I learned to sew!

I am so excited that I learned to sew by hand this weekend.  I've made things before that required very little sewing due to the fact I didn't know how to and when I tried to make due I hated the outcome.  I still have a lot to learn and my 1st 2 pieces are no where near perfect, but I'm proud of myself for making them.  

1st we have Aaron's new pair of pants!

These were made out of an old t-shirt of mine.  I didn't cut the top long enough and they don't leave much slack for his bulky diaper.  I learned a lot from this little pair of pants.  I'm still proud of how they turned out.  Sorry no pics of them on him, he wore them today but is in his pjs and asleep right now.  It was a rough/busy weekend for the lil man.

2nd is a skirt for a friends daughter

After I learned what I did on the pair of pants I realized that the fabric I had already cut for this skirt wouldn't make for an appropriate length skirt for a little girl.  So, I added the black fabric to the top which makes for a nice band around the waist.  However, now I think it's an awkward length now.  I was also hoping for a poofy skirt, but I didn't have enough fabric for that.  This was just an old shirt my sis-in-law gave me that I couldn't wear anymore.  I'm still happy with how this turned out over all but will definitely need to see it on her and maybe make some adjustments to the length.  I'll keep you posted on the outcome of that.

I also got started on the gifts for Aaron, my nephews, and my cousin for Easter.  Their branded shirts!

 

 Not my original plan but I wasn't prepared to pay $6 for 3 sheets of iron on printer paper.  Maybe I wasn't looking in the right place for it at Walmart but I was in a bit of a hurry with a fussy child while looking.  So, I just grabbed the letter stencils (which I'll be reusing on MULTIPLE projects), fabric paint, and those spongy paint brushes.  The shirts are from the Dollar Tree.  Aaron's may be a bit big on him as the smallest they had was a 2T (he's wearing 9-12months now), but that's ok.

Tea Wreath

 THE INSPIRATION

For tutorial visit KOJO Designs!  She's awesome!

MY CREATION

 I bought a box of these tea bags thinking they were the individually wrapped tea bags, but I was wrong.  I'm not a big tea fan, but this wreath is for a dear friend that LOVES tea.  I'll be purchasing the correct tea bags tomorrow during my shopping spree with my dear mother.

This project was SUPER fun and SUPER simple.  I hope to make another one of these really soon.

Don't forget to share your Easter crafts on my very 1st blog party!  Please, help me make it a success!

Easter Crafts - Link Party

I have plans to be away from my computer all day tomorrow so I wanted to go ahead and "Get This Party Started" early.  

Recipes, decor, crafts, anything that you created.

Here's my Easter craft!

Now, this wasn't my idea.  eighteen25 has a free download.  I could've just downloaded theirs, which is totally cute!  But I wanted to make my own since that's right up Custom PIY Design's ally.  These will be gifts for my coworkers this year.

A couple of rules before we begin:
Easter Crafts Only Please
Link to your specific post, and not to the main page of your blog

I don't have a party button created yet, but I would love love love it if you would share this party with your friends.  You can grab my main button if you'd like. 

Help me make my 1st link party a success!

Butterfly Spring Banner

Note to self, work on photography!

These pictures do not benefit this item AT ALL!  The only place I had to hang this was in my bathroom and the light was way too bright.  I will be taking some new pictures soon but I couldn't wait to share this.

Please, forgive the coloring of these pictures.  The lighting was so bad I attempted to edit the pictures in Microsoft Office Picture Manager and this is what I got.  I promise an update (soon) with much better quality pictures.  But you get the point.  Little butterflies in blue and green with a "typewriter" font spelling out Spring.  I also did some of my pop up flowers to add to the ends but I don't like how they are hanging.  I'm thinking of removing them.  I attempted to bundle them together, which looks great alone, but on the string they hang facing down.

Finally... My Easter Wreath

Alright, my patience ran short after 3 and half eggs being wrapped in "twine".  I just don't think I could've done enough eggs for an entire wreath, at least not by Easter.  I wanted to complete this wreath for my grandmother.  I had bigger plans for it but I'm still happy with the way it turned out.

I had letters with cute circle borders all printed out that would spell out "He Is Risen" but it wouldn't fit on my wreath.  I was very disappointed in that.  But I think I may have another quick craft to do with those letters, I'll have to do some more thinking.

I cut my wreath form from a piece of cardboard I salvaged from work.  I still have enough left to do my tea wreath as well from this same piece of cardboard.  I wrapped it in pretty blue yarn, hot glued my 3 eggs and fancied them up with the Easter grass.  This part did get messy!

Remember the Pop Flower Gift Tags"?  I edited the flower to be blue and made these.  I think I may add some glitter to spice these up a bit.  Still debating.  What do you think?  The leaves are cut from a book page and I crinkled them up and "distressed" them with a green sharpie marker.  This was my first experience with distressing.

Final touch, my poor, pitiful bow.  LOL!  I saved this ribbon from a gorgeous diaper cake that I received at my baby shower and finally found a use for it and I feel like it was a bit of a waste.  I'll have to get some some cheap ribbon from somewhere and work on my bow making.  Anyway, I tried to make a "puffy bow" from some not so good tutorial online and this is what I got.

Overall, this project holds a lot of "firsts" for me.  I'm so happy that I did it, it was a stress reliever for me tonight to wrap this thing in yarn... that may sound crazy but it really was.  I have been sorta inactive lately due to busy job and busy life in general.  I'm happy with where my life is going though and I'm, overall, happy with this project.  I look forward to making many more wreaths.  Next one, Tea Wreath!

Happy Spring!

Oh how I wish I had a beautifully, bright, colored craft to share with you on this glorious spring day.  Sadly, I do not.  I have been working on an Easter wreath.  I originally wanted to do one of these...

This wreath is featured at Tatertots and Jello.

I attempted this project with the instructions (follow the link above for instructions) and I failed.  It could've been my patience or experience with Mod Podge... I lacked both of those when I attempted the project.  So, I decided to make some "tweed" wrapped eggs.  I say "tweed" because it's the stuff I bought at the Dollar Tree that looks like tweed but is much more "hairy".  Anyway, it's going good but slow and I don't think this project will be done by this weekend.  Maybe next.  I have plans of combining a few different things that I found for making spring time wreaths.  I will be combining materials from these 3 wreaths.

From Craft Affection

From My Frugal Family

From So Not Donna Reed

Happy Easter Banner

I've been seeing banners all over the place in crafty blog land and I was inspired to create a new item for my shop.  I've never done a banner in my home before and thought, why not start now!

I love how this one turned out.  I only wish I had a prettier place to display it for my photos.  I think I'll take a trip to a relatives house that has a gorgeous fireplace/mantel and have my own little photo shoot.  I might even leave my completed project there as a gift since I'm slowly but surely packing up my apartment.  

Anyway, enough rambling.  Here's the banner!

I hope you like it.  I'll have this item listed in my shop by Monday.

St. Patrick's Day Crafts

Here are just a few of the adorable St. Patrick's Day crafts that I have found.  Do you have a craft?  Share your links in the comments so everyone can check 'em out!

 

Heather at My Frugal Family made this cool wall hanging.  I love that she used affordable materials.  This craft was also featured on Dollar Store Crafs

 

Jennifer at The Felt Mouse created this fun wreath made out of fringe and ribbon.  Check out here other accessories that go along with this project.  Very cute!

 

Redhead at Redheads Craft More Fun created this Good Luck piece of work.  I love simple crafts that make a big statement!