Awesome

We made these fun little crayons the other day by sticking some of the girls old and broken crayons in a mini muffin pan and melting them down to make some new multi-colored ones. So easy, so fun. Just pop them in oven for a few minutes and then let them cool in freezer for about 1/2 and hour. I think these would make fun presents for little ones, or great birthday party favors!

New Nightgowns

Sorry about all the posts at once, but the blog has been badly neglected lately...

Here are a couple of nightgowns for Lily. They were both supposed to be Christmas presents, but I made the mistake of trying to work on the second one while she was up. It was soooo easy, though, so I may be making more like it soon. The first is Tinkerbell material and I just copied it from another nightgown. The second I got the idea from here. I didn't do anything fancy to it, though I may add something later on to the front. The pillowcase was a freebie from our laundry room, so it was the perfect the one to try this out on. It seriously took like 10 minutes to do and was so super easy. There will be more as soon as I can find some cute pillowcases.

Classic Pooh Baby Shower

Last Saturday, I co-hosted a shower for my SIL and Baby Annabelle. Carey is doing the nursery in a Classic Pooh theme and we wanted to stick with that for the shower. It was so much fun! It is really hard to find Classic Pooh decor, so we had to get creative! Anyhow, here are some pics:

Prize bags, Honey Pot favors, filled with Teddy Grahms, and some of the games we played.

Honey Pot favors.

Sweet Honey Tea, Piglet Pink Lemonade, and our beehive cake. Oh, our beehive cake.

Let me tell you about this cake. My SIL, Krysten, and I put it together. I saw one on You-Tube and had to make it for this shower! It's sooo cute! There is a great video on how to make the fondant bees, and the marshmallow fondant itself, here and here. Now, I was a little worried about this being too much for us. Neither of us had had any experience with fondant or anything that fancy. But, it was sooo easy! The fondant was not too hard to work with once we figured it out and the cake turned out great! It is 6 layers, 2 square ones on the bottom and then, the hive itself is layered with yellow cake and brownies! For the domed top, we just cooked some cake in a round glass dish. It took awhile, but it gave the hive the right shape. Krysten stacked and shaved the hive into the right shape and then, she iced it and piped a little bit on the hive to give it some texture. So cute. I love it. It was almost too cute to eat.

Our super cute clothes line, sorry for the bad pic.

Close up of the blanket I made Carey. It's a rag quilt. This really is the easiest quilt ever. I highly recommend it for anyone who is wanting to attempt a quilt, but is a little nervous about it...just make sure to not snip the edges on you lap and cut holes in your favorite pants...

My other gift to Carey was this sweet onesie. A for Annabelle, but look at the back...

Ruffles! I cannot wait to see this on that sweet baby bum! This was also a super easy project. Here's the tutorial.

Ahhh, the ruffles. There will be more of these. They were so fun!

The diaper cake is from my MIL. I put it together for her, though. It was so much fun and turned out super cute!

The flowers on the cake are all hair clips. Here is one I made for Lily. These are super easy, too! I am all about super easy. I plan on making more of these for the girls, too. Here's the tutorial.

Here is the lovely lady, herself! Though, this picture does not do her adorable baby bump justice! Congrats, again, Carey! Can't wait to meet your sweet baby!

New Skirt(s)

Here are a couple of cute skirts I made for the girls today. I love the way Lily's turned out! So cute! I used this tutorial. It's very similar to the skirts I have been making, but, well, better. I like the pockets on Lily's. The color is off in these pics, but I am sure there will end up being more pics of the kiddos in these.

Lily's skirt.

A close up of the pocket...

Ava's...no pockets...she's too short still :)

Crafty Week

I have had a really productive crafting week...which is to say, a really unproductive week on every other front. Here are the projects I completed this week:

A couple more fun skirts. I'm not crazy about the first one, but it's cute on Ava. The second one has so many mistakes (that's what a get for trying to sew with the kids running around), but thankfully, this is a very forgiving project! It is supposed to be for Ava, too, but Lily has already worn it once...even though it is a little snug on her :) I also made some little matching flower clips to go with them. They were a big hit with Lily, so I think I will be making her some more.



These are some super fun and quick pin cushions. They are Heather Bailey's Square Deal Pincushions. The tutorial can be found here.


