Handmade Christmas Stockings

Well I know that it is after Christmas, but my holiday season has been crazier than usual, so I since I didn't even get these finished until about a week before Christmas it’s not surprising that I'm not getting a blog post about them up until a few days after Christmas has passed. I still want to post them though, so that you all can see how adorable they are!

My sister asked me if I thought I could make stocking this year. Our mom made the stocking that we used growing up, and that my mom still displays. My sister wanted that tradition to carry on in her home. So we hit the fabric store. She wanted something a little more modern so we didn't go with straight red and green. The fabrics we picked have purples, and turquoises, along with the reds and greens.

I attempted to make the first one after some brainstorming, it was going okay, but after looking around on Pinterest I found this tutorial for making stockings. It made it so easy! She really did a great job and it creates a clean beautiful result!

Source: sewlikemymom.com via Leanne on Pinterest

I used regular cottons and muslin. No quilting or batting involved at all. The appliqués that I chose to do are defiantly what took the longest. If I hadn't been doing them these would have come together even quicker than they already were! It was an easy to follow tutorial and came out just the way I had hoped. The hardest part for me was figuring out which way to sew the band fabric on so that the words were the right way on the finished project.

Other than that brain teaser it went perfect! My last pinterest inspired project was a fail but this one was pinterest perfection! Here is how they turned out:

                                     ornaments applique

reindeer applique                 and              christmas tree on top of a jeep 

Christmas Dog Collars

I sewed up some dog collars, assembly line style for the pups! I got my claps on Etsy but they are available at your local fabric or craft store as well.


I essentially made a wide double fold bias tape. I did put iron on interfacing/wonder under type stuff in between for some stability. Then just weave it through the maze of plastic clasps. Sew well. I stitched and back stitched about a million times to make sure that they were super strong for my beasts lol.


My 75lb golden chow mix has been wearing it for about 2 weeks and it is still holding up well.


I love the way they came out. I chose a fabric with a small pattern on it do that you could really get the christmas pattern on the one inch thick collar.


Although it will be kind of depressing to slip the slip on bandana over it lol.

Pinterest Fail: headphones pouch

I've gotten so much inspiration from reading blogs and surfing pinterest. They make me want to do better, create more, and strive to be an impeccable sewer. However it doesn't always go as planned...

As a dog lover I've been on the Dog Under My Desk blog before so I knew she makes cute stuff, but when I saw this pinned and followed the link I was glad to see that she had been busy since the last time I had been over!

I have made many little pouches and lined pouches so when I saw this I was pretty sure I could tackle it without a problem, boy was I wrong! It had nothing to do with the directions, unless you count not following them! Ha!

Looking back I think that what I did wrong was a seam allowance issue. Also I used really shaggy stretchy minky that I had never worked with before. So all those played into me messing this up. I am planning to make another one once I get another zipper. Check out the pictures to see just how badly it went. So much for making these for Christmas presents!

Interchangeable iPhone Case

This is amazingly simple! I use scrapbook paper as an insert in a clip on clear iPhone case!

I found a clear iPhone case at target for about $3 on sale. You can get them on eBay too for just as inexpensively. I have also seen them for older models at the DOLLAR STORE!

When I bought my case it had a paper iPhone inserted into it, so I took that and took and exacto knife and cut out the camera hole.

Then I traced that onto the back of my pretty scrapbook paper. You can also easily trace your phone or the case to get the camera slot right. Then just slip the paper in and click the phone on top and you're good it go! I change mine about once a week sometimes more sometimes less but it keeps it fun and lets me control what I looks like.

I have so much scrapbook paper and no longer scrapbook, so it's nice to have a little project to put some of it to work. I have thought about using glitter paper but I worry about loose pieces getting stuck in all the nooks and ports of my beloved white iPhone, so we'll see.

Slip on Bandanas

I love how my golden retriever/chow mix looks when she is wearing a bandana. It just gives her a little additional cute factor, something unique. And that becomes even more unique when the bandanas are something that I hand selected fabrics for and handmade myself.


The reason I don't just cut the fabric into a square with pinking sheers and tie it on is simple. My dog is constantly going in and out of the house, she gets put on a run/line and a regular bandana often gets in the way. Also wears a training collar for walks and traditional bandanas gets in the way of that too because it makes her have 3 items go all the way around her neck. These slip on (to any collar) bandanas stay in place (on the back of her neck) because of the balance of her buckle and ID tags. They make putting on a leash. line, or training collar much easier. They work great for us I hope they will for you as well!

The measurments I used for this bandana are for my 80lb golden/chow mix, but this can easily be made for whatever size dog you need just follow my directions for the correct measurments. 

