Pea Pod Creations

changes...

2011-08-09T14:02:00.000-07:00

Our newest addition finally arrived

Keegan Joel Stout
July 20th

It's wonderful to not be pregnant and to enjoy a sweet new baby...who knows maybe I'll even make some projects once again...actually his first quilt is just about done!

Love,

Just me?

2011-04-06T07:34:00.000-07:00

Am I the only one?

Or do others give their little kids messy foods in the bath, so that they don't get their little messes everywhere?

Love,

Fun with Jell-o

2011-04-05T13:38:00.000-07:00

Jell-o can be such a blast!

Can you really resist its wiggly goodness?

Recently we had some jell-o races. They turned out to be a lot of fun (but the pictures are not so great)

The first game we played was a Jell-o slurp.

1.Each kid had a plate of Jell-o and a straw (large straws like they have at McDonalds work a lot better as they allow more Jell-o to pass through)

2.Ready-Set-Go

3. See which kid can slurp up all their Jell-o first!

The second Jell-o game we played was quite messy, but fun to. In fact my kids ask to play this one a lot.

1. Give each kid a small bowl of unmade Jell-o. Just the powder. Trust me don't do do too much, I wasn't sure the first time we played this (the time in the pictures) and each kid had WAY to much Jell-0. Just do a TBS or 2.

2. Think of eating a Lic-A-Stix. You know the candy where you get a candy stick, you lick it and dip it in the candy sugary stuff and lick off....Well, this is similar. But instead each kid has powdered Jell-o and their finger. The goal is to lick your finger, dip it in the bowl and lick it off. The first too eat their whole bowl wins.

3. Plan on red, or blue, (or whatever color of Jell-o you choose) colored fingers for the next few days. My kids sported their freshly colored fingers with pride!

Run to the store and pick up some Jell-o for some fun family games today!

Love,

2011-04-03T22:11:00.001-07:00

I love peasant dresses. They are so simple and easy to make, and easy to wear.

This one I wanted to try something a little different, so I made 3/4 sleeves, then did a simple gather at the end of the sleeves by putting elastic thread in the bobbin...

In all honesty, this dress ended up looking more like PJ's, but its comfy and Parlee wears it quite often....but next time I'd do something a little different then this.

Love,

Washer Necklace: a simple tutorial

2011-04-03T11:12:00.000-07:00

For Joelys 11th birthday party last week, we made washer necklaces. They were fast easy and the girls loved them.

To make your own, gather a few supplies:

A washer ( I got mine from Home Depot)
Mod Podge
Decorative paper
glitter

The process was too simple:

Choose the paper each girl wanted and cut to fit the washer (I had circle punches that matched our sizes)
Add a thin layer of Mod Podge, apply decorative paper
Allow to dry
Then add another layer of Mod Podge to the top and lightly sprinkle some glitter over the top
Allow to dry again. You are done!

This same project we are going to do at girls camp this year too!

Love,

Spring button toddler dress

2011-03-31T08:29:00.000-07:00

I LOVE spring!

Yet sometimes I feel ansy about spring because I know that summer is just around the corner, and though I love my kids being home from school and I love the freedom the summer brings, well here in the desert it also brings too much heat! Even though I have never lived anywhere but the desert, I still cant bring myself to enjoy 110 degree heat day after day. The addition of having super pale skin for myself and my kids, means lathering on sunscreen and still burning....So with as much as I love spring, I know that the dreaded heat is just lurking around the corner. In fact today is supposed to be in the 80's and tomorrow 85 degrees....can I put a pause button on the weather?

Okay, so spring.

That means its time for cute little dresses with little diaper covers. I found a little pattern for a dress, but I've changed it so dang much I don't think I'll put the original reference, as I've re-drawn one for what I needed. I added a faux button placket to the front....this was the main reason for doing his dress, because I FINALLY figured out how to make button holes on my high tech sewing machine! (I'm not joking I couldnt figure it out for the longest time!) So to celebrate my happiness I just wanted to make a lot of button holes....of course that meant hand sewing on a lot of buttons too :-) The button on front dont 'work' they are just their for looks, because the dress is put on with the real working buttons on the shoulders.

The diaper cover was from MADE. Some adjustments I made for the diaper cover is I made it about a half inch higher in the waist (I have a tall daughter), but I sloped the front down a bit, because her belly is big and everything sits bellow her large Budah belly.

The buttons were actually from Stampin' Up. They have some super cute buttons! I also made the shirt under the dress (in 15 minutes before pre-school started none-the-less) It was just a simple peasant dress style that I made into a shirt....the shirt is actually too short for wearing alone, I just made it for under the dress. I also lined this dress with knit yet the front is made from quilters cotton. I wasnt sure how combining the two materials would work, but they have washed up just fine, and know the inside is comfy soft.

Hooray for spring and Hooray for making more dresses!

Birthday Banner

2011-03-29T16:13:00.000-07:00

My daughter turned 11 last week, while she was at school I decided to make a banner to have hanging in the living room for when she got home.

The project used up stuff I had at my home, if you have a lot of left over fabric, this is the perfect de-stasher!

Each 'flower' of the banner is made of three scallop circles. I have a Big Shot and scallop circle die, so this was super fast and easy (especially since you can cut through 8 layers of fabric at once!)

I placed two circles back to back so that the right side of the fabric was facing out, the third circle, I added a little fold vertically and horizontally then sewed them to my other two circles. The made a nice poufy flower looking thing.

I made tons of these!

Then I took all my flower poufs and sewed them to some ribbon (the ribbon I even got for free during sale-a-bration from Stampin' Up). Once I was all done I realized I had a lot more garland then I thought I had...I mean a lot more! So I kind of did a double loopy thing on the wall.

It's so bright and springy though that I cant quite bring myself to take it down yet!

What? I blog?

2011-03-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

I know, I know I never blog anymore...I just don't have much time for blogging these days...I still love to make things, and today I actually loaded them onto my computer, so over the next few days I'm going to add some of the projects that I have made AND actually taken pictures of (because that doesn't happen very much).

Christmas Giving

2010-12-08T12:00:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to share a Christmas tradition:

For the past few years one of my friends and I host one of my favorite things of the holiday season.

We start by inviting everyone that we would normally give a neighbor gift to, we invite them to a night of sharing and giving. We choose a charity that we want to help with and have people bring something to donate to that charity...we chose a local shelter. Everyone brings something to donate to the shelter like non-perishable foods, clothing, diapers, cash, or whatever.

On the night of our get together, my friend and I make some treats and set them out in the garage, we light some heaters, and have plenty of scooters and wiggle bikes ready for the kids. Then our neighbors and friends show up, the kids all play around, the adults mingle, everyone enjoys some donuts and wassail. Its a low key event that has grown with each passing year. The idea is to do this in lieu of giving neigborhood gifts. As more people get involved, it becomes funner and funner. On our invitation it tells people to extend this invite to others, and they do! This year I met some new people that I did not know, it just so much fun!

At the end of the night, we load up my excursion, and the next day I go to the local shelter and deliver our loot. This tradition has quickly become something that I hope many others besides me look forward to.

Love,

high FIVE

2010-11-23T10:48:00.001-08:00

That's the number of kids are family will have!

We are pregnant with baby number FIVE!

Love,

baby shower dresses

2010-11-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to a baby shower. I found out about it the night before, and the shower was at noon the next day...In other words no time to run into town and buy something.

So I made a cute little dress for baby and one for big sister.

I made them to fit next year because...

1. Im not a fan of anything but comfy clothes on teeny babies.
2. Im not a fan of dresses on crawling babies...

...so...

That leaves a dress for a 'just starting to walk baby'

Big sisters dress will fit next year too. I also like when I got presents that werent all 0-3 months. I ended up with many of those and not much else for that first year when they grow so fast.

I also made little hang tags to go on the dresses. I've never had a reason to make a hag tag before, but thought it would be a fun touch...it kind of makes me want to make more dresses so I can add a cute little hang tag to the project ;-)

I bought A LOT of these gray fabrics to complete so other dresses for more little girls who will be born soon or have been born already but I've been procrastinating making anything.

Love,

a break

2010-11-02T08:58:00.000-07:00

Joel and I took a day together to go hiking in Zions and see the leaves start to change colors. The cloudy weather and rain that we have had in Southern Utah the previous week made the canyon so beautiful with waterfalls everywhere!

Love,

Joe's new kidney transplant

2010-10-22T13:54:00.000-07:00

This is my little niece Aubrey, she is the daughter of Joel's sister Holli and her husband Joe. They are trying to raise money for a new kidney transplant, their site is here.

Go and check out their site and read about their story. It's very touching!

Love,

Lil' Golf Dress

2010-10-20T20:51:00.001-07:00

I love little girls in dresses!....a lot!

This little dress was made with green corduroy material. The purple plaid material for the ties match the little diaper cover and hairbow.

I also added a cute little patch that simply said 'happy' on the front lower corner of the dress.

Love,

Cards~cards~cards

2010-10-18T14:51:00.000-07:00

Some of my friends already know that I design cards, scrapbook pages, sewing projects whatever is needed for Jill. She is a Stampin'Up demonstrator (she was the 5th demonstrator to sign up in the company) It really is a blast making things, I've been doing it for years.

