Boots

My daughter decided that she wanted to be Hannah Montana for Halloween this year. So I finally went with it. She picked a picture and we tried to get it as close as we could. I will be posting the full costume later this week.

However, after a lot of work I finished some boots that I thought would go with the costume well. So, I thought I would at least dedicate a whole post just to these boots that were slightly obnoxious to make but worth it.

The toes turned out a little pointy, and I just haven't figured out how to get them nice and round yet. I hope to make a few more for practice.
The boots are made with a suede cloth in grey, and embellished with 4 buttons down the side and two ribbon ties at the back. The soles are soft and made with a non slip rubber. Lets just say that your kid would not want to go running around in a bunch of pebbles or twigs. P.E. might not be the best place for them either. I am sure that this sole would be perfect for smaller kids, but it would be nice to find something that was a bit more durable for the older ones.

Well, the boots were quite the experiment, but one I am glad I did. It was a fun challenge especially once I was finished. I will post the complete Hannah Montana Costume later this week.

Happy Halloween!

Etsy Shop Dilema

Over the summer my poor shop has been neglected. I have not really renewed my listings or added new items. Really I have just been focusing on making my own projects, and creating things I have been wanting to try. Right now I have marked down all my dress sets to clear out my shop.

I would like to replace them with new listings. The dilemma I am having is what to put in there. The towel sets seem to do OK, and I can't decide if I should add some new designs or if I should add something new altogether. I have in mind some diaper bags, but they take so long to make. I will probably add some new towel designs, and something else too. We will see were my thoughts take me. I need to scramble my brain for some ideas.

So, while I take yet more time to think about what I want to put in my shop I will be enjoying the slightly cool weather we are having, and maybe even make myself a new purse while I am at it.

What are you enjoying during this fall season? What are you making?

T-Shirt Embellishing

Cupcakes or Necklaces Anyone?

Near the end of the summer I purchased a few solid color shirts so that I could embellish them as I wanted to. The first on my list was an appliqued zebra that I will have to post a picture of later.

I had been wanting to make one of these ruffle cupcake shirts for my daughter who loves sweet things especially cupcakes. Whenever she is invited to a birthday party the one thing on her mind is the cake. So, she can indulge in this cupcake frequently without getting a sugar rush. I love how it turned out.
I do recommend using a stabilizer underneath so you can prevent mishaps like the right bottom corner of the cupcake. I couldn't unpick it or it would have torn the shirt up. So, it has a little beauty mark, but I like it. It seemed incomplete without a cherry on top, so I sewed a red button on top for the cherry.
I love making hair bows/flowers/barrettes to match shirts. I have not done it in a while, so this was a treat. I thought I would take some of the frosting like fabric and make a little frosted rosette headband to match.

Next up was a little freezer paper action. My daughter also loves these pretend necklace shirts that are pretty much in every store right now. I did buy her one for school, but I wanted to see if I could pull one off myself.

This is my take on the necklace shirt. I did not want to cut all these holes out of the freezer paper by hand, so I used my scrapbooking tools. I have not used them in so long, but they sure did come in handy. I used my eyelet hole punch thing, and made various different sized holes all over the outline I had for then necklace. I wish I would have had one that was a little bit bigger so that I could add a few larger circles.

If you are new to freezer paper stenciling, or you have never done it you should try it. I will try getting another project using it so I can make a tutorial. In the mean time there are tutorials all over the place.

Of course this one had to have a matching hair pin too. I used a lavender colored satin and made a little flower as you can see.

There are so many ways to add to a plain old shirt. I have so many ideas running in my head, but then I have to wait because a kid only needs so many t-shirts.

Do you have any fun shirt, skirt, or purse embellishment ideas?

Chore Chart

I have been in need to make a chore chart for some time now. I needed something that would motivate, and be fun at the same time. An awesome thing about the internet is that if you want to know how to make something or get a tutorial for something it is available. So, I googled chore chart tutorials.

After searching and finding many different ideas I finally found one that I felt would be perfect for my little girl.

Here are some pictures of my version of the tutorial. If you want to take a look at the actual tutorial go to Childmade here.

