... sewing!! I bought a new sewing machine last month and have been trying my hand at a few projects. I embelished a few of the girls' t-shirts, turned a pair of capris with stained knees into a new pair of shorts and turned clearance shower curtains into window curtains for my craft studio and the girls' room. But I have been wanting to learn how to really, REALLY sew... you know... more than just straight lines and 90 degree angles. So far.... I have made my younger sister a travel pouch for her toiletries (she's getting married in October so this should come in handy for her honeymoon to Hawaii!), a pouch for my older sister's sunglasses, a pouch for my friend's Gypsy chargers (shout out to Kristin!) and a really cool pouch to hold my ipod and headset. I also sewed Emily (she's my oldest, almost 8 years old!) a blouse!! And it's really good!! But I can't get her to try it on for a photo. Bleh. I'll keep on working on that but for now, here's a few photos for ya.
This is the first pouch/bag thingie that I made for my little sister's trip:
I used felt to make a K monogram then hand stitched tulle ruffles down it and at the top right corner for some fun. And here's something on this bag that I am totally proud of:
My first zipper!! Pretty cool, huh?? Here's the bag that I made for my older sister. She's a bit of a sunglasses junkie so this bag can hold whatever sunglasses she chose for that day and can be tossed in her bag when she's inside. She loves frogs so when I saw this flannel print I knew I had to make her something with it:
And the last bag was for Kristin. It's around 7" square and has a draw string. I found this owl fabric at Hobby Lobby and I love it!!
I chose to give her a matted monogram (also out of felt) but no ruffles. This time I used the sewing machine to do the monogram (the other two were by hand) and it was SO much easier. The bag that I made for my ipod looks alot like this but with no monogram. The cool thing about my ipod pouch is that it actually has two sections on the inside. I sewed another piece of coordinating fabric in the center so that my ipod can go on one side and the charger/headset can go on the other side. But bc it looks so much like this one, I'm not going to take a photo. I will say... I love, love, love these cutie patootie owls!!
I'll keep working on Noodle to get her to pose for a pic. Until then... see ya soon!! :)
I had a larger and smaller canvas on hand (from a "someday project" years ago). I covered each with tulle and hot glued it to the back. Then I wrapped ribbon/twine around them and added buttons!! My glue gun got a work out with this project!
At the bottom of both of them I nailed in "picture hanging" nails then bent them with my pliers to make a hook. This will let them hang larger (wider, etc) headbands. The top part is designed to let them slip their headbands over the top and they are stored away! 
The "blue" canvas will hold hair clips. I could only round up one cute one (not that I really looked all that hard, lol) and some "naked" ones I bought in order to decorate (I have 24 so maybe ya'll will get some pics of those sometime, too!). I bought this twine for $.05 at a thrift store! So I wasn't stingy with it... I wrapped it around over and over and over again. This leaves space for about a bazillion hair pretties to be displayed.
There's a great prize up for grabs and tons of room for inspiration. A layout, card, altered item, mini album, tag, cake, decor... whatever you want to make is a go! Head on over and check it out. A new challenge (which I will have a sample of) will be out on the 15th. See you there!
I used a photo collage that I had made at 
Ugly, right?? You aint seen nothin' yet... check out this close up:
Yep... that's metallic mauve and teal fabric on that baby, ruffles and all! I'm not sure if you can see all of the dirt and stains (mold?) on the bow and along the top of the mirror frame but... let's just say that I had to wash my hands after the next step:
That's a whole lot of ugly!! Here's what I was left with:
I started by taking 2 sheets of 12x12" paper (Pink Paislees' Valentine's Day stuff) and cutting it into 1"x 6" strips. I started wrapping them around the frame (the thing with foam on it) one at a time. I attached them in the back using scotch tape. I overlapped each one slightly over the last until I made it all of the way around the frame, which surprisingly only took about 10 minutes. Then I tied one yard of ribbon around the top of the frame to create a hanger. I used hot glue to sandwich the mirror between the frame and the backer board. Here's the finished product:
Cute, right?? I'm not sure if you have you noticed yet but, I'm a sucker for polka dots!
And notice the cute little fox I stamped directly onto the mirror? He's so cute!! Here's a close up of the finished mirror frame:
That last pic shows you a great view of the strips of paper. I used stickles to randomly highlight some of the polka dots. I also took one of the strips of left over paper (I only had about 3 strips left over) and cut it in half. I folded each half accordian style and glued them over the green ribbon to add some depth.
The next one is made using a piece of Lime Ricky paper by Basic Grey:
Whoa baby that's a bad photo of it!! LOL. Here's a close upthat will do a little better job of showing off that fantastic paper. I cut one of the flowers out from the patterned paper (then covered it up using the green matting) and made the embelishment using my fiskars cutting blade (the orange one with the wishbone handle). I love the pop of dimension that it gives the LO:
I love that plum floral paper (Wisteria, by Basic Grey), the glitter thickers (Bean is Kayla's nic-name) and the amazing blue ribbon from May Arts. The bird is a covered chipboard shape by Jenni Bowlin. But... now what?? What am I missing? journaling strips up the right side of the photo? stitching along the top and bottom of where the purple embossed paper meets the patterned paper? Help!! 
Sorry about the funky angle. I was propping it up against something sort of last minute. This one will be on display at my LSS for a bit. I intimidated myself with that funky pattern (the one used on the vertical stripe) but I really love the colors. Lime green, pink, soft yellows and gorgeous blues. Yum. The stickers are also from the "Sugar Rush" line. A whole set of red alphas with gentle polka dots for $1.50! yes... alphas for less than two bucks! Score!
This next card uses more of the Bo Bunny (paper and die cut), this lace is also from Webster's Pages and the pink beads, sparkly ribbon and blue thickers are from the Sept kit at JuJu Bees. 
My mojo is still flowing so I think I am going to go make something else. I'll let you know if I come up with anything brilliant! lol.
Here is the post showing how to make it: 
Here is my Christmas tree card. I used scrabble tiles and lots of scraps of paper. I added an easel back to this card so that the receiver can use it as Christmas decor as well. Wouldn't this be super cute in your office?
The second project of the day is a giant, pink snowflake! The finished snowflake is about 16" (yes, SIXTEEN INCHES) across:
Isn't this cool?? My suggestions: Use good glue. Hot glue would be best. I used my Tombow and it is only holding so-so. I have been reinforcing some of the points with my Zip Dry. I want to make more but I need to find my hot glue gun first. I also want to look for some type of plastic sheets so that I can make some to hang outside!
