Creative Corner

Ice Cream Birthday Cake

2010-08-29T21:02:00.002-04:00

Taylor is a tough customer. He wanted an ice cream cake. Not just a cake with a layer of ice cream in it, which I've done before. Nope. He wanted an all ice-cream cake because he doesn't like cake.

Well, it took a while. But I finally got it done. Basically, I bought a tub of chocolate ice cream, and one of strawberry revel, which is his favorite. But because I wanted the cake to be soft, and not hard...I couldn't just cut the ice cream out of the tub and put it on the platter. So, I got out my kitchenaid, and mixed it up until it was at soft-serve state. I had to make this cake layer by layer. Just adding soft-serve ice cream to the platter, quickly shape it and then put it into the freezer. This took all day to slowly get the cake to be the right shape. Then for the frosting. I wanted to use strawberry revel, but by mixing that up it would make it PINK...not very boyish...so I had to add some food coloring to it. I came up with yellow, because I wasn't sure what green and pink would turn into. So, although this cake isn't as beautiful as some of the others I've made, it was very very tasty for a summer birthday! I finished off the borders with whipped topping and added sprinkles.

Placemat Handbags

2010-08-29T20:54:00.003-04:00

Something that I learned how to make a few years ago, and which I've really enjoyed making ever since is placemat handbags. They are a really fun project for beginners, and make for some really fun gifts. You can make them into themes, for example a "Spa bag" filled with lotions, bath salts, facial masks, etc., or a "keep in touch" bag with stationary, pens, markers, stickers, envelopes...the possibilities go on and on. They are really fun.

You start out by watching the sales in local department and discount stores like WalMart, Target, Kohls, etc....and by them when they're cheap! As I'm typing right now, I have a stack of them in my craft room just ready to be made. I also watch for sales on ribbon and silk flowers...because that's what I like to use to make them cute.

So, you lay out your placemat, and decide if you're going to add anything to the front as embellishment, and add it on before you start any sewing. Then, you fold it in half so that the outside fabric is turned to the inside. Sew along each side edge, leaving the top open.

Sometimes, I sew the ribbon handles on before I sew the side seams, it just depends on what style I'm going to do. Once you have the side seams finished, you lay them out so that the bottom corner lies flat and sew straight across the bottom. This makes it so that the bag will have a definite "bottom," it will sit upright all by itself and you can easily place books, or other items into it. It just gives it a more finished look on the sides.

On this particular bag, I added a little ribbon bow just for an added accent.

And this one I made a little more bright with a silk flower accent.

Matthew's Birthday Cake

2010-08-29T20:46:00.002-04:00

For Matthew, I went bright colors this year. He's three, and two of his favorite colors are yellow and blue. I had a lot of fun on his cake using different border patterns.

Yellow Cake with Fudge Frosting

2010-08-29T20:40:00.002-04:00

No really, this frosting isn't "sugary" chocolate, it's that really good "cocoa" tasting chocolate that just melts in your mouth. I made this cake for a meeting at our church...the ladies liked it. Hey, it was chocolate, how could you NOT like it?

I really like using fresh flowers on cakes. Flowers make a cake with the simplest borders look beautiful and finished. And...they're extremely easy.

Valentine's Day Jello Cake

2010-08-29T20:28:00.003-04:00

Yum. That's all there is to say about a jello cake! Start with a white cake mix, and bake it according to directions. Let the cake cool a few minutes and then poke it all over with a fork. Mix up your favorite flavor/color of jello, and then pour it over the cake. Don't worry! It WON'T make the cake soggy. Put the cake into the fridge and let it set. Then, just before you're ready to serve it, place cake pan for just a few seconds into a sink of hot water, and then you can put it onto your serving platter. The hot water releases the jello so the cake comes clean out of the pan. I "frost" my jello cakes with cool whip, and then add fun things like flowers, sprinkles, or sugar glitter to make it pretty.

For Valentine's Day this year, I made a white cake with strawberry jello. For a little added fun, the filling is cool whip mixed with sliced fresh strawberries. Yummmm....so good. I used one of my Valentine's Day roses to make it beautiful and tada! Cake!

