an apron for her

When your daughter is constantly wearing her brothers' aprons (which they rarely wear), it is time to make one for her. It was probably time a long time ago, but better later than never. I made her this quick two sided apron as a Valentine's Day gift. I just traced one that I had bought for her brother Gage and used that as the pattern.

One side is a pink and yellow Moda fabric which I added a pink polka dot pocket to so that she can carry her whisk and spatula.

The other side is a vintage looking green fabric from Darlene Zimmerman that has animals on it. I added her initial "M" to that side.

She wore it that night and later asked, "Where did you buy this apron for me, mom?" I told her that I made it and she said, "You know how to make these?" I guess she forgets that I sew!

valentines eve

As I sit here eating the last bit of sweetened condensed milk out of the can from my Seven Layer Bars I thought I would share a few of our Valentine ideas that I hadn't yet posted.

Last night the boys and I worked on their Valentines for their classmates. Their school doesn't allow for them to bring any sugar (good and bad, I think), so this allows us to be a little more creative with what they bring in. I saw Dandee's Ball Valentines on Crafty Crow and thought the boys would love to give those out since they love bouncy balls themselves. Boston, my 10 year old, helped me pick some out on Oriental Trading. He chose the billiards looking bouncy balls and we chose a variety pack for my 7 year old. I made up the tags using Photoshop Elements and we put them in jewelry bags (since I have many of those around). The boys loved how they turned out.

I bought Mallory this striped turquoise shirt on clearance at Old Navy and thought it needed a giant heart in the middle to make it complete. I appliqued on the heart which is out of jersey knit scrapped from one of her dad's old shirts.

Lastly, I made one more pillow out of this totally cute cupid fabric I picked up at IKEA last February and forgot about until I started digging in my fabric last week. Yea to finding it in time!

bee mine appliqued shirt and pattern

It's time to find a shirt and add an applique for Valentines Day! And with a few days until Valentines, you know you want to. I have a good friend who encourages us to make these for our daughters at each holiday and I am so grateful that she does because we get it done and have so much fun in the process. This time, she came over along with Melissa (who made a little something else and I am sure she will share with you soon) and we had fun (I mean- got to work).

It was a Bee Mine applique this time and HERE is the pattern for you to use as well. I used the original size of the pattern and for my friend, Vicki, we enlarged it 115% so that it was more proportioned to her t-shirt since her daughter is a bit older.The bee is done in fabric while the "mine" is freezer paper stenciled with fabric paint. The stinger is a zig zag satin stitch that gradually gets smaller. I attached the googly eyes with clear fabric paint. I think they should last in the wash if I turn the shirt inside out. But, I will test it!

Here's Vicki's shirt for her daughter Molly.

salt dough valentine heart necklaces

My daughter and I thought it would be fun to make some necklaces for her friends for Valentines this year. In the past we have used salt dough to make heart magnets at Valentines for relatives and teachers. So, using that same salt dough recipe, we cut out hearts for salt dough necklaces. Here's how:

Salt Dough Recipe:

1 cup salt

2 cups flour

1 cup water

Bake for 1-2 hours at 200 degrees until dried out.

We cut them out using heart cookie cutters and added a hole before baking.After baking, Mallory and I painted the hearts using acrylic paint.
We added dots and hearts for detail.
When the paint had dried, we sprayed them with a glossy acrylic sealer - several coats made them shine.
Finally, we added 25" long skinny ribbon and made lots of bright pretty necklaces.And, because we had so much salt dough, we used the extra to make magnets for family and teachers.We added button magnets using E-6000 glue.

my french valentine

I had one more pillow cut out of canvas sitting on my sewing table and over the weekend I finished it up. I used the same dimensions from my tutorial.

I decided to show some love in another language and freezer paper stenciled "je t'aime which is "i love you" in French. I used the treehouse font from da font -one of my new favorites.

valentine graphic sign

The beauty of having a husband in the home building business is the joy of using up his scrap wood pile. The other day at lunch he told me he had some scrap trim he was going to dispose of and I followed him back to the house and stuck it in the car. I wasn't sure what I "needed" it for, but I knew I "needed" it.

Eventually, I knew what I wanted to use them for...Valentine Signs. I had my husband cut the long trim pieces down to 28" each. They are about 10" wide with the beveled lip.

I printed up my words of "love" in different fonts and made stencils then hand painted each word.

Figuring out the placement of each word was the hardest part, but once I got them all in place, it was a fun process.

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!