The ones on Childmade were done with an embroidery machine. I don't have one, so I set my sewing machine to a zigzag stitch, and little stitch width. It basically gives them the same look as the embroidery machine.

Since I was just using what I had available already I didn't to the nice strong magnets in between the fabric like she did. It would have looked a lot nicer, but I only had the dinky magnetic tape. So I just used that on the outside.

I also have a visual little gal, so I went ahead and found clip art pictures of chores that she needed to work on. The nice thing about the vinyl holder is that I can replace these chores with others as she learns to make some of these a habit.

Her chores include:

*Put shoes away *Get dressed *Listen

*Flush toilet/wash hands *Brush Teeth

*Make bed *Say Prayers

*Pick up toys *Eat Dinner/clear plate

*Put dirty clothes in laundry *Do homework
The way I plan to do it is when she accomplishes a task/chore then she earns that scoop of ice cream. Once she earns all of the ice cream scoops, and the cone she gets to put the cherry on top, and then chooses a reward from a list we made. Some examples are: a popsicle, ride your bike for 25 minutes (that is a chore for me because it is so hot out), play on playhouse disney for 20 minutes. Really it can be anything that is fun or special to them. Just make sure they are motivated to achieve it. Another thing is that if she earns the ice cream scoop let say for flushing the toilet and washing hands, but then she forgets to flush the next time she has to give me that scoop of ice cream back.

I really hope this works and that she will enjoy making ice cream cones.

Hooray for Hot Pads!

A while ago I got together with some friends and learned to can peaches. I have been wanting to learn for a few years now, but I finally made the opportunity. Since it was so much sticky work, I decided to reward myself with some hot pads.

I made my first set about a year ago, and gave them away of course. I have made several sets since then for gifts. Each time I make a set I think to my self that some new hot pads of my own would be really nice. The ones I had were nasty and stained/burned.

Finally I got down to business and made up a few sets. This time I kept one for myself. I love them and will try to keep from burning them. What I like most about these is the fact that my hands go inside of them without having a huge oven mitt on.

These are a couple sets I have made in the past. Why not have something cute to prevent burns right?

Lemonade Stand

This lemonade stand was one of the projects I made over the summer. Unfortunately my daughter didn't get to put it to good use until now because I kept putting it off.

I used the left over canvas from the bean bag chair I made and then some extra scraps of pinks for some added girly fun. It turned out just as I wanted it too. The table underneath was in desperate need for a table cover anyway. Now if only I can get the motivation to do chair covers too.

Now that I am looking at these pictures I think I should have gotten a close up. My camera has actually been broken for the summer. I was planning to get a new one eventually, and in frustration of not having one I decided to pound and push my camera until it started working again. So despite the horrible pictures, I was at least able to take these.

She had a lot of fun selling lemonade and cookies. I think it is such a fun little way for kids to earn something. It was a good experience that we might try again when it is not quite as hot.

Baby Shower Gift Set

Here is a great idea for a baby shower gift. I made this diaper changing set which includes a burp cloth, changing pad w/tie, and a bag to put the wipes and diapers in. My fellow etsy friend sells these on her Teacher Mom etsy shop along with some really awesome Toss n' Play balls. Head there if you would like to take a gander and possibly purchase one for an upcoming baby shower.

Don't mind the fog that is in the picture from the humidity here. This turned out really fun. The great thing about quilting is that when you grab a bunch of fabrics and put them together it doesn't matter if they go or not. Somehow they all just come together and look like they were meant to be together in the first place.

There is still a quilt pattern I want to try with all of my scraps of fabric that in no way match, but I am sure it will end up like this and look good once the pieces come together. It is like a fabric soup I suppose.

I was so excited when I found the pattern for Oopsie the Octopus that was posted two days ago from Mellie and Me. I love their patterns and went right to work as soon as I saw her pattern posted. Go check it out here if you want to give this cute little Oopsie the Octopus a try for yourself.

I didn't do the patchwork like she suggested simply because I was using scraps of fabric from the diaper changing kit. I think he turned out cute. Thanks again Mellie and Me for the great pattern/tutorial.