More Charity Bears

I made three more Charity Bears to give out to my girlfriends for the big University of Louisville vs University of Kentucky basketball game over the weekend. I think they turned out so cute! Now I just need to make a UofL bear for myself!

Making these bears has been a great way to get me some extra practice in on the machine and working with curves. These were made with team themed fleece I came across, felt for the muzzle and eyes and large black button beads for the eyeballs.  Photos of the girls with their bears are here.

Sewing a Charity Bear

Today I sewed my first stuffy, which will be a Christmas gift for Laila, my one year old granddaughter. I needed something simple for my first stuffy attempt, so I opted for the free Charity Bear pattern by Shiny Happy World.

Laila loves soft fleece so I cut the main body pieces from a tan fleece blanket I had laying around the house but never use. I used lavender felt for the belly and black felt for the nose. I also used black and lavender embroidery floss to applique the belly, nose and sew on the eyes and mouth.  ( If she was older I would have used button eyes, but didn't want to risk a choking hazard. )

This was my first time sewing with fleece so it was a little bit of a different experience for me, but I managed and it turned out so cute!  The bear is currently sitting under the Christmas tree waiting to be wrapped up for her to open in a couple of weeks

Envelope Throw Pillow Cases

We recently purchased a new area rug, swapped out curtains and painted so now my old red throw pillows did not match at all. Rather than spending $60 on four new ones, I decided to spend $20 on fabric and make my own covers that can be slipped off and thrown in the wash if needed.  I'm still new at this whole sewing thing, so, yet again, I perused PInterest and came across a few tutorials by searching "sewing envelope pillow cases" that walked me through making envelope pillow cases for throw pillows. I'm not up for trying  a zipper yet, but it will come in time.

I purchased fabric from Wal-Mart since they had a pattern I liked.  It's called Abstract Blue/Brown by Kentshire Home Collections. I completed two of the pillows and had intended to do two more - one for each recliner chair - but I may mix it up with a different pattern for those pillows.  I haven't quite decided yet.  I also would like to get a couple smaller solid pillows to put in front of these to tone down the pattern a little bit.  The color does match the new area rug quite well - though I didn't get a complete photo of the rug.

Here are the pillows in place on the couch:

And here are some up close photos of the front:

And the back where you can see the envelope section:

Lois Lane approves!

Needle Cushion

As I learn more about my sewing machine, I'm on the look out for small, simple projects, but yet

projects of things that I actually want to make or things that are at least useful. As I was perusing PInterest I came across a short and sweet project for beginners on how to make a needle cushion. This is very similar to a pin cushion, but it has a hard backing on the bottom to keep the needles from falling through and getting lost in the cushion or causing stabbing pain when accidentally squeezed.  The project simply required two rectangles of fabric, thread, a credit card and some Polyfill stuffing.

So I picked out a fabric that I had purchased a couple of years ago for another project that I never got to, grabbed my expired Passport America membership card and finished this little project in about 15 minutes. Now I have a cute needle cushion that is functional and pretty! Next on my agenda, a matching pin cushion, because why buy one when I can make one?

I followed the Needle Cushion tutorial at Shiny Happy World for this project.

Decorative Fabric Pumpkin

My second sewing project went MUCH better than the first baby-bib project attempt - so much better it can actually be displayed in my home as a decorative piece, as intended.

I'm a PInterest fiend and I came across this cute Fabric Pumpkin sewing tutorial by Danielle Thompson and had enough of the necessary supplies to give it a try.  It was very simple and the only supply I did not have was the plastic yarn needle, which as Danielle states, would have made this project much easier. I will have to get one of those as I plan to make more of these.

I ended up using an 18" x 9" piece of fabric, which resulted in an ending pumpkin size of roughly 17" around and 7" tall ( including the felt stem ) - a perfect size for decor on an end table or shelf. The fabric I used was a light linen. I don't know who makes the fabric as it came from a rummage box of remnants I purchased. The stem is made of a cream colored felt. I topped it off with an orange shimmery ribbon from my ribbon stash and some autumn artificial berry stems that I swiped from another autumn arrangement I have out for the season.

I like that the fabric I used is neutral and the ribbon and berries can be swapped with other colors and items for different seasons, allowing it to remain as a decorative piece year round.

