Last of the Party Preps, today is the big day!

I finally finished the last of the party preps today, a tower of cupcakes with toothpicks covered in washi tape formed into flags.   An imperfect chocolate birthday cake covered in icing and perfect M&M's thanks to Pinterest and this wonderful blog of ideas from Sweet Ideas Blog (though hers is MUCH more gorgeous, I love the pastel colors she used).  And finally some marshmallows smothered in melted white chocolate and adorned with heart sprinkles, idea from Glorious Treats!

The real test starts in 1 more hour, here's hoping the girls have a lot of fun and the treats all taste yummy.

Art themed Birthday Party

Marshmallows dipped and sprinkled, funny face photo props!

Imperfect chocolate cake with perfect M&M's

The paints and flowers

The cupcake tower!

Marshmallows in a mason jar filled with conversational hearts.  

Party Prep's

Big day is almost upon us.  Technically I have 1 more day to go to pull off this Art themed party for my oldest daughter.  She's excited, as am I.  Hoping that the girls will have a lot of fun.

To make the day a little special, I made each girl the art rolls (Which I made a tutorial for here) and I finally finished up aprons that each girl will get to take home after they use it to protect their clothing while creating their masterpieces.

For some added pizazz I created funny facial features for the girls to cover their faces for some funny photo shoots.  I made these with cardstock and just hand drew each piece, attached it to a wooden dowel with some glue. Hoping that they stay.  Until next time, stay creative friends!

Fiber arts

Not much to say today, other than it feels good to get a little sewing in while the clouds let loose and water our trees and flowers.  Little guy spent some time with his friend this morning which allowed me the opportunity to finish up another seahorse and take better pictures than an iPhone will allow.

These creatures are all probably going on bags/totes but I'm thinking of making some to put on headbands.  How unique would that be?

I love how the black free motion stitching makes the creatures pop.  The color is fun to figure out but it's the stitching that really brings everything together.  I even enjoy looking on the otherside of each creature as the stitching without color remind me of many wonderful tangled drawings/illustrations I admire.

I'll post again when the creatures find their new homes, be it on what it may, bags, pouches or headbands! Have a wonderfully creative day!

Triangle like pencil pouch Tutorial

My never ending search of trying to figure things out. I love little pencil pouches (and big ones too!) and I have always loved the ones that form a triangle on the side.  So today, I am sharing with you a mostly picture tutorial on how to make this cute zippered pouch. I obviously would change the direction of my fabric since one side is now upside down, but lesson learned!

To start, you'll need 2 pieces of fabric, interfacing (I always use this for my bags, it adds some stiffness and form) coordinating thread, 11" zipper, scissors and a sewing machine.

You will make a hexagon shape with both the interior and exterior fabrics, if you want to use my measurements be sure you overall zipper length is no shorter than 11"

Next, I divided the fabric to make the zipper installation easier

Time to attach your zipper, be sure to pin down about 1/4 of an inch at the end to make a wide opening.

Do not top stitch but definitely press the fabric and repeat on the other side, we will top stitch at the very end.  It should look something like this once you have both sides attached to the zipper. Once again, pin the zipper out of the way so it doesn't get caught up in the side stitches.

Sew up the sides of both interior and exterior fabrics and the bottom of the exterior fabric

Make sure to line up the seams, mark off the triangle and stitch across, this will form that boxy shape at the bottom of the pouch. Repeat on both corners of the exterior fabric.

Turn right side out, and finish closing up the bottom of the interior fabric.  And now it's time to top stitch around the pouch. I take off my attached table and just use the smaller throat for this part.

And to complete the look, add a little bit of fabric to the end of the zipper that is exposed.  You can fold in for a more finished looked but I like the pinking scissor cut look for this bag.  Make sure NOT to stitch over the little metal stop, it WILL break your needle and possibly damage your machine (I wont admit anything!)

And there you have it my crafty friends, a cute triangle-ish shaped pencil pouch! Because the zipper comes out from one end, the opening is larger than normal and with the dimensions I provided, you can definitely fill this bag with a lot of goodies! 

If you like how yours turned out, please share!  I am not expert at sewing, just obsessed with making cute and sometimes functional things so if you see something that needs improvement, please let me know too. I always like to learn new things. :)

Until next time, stay busy crafting!

Pouches and bags

Gradually finding inspiration.  As I complete (or start) each project and it turns out, I feel another ounce of inspiration. I always find that going on a trip, having visitors or busy weeks with the kiddos really can put me into a creative rut for quite some time.  Then I get this antsy feeling to create something and if it doesn't turn out like I envision in my head, well, that just pulls me further into a rut.  I have had a few projects turn out and I just wanted to share. I know looking at other's projects fill me with inspiration and I hope to do the same for you!

I love the way my Sweet as Honey art tote turned out.  My bees are hand drawn, painted and then free motion stitched and appliqued onto my tote bag.

The tassel was inspired by a fellow IG user. Wanted to give it a try on one of my pieces and I love the added dimension and another way to bring all the colors together.

My next project was a house pouch. When I made these a few months ago they were a big hit on my facebook page so I thought i would try it again and do a little more FMS on this one.  Pretty Whimsical results.

I've been wanting to figure out how to make a pouch with one end of the zipper on the exterior of the bag and I'm happy to report I figured it out this morning! And, with this project I used up another Kokka fabric I have been hoarding for some time. 

And finally, on the subject of hoarding, I have held on to some fabrics for much too long. I decided to make a fabric basket to use up some of it and though there has been much interest in purchasing this particular basket, I love the Pink Kokka fabric so much that I just cannot part with this basket and i have decided to keep it near my crafting area to hold fabrics and inspirational books.  

Until next time, happy sewing friends!