A little bit of Whimsy in Storage options

Have I been M.I.A. or what?! Trust me, it's not completely because I've been soaking up the tropical sunshine-y days. Partly because a lot of the days have been quite gloomy, the other days pretty muggy and the few days of nice weather, well...I did soak those up and enjoy them.  But, I've had my fair share of creative days as well, just did not post as I thought it would be sort of redundant. I had the great privilege of being asked to make 2 more teacher hand print blankets which took up quite a bit of my weeks.  I hope that the teachers they are going to will love their new treasures. Finished up a tote bag that will be making it's way across the ocean to a service member who so humbly serves our country, my small means of a thank you.  And then I whipped together a cutesy pencil pouch.

Today, however, was all about the storage. Miss V asked for some glass jars to store her pens and markers in, she pulled a few from the recycling bin. But I told her I needed to sanitize them while she was at school today. Instead, I cleaned and decided to decorate them to add a little character to an otherwise ordinary glass thing.

I used Martha Stewart Multi Surface Acrylic craft paint, a sponge brush, a regular paint brush and the natural wind to dry everything off.  It was a lot of fun to come up with these 2 jars, and now Miss V has created a list of what other color jars she would love for her room decor. Looks like I have my work cut out for me!

My favorite is the somewhat ombre` style! I think I'll try that again in a red/orange/yellow hue!

Enjoy! Until next time I feel somewhat creative,

♡ ąℓexąnʠяą

 The supplies

 The dots I did one color at a time. When each color was completely dry, I went in to create more dots.

 The finished products

 This little ombre style one is my favorite so far

A new toy! The silhouette

Been a bit busy around here with hubs new work schedule, 3 kiddos and a friend from 17 years ago visiting. Found a little time to be creative this morning but I had the right motivation. My Silhouette cameo came in the mail yesterday. Miss V asked if I could make her a giraffe pillow so I looked for a giraffe graphic, interfaced some fabric and made my very first Silhouette applique!

The machine is a little intimidating. My ultimate goal with this machine is to be able to make my own designs and be able to use the machine to transfer them to paper or fabric.  Just another step in the creative department! But I do have a lot to learn and I need to upgraded application to start that new venture. But for now, I'm just getting used to the machine and all of it's capabilities.

Here is the very first Silhouette creation!

♡ ąℓexąnʠяą

The Hand Prints

I'd like to start off by saying how heavy my heart is for what happened in Boston yesterday. I grew up just outside of Boston in a small town called North Andover. My parents, younger brother, Grandmother and Aunts and Uncles still live there. I called my parents and brother as soon as I heard the news yesterday, so thankful that I found them at home and well.  But my heart aches for those people who have been struck by this senseless tragedy.  My husband is a runner and I cannot imagine kissing him goodbye and good luck on his run and have the run met with tragedy.  So the event, though I'm thousands of miles away, hits close to home, too close to home in so many ways.  Because of this event, I decided it was most respectful to post very little yesterday.  I stayed glued to my live feed of Boston news channel:
www.wcvb.com

However, that doesn't mean I didn't work. I had Little Mr. F attached at my hip for the afternoon after he snuggled with Daddy who has been working the very late night shift. I have to say, I know so many people have spouses who work the midnight shift and I feel for you. It's tough! It's just not normal to sleep during the day, if you can even sleep with 3 kids running around, and then having to work while the rest of the country sleeps.  Anyway, I hope this schedule works itself out, most importantly so my hubs can get some much needed rest.

So, back to what I did. I love repeat customers and my next creative project was for a repeat customer.  A while back, my youngest daughters 1st grade teacher was expecting and I wanted to do something sentimental and unique for her. As I wrapped my head around what I could possibly do that would be special and keepsake, I thought about my hand print pillows. But, being that there were 18 children in the class, I thought that would have to be a VERY big pillow but why not a blanket?  My idea of the hand-print blanket was formed. I am sure this idea exists out there, but just in case it's not, I thought it would be fun to share my idea for other crafty parents looking for a unique gift idea.  And if you aren't one of those crafty parents and just want to order a custom blanket, you can find me on Etsy. 

One of the things that I love, that I finally figured out, are the bindings that I make for my quilts. Sure, it is easier to buy binding from the store but that satin binding or not so whimsical cotton binding just isn't my thing. I like to take the fabric scraps of the blanket I've made and create my own. I think it's a nice little twist, brings everything together and can be whimsical.  To make the binding, I cut a bunch of 4" strips, I press the edges in, then fold again in half and attach to the blanket.  I love it.

