Pajama Eaters!

Instead of an Easter basket, I decided to make L a Pajama Eater!  

I bought the pattern by Sew Fearless which means that I can make them to sell.  Which I plan to do!

My daughter has the habit of stepping past (or on top of) all the jammies on her floor she has only worn for one night to get new ones!  So, Theoretically, this will help with that problem as she was told she can only have out what the PJ Eater can fit!  

See the zipper? I am pretty sure she stuffed about three pairs in there this time, but hopefully we can whittle it down to one at a time!  These little guys are so cute sitting around too! 

This little guy snuck into her room when she was sleeping and sat down to wait... I'm kind of surprised those Peeps made it through the night....

I had to make a few adjustments; since I don't keep felt around (and of course a certain store was out of white!), I made the teeth like I did on E's dinosaur jacket....oh wait. It looks like I never blogged that.... Anyhoo.... like the teeth on this jacket tutorial.  Much more time consuming that felt, so I'll be getting some of that... otherwise I followed that pattern. Great pattern if you want to try a few!  The pattern included the rights to sell them, so I will be sewing up a few in the near future!  Drop me a line if you want first dibs!

Knitting!

I'm happy to say, I now consider myself a knitter!  I have achieved one of my lifetime goals! Hopefully it's not too sad that one of my lifetime goals is knitting...

Anyway, for Christmas 2 of the gifts for our family exchange were a Burton Bear cowl for my niece and a hat for my nephew.

This is the Burton Bear Cowl on my five year old daughter... it is the toddler size but oh well! This was my first knit in bulky yarn, and I LOVE it.  It makes everything go so quickly!  I cannot claim credit for the ears, as they are crochet and I have not crossed that off my "to learn" list yet.

And my nephew modeling his new hat, which also happens to be my first attempt at color blocking!  Surprisingly simple! I will definitely be doing some more as this is such a cute hat and I'm pretty sure it won't fit him past this year... (Note to self: Measure head before assuming the pattern needs adjusted...)

Isn't he a cutie?  Looks so innocent there...

More knitting to come as I recently finished a Fear of Committment Cowl for my sister and am working on a cowl sweater shrug wrap for ME! Finally...

Handmade Christmas 2012

So L's big gift this year was a new princess dress... I'd like to say NEVER AGAIN, but last time I said that I ended up making TWO more...!  It turned out great but took a lot of time.

Presenting... Princess Belle!

The bodice ended up a bit long, so I may tack it up for now.  All the ruffles make the skirt so pretty, and my favorite part is the shirring- the gold panel in the front. There is also one in the back, and this allows her to pull the dress right over her head.  No velcro or other closure needed!  It will grow with her as well! I did skip a few details, like the swoop accent on the skirt and the poof around the shoulders, but I think it's "Belle" enough for a play dress!

I used the tutorial from Homemade Toast. I definitely won't make a princess dress without the shirring again! It's definitely worth the time investment! I have fabric for a Rapunzel dress as well, but wanted her to try on Belle before sewing it up.  We'll see when I get to that one...

Baby Shoes

On the second try, I was able to whip up these quick booties for our new baby J.

I used the tutorial and pattern here. As printed it turned out to just barely squueze onto his 4 month feet, so I'd say the would fit a baby 3 months and under. I enlarged it 115% and they fit perfectly. They are two layers of fleece and have double elastic bands so they ACTUALLY STAY ON!!! So simple to do... I'll be trying to figure out a 6-12 mo size! and maybe even larger for E!

These I made from this tutorial for my neice... hope they fit!

My Backpack Design!

I found this post in my drafts, appears i never posted as I was waiting for some pictures of my neices backpack that I sewed from  this free pattern... ahem.  I forgot to take them before I gave it to her so I guess I can't complain too much... Anyway, here's the one I made for my nephew: 

I'm a wee bit proud of the fact that I designed this one on my own! (I'm too cheap to pay for patterns when i can avoid it...)  It actually was not as difficult as one might think, especially cause I added my zippers in a super simple way I found in this book, Made for Travel (I found it at our library if you‘re local-lots of great projects in it!). 

See how the zippers are done "exposed"?  Sooo easy! And i think pretty cool looking on this one!

I did a smaller pencil pocket on top and a larger one below. Even tried using piping for the first time... see it there around the front?

I would definitely use home décor weight fabric when making another one ( I let my daughter pick out fabric AGES ago for one...), but I think it will work fine, and it turned out to be a good size I think for a youngster's bag. 

The Handmade Christmas Winner and a Grown-up Gift

And the winner of the Handmade Christmas Most Favorite Gift Award goes to....

Photo from   http://www.chinaqualitycrafts.com via Google

Yep. It's a bunch of PVC.  About $6 from Lowe's. Which the two boys (and several grown men) turned into these...

