p.s. do you have a Silhouette? tons of giveaways going on! 22 Nov 2013 7:41 AM (11 years ago)

I kind of feel out of the loop. My mom has a circuit, but you have to buy lots of cartridges that cost lots of money and I have lots of kids that take all my money... and I know people who cut vinyl (I keep them in business), but I had NO IDEA the coolness and amount of crap you can make out of one of these.

Seriously - CHECK THIS OUT and enter her giveaway it ends NOV 27th (day after my bday)

and yet here is another GIVEAWAY this one ends NOV 28th (2 days after my birthday)

Here is another one - lots of Silhouette love out there this end Nov 27th

and if you win, I want a discount on my vinyl!

New Machine Cover 22 Nov 2013 7:05 AM (11 years ago)

I love this cute cover. I love the color and shape and simplicity of it. AND I actually have Renaissance ribbon that I got when I was 18 and spent the summer in France. Fast forward 20 years and it's time to use that ribbon sitting in a box. Crazy how time flies and now I've just given myself a new project to add to the stack.

Hooter hider or nursing shawl - love it 12 Jun 2013 9:28 PM (12 years ago)

(picture from Coterie)

I was browsing on Pinterest and although I'm done having babies, one of our most popular post has been our "hooter hider" or nursing cover tutorial - I saw this one and thought - wow! What a great idea. It's basically a flared skirt for your torso, but it's sleek and looks great - not only that it covers a lot. I know a lot of nursing moms aren't as self conscious as I was, but either way I think this looks like a great cover (and I wouldn't mind be a gorgeous red head either) and it's a great tutorial. Check it out.

Room Revamp 2 Jun 2013 9:48 PM (12 years ago)

Hi I'm bedroom number 3 of 4 in the casa de Buchanan house. When the family first moved in I was pretty nasty. I had a royal blue shelf painted right onto the wall. Lets just say that left a few scars the day that shelf came down. I was turned into a boring/generic bedroom for child #2 (boy) and a few years later was repainted to this sunflower yellow color, I was actually a pretty cool room for a while. I served as guest/sewing room. I was sought after as a sewing sanctuary... until child#3 was born. Then oldest child moved in and made me feel lame about my wall color. She called in mustard and made puking faces a lot at me.

Here is oldest child with the now "ugly mustard" colored walls. She had a lot of generic white furniture, no curtains, and a homeless sewing desk way too big for this small space.

Nothing but scars on my walls and fond memories of late night sewing excursions. I remember seeing mom smile when she finished a project, elated and exhausted. Those were good days.

This is now HQ to the CGC (Crazy Girls Club) - they really embody their club name

Its sad that instead of a fun preteen room, I was a quasi storage room - the humongous desk, icarly karaoke machine/cd player only worked some of the time, the left over curtain (ahem. I mean shower curtain) the computer that ceased being modern years ago.

Not a cool hang out place for this spazzy group of fun girls.

Look at that face - oldest child giggled as the ugly color was neutralized or maybe she just liked the name of the new color...

creme brûlée? vanilla ice cream? something with lots of sugar and cream... (she takes after her momma).

Mom got a brilliant idea to use old cupboard doors as cork board/wall art - yay mom. Get some bright color into the room with out having to repaint in a year or so when fads change and the "cool" colors change as well.

I love how it turned out. So fancy. So simple. So cheap. (Thanks Tiffani for helping me hang them)

New fun polkadot curtains.

Oldest child was so happy with how it turned out, but has not kept it this clean since this picture was taken.

This was a FB garage sale group (aka "Crazy Cosign") find, I think I paid $15. 1 can of apple green spray paint with peacock teal interior makes this one shnazzy night stand.

The top photo is of the illustrious CGC girls at the park. They are too cute! We covered a canvas with fabric and lined push pins along the top to hang necklaces on.

up close pic of the cutest girls in Mesa

We made this a couple years ago. Just covered a cupboard door again with spray glue and fabric. Spray painted letters that were pastel modge podged with paper (they needed an update). Made the cute flowers and with a whole lot of hot glue came up with something super cute.

I found the owl print on Crazy Cosign for $5, the mirror was Hobby Lobby tweeners section, and the tile was one Paige painted of us at a mother daughter activity.

