I Made Stuff

My Thanksgiving decorations were lacking, so I found this wall hanging to copy. I love it so much. My boys loved the felt pies and spent the evening making their own felt foods. Some were more successful than others.


For the third year, we ate Thanksgiving at our friends' house. As a hostess gift, I made these two aprons, adapted from here.


Rhett, knowing Ollie's love of pigs, thought about getting Ollie this faux taxidermy pig. However, when we saw that the 4" one was $55, we thought again. We found this book and he asked if I could do it. I thought I could try! The first two times I tried, the face I totally messed up. But I got it on the third and the rest wasn't too bad. I thought the end product was pretty good. However, Ollie doesn't. It makes him sad. :( So for now it's in the attic. Ha.


A friend's birthday is right before Christmas. I didn't dare make something I'd expect her to display with her Christmas decorations, so I made this apron. I think the fabric was a *bit* too heavy, but otherwise I love the pattern. I want to make one for me.

Fun with Picture Collages

A few weeks ago the boys were creating some collages with people. Unfortunately for them, we don't have that many magazines in the house that they can create with. Fortunately for them, I did have a bunch of pictures I printed years ago that they could use. Holy crap. It was the most fun our family had together in a long time! We were all just laughing and giggling at every single creation. I highly recommend it. The next time Shutterfly offers 100 prints for a dollar, I'm doing it!

Projects

I managed to make a few things this year, but only a few. I have some plans, but this humidity is sucking all productivity out of me.

My niece was baptized in August and I made this scripture bag for her. I love those little dolls.


I shouldn't take credit for this because the males in the house did it. But I did cut out the letters. I just think it's fun. And hey, it was something to do during our too-long summer.


I wanted some way to display the boys' Junior Ranger badges and this is what I came up with. I don't know why I didn't use dark brown felt, but whatever. And yes, it's felt. But hey. It's done.


I forgot I made these things! This was something I made for girls camp as our theme was "We Can Do It!" At camp we hung it in front of the fireplace. It came home stinkier than I did!


And some Valentine's Day pillows.

We Made Some Stuff

Every December, I have the boys make ornaments as their gifts to teachers and grandparents. The boys chose these ugly sweaters this year. I didn't plan on making my own, but I did. And I'm not embarrassed to say how much I enjoyed making these funny little things.




And then I made these pencil cases for the boys' teachers and filled them with colored pens and a gift card (you know, the one thing they can actually use).

Crafty Bastards

It's my favorite event of the year: Crafty Bastards! This time I took Rhett and Ollie (the latter not being my choice but he was conned by his older brother). Unfortunately we had a FREEZING day and Ollie whined and complained the entire time until we got to Shake Shack, where he miraculously recovered. Of course, as soon as we got home he said, "Well, Mom, I didn't hate it there." Thanks Ollie. His whining didn't stop us from seeing cool things, however. Below are some of my favorites.

Some super cute paper cut cards at Shipwreck Press.


Of course there was some arty taxidermy. This was wire taxidermy by Alison Brynn Ross.


These amazing prints from Brainstorm! I love love love the style.


A modern take on macrame from Savvie Studio.


Beautiful puzzles and hilarious coasters from Bright Beam Goods. Both boys loved playing with the tangrams.


Confession: I don't remember what specific things I liked at Cuddles and Rage. But I have their card. Oh, I remember: among other things, they took oil paintings and put some extra graphics on top that just did not match AT ALL but got the biggest giggle out of me and Rhett.


The style here at Little Canoe was just adorable.


I'm still laughing about the merpug from Pickled Punks Plush.


I liked Studio 366 because it gave me some possibilities for a girls camp craft.


And of course, there's always some beautiful jewelry. This stuff was from Off on a Tangent. It's so intricate and gorgeous and wood!


Aren't people incredible?! Now, what can I recreate...

I Made More Things

A friend commissioned me to make some bunk bed book holders. She provided the fabric and the inspiration; I was just the work horse. (Oh, don't mind Ollie's note taped to the bedspread tent. I think it says something like, "No mad anyone allowed.")


And, of course, those little girls needed a cute name banner for their room. I've never done a double, but I like how it turned out.


Because my new bag doesn't have as many pockets as my old bag, I had to make a little clutch for the loose stuff (from this tutorial). I'm pretty much in love with it.

Happy Mothers Day to Me from Me

I don't require a lot of presents for Mothers Day, which is good karma because I don't give any to my own mom. A bike ride and dinner of my choice is enough for me. But when my old bag started to rip at the seams, I thought it was time for a change. (I was super happy to see the old bag was more than three years old! I think that's pretty good.) I saw this tutorial, liked the challenge of sewing with pleather (new to me), and so I took it on. About a month ago. BUT THEN. The measurements just didn't seem right. The zipper seemed really long, so I just gave up. It sat there, my poor, sad, work in progress, until a friend posted this on Facebook: "There is something you have been meaning/wanting/needing to do for a very long time. What is it? Let's you and I do it. TODAY." UGH. So I decided I'd finish that stupid bag.

