Valentine's Day part 1

I have seen so many cute Valentine's Day decorations and crafts out in the blog world so I've been inspired to start decorating!  I made some cute hugs and kisses frames using scrapbook paper, wooden letters I found in the clearance bins at JoAnn's for 50¢ each and cheap frames from Target.  A little ModPodge and some hot glue created these:

I also whipped up some felt heart garland.  It's just a bunch of hearts I cut out freehand and then ran through the sewing machine one after another.

I think someone needs some hugs and kisses.

I also started making Valentine gifts for my nephew and nieces.  The little man is getting this tee:

Here's a close up of the heart I sewed on (the tee is a $3 one from Target- gotta love a deal!):

The girls, along with Eva, will be getting pink tees but I haven't decided how I am going to embellish them yet.  Any ideas?  They will be getting barrettes too.  Here's what I've gotten done so far:

I think I'm going to add buttons to the centers of the hearts but I'm still playing around with them.

So I definitely have a bunch of crafts to keep me busy this week plus I have my first order for a crayon roll!  I bought a couple fat quarter packs of fun fabrics so I plan on making a bunch to have on hand as (hopefully) more requests come in.

Repurposing

One of my crafty goals for 2010 is to increase the amount of repurposing I do.  I have bags of old tees and sweaters and a ton of baby clothes that have minor impairments but could easily be transformed into something new.

I started off with something extremely simple.  One of those "why hadn't I thought of that" type projects- turning placemats into pillows.  All you need is a dual sided fabric placemat- I had two I had received as shower gifts that never made their way to the dining table.  Open the seam a few inches, fill will fluff and resew the opening shut.  You should end up with something like this:

The two I used look great on our couch:

I also tried a little clothing repurposing.  Eva had an adorable tunic that had gotten too small but it had a sweet little heart print that would be perfect for Valentine's Day so I turned it into a skirt.  We went from this:

to:

I simply cut off the top, folded the raw edge over and  then sewed leaving an inch opening to put the elastic in.  Pulled the elastic through, sewed it shut and flipped it right side out.  Easy peezy!  It's hard to see but there are little pockets on the sides too.  And Eva is turning out to be quite the model (yes, she's standing in a cardboard box- who knows why we bother to buy her toys!).

My baby is two!

I cannot believe that it has been two years since I first held my sweet little bundle of joy.  Eva has grown so fast and is such a little smarty pants.  I love her more every passing day.

For her birthday party this year she chose a ladybug theme.  Grammy ordered a cake (chocolate as requested by the birthday girl) and it came out so cute:

And I made her a special birthday dress.  It's a basic pillowcase dress that I embellished with contrasting fabric at the bottom and a ribbon flower:

She was trying to blow out the candle but wouldn't get any closer to the cake.

I made her a smock and crayon roll as a gift (the smock still needs side ribbons added but they will have to wait for a machine!):

Here is the tutorial I used to make the smock.

And here's the one I used to make the crayon roll.

I survived Christmas

but my sewing machine did not.  :(  Something in it popped while I was finishing up gifts for my nephew so I owe him a few.  I did manage to get this guy done for him though:

I plan on making another one for Eva as soon as I either get my machine fixed or upgrade to a new one.

I made tutus, baby diapers and hooded towels and crayon rolls for my nieces but as usual, I forgot to take pictures of them.  I am going to make a few for Eva so I'll take pictures then.

I did manage to snap a few pictures of the aprons I made for my nieces for St. Nick's though the last time I was at their house so here ya go:

Happy St. Nicholas Day

My family has always celebrated St. Nicholas Day (December 6th).  Each year as children, we would place our slippers outside our bedroom door before going to bed and awake the next morning to new slippers filled with treats.  I have decided to continue this tradition for Eva.  She awoke to fuzzy new pink slippers filled with Sesame Street crayons and playdough tools.  I also made her these:

The cookies have magnets in them to help them stick to the pan.

The apron is made from a dishtowel.  I'm getting a little more adventurous so I added a ruffle to this one.

I also made the cookies and aprons for my nieces (their aprons had ribbon flowers) but I forgot to take pictures.

Happy St. Nicholas Day everyone!  May your shoes be full of treats today!

Pasta Dinner

I finished my first "meal" for Eva's kitchen- a pasta dinner.  It contains a box of farfalle pasta, a jar of sauce, a salad and a loaf of bread.  Looks good enough to eat!

Felt Food Tutorials

In my search for felt food ideas I came across several tutorials.  I am currently making the following and will post pictures soon but for now, here are links to the tutorials:

Sandwich and chips
Cherry pie
Tomato slice
Ravioli
Carrot
Strawberries
Pizza
Oreos
Chinese take-out box (love this!)
Cupcakes

I hope others find these as helpful as they have been for me.  I have also gotten many ideas from looking at the felt food available on Etsy and figuring out my own patterns.  Hopefully I'll have some of my own tutorials to post soon!