Here are some of the things I made for two recent get togethers she had. (No I did not make all of them on the whole wall)

My favorite is doing anything that needs to be water colored, I really do love the water color crayons that Stampin' Up sells, mine look so messy and used.

Love,

Daniel Boone Costume

2010-10-13T19:31:00.000-07:00

Daniel Boone, the man man who was responsible for the exploration and settlement of Kentucky....that's who Taran will be for Halloween.

His outfit was all home made!

I have waited to post this, in hopes that I would put him back in the outfit, but Im sure it wont happen until Halloween, so here is the basic idea of the outfit.

Pants: sewn with fringe at the bottom and along the pockets and made of a heavy duck cloth material

Shirt: a basic tunic

Vest: Made of a heavy duck cloth and complete with fringe on the bottom.

Hat: ....why a coonskin of course!

The old vintage wooden gun had a leather holster we made.

The look turned out great and worked well with Kyler Johnny Appleseed costume. I'll post more pictures when he puts it on again.

Love,

Trying to warm those legs up!

2010-10-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

Here's the quick project I did (times many) in one morning before the kids even woke up....Leggings.

I made Parlee a bunch of leggings to go under the dresses she already has.

These were super fast with this pattern. There's not even elastic in the waist, which made them even faster!

Love,

fun tags...for lack of a better name.

2010-10-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

I saw this fun tutorial on how to make your own hang tags....since I dont need hang tags but was curious to try out the tutorial, I made a few (I guess generic, regular, boring but I thought adorable, but not quite sure what to use them for, with the exception of the birthday one) tags.

The tutorial was found here.

Love,

Twirly circle skirt

2010-10-02T12:42:00.000-07:00

Family wedding = sew new clothes!

Joely ended up with the circle skirt. I used this method here, and was happy with how super fast and easy it was!

Of course I made here wear some biker shorts to the wedding so that all spinning would be modest.

I think Joely and I may be matching soon, because I tried hers on and I totally want my own now too...I guess I should make a mini one for Parlee then we can be a whole family of circle skirts!

Love,

Johnny Appleseed costume

2010-10-02T10:46:00.000-07:00

This year my 3 year old will be Johnny Appleseed for Halloween. I made this costume a couple of weeks ago for a parade that he and Taran were in.

So who was Johnny Appleseed?

He lived in the late 1700's-early 1800's. His real name is John Chapman. He planted appleseeds in the 'west' primarily Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.

Kyler was overjoyed (though I don't think that word would be strong enough to describe it) to be Johnny Appleseed. He oversaw every stitch that went into making his outfit. He faithfully has been watching the Disney Johnny Appleseed movie...you know to get into character.

For his costume, I made a basic tunic out of muslin, I added some color at the bottom of the sleeves. I also appliqued a small apple on the front. (It wasnt easily seen, due to the vest he wore. However Kyler and I both know it's there, and you can see it in the above photo)

His pants were just frayed levis he had grown out of.

His vest was easy to make...but I had never made a vest before, and quite frankly had NO CLUE how to make one....and I didn't want to buy a pattern...So, I took an old shirt and cut it up until in looked like a vest. Then I used the shirt as a pattern to cut out material to make his vest. It was so easy! Making a vest pattern out of a shirt was truly the way to go for this costume!

My favorite part of the costume was the bag and the hat!

The apple seed bag was made to go over his head and one shoulder. I made it out of a duck cloth, it was sturdy. I hand cut out an apple and stitched it on the front, then added the word "SEEDS" below it. We put some sunflower seeds inside the bag for him to sprinkle while he was in the parade. For Halloween he will use his appleseed bag to hold his goodies from trick or treating.

Johnny Appleseed was known for wearing a cooking pot for a hat (I of course googled this to see if it was true and why he did that, the best I could find is that yes, he did in fact wear a cooking pot and could use it to gather fruit).....For Kyler we actually had to buy several cooking pots to find the best fit ;-) We bought them all used, but when we would get home we would find most of them to small for his noggin! We finally found one that wasnt too heavy (cheap pots work best) I duct taped some rags inside to cushion his head, and wrapped a piece of thin elastic around the handles that could go under his chin when he wore it. Needless to say he have gone out to eat with Kyler wearing his pot hat ;-) To say he loves the hat is also an understatement!

I enjoy knowing that both my boys learning a bit of history while planning their costumes!

Love,

Kids pillowcases

2010-09-26T21:10:00.000-07:00

It's time for my weekly kids craft and sewing class.

We have our first sewing project. A new monogrammed pillowcase for their beds!

Two weeks ago we went over sewing machine safety and I also printed out a bunch of sewing sheets for them to practice on. (click on the link, then go to sewing sheets) The sewing sheets featured straight lines. circles. wavy lines, boxes etc. The kids are supposed to sew each paper for practice, before tackling their first real sewing project. The site that I downloaded the sewing sheets from suggests attaching a piece of material to the back of each paper for them to sew on. I did NOT do that though. I took the tread out of my machine, and the kids just practiced sewing on the papers...so that it would punch holes in the papers. Then I went over the papers with them and explained where they may be having problems. Though truth be told they were all GREAT at sewing these patterns, and they would point out to me where the 'dots (from the needle) didnt go exactly on the lines'

First off the kids picked two fabrics that they loved.

We put that aside and then worked on our monograms. Each monogram was made from felt (it's just more durable). The made a scallop circle, circle and the first letter of their name. Each piece of felt had wonder-under on the back side. That way they could be ironed together, then they sewed around the edge of the circle. Of course I made it easier on us, by having them cut the felt with the Stampin' Up Big Shot and dies.

I have a great pillowcase pattern, but for the kids I went with the super easy pillowcase pattern found here. It was very KID friendly!

Love,

Relief Society Project Runway

2010-09-26T10:53:00.001-07:00

Just for fun, I thought I'd post some pictures from a RS enrichment night we did. The theme was Project Runway.

Each table was given a model from the Young Womens, and a mystery wrapped box on their table. Inside the box was newspaper, duct tape and a slew of other random things, from CD's, ornaments, diapers, fake fur, feathers, wrapping paper, plastic cups and plates....seriously items that were probably VERY difficult to work with. Then each table had 1/2 hour to make an outfit for their model.

It was hilarious, and also amazing what these women could make with crap!!!

Here are just a few pictures of the craftiness that went on.

This table used the stars that were table decorations to make her tiara and necklace...clever

This was the winning design...can you believe they made that contrasting trim at the bottom, and also a bellero...there was just not enough time for this type of craftiness! Her hair-tie (which you cant see) was made from a plastic lid that they cut a hole out of and put a ponytail through, then they decorated up.

The flapper dress with tons of hand cut foil tissue.

Each table also had to write out the 'script' that would be said while the girls modeled their outfits....this table had the FUNNIEST script ever. They described their purse (made from a diaper) as absorbant and able to hold more then you would expect. Too true! (you should have seen the rolled flower accent's made from a plastic table cloth on her outfit)

Other tables would describe things like 'hand blown glass earings'...really a balloon hanging from their ears....way way way to creative.

The winning table with their creation, complete with their WINNER crowns ;-)

Hope you enjoyed some pictures of our great night!

Love,

Snow Blossom Peasant Dress

2010-09-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

This is the first little peasant dress I've ever made, and I adore it so much....does that sound funny to love something you made yourself so much? Either way, it's true, I just LOVE it. She's worn it 3 times in the last week that it's been made. I washes up beautifully....Im just happy! In fact all these pictures were taken after it had been worn and washed a couple of times!

The pattern is from Heidi and Finn. They are my FAVORITE pdf patterns EVER! I have bought several patterns from etsy, but these just make me giddy! They are super fast, easy and clear to understand.

I also made a little diaper cover from MADE. The next one I make I will do the waist a little smaller, I guess I have a skinnier baby then I realized. I should have measured her waist, but since I do most of my sewing when kids are asleep, it just didnt happen. They still fit, just big at the waist.

I also made her a little matching fabric rosette hairbow.

I love that the waist band tie and the diaper cover match....It was the perfect amount of polka dots.

Love,

~BOO~ bunting

2010-09-24T07:19:00.001-07:00

The Patriotic bunting is down and the new Halloween bunting is up!

(don't you love Kyler swinging on the branch...too cute)

This one was made using the Stamping Up Pennant die with the Big Shot Machine. The machine cut out my pennants. I also have an alphabet set for the Big Shot machine. I simply added some wonder under to my felt, ran it through the machine with the letters BOO, and then ironed them to my project. Sometimes having scrapbook tools around make projects go by SOOOO much faster!

I also added the little ghosts to swing on some of the branches on the tree too.

It was a little windy out, so I had to hold them to take pictures of these little ghosts.

Love,

another fabric rosette

2010-09-23T20:08:00.001-07:00

Here's another fabric rosette hairbow that I made Parlee to go with an adorable new outfit I just made her, and will hopefully get pictures posted of!

Have you made a fabric rosette hairbow yet??? If not, why?

Love,

~Scallop Circle hairbows~

2010-09-23T19:58:00.000-07:00

Joely has a 5th grade class store, parents can send items in with their children to donate to the class store.