Caution: There will NOT be any leftovers.

Lainah's 1st Birthday Cake

2010-08-29T20:18:00.003-04:00

Here is a picture of Lainah's 1st Birthday Cake.
Lainah's personal cake is the one with the candle on it...the other one is for her guests to eat.

She demolished it...it didn't stay pretty for long! On these cakes I used silk flowers, but I prefer real ones for the nice scent they add. A little lace along the bottom of the cake is an easy way to dress up a cake border too...we're all about easy here!

Rachel's Baptism Dress

2010-08-29T17:23:00.003-04:00

I decided even before we were blessed with our first baby girl, that I wanted to make their blessing dresses and their baptism dresses. These are such significant events in their lives, I wanted to make it a little more special by making them something with my own hands, rather than going and buying something from the store. So, although I'm sure I could have found dresses that were more elaborately and more professionally made, I hope that my girls will look at their dresses and know that their mother made them with her own hands out of her great love for them.

For Rachey's dress, I wanted to make it "girly cute," meaning that I wanted it fancy and a little more formal than a regular church dress, but I also didn't want it to look like a little white prom dress. I still wanted to capture her cute little 8 year old personality and let her stay a little girl. So that was my objective with this one, make it beautiful, and white, and special, but keep it simple and little-girly cute.

On the bodice, I added little ribbon embellishments and flowers to dress up the simple design. The fabric I chose, was a nice simple white that has a little sheen to it, but not a lot. The fabric is machine washable, which I had to look very hard to find, but I wanted her to be able to wear it to church afterwards, and not just on her baptism day!

I dressed up the waistband by adding two rows of ribbon, and a satin rose which is simply pinned on so that it can be taken off when laundering. Here she is wearing her baptism necklace and beaming on her special day.
The back was just a simple ribbon bow. To add to the fullness of the skirt, I added two layers of gathered tulle. Then, to dress up the skirt a little, and to add that playfulness of a little girl, I added a slightly gathered ruffle. She loved it...that night she spinned around and around to watch the full skirt ruffle around her. Too cute. Here she is trying it on for the first time! She was so excited, because it was the night before, and she had no idea that I had made it. I did all my sewing in the middle of the night in order to surprise her. It was worth all of those hours of lost sleep.

Rachel's Baptism Jewelry

2010-08-29T17:05:00.002-04:00

December 2009 brought Rachel's 8th birthday which meant baptism time! I wanted to make her something special to wear and to help her remember her special day, so I made her a matching necklace and bracelet set.

Because baptism symbolizes a washing and making clean and perfect, I wanted her jewelry to also reflect purity, and so I chose to use clear glass beads and pearls to reflect that.

I started with jewelry wire so that it would be strong and be able to withstand 8 year old treatment. And then I just played around with different patterns until I found the one I liked the best, and thought Rachey would like the best.

I also made a center dangle for the necklace, as well as a clasp dangle for the necklace and bracelet. It just made it a little extra fancy, and I knew that Rachel would like that. The top is the finished dangle, and at the bottom of the picture shows the materials I used to make it.

This isn't a great picture, but here are the finished products! They looked beautiful with her white baptism dress.

Lainah's Blessing Dress--A Personal Masterpiece

2010-08-29T16:37:00.008-04:00

I have so much to learn when it comes to sewing. Sometimes, I get so frustrated because what I envision and what actually gets made are usually two different things. My knowledge and skills don't match up to my expectations I suppose. But, this time, with Lainah's blessing dress, it all just sort of clicked. It isn't perfect, but I think it's as close as I've ever come to designing something beautiful in my mind and then making it come to life in my hands.

Lainah is our third daughter, and each of their blessing dresses have been different. Different patterns, different fabrics, and just different designs. With each, I tried to make something that I felt would reflect a little bit of their sweet, fresh from heaven personality. With Lainah's I really wanted something to show how special our 5th baby was to us. I wanted her to know that mommy spent just as much time and effort on her dress as I did the first. I wanted it to be intricate, but also delicate.

I couldn't possibly go through the directions here on the blog, it was too complicated, but basically, I found a dress pattern that fit as closely to what I had envisioned in my mind as possible and that's where I started. Then I had to add layers, or improvise in order to stick to my own design for her.

