Been a while...

 Yikes! It has been a while, sorry guys. I was busy playing PIRATES!

 There is alot to talk about, so I will just get right to it! We have been using the dryer sheets for a couple weeks now and we really like them. I found several different tutorials on making and using them and sort of picked bits and pieces from each. 

For the sheet themselves I cut up scraps of flannel (bright turquoise with pink flamingos! That way we would see them) and ran a quick over locking stitch on them just to catch any frayed edges.

This batch I used a store bought fabric softener that I happened to have laying around the laundry room. If you want to make your completely from scratch you can find a recipe here. I used 1/2 cup fabric softener and 1 cup water. I mixed it up and soaked my sheets of flannel in it and then set them out to dry overnight. Once they are dry you can just toss them in the dryer with you clothes!

One sheet works on most loads, but if I do a big load or one with fleecy  things I use two. I am only getting one use out of each sheet. I think if you increased the amount of fabric softener they would last longer and work on larger loads. A couple people said they put the sheets in wet, one spritzes a scrap right before she starts the dryer. There are lots of ways to do it, this is just the one I chose to try.

I got in some super cool COLORED headbands the other day! As you can see, Grace couldn't keep her hands off them! I am really excited to see what I can make with them, I already used a couple and I love how they came out. We were starting to wonder if they were ever going to come, then we realized they were coming form Thailand!

It cost 102 baht to ship! 

I wanted to share my two new favorites this week.

Lately I have been saving every possible container and it is driving my husband absolutely crazy. He throws them away if he does the dishes... he thinks I don't notice, but I totally do. One of my favorite things ever is mason jars. LOVE them. I have been collecting them like crazy waiting for the perfect project. 

Well, last week I put them to use... as drinking glasses. This is nothing new I know, and I may be letting my red-neck show a little, but I don't care. Cory thinks it is ridiculous, and makes fun of me every time. The best one is the Ragu, it is nice and big. :D

My other new favorite is this amazing dip I found on Pinterest. It is super simple, delicious, and great for the kids (if you feel like sharing, that is.) 

All you do is mix 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1/2 cup yogurt, and 1/4 cup powdered sugar. Easy as that! My favorite is on apples, but it is great on just about anything. Grace loves it, she sucks it off the apple and hands it back to me for more "deepy."

We ran to Target today... not wise, I always end up getting more that I plan there. Today I found these adorable shoes for Grace and some amazing tube socks!

For $7.50 how can you pass these up??

 Aren't these the most amazing socks-soon-to-be-leggings you ever saw?!

I found a tute on turning socks into leggings so I thought I would grab a pair and give it a try. I think Grace picked out the coolest pair they had! I can't remember where I saw the tutorial, but I will tell you how I made mine if they work.

All tied up

So, as I mentioned yesterday, I made Grace a bow-tie shirt for Terry's retirement party this morning. Everyone loved it, and they totally got that it was just for Terry! That was the best part. I have to say, she was pretty stinkin' cute...

(She was pretty beat when we got home, so I had to settle for a snapshot with her puppy for now.)

Last night I finally tried my hand at an idea I had been thinking about for a little while now. Several months ago Cory came home with a bag of ties from a gal at work. Her husband had cleaned out his stash, and she thought Cory would like them... lets just say there is a reason her husband purged them from his stash... He picked out a few and gave me the rest. 

At first I really wasn't sure what to do with them, I thought maybe I could just take them apart and make some twisted flowers (which I still might do.) But then I cam up with a cool new idea, I think... I am not really sure what you would call these, but here they are:

I just took the tip of the tie, gathered it up into a nice shape, and added buttons from my mom's old stash. I finished them off with large alligator clips on the back, but you could put them on headbands too.

 (I had a heck of a time getting a picture of these darn things in my hair. This is the best I could do for now...)

 While Cory thinks otherwise, I think they are kinda cute. I have a BUNCH more ties, so I think I will see what else I can come up with tonight. :D

 

I'm plaid for plaid!

Ok, so first came the little tiny bows, they are so stinkin' cute I became a little obsessed... Then, was the notion to turn them into bow-ties. From there you logically end up in PLAID! Its a no-brainer really. 

I started out making little bow-ties for boys t-shirts. I think they came out super cute! These are the first couple that I made as gifts for Christmas:

I ran across this fabric and initially I thought, "Easter!" then I thought "Grace!" I made this shirt and hair clip for her to wear at a friend's retirement party tomorrow. He worked in suits and we have never seen him in casual clothes, so we thought it would be kind of a cute/funny homage.

