Pinterest Inspiration

I have recently become addicted to Pinterest. I have pinned a million things that I want to make or do a knock off of. I have found several images that I think would be adorable on a children's shirt.....so you know whats coming next! I pulled out the old Silhouette a.k.a. the best tool ever invented! Used some silhouette downloads along with some of my favorite fonts, designed the shirts I wanted and cut them from heat transfer material. Once they were cut I simply arranged them where I wanted them on the $1.00 toddler tee's I got on clearance at Wal-Mart and ironed them on. So simple and so stylish, here are some of the tee's I made for my daughter and nieces. Just a side note the heat transfer material I used was not the silhouette brand but it still worked fine I bought mine from an online vendor it was a great deal cheaper which meant I could buy more colors!

Silhouette Applique

So I was busy busy last week and then this week I have been doing some projects I found on other blogs. So my tutorial post for this week is very easy! Using my favorite new toy the Silhouette SD I used the print and cut feature to make some cute appliques. I purchased a roll of ink jet printer cotton. It is fabric cut to fit in your printer with paper on the back so that it will roll smoothly through. Make sure you follow the directions on the package to heat set the ink as all brands are a little different. So here is what I did.

I picked out a couple of images that I wanted to use and colored them in Silhouette Studio. once I had all of my images colored and sized the way I wanted them I printed them directly onto my cotton fabric.

After I had them printed I made sure to heat set the ink so I wouldn't lose all my work when I washed it, then applied wonder under to the back of my fabric.

Next I loaded them on the carrier sheet and cut the images using my silhouette. ( you could do this without a silhouette by printing and then hand cutting your images.)

Last I ironed my images onto the clothing I wanted them on and stitched around the edges.

For this outfit I used a download from the silhouette store cut the bee from fabric and the words from freezer paper. The words were stenciled in black fuzzy fabric paint. The bee had to be cut in half because of the ruffles on the skirt.

This whale came out so cute I used a pattern fill to color the whale with blue polka dots.

Beach Bridal Shower Center Pieces

It has been a Long couple weeks. This past Sunday I threw a Beach themed Bridal shower for my sister and her girl friend. Everything came together wonderfully. So I thought I would give you a tutorial for the super simple centerpieces that I made.

Here's what you need

Play Sand
2 bags each Seashells & Sea glass (cheapest at Christmas tree shop 1.00 a bag)
Starfish and/or sand dollars (Christmas tree shop had packages of 6 got 1.99)
smooth glass mason jars (found at the craft store so they don't have anything written on the sides)

First I opened all of the jars and took all the labels out of the inside

next I filled them about 3/4 of the way full with sand. As I was dropping in the sea glass I tilted the jar so the sand was at an angle. I dropped a handful of sea glass and then filled them the rest of the way with shells.

For the outside of the jar I wrapped Twine around the top, no special measurement just until it looked good! Then tied on a starfish or a sand dollar.

That's it now you have a quick easy beach centerpiece!

Hair Bow Holder

So if you are anything like my daughter and I there are a million of those cute little ribbon bows cluttering up her room! between store bought Mommy made and Auntie Made she has quite the collection. So here is a cute way to get them off the dresser and more organized. I got the idea from my sister in law who made one similar for my daughters 1st birthday. I re-created it a little differently for a friend who is having a little girl in a couple months.

To start I went to A.C. Moore and bought one of those wooden words that says Princess. Mine came white and I left it that way because the baby to be has all white furniture in her nursery but if you wanted to paint it, now would be the time. Next I picked out two ribbons that matched the decor of the nursery in this case pink and brown; I used a wide brown with a narrower pink over it so that if she has too many like we do she can use both strands. you could really use any combination of ribbon or any number of strands. I chose to have four sets hanging down so that it looked even. the next part is where the difference between my daughters and the one i made. My sister in law used one long piece of ribbon folded in half and tied it onto the bottom of the word, I on the other hand used my handy dandy staple gun and stapled the ribbons to the back so they would lay flat. That it clip some cute little corker bows on there and you haveit, a very simple girls gift in way under an hour! Here are pics of my sister in laws and the one I just made.