These little flowers and ribbon made the front so cute, and they also went really well with the skirt fabric, which was an organza with flower embroidery. So beautiful.
On the back, I put the little white satin buttons, and brought the ribbon around her waist to tie in the back, leaving long ribbon tails going down the length of the dress. I also kept the sleeves unlined, so that you could see her cute little baby arms underneath. I didn't want the dress to overpower the baby, I wanted it to be delicate like she was. Here is the back view of the dress. I added a strip of ribbon around the bottom of the skirt to match the ribbon on her waistband. And the front view. And here is our beautiful little girl modeling the dress herself. So perfect.

Baby Blessing Headband

2010-08-29T16:16:00.004-04:00

For Lainah's baby blessing, I wanted to make her a little headband that matched the dress I was making her, but couldn't find one in the stores. They were all made of satins, or just too glitzy for what I wanted, so I had to make one!

I started with a little pair of white tights. The soft nylon doesn't scratch baby's head, and it automatically rolls on the edges so you don't have to worry about edging it at all, it's wonderful. Then I just found some silk flowers that were simple and small so that they wouldn't overpower my little one's cute newborn head. With silk flowers, you just pull the middle stem out of them so that you get the loose petals, and then you can rebuild them into whatever color scheme you choose. This way they also lay flat when you glue them back together and then you can attach them to whatever you want: magnets, barrettes, clips, headbands, bobby pins, etc. It's great. You simply glue them back together with a hot glue gun. Very simple.

Here is the finished headband.

While I was at it, I made a little flower clip for my bigger girls. This project took maybe 30 minutes total, it was so fast, and very fun!

Privacy Nursing Blanket

2010-08-29T15:53:00.005-04:00

How many of us nursing mothers have ever tried to use a blanket to cover ourselves and the baby while trying to nurse! My biggest frustrations were always that the baby would wiggle, and I would always be adjusting the blanket to keep it in place, or that the poor little one would be too hot under there with no ventilation, or simply that I couldn't see my baby when I needed to.

I have a great friend who showed me a nursing blanket that she had been given as a gift. It was a fabulous idea, with a little boning in it to create a nice curve, with a little strap that goes around mom's neck and then snaps into place and wa-lah! A nursing blanket that provides privacy, but that also allows mommy and baby to be in comfort. And the best part, it only takes 1 yard of fabric.

So, I actually had this fabric scrap in my sewing room so this is what I used rather than going and buying more fabric. I believe that I started with about 1 1/4 yards. I trimmed the fabric so that it was a nice even rectangle.

The fabric that I cut off in order to make the actual blanket the dimensions I wanted I set aside to be made into the strap and also a burp cloth.

After I had the fabric trimmed, I hemmed it around three sides with a simple fold-over straight-stitched hem. I left the top side of the blanket untouched.After hemming the sides, I folded the top over and marked with pins where I wanted the boning to set. As you can see from the picture, it only took a small piece, just enough to create a little curve in the blanket. After marking with pins, I made a straight-stitch hem, securing the boning in as I went. Then to be sure the boning wouldn't slip, I went back and made just some small stitches on either end of the boning.I had some fabric left over, so I made this little burp cloth to match the blanket. I just made two rectangles the same size, and stitched them together, leaving one end open for turning. Finish stitched the end after turning, and then added some ribbon to embellish it a little bit. From this picture, you can see how the blanket will just naturally create a little "window" for mom and babe to peek through, while not compromising privacy at all. The strap I really liked, because my babies are wiggly, and I never had to worry about blanket flying off suddenly with a kick or wiggle. I wish I would have discovered these great blankets on the first baby!

It's Finished!

2009-02-01T21:26:00.004-05:00

Okay, so I finished this quilt just in time! I finished it a few days ago, and I go into the hospital tomorrow morning to have this little one! I'm so excited about how it turned out. I decided not to do any tying on this one, but rather to hand quilt it. The butterflies were just too cute to have yarn coming out of them. :) I like how the triangle edging makes it so colorful and fun...and the flannel backing is so soft and cuddly! It will be fun to snuggle her up in it, and watch her grow with it.

