Father's Day Fun

I had a lot of fun making my hubby's Father's Day presents this year (this is the first time I've actually made him something as a present... I think). I came across this tie tutorial from 'the purl bee' and it just got my creative juices flowing. I figured I could make a tie and then have the girls put their handprints on it to add some sweet personalization from them to their daddy. And then I thought it would be cute to not only make a tie, but to also make something for the girls to wear so they could match their daddy when we went to church that day. So the oldest got yet another simple skirt, and the new baby got a cute little hair bow to wear. (I was going to make a skirt for the baby as well, but I ran out of time and needed something fast, so in came the bow idea.) And here's how it all turned out:

And here's the gang, sportin' the goods... :)

They're so darn cute!!

...haha, if you notice, the tie is a bit short on the under side. Um, ya... that's a combination of using the unrevised version of the tie pattern (the revised pattern is apparently a bit longer) as well as not taking into account that I have an extra tall hubby. Lesson learned. From now on, all ties need about 10 inches added to them. :)

Finally Done!

Holy cow. I have been two buttons away from finishing this cute little clutch bag for about a month now. Why can I not just sit down and sew on two buttons?! I'll tell you why. It's because I have a strict policy that I MUST have at least 10 different projects going on at the same time, at all times. So, until I picked up another project, I couldn't finish this one. (anyone buying it?!) Okay, truthfully... I'm just a super big slacker who has major procrastination issues. :) But here it is! It's finally finished! The cute little bag for my other SIL, Annie. Hopefully she likes it. This one was designed specifically with her style in mind (so if she hates it, that just shows how observant I am regarding people's styles and tastes, doesn't it!). :)

Anyway, funny story about it... I was sitting in my craft/sewing/computer room putting the buttons on while my hubby was on the computer, and when I was done I showed it to him and his comment was, "it looks like the 'money' on those Geico commercials." (you know, those SUPER DUPER ANNOYING commercials with the DUMB song that gets stuck in your head??!) But I gotta say, when I look at this next picture... I totally see it! :)

"It always feels like somebody's watchin me!"

Ahh... two cute little bags. Don't they just look like they're going to be good friends? :)

Yet ANOTHER Simple Skirt

Getting tired of these? Not me! :) I thoroughly enjoy making them because they're quick and simple so I can see the finished product fast and enjoy the fruits of my labors. (I'm all about the instant gratification... patience is definitely not one of my stronger virtues.) :) But anyway, this one turned out pretty darn cute. It's a gift for one of my nieces. I made it with the intent of her being able to use it for the 4th of July. Fun, huh? But you should have seen the DRAMA when Dixie found out she didn't get to keep this one. :) Maybe I'll have to make a twin of it for her... or at least something similar. She needs a 4th of July skirt too.

...And I'm just now realizing as I look at these pictures that I forgot to take the pacifier out of her mouth. Oops! :)

Another Simple Skirt

Okay... It's as simple as this: I. LOVE. this. skirt. I didn't even buy this fabric with the intent of making a skirt out of it, but when Dixie started wearing the other skirt I made for her non-stop, I figured it was time for a second one. It really is funny because she will go dig the skirt (the original one) and a shirt out of the dirty laundry EVERY day, bring it to me, and say "skewrt?" ('skirt') with this totally precious/innocent look on her face, and I can't help but let her wear it... for a third day in a row. So much for cleanliness. :) Thankfully it's just skirts in general that she really likes and not that exact skirt, so when I made this new one, she was pleased as punch to wear it too. What a little girly girl she's becoming. Well, now I can at least get the other skirt washed! :) I think I'll have to make more. :)

Did I mention that I love this skirt (and the little girl that goes with it)? :)

Time To Update!

I've been working on so many things lately and just been so dang busy that I haven't had time to get on the computer to post! So here's some pics of my latest adventures...

A little toy heart for Summer to play with...

inspired by HERE

The nice thing is, she actually plays with it! Yea! It's a winner. :) Essentially you just sew two sets of hearts (leaving openings on each side) and then sew those together, stuff them, and use and invisible hand stitch to sew the hearts closed (for the tutorial, click the link above). Really easy and fun. I bought some jingle bells to put inside so it would make some noise, but I realized too late that with all the stuffing around the bells they just don't jingle. :) Oh well.

And here is a party garland I made for Dixie's birthday party...

inspired by HERE

Hm... I think I need to make this garland longer so it will string back and forth more times. That's the nice thing about this... you can keep adding to it and adding to it, or even cut it down to fit an area and then sew it back together. Very versatile. But I love how cute it turned out. Sorry for the bad pics. It was night time when I took these, so the lighting was bad.

Again, this is easy to make, just time consuming. You just get a bunch of color coordinating fabrics (I used about 6 different patterns), then cut and cut and cut to your hearts content (having a rotary cutter sure made faster work of the triangles and rectangles... the flowers had to be done by hand and were another story! :)), and then sew all the shapes together in a totally random order with some invisible thread. Ta-da!

Okay, and let's not forget the CAKE for the little princess' party...

...and this one was just inspired by my brain and all of Dixie's Barbie movies. :)

So that's just some of what I've been up to lately. I've got a bazillion more things running through my mind that I want to work on, some in the works, but I'm trying to keep myself organized so I don't end up with tons of started projects and no finished ones. :) Anyway... I'm just trying to keep those creative juices flowing!

I'm So Clutch

I saw these SUPER CUTE little clutch bags HERE and thought this would make a perfect gift for a little giveaway that I did on my personal blog. I have 4 people to make gifts for, and I thought this little bag would be great for my SIL, Annie. So I bought my fabric, started sewing, and the further I get into this project, the more this little bag starts screaming at me, "Erin. Erin! Send me to ERIN!" (Erin is my other SIL). And by the time I was done, I had to agree... this bag had Erin's name written all over it. So it's off to Erin it goes. (Sorry Annie.) But if it makes you feel better, I already have a new one in the works for you that I think you will like TONS better. :)

So here is my little gift to Erin... (hopefully she likes it. ...and hopefully she doesn't read this before she gets it, otherwise I just ruined the surprise. Oops!)

P.S. These bags are so fun to make! There's a free pattern at the link above for anyone who wants to give it a go!

Dixie's New Skirt

So lately I've been on a sewing kick, which is odd because up until a few months ago I'd hardly sewed a thing in my life. But I'm really enjoying it, and I find that the more I sew, the more excited I get about sewing something else! Pretty soon I'll have closets full of homemade clothes... at least for the girls. I'm not sure why, but there seems to be a big difference between sewing little kids clothes and adult clothes. While the little kids ones will look cute, the adult ones just never seem to look like anything but "homemade". Not that there's anything wrong with being homemade. I guess. :) 

So anyway... here is my first adventure at a skirt. Honestly... about the easiest thing you could ever sew. I didn't even use a pattern. But I love it! And when Dixie saw it, she said, "Ooo... Peerwy" ('pretty'). I think that means it's a keeper. :)

I'm sure there are many more variations of this to come!