MY JUST FOR FUN BLOG

Mod Podge!

2012-01-26T16:55:00.000-08:00

We finally did the kid's rooms! It took long enough. Enoch has a blue wall, blue desk and chair to match, new curtains, and some fun Phineas and Ferb decals. Tegan has a new pink wall, with shelf, desk, and chair to match, new curtains, and some barbie decals. I also mod podged her dresser. I LOVE IT! I have wanted to do it for so long, and it was way fun. I wish I had more to mod podge. I haven't taken pictures of the entire rooms, but here's the way fun dresser.

I also painted the lamp shades in our room because I didn't love them. I still don't know if I love them or not, but it took so long for me to paint them that they will be there for a while =0).

Just some patches

2011-12-04T16:48:00.000-08:00

Nothing too exciting.

I had to put some patches on my little girl's pants this time. It seems like my little boy has just grown out of that stage and she has just grown into it =0).

I chose a colorful pattern in hopes that they can go with lots of different shirts.

Win a MIKAROSE dress

2011-11-23T15:56:00.000-08:00

Yes Please!! They have the prettiest dresses! My absolute favorite is the Midnight Blue Evelyn dress.

I'm obsessed with the color. I have nothing like it. So pretty!

Is having a giveaway right now for a $50 gift card to

Go check out the awesome modest dresses at Mikarose.

Then head on over to The Bragging Mommy for your chance to win.

Good luck!

Can't get enough

2011-10-04T12:52:00.000-07:00

I can't get enough of these fabric flowers. Here's a few I've recently made. I actually got asked to go to mutual last week and teach the Young Women how to make them. Fun fun.

I was also asked a little while ago to make these head bands for my friend's little girl. She was taking pictures and needed them to match outfits.

I needed Tegan to have another pair of lacey socks =0), and I added some old black lace to this under cami I wear a lot.

That's it for now.

Odds and Ends

2011-08-20T13:18:00.000-07:00

These are some bows I made for when my sister-in-law was visiting to match some of her little girl's outfits for school.

This three tone brown one I made for Tegan to match a little brown polkadot dress I got from the thrift store. Love it!

When my mom was visiting many moons ago she would just whip up crocheted stuff for my kids and Tegan's dolls. She was soooo fast. She asked if she could make me anything, and I said I'd always wanted one of those thick crocheted ear warmers, but I never wanted to spend the money on them. We found a pattern online and she made if for me in like 10 minutes. She's amazing!!!

How do you cuteify summer cut offs? Just add a little lace. It should look cute when it ruffles up a little after washing too.

Here's a posey pin flower I saw and wanted to make. I really like it, but I'd like to try other fabrics and colors as well.

Just a scrap sheer fabric burnt flower pin.

I was able to fly to my little brother's wedding back in May. My mom told me their reception colors were light pink and green and I wanted to make some flowers to match that I could wear.

Then I made just a white flower ribbon belt to go with whatever I wanted =0).

This is a skirt I grabbed at the thrift store that turned out to be a little too short, so I added a thick white strip at the bottom. I think with the right top (which I don't currently have) it'll look great.

Interchangeable Shoe Flowers

2011-08-20T13:01:00.000-07:00

These I love love love! I did them a while ago, and just never got around to posting. I wear them ALL the time. All you need is velcro! Add one side of the velcro to your shoe or sandal, and the other side to the back of your flower, and WA LA...interchangeable flowers for your shoes. Then of course you make a hair clip, or pin to match.

Fun fun fun!

Bows for Gifts

2011-08-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

When Tegan gets invited to a birthday party for a friend that is a girl, I usually just make bows for their present. With all those parties the cost of presents can really add up. This may take more time, but because I enjoy doing it, and I already have all the stuff, it's totally worth it to me. Tegan on the other hand, does not love it. She has said a couple times that she wants to start buying her friends toys instead. At least I know the moms usually love the bows =0).

Here are a couple sets I managed to take pictures of before we wrapped them up.

These are pins I made for the kid's teachers at the end of school last year.