Linking up here today check it out they have some other great ideas too!

Quick summer skirt tutorial

I have been away on vacation in the woods so couldn't post but i managed to get it up by the end of the week so I'm excited! this weeks tutorial is for a super easy summer skirt. the pictures aren't the greatest but they should get the job done.

to start choose 2 fabrics one for the main part of the skirt and one for the stripe on bottom.

Measure around your waist where you want the skirt to sit, I added 10 inches to that measurement and this is what I used for a width of my skirt. ( If I make another one I would add more so that it was a flowier skirt.)

Next decide how big of a stripe you want at the bottom, cut your stripe fabric the same width as your main fabric and as tall as you want it to be. *Make sure you add seam allowance and hem to your height measurement.

 Next sew your stripe onto the bottom of your main fabric, I used a zigzag stitch to make a cleaner seam and it is also has a little more give then a straight stitch which is good when making clothing. Once the two pieces are sewn together fold over the bottom and iron and then fold over again and iron. This will enclose the raw edge of the fabric to create your hem. Stitch along the edge to hold in place. Sew the side right sides together to create a big tube.

once I had the skirt piece all set I held it up to me where I wanted the bottom to land, I folded the top down where I wanted the waist to be.

I ironed this fold and then stitched about an inch from the fold with a straight stitch to make the gathered look above the waist band.

 Once this first seam was in I decided what size elastic I wanted to use. I used a 2 inch and simply wrapped it around my waist and then cut it an inch or two smaller to allow for it to stretch and stay on.

Finally I folded under the flap for the elastic to create a clean edge making a pocket big enough for the elastic. I straight stitched along the edge leaving an opening big enough to feed the elastic through.

I have a large clothes pin for cloth diapers with a teddy bear head on it I attach it to the elastic end and feed it through the pocket making sure to hold on to the other end so it doesn't feed in. Once both ends are through I sew the two ends together and close up the rest of the opening.

This project took me about an hour from start to finish and was actually made using left over fabric from a romper I made for Little Miss!

Happy Sewing

Im linking up at The Girl Creative

Starting Slow

Hi, I'm pretty new to blog land but have recently become OBSESSED with craft blogs there is a huge list of AMAZING crafters that I follow and in no way can live up to. That being sad I am going to start small my goal is to publish at least one post a week for now until I am a little more comfortable with the whole blog process. Along with being new I am also incredibly busy right now. For those who do not know me I have a beautiful little girl who just turned 1! Can't believe how fast it has gone by. I also own and run a daycare center for 49 children from 6 weeks to 5 years old. (Yes I know I am insane but I absolutely LOVE every one of them!). This being said thanks for stopping by I hope I can keep up with my goal!

Re-Purposed Store displays

A store in our mall was changing displays and I got a pile of plain wood frames with canvas padded matte's. It took me a while to decide what to do with them, then I found out I was pregnant! Nursery decor PERFECT! So here goes...my very first blog post/tutorial! Ahhh

First I chose a neutral  color that would go with the nursery, pale pink of course. Next I decided to paint them with sponge tipped round brushes. Sorry I don't have any during pictures never thought I would need them. Once my paint was dry I scoured the Internet for quotes about families or babies. I settled on two quotes that seemed fitting. I printed them on Vellum, tore the edges and set them aside. I chose pictures from my ultrasounds as well as my maternity photo shoot. the pictures were matted on coordinating colored core card stock (this means the core of the paper is colored instead of white when it is torn) and torn around the edges as well. Once all of the pieces were done I used floral pins from Wal-Mart the ones with the little pearls on the top (mine were left overs from my wedding bouquet) Pinned the quotes and photos in place and Ta-Da! All in all took about an hour and the cost was $0 since everything I used were things I either had or was given!

The quotes i chose since you can't see them in the pictures:

First we had each other,

Then we had you,

Now we have everything.

A Baby is like the beginning of all things

wonder, hope and a dream of possibilities