A shoe bag

My daughter needs to keep runners at schools for gym time so I decided to make a bag to keep them in. How fun is this fabric? Bought at IKEA. 

a little stuffed bunny

I can hardly believe Easter is already here, I feel like we just had Christmas.  I got the kids' Easter basket ready for collecting their eggs and decided to quickly make a small stuffed bunny to start of their basket of goodies.  I made these bunnies last year as well, I just think they are so darling that I couldn't resist making them again this year.  Here is my original post.

I hope you have a wonderful Easter and thanks for stopping by.

valentine's day mailbox

Just in time for Valentine's Day, a mailbox for special treats.  I had seen this idea many years ago and thought I would like to try making something like it.  I had so much felt (it's not your typical craft felt, it's thicker) that I decided to try using that. I kept the design quite simple and I am very happy with the way they turned out. I added some ric rack, swarovski crystals and flowers made out of nylon chiffon. I also cut a slit in the top of the mailbox to insert the 'mail', can hardly wait to surprise my kids with these filled with lots of fun things.

gathered coin purse

I had made a similar gathered clutch before but it was much larger (found here). I find sometimes I just need something small in my handbag to hold just a few things, so I made these ones. It's 5" x 3", a great little coin purse.  I made a modification of the tutorial I found here.

Play tea bags

My daughter loves to have tea parties.  She has this adorable tea set but not really great tea bags, so I thought I would make her some.

Here is what you need:

• scrap fabrics
• narrow ribbon (approx. 3-4" in length per tea bag)
• flax seeds (or other for filling)

I made my pattern by tracing a tea bag that I had in my cupboard. Then I cut my fabrics, wrong sides together. I stitched 3 sides of the tea bag (there will be no finished edge - gasp, I know) and left the top open to add between 1-2 tablespoons of flax seeds.  Now insert the ribbon so you will stitch over it when you stitch the top of the tea bag closed. I then stitched the tag onto the other end of the ribbon, again with no finished edges. It's a super simple project and done in relatively a short period of time.

doll diapers

My daughter loves to put a diaper on all of her dolls and stuffed toys but she only has one at the moment.  I took that diaper and used it as my pattern.  I used white flannel on the inside and a cotton for the outside. I also used as double sided velcro which is more expensive but it's much softer feeling than the less expensive ones. The loops on the one side aren't as big so they don't trap all that lint the other velcro tends to.  I also made sure the velcro ran across the top front of the diaper so that it did not matter what size the doll was, the diaper should fit. I think she will love these.

headband

This has got to be one of the easiest headbands I have made and it's so comfortable.  I used a cotton knit fabric, cut the length of the headband along the selvage edge and sewed it together. Then I stretched the unfinished edge of the fabric to create that rolled edge. I gathered the seam together and hand stitched it in place. The leaf was also made with a cotton knit, stretched and sewn onto the headband just over the seam. The flower was made by stretching the fabric to create a rolled edge, turned and twisted into the shape/look I wanted and hand sewn. I sewed the flower onto seam hiding it nicely.

I really like the way this turned out, nice and simple.  I've given the headband as gifts for little girls and they have loved them.

old jeans into purse

My husband had an old pair of jeans that needed to be tossed but instead of doing that right away, I made a purse for my daughter who is 3.  The outside pocket is the back pocket of the jeans, I just cut around it to create the bag.  

I love to line things, it means I don't have to finish any edges, gotta love that.  For the strap I used the inside seam of the pant leg which as the top stitching. You could dress the bag up in so many ways, the options are endless really.  I think a large flower would add a fun touch.

fairy princess birthday

Our little girl turned three last week and she wanted a fairy princess birthday party. No princess is complete without a crown, so I made her one.  I used peltex, cotton fabrics (Riley Blake, Designer: The Quilted Fish, Category: Sugar & Spice except the green fabric which I do not know the designer of) , buttons and Swarovski crystals. The crown has a ribbon at the back which is tied for the perfect fit, now and down the road.