First thing you need to do is measure you dogs collar. I measured the space between where her ID tags hang, all the way around until the buckle, this was 15 inches. Then I measured that her collar has a 1 inch width.

So depending on if you want your bandana reversible, and if your fabric has an orientation to it you need to start with either a square of fabric or 2 triangles (that you sew into a suqare). On my first one I cut the corners then just folded a lip to cover the raw edge, since then I've found it easier to just fold them (the red areas in the left graphic) in instead of cutting, less work same result. Just make sure that the straight line is more than double your collar thickness.

Sew down these corners. I used a zigzag stich to help with fraying.

Fold with right sides together. Find the center. Sew from the bottom of the collar width area (1 1/2 inches  down in my case)  to the midpoint and back up making sure to stop before the other side of the collar area. I've marked it here with a red dotted line. Make sure to backstitch at the edges so that its nice an strong for turning.

You should be able to turn the triangle right side out throught one of the hole that have been left for the collar. Once you've done this you should topstich across right below the openings. I've shown it here in red dotted line. This just helps it keep its shape and makes it fit the collar better.

Now you should be able to slip your collar through the open ends and buckle it on to your pup!

Here are some pictures of my dog's Halloween, Thanksgiving/fall, and Christmas slip on bandanas.

Flo and Mayhem Costumes

So my boyfriend and I were invited to a Halloween party and since I'm big into Halloween and we've somehow never done matching costumes I made it happen this year. We went as Flo from the Progressive commercials, and Mayhem from the Allstate commercials. They were both really easy and can be done from things right in your closet.


Flo is easy. I wore a white button down shirt and white jeans. I already had the plain white apron but if you don't it is only about $5 from Target. Then progressive actually has a website to print the name tag, progressive, and I heart insurance button. Then I just glue stocked them to a cereal box, cut them out and taped a safety pin to the back. Pinned them to the apron, put on my orange convereses, a watch and all that was left was hair and makeup. I put some neutral eye shadow on. Used liquid liner to create a thick line that curved and gave a cat eye effect. Then put some bright red lipstick on. Simple a that. I had to buy the makeup. It was less than $5 at Walmart, but I know that most people won't have to. I got a "bump-it"  and a navy blue headband at the dollar store. I used the tallest bumpit in the set. A little teasing, and a whole lotta dollar store hair spray, and BAM! you're suddenly Flo!

Mayhem is pretty simple too. Mayham aften wears a three piece suit, but we didn't have any luck finding one of those. We got my boyfriend a suit jacket from Salvation Army, and beat it up a little with the seam ripper and some sand paper. He wore a white shirt and a black tie with his black jacket and slacks. While we were at the dollar store, we found a pink cell phone (for 16yr old girl mayhem) and a pink headband (for hot runner mayhem). We also got him some bandaids to put on his face. I used some eye shadow and red lipstick to "beat him up" a little.

Pretty simple right!? We had a great time and pretty much everyone knew who we were. And I'm pretty sure we were the best dressed couple around! :)

Russell from Up! For halloween

I know it's late but I thought I would post it anyway. I was Russell from the Pixar movie Up for Halloween. I picked it since my dig is pretty much a dead ringer for Dug.

My first step was googling Russell the character an then googling other peoples costumes. I saw that I needed some wilderness explorer patches, a badge sash, his hat and backpack.

I bought a bunch of 4/$1 felt from Hobby Lobby. This is what I made the patches out of. I just googled a picture if the wilderness explorer logo and recreated it with the felt. Then I sewed one onto a khaki hat, one onto a yellow button down shirt ($1.75 from the Salvation Army) and one onto a felt pendent/flag thing from Hobby Lobby (2/$3 - %50 off coupon = $1.50). I also created a different WE patch from felt and grosgrain ribbon that is sewed on lower on the shirt. I also bought a $1 solid orange bandana from Hobby Lobby. Then I threw on a backpack (with the flag pinned to it), brown khakis, and hiking boots. The hardest part if the costume would have been the badge sash but luckily my sister had a girl scout one that I borrowed and it worked perfectly.

You can't tell in the pictures and couldn't really tell in real life either (sad face), that I made Layla a solid brown collar out fo some broadcloth and  felt to mimic Dug's collar, but Layla had to much hair for it to make a difference. Either was most of the kids we saw during trick or treating with the kids I babysit for knew who we were. And that made me happy!

Since it was cold and I didn't want to cover my costume, I wore thermals, wool socks, and a yellow long sleeve shirt under my clothes to keep warm.

