SYTYC Week 4

WOW!  Thanks for all the votes this last week. I am overwhelmed by everyone who loved the jammies. Every week I am worried about the outcome so it was exciting to see all the votes coming in. These were so fun to make and my daughter in the pink jammies LOVED hers. She wore them 4 days in a row. I would change her and she kept finding them and putting them back on until I finally got them to the laundry room. 

Here are some more pictures from the photo shoot that I couldn't show:
 (and don't forget to go and vote for this week's challenge, Game Day)

A little excited!

Making a rug angel

Below is the original post. A tutorial will be up sometime next week.

Knit Jammies

To put it lightly, I'm kinda obsessed with sweaters. And when I see cute ones in thrift stores I can't pass up on buying them. Even if they don't fit right. All the sweaters below came to under $5 total.

 But what do you do with sweaters that you are never going to wear because they look horrible on you but could be oh so cute? Up cycle them into jammies for your little ones! And with the leftover fabric you up cycle that even more into hats, mittens, booties, ect.

So for under $5 and in under an hour I now have 3 new pairs of warm winter jammies with matching hats and mittens. So simple anyone can make these. And so cute I don't mind letting them stay in them all day and possibly running a few errands in them. (We are going on day 3 in a row of wearing the pink ones.) 

Heart Garland

As part of the heart doctor party I just hung up a bunch of my Valentine decorations but of course my daughters wanted something fun, new and special made just for the party.

I found these heart doilies in the dollar section and took them home thinking I would make something with them.

I decided to just sew them together and hang them in the window. It took just a few minutes. I left lots of thread in between each heart to add space when hanging. And then I just tied them on the curtain rod with the excess thread.

Simple and quick!

Bag O Bones tutorial of sorts

A few of you have asked for the pattern to make this. I am not too hip on getting patterns up on the internet for you to print making it the correct size. You could just use a skeleton from Halloween for your pattern. Or find something online. Maybe in a teacher store?

For the black outline I just traced my 5 year old while she was laying down. The bones ended up fitting perfectly inside the outline.

I sewed velcro on the back before I sewed the two pieces together.

Stuffing them wasn't the funnest part. I used chopsticks to get the stuffing down inside. I sewed all around the felt leaving an opening for the stuffing. On the ribs, I left lots of openings and then stuffed and sewed as I went along.

Once all the pieces were stuffed I layed them down where I wanted them and then put pins where the velco needed to go.

For the bag I printed out a skeleton I found online onto fabric paper. The kind you find in the quilting section of JoAnns. I sewed that to the front of a typical drawstring bag.

I also made up cards for the more advanced players. They had all the names of the bones on them. My kids are not at this stage yet but they grow so fast I am sure I will need them before I realize.

Sorry there are no detailed pictures of the process.

Sewing With Kids-Sewing Space

If you want your child to get excited about sewing then they need a little space. And they need to be able to reach the pedal. They don't need their own machine, but if you are like me, I don't like my kids touching my machine. Not that it is anything fancy, but I like it and don't want the tension all messed up. So my daughter was given her own machine for her birthday. Just a basic machine. My mom did a lot of research into machines because of course what little kid doesn't want a Hello Kitty machine. But those and other kid machines didn't get the best reviews. So a basic big kid machine was the best option. And if you get them at the right time, they go on sale!

We happened to have a little table sitting around. It's an outdoor side table but perfect for her machine so I snagged it and took it inside. I also had a little kid chair. Part of a table set but again, prefect for this so upstairs it stays.

I also had a couple extra boxes for her to put her stuff in. For her birthday she was given fabric, buttons, ribbons and lots of other goodies from family and friends who knew she was getting a machine for her birthday. I also gave her a bunch of my fabric scraps. She loves to go through her books and stash and plan future projects for us to do when little sister is asleep.

My next post in this series will be a book review. It's a good one so don't miss it!

The Heart Doctor Party

We had a "heart Doctor" party over at my house. I was throwing around ideas to girl #2 asking her what kind of party she wanted and she came up with 2 ideas meshed together. Decorations were simple. I just got out my Valentine's decor early and threw together a few games and a party was made.