This number 3 is made of Swarovski crystals.  I made it as a pin so that I could remove it and make a new number next year or something else.

The birthday cupcake. I originally saw the idea for pink lemonade cupcakes here and thought it was a great idea.  The recipe can be found here. I decorated mine a little differently as I was unable to find the jelly toppers but the kids did not seem to mind.

No party seems to be complete these days without cake pops.  I used one of my favourite recipes for them, lemon poppy seed sour cream cake.  I used Wilton white candy melts with pink coloured sugar. They were a hit.

Some refreshing pink lemonade along with paper straws which I found at Etsy. They have an amazing selection of colours and you pick the colours that you want...perfect.  I even purchased some more straws in advance for another birthday party.

I covered the table with "gems" for that bit of sparkle. In the background are some princess crown cookies. The recipe I used for the cookies is one of the best I've used in a quite some time for shaped cookies.  The dough, once chilled, is great to work with and does not crumble a lot.  You can find the recipe here. The cookie cutters are from Wilton and I used royal icing to decorate along with white nonpareils. I think they turned out great.

We also managed to get a refrigerator box and made a castle out of it for the kids to play in. A few windows, a door, a bit of paint and there you have it. You could easily skip painting the box, it will still have the same impact on the kids.

And as a final touch, all the kids got a fairy princess wand to take home.  You can see how I made them here.

As a side note, if you decide to make the high heel shaped cookies in the cookie cutter set be aware that the heel is narrow and I had trouble at times getting the cookie dough out nicely...my pinky wasn't quite small enough but other than that they are such a fun shape.

toddler apron

Another toddler apron, perfect for those little helping hands.  I love the bright colours of this particular apron. 

a crown for a princess

We recently celebrated my niece's third birthday.  For her birthday I had made her a crown and it turned out so adorable.  The back has a tie so you are able to get a perfect fit for any age...even adults. The decorating ideas for the crown are endless which makes it so much fun. 

toddler apron

What can be more fun than to have your toddler help you in the kitchen? When my daughter was quite small she loved to help me bake. I tried to find an apron for her but did not have much luck, so I created my own that would fit her...it was perfect for her little body.

I love to use 3 different fabrics. One for the main body, one for the top accent piece and ruffle and then a different fabric for the straps.

Here is a close up detail of the ruffle.  I bought a ruffle foot for my sewing machine, it makes gathering so easy. It's worth the investment if you do a lot of gathering.

ikea duvet cover recreated

I love Ikea but when I was looking for my kids bedding there was nothing I really liked or that would go with their rooms. It was either not in the toddler bed size or the colours weren't quite right. So, to solve my problem, I bought a twin duvet bedding set and recreated it to make 2 toddler bed duvet covers with 2 pillowcases. Now I have exactly what I wanted to go with their rooms.

I recently was given this heart shape duvet cover from Ikea to sew into 2 toddler bed duvet covers. 

Please note that the direction of the pattern will change from horizontal to vertical which may not be what you are wanting.  There was a big heart in the centre of the pillowcase and I tried to save as much of it as I could when making the new pillowcase.  I did have to use some of the duvet cover to extend the length of the pillowcase, which I think makes it even cuter.  

I had fabric leftover so I decided to make a toss cushion with it, just the right size for the toddler bed. 

on-the-go diaper change kit

A few of my friends are expecting babies in the near future which is the prefect opportunity for me to sew something. I made one of my friends one of these on-the-go diaper change kits.  It holds 2 diapers, a change pad (Kushies waterproof change pad with bonded terry) and baby wipes.  What more do you need when you quickly run an errand?