These are some head bands with interchangeable flowers I made for a baby shower. They are so awesome. You make the head band out of tights. They are so soft and stretchy, I was kicking myself for not knowing how, or trying to do it when Tegan was a baby. She didn't get hair until she was 2 and all I had were a couple of those thin tight head bands that would squeeze her little head. I was enjoying it so much I might have a gotten a little carried away =0).

This one is not interchangeable and it's actually made out of an old stretchy shirt. I love it too!

This was another baby shower where I made sure I didn't go too over board.

Shirt to cardigan

2011-03-26T15:53:00.000-07:00

I've been coveting all the cute spring/ruffly cardigans at Down East Basics, but of course I don't have cash just laying around. I decided to make some of my own out of some shirts I don't really wear because they don't really fit right.

Here's the pink shirt I said I was refashioning. I was attempting the collar I saw on the Ruffles and Stuff blog here. Mine turned out a little different. It doesn't lay flat like hers. It kind of ruffled up, but I LOVE it. How perfectly Spring time.

This a shirt I previously tried to fix by adding ruffles to the neckline in this post. It just didn't work, so I took that out, and did this instead. Fun fun fun!

Now if only the weather would cooperate and decide to stay nice.

Funky scarf

2011-03-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

I saw this cute scarf online and wanted to try it. Unfortunately all I had was an old gray t-shirt to use, but I think it still turned out kind of cute. I pretty much just wanted to try it out. I don't know that I'll ever wear it. Josh said "Uh, that doesn't look like a scarf," but he's a guy so...=0). Here's the link on how to do it.

I'm in the process of refashioning this pink shirt. It just felt a little small, and I've had it forever. This was the first time I had worn it in probably a couple years so I'm making it into a really cute cardigan. I'll post pictures when I'm done.

Cover those stains/bleach spots.

2011-02-25T15:50:00.000-08:00

This little shirt had stains and bleach spots on the collar and front. I simply cut the whole collar off, and added four ruffles I made from some strips of an old white t-shirt.

Tegan wore it to school yesterday, and it looked super cute.

Here's my latest bow. Running out of supplies, but I think it turned out cute for what I had left laying around =0). I'm learning the techniques I want. I just need to buy the materials I actually want...haha.

Happy crafting. =0)

Fabric Flower

2011-02-08T09:12:00.000-08:00

I love all the colors of this fabric. It will go with tons of stuff.

This was so easy and fast to make. Fun fun!

Sorry the pictures aren't that great. I am no photographer. The colors are even brighter then they look in this picture.

Finally

2011-02-07T09:58:00.000-08:00

So I finally made another bow. Love it...it's a new favorite. Tegan wore it to a birthday party she was invited to. I made her little friend a similar one, along with a few more for her present, but I didn't take pictures before we wrapped them all up. Hopefully her friend wasn't too disappointed that she got bows instead of toys.

I have done some sewing, but nothing really blog worthy. Mostly mending and stuff. Here's a pair of Enoch's jeans that got a hole in the knee. I used a couple of back pockets from a totally thrashed pair of old corduroys. I think it's cute.

Ruffles and Pins

2010-12-15T13:43:00.000-08:00

This shirt has a pretty big neck, but never looked quite right with a shirt under it. So, I cut some strips off of an old white t-shirt, and added some ruffles around the neck. It looks really cute on. Sorry about the wrinkly shirt.

This is a pin I made trying a method I learned from a another girl that did the craft show with us. It's super easy. You just take a long strip of cloth, cut long and short triangles all across one side of it, sew and ruffle the other side, then twist it into a circle. This one is pretty big, but hey, it was my first try. I think they are way cute!

I probably won't have any more projects to post before Christmas. I'm getting super excited to go somewhere that it actually feels like Christmas. It's a little bit harder to get into the spirit of things here when it's 70 degrees, and there aren't any stores or anything with all the decorations and music. Here we come snow and family!! YAY!!

Merry Christmas everybody!!

Make it last a little longer.