Baby leg warmers

There are a bunch if good tutorials out there for these so I wont get into it but the only thing I did different was I did an overlock stitch in addition to a zigzag on my raw edges. It helps keep the stringy edges under more control than the zig zag alone. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product before i sent it but you get the idea.

Little Miss Momma Silhouette Giveaway

Little Miss Momma is giving away a Silhouette Cameo!! I'm hoping I win it!



http://www.littlemissmomma.com/2011/11/silhouette-cameo-giveaway-little-miss-momma.html#comment-45782

Pinterest re-do

Okay so I saw this adorable turkey onesie on pinterest. And as soon as I saw it I knew how I was gong to recreate it. The one I have pinned is painted on, but I envisioned mine in felt. So i found an all brown onesie at hobby lobby, I already had some felt from my Russell from up costume. I googled a feather outline and found one I liked. I cut out four felt "feathers", big white circles for eyes, little black circles for pupils, an orange beak, and I just kind of winged a red snood thing that hangs by the beak.

I sewed the back first in a fan pattern, I thought about doing 5 feathers but I didn't have a great fifth color so four worked fine in the end. Then I sewed the face on the front, making sure that some of the beak was in front of the snood. And to make it a little bit girly a sewed on a cute little pink bow. Because there were so many colors I sewed with invisible thread.

I am totally in love with how it turned out! It is on its way via USPS to the beautiful baby girl who it now belongs to.

Christening Onesie

My bet friends baby was getting christened and I wasn't goon to be able to make it, but I still wanted to send up a little something. So I got a plain white onesie, some adorable lacy trim with some pink ricrack accent, and some t-shirt paint.

I sewed on the trim with white thread. The trim was already ruffled a little so it looked great. I did three rows.

Next I looked up pretty crosses on google images and found one that I liked. So I traced it on freezer paper, cut it out, ironed it on, and filled it in wih pink t-shirt paint. Once it dried I covered it with some gold glitter t-shirt paint to top it off.

It is as simple as that! It came out so cute, and baby ended up wearing it under her christening dress which made me smile.

Mmm seven layer dip

So I've been with my boyfriend Joe for seven years as of today! So I thought it would be fun to have a seven theme. So I got some 7up! And then I made some delicious seven layer dip.
The best part about seven layer dip is almost all of it comes out of a can or container! The only thing that didn't for me was the guacamole. And since tere was so much going on already I just mashed up alvacados and squirted some line juice in it.

So my seven layers go as follows:
1. Refried beans
2. Black beans
3. Guacamole
4. Salsa (pico de gallo)
5. Sour cream
6. Cheese (fiesta mix)
7. Sliced Olives (In the shape of a heart, of coarse)

A lot of the recipes I saw online had chives or onions as a layer but I don't like onions or chives, so i just did two different types of beans to make my seventh layer. I also saw people using lettuce as a layer but I knew the dip would last a few days in my house so I wanted ingredients that wouldn't get yucky.

I didn't have a truffle dish so I just put it in a Pyrex bowl and it worked out fine. I got Tostidos scoops just so we could get some of every layer on each chip.

I just layered everything right out of the containers. I microwaved the two different types of beans but other than that is just draining and stacking! I had one container of each and it still made a ton of dip. Yum yum!

Baby Gift Parts #2

Baby Gift Part #2

Yesterday I showed you the personalized onesies I gave to my friend for her baby shower gift. Today I’m going to show you the other handmade parts of my gift.

I made these really, really easy burp cloths from the same pink Superman fabric that I used for the appliqué on the suspender onesie. I used this pattern, because it made sense to me to have a little curve to it. I didn’t use that tutorial though.

Materials: I used pink superman fabric, some medium weight batting, and thick red jersey fabric.

1. I piled both of my fabrics and the batting, and then I cut it out from the pattern. Thatway they all had the exact same shape.
2. I put the batting between the two wrong facing fabrics. So it went jersey wrong side up, then batting, then superman fabric wrong side down. Both wrong sides are touching the batting.
3. Then I sewed most of the way around leaving about a 2 inch gap for turning.
4. I turned it right sides out, folded and pinned the hole, and topstitched over the opening and all the way around to give it a nice solid shape.
5. After looking at them, I also decided to topstitch down the middle at the shortest point just to make sure nothing shifted after washing and drying. You can see them in the second photo.

I made two of these super cute Superman burp cloths. If I did these again, I would probably pick out some brightly colored towels and use them for backing, but I thought red towels might bleed on to the lighter pink fabric so I went with pre-washed jersey, that will only get softer with every wash. These are very quick and very easy. They can even easily be made with scraps or even cute fabrics from the remnants pile.