Joely really wanted to make some hair bows, so we made some simple ones made with some scallop circles I already had cut out of some material.

The kids wear uniforms to school, so I was trying to stick to some of the school colors like the red, and navy blue.

We clipped each hairbow onto a ribbon that was attached to a piece of scallop circled cardstock. then each bow was wrapped in a celophane bag.....I must admit they looked pretty darn cute all packaged up for the class store.

The bows themselves were fast to make, simple circles folded into 1/4ths then glued onto a clip.

Love,

~a bunting we will go~

2010-09-21T20:59:00.000-07:00

I've had this cute little bunting hanging from my tree out front of our house since July....I just couldn't take it down because it was so bright and cheery. It was also so fun to see, because my kids sewed the whole thing! I just stood by and observed them!

...Well tomorrow it will finally be taken down and the Halloween bunting will go up!

Love,

Freezer paper stencil sewing bags

2010-09-20T13:43:00.000-07:00

I have a little kids sewing and craft group. We meet once a week and do some little project. This week we made our sewing bags. The bags will stay at my house for the kids to keep the projects that they are working on in.

I made easy work of getting their names cut out of the freezer paper by running the freezer paper through my cricket!

Bright colored paints....

Here's the kids painting away.

Drying their creations...to speed up the process...

Finished bags. Way to go kids!

If you have never done freezer paper stenciling here is one link (no sense writting one, when there are so many tutorials out there). I used the one from Running with Scissors, because she has such a cute blog!

Love,

fabric rosette hairbow tutorial

2010-09-20T12:13:00.001-07:00

Have you seen the fabric hair bows that are starting to gain some popularity?

Well they are so easy to make.....Easy Peasy in fact!

Start with the fabric you want to use....just about any fabric will work, but if it's shear and thin, plan on possibly getting some hot glue gun burns later on ;-) This sample is cotton.

Rip a strip of fabric, this is the width of the fabric, and I didnt use it all. If you are making a cluster of 2-3 flowers each strip will be smaller in length to make smaller flowers. The fabric is about 1-1.5 inches wide.

Make a knot at the end of one side of your strip. Try to get as close to the end as possible.....if you dont get it right on the end, just cut off the excess. This knot will be the center of the flower.

Twist the strip a little bit, then glue knot down.

Continue twisting and adding hot glue to anchor the flower to the strip of fabric.

Twist and glue until the flower is the size you want, when it is, cut the strip off.

Take the little piece of fabric and glue it to the underside of the flower.

Now take some felt and cut it slightly smaller then the flower.

Hot glue flower onto hair clip, headband or whatever it's going on.

Then glue felt down to secure it to the clip.

Enjoy....or make some more.

This one will match perfectly with the dress I made parlee for her 1st birthday, but never posted pictures of her wearing the outfit...so here she is on her first birthday, sans the new hairbow ;-)

Love,

2010-09-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

Do you ever feel like then just seems to be too much to do? That kind of seems to be my motto. In fact here is what I did with in the last week. It started out in SLC taking the kids on a little vacation and a quick stop by Lagoon.....both girls got sick in SLC and couldn't go to Lagoon....next day I got sick. Decided as long as I'm out of town and sick I may as well start reading The Hunger Games....completely addicted to book. Drive home with my 4 kids, Joel stays in SLC to work (bummer).

Get back home, finish reading The Hunger Games, decide I MUST read book 2 Catching Fire. Read it. Must now read Book 3 Mockingjay. Trying to decide why I haven't read this series earlier, also wondering why I chose to read them all right now, because this week is crazy busy.

Monday: Night I drove home from SLC, got home 11:30 pm. Stayed up till 2:30 to finish Hunger Games

Tuesday: Read Catching Fire, seriously wishing I had more restraint when it comes to books, because I'm in charge of a Relief Society Enrichment night, and we will be doing a Project Runway (way too much fun...pictures later). Im at the church from 4:30-10:30 for Relief Society.

Wednesday: Make Johnny Appleseed costume for Kyler to be in a Parade this weekend.

Thursday: Make Daniel Boone costume for Taran to be in parade also. Get Mokingjay...Read it too.

Friday: Make Parlee a coat for Rodeo- family reunion this weekend too, decide after coat is done, that its WAY to hot in Southern Utah for a coat....Make Parlee a dress, diaper cover and hairbow for Rodeo.

Oh yeah and today is the Parade. Joel will be home tonight, so I do need to clean my house (cruddy!).

Besides this I also went to another wards Relief Society and learned how to make some cool headbands. Made a cupcake holder, worked on a big Stampin' Up get together for next week that I help with every year. Had Kyler start Pre-school. Made sure other 2 kids went to school, did home-work etc. Wondered why Parlee stopped taking her 2nd nap of the day. Wished my husband didn't always work out of town.

So, it seems that I slack on keeping up with this blog....I'm guessing you can see why ;-) However I'm hoping to actually blog about some of the things I've done, and maybe even some of the things I did this summer...I was girls camp director for our ward, so there were tons of fun projects done for girls camp. Last week I also started a kids sewing group at my house. Too much to do!!! But hopefully next week I'll start adding some of these projects onto here! Yipee!

Take Care.

Love,

Ender's Game fan trailer

2010-09-01T11:39:00.000-07:00

So, I thought I was loading this on my family blog....oops.

Oh well, I came across this for my favorite book, makes me want to read it yet again!!!

This book always wanted to make me name a child Ender, just because the book is so awesome....funny thing is that I now live close to a guy who has that name. Must be a great book to others too! :-)
Love,

how to make casings

2010-07-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

This is the post I have today on Pickup some Creativity, for the sewing 101 series.

What's a casing?
And how in the world to I make one?

I've totally asked myself these very questions when I started sewing....don't you just love when you are reading a tutorial and you think to yourself "I'd really like to make that, but I don't even understand the terminology?"

Hopefully, this little post can help you out with that.

First off.....What IS a casing?

Well, a casing is a channel made in a piece of fabric for inserting elastic or a drawstring. A casing can be made by turning the edge of the fabric over and sewing it down at a specific distance from the edge or by applying another piece of fabric such as bias tape to the desired location. Casings are frequently used at garment waistbands and cuffs.

The first time I used a casing (that I can think of) was to make simple pillowcase dresses....You need a casing at the top of the dress to thread elastic through.

I've also used casings every time I make a waistband in a skirt or pair of pants.

.....SO.....how do you make a casing?

Simple.

This can be altered to fit any size 'tube' you need. (You know, so a cuff can be smaller, and a waistband can be wider)

1. Determine how wide you need your tube to be. If I was adding a 1/2 inch or ribbon or elastic through my casing I would need to make sure my 'tube' was just a little bit bigger then that. By having it a little bigger the ribbon or elastic can lay flat in the tube....Bunchy elastic is NOT so good ;-)....That being said if the 'tube' is too big the elastic or ribbon can turn and twist in the 'tube'.

2. Start by folding the fabric over one time. The first fold can be a little less then the desired amount....For example, if Im still adding my 1/2 inch elastic, then my first fold would be about a 1/3 inch.

3. Iron down....Why? because it just makes things easier! Trust me.

4. Fold over again. This time fold down about 3/4 inch over. (This fold needs to be bigger then the elastic or ribbon). Why did I fold it over twice? because now the raw edge (or edge that frays) will be nicely inside the tube, and you wont have to worry about your material fraying when you wash it!

5. Iron down...again!

6. Now you need to sew down close to the folded line. Keep it close to the fold, and keep it even.

7. CONGRATS YOU ARE DONE!
Now add your ribbon or elastic through the tube

hmmm....not so sure how you are going to get that piece of elastic through that little teeny tube? Add a safety pin to one end of the elastic, it makes it a lot easier to thread the elastic through.

Sewing 101

2010-07-08T17:58:00.000-07:00

My friend Chris at Pickup Some Creativity is doing some posts on basic sewing. SHe has asked me to be a guest blogger....so I guess I better start figuring out what in the world I am going to talk about. Any ideas?

Love,

Patriotic Kimono Dress

2010-07-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

My little baby girl will be 1 on Saturday....Yes, I am wiping away a tear when I think of how fast the last year went.

For her birthday, I found this adorable and easy to sew pattern on Heidi and Finn. It really was as easy to sew as they say! I decided to go with the appropriate Patriotic theme. The dress is reversible, which is pretty sweet!

On one side I added the USA logo, and on the other side I put my Pea Pod label. Both were from Sweetwater

See at some spots posted here

Love,

Bright Summer Fun

2010-07-01T21:41:00.000-07:00

Does anything say summer more then tie dyed shirts?

I didn't think so either, so this was what we did as a family.

We chose to dye the shirts out front on the lawn (very good choice). I was actually surprised at how little my kids dyed themselves, I visualized dye everywhere.

Love,

Trek Time

2010-06-03T10:38:00.000-07:00

I haven't been posting much lately....that's just because I have been enjoying lots of family time!

Today I woke up at 5:30, met up with a group of people at 6:30am, and dropped my husband off to do the TREK with the youth in our ward. Trek is a three day hike, where they act like the early pioneers who crossed the plains.
Everyone is supposed to dress trek appropriate: Dresses, bonnets, aprons and pantalooms for the girls. Boys wear long sleeve shirts, hats and suspenders....The real kicker is that EVERYTHING they pack, must be packed in a 5 gallon bucket. And let me tell you there is not a lot of room in one of those buckets!!