I love the pops of color. The walls are minimal, the furniture is also muted, but the color jumps out at you.

This was a Craigslist find. Not too shabby for $20 and some barely gray tinted paint. It's so much smaller and fits so much better in her teeny tiny room.

I found this cute cubby to hold all her trinkets. My girls is a collector.

Another great find was simple shelves from Ikea to house her snow globe collection.

the memory board was another canvas/cloth covered project and the frame just has fabric in it and she can write her notes on the glass.

I just love how it turned out and what's more important so does my Paigey girl.

Getting back into the sewing groove 7 May 2013 11:39 AM (12 years ago)

Well, hello blogging world! It has been a looooooong time since I have written anything on this blog!! I blame the move to Arkansas but that's displacing the blame where it truly belongs and that is with me and my laziness. But I did actually finish a project and had some thoughts about and I was really grateful that I could come to our sewing blog and write about it. Because no one on Facebook wants to hear about it and poor Ty does a great job humoring me and being understanding but he doesn't need to hear all this. Its been hard to get into sewing since we moved here because the closest fabric store is Joanns and that is 30 minutes away. Whatever budget I have set aside for sewing was used just for the gas to get to the store and it just wasn't convenient. Oh how I miss the days of driving 3 minutes to get to Joanns. But last month the sewing gods smiled upon our little corner of Northwest Arkansas and opened a Hancock Fabric 10 minutes from our house! Oh glorious day!!! When I walked in, I felt rejuvenated. I felt inspired. I felt like I was being reunited with an old friend that I didn't really realize I had missed that badly. So I bought a pattern and some fabric and couldn't wait to dig in and get sewing again. A little fact about me, I hate patterns like McCalls, Butterwick, etc. They NEVER turn out like the picture and I never had one actually fit the way it is supposed to. I made a little night gown for Elsie, a basic peasant top pattern, and you could have stuck two of her through the neck hole and the sleeves or longer than the dress and the dress was supposed to go to her ankles and it barely made it to her knees. I'm not exaggerating. It was a mess. I made a dress for myself one time and I ended up ditching it after I realized I made a mumu. The picture on the pattern was not a mumu. But the funny thing is that I have soooooo many of them! I love to flip through the pattern books and just dream of the possibilities and when they are go on sale it is really hard to resist the urge. The pictures are so deceiving that way. I get fooled every time! But this time I decided I would try Burda and see if maybe they had a clue about making patterns and writing instructions. So I used Burda 9503 I kind of mixed the two together to get the final project. I wanted to do the top but Elsie wanted a dress so I used the length of the dress but the ruffle and sleeves of the top. The mixing was the easy part. The ruffle was doable. The sleeves were murder! This pattern is not for beginners. They say its easy but I was able to fluff my way through because I know some basics of sewing. I would read the directions and after trying to decipher the wording and the pics I realized they were telling to me to finish an edge with bias tape but they did it in the most difficult way. That is just one example. But overall, I'm please with how it turned out. It is a little on the big side but Elsie is such a string bean that I wasn't expecting it to fit perfectly. At least the sleeves are proportioned to the rest of the dress. I let her pick out the buttons for the sleeves and she really had fun with that and I was relieved when she choose two little purple flower buttons. She loved the dress and told everyone at preschool that her mommy made it for her. That made my day!!! I'm not sure I will make it again, just because the sleeves made me want to give up sewing all together (I really messed them up but I'm hoping no one will notice that one is actually on backwards...oops) but it was a nice challenge and I'm glad that I can turn to Burda for patterns for the girls.

Car Mat 7 Apr 2013 9:11 PM (12 years ago)

I meant to post this so long ago...but such is life. For Christmas we trade names and that is who we get gifts for. I got my sister who has kids my kids' ages. I've always wanted to learn to make one and figured this was a good time to learn and experiment so I can make myself one. It turned out to be a little more work during my CrAzY Christmas season, but it got done (I think Christmas Eve I finally finished).

