Bath Tub Toy Bag

I saw a simple and brilliant tutorial for a bath tub toy bag on Make It and Love It and knew I had to make it.  The toys are always left all over the bottom of the tub and it makes me squirm when I think about the yucky stuff that probably is growing on them.  Hopefully this new bag will help hinder the growth of unwanted slimy grime.

I took the tutorial just a bit farther and added three rows of ribbon instead of just the one. My rows of ribbon are VERY crooked.  The mesh material that I bought wasn't the same as the stuff used in the tutorial (because it was the only kind JoAnn Fabric had), so I had a little more difficulty working with it than I would have liked. The weave of the mesh was too loose and lightweight.  But it was still a very straightforward project.  I used my serger for the seams which helped speed things along too.

All in all, I highly recommend this project to all levels of sewers out there.  Have fun!

Trendy Office Accessories

This year for my sister Kyra's birthday, my other sister, Kahly, and I decided to give her a whole bunch of hand made office accessories.  We knew we wanted the main present to be a laptop case (since Kyra had been drooling over the other ones we made) and then we had a lot of fun blog surfing for additional gift ideas.  Delving into the world of Mod Podge was an absolute must. The question was where to start? And equally important, where to stop?  Once you start Mod Podging it's almost impossible to quit.

So here's the breakdown of what we settled on:

• The laptop case from Sew Mama Sew
• The Mod Podge clips from Make It and Love It
• The Mod Podge notebooks from Make It and Love It
• The keyboard and mouse slugs (no tutorial used, wahoo for us!)
• The mouse pad makeover from Make It and Love It

We had one heck of a time picking out just the right color scheme and finding coordinating fabrics to match.  We spent THREE hours in JoAnn Fabric one Friday night, trying to buy fabric.  It's so hard to pick out colors for someone else, especially when you know they'll be using the things you make them on a daily basis.  It was touch and go at points during that evening.  At one point we were so hungry and so cranky that Kahly went outside the store and bought a box of Girl Scout cookies.  We ate the entire box right there in the store.  Once on a complete sugar high, we were able to find the right fabrics and high tale it out of there.  What an adventure, torture, fun time, interesting experience. :)

Laptop case, front and back.  We pieced together the exterior panels with an espresso brown zebra print and did the flannel lining out of a pale pink.  Obviously our color palette we settled on was pink and brown.

Aren't these clippies the cutest thing ever?  Kahly and I will be making some of these (and some of the slugs and mouse pads) for ourselves next. 

 The slugs were made out of the same pink flannel from the laptop case and filled with flax seeds so that they can be warmed up in the microwave.  We thought this was a nice touch for Kyra, since she's ALWAYS freezing cold at work.

And finally the notebooks.  We used the Microsoft company wide notebooks for this project which Kyra got a kick out of. 

Most of the projects, with the exception of the laptop case, were easy and fun to do.  Mod Podge is the best stuff ever invented and has become my new best friend.  The accessories were a bit hit and Kyra's on her way to having the most trendy and cute office in all of So. Cal.  Love you Kyra, Happy Birthday!

Superhero Capes

I made Ethan and Addison both a superhero cape for Christmas.  I used this tutorial from Puking Pastilles and they turned out perfectly.  I didn't add any embellishments to the backs since I used patterned fabric.  These were some of my first few sewing projects and they are a great way to get your feet wet if you're just starting out.  The kids really like them and since the neck in them is very loose they will last for many years to come.

BUT, if I were to make them again I probably wouldn't use velcro for the fastening at the neck.  It really bothers my kids and they are constantly pulling at it because it's scratching them.  I would use a button or a snap or alter the neck pieces a bit and do a ribbon tie of some kind.  I might even try to fix theirs, although I have no idea how I'd do it...

The fabric for the back of his cape was just perfect and paired so well with the bright yellow lining.

 

Why does my daughter look like she's 12 years old from the back?  Stop growing, please!

