simple silhouette applique for the baby girls

Sometimes the simplest touches have a big effect. I love to applique (that's no secret) and sometimes my favorite things to applique are simple silhouette shapes. If you choose the right fabrics and use great colors, they can really POP.

For my friend's baby girl, I made a receiving blanket with 1 yard of hot pink flannel on one side and 1 yard of bright aqua flannel on the reverse.

To add a pop or color, I appliqued a butterfly on both sides in the reverse colors.

I used the butterfly shape found in my Photoshop Elements program and enlarged it to fit a 8 1/2"X11 sheet of paper.

Keeping with the butterfly theme, I appliqued tiny butterflies on to a onesie using shapes from the Martha Stewart template link found at the bottom of this post.

I used it once before on a shirt for my daughter here.

Since baby girls seem to be popping up all over, I made another blanket for a friend's baby girl using a bunny shape I found on the Internet(just Google "bunny silhouette" and make sure the images are royalty free).

I appliqued a white bunny in felt to the hot pink side of the blanket and a pink and white dot bunny to the pink and white polka dot fabric. Both pieces of fabric are 1 yard each of flannel.

I made a matching bib with flannel using the pattern from here from juicy bits blog.

Another friend's baby girl was born last week, so I appliqued a different bunny silhouette using a vintage pillow case as the bunny fabric on to a onesie.

Since the white bunny on the white onesie wasn't showing up (surprise!)I stitched around it in hot pink thread. I did highlight the nose with a pink satin stitch and add an eye with a french knot.

Here are a few ideas for silhouette images:

*The shapes feature in the Photoshop Elements Program
*Martha Stewart templates- bird, and butterfly
*Hummingbird Applique at Juicy Bits Blog
*Any free SVG images on the Internet - they are for Cricut machines and are usually simple silhouette graphics
*Rabbit Silhouette here on free clip art blog
*Check out any free clip art on the Internet for shapes

big shop update

I have been adding all sorts of new charms to my etsy shop. I have a few new custom options -

tiny bracelet charms

graduate charms

CTR charms with initials

and custom name key chains

It's been fun having a little time after the holiday rush to come up with more charms. I wish I had time to work on all the ones I think about or see, but I guess it's best to do things a little at a time.


Check out the shop and since Valentines Day is coming up, be sure to have a gander at the LOVE charms!

new hair clips (i cheated)

I wanted to make a few new hair clips for Mallory. I made a couple heart clips using Molly's tutorial from Purl Bee. I cheated on the others by just hot gluing resin hearts I got on clearance for 10 cents last year at Hobby Lobby to the other clips.

Now, I did some serious cheating with these star, flower and cupcake clips. I found these felt stickers by Pebbles on clearance at Michaels that come in four packs like for about $1. I thought that it would be easier to hot glue them on clips than to make these felt shape myself. Instant cute hair clips!

hello (kitty) FIVE!

My youngest, Mallory, turns five today. All she wanted (well, almost all) was a Hello Kitty party. Since she had a party with friends last year, it was a party with family this year. So, she got to watch her brothers eat on Hello Kitty plates, use Hello Kitty napkins and drink from Hello Kitty cups.

When I was younger, I was lucky enough to have a Sanrio shop down the street. I remember saving my money to buy My Melody pencils and erasers and a Little Twin Stars wallet. Back then, Hello Kitty was a bit more unique. Now you can find it everywhere and as much as that takes away from the uniqueness, it does make it easier for a mom to pick up all these trinkets for her daughter!

For her birthday shirt, I appliqued Hello Kitty holding birthday balloons on to her shirt.

I just used the napkin from her party and put it right in the copy machine and enlarged it a bit. I then, used the picture as a pattern for the applique.

Happy Birthday Mallory!

a little more love

It's an addiction all right. I have been cutting out sugar (my addiction) from my diet as of late due to some health problems, so maybe this has replaced it - the addiction of sewing Love pillows. It's a lot better for my health than the sugar! I made four more pillows using the tutorial I posted here.

I like them all, but I am digging the grey felt applique on the red striped fabric. This might be my favorite.

The hot pink looks cool on the white with black dot fabric. This photo doesn't show the colors well.

I freezer paper stenciled the cream and black one using black fabric paint. I have given a few of these away and plan on tossing the rest on people's door steps since I have been making a few too many.

I am keeping the grey heart appliqued pillow for myself. Got to keep some of the Love at home!

valentine table runner

I have needed a small little runner on my entry table for some time. I had plans to get one done for Christmas using vintage table cloths, but since the fabrics for it are still sitting in a pile upstairs by my sewing machine, I decided to move on and make one for Valentines day. It's not too long - just 42" and it's 13" wide. I just took scraps of my favorite red and pink fabrics and cut them in to either 2", 3", or 4" wide and pieced them together. I stitched in the ditch for the quilting part. I really need to branch out with some sort of free motion, but for now, I am staying in the ditch. I photographed it on my kitchen table and it looks tiny there, but it is the perfect size for my entry table. I am excited that I got it done. I actually might get the Christmas one done now since it came together so quickly!

love pillow tutorial

Love Pillow Tutorial

I am so excited to share this simple tutorial with you. You can get this pillow done in about an hour. Isn't that awesome? Also, with so many different color and fabric options. I have made three and have plans for a few more that include hot pink and polka dots! So, let me share the tutorial with you:
You will need:
Love Pattern Pieces (One and Two)
1 front piece of fabric (I used duck canvas) 14" high X 19 1/2" long
2 back pieces of fabric 14" high X 12 1/2" long
fabric paint
sponge paint brush
freezer paper
1 travel pillow 14"X20" (I bought mine at Walmart for $3!!)
1. Print out your two pieces of the Love pattern and trace on to a sheet of freezer paper. Over lap the two so that the "L" goes in to the "o".
2. Cut out the Love letters (ha!) with an Xacto knife making sure you keep the insides of the "L", "o" etc. to use with for the stencil.
3. Iron the freezer paper stencil on to the front piece of the pillow, putting another piece of freezer paper underneath. If you want to look at a freezer paper stencil tutorial closely check out Dana's at Made. I centered it making sure it was 3 1/2" inches from the top of the "L" to the top of the fabric and 3 1/2" from the bottom of the letters to the fabric. And, approximately 3 1/2" from end of the "L" to left side of the fabric and 3" from the "e" to end of the right side of the fabric.
4. Apply the fabric paint to the fabric. It takes me 2 to 3 coats to get the coverage I want.5. Let it dry and then peel off the stencil. If there are any spurts of paint that have leaked, feel free to take a paint brush out and fix it as much as possible. (I had to do this a bit myself!)
6. Take the two back pieces of the pillow and serge or zig zag stitch down one 14 1/2" side on each.7. Iron over 3/8" on the two pieces you just serged and sew seam. I hope your ironing board cover is cleaner than mine!!
8. Line the back pieces and front piece right sides together and pin. Sew all the way around with a 1/2" seam.
9. Zig Zag stitch or serge all the way around to make sure the ends don't fray especially if you are using canvas.
10. Turn right side in and it should look like this on the front and back.
11. Stuff the pillow form in to the new cover and take it to the nearest couch to admire.
OPTIONS - You can also use this Love pattern as an applique like I did on this black and white dot pillow. I used the pattern to cut the words out of red felt and using Wonder Under and a zig zag stitch, I appliqued it on to the front of the pillow.