Top: Target, Harkins and Home Depot; a car wash (that you drive the car through),QT with a shoelace gas pump, In-N-Out (with a drive through), Frys and a Jiffy Lube
Bottom: Fire station, two houses (one has a "garage" aka pocket you can pull a car into); airport

Top: Police station; house and school
Bottom: Church, Temple and park; three houses (with again one with a garage pocket)

Myla's Easter Dress 31 Mar 2013 8:29 PM (12 years ago)

Wow, to say we've been in a blogging slump is an understatement! :) Well, here we go again. This is Myla's Easter dress I made this year. It felt so good to get my sewing machine out. It was like seeing a long lost friend. I love, love, love this fabric. I've been holding onto it for a while. It's Joel Dewberry Heirloom. I just love the orange and minty-aqua colors. The pattern is from Violette Field Threads, the Emmaline. It was a really good pattern, easy to follow. Happy Easter!!

'tis the season 30 Nov 2012 12:39 PM (12 years ago)

Here's hoping you've started on your Christmas sewing projects! The count down starts tomorrow right - and it flies by. I can't wait to share the projects we've been busy with. Sew much fun this time of year!

Halloween Greetings! 30 Oct 2012 9:18 PM (13 years ago)

I'm a little obsessed with picmonkey.com right now. This is just cool stuff. The more you play with it the cooler it gets. I think it's like having photoshop with out the cost of the program and using up all the memory of your computer. Either way it's pretty cool. I made all these today...

Day of the Dead - um. cute!

There's an Urban Legend surrounding a weeping widow headstone in Spanish Fork, UT cemetery - that inspired my vision for Abbey's pic

look at my little demon... sad but true

Even Jason said it was cool. That's huge - he usually considers me pretty dorky (it doesn't bother me - if the shoe fits...)

cupcake anyone?

I morphed my nose & enlarged my mouth - aaarrggg!!!

watch out she is looking a little thirsty

Aren't these fun? Makes me wish Halloween came more then once a year.

Halloween Decor 28 Oct 2012 10:45 AM (13 years ago)

Ohhhh.... How I love this cursed holiday! I don't know if it's the macabre-ness of it or that inner goth? Or maybe I just love that I can dress up and people don't have to worry about me. Some kids just never grow up.

Two costumes I've worn this year. The bride ghoul was a last minute getup. I don't know if my original intention (the Queen of Hearts) will happen this year or not)

Every year I love to do more DIY Halloween projects. It's just so much fun for me to use my macabre mind and come up with additions to my Halloween decor collection. This year I added pictures. Lots and lots of pictures

Normally on this entry way shelf are my kids school pictures - this year I replaced them all with ghoul & spirits. All pics were found by searching Google images and typing things like "ghoulish portraits" "ghost" "spirits" "vintage Haunted Mansion" etc.

I'm not interested in gore - just ghostly things. Plus it has to be kid friendly - I have way too many kids coming & going and love every hour I get to sleep at night uninterrupted to worry about inducing nightmares.

I found these Halloween printables on pinterest. It's just a treasure trove of ideas (some good & bad)

The frames were old and in boxes and a few from the thrift store. I painted most white and a few black and left 1 gold (I can easily slip in new pictures for Christmas). I think the "wolf boy" is my favorite this year. He's actually a changing portrait you can buy here, put I printed him in b/w on vintage looking paper.

This used to be a canvas that said "simplify", I don't know what that word means and the picture was discolored so It became the home for my t-shirt art.

I bought this t-shirt from Wally last year on clearance. I only wore it a couple times and my husband said it made me look goth - so I cut it up and with some plastic netting that some marbles come in - made this fun project.

What's more beautiful then dead lovers?

This is a shot of my kitchen knick knack corner. There are a few printables here too.

I have empty clear apothecary & mason jars on these shelves year round. This year I went to the dollar store and bought spiders, scorpions, rats, eyeballs to fill the jars with.

more spiders - yummy!

This bookshelf is new this year. Last year it was in a bedroom, we pulled it out, it got a makeover and dolled it up for the season.

I love this man with a skeletal aura - you can print him here.

Next to him sits a glitter skull (you can't see very well) but adds to his charm.

This is his sweetheart, the Masked Lady - nobody knows her story. She is just so mysterious! You can print her here.

What's a little Halloween without an owl (Bunko win from Marshalls), and witch doll (kind of cut her out of it)

I love the innuendoe to my true nature, you can print here.

