Picnic Blanket

Sorry about being absent for a while. Life always seems to get in the way! The important this is we have been having lots of fun this summer! One thing we have been using a lot of is this picnic blanket I made. I wasn't planning on making one but I came across this flannel backed vinyl at my local fabric shop on super-duper clearance. It was $1/yard! I picked up 2 yards not knowing what I would use it for. It was just too cute to pass up!

I had some brown fleece in my stash and thought that would make a great picnic blanket! I cut the fleece to be about 1 1/2" shorter on each side (3" total).

I also gave the blanket a mitered corner. It just gave it a cleaner look.

But how to assemble with out using pins??????????? I came up with clips from an office supply store!

The clips kept it in place and didn't put excess hole in the vinyl. I also added some fleece wrapped elastic to hold the blanket together when wrapped up.

So here's the final product:

Perfect to keep in the car for that impromptu picnic!

Thanks for looking!!!

Diaper Cake

I guess I'm all about quick projects lately. I guess I feel more accomplished when I finish a project that was done during a single nap or evening after the little one goes to sleep!

So, a neighbor was having her second baby soon. Yay! We love babies! She's a new neighbor so a few of us wanted to give her a baby shower to welcome her and her soon to be new addition to the neighborhood. So there is no better time to make a diaper cake! I used a box of size one diapers. Rolled each one up and secured them with a rubber band. I made two burp clothes and, with a teething ring, made them into a bow. Then I added a few binkies and a bottle filled with M&Ms. I had enough diapers to make a three tier cake! I loved how it turned out!

Patriotic Wreath

It was time for an updated patriotic/fourth of July wreath for my front door. I had to put the old one out of it's misery. So sad :(

So I went and got some new supplies:

1 grapevine wreath - $3

3 bunches of red, white, blue artificial flowers (from dollar store) - $3

1 star garland (from dollar store) - $1

Patriotic fabric (had on hand)

Total - $7

So I started with a basic grapevine wreath

and supplies

I just wrapped the garland around the wreath

At this point I pulled out my patriotic fabric stash and made a bow. Now I made this up as I went. I knew it didn't have to be perfect and I didn't know how it would turn out. Pretty happy with how it turned out.

Since it is made of fabric, I thought it was a little too "droopy" so I actually sprayed it with a clear matte spray paint to stiffen it up a bit. It worked! I know there is a spray stiffener product out there but I only needed a little bit so I improvised!

Then I added the flowers to the wreath and hung it up!

Grandmother's Sewing Cabinet Redo

So in the spirit of refinishing some furniture, here is another quick redo project I just finished. I have had my grandmothers sewing cabinet for a while and have been using it. I have had this project on my to-do list for years and I finally got to it!

What got me going was when I signed up for a sample bottle of some paint. I chose this cool light blue color (totally blanking on the name right now). I got the sample bottle in the mail and thought it would look great on the cabinet. So off I went.

Pretty green right? LOL It was pretty beat up and chipped. I even had to pull off the moving sticker on it from 4 years ago! LOL

Since this was primarily worked on during nap times, it took me a few days to strip it and sand it down. I'm glad the paint came off easily. Then it was painting time. Couple of coats of paint and.................

I had new drawer pulls to put on this but they ended up not working out. I spray painted the original pulls instead and put them back on. Gave new life to this old girl!

Dresser Redo

I'm not sure if I have admitted this before but I LOVE to refinish furniture! I guess it's the Norwegian in me. I just truly enjoy putting the life back into an old piece. There is one problem with having a love like this..................................................................I'm running out of space to store these items!

I had the opportunity to pick up a 3 drawer dresser that someone was going to throw away. I just couldn't let it go! There was still life let in this dresser. Here is what it looked like:

The drawer pulls looked like this:

Nothing special. I wanted this to be a quick project so instead of finding new drawer pulls I just spray painted them with silver paint.

And with a good sanding and a couple of coats of black paint....................

It has beautiful detail above the top drawer that was missed when it was natural but really pops when it's painted black.

I'm really pleased how this quick project turned out!

Come On Spring!

I don't know about you, but I am so ready for spring! With a few warm days to tease me, and the temperature dropping as I type this (not to mention the snow that is falling on my NJ friends right now), all I can think of lately is warmer weather. Playing outside, planting flowers, and wearing flip flops of course!

So getting ready for spring, I started a new backpack! Greens and blues! I did make this one a little bigger than the last one. Another difference is I quilted these fabrics together before I assembled it.

There is a zippered outer front pocket plus two inner pockets.

Plus a little tag to hang a pen between the two pockets.

Warm weather........I'm ready!

Crayon Bags!

Crayons, crayons, crayons! Who doesn't love crayons? How about a bag to carry those colorful crayons around with a coloring book! OK! These bags hold 24 crayons and 1-2 activity books.

For a boy?

For a girl??