My mom and I helped the youth make bonnets and aprons. They all did so great!

Many of the items to make the bonnets and aprons look so great were donated! So a huge thank-you to.....

Sweetwater for the great labels! The girls LOVED them!!!! Here is a link to there etsy site.

Quilted works for donating some of the fabric....I need to find a current site for them to link too.
Other fabric was donated by a dear friend, leaving not too much to have to bought by my mom and myself!

Love,

Splish Splash Dress

2010-05-10T20:31:00.000-07:00

Today I am guest posting at Brown Paper Packages. Leisel has a great blog, if you haven't had a chance to check it out...well I'd suggest you go look...TODAY ;-) Here is the project I made. I think it turned out pretty cute...read the end and see what happened when I was making it though! The Project was part of Leisel's month of Pattern make overs

When asked to re-do a pattern, I started to think of what I wanted to make....well, with summer on it's way, we spend a lot of time at the splash pads around our house. So I thought I would work with a pillowcase dress pattern, and turn it into a swimsuit cover dress for my daughter.

With the pillowcase dress pattern, I decided to change it by using a different type of fabric and adding appliques.

Instead of a typical cotton fabric used in a pillowcase dress I used a knit material. (As a confession I have actually never used knit before, and it was much easier then I thought it would be!)

The bottom edge and armhole were a ribbed knit fabric (in the turquoise color). Both the bottom hem and the armholes where made by taking the ribbed knit material and making a bias tape. Need help making bias tape? Check here for help.

Doing something as simple as changing the type of fabric can make a huge difference.

The other change I mentioned was using appliques. The pattern for an applique can be found anywhere, clip art, a free hand drawing, I used my die cut machine to create what I wanted.

The key to using any applique is to remember to use Wonder-Under, especially on knit! The material shifts far too much, you need the Wonder-Under to help stabilize the design, then you can go around and satin stitch around the design......Changing your thread to match each piece of material will give you a much cleaner look.

I loved how easy and cute this simple dress turned out to be. I think that when you have a pattern you love, perhaps you don't need to look at making a major change to it, start simple by changing things like the fabric and adding appliques to your dress!

Summer here we come!

You know, I just cant seem to ever make a project with out something going wrong...and lo and behold this time was no exception.
When I was almost done with the project, I was multi-tasking (always a bad idea) I wrote something with a pen....not realizing it was leaking all over my hand and then picked up the dress...the WHITE dress, and the ink got all over the dress!

AHHH!

I quickly tried to remove the ink (Is that even possible?) All it did was make it seep through to the backside...

So I added some little circle appliques to cover the before mentioned pesky ink stains!

Problem solved!

Love,

Binding

2010-05-10T18:13:00.001-07:00

Ever wondered how to make your own bias tape?

It's really not hard at all....And since bindings only comes in select materials, knowing how to make your own can be a great thing to learn.

Start by cutting material to the length you need, the width can vary. When I made the 'Splish Splash' dress the arm hole-sleeve binding tape with 3 inches wide.

The hem was cut to 4 inches wide.

I start by ironing the fabric in half the entire length of the fabric.

Next open the fabric back up, this ironed line down the center will act like a guide for you.

Fold the edges up to the center and iron down. Make sure to iron both sides.

Then take the new folded edges and fold in half.
Iron down again.

It's as simple as that....If you are making a binding out of knit fabric, it has a tendency to want to unfold, so pin in place until you are ready to use it on your project. Using starch or even a water spray bottle will help keep your ironed folds nice and crisp.

That's it your done and you have a nice binding for finishing a quilt or finishing an edge of a dress ;-)

Love,

Getting geared up

2010-04-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

I've never been a guest blogger before, so I was pretty excited to hear that I had been asked to guest blog in May for Brown Paper Packages....If you havent been there before you need to go and check out her site. Right now she is doing a pattern makeover month...this is what I will be a part of.

Go and check out other pattern makeovers...
..... and as for me, I need to get crackin' on a new dress idea ;-)

I'll keep you posted on the guest tutorial.

Love,

Easter Outfits

2010-04-24T18:00:00.000-07:00

This is the dress and Jacket I made for Joely....and another quick spring dress made for little Parlee.

The little Easter dress I had made for Parlee is a little big. So here is another dress made for a family picnic we were going on.

Notice the little matching headbands! They were super fast and easy to make.

I love spring!

Love,

Color Cleaning

2010-04-15T14:53:00.003-07:00

I started a labor intensive project today!

Sorting though card stock, ink, markers etc. You see I love colorful card stock, I love to keep enough around for what ever project may come up. I have shelves of card stock....and boxes of card stock.

Well, Stampin' up is changing colors again with the new catalog in July...they've done it before, and I keep all the old colors....well, because I LOVE more colors.

In some colors I have the 12 x 12 card stock, 8.5 x 11 card stock, markers, refills, cartridge inks, regular and craft inks.
They will be listed on my etsy site

Happy Color watching!

Love,

Parlee's Easter dress

2010-04-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

Here is Parlee's Easter dress.

If I could make a pretty 'picture bow' I would have tied the back into a bow

The dress was completely lined. I think lining a dress is actually easier.
Im going to have to make a lined Gidget dress I think it would turn out even better.

I close up of the fabric. I used the same fabric on Joelys jacket and dress, it's a soft toile pattern, perfect for a spring church dress.

The tie is actually sewn on asymetrically, it looks pretty cool when it's on.
And yes, I will take a picture of the kids wearing there new outfits on Sunday.

Can be seen linked to some of these spots

Love,

Reversible headband

2010-04-12T10:58:00.000-07:00

Today I made a reversible headband.

I am actually taking my challenge i posted this weekend, of making projects from things you already have around the house....

It only took about 15 minutes to make...so easy!

Here it is with me wearing it....I HATE pictures of myself, but the kids were in school, so I couldn't use Joely...Im sure I'll remove any pictures of me and switch them with her wearing the headband....but until then...

Here is the headband one way

And here is the other side of fabric...

(obviously I cant center the picture either when I am taking one of myself)

easy-peasy mac and cheesy!

Sorry, I didn't add a tutorial. I just used this easy one found here.
Can be seen linked to some sites here

Love,

April Stash Bust

2010-04-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

Ever been to the site "Dollar Store Crafts"?

For the month of April they are having a challenge to make at least one project for stuff you already have.

I have a little too much stuff lying around....I'm guilty of craft hording!

In fact have you ever watched the show "Hording" ....(Okay Im not like that, let me get that out of the way right now) I have to admit I am kind of addicted to that show. Anyhow, on sadly more then one occasion my husband has leaned over and said "you know you could be a craft horder"....um thanks Joel.

So needless to say I NEED to do some projects to reduce the stuff I already have...it's budget friendly too. So take the challenge too, and make at least one project this month using stuff you already have!

Love,

I was the featured blog!

2010-04-09T07:21:00.000-07:00

Today I was the featured blog at Tomato Baby. Jan...the head tomato is REALLY good at making great blogging posts. I read her post and thought

"Wow, could she really be talking about my little blog."

She just knows something that makes her blog look like a magazine article! I was very humbled and delighted that she spotlighted me. I hope you all go and check it out here!

Thanks Jan!

Love,

Joely's Easter Jacket

2010-04-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

Here is the Easter Jacket I sewed for Joely

It goes with a cute little dress that I will post soon.

I loves the ruffly sleeves.

The cute fitted dart's.

I found these buttons a while back, and was excited to use them on the jacket.

This can be see linked up to some of these spots

Love,

GiVe AwAy

2010-04-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

HOT POT HOLDER GIVE AWAY!

I used Random Generator to get the number
(However I wasn't sure how to show you the screen shot)
the result was

Winner #3
Angie said... Super cute! I've been meaning to make cute pot holders for my kitchen...maybe I just need to win one!
I will get in touch with you Angie!

So, I've never done a give away....and being that my blog is very limited in people who comment, I guess your odds are SUPER GOOD!

I said I would do a give away when I hit 100 followers, I wasnt expecting it to happen that night! And then to find out over 200 of you follow me on google reader was really amazing. (Is it really odd that I had never heard of google reader before then?) So needless to say I was beside myself all night!

Thanks you guys!!!

I thought I'd have more time to think up a give away...so here is what I am going to do. I made up this today, and I think next week I may do something else too.

I saw this hot pot holder on another blog see here. I figured I would try one out this morning...so is it done perfectly...no. But I still love the fabric and I think it's much cuter then any I have already at my house.

It is lined with both batting and insul-bright (insul-bright will keep the heat from coming through and scorching you)

All you need to do is leave your name and an email address so I can reach you if you win.

I'll keep this up until Friday at 10ish (I don't like to commit myself to an exact time)

Do you like the cute food I was serving? he he he...Nothing like carrots, turnip's, beets and apples from the bunkbed clubhouse, to get your mouth watering ;-)

Sorry, if you win you don't get the cute food :-(

Love,

Sunshine award

2010-04-06T08:26:00.001-07:00

This is the first award my blog has received! It was passed to me from Erynne at Heartfelt Originals Go and check out her cute blog! The best part of having my blog is finding cute new blogs!