I posted on this earlier this month, but I love my kiddos pics going down the hall.

Lastly I let the kids pick out signs to hang on their bedroom doors. We got them either from the dollar store or Target $1 spot. That;s it until next year - Happy Haunting!

DIY Harry Potter & Hermione Granger costumes 15 Oct 2012 12:11 AM (13 years ago)

Happy Halloween! Can I tell you how much it warms this HP nerds heart that my daughter is obsessed with HP and wanted to dress like Hermione for Halloween. The words barely left her mouth and I was all over this costume like I have never been before. 1st stop was Savers (thrift store). I got a white shirt, maroon tie, and a navy blue vest (her choice), although you could make a gray vest super easy.

(pic & idea from Lemon Squeezy home)

This is a sweatshirt cut up & bias tape. I considered a gray t-shirt (since we live in AZ) and finding red/yellow grosgrain ribbon to trim it up with, but Paige is a lot like Hermione and used a stunning spell on me - she wanted the navy blue vest (I think it was the lure of all the little pockets)

This is the basic idea for the vest if you decide to include it. We bought argyle knee socks at Wal-mart for 2$ but they also have plain gray ones and she has Mary Janes she can wear for her foot attire. Also the tie - all I did was buy a maroon tie, some yellow grosgrain ribbon, clear thread, and went to work creating a cool tie for like $5

But if you have your heart set on making a tie - lemonsqueezyhome has great instructions.

(pic & idea from Lemon Squeezy home)

Moving on. Paige doesn't wear skirts, but I was excited at the prospect of making her one - (finally... I will get my way at last!) I found this skirt tutorial on pinterest and bought a gray single flat sheet from Walmart. My daughter is 10 years old and around 5 feet tall so I knew I'd need a lot of fabric and a sheet at $4.57 just couldn't be passed up. This is the idea for the skirt, but I didn't use the huge elastic (no need to scare her off)

(pic & idea from Danamadeit.com)

Click here for circle skirt tutorial

I let Paige make her own wand and they made about 10 of them. My mom had a package of 12 inch long dowels they found in a drawer. With some hot glue, paper, paint, modge podge, and a little sand paper - they whipped out wands like Mr. Olivanders house elves. I found a few tutorials for them to watch on Youtube. This one is my favorite by SteveWanson. Really easy for kids to follow and surprisingly no burns... really? (I'm not sure she is my daughter at this point, there is an ironical reason my maiden name is Byrnes).

pic & idea for felt scarf by jessyratfink - click here

Both my sisters started crocheting me scarves for Paige. We were only visiting them for a week and they only had a couple days to work on them so hopefully we will get one in the mail before Halloween, but if not - this is my backup plan. Isn't it awesome. I LOVE creative people who come come up with simple yet, awesome ideas.

pic & idea for non crochet yarn scarf by keggo24 - click here

Here is another one made out of yarn. This is a great tutorial and no crocheting is involved. This boy looks he belongs at Hogwarts (he's so cute).

If your looking for fun accessories (my Paige is holding a photo album), but there are tons online and here is a site I found with a so much good info, I can barely contain myself.

but I'm dying to make a couple of these books from the Crafty Cupboard with free download

or maybe these ones

DIY textbooks and links from Geek Mom

idea & pic from lemonsqueezyhome

or maybe cut to the chase and just make this one - 13 pages of free spells (Paige would really love this)

and these potions - there is a whole sheet of free printable labels

all you need is the funky cool bottles, but then again you could always use old glass bottles and dump some acrylic paint in them to give them a solid color and find an obliging cork.

pic & idea from Lisa at overthebigmoon

These are dollar store reading glasses with the lenses popped out - wrong shape but useful. You can always find printable ones online if needed.

Well, I saved the BEST for last. There is no costume without the cloak.

This is the basic pattern I used at About.com - It has the instructions on how to create your own pattern and sew it. They are fairly easy to follow. The main change I made is that I folded the sheet in half and used masking tape to trace her shape on only 1 side. I figured it would turn out more symmetrical that way. Also I used the outer pattern to cut out the lining with instead of doing the whole process again.

I also followed a tutorial on YouTube by AMGandaGirl who includes brief instructions on how to make a hood.

really can you call it a cloak without the hood?