And guess what? It turned out okay! I think if I did another one, I'd make it less wide but I'm still happy with it. The pleather was easy and yet dramatic. I think it looks fancy (until you see the straps are cotton webbing--ha). And I like the lining.



I do miss the utility of the old bag. The pockets were just so perfect. I'm going to have to figure out how to make this work, but I like it!

I Made Stuff

Remember that update on my bed? Well, I finished the bed runner, made a curtain, and bought two throw pillows just to make that plain grey duvet cover less plain. I think it worked.

You can't see the curtain very well, but it's this funny almost-kitcheny fabric we got at Ikea. But it's yellow and grey, so I don't care what's on it. I didn't line it, so I'm afraid of the sun in the upcoming months. I may have to address that later. My boys and dog get me up early enough; I don't need the sun making it worse.


Close up of the runner. In my head I'm obsessed with gingham, so I'm glad to find a place to use it. I'd put it everywhere if I could.


This is all so much better than that grey thing all alone. Trust me: it was hideous.

I Made Something

For a ward service auction last fall, I offered to sew something. A friend of mine won it and asked me to make her a birthday banner. This is the result. I'm kind of in love with it. Seriously. I love the fabric so much. I wished that she didn't like it so I could have it back. I haven't heard how it was received so there's still hope. I even made the binding. Intense.

I Made Something

Can you believe I sewed something? I can't. But I did. First, let's talk about my sewing. My production this year has been very low. And why? Not because I don't have the time; I do. I think it's I don't have the reason. Now that my boys are pretty big, finding appropriate projects for them is hard. Same goes for my nieces and nephews, who frequently got homemade gifts from me. Also, a lot of my friends aren't having babies anymore. Sure, I could make quilts for the house, but fabric for those are expensive and then there's the quilting I'd have to pay someone to do! So what's left? I don't know. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm available, should you need me.

Now, the vest. The boys' morning care provider had a grandson earlier this year and requested a Mickey vest. Done! The boys picked out the fabric, so please don't judge. I love these little vests from Dana. Ollie wears his pretty much every day.

(Totally Necessary) Swim Supplies

Last week I was swimming and something finally clicked in my body. Suddenly I felt like I could go forever. Well, not literally, but I swam 300 meters without stopping and if the time hadn't been late, I definitely could have done more. It was awesome. Which is good because I spent some time making bags for my swim gear, so I had better start getting better!

I found this tutorial and liked all the pockets. I thought I could make it work for the towel, swim cap and goggles, etc. And because I wanted to minimize costs, I used fabric I already had. So sorry that the little whales are a bit juvenile, but hey...they're at least swimming-related, right? Yep, I thought so too.







And then I needed something to put the wet swimsuit in once I was done. Enter this tutorial. My swimsuit will go in there until I can get it home and in the dryer. Perfect. Not pictured is the little tag I attached to the bottom. It'll allow me to hang the bag upside down to keep it dry. Credit to Chuck for the idea. Credit to me for doing it.

I Made Something!

I offered to throw a last-day-of-school party at Rhett's school. I've never done this before, so if you have any advice (like, ahem, how you should have told me that two hours is plenty for a child's birthday party), please send it my way. As I never got around to getting a gift together for Rhett's teacher during teacher appreciation week, I thought I'd do that now. And what cuter gift for a teacher than a notebook tote bag? (Probably a lot of things, but I just couldn't think of them.) And if I'm going to be at the school, why not have the kids sign their names in their second-grader handwriting?

Turns out I love this bag. Love it.




Bag tutorial here. Notebook-ing it idea here.

I Made Stuff

One of the few positives of Chuck being gone is that I get stuff done. (This may have more to do with the time of year. Now that it's not freezing, I can crawl out of my blanket downstairs and work on stuff once kids have gone to bed and not have my hands freeze.) I was only a couple of days away from my current purse's handle being shredded from use. Whilst checking my Pinterest board, I found this duffle purse tutorial and remembered that YES! I wanted to make it. So I made it.




P.S. I also made this "Congrats on your wedding! Sorry I can't be there" card. Kinda love it.


P.P.S. Just realized I didn't post these drool bibs. I don't get to make much baby stuff any more so these were fun.


P.P.P.S. Anyone else troubled by the spelling of "duffel?" I've never been comfortable with it, going back to my college days at Kirkham's.

I Made Stuff for Me

I've been using my Silhouette pretty often these days. When browsing their sales after Thanksgiving I saw some cute patterns and bought them. Because that's what adults do: buy themselves whatever they want, whenever they want (you know, after they save and talk to their spouse and sacrifice for awhile). Unless those things are 50 cents, in which case they just buy them.

Anyway, how cute are these bags? I used a couple already, but made extra just in case.


This fun mistletoe.


I've also made some cute gift tags, and these happen to be my favorite.


Obviously not from my Silhouette collection, but Chuck and Rhett made these ornaments for Rhett's teachers. I love them.


Especially this one made from a little forest service truck. Yes, that's the one I chose to keep for us. I'm selfish like that.