Butterfly Quilt for Baby Girl

2009-01-13T20:44:00.006-05:00

For each of our children, I've made a quilt, and with each child the quilts seem to be getting more complicated. It's kind of fun to look back at my square block designs and then to see how much I've learned through the past 8 years about quilting! I'm still far from perfect, but I've learned a lot from trial and error!

The design I chose for our baby girl was a butterfly design. The pieces of each block are small enough that I was able to use a lot of my cute spring fabric scraps. I had cute scraps left over from the girls' spring dresses and it was fun to put the different colors together to see what I could come up with.

These blocks were a lot more complicated than any I've ever tried. Lots of pieces and lots of angles.

These are a couple of my favorite blocks.

And here is the basic quilt top. I used a lighter shade of lavendar and a light beige calico for the strips and blocks inbetween the pieced blocks. I was trying to pull all of the different colors together and because I bought a backing fabric that was another shade of lavendar...I really tried to pull all the different purple shades together.

I decided to do three outline strips around the outside of the quilt. I started with the beige, then the green, and ended with the purple so that it would coordinate well with the light lavendar flannel backing.

Here is the completed quilt top. It's hard to see the detail in this picture, but I machine-stitched the little antennae on each butterfly block. I used a deep brown thread to match the deep brown strip of the blocks. They turned out really cute.

Now I just need to put it on a quilt stand and do some quilting and tying...and then binding!

Ribbon and Bead Necklace

2009-01-13T10:40:00.004-05:00

I made this little necklace for my four year old. Her little fingers have a hard time with any type of clasp, so instead of using chains or clasps, I used ribbon and made it just the right size to slip over her head. I knotted the ribbon inbetween groupings of beads just to add to the design and to set off the center drop bead. She loves it, and there are no clasps or chains to break so I love it too!

Fleece Blanket for Baby Girl

2009-01-10T21:02:00.005-05:00

Our baby is coming in just a few more weeks! I can't believe it! And since it is so cold here in the winters, I decided to make her an extra warm and snuggly fleece blanket. It was such a fun project, I can hardly wait to snuggle her up in it!

First, I chose two coordinating pieces of fleece. One yard of each was plenty. I actually have enough fabric left over to make her a cute jacket or something for next spring.

Then I just measured and cut the two pieces to my desired size, plus about 4 inches for fringing the edges.

After pinning the two pieces together with wrong sides together, I machine stitched around the edges, about 4 inches in from the outer edge. I used this cute decorative stitch.

Then I cute about 3/4 inch fringes all around the outside edge. I was going to knot the fringes, but decided that I liked it better without knots...and I also didn't want anything hard or stiff on this blanket for the baby...I wanted everything to be soft.

The last thing I did was to tie in random hearts and flowers with satin ribbonand I also tied each kitty's tail just to be sure that the blanket would wash well and not separate or shift.

And here is the finished product! Like I said, I can hardly wait to snuggle her up in it!

Handbag, Tote, Scripture Bag

2008-12-29T15:00:00.005-05:00

This year, one of the things that my little girl asked for for Christmas was some new scriptures and a scripture bag. I learned how to make these little bags a few years ago, and decided to make her one because they fit a set of scriptures perfectly.

First, I started out with a placemat. I chose one that was out of heavy fabric so that it would be durable, since it was for a little girl.

Then I chose some grosgrain ribbon for the handles, and also to use for decorating the front of the bag.

I also bought some silk flowers to use on the front, so I sewed the piece of ribbon on the front that would complete the ribbon/flower decoration on the front of the bag when it was complete.

Then I placed and pinned the ribbons for handles and sewed them on, right along the seamline of the placemat. Then I sewed the side seams, with right sides together.

Before opening out the bag, I folded down a corner on each bottom and sewed a straight strip along the triangle so that the bag would have a nice flat bottom.

I trimmed off the excess fabric and then zig-zag stitched so that it wouldn't be bulky on the inside.

Then I turned it right-side-out and attached the silk flower using my hot glue gun.

We've made these before with our young women groups, and they are a fun, easy project for them to do, everything is so simple and straightforward, that it is a good "first sewing project" for them to work on.