I had originally made one of these change kits using this tutorial but it did not quite turn out has I had expected or hoped for.  So this time I used the same tutorial and this tutorial to create my 'updated' change kit. I like to add a pocket (with elastic at the top) on the front for those extra baby things that you may need like a soother, money or a small baby snack. 

stuffed bunny

I saw this idea, thought it was cute and was worth giving it a try.  I made one for my daughter and one for her little friend.  My daughter's first response (she's only 2) was that it had no eyes, poor bunny...guess I may need to put eyes on the next ones that are made. But they both really liked them.  I really like the simplicity of this bunny (or any other animal really) and it would make for easy and adorable baby gifts, party favours for a kid's birthday or a gift for no reason at all. I will definitely make these again.

a cupcake anyone?

My daughter is into making 'tea' these days and I thought a cupcake would be cute to go with it.  I made this out of felt that you would find at your local craft store...the inexpensive stuff.  I added some small beads for sprinkles and there you have a cute little cupcake. 

As  a note, since the cupcake has been played with for a bit now, the inexpensive felt does not wear well and gets fuzzy over time.

Hope you are having a good weekend.

dressing it up for Easter

I know it's a bit early for Easter but thought I would try to get a bit ahead since time just seems to fly by. I recently purchased an inexpensive easter basket and thought it needed a little something, so I decided to add a flower to dress it up. I used felt and two different types of ribbon. 

 

Here is how I created it.

Make a simple flower template in 2 different sizes.  It does not matter that if the flower template is not perfect.  No really, it does not matter. Have a look at mine, it's not perfect.

Cut 5 large flowers of one colour and 3 small flowers in an other coordinating colour (or the same colour as the larger flower).

Scrunch the ends of the flower and hand sew the end so that it stays put.  Do this to all 8 pieces.

Stitch the 5 larger flowers together.  I used a scrap piece of felt to stitch the flower end to and made a bit of a circle.  Once I was happy with it I made sure it was all secure and did not have too much space between each flower.

Stitch the 3 smaller flowers together. Make sure it's secure.  Have a look at the right side of the flower and see if you are happy with how the petals are sitting.  If not, make small stitched to help the petals stay where you want them to.  I would recommend using a matching thread in this case so that you don't see your stitches.

Cut 2 pieces of ribbon approximately 16" each in length. Stitch the ribbon together and then to the back side of the flower as pictured below. This ribbon will not be used to tied it to the basket, it's purely decorative.

Cut another 2 pieces of ribbon approximately 16" in length.  This ribbon will be used to tie the flower to the basket so if your handle is thicker than what mine was, you may need to make the ribbon longer.  Or if you want more ribbon hanging down, then cut more ribbon. Stitch to the back side of the flower like show above.

Tie flower to the handle of your basket.  I made my bow quite small as the ribbon I used was quite floppy if it was too large but you can make the bow as large or small as you desire.  Once the flower has been secured to the basket, trim the ribbons (if needed) to the desired length.  Mine had a couple ribbons that were a bit long. And there you have it, a cute flower to dress up a simple basket. Won't that child look adorable holding this basket as they look for their Easter eggs?

a little man

I recently purchased some short sleeved onsies and dressed them up by adding an appliqued tie to it. They made for a very quick and easy baby boy gift. Here is how I made them:

• Draw tie on the back of Trans-web paper (Wonder Uder or similar)
• Iron onto fabric
• Cut out the tie
• Iron onto onsie
• Optional: sew close to the edge of the fabric tie (straight stitch)(you don't need to do this but I felt better knowing that the tie has been securely sew and will not come loose with washing, though the the directions for the Trans-web says it can be washed)

another gathered little bag

Here is an other one of those gathered little bags, I think they are fabulous.  I use mine, at the moment, for the small things in my diaper bag that are just for me. I quite like the size of them. 

diaper change kit for moms on the run

I don't know about you but I can't say I'm always thrilled to have to carry a diaper bag, so when I found this idea for a quick diaper change kit, I had to give it a try. I made it to what was suggested and I personally found it to be a bit small for my liking, so next time I would make it slightly larger.  I also added a front pocket because there is always something else that you just need to have with you (like your wallet or a water bottle or who knows what else). 

I think it's a great idea and I can't wait to make a few for friends who are expecting babies in the near future.