The rules of this award are as follows:

Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
Pass the award to 12 bloggers.
Link the nominees within your post.
Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog.
Share the love and link to the person from whom you received the award.

Here are some of the blogs I love to look at or read...I will say my FAVORITE blogs are those of my friends, which I will obviously not be linking too ;-) So here are my favorite craft and other blogs ;-)

Rhonda at Life as I see it

Camille at Simplify

Susan (and her sister and mom?) at Make Life Sweet

Sandy Gervais at Pieces of my Heart

Jan at Tomato Baby

Kalleen from At Second Street

Leisel at Brown Paper Packages

Rachel at Made with Love and Glue

Whitnee at Sew What

Maricela at Ella's Photography

Jess at Sew Darn Cute

Alchemy Junk

Thanks you guys for inspiring me....trust me there's a lot more that I read, this is just a few!

****and an update*****

I hit 100 follower's...along with being enlightened about google reader, I had NO IDEA there was such a thing, let alone people who could subscribe to it. I love finding out just how much I really am clueless to all things computer-y ;-) I guess I better be thinking up this give-away thing today!

Love,

Perhaps I should too....

2010-04-05T19:35:00.000-07:00

I have almost got 100 followers!

....so.....

perhaps I should do a give away!

When I hit 100 followers I will do some sort of a give away....Im not sure if it will be big or small. I just think it would be nice to do! So look forward to that in 3 followers ;-)

Love,

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T12:58:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter!

May you all have a colorful, wonderful day!
Next week I will be posting my kids' Easter outfits!

Love,

Powdered laundry soap

2010-03-29T12:14:00.000-07:00

I had a friend who made her own laundry soap....I giggled to myself, knowing I would probably never do that. I really did think it was pretty nest, I just couldn't see myself ever trying it.

...and look at what I just made.

When I saw the recipe, and realized it only had three ingredients, one of which I had TONS of. I once bought many boxes of Borax to make some slime for the kindergartners (not realizing it only takes a teeny bit of Borax)

So here is some homemade laundry soap. I just made the small batch, but I bought stuff to make several more batches.

Powdered Laundry Detergent:

1 cup grated Fels Naptha Soap
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup 20 mule team borax

Mix and store in airtight container or bag.

For light or small loads, use 1 tablespoon. For normal loads, use 2 tablespoons. For heavy loads, use 3 tablespoons.

I found a website that had a breakdown of what it would cost per load...I'm going to trust the amount, as I have no desire to do the math and see if it's right ;-)

Cost per load .15

To make a large batch - grate 6 bars of Fels Naptha Soap and then add 3 cups of Washing Soda and 3 cups of 20 Mule Team Borax. Mix well and store in covered container.

Once I grated the Fels Naptha, I put it in a bowl, put plastic wrap over it and smooshed it down to make it finer. The soap has a warning label to not have prolonged exposure to skin, that's the reason I added the plastic wrap. Also, the Fels Naptha is VERY STRONG smelling...so be prepared!

*After a comment, next time I will put it in the food processor.

mixing, mixing, mixing

My little helper, cutting out vinyl for the new laundry soap container

...and here it is in the cute new container.

I like to link up to some of these spots here

Love,

Flower bows

2010-03-25T11:37:00.001-07:00

Who doesn't love an instantly gratifying project?

Making a simple flower bow is just that project!

I have a drawer with hair clip's, flowers, etc. so if I need to make a quick hair bow I can.
....and isnt that little model so stinkin' cute!

Love

The answer

2010-03-25T07:28:00.001-07:00

Remember the bolt of fabric I showed you yesterday....

Well these cute labels, made generously by Susan at sweetwater will be going on the fabric.

It's Trek time in our ward.

Trek is a 3 day 50 mile hike that helps the youth in my church 'mimick' what it must have been like for the pioneers to travel west.

They dress in pioneer outfits, dresses, aprons, bonnets at all.

The pull handcarts.

And sleep under the stars.

It's strenuos and hard. I remember doing it as a youth.

All this fabric will be used to make aprons and bonnets for the 14-18 year old girls.
My mom and I are going to help them sew their own.

And no finished project is complete without a label....or at least that's how I feel now!
So I talked to sweetwater, and these cute little labels were made for them, so that they can remember the

Trek of 2010!

Thanks to Janae, and Barb at Quilted Works for donating fabric....Luckily I didn't have to buy too much.

And Sweetwater for donating labels!

I know the girls at least will be some pretty styling pioneers!

The boys, well they are on there own ;-)

I'll have picture next month, when the girls start sewing up there outfits!

I just wanted to point out two spots for Sweetwater...the place to get labels is here.
Their blog is here....and the link to my post about sweetwater is here.

Love,

Plaids, Stripes and Motifs...oh my

2010-03-24T07:46:00.001-07:00

Bright Fresh Spring colors

What's happening with these bolts of fabric?

You'll see later next month.

But even with all this fabric,
...there still may not be enough!

Any guesses?

Love,

Spring time cards

2010-03-24T07:31:00.000-07:00

I have been in a lucky situation if you ask me....

I am able to stay at home with my kids....however I also am able to do a little side work from home. I work for a lady named Jill. She is a Stampin' Up demonstrator. Actually she is demonstrator #6, and received the bright idea award this year....Here is a link to her site.

Anyhow, I design some of her card's, projects and sewing items.

I LOVE IT!

Here are some snippets of the projects I was working on this week.

And here is my messy desk, see I really get into a groove, and forget to clean up after each project.

I super-d-dooper love anything that is water colored!

Love,

Sailboat Shower curtain and towels tutorial

2010-03-23T16:18:00.001-07:00

The shower curtain and towel tutorial!

As a warning, there are not very many pictures of the process, but there really doesn't need to be.

Gather your stuff:

I purchased a plain white shower curtain (on sale too) from Target
5 towels
material for the boat:
3/4 yard for the sail's
1/3 yard for the boat
the green I used for the pole and flag I already had, but I'd guess 1/4 yard would be enough.
brown and cream felt (the .25 squares of felt)
wonder-under
coordinating thread (match it as close as you can to your fabric!)

First off.... I found a picture of a sailboat online that I liked I took the pictures that I copied from my computer, brought it to a local copy store and had them copy it onto transperency paper.

I then took the transperency to the library and used the projector to enlarge the image onto the wall.

I traced the image directly onto the back of my fabric, which I had previously added wonder-under onto the back side.

I have no clue who 'Joshua' is in the sailboat picture...remember I chose this picture from something online ;-)

Cut out boat pattern and iron onto shower curtain....take note of the order you add the elements....Pole first, then the boat and sails. I found it easier to lay all the pieces out n the shower curtain, to make sure i liked where they all were. Then I ironed JUST the pole on. I then satin stitched the entire pole onto the shower curtain.

I then repeated the process by adding the boat. Ironing and satin stitching around the entire boat (remember to switch the thread colors as you go so that it matches. I kept white in the bobbin, so that it would be white on the back side like the shower curtain.

Repeat again for the sails of the shower curtain.

Finally I added the port holes on the boat. I simply traced two circles that were the sized I wanted for port holes.

....of course this little logo had to go on the back side of the shower curtain.

The towels:

I had enough scraps with wonder-under still on them to make the towels. I just drew out a simple fish. Cut out the fabric into the fish shape, ironed them onto the towels and then satin stitched them onto the towels.

If you haven't used wonder-under....it is a MUST for this project. It sticks one material onto another so that you can easily stitch around it. I would NEVER recommend doing this without the wonder under.

The shower curtain and the towels were all sewn in one morning. I had prepped the pattern the night before. So a really simple project that could be done in one day!

Here is the link to the original post about the shower curtain and towels.

linked up at my backyard eden, and one pretty thing

Backyard eden also put this as a featured project! Thanks

Love,

Ruffle apron by Rhonda

2010-03-23T08:36:00.001-07:00

Do you remember Rhonda?

She made the cute lunch bag using her sons drawing seen here?

She is such a fun person! It's kinda funny how you feel like you can get to know someone and you've never even met...well she's one of those kind of people

Anyhow, she made a fun little apron, posted it with a tutorial on here blog here, and also is doing a giveaway...so head over and visit Rhonda on "Life as I see it"

Okay, I hope she doesn't kill me for using this picture, but it made me laugh. She said her husband wanted her to do an 'action' shot so here she is pretending to put food in the oven late at night ;-)

Love,

Server aprons

2010-03-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

Time for another family wedding

....and time for another set of server girl aprons and hair accessories.

My cousin Chanta was married over the weekend, her wedding colors included red and white. So these were the cute little aprons the server girls were wearing.

I planned on taking pictures of the girls wearing them...especially since my daughter WAS a server....but did I take any pictures?

No

Not even one!

What a slacker mom I am!

Here they are all folded up waiting to be packed..

The front and back of the hair clip...I found that adding a bit of felt helps secure the clip, so that the hot glue doesn't seperate off the clip. (sorry fuzzy pictures here)

...and it wouldn't be complete with out a cute pea pod label.

Love,

Switch it up pillow

2010-03-22T11:33:00.001-07:00

Which Pillow to Choose?