A New Dress for Christmas

2008-12-29T14:44:00.004-05:00

I spent a lot of late nights working on this dress, but it was worth it on Christmas morning when my little girl opened up the box and pulled this dress out.

I used McCalls pattern #M5742 , and really liked it. It was more complicated than other patterns that I've used, but I really liked it. The dress bodice is fully lined, which I like because then children who don't like itchy tags, seams, etc. don't have a hard time wearing the dress!

The dress also has an underskirt with a tulle ruffle added for fullness.

The sleeves are elbow length, which I really like for the winter months...and I found some crocheted lace to put along the neckline, waist and hemline of the skirt.

I really think that my favorite thing about this dress is the color. I again went away from her traditional favorite colors of pastel pinks and purples and instead went with a color that would compliment her hair color and complexion. She looks gorgeous in this dress. The olive green color just looks so beautiful with her honey-blond hair and brown eyes.

Christmas Pillowcases

2008-12-29T14:18:00.006-05:00

This year I made each of the kids a special Christmas pillowcase to go along with a little poem I wrote. It was a fun gift for them to open on Christmas Eve. They were so excited to put their new pillowcases on their pillows!

I chose a different print of fabric for each of them...just trying to match up personalities with fabric.

Taylor's...

Rachel's...
Brooklynn's... and Matthew's...

Then, with each one I added a decorative strip of ribbon...and used my machine's alphabet stitches to sew their names onto the pillowcase. I think they were most excited to see that their pillowcase had their name on it. For the girls, I was a bit more fancy and added little ribbon bows and rosettes. Here is the little poem I wrote to go along with their pillowcases. I thought it would make them more excited for Santa to come...is that possible?

I've actually made some of these in the past as Christmas gifts for some of my nieces and nephews. They are really fun to make...like I said it's fun to try and match up fabric prints with personalities.

Christmas Framed Art Gifts

2008-12-29T13:52:00.007-05:00

I couldn't post this until after Christmas because I didn't want to spoil the surprise for anyone! I had some fun with these.

First I took a trip down the scrapbooking isle at the local craft store and found some cute Christmas paper...found some plain black frames, and picked up some self-adhesive ribbon. (Self-adhesive ribbon is awesome.)

I started with my background color, and then added the accenting paper and ribbon to look like a Christmas package all wrapped up.

On my computer, I printed out the cute saying onto cardstock. I did two different sayings. One for the 5X7 frames, and one for the 8X10s.

This actually took the most time, just playing with all the different fonts and shades of color until I had exactly what I wanted.

Next I added the ric-rac bows and buttons...and then put them into frames!

For the 8X10 frames, I matted the cardstock saying and made it look like the tag on a gift, and used ribbon as if I was tying it onto a package.

These 8X10 sayings turned out really cute. I made them for the grandparents, and to go with them, I had my children each paint a present-shaped wooden picture frame ornament for the grandparents to hang on their tree.

Christmas Kitchen Towels

2008-12-29T13:42:00.004-05:00

I tried to think of something really cute and creative to make for my visiting teaching sisters this year...but really couldn't come up with anything. So, I just did a couple of these little kitchen towels. I've made them in the past for little gifts and they are very easy, and really fun.

I just buy plain white kitchen towels...and then look through my Christmas fabric scaps until I find what I'm looking for.

Sew the fabric strips onto the towel...adding embroidery stitches with my machine, and ribbon bows, etc. to make them cute.
There ya go, a super easy little Christmas craft!

The Finished Table Runner

2008-12-29T13:02:00.005-05:00

So I finished this project a couple of days before Christmas...whew! Just in time!

After I had each of the blocks completed and framed in with strips of fabric, I figured out what shape I wanted it to be and cut out blocks of coordinating fabric to complete the top. Here is the top, sewn in three strips, and ready to be sewn together.

After sewing the top together, I added a very thin border strip of dark green fabric.

I also added some little ribbon bows and buttons to the tops of the trees. I realize now that I didn't take a picture of the backing...but I backed it in the maroon checked fabric. I sewed the top to the backing with right sides together, leaving a small opening for turning. After turning and ironing, I edge-stitched the opening shut. Then on each block I used my machine applique stitch to border the trees...quilting the top and bottom together. I also machine-quilted around the entire edge and also around the inside rectangle-shaped block. I had some fun experimenting with some of the stitches on my machine.