I fell in love with how the flower came out, so I started twisting up all kinds of different fabrics I had initially bought for ties. The result is super fun; kind of nerdy, a little vintage, even a touch "shabby."

Crafting with my Kiddo!

Every once in a while someone will give Grace a dollar, and she is starting to get excited about it, so I thought it was time for her to have a piggy bank. I had a plain white one sitting around that I had bought with the intentions to paint for a friend's baby, sorry Maddi.... So I used that and some bright craft paints I also had laying around and let her loose!

She was super excited to get to paint, she loves it! She was even more excited when I told her she could paint the piggy. :D

I kept trying to turn him so she could paint all  the way around, but she was really focused on his face. She really liked painting his "noo" or nose.

She thought his swirly tail was a nose too... I am starting to think that green is her favorite color, no matter how many colors where on the trey and how I turned it, she still picked green.

 The finished piggy! She is so proud, she points him out every time we walk past him now. :D

She was so into the painting she didn't want to stop! So I got out some construction paper and let her keep going until Daddy got home. All things cease when Daddy gets home... its kind of a big deal. So, we proudly showed off our handy work to a very impressed Daddy. A good way to end a good day.

Mommy's little helper

I got some fun new black and grey hounds-tooth jersey material and made a bunch of new pieces last night. I love how they came out! I was trying to take some pictures this morning, but I had a little too much help... Grace thinks that ALL the "pretties" Mommy makes are for her, so she was running around with them on her arm like a purse. She also decided she needed 3 headbands at once. Goofball. So, as I tried to get some pictures of my pieces I also got some funny ones of her, and I thought I would share them. :)

Getting Ready

I will have a booth at the Unglued: Craft Fest again this year! I am super excited. We were putting our order together for supplies last night, and I couldn't help feeling a little guilty. I always feel a little guilty when I get supplies, like we should be spending the money on something else. Today I spent a good 5 minutes in the hair aisle at Target debating on whether I should get 2 packs of headbands or just 1... I eventually decided on 2, but I took me the whole 5 minutes, and I doubted myself all the way to the register.
I think we are going to order something like $50 in supplies and it just kills me to spend that much, especially in one shot. We need all of it though. My husband is the one who kept adding items to the shopping cart! He is super supportive, and always offering his advice (solicited or not,) and that makes it much easier to continue crafting away. In the car yesterday he was listing off all these different shows and places to try and sell my craftiness. I think he has my whole summer planned out!
I will try to keep posting and adding pictures as I get things completed. Feel free to let me know if there is anything you think I should stock up on, or try out!

Upcycling!

I recently came across some super cute patch style, up-cycled dresses and did the "I can do that!" thing... I thought it was such a cute idea, I had to try it. 

I'm hooked.
The first one I made was definitely the most difficult. I was too excited to see how it would come out to slow down and pay attention to what I was doing... But, after a few long nights and several curse words I cam up with this. I think it is totally cute, and she loves it!

I liked the idea of using old shirts, but didn't like how "patchy" some of them were, so using an old pajama pattern I picked up from Walmart eons ago and only 2 fabrics, I dove in.

The pattern I used was super easy to follow, only 5 pieces! I used the old Callahan Auto shirt for the main body and simply dropped the hem to a longer dress/tunic length. For this one I thought it would look neat if the design was sideways so I arranged my pieces accordingly on the shirt. For the sleeves I chose the shorter length and lined the pattern up with the existing hem of the old shirt, this way I didn't have to mess with hemming the sleeves. I also cut the collar from the blue shirt.

I was cruising right along until I got to the collar... I glanced quick at the instructions and went back to my machine. Once it was sewn on, twice around... I realized I had sewn it to the outside, instead of the inside... great. So for an easy fix I just rolled the collar back over to the front and ran a stitch around again. The result is a slightly thinner, wider neck which I actually kind of like on the girls dresses. 

Then I had to hem it. Now my machine used to belong to my grandmother, and it is the same age as me, so it can be a bit touchy. I got almost half way around the bottom and I noticed THIS:

A big mess of extra thread on the outside of the dress! Awesome. So I sat and ripped the whole seem out, and of course I cant find my seem ripper... So I am using a stick pin and a tiny scissors. I eventually got the whole thing ripped, but I am still not sure why my machine does this to me. It happens somewhat regularly and I have tried everything; changing tension, adding bobbin thread, needles... It really seems to just stop when it is good and ready to sew again. I eventually decided that I would not hem the dress both for aesthetic and stress reasons. 

I am totally hooked on these shirts and dresses, and I have made several projects out of recycled shirts, including some leggings!