This is something I intend to add, who doesn't need a wand pocket unless you've already blown off your buttocks - good idea from lemonsqueezyhome

and last of all - the Gryffindor badge this one was made by d2cool. It is made completely from felt. I'm such a sucker for homemade stuff - if I can do it myself, then watch out because I will try (plus I'm a cheap skate - I hate shelling out $ to ebay or internet junkies who take you to the cleaners over shipping) - this is the last thing I will try and create for my darling Hermione... oh the joys of a proud Hogwarts momma.

HAPPY HARRY POTTER... I meant Halloween.

DIY Ghost Pics (kid friendly) 5 Oct 2012 10:38 PM (13 years ago)

I know it is all the cool parents get their kids pics done in their their awesome Halloween costumes with a professional photographer, but I'm just not that cool. We take a lot of group shots or sugar-induced-candy-high shots, or passed-out-gonna-have-a-sugar-hangover-in-the-morning photos but nothing we could display in our home. Anyway, I have the kids school pictures going down my hall and my husband requested we change them up for the holiday.

first I googled Ghost pics or ghoulish portraits and found only a couple that wouldn't give my kids nightmares.

Then it dawned on my... why not make our own ghost portraits, and that's exactly what we did.

(Paige's pic was the scariest! - Screaming Banshee)

On my Mac in photobooth there is a setting for xray and it worked out perfectly.

(Abbey & Elle look like stone cherubs)

For anyone not with a Mac or some such crazy app... check out picmonkey.com to make your own pics. My awesome friend Kathy made these - how fun is that?

Mommy, it's cold out here - I see dead people

Day of the Dead Hottie!!

I love your guts - literally!

Dude, mom I just killed a slew of zombies in a game... oh wait.

Hey baby... ya hungry?

(All pictures used completely and utterly used without permission- they were ripped from the pages of FB and I do not regret using them, especially her ZOMBIE puppies - one word "hilarious")

Double-sided Burlap Banner 21 Sep 2012 9:28 AM (13 years ago)

Burlap, freezer paper, paint, a few embellishments and an awesome sister-in-law made for a fun craft morning. I'm loving my burlap banner. I love that they are double-sided so I don't have to store another thing. The trick or treat one has a cute orange, yellow, and white flower ribbon across the top--it reminded me of candy corn so I hot glued it on. Who is excited for fall?! Me! Me! (We won't mention the fact that it is forecasted to be 104 degrees today. :))

Pillows for Jessie 17 Sep 2012 8:29 PM (13 years ago)

Sorry about these crappy cell phone pics, but my good camera's battery died and I still can't find some of my important stuff since the move (like my camera charger and my wedding ring...uh oh). Anyway, Jessie requested something in gray, white and red. I love that combo! Since she moved sorta recently (and we miss her tons!) I wanted to give her a little something to remember us Arizonans by. I'm kinda happy with the way they turned out. I think I might need to make myself a matching set. :)

flower pillow tutorial 17 Sep 2012 5:58 PM (13 years ago)

flower pillow swap - Maren & Jill

For the pillow swap I was lucky enough to get Jill. I needed some inspiration for pillows. She told me the colors were navy blue, grey, green, hot pink, antique white (I was a little lost)... I needed some more guidance so this is the picture she sent me, taken from a square of the quilt she is making for her little girls room. perfect. I headed to Hobby Lobby and logged onto pinterest to get some inspiration.

(pic from The House of Smiths)

I found this really cute pillow, and this one.

(pic from honeysucklelife.com)

Aren't those pillows fun and give endless ideas of colors, textures, and variations you can do to make them fit in your space/room/etc. I decided to take some pictures along the way and maybe inspire you to make your own.

material:

1/2 yard print fabric

1/2 yard solid fabric

I bought a half yard of 2 of the fabrics from Jill's quilt square. This one I cut up in 6 inch strips, this gave me 3 strips of 6 x 45 - but I think it might have been better to have one more strip. I could have done with a bit more ruffle in the center.

Next I sewed all the strips together.

Then I folded them in half and ironed them. They are 3 inches wide by 135 inches long.