First we had to dress the part. Of course had to have some of my stethoscope shirts.

When the kids arrived we put together a foam hospital kit. Then we made sure all the kids were dressed up with their name tags and gloves.

I handed them all clipboards with the names of the patients they were going to see.

The first game was the bag o' bones

Next up we played pin the heart on the patient.

Then we played with Jane and Jen Doe. The dolls come with lots of fun stuff already to help treat their ailments but I haven't felt like torturing myself enough to make the band-aids that come in the pattern. They are way too tiny to sew. So I just bought a box of band aids for the girls to put on the dolls. So much easier!

For the last game I bought a couple stuffed dogs and tore the ears and tails off and the girls stitched them back on.

I had a really small group of girls. And all of them had a parent who worked at a hospital so it was a really fun party for them. Some were more into it than others. The ages ranged from 3-5.

They were all sent home with a Dr. bag with heart goodies in it.

The Houndstooth Lumberjack

The Houndstooth Lumberjack

When I thought of "cozy", I thought of being cuddled up in a warm blanket on a couch drinking hot chocolate. And then my daydream was interrupted with cries from little ones wanting to go outside and play in the snow. So  I decided I wanted to take my cozy outside with me. 

There's no better way to do this than to put on a hat that covers ears and neck as well as being so super soft and fuzzy!

This Lumberjack hat was so simple to make any beginner could do it. It was made with only 4 pattern pieces which I will show in my tutorial. And it was quick and simple enough to do during the day with little ones around.

I also found an awesome coat at a thrift store right after I bought my fabric that matched perfectly. So I went ahead and added coordinating fabric to the pockets. 10 minutes later I had a match made in heaven.

Perfect winter outfit in a few short hours!

Sewing with Kids

My 5 year old got a sewing machine for her birthday. Too early? She has been asking for one for a year now so this year she was given one. She also received a couple really good books for young sewers. I am going to start posting the projects I do with her and how she is learning to sew and what I have learned teaching her.

Most of our sewing is done when #2 falls asleep and we have a little time of our own. That way I can concentrate on just her. (and pulling scraps out of baby's mouth)

The Fabric Stash

For those of you new to the blog, my family moved into a house 6 months ago. We went from a tiny 2 bedroom apartment to a 4ish bedroom house! I say 4ish because 2 of the rooms aren't typical bedrooms. (older house) and one of those has a kitchen in it since it used to be a duplex. Since we weren't about to put kids in a room with a sink, it ended up being my sewing room. And how awesome is a sewing room with a sink! And a wall of cupboards for storage? Sad to say that those filled up fast. I really don't know how all this stuff fit into our apartment but it feels so nice to have it all in one place and be able to pull it out and keep it out if I need to.

So I have been working on organizing my fabric. It took me awhile to figure out what would be best. First, I put them in suitcases, since I have plenty of those lying around.

But then I just had a ton of suitcases in the middle of my room.

So I came up with this:

I used closet organizers to stash all my fabrics. They are in order by color and type of fabric. The boxes on top are full of felt. I have a ton of scraps from past projects. And of course my suitcase that I can't part with.

This is full of Halloween costumes that I have made, like this one:

On the door, I have a shoe organizer for my scraps.

My girls loved helping my put all the fabric in the closet by color. And then hide behind the organizers.
I love that they just slide over to the side so that I can put my bigger pieces of fabric behind them.

I also have my bolts of fabric stashed back there as well.

So part of the room is nice and clean now.

Now on to the smaller things like ribbons, buttons and velcro.

Bag O' Bones- SYTYC Week 2

My oldest has been fascinated with bones lately. I think it may have something to do with her dad spending all that time at the hospital. And the fact that Adam and I love to watch the show bones. This project has been on my to do list for awhile and I am so glad that I finally made it. All 3 girls love to play with it. And they all helped make it. Well, Clover just climbed on top of everything and then sat there. Think cat.