Which when comined with some of these:

Equals HOURS of marshmallow shooting fun!

Grammy's porch was covered in marshmallows, her fish in the pond probably swam in a sugar fed frenzy for a while, and she may be finding them around the house for a while thanks to the indoor test run, but even she got in on the fun before the night ended!  All the kids loved them (a few loved eating marshmallows rather than shooting them... "oops, that one fell into my mouth!"  But it was hands down the most popular (and cheapest and easiest!) gift of the night!  


You can print the directions and pvc list here.  


Another of my personal favorites (and hopefully my brother's as he was the lucky recipient!) was this chalkboard painted shelf/memo board!

My dad threw this together from scraps in his shop, and my husband painted it up quick. We used the measurements from this plan at Ana-White.com. Instead of using pocket screws though, he actually routered in a slot for the shelf and then screwed it in from the back of the shelf, which I believe makes for a sturdier shelf.  We made our own chalkboard paint from Martha Stewart's recipe which I'd recommend!  We spent the same amount on black paint and grout as we would of spent on the same size container of chalboard paint, and now I have a lovely box of grout sitting on my shelf that can make gallons and gallons of any color I want!  Oh, the possibilities... I really want one of these for my kitchen now... Depending on how sturdily you hang it, it could be used for anything... a candle, jackets, keys, etc!


My parents' and sister's gifts will have to wait for another post... I forgot to get out the camera before packaging... oops.  Til next time...

Handmade Christmas Part II

On to part II of my handmade Christmas gifts...

My niece has an American Girl doll so her gift was easy this year!  

This little pillowcase dress from Liberty Jane...

and a belt.... a girl needs options!

I also made her a t-shirt and jumper and a pair of little jeans from this book which i got through our library.

 For my nephew I found this great tutorial for a fleece hat at From an Igloo. What boy wouldn't love a dinosaur hat!

 I followed her direction for an older child and it worked great: a smaller adult could probably wear it this way.

My lovely daughter modeling....

The boys also each got a quick little superhero cape like these with their initials stenciled on them, but those pictures seem to have disappeared... maybe someone will share some pictures with me...

 More coming...

This year's Christmas gifts, Part I: the littles

Being the penny-pincher... um, awesome aunt that I am, I handmade most of our gifts again this year. Here's Part I: the two and under crowd...


First up, the newest niece in the family:

 For her, we have a pretty little lovey blanket, ruffled on the front, with a ruffle around the edge, perfect for chewing and drooling on and dragging around...

 and snuggling up to, thanks to that luscious chocolate brown minky...

I used this tutorial from 2 Little Hooligans.


She also recieved a cute little tutu skirt (tutorial from Simple Simon and Co.)

Can't wait to see her wear it!


On to the boys....

 The two year old nephew got this cute little backpack (tutorial from indietutes). This tutorial has a free printable pattern, so don't be afraid to try it! It is really SO simple, especially because there is no zipper closure. The main piece is formed from two pieces that overlap so its very easy for littles to get into.

 I put some velcro on this one- I made one previously for a friend's little guy and as he used it we realized it really could use a snap or velcro if they'll be carrying "heavier" things like matchbox cars. They tend to make it gape open...

Simple little straps for the cutie pie to strap it on, and Viola! Your toddler can help carry his own toys, diaper, cup, snack, whatever!  Would make a cute little toddler "daycare bag" or just let him pretend to be all grown up with his own backpack like the big kids!


For my boys...


the plan was to have finished Faux Chenille blankets for both...but being the procrastinator that I am...They each got one of these cute little taggie animals from Make It and Love It's tutorial.  I made one as a gift for my nephew last year and thought my boys would like to slobber on one as well.

The Elephant is made of flannel and cotton quilting fabric, and the giraffe of cotton quilting fabric and minky... so soft and snuggly! 

And they have lots of little ribbon taggies to chew on!

Tune in next time for more of my Handmade Christmas!

My Christmas Gift!!! Storage Coffee Table

My amazing husband attempted his first furniture build in order to give me exactly what I asked for this Christmas: this awesome coffee table with 10 drawers!  

We are hoping to finally have a little more order in the living room as we can designate certain drawers for certain items.  He used this plan from Ana-white.com. It did need a few tweaks- the price was way off as half our wood was given to us. The author of the plan (not Ana White by the way!) state it would be about $50-100- the drawer slides alone cost $40. He also found a problem with the drawer size, fixed with shims to help the drawers and slides fit correctly.

Unwrapping!

All those drawers!  the other side looks the same: TEN drawers in all!  

LOVE my gift and can't wait to see what's next as we add to and upgrade our furniture!

Saturday Projects

So I've been told I am nesting since my c-section is scheduled for one week from today- Monday! To me, it feels like a mad scramble to get my to-do list finished... is that nesting?!  Anyway, this weekend I have been working on my Monkeyshiners stock (coming slooooowly along...) and also checked off a before baby project and a birthday gift!  