2010-12-11T10:16:00.000-08:00

These pajamas fit Tegan great (the pants are even a little long) except for in the tummy area. They also had this fringe that had gotten all ratty, so I cut that off, and added some length.

Much cuter I think, and now they will last longer.

I lengthened this shirt as well.

And of course I had to make a hair clip.

I also found some navy blue fabric at the thrift store that melts nicely. Tegan has a navy dress that I never had hair things to go with. Now I do =0).

Little Fixes

2010-11-22T11:20:00.000-08:00

This is a little black velvet dress I found for Tegan at the thrift store. It fit her great except for the sleeves. I'm pretty sure they were supposed to be long sleeves, but they were too short on her, and not short enough to be 3/4 sleeves. They also had lots of detail on them, and the thread on the inside drove her crazy. So, I cut them off, and cut then into little strips.

The dress had kind of a v-neck that I didn't really like either, so I added a couple of the ruffled strips to the front. It looks better actually on her. =0)

For the sleeves, I added some gold toned lace.

I like it a lot better.

Oh, and of course I made a matching hair clip with the rest of the strips. =0)

I made this red hair clip (with some old shirt scraps) just for fun because I had my sewing machine out.

I also added some lace to this skirt. I love the colors and pattern, but I seriously could never find a shirt to go with it. No reds were the same as the red on the skirt, and I just couldn't find anything that looked right. It was also a tad short for comfort, so I took out the hem and sewed on this off white lace in hopes that I'll be able to match more things with it. I left the bottom of the skirt hem raggedy on purpose. I'm hoping it will kind of fray in the washer. Eh, we'll see if I like it I guess.

I hope everybody has a FABULOUS Thanksgiving. I'm super excited to have family come, and of course for all the yummy food. I LOVE THE HOLIDAY SEASON!!!!

To sell or not to sell?

2010-11-16T18:02:00.000-08:00

Well, the Pomegranate Festival went...ok. I did sell some bows, and I did make a little bit of money. It wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. Not because of the money (I admit I probably would have had more fun if they were selling better), but because I love all my bows so much, and I guess other people didn't love them enough to buy them =0(. On the other hand, it didn't seem like anybody did really great.

My mom is doing a Craft Bazaar/fund raiser thingy in Oregon the first week of December and she convinced me to send her most of the bows I didn't sell so that she could try to sell them. I did keep quite a few. Tegan has more than enough hair accessories now. My question is...do I even want to try to sell bows off my blog or not? I'd probably wait to see how they sell in December, but I don't know if I even want to at all. I just think I'll probably keep making them because I enjoy it so much, but we don't need anymore, and I would just give them all away as gifts, but then I'd never have the funds to make any more.

Would anybody ever really buy any off this blog? That is the real question.

It's time for the Pomegranate Festival.

2010-11-04T21:43:00.001-07:00

These are the last few I squeezed in before I just ran out of time. I would have done more. I still have more ideas floating around in my head.

Christmasy Bow

These are the smallest ones I've made.

The Elementary School colors.

These two are pins.

And for the grand total....drum roll please......

114 BOWS!

All taged, priced, and ready for a new home. I will miss a lot of them. Pricing everything was the hardest part for me. Ranging from $1.50 to $8.00 as the highest, hopefully they are all reasonably priced. Wish me luck. It should be a lot of fun.

Fabric Flowers

2010-10-28T15:43:00.000-07:00

These are super cute, and super easy. Sorry about the blurry pictures, but I'm too lazy to take more =0).

The top four are pins.

The rest are hair clips.

Tegan tolerated/ingnored me long enough to put a few hair things in her hair so you could see what size they are.

Here's some more of the melted flowers I said I was going to do. I could do more, but I don't know if I'll get the chance.

More head bands.

I think the denim flowers are cute cute.

We are going out of town over Halloween for 6 days. The kids have 3 off of school, so we were like "let's get out of here". =0) We won't get back until Tuesday night, and then the Festival is on Friday and Saturday. I may not have time to do any more. Wish me luck, and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

These are the latest

2010-10-22T16:08:00.000-07:00

I love love love ribbon bows. Especially the pink ones, and the purple one, ok...all of them. =0)

More lace flowers. Some of them are for hair, and some are pins.