To make the background I traced my oldest. Then the 5 and 2 year old helped pin everything in place. I cut while they were all asleep. Once everything was sewn together I had the girls stuff them. That was a lot of bones to stuff and I am sooo glad that I had 2 helpers. And a trick I learned about stuffing tight spots is to use chopsticks. We have a lot of those in our house. My oldest was a pro at stuffing with chopsticks when we were done with this project.

Thanks for everyone who voted for me! Below is the original post:

Bag O'Bones

First, start with a pile of bones. 

Then just jump right in! There are a ton of different ways to play. You can use the cheat sheet on the front of the games carrying case that holds all the pieces together. You can use the index cards that give the names of all the bones. Or you can just stick them wherever you please. 

The best part is not only is this game fun for the whole family, (cause do you know all the names of the bones? I don't!) but the kids can also help to make this game. They can and did help with every step in the making of their own kid sized skeleton. Child labor at it's best!

These past couple weeks I have been working on re-organizing my craft room. I will post pics when I get it all done. I have a couple little girls helping me so it has been slow but fun.

I also made it to week 2 on SYTYC. This weeks theme is Kids Can Do. Go on over and vote! I can't tell you which one is mine but the winning craft does a tutorial. So vote for the one you want a tutorial for. The voting ends Friday.

So between the re-organizing, working on crafts for SYTYC, and cold snowy weather, (meaning kids are locked inside and stir crazy) I have been doing more entertaining and the posts are a little scarce.

I will post my kid craft on Saturday. So stay tuned to find out which one was mine!

Vintage Vanity

Thanks so much for voting! Some of you said that this was too easy for you to pick out which was mine. I guess you all know I love old suitcases!
I think my favorite from last week's challenge was the Cloche hat made from an old suit. Wasn't that the cutest hat ever?! I hope to see a tutorial for it!


Here is what I submitted. If you want a tutorial, leave a comment and I can whip one up.

If you are like me then you LOVE old suitcases!

And there are so many possibilities to use them for.

I like to use mine for storage and for this challenge I thought I would personalize the space inside. 

This little vanity on the go has everything a little girl needs to beautify herself. The top has Velcro ribbon to hang necklaces, bracelets, sunglasses and anything else to adorn herself with. There is also a little pocket for little make-up to fit inside.

The bottom half has elastic straps sized perfectly for each piece to fit inside and stay perfectly organized.

And just in case you would rather keep this all to yourself

You can!

This is perfect for you things as well! Take it on the go or just keep it out on your counter tops!

Wouldn't this be so cute to have match box cars lined up in? Or some star wars figurines? The possibilities are endless!

Don't Mess With Me!

Do you ever meet someone and instantly click? I rarely do. But a few months ago a new family moved into my area and we hit it off. They had 2 little girls close in age to mine and I invited them over for a play date. I knew it was meant to be when the 2 year old walked in with 1 boot on, and on the other foot was a dress shoe. Then when I heard that the mom had all brothers, I fell in love.

Fast forward a few short months later and I am at their house helping them pack it up to move out of state. I am so, so sad. But this move will be so much better for their family and I am excited for them. 

I wanted to make them a going away gift to help them fit right in to their new surroundings.

Introducing the Don't Mess With Me shirt. 

 One for each of their cute girls.

Have fun in Texas! You will be missed!

SYTYC

The first weeks challenge is up! I can't tell you which one is mine but there are some really cute things this week. Go and vote!

Thanks, soooo, what is it?

Just what you want to hear when giving someone something you made right?

I guess the dishtowel was a little fancy with all the ruffles on it. Definitely not practical. But who wants practical for Christmas right? It should be something fun and whimsical. I tried but it didn't work to my advantage when my brother told me that my sister in law said thanks but wants to know what it is. Ha! Then we spent about 3 minutes on the phone while all 3 of us when back and forth while I tried to explain dishtowel to them. Trying to have a male interpret this in Spanish isn't the best way to explain things. Finally there was a big, "OHHHH!" after I said just hang it on the oven door.

 Note to self: Leave ruffles off of dishtowels. Not sure how they are gonna dry their hands on them anyways...