Serge on!

Recently I have been

feeling the "baby itch." Maybe because I'm having one of my own, or maybe it's because there are just so many awesome things to create for little ones! So when a close friend off mine said that she needed some more receiving blankets, I jumped at the chance to finally get out my serger and create some for her! I was able to make three for her just today and I am so excited about making more! Enjoy the sneak peek!

Aloha!

Our family was recently invited to a Luau, so of course I had to get crafty! Last year, we went and didn't wear anything Hawaiian (except the leis they provided), so I thought that this year I would make the girls some cute outfits out of some Hawaiian print material I found at Jo-Ann's.

I finished the bubble skirt for my 1.5 year old yesterday:

I was so happy with the results! I used this awesome tutorial as a guide, but I made-up my own measurements for the skirt, as well as fudged my way along to make a casing for the waistband.

Now I've been researching on Pinterest for a dress for my 5 year old, as she said that she wanted a dress and not a skirt. Stay tuned!!

Organizing!!

So lately I've been super busy trying to organize, well, pretty much everything! This has left little time for crafting, except for making a bunch of baby bibs for presents. When we moved into our house, there was this one room with two big closets, but just one shelf near the top. Thankfully, a friend was about to come over and install nice shelving for me, oh about a year ago!! And finally, I've been able to get all of my crafts organized into one closet (well, sorta) and the kids' toys in the other. I don't have a huge stockpile of crafts or fabrics, but just a lot of little pieces that get cluttered around if they don't have a home. I have been searching on Pinterest for some easy ways to organize, and finally settled on plastic totes. Genius time, right? :)

So here's a photo of part of it, and like I said, it's a work in progress!! I just wish I could have my own giant room devoted to all of the fun things I've collected, then I could finally use them all (and then just collect more!).

Old Favorite: T-shirt Iron-on Transfers

Today was the first day of spring break here. The first day of finding things to do to occupy my kids-so neither of us go crazy!!

I was inspired by another child I saw who made a t-shirt using an iron-on for Dr. Seuss's birthday--of course!! So combine an unopened package of printable iron-ons that I've had for at least 6 years with a t-shirt that I bought at the dollar store and voila!! A fun, easy diy project that took about an hour to complete (and we have something to show wear for it!).

Birthday Bunting

Call it what you want, bunting or garland or a banner, these make awesome decorations for parties (like this example (c) Land of Nod)!

So after seeing all those cool pictures of flag banners on Pinterest, I decided to make my own for my daughter's 5th birthday party this month.

There are so many tutorials out there, but I figured it was as easy as sewing a bunch of triangles onto a piece of ribbon, and guess what? It was!! No tutorial needed here! And the sewing took about 20 minutes tops and I was able to cut the triangles out of remnants with pinking shears. Could this get any easier?

When my daughter saw the picture, her eyes lit up and she said, "Is this for my party? THANK YOU!!"

And that's really all the thanks I needed.

Pinning it Down #2: Unpaper Towels!

For my second try at Pinning it Down" I decided to make some "unpaper" towels. What exactly are "unpaper" towels, you ask? Well, they are re-usable towels that have flannel on one side and terry cloth on another. They are super absorbent and perfect for cleaning up those everyday messes. And then you just throw them in the wash and start again!

They were super easy to make using this tutorial. (Correction: They were super easy when my sewing machine was working properly!) I didn't do the snaps shown in the tutorials (just going to fold them up in my napkin basket), used a zig-zag stitch, and I only made four, because that was all I could make from the old towel and old receiving blanket that I decided to cut up and use. (My girls never really took to those cheeky dinosaurs.) So this project cost me nada! Bonus!

I am going to make a few more, but this is a nice start, and I already used them tonight to clean up the table. The girls had fun washing their play table and the windows too, but I think that it was actually the spray bottle of vinegar/water that they liked using the most. But, hey, I got to make supper in peace, so it turned out to be a beautiful day!

Check out my link-up as well as others on Pam's blog here!

Happy pinning and doing!

Fabric Flower Hair Pins

After getting inspired on Pinterest with this tutorial. I decided to make a fabric hair pin of my own. I was really pleased with how it turned out! In the tutorial, they mention that it's really easy to get burnt (and they weren't kidding!) so I ended up sticking a large stick pin in the middle of the "flowers" while I was melting the edges. And I used a Glade candle, because it was all I had. (This coming from a girl who hates open flames! I only lit the flower on fire once....the tutorial says mistakes add character.) Enjoy!

And my friend Patti told me about a great idea she heard about from her friend Pamela called "Pinning It Down"...basically where you actually DO something from your pinboards! I love this idea! So if you love it too and are actually "pinning it down" visit her at her blog and let others know about it!

Places to link-up for "Pinning it Down" Tuesdays:
http://www.amongstlovelythings.com
http://www.everydaysnapshots.blogspot.com