A little bit dressier twisted bib necklace. You can't really tell in the picture, but all the fabrics are shiny.

I'll be making a lot more, and a variety of these melted white flowers.

I've also got some different headband ideas. I just need to go buy some more headbands.

Oh, I made a button! I'm so excited about it. I always thought everybody's blog buttons were so cute and fun, but I thought for sure it would be too hard for me to make one. Well, I found a really great tutorial here, and made my own adorable brightly colored button (doesn't match the fall style blog right now =0)). Here it is. You can get the link from the grab box on the top right hand side of my blog. YAY!

Bows, Bows, and more Bows!

2010-10-17T18:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, here are a bunch of the bows I've been working on for the Craft Fair.

It took some bribing to get Tegan to let me take pictures of her wearing all the bows. I promised I'd buy her a donut after school tomorrow if she let me do all of them, and she didn't wine or complain too much. She gets her donut, but she's definitely not happy in some of them, and her smile is forced in others. I think the bows look so much cuter when they are actually on a head though, and I wanted to get a picture of them all because they are all pretty much one of a kind.

These are from the previous post.

These I made a while ago, and are also on a previous post I believe. They are so little. You'll see as we go that my bows just keep getting bigger and bigger. I don't realize how big they are until they are on Tegan's head.

Again, this is an older one, but I wanted to take a picture because I'll probably put it in the sale.

A little Halloween lace flower. It looks like a little hat.

This one used to be just the black bow in the previous post, but I added the flower and button.

This one makes her look like a Christmas present. It's MASSIVE.

There are a few headbands.

I thought this green flower from the previous post made a cute headband.

This is another huge bow.

These are a few of my favorites that I don't know if I can bring myself to sell =0).

Watermelon Bow.

Love this one.

Josh tells me I should sell them all, and then I can use the money to make some I really love, but I really love some of these =0).

These are to prove that they are not all just for little girls.

This is my favorite head band.

Bib necklaces.

What do you think? I've gotta make some more, but what do you guys think about prices and stuff? I may even try to sell some off the blog after the craft fair. Who knows.

I need some help

2010-10-09T16:51:00.000-07:00

First off, I just wasn't happy with the korker bows I made. They were my first try, and they were just too long so they would hang weird. I fixed them =0). Here are the before and after pictures.

Much Better.

I have alway thought those twisty cloth bib necklaces are so cute. Check this baby out.

Yes...I made it, and yes...I am so proud of myself. Haha.

Will I ever wear it? I don't know. I'll probably try to sell it at the Pomegranate Festival (like a craft fair kind of thing) that I've decided to do with some other ladies. This is where I need your help. Here are just a few of the bows I've made. This is stuff with the left over fabric or ribbon I had, and I'm waiting now for a big old package of lace, and ribbon, and fabric that my mom so graciously offered to send me (woo hoo!) and then I'll make lots more, and probably cuter ones.

These are always hard to see in pictures. It's a black lace flower.

My questions are:

1. How much should I charge? They are all pretty big...at least 3 inches around...some bigger. What would you pay? I don't really buy stuff from craft fairs at all, and I obviously make my own bows, so I really have NO IDEA what is a good and reasonable price.

2. Should I use alligator clips, or french barrettes? I find that the barrettes stay better in my daughters hair, but some people like the alligator clips for smaller kids, or to put on head bands and stuff. Should I use some of both?

3. Should I display them all on a table, or should I figure out how to hang them up? Probably get more attention if hanging, but easier to look at on a table??

HELP ME!!!!

Seriously, I'd really appreciate any input anybody can give me. Thanks so much.

I said I was going to make some more hair things.

2010-10-01T18:32:00.000-07:00

My only little sewing job today was adding some lace to the bottom of this little dress. It's one of my sister-in-laws, so I hope she doesn't mind too terribly when I give it back...he he. =0)

Tegan looks so cute in it, and it still fits great, but looks a little too short. I grabbed this really thick lace at the thrift store, so I just sewed it around the bottom, and it really does make it look a lot longer. Tegan loves it. She loves lace.