Last, I finally fished the top for my first quilt! Yay! I started it in February, so it has taken me awhile...it is full of imperfections, but I like it. I just have to decided how I want to quilt it...

Favorite So Far

Okay, I promise, this is the last post for today. I have to get all the crud from our trip put away...I'll get the trip post up tomorrow...or at least sometime this week...

I made this little lunchbox and place mat for my mom for her birthday. I think it is my favorite thing I have made so far. It is far from perfect, but it turned out really sweet. The tutorial for the lunchbox can be found here. The hand prints are the girls' hands. I just traced their hands onto a piece of card stock, cut it out, then used it as a template on my fabric and appliqued them onto the fabric for the outside of the lunch box. I desperately need to work on my embroidery. The name is a bit sketchy looking...Anyhow, it's a fun project. Not super easy because there is a lot of work with iron-on vinyl. But, fun! Think I may make some for the girls...someday :)

Crafty Goodness, St. Auggie Trip, Fun Skirts, and a New Hat

First up, I just wanted to post a picture of some rice heat therapy packs I made. The pretty one went to my pregnant sis-in-law as part of her birthday gift. The other is just a fun one for the girls (it is an old pair of baby pants). Lily loves these and they are great for all those mysterious pains that seem to pop up right around bed time :) I don't know if I have ever posted a tutorial for these, but you can find a great one here.


We headed into St. Augustine this past weekend for some get togethers that were going on. Our first stop was at my Nana's for my Dad's 50th birthday. It was just a small dinner (Dad's not a huge fan of birthdays). I had made some new skirts for the girls earlier in the week, so I had them wear them. They were so cute! Lily's is kinda from this tutorial and Ava's is from this one. There will definitely be more skirts popping up sometime soon. They were so fun to make and looked so cute!

She looks like she is doing yoga or somethign in this picture. She was having so much fun running around the backyard.

My sweet girls.

Lots of hugging lately, I love it!

Lily running a round with her new Dora radio (courtesy of Nana).

Lily always insists on being barefoot when we're at Nana's. I think it is because I can't let her do it here because we have so many sand spurs here. It always makes for some lovely feet, though!

Showing me her pretty flower.

The girls. All of us!

Lily and Ava playing.

The yummy Cannoli Cake that Nana got. It was really good :)

On Saturday we headed to a house warming party for a friend of mine, then to a get together at Nathan's grandparents' house. They have this amazing place on Salt Run. It's the kind of place that Nathan and I hope we can own someday...in the very distant future. Lily wore another new skirt that I made her. It is kind of from this tutorial. It was by far my favorite of the three. It was so twirly and feminine. And, just looked so sweet on her!

Checking out the Koi pond.

Running around the back yard.

Daddy and Ava on the dock.

A couple of weeks ago, I won a GC to Posh Toppings. I got this adorable little hat and some flowers that clip onto it. Well, Lily saw the flowers and had toa have all 5 of them on the hat and she had to wear it out to Publix! It is so cute, though! I can't wait till the fallw hen it will be cool enough for her to wear it! I think I am goign to have to find some little head bands I can clip those flowers on, though, for the summer. Oh, and sorry for the goof-ball pictures, she would not just look at me and smile! I think the sun was bothering her...

Some Crafty Goodness

It's funny, I was just telling my Mom this morning that this week has flown by and I can't seem to figure out what I have gotten done! Well, here are a few things...although, completing these doesn't really make my week any more productive...just crafty :) It does explain why I didn't get more housework done...

I decided the girls needed some cute Gator gear to wear to the baseball games coming up soon. I think these will do quite nicely.



The pink skirts I made using this tutorial. The blue, orange, and white ones I used this tutorial. Then, for the shirts, just appliqued some of the fabric on the front to make an outfit. Everything was really easy to make and really fun. I just hope everything fits okay!

I also finished up the baker's dozen of donuts I started back in...maybe January. I did not intend for these to all be for my girls, some were supposed to go as presents to various birthday girls, but the only one who actually received hers was Madison. So, we ended up with 13 donuts...you know, I bet that means I shorted Madison one...whoops...

Child's Ruffle Apron Tutorial (at last!)

Well, this is my 201st post. Wow. And, here is that apron tutorial I have been promising! Hope you guys enjoy it!