Then I serged the edges. I wanted the stitching to show since it reminded me of Jill's quilt. If you don't want the stitching to show, fold right sides together and leave an end open to turn it right side out.

Since I was using cotton for the flower and it can get a little heavy I didn't want the flower to sit weird on the pillow. I used 2 layers of fabric for the actual pillow part. The outside fabric is a cream muslin, the interior lining is a white cotton. My squares are 40.5 x 16.5, but really you could do any size. I chose a rectangle so I could have a seam going down the back of the pillow and a fold on the sides.

Here is my fabric & lining sewed together.

Next I used a long stitch to add a gather on the ruffle. As a time saver - just sew 2 lines here. One of your threads will break and you'll have to repeat this step (at least it ALWAYS happens to me)

I folded the pillow in 3rds, and ironed creases into the sides.

I placed the flower on the front of the pillow so I could figure out where I wanted it.

I adjusted the spiral until it looked right. You can pick it up and move it right or left until it gets centered.

I carefully lifted the pieces and traced the curve of the fabric with pencil on the fabric (might be easier to use fabric marker)

I pinned down just a couple inches at a time.

sew, sew, sew

finish up in the center.

I added a vintage button.

Lookin good.

Next step sew up all the sides. I had serged all the edges so this part was easy - just line them up and go.

Don't forget to leave an opening so you can stuff the pillow.

I love the texture detail of having the flower stand up off the pillow.

For the "pleated" pillow - I sewed a double gathering stitch on both ends. The patterned fabric was double the length of the lining & pillow.

I sewed the lining and outer fabric together. Cream muslim for the outer fabric and a white cotton for the inner fabric. I don't think it needed the double layer, but I wanted the pillows to feel like a matching set and be uniform.

I put right sides together, pinned and sewed up the sides.

I turned it right side out and ironed down the fabric so it was easier to work with and so my seams would be straight & consistent.

I ironed down the pleats as well so they would lay a little flatter and make it easier to work with.

I put right sides together from the front and back and sewed up all the sides. I left a small hole so I Jill could stuff the pillows.

Viola! This is the finished pillow. Sew cute.

I love how they both turned out. Let's hope she does too.

Throw Pillow Exchange - Maren & Jessie 15 Sep 2012 10:19 PM (13 years ago)

I made these pillows for Maren. She wanted black, white, gray or mustard yellow. After searching through Hobby Lobby, I decided to keep it simple. I actually bought some plain mustard yellow to do the bows, but decided against it. Like I said before, I decided to keep it simple. Happy 5th to my great friends! ~Jessie

Jessie made me the perfect pillows. I love the pattern, style and color - here's how they look on my bed.

Thanks Jessie - I LOVE them! So perfect and my room really needed an update. You rock!

5 years of Sewing LOvE 12 Sep 2012 2:00 PM (13 years ago)

We have been sewing together for 5 years now. Can you believe it? Where has the time gone? I sew love this sewing group, I sew love these ladies, and I sew love to go out with them on the town.

...And I sew love dessert. Christie made us Carmel Apple Pie in these mini jars. Are they not the cutest things ever?

They tasted just as scrumptious as they looked.

Mr. Teenage Txter came and took our picture for us. Sorry for the crap quality I blame the kid. L to R Rachel, Abbey, Amy, Jennie, Martha, Sarah, Maren, Beka, Nikki & Christie

We started the night off right with glorious food. Lots of good eats in Old Town Gilbert at Liberty Market Cafe.

Well hello there Mr. Handsome. Yes, yes I will watch your movie for a second time and oogle all over your hottieness, thank you very much.

Then home - and somewhere in the middle we did a pillow swap. Pictures to follow... Love the last 5 years and the best gal friends that I could ask for. We will sew on and be friends for a long, long time!

A little lamp love 6 Sep 2012 11:50 AM (13 years ago)

I have been eyeing the lampshade makeovers all over the blogosphere for awhile, but since we lived in a tiny place we had no room for a lamp. Now we are in a bigger space with little furniture to fill it, so it's been fun finding and refinishing furniture and other household items. One of the items was this lamp. My aunt kindly gave them to me, but they weren't quite my style and I was a little discouraged. Until I remembered that I could make them fit my style! Sorry for these dark pictures, but I was excited and wanted to show you guys. :) I spray painted the base in a glossy white. I was worried about those grooves, but it turned out I had no need to worry. To redo the lamp shade I cut a 1 1/2 yard piece of fabric into 2 inch strips, sewed those strips together, serged the edges, ruffled the fabric and hot glued it onto the old shade. So, so easy.

