes are of such a high quality it will take blogger forever to upload them :( Anyone have this problem and know how to solve it? I wanted to post a picture of our new house, but can't. I'm sure I can "dumb down" the quality a bit if I know that i'm not going to enlarge the picture or anything. Hmmmm just thinking outloud here. Anyone have any ideas?