Fabric Bookmarks

I am an aunt to 10 adorable girls.  Recently, I was thinking about how I wanted to step it up to become a "cooler" aunt. I live so far away from all of them which at times, makes it hard- but certainly not impossible. I saw these fabric bookmarks over at Little Birdie Secrets and decided it would be the perfect gift for my girls!! 

(Get tutorial HERE)

This was such a fun project!! The possibilities are endless!! I finished them during my vacation in Utah and lucky enough, 4 of my nieces were in town!! It was fun to make them part of it and get their opinion on which flower and button to pair with each bookmark.

This is for sure a project I will want to repeat many more times!!

4th of July Quilted Table Runner

I started this project months ago and FINALLY got it done {and just in the nick of time}

{pre wash}

I saw the idea for a quilted table runner of at Diary of a Quilter and knew I need to make one. 

Check out the great tutorial here! It's wonderful, especially for the beginning quilter like me.

I love the idea of using strips of fabric, so nice to put some of my leftovers to good use!! I have SO much to learn and need a whole lot more practice binding but happy with how it turned out!

I now have the quilting bug and can see Christmas and Halloween table runners in the future! 

Grocery Bag Holder

Ok so I have been nesting like crazy over here.

  I stayed put all day yesterday due to some gross winter weather and began attacking 

areas of my house that needed a little organization!! 

One that was at the top of my list was the pantry.

After cleaning up the pantry, I saw this major problem lurking in the corner...

I was having a serious problem.....

 grocery bags were spilling out of this bag and taking up SO much space.

I remember seeing a tutorial here at Make it and Love It

(you can also see some cute examples here too!)

and decided I better make one for myself that night!

I must say this was one of my favorite projects..... weird because it's a grocery bag holder and will just be hanging out in the pantry......but it was a lot of fun to make!!! (and SUPER EASY!!!)

(before stuffed)

(after, all ready to be used)

So check out the directions and make one for yourself, or for a gift. I am always on the look out for fun homemade wedding gifts and think this would be a great one!!!

3 tier serving tray

My SuPeR creative friend recently showed me a great way to make a 3 tier serving tray!!

 It was very simple and overall, a really fun project!! 

Unfortunately I only took one photo of my completed project before I gave it away to my cousin

 at her bridal shower, oh well- I think you can get the picture!!!

Here's how you make one for yourself

you need:

3 plates (I found mine at TJ Maxx for cheap, they had a lot of great options!)

3 cups-preferably with a handle to give it the antique/vintage look

Clear Caulk (or any strong adhesive)

The process is simple- start with your largest plate (if you are using different sized plates) 

and start stacking...

plate...cup....plate....cup....plate

There is no right or wrong way with how you position your cups (if they have handles) just focus on getting everything centered and it will look fabulous in the end!!!

Like everything I make... I now want one for every holiday and are constantly on the look out for fun cheap plates wherever I go!!!

Hopscotch Mat

I saw this Hopscotch Mat a couple months ago and fell in love

I love everything about it and want to just jump into the picture every time I look at it.

I decided I wanted to make one myself and thought the massive amount of felt I had left over from my felt playhouse (pics coming soon) would work great for this project!

This wasn't the quickest project and definitely took some time in the measuring, pinning and sewing departments but overall a fun and enjoyable project!

Add a beanbag using this tutorial and you are set!

Hope my son's friend likes it!!

Halloween Pillowcase!!

I made this a couple weeks ago for a little Halloween present for my son. 

It was a breeze to make and such a fun gift to give!!

 I used the tutorial on the MADE  blog here which was fabulous.

This could also serve multiple purposes!!

When I was probably too old to go trick or treating I took my pillowcase out as my bag and I must say, you can hold way more candy when you bring one of these!!

 I ended up making another one for my son to use after Halloween! Not going to lie, I could have made twenty more they were so quick and easy. 

I'm already on the lookout for some Christmas fabric!!

 If you are looking for a fast, fun project, this is the one for you!!!

Halloween Banner

I just had to make one for Halloween!!!

(sorry for photo quality, have had some gloomy days)

Such a great way to use up some extra fabric. (Or a great excuse to buy some more!)

I cut the letters out of felt and sewed on with the machine. 

I just love festive banners!!

Here are some other fun banner ideas/examples!

Eighteen25  (have you checked this site out?? Great Halloween ideas posted everyday!!!)