Fabric Scrap Organization

As I launch into my journey of learning how to sew, only two projects in I have realized I am going to accumulate a lot of fabric scraps that are too small to go back with the original roll. I needed a place in my ever-growing cluttered craft room to keep these scraps accessible and clean, yet out of the way. So I rummaged around the house and found an empty large Pup-Corn dog treat container. Perfect!

I soaked the container in a solution of hot water and Dawn dish soap to get the treat smell out and to help remove the sticker label. I then scrubbed the label residue off with a rough sponge and let it dry. Since it was looking pretty plain and boring I dug into my decorative scrapbook paper and stickers and dolled it up a bit.  Now I have a perfect fabric scrap container that is easy to dig around in and keeps my scraps handy when needed.  And it's pretty to look at, too!

Baby Bib Blunders

Saturday evening was a quiet evening at home so I decided to try out my new sewing machine for the first time. I have never sewed on a machine before ( aside from a little in home economics back in middle school, which I remember nothing about ).

I started with a very well done video by Diane on how to thread the bobbin on my specific machine ( Janome 2212 ) and set up my machine to begin a project. I went through the entire video step by step and successfully got the machine set up on the first try.

I then decided to try a small, simple project as my first dry run. I chose a Baby Bib Tutorial from Crafty Gemini. I already had some fat quarters of fabric that I had purchased a few years ago for another craft project that never got finished so I chose a cute pattern and started the tutorial. I didn't do too bad for my first attempt, though I should have chosen a project with more straight edges and less curves as a starting point of learning my machine. I also failed to print the pattern at the correct size so when completed the bib turned out really small, more for a baby doll bib rather than a real human kid.  Ooops.  I also didn't cut my two sides of fabrics precise enough and ended up with a couple of holes where the fabric didn't quite meet up and didn't get sewn together.

This project will be reused as scrap for future projects, but it was a fun way to get to know my machine and give a functional purpose to the project, just in case it worked out. I'm sure my granddaughter, Laila, will be my guinea pig for many items in the near future.

My First Sewing Machine

I've been kicking around the idea of learning how to sew for several months now. Not necessarily
clothing, though that's certainly not out of the question down the road, but more from a crafy standpoint.  Things like pillow slips, curtains, placemats, mug rugs, hand bags, and perhaps some quilting once I get the hang of things.  Since I don't do any scrapbooking or rubber stamping any more I am in the process of selling any stamps and supplies worth anything. I decided once I sold enough to cover the purchase of a sewing machine I would make a purchase and start learning. I've now hit that magic number, plus some, and the winter months are approaching, so I made my purchase after much research.

This week I ordered a Janome 2212 sewing machine. It's supposed to be a good entry level machine, but built well and usable for all kinds of projects. I didn't want anything too fancy and I didn't want to jump to an embroidery machine until I figure out the basics first, since they are a lot more money and I don't know how well this is going to go.

The machine should arrive today!  I'm leaving for a Florida vacation with my girlfriends today, but it will be here waiting for me when I return. I'm very excited to start learning and have a ton of projects on my PInterest Sewing board.  Hopefully I like it as much as I think I will.  And hopefully I'm good at it...at least a little bit.  :)

Bottle Crafts

I've always liked the shape of Kirklands Vodka bottles - and the red coloring in the base.  I really want o do something crafty with this, just not sure what yet.  First off I need to fine a way to remove the labels on the bottle.  ( Well, first I have to get the bottle emptied - LOL! )  I'm thinking it could make a pretty cool looking decorative vase for a corner...or something.  Maybe I'll work something out.  I'm open to any suggestions!

Stamps Galore

Yup, the great stamp sale is still going strong!  I've sold quite a few on eBay, but still have 2 totes full - and that's not even counting the unmounted stamps.  Interested?

Selling Rubber Stamps

Yeah, this is a lame project photo but for the first time in 57 days I forgot!  BUT, I just so happened to have taken this photo to send to an eBay customer that was interested in what the back of this particular rubber stamp looked like, so I went with it.  Plus the sale when through so that was good, too!  Interested in scrapbooking items?  I'm selling off my entire scrapbooking and rubber stamping side of the craft room.