This is a dress that I did a while ago. In fact, it was one of my first alterations, if you can even call it that. It's another one from my sister-in-law that goes through the whole "underground clothing exchange" as my husband likes to call it, so it had been through one kid already. It had a row of ribbon at the bottom that was tearing off. I wanted it to be able to go through the next 3 little girls in the clothing exchange =0), so I fixed it.

Instead of trying to find the exact color of the off white, or cream colored ribbon...I decided to use pink.

Then I added flowers so that the pink looked like it was supposed to be there. =0)

I put these together real quick. My jewelry stands are on my desk, so when I'm sitting there doing my hair I always think about how I can change things. These were on a necklace with other pink beads, and they kind of didn't match the others, and I knew they'd make pretty earrings.

This is a strip of cloth I cut off of something, and I didn't know what else to do with it, so I made a little flower pin.

These were fun.

This was my first attempt at a korker bow. I don't know why they are called that, but I have seen them and thought they were so cute. I was always nervous to try it because you have to bake the ribbon. It's actually really easy. Maybe a little time consuming, but easy. I thought it would really only work with grosgrain ribbon, because that's all I've ever seen used, and this green was all I had. It's cute.

I decided, however, to just try my pink shiny ribbon, and made this one. LOVE IT!

I'm running out of places to put Tegan's hair stuff. Again, people are telling me to sell them, but they are all different, and I want them all for variety ya know. I'm so silly.

You may wonder how I have the time to do all of this stuff. I don't really. When I have a craft day, or even part of a day, my house goes to pot, Josh has to make dinner, and the poor kids get neglected. Sigh.

Jewelry for me =0)

2010-09-29T09:42:00.000-07:00

I haven't done a ton of sewing lately. My biggest project was this...

Isn't it beautiful?

A couple days ago I did put together some jewelry. I grabbed this old string of cream colored beads, and this pink ribbon from the thrift store. I think it turned out really cute. I just don't know if I have anything to wear it with.

I bought some brown and red beads at Walmart last time I was there to add some more color to my jewelry. I get tired of wearing just black, or silver. I played around with ribbon on these too...stringing the beads with the ribbon, and tying knots in between each bead, and stuff like that but I just kept going back to the simple strand of plain beads. It'll go with more outfits, and it just looked better. If I had an unending supply of beads maybe I'd do some more styles, but I don't.

Same thing happened with the red, but then I did decide I wanted to use some lace with the red beads, so instead of making a bracelet to go with this set....

I used the extra to make this lace necklace, and some earrings to match.

I also redid this necklace that I already had. The metal stuff or whatever it is was chipping off the wire, so I took it apart, and added a few more beads to to make it a little longer. I like it better than it was.

I plan on making a couple of hair things soon...just because I want to. =0)

Kids aprons

2010-09-16T11:21:00.000-07:00

The other day when I was working on stuff, Enoch DID say "Mom, why don't you make me anything?", which I was worried would happen. So, I took out a simplicity pattern for some easy pajama pants and made him some shorts. Yes, it was my first actual pattern, and it was what I thought it would be. Hard to read. Even though I think it's the easiest one out there. I guess I just need to learn more sewing lingo, but it was easier for me to look at the pictures and then just try from that. I have to say, they turned out about as good as if I would have just done it without a pattern =0). He sleeps in them.

Tegan decided the other day after watching Strawberry Shortcake that she wanted to have her own cooking show that would be on the TV just like they did on the show. Her dad being the coolest dad EVER said "OK honey, let's do it". He has planned it all out with her. They'll do it today after she gets home from school, and he'll video tape her doing her own cooking show. She's pretty excited, but she said "what about an apron and a cooking hat?" The cooking hat will probably be made out of paper and plastic sacks, but I whipped her up an apron this morning while she was at school. I think it turned out pretty cute.

She can choose which side she wants to wear.