Next up, I think, are some more wedding inspired ideas.  Did I mention I'm excited about my younger brother getting married in September?  :)

Until next time creative friends,


                                           ♡ ąℓexąnʠяą

Newborn Tie headbands

Working on a new product here. Trying to get it just right. I have to decide between regular all purpose thread or stretchy stretch magic for these adorable little flowers. They make for gorgeous photo props. I am thinking of making a photographer's photo prop bundle and including a few of these tie backs as well as a flower filled blanket.

Can I have more hours in the day please?! There is so much I want to do!

Anyone want a tutorial on this flower once I figure out the best way to gather them in a pretty floral fold? Leave a comment if you do!! :)

♡ ąℓexąnʠяą

Petal Flower tutorial

I had a nice request turn out for the flower I attached to the Hawaiian dress. So here is my quick tutorial. You can hand sew each petal on, which I did for the very first 2 petals...and then I became too impatient and reverted back to my trusty machine for a quicker job!

What you'll need:

• scissors
• scrap fabric (cotton works nicely for a "rustic chic" look)
• coordinating thread/needle
• scrap piece of felt fabric

First things first, cut a circle out of your fleece fabric. My circle came out to about 2 1/2 inches which I trimmed down at the very end. This is going to be the base of your flower.

Now, you'll cut the scrap fabric. I free form cut my petals but if you need to make a template cardboard is always good.  I like to make them in the shape of a fat heart with a flat bottom. Each petal was about 2 1/4" in length. I cut 17 petals for this flower.

Let's prepare the petals. You will want to fold/squeeze the bottom. It's what adds shape to the petals.  I tried taking pics of 2 different views.

Now it's time to attach the petals to the base.  You can hand sew each petal, but I wanted to finish up so I had to get on my machine to finish.

As you add each petal, make sure that it overlaps the petal before. Just repeat the scrunching of the fabric at the bottom of each petal, attach and repeat all the way around.

This is what your flower will look like when you've completed each petal.

I cut a circle from my scrap fabric to cover the stitching. You could also use a pic rhinestone to cover it or a button.

And finally, add a little bit of bling and your flower is ready to be attached to a pin, clip, headband or bag!

Have some flower power fun friends!! Add a little variation by making each petal out of satin with singed finish, or denim for a rustic look. Even lace for a shabby chic appeal.

♡ ąℓexąnʠяą

The Hawaiian Dress

Remember that pattern I made for Miss M based on one of her shirts? Well, I put it to use again today. This time though, I added some length to the pattern and I attempted my very first Hawaiian dress. I added a bit of a V cut in the neck since I used a cotton fabric without any stretch. The worse thing would be having a cute dress that you can't get over your head! LOL. I tried to avoid that.  We'll see when Miss M gets back from school, if I succeeded at this task.  I also figured out a new kind of flower. Anyone want a tutorial? It is VERY simple and you could probably get away with just hand sewing it. I used my machine because it is much faster.

Anyway, I'm not done. My machine has been neglected a bit and I want to continue giving it a work out today.  My creative spirits have been kind of down and I think this is just what it needs to get back into a creating routine.

Hope you are all having super creative days!

♡ ąℓexąnʠяą

Miss M came home and loves it!!

More and more Clothes

I think it would be safe to say, I am on a clothing roll! I love when Little Miss M and Little Miss V look chic and adorable for school.  I'm glad that they aren't so much into the clothing for 8 & 9yr olds that look like clothing for 17 & 18yr old girls.  I want to teach them modest dressing is classy and beautiful no matter the age.

This morning I made another circle skirt, a sleeveless linen shirt with a ruffle and a dress. I took nice fitting tee's that the girls have and I used those as my guide for the dress and shirt.

I turn the tee's inside out and follow along the lines with about a 1/2" allowance which allows me room for error (which I make many of) and the finished product is not super fitted but has more give and flow-i-ness which the girls like.  After I cut the fabric, I trace it onto last weeks newspaper so I have made my own pattern for next time, if it turns out well enough.

For the circle skirt, I measure the girls waist I take their waist size, add 2 inches and divide by 6.28 to get the radius. Very simple! It has been about 1 year since I first tried the circle skirt so I'll need to research again to see if I can find the blog I learned my technique from.

♡ ąℓexąnʠяą

Here is Miss M's nice fitting shirt that I used as my template.

Traced the cut out on to old newpaper for use in the future.

Mr. F making his own pattern. Future fashion designer??  ♡

 The top of the dress is based off of the red shirt but I added a skirt to it to make it a dress and an elastic casing.

 The circle twirl skirt. LOVE the fabric from Girl Charlee

 The linen sleeveless shirt with an added ruffle and fancy stitching.