This was such a fun project! I'm already thinking about making one for another Holiday...like 4th of July or something.

Maternity Skirt

2008-12-09T10:10:00.003-05:00

Something that has always annoyed me is maternity clothes. When I was pregnant with Taylor, 9 years ago, all of the maternity clothes seemed like a big huge tent you pulled over your head. How cute is that? Not very.

Now, I can usually find lots of really cute things, but because they're maternity they're priced triple what a normal misses sized the same thing would cost. How annoying is that? Anyway, this motivated me to get the courage to make my own...no, not from a maternity pattern because I really haven't seen any that I liked. So, I used one of my regular patterns that I really like and made the skirt one size bigger than my usual...then took a big gulp and cut a half moon shape off the front and then sewed in the spandex fabric to make the maternity panel. Whew! It worked! And it is now my favorite skirt. (I used Simplicity pattern #3796) I added some fun ribbon detail to the bottom edge and hem of the skirt, which makes it pretty fun and unique. The bottom ribbon was really easy, I just pressed it into the pleats, and then pinned it onto the skirt edge and sewed it on. It looks more complicated than it really was.

A Little Sewing

2008-12-05T15:30:00.004-05:00

Rachel's birthday is coming up and so since she is getting so tall all of a sudden and all of her dresses are getting so short...I decided to make her something new! Because it's winter, I decided against her favorite colors (pastel pink and pastel purple) and do something else. I'm a little nervous that she won't like it as well as I do.

I decided to make her a jumper out of some cute corduroy with a fleece jacket to go with it. My thoughts were that it would be cute and cozy for the winter months!

I used a Simplicity pattern, #4384. I have used this pattern for skirts, the pants, the fleece poncho...and now the jumper and jacket.

I like this pattern a lot. It is pretty simple to follow, but has a lot of style.

I changed the style of the jumper skirt from what the pattern showed because I wanted it much longer than the pattern...and I didn't have enough fabric to cut the desired length in the A-line shape that the pattern suggests. I made the little flower/bow embellishment detachable so that she can wear the jumper with just a plain turtleneck and the flower/bow...or take off the flower/bow and wear the jumper with the jacket.

I love, LOVE the jacket. It is made from soft polar fleece, and it is fully-lined...making it nice and comfortable. I also changed the straight-edged sleeves to bell-sleeves. I think that Rachey will love them!

Christmas Table Runner

2008-12-03T10:41:00.007-05:00

One of the projects I'm working on right now is a Christmas table runner. I have a lot of scrap fabric in my basement craft room that is just asking to be used for something! Years ago, I bought this fun book titled "336 Ten-Minute Quilt Blocks" and have only made one project with it since! So, I pulled it out and found two pages of Christmas Tree block patterns to make.

I went through my scraps and found colors that would coordinate well with each other and piled them on my table in different color groups. The Christmas decor that I use in my dining room area is casual and rustic...so these plaids and ginghams worked great with the overall theme of the room.

There are a total of six blocks, and each one is completely different in design, but each has the same colors so hopefully when the project is all done it will look nice.

First I made copies of the block patterns from the book, and then enlarged them to the desired size plus 1/4 inch for seams. Then I started cutting out the fabric pieces. To make sure that I didn't lose any pieces and that the pieces stayed with the right block, I used a ziplock bag for each quilt block. It was good that I did this because I had to put the project away after this step for a few days!

When I got around to sewing the pieces together...I was curious to see if they really only took "ten minutes" like the title of the book proclaims. I think I must be a little slow or something, because most took me at least 15-20 minutes. There were so many angles and I'm a bit of a perfectionist so it took me a long time to get them right. I love how they turned out. They are each unique...and I think they'll make for a cute Christmas table runner in the end.

So these are just the raw quilt blocks.Next, I'll frame them in and then work on the border pieces.

And then think of some fun ways to embellish each block!

It's a fun season for crafting!