I'm just finishing up repainting my boys' bunk beds right now and have an old kitchen corner cabinet/hutch that I'm anxious to get started on. I need to strip the paint off of it and start fresh. Kevin is in the middle of building us a new dinning room table that I'm so excited about. We are going off of this farmhouse table tutorial. Now we'll all be able to sit at the dinner table and not knock knees. :)

In the meantime, I'm so excited to see the throw pillows that a lot of us are working on! Don't forget to take pictures and email them in to me so I can post them. It'll be fun to celebrate our 5 year anniversary as the SSC!

hey girl... I couldn't resist! 23 Aug 2012 1:28 PM (13 years ago)

I'm so in the mood for dresses 23 Aug 2012 1:26 PM (13 years ago)

(this image is from Prudent Baby)

Now the real question is which one do I make? You can find a link for this collection here. I have 2 girls (1 & 4) that I love putting in dresses. They are simple and go on quick. Not only that but cotton wears well and with a pair of cute shorts or ruffled bottoms undernearth they can run and play to their hearts content.

lunch problem? solved! 7 Aug 2012 9:43 PM (13 years ago)

My kids head back to school tomorrow... I'm a little sad that summer is over (no more sleeping in for my lazy arse) but I'm excited for them and I need to get back to a routine. So, my biggest dilemma with school is packing lunches. Half the time the veggies rot before we use them or I forget everything we buy or just plain lack of imagination when I'm stumbling around my kitchen half awake in the morning.

So here is my solution to 'bleary eyed brain dead me' in the morning - Today when I got home from school lunch shopping, I created 4 lists of all the stuff we have on-hand and posted them on the fridge. This way my kids can pick what they want and we can mix it up so it doesn't get boring. It also reminds me of the healthy stuff I have as well as possible snacks for them after school when they come home starved half to death. It also might help them actually take the next step - making their own lunch ( I can dream right?), but we are making steps in the right direction.

My Bedroom Curtains - LOVE!! 7 Aug 2012 10:45 AM (13 years ago)

This is the window in my bedroom "before picture". Boring faux wood blinds. They are for privacy, not light filtration. I am a vampire when I sleep. I need it pitch black like the darkest corners of hell. The smallest allotment of light and my eyes pop open. It sucks... but we all have our nuances.

This was my inspiration, my friend Tiffani sent me a picture of.

These are the first pair I made for Tiffani, I talk about how I made them here.

So this is what I began with. 2 creamish colored panels of "light block out" curtains that I had bought off a roll at Joann's. The size was roughly 67 long x 55 wide.

Drum Roll please... this is what they morphed into. I bought a flat king sheet from Walmart for $13 (I think), and cut into strips. I doubled the fabric at the top (so it's not glaringly obvious I sewed a strip of fabric to the top of block out fabric) and to add length there. My black strips are 14 inches wide by 55 inches long. The cream spaces are 13 inches wide. I did include a pocket at the top so I could thread it through the curtain rod, but I have these metal clasps that make it easy to open and close which I do daily (sunshine loving vampire). The bottom strip is 10 inches wide also to add length. I did add a little here and there for hemming and for the fusible tape. It wasn't very hard, just a lot of measuring to make sure my stripes would be straight and tons of ironing fusible tape.

But I love the finished product. Now I just need to find some cool funky fabric to make some pillows for me bed.

fusible tape review 21 Jul 2012 1:19 AM (13 years ago)

(pic from the Yellow Cape Cod blog)

My friend Tiffany wanted these curtains, she is not a sewer (that doesn't sound right) but I am, so we made a trade. Don't you just love trades? The tutorial you ask? (but not really) can be found here at Yellow Cape Cod DIY curtains.

To make Tiffani's curtains, we started with Ikea white panels that have a slightly linen texture to them.