The baby’s room theme is elephants. So I wanted to include something that went with that theme. So using that superman fabric again I made a little elephant softy. I did a google images search for elephant outline, or elephant shape, or something to that effect. Then I selected a few that I liked and printed them from PowerPoint after making each of the images take up a whole page. I cut out my shape from each of my fabrics. Because of the way the print was on the superman fabric, I was very deliberate with where I cut out of the fabric. The back is red fleece. Each of the ears are S symbols (I free handed the shapes until I got what I was looking for). I cut out all of my shapes and triple sewed around the elephant to make sure she could stand up to anything little hand could put her through. I left a hole near her back end for turning and stuffing. I made the tail out of some ¾ inch pink grosgrain. I (super)sewed on a button for the eye. Then I wrapped a think white ribbon around the neck and tied it in a bow. (Since receiving this, the adorable elephant has a home hanging on her dresser. Every time I see it hanging in her room I smile :))

This is my best friends baby so along with these handmade items, I also gave her a couple
of irresistibly adorable outfits, some little items off of her gift registry and to top it all off I got her an amazingly adorable Vera Bradley baby bag!

Baby Gift - Part 1

So first off, I am SOO excited to finally have my blog up and running and am finally starting to post my projects!

The other (3month old) news is that my best friend had a baby! But before that beautiful little girl came into this world I made her a few personalized onesies to welcome her into it! I used a few different methods to "cuteify"some plain bodysuits. I hope these give you guys some ideas!

#1 Freezer Paper Stenciling:

This is the first one that I made.
I used freezer paper stenciling (Dana on Made has a great tutorial for it) to put an Olde English letter O on the front for the family’s last name. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to do anything with this one because of the pattern, but in the end I love how the pattern pops through the O!

#2: Holiday Onesie Makeover:

This one looks like I got really good
at stenciling right? Ha! Well I didn’t, sorry! I got this onesie in the clearance section shortly after Easter. For like $1.00! It came already printed and with a pair of shorts! Can't beat that!

<-- This is the before/after.

This little printed pin says “I’m wearing my Easter best!” But obviously Easter was over and the baby wouldn’t be celebrating for another approximately 9 months so I cut out some flower shapes out of coordinating fabric and ruffled and stacked them. Then I topped the flower with a button center. Once I had done that it didn’t look quite right yet, so I covered the printed flower
buttons with three actual buttons that matched the one at the center of the flower. Then I was happy with it. I sewed the flower directly on so that the mom wouldn’t have to worry about remembering to take it off for washing, or pay attention to a pin or clip, sewing it on was defiantly the best option for a baby in my opinion.

#3 Superman / Supergirl:

For the next one, I added an appliqué and
some ribbon suspenders, with button fixtures. I originally saw this idea on some blogs for boy onesies, and I loved it. I just needed to figure out how to make it girly… make it pink... duh! Well the Daddy of the little girl is a HUGE superman fan so I happened to have found some adorable
pink superman fabric while shopping a few weeks back. I had specifically bought it to make gifts for the baby but hadn’t quite figured out what. So I cut out one of the S superman symbols, lit a candle and melted the edges just a little, then I ironed on some interfacing, and appliquéd that on to the onesie with a small zigzag stich. It wasn’t quite finished yet though, I still had those
suspenders on my mind. It made sense you know with superman ripping off his suit and suspenders to become Superman, so it is king of a play on that. So I tried it and loved it! (And so did the parents!) Notice how I put the ribbons underneath the little flaps at the shoulders to keep the fraying under control. I also want to note that I totally over killed on the stitching on the buttons on all of these onesies, you can never be too careful when it comes to babies, small objects and chocking hazards!

#4 Give a dawg a bone:

The last onesie is my FAVORITE! I have this fabric that I love. I bought it because to me it looked like little Vera Bradley covered dogs! (two of my favorite things) So I simply did the same thing that I did with the superman onesie. I cut the dog out of the fabric, melted the edges, ironed on interfacing, and sewed it on, I had to use a straight stitch because the parts of the dog were pretty small. But the part that makes this onesie my favorite is the back…

 

It has a doggie bone on the butt! I used fabric that I had to match the legs of the dog on the front of the onesie. I made it sort of an a-symmetrical bone (already been licked maybe) lol, but it was because when I did a totally symmetrical one it looked kind of
funny. I did the same appliqué practice as I mentioned before in this post. I used a zig-zag stitch for the bone.

I hope this gives you some ideas of how to personalize a gift for baby.  I will post the rest of the handmade things that I gave to the Mommy-to-be soon!