And my new tags!!! Like them?

Please feel free to leave a comment! Tell me what you think!

Deep In The Heart Of......Virginia?

One of our bathrooms got a little makeover a couple of weeks ago. It had random items. It is the "man cave" bathroom. My awesome cousin gave us her Texas themed bathroom items she no longer needed! YAY! When your hubs is a Texan, this makes us both happy!

But the walls were bare. It needed something. I had an old handkerchief that is the texas flag. It is about 11 x 14. I thought of putting that in a frame. So what I did was I found a frame that it would fit.

What I did to the flag was really simple! I cut a piece of foam poster board to fit the frame. I wanted the flag to puff out a bit so I placed polyester quilt batting on the poster board behind the flag. Then I hot glued the flag to the poster board. I was able to just hot glue the board to the frame. And came up with this:

Just what that room needed! It looks a thousand percent better!

Let the Flip Flop!

Yes it is the middle of February. I know this. BUT....when you get hit with a few days in the 70's, you WILL get hit with spring fever! I did! We were able to put shorts on and play outside! I got to wear flip flops! Small confession.....I'm a flip flop whore!!! I have pairs of them in the double digits! SSSSSHHHHHH!

Of course it snowed today but that didn't stop me! I spruced up a pair of flip flops I bought at the end of last season. They are ready for the next warm day we have!

My toes are not ready to be photographed yet but these are comfy to wear! There will be more of these in my future! (Much to my hubby's dismay) :)

Patchwork Bag

Yes, I'm a kid at heart. Yes, I like to play video games. Yes, I'm 35 and own a DSi. :) I love playing the puzzle games! I decided it was time to make a bag to store it in (the bag whore strikes again!).

Side Note---For those of you who don't know me, I'm a bag whore! Love them! Have way too many and keep making more!

So, back to the current bag. :)

This was a good stash buster project. I dipped into my basket of small snippets of fabric to get this done. Totally random sewing. I made the squares as big as I wanted to cut the pattern pieces out. Found a zipper in my stash and used some ribbon for the handles.

Here's a look inside:

One side of the bag holds the DSi

The other side holds my games. :)

This is actually helping me keep it from my 2 year old. She does things on my DSi that I didn't know was possible! Ha!

Diaper Bag and Diaper Clutch

My friend Kathleen has a sister who is about to have her third baby! Hooray! Kathleen asked me to make her an updated diaper bag. Her sister refuses to get a new bag. After two kids, I can imagine how worn it is. I hope this brightens her days (once she's past the first few months of sleepless nights! LOL) Good luck Megan!

Kathleen was nice enough to give me an idea of what she wanted. Her sister's stroller is black and white plaid with lime green piping. So, this is what I came up with:

Can ya see my little home made label??? Hehe! I reinforced the bottom with a removable piece of thick cardboard so it can be put through the wash if needed. I designed this one myself using dimensions from another diaper bag I have that seems to be a good usable size.

And as an added bonus....how about a diaper clutch too!

Just big enough for a small pack of wipes, a couple diapers and a changing pad. Nothing is more convenient for those quick trips to a store or friend's house. I really hope she likes these and gets good use out of them!

The Latest Dress

When it was time to think about making this years Christmas card, I really wanted my little one in something I made. I don't know why, just wanted to. :)

I had come across this tutorial on Craftgossip.com for a sundress called The 3-Hour Sundress. It was posted on a blog called Made By Heidi as a guest post. It looked so easy to make! It did take me longer than 3 hours but was quick to make.

I think she looks adorable in it!

Plus she can wear it this spring and summer!

More Projects!

So since the holidays have officially passed, I think it is safe to post the projects I was working on that were gifts.

Let's start with this pin cushion. In honor of my mom-in-law (#2) getting a new sewing machine, I thought she'd like a nice pin cushion to help her on her new sewing adventures! Is sewing an adventure???? Well, I think it is!

I found the tutorial for this a while back on Boutique Nutmeg Designs, through Craftgossip.com. I know that's a mouthful!

I also made her this little holiday towel. I found the tutorial for this one over here at Sweetie Pie Bakery. It's an easy quick project! This is on my to do list once I get more terry cloth!

For my nieces, I made draw string backpacks. For the older girls, I made them in their school colors and for my younger niece, in pink!

I made these by eyeballing it. I know, really technical! Ha! I had found a nylon drawstring backpack on clearance for 50 cents at my fav fabric store and just used that as the basis for the bags. I hope they like them!

Happy Blog-versary!!!

I can't believe a year has gone by already! Things have been moving fast. I decided last year on this day to start a blog to show off my creativity.

I have had a lot to post about but the holidays just took over. I'm sad that they are over but looking forward to life getting back to normal. I want to blog even more this year but it's easy to get side tracked!

I would rather spend the time finger painting! Wouldn't you!

I hope you all had a merry Christmas and a very happy new year!