Tatertots and Jello

Crafty Chicks

Fabric Pumpkins

Have you made yourself some fabric pumpkins yet this year??

I have been wanting to for along time now and finally, thanks to my awesome crafty friend, I made some!!

I used the tutorial over at the Idea Room and they were a lot of fun to make!!

Such a fun project to get you into the fall season!!

I love this time of year!!

Root Beer Sampler

When I saw this idea on my good buddy Jill's blog awhile ago I knew it would be perfect for my root beer loving husband. Luckily his birthday was yesterday and I didn't have to wait any longer to do this for him.

I must say this is one of my favorite gifts I have given- and to make it even better.... my husband LOVED it! So win win. For the Mr.'s root beer sampler- I used the IBC container and filled 6 different glass root beers. Finding the different root beer was actually more fun than I thought it would be. Most grocery stores have them- For me, out here in the Midwest- Hy-vee provided a 3, World Market 2 and Machine Shed 1. There were actually a lot more at each of these places but were only sold as a 6 pack.  Since I wasn't wanting to spend too much money, I opted for the single bottles. (This would be such a fun thing to do with a bunch of your girlfriends, sisters, mom etc.. each buy a couple 6 packs and share!I thought a lot of the bottles in the 6 pack were cuter) I would have also loved to have given him more but stuck with 6... this time!

Something else I loved was making the root beer sampler guide. Along the same lines as this one and this one. (except minus the color for me- color printer still in Utah) By googling each root beer brand, I was able to find some fun blogs dedicated just to root beer with great reviews! (Cosmo's Root Beer review, Spikes Root Beer reviews, and King of Soda ) I compiled it with a little help from Picnik and was set to go!!

SO SO fun!! It was a pretty simple project too! Hope you enjoy!!

Button Earrings

I have been meaning to make button earrings for a long time now and finally got around to making them today!

This was the easiest and greatest project ever.... and took me under five minutes to do!

 I'm sure most know how its done but will post directions just in case. 

First- buy some buttons that you think would look fab. as earrings

(as you can see, I kinda was having a thing for roses when I went button shopping)

Buy these

Heat up your glue gun

If your buttons have something on the back, snip it off with a good pair of scissors or have your man and his heavy duty equipment get it off for you!

Once off, you are all set. Just glue the backing to the button and you have yourself a cute new pair of earrings!!

Such a GREAT easy gift idea!!

So start looking through your old stash of buttons and make yourself some earrings!!

Fabric Flower Necklace

Ok I have been dying to make one of these for a long time now and finally got around to it!!

I was so excited to show my husband and see what he thought when I was finished!! 

Well when I showed it to him, he told me

it reminded him of a medal... and not a "necklace" he is used to!

(in the nicest way possible)

Awesome

Well medal or no medal, here is my "necklace" or bib as many call them

made especially for some upcoming family reunion pictures!

I got some inspiration and instructions here

try one, I dare you... you will get addicted!!!

Can't wait to make some more!!

Growth Chart

I saw this great idea here....

so I decided to try it out on my own

here are the results!!

(I started at 2 feet and will hang it that high so I could go up to 5 and a half ft instead of 4 ft)

Can't wait to get this hung in my son's room and start tracking his height!! Such a fun project

Fathers Day Cards

Here is a fun Fathers Day card idea (Thanks to Martha) I found the idea and directions here

(if the directions confused you... don't worry, the confused me too!! Just search on YouTube for instructions on how to fold an origami shirt- there are so many out there!! That helped me)

Anyway here are some of the ones I took to a card party!!

Can't wait to give some away to the wonderful men in my life!!

here are some other fun card ideas

here,

here, 

and 

here

Gone Fishin

This project was so much fun. Even my husband was excited about this one. 

I saw the idea at- Deck the Halls of Home with Joy

My friend and I had previously been talking about how we wanted to make a little fishing set

and were so excited when we came across this great idea and tutorial.

We got together and went to work

(I must say doing crafts with friends is so much better than doing them by yourself) 

end result:

my son LOVES these

He asks to fish all the time

and believe me

 this makes for a happy fisherman husband

Fabric Panel Car Mat

I had been staring and wondering what to do with this fabric for awhile

I decided, last week, that it needed to be a car mat.

 My friend's little boy turned one recently and thought it (with some play cars) would be a fun gift to give. 

