Quick Christmas Craft Round-Up

To combat what was becoming a rather annoying Facebook game habit, I have taken up this blog. It gets me crafting and into the kitchen. It also keeps the guys at work happy when I bring in a baking project. This Christmas, I have been extra crafty and have been very "Pinspired". I thought I would share some of the crafts I have been doing these past few weeks.

These are gift tag/ornaments I made.  The Inspiration is here.

I loved how easy these recycled magazine bows were to make.  Inspiration here.

An adult size Tutu.  Inspiration here.

Something I put together and put up at work.  The guys love to come in and "Jingle My Bells".

When I first saw this, I knew I had to make it.

And finally, I made this garland but didn't take a photo of it so here is one of the snowmen.

Quiet Book

For my nephew's 2nd Birthday, I made him a quiet book.  Basically it is a fabric activity book for kids.  My Grandma Palmer made one for me when I was a kid and I really wanted to try my hand at it.  I have just started sewing so this project was a lot of trial and error.  It was also took a lot of time.

Here is the cover.  I made 4 different covers before I just settled for this one.  It just was not working how I had envisioned it.  It's made of felt and fabric paint.

This is the first page.  An apple tree.  The background is fabric with the tree, basket and apples being felt.  I sewed the tree onto the fabric and then hand-sewed the apples, using cotton balls as stuffing.  I attached Velcro to the apples and the tree.

Page 2 is my favorite.  The barn!  The barn is made of felt with bias tape as the white part.  The animals are also made of felt.

Page 3 is the color page.  The balloons are made of felt and I hand-stitched the lettering.

Page 4 is to show him how to tie a shoe.  The shoe is made of felt, with grommets put in and a regular shoelace.

Page 5 I just drew numbers and then stitched on the number of buttons per number.  I did this on a road trip!

The last page is a road page made of felt.  There is a garage where 2 cars fit and a large stop sign.

Only 116 Days Til Christmas

Laying in bed last night, my mind drifted to Christmas.  Then the panic set in.  It's almost September, which means Christmas is right around the corner.  I am a planner.  Usually by this time, I have lists made, days scheduled and at least half my presents bought and stored in my closet.  I hadn't even thought about it until last night and I feel behind already.  It seems the older I get, the less time I feel like I have.  The days haven't gotten shorter and neither have the weeks months or years.  So why do I feel this way?  Needless to say, I couldn't sleep until I had at least started my list.  I will just quickly share how I set up my spreadsheet and maybe you too can get a jump start on your holiday planning.

Its really basic.  My Column Headings are:
Recipient        Gift       Bought       Wrapped

Whenever someone gives me an idea of what they want, I just enter in and once it is bought, I place a check mark in that box.  It is amazing how checking off those boxes can make you feel accomplished.

Hope this has helped you out a little bit, I know I feel better and am online shopping as I post this.  I am having camera issues so that's why I haven't posted anything new lately.  I do have an awesome Fried Chicken recipe to share and in preparation for my Bunko hosting duties next month, I will be trying out a bunch of other new recipes.  Stay Tuned!

Hello Kitty Tote Bag Tutorial

We got invited to a Hello Kitty Pool Party for  an awesome little girl who was turning 4 and I knew I wanted to make her something special.  I just recently have taken up sewing and while my first purse was not a complete fail, I would never give it to someone else.

I headed down to JoAnn Fabrics to see if they had any Hello Kitty material.  I got lucky in that the Character fabrics were 30% off that week.  I picked out a really sweet pink paisley print for the lining, some bias tape for the trim and webbing for the handles.  $70 and 2 hours later, I was headed home with tons of stuff.  I can really lose track of time in there.  So much to look at.

With the outside and lining fabric folded in half, I cut a 12" x 14" piece.  Technically, when unfolded, it would be 24" long.  I then cut one piece of interfacing to match.

I attached the interfacing to the lining fabric and pressed it right side in.  I did the same with the outside fabric.  I then stacked the lining and outside fabric on top of one another.  It should be interfacing, lining face up, lining face down, interfacing, outside face up, outside face down.

I stitched all the way up both sides and flipped it right side out.  You should have the lining inside and the outside where it needs to be with interfacing in between them.    I then took extra wide, double fold bias tape and slipped it over the top edge and pinned it in place.

I then ran a seam around the top edge, connecting the bias tape to the bag.  Now the bag has a cute trim top.

Next, I measured out the handle lengths, cut them and put fray stop on all the ends, just to make sure they didn't come apart. I then pinned the handle in place.  I first sewed a square around the edge of them to secure them, then came in and stitched an "x" across them for extra stability.

 And that's it, the bag is done.  I slipped in a few Hello Kitty items and it was off to the pool for us.

 Thanks to my sister for the use of her camera after mine died and also letting me use her house to do this project.