Ever asked yourself that same question?

The 'Switch It Up' Pillow gives you several different looks..... so your home can have it all this year.

The pillow features several 'panels' that can be interchanged, as fast as your mood changes.

I love love love how I did the crazy lines around the edges of the panels...I seems more like a doodle then sewing if you ask me!

Store the additional 'panels' in the zipper compartment in the back.

*note* this was my first zipper back pillow....I was surprised that it really was super easy to do and was nice to have a place to store the other parts of the pillow

Take one out, and attach it to the front.

The front has been stitched with the word "SPRINGTIME"

Now you can have the fun 'Switch It Up' pillow too. My Panels include a flower, a bumble bee (with a 'flappy' wing) and an Easter egg. You can use my patterns or make your own panels for your pillow. Your sure to make a statement with your original pillow.

Love,

Fruits, Veggies and Flowers

2010-03-21T19:12:00.000-07:00

Planning on making a bunk bed clubhouse?

yes?

Good choice!

Want a closer look at some of the stuff for the clubhouse?

Here are the APPLES

and some cute purple FLOWERS

What kid wouldn't want some RADISH'S to pick?

Okay, not me...or my kids.

But they sure look cute though don't they?

However, CARROTS are a little more popular of a veggie!

and my personal favorite of how they turned out.

Hopefully I'll have down-loadable patterns of how to make all the veggies, fruits and flowers. But I am having a hard time figuring out the down loadable file thing...but when I do. I'll get them posted!

Love,

Percy Jackson shoes

2010-03-21T16:36:00.001-07:00

Have you seen Percy Jackson and the Olympians?

We have.
A couple days after seeing it, Taran asked me if he could use some feathers.

I said "yes"

Later he was spotted wearing these...

Serious, how cute is that?
We must be a crafty family ;-)

Love,

CTR towel

2010-03-21T15:48:00.000-07:00

Choose the Right

I made this simple towel for a very special girl in our ward who was baptized on Saturday.

Using the CTR shield from the primary manual, I copied it and traced the CTR onto a pink flower material that I placed wonder-under on.

I then satin stitched around the CTR and the outline of the shield. I stitched it onto a green flower print fabric. Once it was stitched onto the green fabric, I cut out the shield....added more wonder-under to the underside of the shield.

I then ironed it onto the towel and stitched around the outside of the CTR shield.

I saw this idea, done a little bit differently here. On here site you can download the CTR shield patterns and even a cute baptism poem to add to the pillow. Thanks Rachel for the inspiration!

Love,

BUNKBED CLUBHOUSE

2010-03-19T08:48:00.000-07:00

This just HAD to be one of my favorite projects!

If I can find enough pictures I will post a tutorial for this soon....
We made this in 4 days.

I would NEVER suggest that. My kids and I were completely consumed with making this clubhouse! However, it wasn't difficult, just a lot of steps, the only challenging thing was sewing the tree trunk and tree top on to the large piece of blue felt, maneuvering that much felt through a sewing machine was difficult.

Here is the CLUBHOUSE

....a craft kids can help make? Boy oh boy did my kids have some grand ideas. I let them take the reins and they ran with it! They loved the felt clubhouses that people make to go over their card tables.... however, I didn't want a card table set up in the house all the time. So we made a compromise.

And the bunk bed club house was born

Enter through the 'hole' in the tree, which is made to be level with the bottom bunk.

Complete with a tree that has velcro for apples or flowers....(and for future banana's and letter's like the chicka chicka boom boom tree)

There is also a garden with pockets to hold carrots, beets and turnips.
Okay, so not the tastiest veggies, but I was looking for different colored and shaped root veggies.

Store your harvest from the garden or tree in the basket....or maybe you'll want to put flowers in the basket instead. (the basket is open to hold all sorts of goodies)

This project was started and finished within the week...but I think it would make a fun summer vacation project!

There is plenty or tracing, cutting and simple sewing to keep all ages happy.

Each fruit, veggie and flower if stuffed with batting and looks great from the front and back. The main parts of the tree and garden have been satin stitched around the edges, and the flap for the hole is double layered and reinforced.

It's great that the kids can attach this to the bunk bed, and easily take it down....no need to use every blanket in the house now, not when you have your own bunk bed clubhouse!

My kids have kept this up almost everyday since it has been made about 3 weeks ago.
Kyler likes to keep it up when he sleeps and
on the weekend both boys have a 'campout' in the clubhouse!
We also noticed that instead of taking it all the way down we can slide the entire clubhouse to one side of the bunk!

Love,

Family Home Evening Liahona

2010-03-17T15:06:00.001-07:00

I have a wonderful neighbor who makes some pretty AWESOME stuff! I always loved the idea of the hanging family home evening charts, but honestly I just don't have any wall space to hang one up. One day Kerry showed me this Liahona he had made for his family, and it was instant LOVE!

I knew I needed to have one.

I have ours sitting on a table in our house, it goes perfect with our decor. My favorite part is that it doesn't take up tons of space. I wanted some of your guys to see some of the great stuff that he makes. Check out his etsy site here. His blog here. And he also has a website here. I had him send over some great pictures to show you some of the fun stuff he has.

So here is Kerry....

This is the Liahona Family Home Evening Chart that I created mid 2009, I was getting ready to make a family home evening board with the tags for my family and started thinking of ways that I could do something a little different than the regular board and tags, so.....this is what I came up with!

It is a great new way to keep track of whose turn it is for which activity, just turn the compass star each week to show whose turn it is next week. It does the same thing as a family home evening board but much more attractive, does not take up any wall space and is a great table top decoration.

I have also done them for families that all the kids are grown up and moved out, a nice little decoration with all the family's names on the "Liahona"

Here are some other things I came up with for wall decorations, something a little different than the regular square or rectangle designs

This is my favorite; this sword is made from 1/8" aluminum, is 36" long the handle is painted and wrapped with leather, and has the words "Return With Honor" cut into the blade (for decoration only)

and some round ones

if you want to see more pictures you can check out my blog at
http://bangfabrication.blogspot.com/

these are available at our website
http://store02.prostores.com/servlet/bangfabrication/StoreFront

Here is the etsy shop too:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/bang435

Thanks Kerry! I love all of his things and I am sure you will too. Let me know which ones are your favorites!

Love,

YEAH my computer is back!

2010-03-17T14:54:00.000-07:00

Wow! I am addicted to my computer, and not having it for a few days it brutal!

Well, here's the verdict.....

Half the pictures LOST.

Hundred's of albums LOST!

Computer NOW backed up...YES!

Thanks for the nice email's I read....(when I got my computer backed up) Jan from Tomato Baby has lots of good suggestions and tips that helped inform me for future problems....Thanks Jan. Here is a link to here blog here.

I'm not sure if I have the pictures to write any past tutorial (ie...flower purse and shower curtain....but I will check) The pictures that were saved were sometimes random.

Love,

ComPuTeR CrAsH

2010-03-12T21:16:00.000-08:00

AAHHHH!

My computer is crashing!

I love my little Apple laptop, but yesterday we noticed our iTunes was gone...all the music was lost. Then just barely I went to submit my entry for next weeks SYTYC and my pictures are ALL GONE! So I guess me and my computer will be visiting the computer Dr. tomorrow and see if anything can be recovered!

SuCkY!!!

PS. I ended up in 2nd place this week on the SYTYC contest. I missed 1st place by 3 THREE votes!

Mine was the Tree House bunk bed clubhouse.

Love,

Sweetwater Custom Labels

2010-03-09T14:24:00.000-08:00

I am super excited about this post....Many of you saw the new labels I got....

I love them!

They were designed by Susan at sweetwater. The cute pea pod at the top of the blog was done by her. I have had some emails regarding the logo design and labels I had made.... So, I am going to have Susan explain a little more about you getting your own labels or your own logo.

I know my mom is excited to have some labels made for quilts she makes...she isn't interested in having a custom logo made up, she just wants the cute labels. Luckily sweetwater has a whole bunch of labels that are 'pre-designed' you just choose the colors and what it needs to say.
Susan shows some of them below, they are so dang cute!

I also have a friend who was curious as to who made the logo, because she is interested in having a new logo designed for a preschool she is planning on opening....see the possibilities are endless!

Okay let me just have Susan explain it to you!

First off - Thanks so much to Kristin for allowing us to create her logo and for letting us write something on her blog about our custom iron-on labels (we appreciate it!!!) She has told us that many of you are wanting more information on the labels and we are glad to give it.

The iron-on labels can be used to help personalize just about anything from clothing and bags to just about anything that you can iron and sew on. If you have a logo, we can use that image to create the labels or we would be happy to create a custom logo for you as well. Here are some custom logos that we have created -

We charge a flat fee of $100 to do a custom logo design. You will receive the file of the design and can use it on anything you would like - your blog, business cards, signs, etc., etc. It is yours to keep! If you would like pricing on iron-on labels with your logo on it please contact us at info@sweetwaterscrapbook.com and we would be happy to do a quote for you.

If you don't have a logo but would still like labels we can help you out as well! We offer a wide variety of pre-designed labels. All you have to do is tell us what color you want them and what you want them to say. Here are some examples -

For more information please visit our website!