The process was quite simple

 Placed panel on the top

Batting in the middle 

and a layer of corduroy on the bottom

Stitched and bound together!

I was happy with how it turned out!!

Now I need to get the motivation to make my son one

He was pretty sad when we gave it away!!

Festive Banner

Currently I am obsessed with making banners. My talented friend made me a banner similar to this for St Patrick's day and I have been dying to make one ever since

Since tomorrow is Memorial Day, I thought is was appropriate to get it out the one I made for the Fourth, hang it up and make a post of it!

This was SO simple

trust me, you can make it

To make it the way I did 

All you need is

Coordinating Fabric

 Thread

and Bias Tape

Cut your fabric into triangles

Place triangles in your Bias Tape

Pin in place

Sew Across

*I used 8 triangles but you can use as many as you like. Big or small/ Long or Short

Have fun!!

(and expect some more of these from me in the near future!)

Happy Memorial Day!!

Update!

Ok so do you remember this post I did awhile back about Felt Baby Squares and how I said I really wanted to make one of my own?? 

Well I did it and made a Felt Square "book" for a friend of mine expecting a baby in a couple weeks.

Let me tell you this was a lot of fun and VERY simple.

All you need is 

black and white sheets of felt

 ( I used 4 white and 4 black with lots of spare scrapes left over- making a total of 8 pages)

coordinating thread

eyelets/eyelet tools (optional)

metal ring (optional)
I loved using the ring because it allows you to enjoy the squares together in a book or spread out on the floor!

Thanks to Crafting Chicks for the great idea

Line of Authority

Need a gift idea for you husband, father, brother etc... for Father's Day?? 

I posted this idea right when I started my blog when pretty much the only person reading it was my mom so I thought I'd post it again- this time with pictures! (I erased the earlier ones if you didn't notice)

For Christmas last year I gave my husband, dad, father in law and brothers a framed copy of their Priesthood Line of Authority. If you are not LDS, this may not make much sense to you but basically a document that shows who ordained an individual and who in turn ordained them and so on back to the Lord. Read more about it here. They all LOVED it, something so personal and unique. I became fascinated with them as I was putting them all together. Something very special for them to have record of!

If you are interested here is who you email: lineofauthority@ldschurch.org  -Send them your name/ persons name you are requesting and your address. If you are requesting your dads for example, they will have to mail it to his house- but they can address it to your mom or someone else in the home to keep it a secret!!

Once I got the document in the mail I re-typed it, printed it on card stock, threw a little ribbon (manly ribbon) on and placed it in a frame.

I think this with a tie would be a cute gift for Fathers Day!

Here is an example

10 Minute Beanbag!

{ took me a little longer but I am sure you sewing pro's out there could whip one out in ten!}

Sunday morning I needed a beanbag and I needed one quick. I am the music leader for the little kids at church and I had planned to use a beanbag as part of this weeks lesson- It totally slipped my mind that I actually needed to get a beanbag until hours before church. I had seen a couple ways to make your own beanbags before and I remember it looking pretty simple, so I went for it. 

For those of you wondering how to make some cute beanbags for your kids or whomever, here is how you do it {or at least how I did it!}

First gather supplies.... 

fabric/muslin, sewing supplies, beans (not pictured)

Next cut out your fabric- 7 X7 inches for the polka dot fabric and 6 X6 inches for the muslin

(wow could I take worse pictures or what! Can being in a hurry be a good excuse?!?)

 Now take your pieces and place them on top of each other (being sure to match them up)- right sides together and sew around the edge on three sides

Now take some scissors and clip the corners that you have sewn- this helps the fabric lay better in the corners

and then turn the right side out

Now take you beans (or if you are desperate like me making these last minute... corn etc..) and pour about 2 cups into your muslin pouch

Once filled, fold the top 1/2 inch of the opening into the bag and sew shut. If it doesn't look pretty, don't worry, no one will see it!

Now slip your little muslin pouch inside the larger pouch

And then just like the muslin- fold the top 1/2 inch into the bag and pin together (this one should look nice!)

Finally sew around all four corners about 1/4 inch from the edge and you're done!!!

thanks to Family Crafts for the help!!

now that I have my beanbag, I may be able to join in on a game of Corn hole- a beanbag toss game that apparently is super popular out here in the Midwest- my neighbors seem to like it and stay up playing it all night long OUTSIDE every weekend!