RITVA

Pair of curtains with tie-backs, white

$24.99

Next, she brought me tan material from Joann's Country Solids collection. We had to return a couple times to buy a few more yards. The problem is the curtains are 57' wide and most fabrics are 40' wide (or 60', but not as common as the 40'), so we ended up cutting lengthwise. Personally, when I make these curtains for me... I'll be buying a flat sheet from Walmart. It's cheaper and easier in the long run and you don't have to worry about getting just the right shade of tan.

Next I washed the curtains to shrink them. I should have washed the tan material as well, but didn't. The downside to washing the curtains is all the ironing to get them nice and flat again and they lose a little shape. I recommend not washing them first.

Measuring: You need to decide how long you want your curtains. Tiffani had hers rods hung close to her ceiling, so I had her measure her rod to the floor - 92 inches. The panels come unhemmed at 98' inches, but shrunk after washing. I used fusible tape (that comes with the curtains) to hem them at 92 1/2 inch and then hemmed the bottom using clear thread. The obvious advantage to clear thread is not having to switch it out often.

Cutting: I cut 3 tan strips 14 1/2 (to allow for 1/4 inch seams on both sides) x 57 1/2 long (to wrap around the edges)

and the bottom strip is 12 1/2 x 57 1/2

If you notice the very top of the panel has about 6 inches of white curtain exposed, The strips didn't line up across the top exactly but I got them pretty close. The white exposed curtain area (white stripe) is 12 inches.

Next I tried a few different things - and I learned a few things...

So, the black strips for the above pictured curtains have grosgrain ribbon covering the rough edges. I just decided to hem mine.

I bought double stick fusible tape in 1/4 inch size. This stuff is fairly inexpensive and worth the effort. The double stickiness didn't stick very well, but it fuses well and was easy to sew through. It made my edges nice and straight.

*** UPDATE: I found it's easier to place the tape where you want it and quickly run a hot iron over the top to get it to stick. Peel off the paper, fold your material, and re-iron. It works like a charm!

I also used this fusible tape in 1/2 inch to adhere the now hemmed 14 x 57 1/2 tan strips to the drapes. It also worked well, and was easy to sew through. If you are planning on sewing your strips on for a more durable finish, use this.

Caution: I wouldn't use this product for a 'no sewing' option. I hemmed the curtains using this tape and then washed them and they came out of the dryer halfway undone. If you ever plan on washing your curtains use a stronger bonded product (like the stuff pictured below)

This is definitely the way to go if you don't want to do any sewing. It's really strong stuff and crap to sew through. It kept messing up my machine, my needle, the thread. Really, it's the way to go for no sewing.

And that's it really. They were fairly easy. I did sew the strips on after I had bonded them, for durability. Tiffani has small children (fingerprints, etc. kids in general can dirty things up pretty quickly). When I laid out the hemmed strips onto my curtain panels - I measured every few inches before fusing them to make sure my lines were nice and crisp. I think they turned out so cute and I can't wait to make myself a pair.

Tutorial, tutorial, tutorials!!! 5 Jul 2012 11:36 PM (13 years ago)

(pic from Alina's Adventures in Homemaking)

This is the biggest collection of sewing tutorials I've seen. It's awesome!

Let's shed some light on this Tea Party 13 Jun 2012 7:19 PM (13 years ago)

I was just checking out some favorite site when I stumbled on a link for this. A Tea Cup chandelier? really - how cute is that? I love this idea. It's so adorable. I have 2 little stinks that this would look so cute in their room, and Toni at Design Dazzle gives great details so you can make your own. SHe makes it sound so easy. And I love that she hung the saucers upside-down so you can see how cute they are. Here are a few others I found.

(madeleine boulesteix)

This is a bit more intricate and grown up.

I love that this one has the teapot on the chandler and the shades are a bit more whimsical.

(Napa Style)

tea cups & spoons? Love it!

(Lavender Hill Studio)

This one is a little more elegant. I like the dangling crystals personally.

(Danny Seao)

What goes better with a tea party then a diy teacup wall clock? I love that they are mismatch and I'd be tempted but could you imagine how heavy that would be? Maybe with mini cups.

(the mad planter)

I'm drawn to the mismatchiness. I feel a project in my future. SO much more interesting then the boring generic light fixture we have in their room now.

The Secret Stitch Club View RSS