Happy Spring - Susan

I hope you go and check out their blog, serious, spend some time.... there is so much to see!!! Let me also say, if you are new to all this type of stuff (like me). Susan will help you through the whole process. She made me comfortable with what was being done, and in the end I couldn't have been happier!

PS. If you head to there website today you could even enter for a giveway for some cute spring labels! Click here for that.

Love,

Sailboat Shower curtain and towels

2010-03-08T13:37:00.001-08:00

Thanks to all who voted for me!

We are loving our new bathroom set-up! So here it is the sailboat shower curtain and towels.

Arrr Matey!

Calling all Captains! Get ready to set sail on the 'bubbly' sea. bring your floaty toys and your wash cloth!

Let the adventure begin for the little boys in your life with this Appliqued shower curtain and towels.

Your little captains will take adventure to the high seas every time they take a bath.

So when it's time to 'swab the decks' they may just listen!

Complete with this on the back!

Love,

Week 6....and a look back

2010-03-08T07:53:00.000-08:00

Yipee! I made it to the final 5 of SYTYC...My goal has been met! Im even happier that my crafts have had good votes, and usually made it into 2nd place (that way i dont have to write a tutorial) Well, it's time once again to go on over and VOTE.

Here's a look at past crafts...a walk down memory lane ;-)

The food cozy posted here and tutorial here:

The sweet pea purse shown here:

The sailboat shower curtain shown here: here is the tutorial

The re usable lunch bag shown here and a tutorial here:

The gidget dress shown here and a tutorial here:

The carseat blanket shown here:

Love,

Re-usable lunch bag by Rhonda

2010-03-03T13:20:00.000-08:00

I met Rhonda through my blog, and I am SO glad I did! I have enjoyed emailing her and getting to know her a little bit better. She has two fun blogs, one that is more personal but fun to read, it's called Life as I see it! The other that showcases her photography. I can spend hour looking at peoples photo's even though I don't know anyone in them, I just love great pictures! Yesterday Rhonda made this lunch bag, and I KNEW I needed to show more people! Seriously how Cute is this....

My mind has been going a million miles an hour thinking of all the cool drawing my kids have made that I would love to see 'eternalized' on projects.

I was also glad to know that one of my tutorials could actually be done, and even better could be done during nap time!

So here is Rhonda.....

"Hello! My name is Rhonda and I blog at here!

I spotted Kristin's post and thought hey I can make
that and I already have enough scraps around to do it.

I used her step by step instructions and it was super duper fast to
sew too!!

I cut out my pieces for the outside and the liner just as she said
and then decided I wanted to personalize the bag for my son. He is a
7 and a real artist. He has piles of art work and sketch pads full of
work. So I took one off this page

and traced it onto my outside material. (I used a thick muslin,
almost canvas, material I had in place of the Cord material Kristin
used)

I did some embroidery. Then it SCREAMS ALDEN to me :)

The finished product, full of lunch! I'd say the whole thing took me
30 minutes - mostly that long cause of the embroidery, without that
it would have been half the time at least!

Thanks Kristin!!!! :)"

Love,

Lunch bag tutorial

2010-03-01T21:47:00.000-08:00

See the original post for the lunch bag here.

It's time to make your own lunch bag! You can see the original post for the lunch bags here. So lets gather some supplies.

1/2 yard outside bag material. I used a small cordorouy in a creamish tan color.
1/2 yard material for lining. I let my kids choose the cotton print they wanted.
velcro

With the cord material. Cut two pieces of 13 x 9.5 inch fabric.
Cut two pieces of liner material 12.5 x 9 inches each.

If you want the front of your bag decorated...like the circles on one of mine or the flower on the other, do that now!

Take cord material, with right sides together, sew the sides and bottom of the bag with 1/4 inch seam allowances.

Take the liner, right sides together, and sew the sides and only part of the bottom. Leave aprox. 3" open in the middle bottom of the liner bag. You MUST leave this part open or you will not be able to turn the bag with the liner later on. That's my fingers saying "Hey you, don't sew in this area marked here!"

Also, if you would like a silverware holder, add a piece of elastic cording folded over and sewn into the side of the liner fabric....sorry no picture of this when I did it, but here is a finished picture that you can see the elastic cording holder.

Put the long seams together and then iron down. This will make a diamond shape at the bottom of the bag. Iron the 'diamond' down. Do this for both the cord and the liner.

Measure 3 inches across the bottom and top point of the diamond. (Just so you know, you can actually change the 'depth' of your bag by changing how much you sew and cut off the corner of your bag in this step)

Mark the 3 inch line and then sew.

Cut off the corner's aprox 1/4 inch from the seam you just sewed.

Do this step for both the cord and the liner.

Flip the cordorouy bag right side out. keep liner as it is.

Sew your velcro to the right sides of the liner. When you are done you just need to make sure the bag is flipped inside out. Hmmmm, no picture of this, but you can figure it out ;-)

Put the cord bag INSIDE the liner bag so that the RIGHT side of the liner and the RIGHT side of the cord are facing each other.

Sew the cord to the liner all the way around the top.

Then pull cord bag out the hole that was left in the bottom of the liner bag....Honestly isn't that such a cool trick. That's how you make ANY lined bag. hand stitch the hole in the liner....or if you are lazy like me, just sew it shut, I'm not too worried of my kids lunch bag doesn't have an invisible seam ;-)

Shove the liner into the the bag.

Walla your done!

I will try to be better at putting where things are linked up too...Whitnee at Sew What posted this tutorial here. also linked to some sites listed here

Love,

Gidget tutorial

2010-03-01T11:13:00.000-08:00

The Gidget Dress.....by Pea Pod Creations

Perfect for friends.....

Perfect for playing.....

Perfect for hugging.....

The Gidget dress is easy enough for a beginner. Made from linen, it lightly flows and is the perfect breathable fabric for spring and summer!

And as long as you are making one dress, you may as well make three so all the friends can match!

Made from a simple a-line dress. I will show you how I designed and made these simple dresses using clothes you own as a pattern OR by cutting up a cheap pattern to re-design your own.

These dresses have coordinating fabric buttons on the front (which I made with the linen from the dress). This dress also has a simple button down back that DOESN'T use button holes...So if you have been intimidated by button holes, there is no excuse to not make your own Gidget dress!

...............so lets get sewing...................

Make a simple drawing of what you visualize for your dress.

Yes, this is all I did for a dress drawing ;-)

I bought a simple a-line pattern in the size I need. I made one for my daughter and simply used a onsie as a guide for the neck and arm holes. Adding an inch for sewing and ease of wearing.....However for the contest I decided to make dresses for my friends toddlers, not having little girls that age and not having there clothes to use a s measurement, I went with a cheap pattern from the store so that I could have a decent arm, neck and length measurements.

I then cut out the pieces and drew out how I needed to additionally cut up the pattern. This pattern (along with one I made for my daughter) both had three simple pieces. One front piece, which is really half of the front, then placed on a fold and cut, so that each side ends up identical. This is a picture of the front piece from the pattern.

I am showing pieces from the pattern, because for the girls I bought a simple pattern and cut it up...remember the first time I made this dress I designed my own pattern, this will just show you aprox. how each piece should look.

It also had two back pieces....these were identical pieces. But I need them in two seperate pieces so that I could add buttons later. These three pieces were the basic dress. The back pieces were left as they were and only the front piece was altered.
Here is a simple picture of the back piece...remember you will be cutting two pieces

The front piece: I drew a line that ran parallel with the center line that would be placed on the fold of the fabric. the line was aprox 2 inches from the fold I followed this up then made a swoop and headed for the arm hole with the line. This picture shows the pattern once it was cut up

This line would represent the colored and white fabric areas. I cut along the line and now had two pieces.....However, I would need to cut out four pieces. I doubled the white fabric as the linen was thinner in the white. So that accounts for two pieces, then I needed to cut out two of the colored fabric areas. One for the left and one for the right side.

Here are some photos of the little Gidget dress I made for Parlee...notice I simply used a onsie to get the basic lines for the neck and arm holes, the rest of the dress is simply free form. just make sure you add room for sewing and ease of wear.

Sew (I serged my pieces, if using a regular machine add additional width to your fabric and make sure you cover raw edges) new front pieces together and iron (iron seams towards the darker fabric)

Now that you have a NEW front piece, set it aside.

To do the elastic button closure. Check out my other post here.

* from this point you can follow the normal directions for putting together an a line dress.
1) with right side together stitch dress at shoulders and side seams
2) press and sew neck and armholes, I added a simple cap sleeve at this point.
3)Stitch up hem of skirt

Fabric buttons are TOO fun. I used 1 1/8th inch cover buttons from the store. I only recently tried using fabric buttons, my first attempt was on the 'SWEET PEA' purse. I loved that I could have perfectly matching buttons. Well, on this project I bought some larger cover buttons, made them, and added them to the front for some added drama.

*You could easily add a zipper to the back if you would rather. I have now made this dress with both the zipper and easy button closure.

Have fun with this dress and if you make one please send me a picture, my email is posted on my blog here. Id love to see your Gidget dress!

Love,

Retro Week and the Gidget dress

2010-03-01T06:59:00.001-08:00

This was my submission for last weeks theme of 'Retro'

The Gidget Dress.....