Work in Progress

This is my work in progress of the Four Seasons Bird cross-stitch project I started last week.  I spent most of the weekend watching Shameless reruns and cross-stitching while Jason spent most of his weekend gaming with friends.  It was a very nice, low key weekend for a change.  Much enjoyable!  I will work on this pattern some more tomorrow night during Jason's game night.  On Tuesday my new camera arrives so I'll likely be messing with that for a few days trying to figure out all the functions and learn how it all works.  Very excited about that!  Plus it has WIFI capability so my future instagram photos will likely come from the new camera...and I will feel better about uploading those to Flickr since they will be of decent quality.  :)

Four Seasons Birds

Today I started a new, large (for me) counted cross-stitch project.  It's a 18" x 10" canvas with sections for spring, summer, fall and winter and various birds during that season with sticks and branches making natural frames for each season.  It will fit perfectly in my bird themed bathroom over the window once it is completed.  And as an additional perk, the birds are correct for the seasons here in Kentucky.

Here is what it will look like when completed.  The Four Seasons Birds Cross-Stitch kit can be purchased here.

Birth Announcement Cross-Stitch

I have recently gotten back into cross-stitching after a very, very long break from it.  When I was growing up I used to do small cross-stitch projects all the time.  My mom even still has a bunch of them hanging in her house.  While I was Christmas shopping I came across a very cute birth announcement cross-stitch project and decided to make one for Portia & Laila to give as a Christmas gift.  I got it done just in time, squeezing the last stitch in on Christmas Eve and framing it in time to gift to them on Christmas Day.  I think it turned out quite nice!  My next cross-stitch project will be the Four Seasons Birds for my bathroom.

Purchase this Balloon Birthday Ride kit.

Painting Elephants

Last week I attended a two hour acrylic painting class at Pinot's Pallete in St. Matthews with my friend Brooke and her sister-in-law.  They do classes almost every night and have a bar where you can buy beer, wine or mixed cocktails to sip on while you paint.

We painted an elephant and it was a lot of fun!  I went in there anticipating a canvas with an outline of the elephant already there, but much to our surprise, we all sat down to a blank, white canvas.  At first we were extremely intimidated, but our instructor was awesome and did a great job of showing us how to do the outline of the elephant ourselves. We started with a grid on the canvas and she instructed us where on the grid to place dots of paint and then which dots to connect until we had our basic outline.

Once we had the basic outline, we filled in the grey for the elephant, which looked like this:

After that we filled in the background before adding detail to the elephant:

After adding details step by step to the background and the elephant, we ended up with a final painting!  They all looked a bit different, but yet very similar.  Here was my end result:

And here is a group shot from the whole class:

It was a lot of fun and I definitely want to do it again soon!

Re-Painting Garden Frog Statues

My mom has two cute frog garden statues that have seen better days.  They are structurally sound and aren't chipped or cracked, but the orginal paint colors had faded to white and grey.  Who wants grey garden frogs?  So I brought them home and spiffied them up with a new coat of paint and weather sealed them so they should keep their vibrant colors year round now.

Frogs & Butterfly Before:



Frogs & Butterfly After:


Frogs & Butterfly After:




Swinging Frog Before:




Swinging Frog After:

Work in Progress

This is a swinging frog statue that hangs from a tree with rope ( rope is removed for painting ) that I am repainting for my parents.  These little guys tend to fade over time and I like to repaint and seal them so they are weather proofed as well as bright, shiny and like new!  I always forget how horrible they look after just the first coat of dull paint, before any touchups or detailing is done.  Should have an after photo of this guy soon along with another one!  ( I promise it will look much better in the end - here is the before and after of the bear I repainted. )

Dragonfly Zentangle - 25/365

This is another Zentangle inspired piece I did for my Aunt Cindy as a thank you for finding and obtaining decorative whiskey barrels that we've been looking for to use as decoration accent pieces on our back deck.  She loves dragonflies so...voila!

Welcome Bear - 23/365

This  is a bear statue I picked up at one of our local Goodwill stores for $4.  When I purchased it, it was in all shades of gray and pretty chipped up, at that.  I took it home, repainted it, sealed it and now this guy lives on my back deck.  I'm always on the look out for fix 'r up statues like this to put around the porches and in the yard.  :)

Here is a bad before photo:

Country Puzzle - 5/365

This is a jigsaw puzzle I put together over the winter. Since it matches our decor I planned to frame it and hang it, but can't find a decent priced frame for the size, so I think I'm just going to add some photo hangers on the back (it's already glued together) and hang it that way.