Temple Tile

2008-11-24T12:13:00.004-05:00

We made these temple tiles for Laurel's Academy this year...they turned out so nice, and were a quick and easy project for the girls to complete!

Thankful Blocks

2008-11-22T20:54:00.004-05:00

So about a month ago my ward had a "Fantastic Friday" night where us girls got together and had a nice dinner and craft night. It was great! I had signed up to make these "Thankful" blocks.

As I was about to put the vinyl letters on my painted blocks, I noticed that the vinyl letters didn't contrast enough with the paper. Hmm...what to do. Well, I took my unfinished blocks home and later that week I matted the letters before I added them onto the blocks. Then I added more ribbon embellishments than we were given in our packets so that each block was embellished in some way or another.

They turned out pretty cute. Although, I don't know if I would really look at them and then think..."Thanksgiving!" They turned out more retro...so maybe they could be a year-round decoration if I found the right place for them!

And I had only had them out on the computer desk for one day...and little Matthew found his way to them with a marker in hand. Wouldn't you know it, he decided to mark up my favorite block, the "k". Oh well.

Bookmarks

2008-11-12T23:50:00.004-05:00

I made these three bookmarks as samples for our group of Senior Laurels to work from when making their own bookmarks at Laurel's Academy this year. I bought an entire stack of this fun glittery paper that came in lots of different designs and color combinations. Then I embellished the bookmarks with self-adhesive ribbon and beads. I was amazed at how creative the girls were! They had so much fun with this activity!

My workshop was on Education, and so each bookmark went along with a scripture or quote that I used during my presentation.

A Night for Jewelry

2008-11-05T23:12:00.004-05:00

Tonight while Andy was away working I decided to just take it easy and watch some tv. But then I found that I couldn't just sit there doing nothing, so I got out my bead organizer and just started in on a couple of projects. A couple of hours later, this is what I had finished. I'm not sure what I'll do with them now...but at least my hands were busy...and I really like red.

First I made this garnet bracelet and earring set. My birthstone is garnet and I love deep reds, so this will coordinate with a lot of things in my closet!

And the second was pure boredom at work. I kind of like how it turned out...but don't love it. I'd never worked with double strands before and thought it was fun.

Peasant-Style Top

2008-11-05T23:05:00.003-05:00

This has been one of my favorite tops for little Brooklynn. It is so cute on her. She has a deep plum undershirt that she layers underneath and it accents so well with the plum-colored flowers.

This was another project that I started out by looking at a pattern and then deciding to change it up a bit to fit more of what I had in my mind. The pictures really don't show how cute it is.

Again, because she is in preschool, I was trying to make something that would move with her while she was busy playing like preschoolers do. This top fits nice and loose, and layers well.

Pants for Brooklynn

2008-11-05T22:48:00.005-05:00

I seem to go through "hobby phases" where I'll spend a lot of time doing one of my hobbies...and then get tired of it and switch to something else for a while. I'm not sure what that says about me. Anyway, right now must be a sewing phase because I've been doing a lot of that lately.

These are some jeans I made for Brooklynn. I sort of used a pattern to start out with...and then just bagged the whole pattern thing and did my own design. They look so cute on her. She's in preschool, and so I wanted her to have some fast, pull-on pants that were loose-fitting so she would be comfortable while playing at school. These have worked out so well that I'm going to make some more.

I added some fun accenting fabric to the bottom for cuffs.

And for the side pockets, I added some ribbon to coordinate with the green cuffs, and then used the embroidery function on my machine to add some flowery leaf designs around the edges.

Fleece Ponchos

2008-11-03T21:18:00.003-05:00

So fall here in the east is my favorite season, and it's the perfect weather for sweaters, fleece pullovers, etc. These ponchos for the girls took a total of one hour for both and about 2 yards of fleece. A very fun, fast, and easy project!They wear them all the time because they are so soft and warm...just like wearing a snuggly blanket to school. Oh...and I made me one too...couldn't resist!

Pajama Party

2008-11-03T14:20:00.003-05:00

These little pajamas were such a fun project.

The top seemed to run a little small, so next time I'll have to make that adjustment so it fits Rachey a little better. Overall though, a fun project and good pattern!