Perfect for friends.....

Perfect for playing.....

Perfect for hugging.....

The Gidget dress is easy enough for a beginner. Made from linen, it lightly flows and is the perfect breathable fabric for spring and summer!

And as long as you are making one dress, you may as well make three so all the friends can match!

Made from a simple a-line dress. I will show you how I designed and made these simple dresses using clothes you own as a pattern OR by cutting up a cheap pattern to re-design your own.

These dresses have coordinating fabric buttons on the front (which I made with the linen from the dress). This dress also has a simple button down back that DOESN'T use button holes...So if you have been intimidated by button holes, there is no excuse to not make your own Gidget dress!

Here are some other Gidget pictures:

A very special thank you to sweet little Kennedy, Millie and Emma....seriously aren't they ADORABLE!!! Also, to my sister in law Maricela for taking the pictures, you can see more of her pictures on her blog here.

Love,

Elastic Button closure

2010-02-28T16:15:00.000-08:00

Making an elastic button closure can be really easy!

If adding the button closure to the back of a dress, you should have two pieces of fabric.....a left and right side. (or, in my case two scraps)

On the left side, working on the right side of the fabric....wow that's sound confusing doesn't it?!? Add a piece of cording that was cut 2 inches in length and then folded into a loop. have the edges of the cording towards the edge of the dress.

stitch into place. I zig-zaged over mine. Repeat as many times as you need buttons.

Then fold fabric over, about 1/2 inch. Iron.

Stitch from the front to secure and finish.

Walla, an easy closure to your dress.

Love,

There Here!

2010-02-25T21:59:00.000-08:00

The new labels have arrived! And they are just as adorable as I hoped they would be! Here is the first one sewn into a project! LOVE THEM!!! As for the picture being sideways...well I forgot to rotate the image, and now it's late and I really don't want to go and change it....you get the idea anyhow ;-)

Love,

New Logo

2010-02-23T10:11:00.000-08:00

This is the new logo for Pea Pod Creations. Sweetwater fabrics has made the new clothing labels, and I am anxiously awaiting their arrival. If you are in the market for a new logo or your own labels made, I must say they were a delight to work with. They can help any novice through the process....and trust me I am as novice as they come! This is the link to there marketing department.

I was sad to see the cute little baby in the pea pod go. The little pea pod baby will continue to be the image on the buttons...I just cant part with that picture yet ;-)

When the labels get here, I will be posting them also!!

Love,

In the Kitchen

2010-02-23T07:45:00.000-08:00

Here was my entry for last week in SYTYC. These have been a hit at our house already!

Pack up some kitchen lovin' with these reusable lunch bags, complete with matching reusable snack and sandwich bags.

Pick out lining to reflect who each bag belongs too. The reusable bags co-ordinate too, and are lined (with a 'plastic' like feel) so that they can be wiped clean. There is even a spot for your napkin and silverware to go.

Send them to school or pack them up for the park, just make sure you have your lunch bag packed and ready to go!

Love,

Food Cozy tutorial

2010-02-22T20:22:00.000-08:00

The food cozy tutorial

You will find that this project can easily be done in an afternoon.

Enjoy!

This really is an easy project to make

You need

1/2 yard quilted material* Buy 3/4 yard if you are nervous about cutting ;-)

*This is to make a basic food cozy like the one pictured, if you want it insulated you will need a few other things i will add those to the bottom of the post

3/8 inch dowel cut into (2) 12 inch pieces

1 package double fold bias tape

.........................................................................

Cut material into three pieces.
One piece measuring 14 inches by 24 inches

Two (2) pieces measuring 9 inches by 13 inches

Sew bias tape around three sides of the two 9 x 13 inch pieces. There is NO need to add the bias tape to one of the 9" sides as they will be sewn into the larger piece.

In the larger 14 x 24" piece, cut to half circles from the center at both ends (the 14 inch sides). Yep, I just used a good old bowl from my kitchen to use as my guide

Lay the 9x13 inch pieces on top of the larger piece with the edge having no bias tape even with the long edge of the larger piece....(Flaps WILL overlap)

Pin flaps on.

Now sew bias tape ALL the way around the whole perimeter. When the bias tape hits the long sides you will be using the bias tape to cover BOTH the edge of the 9x13 piece ALONG with the section of the larger piece.

You should now have the MAIN section of your carrier done. EASY right? I hope at least ;-)

Now you need to make 4 loops for the dowels to rest in. This can be done an easy way by simply folding over the top edges and stitching them down about an inch lower....Does that make sense???? Okay this was a crazy part of my week and I dont have pictures...I will try and draw some pictures up tomorrow to add to this, perhaps if you look close enough to some of these pictures you can kind of get an idea of what I am talking about. It's not complicated just a simple fold over for the dowel to rest in...

Add dowels

When you need to wash simply remove the dowels and throw in the washing machine.

**You can make this food cozy and do your own quilting and add your own batting, it makes it a little more substantial, if you use Insul-Bright as your batting it will help keep your food warm or cold.

If you are adding your own batting you will need to double he amount of fabric, you will need a top and bottom piece and the batting in the middle....

I hope this makes sense, trust me it's easy, I will try to add some drawings or better pictures soon, if you are lost, write a comment or send me an email (listed on the left hand side of my blog) and I will try to answer the best I can ;-)

Here is what the original post looked like:

If you’re too busy to give your neighbor a helping hand, then you’re just too darned busy.
Marie T. Freeman

Need to get a meal to someone sick? Dinner to a family with a new baby? 
Do you want your Brownies to be warm when you get to a party? Or maybe you need a housewarming gift? 
...You need the food cozy

I love to make meals for those around me.  I enjoy this simple act of service that can be accomplished even with a growing family at home.

This carrier was made for under $5.00 and can easily transport a meal from your house to another. This simple pattern was one of my great grandmother's.

So go raid the piggy bank and lets make this inexpensive project together.

Seen on One Pretty Thing

Love,

disapointed

2010-02-19T18:34:00.000-08:00

I just read the blog of another SYTYC crafter. Her name is Linda and a VERY talented person, she just posted that she is planning on withdrawing from the SYTYC contest due to some rude comments...Boy can I relate (and my family too) as I myself considered withdrawing because of rude comments. But was encouraged to stay in, it's all supposed to be fun and to test what we can come up with for a given theme.

Perhaps you could go to her blog and encourage her to keep going! Here is her blog Craftholics Anonymous.

Love,

Pardon the mess

2010-02-18T11:55:00.000-08:00

Don't mind the mess...I'm undergoing some changes ;-)

Food Cozy

2010-02-15T12:03:00.000-08:00

This was my week two submission for SYTYC...Once again I managed to make it into 2nd place! Which I may add is a great place to be! Last weeks category was called 'Under $5.00' I made this project the week Parlee was in the hospital, (So life was a little hectic to say the least) and I only submitted it in just the nick of time!

If you’re too busy to give your neighbor a helping hand, then you’re just too darned busy.
Marie T. Freeman

Need to get a meal to someone sick? Dinner to a family with a new baby? 
Do you want your Brownies to be warm when you get to a party? Or maybe you need a housewarming gift? 
...You need the food cozy

I love to make meals for those around me.  I enjoy this simple act of service that can be accomplished even with a growing family at home.

This carrier was made for under $5.00 and can easily transport a meal from your house to another. This simple pattern was one of my great grandmother's.

So go raid the piggy bank and lets make this inexpensive project together.

week 3 'for the kitchen'

2010-02-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

Go check out SYTYC for week three...the theme is "For the Kitchen"

sweet pea purse

2010-02-08T10:18:00.001-08:00

week 1 submission for SYTYC, with some additional pictures of the lining and cute Lori at the end! Thanks Lori!

"Flowers are happy things."
-P.S. Wodehouse

I love spring, and look forward to the flowers breaking through the soil. I think that this was part of what inspired me to think 'flower'.

This purse was made from soft suede, trust me it really is as soft as a rose petal!

I love the color green, so the 'split pea soup green' is just an added bonus here. When I found the green dot fabric, I knew I found my purse lining... fresh spring peas anyone??

Seriously I LOVE this fabric...i went to the store to buy some more and it was all sold out...Let me tell you I am majorly disappointed. green polka dots, I need more!!

Valentines garland

2010-02-04T11:42:00.000-08:00

I was checking one of the cute girls that followed my blog and came across her ADORABLE blog. It's called the project corner, and I love this garland she made. You can see more of it on her blog.

SYTYC...week 1

2010-02-01T13:25:00.001-08:00

It's the first week of the SYTYC competition.
...and wow there are some fun things I want to make!

I cant tell you which one is mine, but I can say I had fun making it....My goal for each week that I stay in the running is to make something that I want in my house, I don't want to make a project just to make one. I want to end up with projects that perhaps I have wanted to do or try and submit those....hope I make it far enough to try new things!

Go vote here. and let me know which one you think is mine ;-)

whats going on...

2010-01-31T11:18:00.000-08:00

we've been little busy around here. lots of church projects. getting a craft for SYTYC. the kids have been busy crafting.

and mom gave me a huge bag of leather...hmmm imagine the projects!