Sew Darn Crafty - Linky and Giveaway!

If you don't already know Karen at Sew Many Ways - you need to head over to her blog and check out her new Linking Party- Sew Darn Crafty that she's been hosting!  This time, she's having a giveaway as well!  

I love this linking party because you get to see so many different types of crafts and projects at a glance and are introduced to some fun new blogs.  What a great way to share and promote the crafting community.

Karen has hosted Tool Time Tuesday for quite a while and she still amazes me with what she comes up with.  She can take a metal washer, a rope, and some plastic from the hardware store and turn it in to a new and useful household item.  Like me, she loves to label everything.  She's a true organizing queen.  And, she is an awesome quilter! 

I've just linked up and I hope you will, too!  Happy Sunday everyone!

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Our last big 5th

Sniffle, sniffle.. weep.

Okay, I'm done.  For a moment.

Now its time to celebrate - my baby girl turns five today!  Happy Birthday beautiful baby!  "You're my girl."

Its so bitter-sweet. This is a tough year.  I have one daughter who will graduate high school and begin a whole new chapter in her life; and another who will begin her kindergarten year.  Such a contrast.  And, two other kiddos in between.  So while the oldest was  shopping for a prom dress, the other was giggling and jumping up and down with her buddies at Build-A-Bear workshop on Saturday for her fifth birthday party!  Five sweet, tiny girls ready to bring their bunnies, cats, and doggies to life with some stuffing and little red hearts!  Fun, fun, and fun.

My daughter asked for an American Girl doll for her birthday and what better way to present the new doll than with a matching dress!  I was a little nervous about making doll clothes, but the Mini-Frida by modkid was very easy.  I am so excited about making more doll clothes and have already planned to make matching dresses in April for my daughter's best friend!

 

I plan to purchase some of the Simplicity patterns as well.  We decided that "Jessica" needs a few more clothes.  I would love to hear your thoughts on any of the clothes you have made.  Do you have favorite patterns, tricks, or tips?

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Party Duds

I do believe that all of my youngest daughter's friends were born within a month of each other!  So, with all the parties, I made a few dresses and skirts for her to wear.  I bought the cutest fabric at IKEA a few years ago and finally put it to good use (post here). I added some bunting from the fabric to a t-shirt and yippee - party duds!  So festive!

Thanks to the great advice and tutorial at Ta-Da Creations, I altered my Simplicity pattern #2377 to make this little a-line dress.  I love the fun colors!

 

My for my daughter's 5th birthday, I used Frida by modkid to make this sweet dress. I made this several months ago but in a shorter length and with pants.  It goes together quickly and easily.  Patty Young's patterns and instructions are very well thought-out and designed.

 

I am looking forward to some spring weather... and a green yard again!  I'm going to share another fun project in my next post!

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Necessaries

(cell phone rings...)

Me:  Hello?
BFF Harriet:  Whatcha doing?
Me:  Sewing a skirt.  You?
BFF Harriet:  Going to Joann's.  Wanna go?
Me:  You bet.
BFF Harriet:  I'll pick you up.  Be right there.

The rest is history.  Stroll, talk, check out EVERYTHING in the store, chat, catch up, no interruptions, look at fabric, look at patterns.  We shut the joint down.  That's how we roll.

Hey, do you see a theme here?  Yeah, me too.  That's why it was a "necessary".  Well, of course I already have a pair of small scissors, needles, a seam ripper, and tweezers.  But, these are all in a cute ,"ready-to-go" apparatus.  Duh, no brainer there.

 

Another "necessary" - my other needles are bent from use!  Practical, functional.  Necessary.

Fabric, needles, and other small misc. items - $24.

Time away to breathe, think, plan.... and finish a complete sentence - priceless.

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Sharin' the Sewing & Photography Love

I just wanted to share with you today a few great blogs.  The first is one that I have followed for a few years now - Kinder Kouture by Jeannine M.  If I need a little pick-me-up and inspiration - I go to her blog.  I do believe she is Wonder Woman in disguise!  She is an incredibly talented seamstress/designer and photographer.   This lady does it all... blog, website, photography, sewing, Facebook, Flickr, Tweet, and has an Etsy shop! Even when she has a tough day, she turns it around and flips it over to look for the bright side.  So, go over and check out her beautiful blog.

The second is Photographers Blog.  (And thanks to Jeannine for sharing it with others!)  I am just beginning to pour through it but one thing that I like already is the Friday Editing Spotlight that they just started.  Christine and Leslie give editing advice each Friday and I don't know about you, but I can always use a little lot of editing advice!

And, they are having a super-cool giveaway.  (Pick me, pick me!)   But, I'm sharing that, too!  Sassy Designs has over 600 digital design items and more.  Hurry on over to the Photographers Blog and check that out as well - the contest ends soon.  Sorry for the late notice - I just found this information out myself!

Good luck!

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Photo Play

When your exposure isn't JUST right... take it to Photoshop.  Play.  Have fun.

 

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Take a seat!

Another project complete!  During our snow days, I was able to finish covering my kitchen table bench with the fabric that I used on these oven mitts.  I found it a while back and thought it was perfect to brighten up the kitchen! 

This is my plain-Jane bench before (no offense if you are named Jane, ok?)...

And now...

 

It wasn't a difficult process but I did learn some things along the way.  The first thing I learned - have a helper ready!  It was definitely a "two-man" show.  One person needs to hold and smooth the fabric and the other person will slap in those staples with a good staple gun!  

 

I purchased foam from JoAnns along with the fabric and some fairly thin vinyl.  I cut the foam lengthwise which just happened to be the perfect width for my bench leaving just a small piece left over.  I picked out the type that breathes and can be used indoors or outdoors because it seemed to hold its shape better.  Or so I thought.  More on that soon.  I cut each piece of foam diagonally at one end so that they overlapped about two inches, sat on top of each other smoothly, and left no visible mark between the two once the fabric was placed on top.

 

Adding the fabric went fairly quick.  Staple, smooth, tighten, smooth, staple, etc.  I finished the ends like a wrapped present.  When we were ready to add the vinyl (which had been purchased several months prior and had been stored in the studio under my counter space), we noticed it had too many wrinkles.  It was too thin and didn't hold a nice shape.  But, I had to temporarily cover  the bench with it since I couldn't leave fabric uncovered with a 4 year old and 8 year old in the house!  Disaster.  So, it was just stapled on loosely.  That drove me crazy because it kept coming loose.  After repeatedly yelling at the kids to pull it straight, I finally lost it one night and wrapped one end in blue painters tape to hold it in place!  Yeah, so unlike me.  But, better than having to replace the fabric!

I went back to JoAnn's (awww, too bad for me!) and purchased a heavier mil of vinyl.  MUCH better!  Ready to lay on the new vinyl?  Nope.  Since we had used the bench for several weeks, the foam had settled some and when we tried to attach the vinyl, it smooshed the fabric down and made a crease.  Not pleasing.  So, we pulled out the staples and re-stapled the fabric on each side to tighten it up a bit.   In the end, it all turned out to be a good thing.

We then stapled the vinyl on.  It holds up well and wipes up quite nicely!  Yay!  So that's my "Upholstery 101" for the day.

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