Wedding Jam Favors

I was lucky enough to be asked to do some wedding favors for a wedding coming up in October. The couple was looking for a "rustic/ vintage" feel and decided on peach jam in mason jars.

Here are some photos of the final product:

Baby Quilt

I have been busy preparing for the arrival of our newest addition! We are due to have a baby girl at the end of September!! When looking to decorate her room I couldn't find the "perfect" bedding set, so I took a leap of faith and decided to try to make my own. I really wanted a quilt that had a "vintage" feel to it and would be "girly" without being over powering with pink. Here are a couple quick photos I snapped on my phone. I will add some more (higher quality) photos when I have the crib in the room for staging :)

Back is green flannel - very cozy!

Hair Bow Holder

Sorry the picture is dark, it's from my phone . . .

Bridal Shower Favors

Cucumber Mint Sugar Scrub Mason Jar Favors

Baby Shower Banner & Placecards

 

Pirate Birthday Banner

 

 

 

Disney fun!

My latest project was for a friends trip to Disneyland. It was her 3 year old daughters first trip and I was so happy to be involved in making her trip memorable.

Here are some of the items that I made. I also made some note cards and some purse sized hand sanitizers.

Left to right: Minnie Mouse Crayon Roll, Minnie tote bag, water bottles for the family and hand sanitizer

Close up of Minnie tote bag

Inside of Crayon Roll (before I put the crayon's in)
 

Crayon Rolls

I made a couple more crayon rolls as Christmas gifts this year. This time I got to make them "girly" and it was so much fun!

Tablet Cover

For Christmas I made my mother-in-law a cover for her tablet (like the eReader covers I posted previously). Here is the final product - - - I think it was my best one yet!

Christmas PJ's

I really wanted to make Cole Christmas PJ's. I had visions of adorable little flannel PJ's with a button up top. . . .When I saw that Joann's would have flannel on sale for Black Friday, I decided to brave the lines and get some to make my Christmas PJ dreams come true. It took me a little longer to find the exact patttern I wanted to use, but I finally ended up with Simplicity 3584. The pattern wasn't as tough as I thought it would be, although I was scared of the collar! Overall I would say that my first attempt at apparel went pretty well!

Close up of fabric

Cutting out the pattern pieces

 

finished top

Top and bottoms

Final product!

Crafting with Liquid

So, it may not be "crafty" but I very much like to cook :) New recipes are always being tried in our home and we rarely eat the same thing twice in a month period. Recently, a neighbor brought us some extra pomegranates, there was so many that we couldn't eat them fast enough. The solution - - - pomegrante infused vodka! It may not be a "food" recipe, but it did turn out delish!

Pomegranate Rosemary infused vodka:

1 pomegranate worth of seeds (about 2 cups)*
750mL bottle of vodka
1/4 c of sugar
3-4 sprigs of fresh Rosemary
Mason jar with tight fitting lid (quart size)

Day 1: Combine pomegranate seeds, sugar and vodka in mason jar
Day 2 - 7: Mix the jar once daily (just shake the jar gently)
Day 8: Add in the Rosemary springs (you can also switch out the pomegranate with fresh fruit if you want)
Day 14: remove Rosemary (the rosemary can be very strong, so I removed it after a week to keep it from getting over powering.

Continue to let the vodka infuse. you can leave the seeds in or strain them out after a week or two.

Yum!

* I recommend clenaing the seeds out of the pomegranate in a bowl of water. It makes clean up a breeze and keeps the juice, which stains, contained.

Pomegranate Rosemary Martini

 

Christmas Decor

To help spruce up our Christmas decor I purchased a couple yards of red and green plaid flannel and went to work. I ended up making table runners for our dining room table and a display table as well as pillowcases for a couple of the couch throw pillows. The plaid helped to pull the whole house togehter and was really warm and inviting!

Sewing a hem for the table runners

Display table

Dining room table (why didn't I push in the chairs before the photo?)

Plaid pillow case (our Aussie was a fan!)

Christmas Owl

I made these Christmas Owl's as gifts this holiday season. They are very easy, felt, owls and I typed up a little story about the Legencd of the Christmas Owl to go with them.

Tie Rack

So, I know its been a while. I have still been crafting away, just haven't had a chance to update the old blog.

Here is a quick solution I made for my husband's ties that are taking over our room. All I needed were a couple of silver adhesive hooks and a dowl rod. The photos are from the first day I was putting this together, since then we have upgraded to a stronger dowl rod (painted silver), so that there is no more bowing from the weight of the ties. This may not be the "craftiest" project I have ever done, but it was a qucik solution to a messy problem and has been working great!

"Before" picture of the ties hanging over the closet door

Hooks put in place on side of dresser

Dowl rod added

Christmas Tree Skirt

I really want to make a new tree skirt for our Christmas tree. Our current one is a red velvet that, while pretty, is like velcro to pet hair and with 2 dogs and a cat it gets pretty furry fast! I found this tutorial from SewTeacher.com and used it to make a new skirt using fabric I got a great deal on during a Veteran's Day sale. Following the directions exactly I ended up with a nice looking, casual, tree skirt.

Some changes I will make on future skirts:

1) The tutorial must use decorator fabric size bolts. Using a standard 45" fabric bolt produced a tree skirt that is a little less than 4' in diameter. Because of its size I am probably going to donate it, along with my old tree, to a friend (since the old tree is a very narrow tree, the skirt should fit beautifully underneath. My new tree is very wide and you wouldn't be able to see the skirt at all!)

2) The tutorial doesn't mention using a walking foot, but I may next time just to help my bottom fabric move at the same interval as my top fabric.

3) I think I will try to add ribbon on the cut edge so that the skirt can be secured around the tree (or maybe buttons??). As I mentioned, I have a cat, so it is important to have a secure tree skirt or it will end up across the room.

As a side note, I used piping as a finishing touch to the skirt I made (my first time using piping) and I love the results. Such a nice clean look!

Here are pictures of this first attempt at a tree skirt. Hopefully I will find some decor fabric I can use to make an even bigger one, if not maybe I will try the ruffled tree skirt (or the new sew variety here)look that is becoming so popular . . .

Total project cost about $7

Finished Project.

Piping :)

Close up of fabric - cute and casual!

My First Pillowcase!

I decided to start on my first pillowcase for the One Million Pillowcases Challenge (see my October post). I followed the "roll" method with french seams that was listed on the One Million Pillowcases website. The method was pretty simple and I turned out a nice (bright & cheery) pillowcase with no raw edges! Great use for some leftover fabric I had laying around. Only 9 more to go to meet my goal :)

Burlap Table Runner

I picked up a remnant of burlap (I really like fabric remnants, if you can't tell) and decided to make a burlap table runner. I have been putting it off for a while because I was nervous about tackling burlap and thought it would be hard to work with. Turns out that its very easy to work with and sews up nicely. After I sewed the basic runner I painted the words "give thanks" on the runner in brown craft paint. I used chalk to sketch out the words first and then free hand painted using an art brush. In the photos below the runner isn't laying flay because of the foam board I have under the "give thanks" while it was drying. Paired up with my jute pumpkins I think it makes a nice holiday table!

 

See other wonderful fall crafts on the Craftaholics Anonymous Fall Frenzy page

Ruler Growth Chart

One of my friends recently got a Ruler Growth Chart that I thought was adorable. I looked on Etsy and saw many types/ styles available. After lots of searching I decided to just make one myself. I followed the tutorial  on Organized Chaos' Blog and am pretty proud of the results. I still need to clear coat the whole thing, but need to wait for the weather to be a little better.