shop reopened and updated just a bit

I put the shop in vacation mode for the past week and a half to spend time with my family. It was so nice, but when I looked for my shop on etsy - vacation mode means your shop is like a black hole. So, it was time to bring it back to life and this time with a few more charms. I have tons more initials to list as well, but as I was listing the current ones at midnight, a child woke up at that time sick. The poor boy was up all hours of the night (as were his parents!) and I hope he gets better soon. We have avoided sickness all vacation...until now. Hopefully, we will all be recovered for a New Years Celebration (or my birthday tomorrow!).

I have some new pendants/charms I am going to be working on for Valentines - the stick sized ones (1/2"X 1 1/2") with some cute sayings and maybe a little glitter. I'll work on those when the kids get back to school. In the mean time, we will work on recovering.

easy last minute gift - key fob

I am have made some key fobs in the past and even gave many away. I still have pieces of the key fob hardware stored away. You can buy it on ebay pretty inexpensively. Well, I realized on Tuesday that I still needed a few teacher, visiting teaching, and bus driver gifts this week. It was time to make some more key fobs, but just a bit differently than the last time.

I cut out a piece of 5"wide X 11"long fabric and then another piece of extra stiff stabilizer of the same size. I ironed the stabilizer on the back of the fabric. Then, I ironed the fabric in half lengthwise. I opened it back up and then folded each end in to meet that folded line in the middle. Lastly, I folded it in half so it was a nice folded 1 1/4" strip (the correct width of the fob hardware). I sewed a top stitch (1/4" from the edges) down each side and then attached the key fob hardware and key ring. Viola - a quick, yet cute and usefull gift to give.

I made one of these for myself last spring and it is still holding up. I love the stiffness of the stabilizer because it makes it like a loose cuff around your wrist - making it easy to hang on to my keys. I made all of these with Amy Butler's Love fabrics.