Materials:

• One 9 x 9 in piece of fabric for front of top flap
• One 9x9 in piece of fabric for back of top flap
• One 5 x 6 in piece of fabric for the pocket on top flap
  
• One 12.5 x 10 in piece of fabric for the bottom back (I used the same fabric as I used for the back of the top
• Three 20 x 4.5 pieces of fabric for ruffles on front of apron
• Two 13 x 3 in pieces of fabric for the belt of the apron (I used the same fabric for this, the pocket up top, and all the straps)
• Two 15 x 4 in pieces of fabric for the waist straps
• Two 13 x 3 in pieces of fabric for the neck straps
• Coordinating thread
• Embellishment for pocket
• Snaps or velcro (optional)

Cut materials.

Making Apron Bottom:
Now, first, we're going to make the bottom part of the apron. You need to fold over the two short edges and one of the long edges of each of the ruffles about 1/4 in. Then, iron. Then, fold them over again and iron again so that the raw edges are enclosed. Now, sew along the folded over edges. **Note that the top stitch in this picture is a basted stitch, it is a later step)

Next, do the same for the back piece of the apron.

Now, take your back piece and draw three lines from long edge to long edge. Place these lines three inches apart starting from the bottom. These are where you will be attaching your ruffles.

Now, baste along the top of each of your three ruffle strips and gather them so that they are the length of your bottom back piece.


Starting at one end of the bottom back piece, pin the bottom ruffle to the bottom back piece, making sure your ruffle is right side down and facing upward like you flipped it up (does that make sense?). Make sure you line up the edges.


Go ahead and do the same thing for the middle ruffle. Don't do the top ruffle, because we are going to attach that a little differently. Now, stitch just below your basted line. Try to keep straight and don't cross the basted stitch.



Now, go ahead and line up your top ruffle, wrong side down and sew it on just below your basted line. There is no need to flip this on over as the top edge will be enclosed in the belt of the apron. You should now have a completed bottom of the apron.


Making and Attaching the Pocket:
Take your pocket piece and fold and iron all the edges, then fold and iron them again so that all the raw edges are enclosed. **In my pictures, only the top of the pocket is folded over twice, but that is because I cut it too small. the measurements up top have taken into account the extra fold, so that there is less of a risk of fraying**


Next, attach any embellishment that you want to put on the pocket. Mine was and iron-on thing, so it will just depend on what you use on how you need to attach it.

Sew across the top of your pocket.

Center and pin pocket to your front top piece.

Stitch in place.

Making the Straps:
You will make both the neck and waist straps the same way, so you can go ahead and do all four now, although you will use the neck straps first. Take your piece of fabric and fold in half and iron.

Now, open that up and fold the edges in to where your first crease was and iron. Next, take one end and fold it so that you end up with a point. It should look like this:

Now, fold that in half an iron again.

Now stitch around both long edges and across the point. Then repeat for the other 3 straps. Yours will, hopefully, come out a little bit neater than mine :)

Making the Top of the Apron:
Take your neck straps and pin them to the back top piece, about an 1 1/2 from the edges and pin them.

Fold the straps over and pin them to the right side of your top back piece. This will make sure that you straps end up on the outside of you apron and that they will not get sewn into the side of the apron.

Place your front top and front bottom pieces against each other, wrong sides facing and sew them together being careful not to catch you straps! Now, turn right-side out, push out your corners, un-pin your straps and go ahead and iron everything to make it all pretty :)

Attaching Top to the Bottom and Attaching the Waist Straps:
Take your two pieces for the apron belt and pin them on either side of your apron bottom. Sew that all together. Iron belt pieces up so you have nice crisp seam. Next, fold over the tops of both sides the belt so that you don't have a raw edge when you sew on the top. Like this:


Fold and iron the short edges of the belt like this:

Now, pin the top of the apron and both waist straps in place (top on top and straps in the sides) and sew around the entire belt section, bottom included.

And here are my two little aprons. They are going to be packed up and saved for Christmas presents. I would say that I feel very on top of things to already have Christmas presents made, but I wanted to make these for last Christmas and got started...what like 4 months too late? Anyhow, I hope this made sense. If not, feel free to e-mail me! They really aren't hard to make if you can just figure out my instructions :)