I used this easy peasy tutorial from Indietutes for the backpack.  

Sized for approximately a 2 year old, and no zips or anything to frustrate a little kiddo! Just that handy dandy little flap thing!

Now, the designer/author says you don't need any closure, and perhaps her fabric was sturdier than mine... mine sagged when i put my camera inside and the flap stayed open then, so i think the recipient's mama will be adding a snap or velcro and i'll be adding the same the next time.  

It is tiny, but I think its the perfect size for a little toddler and loved her suggestion about having toddler help carry his toys/sippy/diapers!  A few less things in the diaper bag is always a bonus, right?

I also was able to get the baby's carseat canopy done- I've never had one of these for either of my kids, so I'm excited to see how it compares to the old throw-the-blanket-over-the-canopy trick!

Sorry, the pictures are aweful- late at night, trying to be quiet and sneaky in the bathroom! Thus the bathrobe, potty stool, and unfinished floor...

I used this tutorial (also easy peasy!) from Sew Dang Cute. It has a nice little surprise... mine blends in a lot, can you see it?

 Peekaboo!  Cute little window to peek at the baby through or give him some fresh air!  The canopy is held on by those velcro straps, so its easily taken off to clean. 

And you can just toss it up and over the bar to get baby in and out! 

Lots of other things on my list for this week... we'll see what else I get done! These are both easy so projects if you are looking for something to get started (or get back into) sewing! Or if you sew a lot and want a quickie project (the backpack took about an hour and half!  and I'd guess the canopy was similar).

And yes, sewing your own would save you loads of money... Carseat canopies on etsy.com run anyway from $25 to &70! (Check them out here if that doesn't freak you out and you want to support a WAHM!) You can make your own for about 2 yards of fabric ($10 bucks if you aren't picky about designers!) My outside fabric is home decor that was on clearance from fabric.com and the inside is $4.44 a yard from Wally world! And that backpack is the perfect gift for a little toddler and mine didn't cost me anything! I had some leftover fabric at home- You could pick up enough fabric for less than $5 though- Joann's and Wally's have options for even less if you check their sales and remnants! So if you are as cheap frugal as I, you really should think about picking up a new hobby...

Binder cover

Scrounging around for another birthday present for my niece, I remembered these awesome notebook covers from Etsy. Being the cheap aunt that I am, I did not want to buy the pattern, but came up with my own...

I added some pretty decorations to the front, ruffles and ribbon. Pink ribbons on the right are the velcro closure.

Loved the idea of having the pockets inside for school doodads riather than a separate pencil case- at least for a few basics...

I upcycled some stretchy denim for that front pocket and sewed in 4 pencil slots.  The bigger denim pocket would be perfect to tuck your pencil sharpener in, or any other little things you need. The pink flowered is also a pocket for longer/larger items.

 I tried to make this fun for my 3rd grade neice, but you could easily do a more grown up version - which might happen someday around here!  It's a great way to cover up old binders (leftovers from college, trainings, etc that have ugly fronts or company logos on!).  I'm so tempted to attempt a home management binder again just to try this... ok not just to try it, but if I do, you can bet I'll be pretty-ing up my binder! A recipe binder is also on my to do list... its a really looooooooong list though.....

I will say, I almost wish I'd just bought the pattern... her's look beautiful and professional and I'm sure her PDF is worth every single penny!  Mine is very simple and basic; no padding etc; so if you want to make your own and don't feel comfortable "winging it" I'd check out her Etsy shop and go with the PDF!

Baby Gifts: Carseat Canopy

Another baby gift, also on my list for the upcoming babe is a carseat cover!  

Double duty: hopefully will be enough to keep away wind and chill for winter babes as mine will be, and light enough to throw over and avoid all the touchy strangers with germy hands wanting to pinch your baby's cheeks!

It has a handy little peek-a-boo window! No waking up the baby to check on him!

And you can just throw it back when you're in the car or wherever you are going.

Those handy loops keep it attached to your carseat so it doesn't slip. I'm excited to try one when my new baby boy arrives, I've always just thrown a blanket over the top, but love that this one style should stay where its supposed to! Crossing my fingers that the recipient ends up with her baby girl or I might have a girly carseat cover (and chenille blanket) to get rid of...

Almost forgot to give credit to the author!  I used this tutorial from Wannabe Crafty (though the tutorial was guest posted on Sew Dang Cute). Great tutorial and fairly simple project for any level sewist! You could buy one at a store for about $20-25 or buy one from another crafster on etsy for anywhere from $25-45 (most tend toward that upper end..). Or just buy 2 yards or so of fabric (depending on width) and make your own!  you could easily do this for $10-15 dollars, or even cheaper if you get super sale fabric!