bunnies and chicks in the etsy shop

A little shop update full of bunnies and chicks!

going in the shop this weekend

check out the updates to the shop HERE

charm(s) winner(s) announced

If you knew me really well, you would know that I couldn't just pick one winner. So, I picked two! The WINNER WINNER (the first name my son drew) will win the round beveled LUCKY charm with 18" ball chain! And she is:Michele Steel - who left this comment on my facebook page: Traci you are amazing! I love them all!Now, the RUNNER UP WINNER will get this 1/2" X 1 1/2" so LUCKY charm with a vintage Irish lad on the back and a 24" nickel ball chain. And, she is:

HereIAM who left this comment on the blog: I so love the custom name charm. My 4 babies names are going to look so cute in it. Can't wait to order!

So, ladies, email me your mailing addresses to traciu73@yahoo.com. I am excited to send these out so you will have time to wear them before St. Patrick's Day.

are you feeling LUCKY giveaway

I have been wanting to have a giveaway for awhile now and when I made this charm, I knew it was the perfect one for one LUCKY winner. So, here it goes:

LUCKY SOLDERED CHARM (WITH 18" BALL CHAIN) GIVEAWAY

Here's how you get a chance to win:
1. For one entry, go over to my etsy shop and look around. Then, comment on this post telling me which charm you like.
2. You can get another entry if you leave a comment on Amazing Mae Charms Facebook giveaway post/album.
3. The deadline is Wednesday, February 29th at midnight Eastern time.

slice of life

I was looking through my camera roll on my phone and found some photos that describe my children so well and thought I would share.

My seven year old, Gage, is an electronics lovers. His weekend request is to go to the mall so he can hang out at the Apple store. Last weekend we did just that and I took this picture of him in his element.

I have a teenager now. Trevor is only 13, but his teenage attitude is starting to creep out a wee bit. Here he is on a Sunday night after church hanging out with his mom - at least he will still do that!Mallory (5) is in love with stuffed animals, especially the Muppet, Pepe. She sleeps with him every night. I took this picture of her Saturday morning when she came in to our room to wake us up - Pepe in tow.
Boston (10) took this picture of himself with the Old Camera app on my phone. He took a few others, saved them and left my phone on my bed side table before I even knew he had come and gone. He's always quick.

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