Hemming Jeans

I've had terrible luck finding jeans that fit Addison "just right".  They are either too tight in the waist or too long or both.  It's been this way since she was a baby.  Hopefully that trend doesn't stick with her throughout her life or she's gonna be one grumpy girl to shop with later on. :)

Since I've been exploring my new found sewing talent I figured I would buy a pair of jeans that fit her well in the waist and then hem the bottom of the jeans.  I bought a fairly inexpensive pair just in case I totally bombed the hemming.  I used this wonderful tutorial from Barefoot in the Kitchen and it really was a piece of cake.  Jeans, in my opinion, are a bit harder to hem then a simple cotton pant, what with the thick fabric and heavier seams.  This tutorial really took the guess work out of it and made it possible for my simple sewing machine to sew through the heavy fabric while maintaining the original hem. Very cool!

Can you see the new hem?

 

You can see it when you look close, but who looks closely at the hem of jeans?

I love adding a new skill to my sewing bag!

OH, and I've finished my first set of curtains.  I'm trying to get a sunny day to take decent pictures, so hopefully it won't be too long before I'm able to post (no promises here in the Northwest though).

Tutorial - Simple Bag Kites for Kids

My very first tutorial, YEAH!

I made these kites with my kids when it was my turn to host their pre-preschool.  We were "studying" the letter K, so I wanted them to be able to make their own kites.  Making a kite that will actually fly with 3 year olds isn't as easy as it sounds.  Most kite tutorials out there require dowels and pretty specific measurements.  I wanted something they could use do on their own and add as much creativity to it as they wanted. So I came up with a bag kite.

Supplies you will need:
Large plastic bag
Craft stick (popsicle stick)
Yarn
Scotch and Masking Tape
Hole Punch
Stickers
Colored Crepe Paper/Streamers

You can use any kind of lightweight plastic bag.  A grocery bag will work if you're on a budget, but I wanted to give them something that was a little more appealing then a grocery bag so I found clear gift basket bags at Michaels Craft that were perfect.  These are the kind of bags that you'd wrap around a gift basket of food or gifts, not the bags that you'd put gifts into.  They come in small, medium and large sizes and I opted for the large.

The first thing you need to do before turning your kids loose on the kites is secure holes for the yarn to feed through.  Lay your plastic bag out flat on a table and find the bottom right and left corners of the bag at the opening end.  Using your masking tape, cover the inside and outside of the corners with a small piece of tape (about 2 inches long).  Then punch a hole in each taped corner.

Now you're ready for your creative genius' to take over.  Let the kids cover their bags, front and back side, with a variety of fun stickers. This is a picture of my very boring adult kite, with two boring stickers on it.

While the kids are covering their bags in stickers, cut off a piece of yarn between 5 and 15 feet long.  The length is up to you depending on how high you want their kite to fly in the sky.  Tape one end of the yarn to a craft stick with a piece of masking tape.  Then thread the other end of the yarn through the two holes on the bag and tie it off.

Have each child wind the yarn around their craft stick until there is only a foot or two of yarn left.  I was worried that this would be too difficult for my young 3 year olds, but they proved me wrong and did a great job winding.

 

The last step is to give the kites a tail (or tails in our case).  I let the kids pick out a couple colors of crepe paper and tore off a couple of feet of each.  Then I put a piece of scotch tape on one end and had them tape it to the opening end of their kites.

The great thing about bag kites is that it doesn't have to be windy to use them.  The bags catch air from just running with it, which is perfect for younger kids with too much pent up energy (the faster they run, the higher the kite goes).  All 5 preschoolers ran around my house with their bag kites and had a blast.  Here are the final masterpieces that my kids produced.

Now if it would just stop raining long enough for us to give them a test run outside...

No Sew Cape/Poncho

I made this no sew cape (more like a poncho with arm holes) using this tutorial from Ruffles and Stuff and gave it to Addison for Christmas.  She absolutely loves it and so do I.  It's super simple to make and since it's no sew, there's no excuse for not making one.  Anyone can do it.  Watch for fleece to go on sale at your local fabric store and then buy it and make it!  I want to make one for myself now... although I don't know if I could pull it off as cutely as Addison does. :)