wipeable/washable bibs

Does anyone love Bumpkins bibs as much as I do? They are the best! They wipe up so easy and come out of the wash so clean! AND they cover a large area so catch a lot of spills!

I have been wanting to recreate some bibs just like the Bumpkin ones I bought for my girls. I first tried to make one out of a Bed Bath & Beyond reusable shopping bag. Super cute fabric, but WAY too stiff. I searched online for fabric but wasn't finding just what I wanted. Today, with the help of a Joann's worker I found the fabric I've been looking for! I couldn't wait to try it out! Well, actually Roxy will be trying it out for me. I'm giving the bib to her for her newest addition, Nicholas. Blessings to you Randy and Roxy!

The one on the right is my girls' Bumpkins bib. The bib on the left is the one I made. I have some tweaking to do but would like to make a few more of these.

While we are on babies, do you need a new gift idea? Or more like meal idea? When I was first nursing or the time right after I had my babies I was always SO hungry! I needed healthy snacks around so I wouldn't eat too much of the yummy desserts everyone so generously gives:) So, in case other mothers are like me, I started bringing baskets of healthy snacks instead of meals. I can usually slip my gift into this basket too. Simple but useful!

cardigan makeover/updo

I got the idea of adding ribbon to a plain old cardigan to spruce it up off of Pinterest the other day and was reminded of my plain old black cardigan I rarely wore anymore. Spruce it up with ruffles? I think yes! I LOVE ruffles!

I forgot to get a before picture, but here is the after!

I'm not so sure I should have shared this photo (below). It's bad coloring and not the best picture, but I wanted to give you the "on" look. I can't wait to wear it! But I might save it for the ruffle skirt/dress I hope to make soon.

(if you're wondering why the flower is on the right and then the left it's because I took the bottom picture in the mirror) :)

Pouf

I made a pouf! I saw the tutorial in Better Homes and Gardens and tucked it away for a rainy day. That day has arrived and I completed it just today! I used the leftover fabric from the glider rocker I recovered last spring. And then, like they recommended, stuffed it with old towels, clothes, sheets, and fabric scraps. The top is stuffed with fiberfill to make it soft to sit on. The tutorial was great and I would recommend trying it yourself!

This couch doesn't recline, so I thought the pouf would make a great footstool.
Or it can be extra seating. You can tuck it away and pull it out when you need an extra seat or set it in a room for a splash of color - or conversation piece:)
Ahh. . . I think I'll prop up my feet on my new pouf and find a good book. Yeah right! I need to get going on supper and cleaning and laundry and . . . :)

Ruffled collar dress

I saw this dress the other day on zulily and loved it! But then, could I make that????

I grabbed some black knit fabric from my leftover stash and started cutting and sewing and ripping and re-sewing and came up with this!


Macy and I were both excited with how it turned out until Jayden said "you could get a black witch hat and then she could wear it for a Halloween costume!" O dear, dear, dear! It's not supposed to be a witch dress! Hilarious! It was good for a laugh! (and I think I'll keep it anyway. I might be making a brown one for Mariah and maybe that will make it look less witchy)

Sweater dress workshop

I'd say the sweater dress workshop was a success! Thanks to Jenni, Joan, Sara, Jackie, and Traci (not pictured) for attending! This is the before shot (except we switched sweaters on Jackie after this pic)

Hard at work! Mike couldn't believe how quiet we all were. We were women with a mission!

Jackie's dress for her 3 year old niece. I think it turned out so cute with a folded down neck. She wants to embellish with some big buttons - so fun!
Jenni's dress for her 1 year old daughter. Great job!
Joan's dress for her 3 year old daughter. We were seeing fun leggings, a brown or cream embellishment, or matching hairbows with this. Maybe even a belt? So many options!
Great job everyone and hope you enjoy your creations!

Candy corn

I think candy corn are cute. I just decided this week :) And now I can't stop making candy corn things . . .

It all started on Tuesday when I signed up to be the story hour leader for Wed. I grabbed some fall books from the library and started looking up fall projects online to do with the kids. I was thinking something pumpkin, apple, leaves, etc. Then I ran to Jayden's parent/teacher conference and saw these super cute candy corn men hanging from the ceiling. There was my project!

The arms and legs didn't hold up so well :) But I think the kids liked them.

We had candy corn and popcorn for snack which was a hit!

I then wanted to use up some of the leftover candy corn so thought I would look up candy corn cookies online. I didn't use up my candies, but I found some super fun cookies! It turned out to be a fun project for the kids because I let them smash the food coloring into the cookie dough (they washed their hands first!:) I made a second batch to take to Family Hymn Sing Sunday night. Fun fall cookies!

Ruffled sheet skirts

So I bought new sheets for my girls. I am getting into a bad habit of not being able to throw away any fabric scraps. I thought I could use the fabric from these bags that the sheets came in for some scraps when I needed them. Then one day they caught my eye and an idea began to form. . . skirts????

The bag already had a drawstring at the top so I didn't have to do anything for the waistline. For the bottom of the skirt, I cut off the bottom section of the bag.
And added a strip of white fabric that I hemmed on one side. I made the white strip about twice as long as the hem of the skirt to make a ruffle.
This is my "fast" way of ruffling fabric. I pin it evenly in four spots around the hem of the skirt and then just scrunch the fabric as I sew. The four pins help to make it even sections so its not too ruffly in some spots and then stretched way out in others.
There you have it - ruffled sheet skirts!

New craft blog/Workshop

I decided to make an outlet for all my creative imaginations and inspirations! For about the past year or so I have been surfing the craft blog world and loving it! There are so many fun projects and ideas out there! Once I started trying some of the fun ideas I saw I couldn't wait to share them with someone. My family had to get e-mailed pictures of my creations and ooh and aah over them for me. Now I decided to just post here and if you are interested you can follow and comment! I'd love to hear from you!

First off, I am trying something new and having a workshop. You can come and learn how to make a sweater dress for a toddler girl from an adult sweater you are ready to pass on. Anyone is welcome to come, and pass the word if you know someone who is interested. Two people have already told me they would love to learn how but can't make this date. We will be setting another date, so let me know if a different time would work for you too! Thanks!