Knowing that Enoch will want to do his own cooking show as well, and so that he didn't feel left out, I made him one with the left over material from his shorts. I didn't want to have to make straps out of the material, but I also didn't want to use ribbon for a boy, so I just found what I could for his neck and waist ties.

A couple dresses

2010-09-06T14:27:00.000-07:00

I have a couple dresses that are kinda old, and not really in style anymore, but still look cute with the right shirt or cardigan and accessories. I don't wear them much though, because there are other dresses I'd rather wear ya know? So, I decided it was ok to try something new.

Being tall, dresses often fit me a little shorter then I think they are supposed to. That's the story with these two dresses, so first I cut the bottom off.

Then I cut that piece of fabric into two strips, one a little thicker then the other so that I could hem one side of it. Then I sewed them together to make one really long strip.

The most time consuming part was the folding and pinning and folding and pinning to make the pleated ruffle.

Sew it together, iron it flat, and this is what it looks like.

I'm not sure I love the finished product. It's still kind of a weird length. I didn't take into account that I'd be adding some length back on when I measured where to cut.

I do like how the flower dress turned out though.

It's a more flowy material so the ruffles lay nicely, and I shortened this one a little more knowing I'd be adding ruffles, so it hits right below the knee.

I made my ruffle shirt.

2010-08-29T16:22:00.000-07:00

So, I went ahead and attempted the ruffle shirt tutorial I saw on

All I had was a red shirt that said "I still believe in Santa" on the front (which I didn't feel like I could wear anymore because the kids now know that Santa isn't real, and I could only wear it at Christmas time anyway), and an old blue shirt to work with, but I REALLY wanted to try a ruffle shirt. So, here's what I ended up with.

I think the ruffles are BEAUTIFUL!

However, when I put it on, it did not look good AT ALL. Probably the combination of the two colors, and the higher neck. It kind of looked like I had a great big ruffly bib on. I had worked so hard on it though, and the ruffles were so pretty, that I couldn't just give up. So....I chopped it up. Yes, I really did. I cut it all to pieces, resized it, added a few more ruffles, and made a dress for Tegan =0).

She can totally pull it off.

Of course I had to make a hair thing with the left over fabric to match.

I said she kind of looked like she could be a Dr. Seuss Character, so Enoch grabbed his Cat in the Hat hat, and now they are reading Dr. Seuss books together.

Lace and ruffles = happiness =0)

2010-08-25T18:19:00.000-07:00

With this little cardigan of Tegan's I added a couple rows of lace on the front, and then I shortened the sleeves and added a couple layers of lace on those too. The back looks funny because I had to take it in a little. It was way too bulky in the back. It was also missing the top button, and since I didn't have any extra yellow buttons to match, I just made a little lace flower. I don't think I like the flower though.

Another pair of cute socks.

I added two rows of some thicker lace to this little skirt to make it a tiny bit longer, and to look cute I guess.

I also added the thicker lace to these sleeves.

Tegan wore this yesterday.

I had a bunch more thinner lace left over so I added four rows to this skirt.

I used my antiquey looking lace to sew a couple rows at the bottom of these cut offs, and added some buttons. You could even use some for a belt.

I like that it totally matches the hair thing I made when I went bow crazy.

I also added some to this simple brown v-neck I got at the thrift store.

Now for the ruffles.

I cut two long strips from an old white t-shirt, sewed a loose straight line down the center of them, pulled the top thread to ruffle them up, and then sewed them to the sleeves of my shirt.

This is actually after it went through the washer and dryer. The wash ruffled it up nicely.

With Tegan's shirt, I actually sewed the strips together inside out, and then you turn them right side out, and continue with the sewing and ruffling. It makes a more poofy ruffle, rather then a ragged edged ruffle. Does that make sense?

I kept wondering if I should try to add stuff around the neckline too, but Tegan didn't want me to, and with mine it would be almost too much embellishment I think.

This one I love! It's just a pink shirt that was stained, and that I was probably going to turn into a pajama shirt for Tegan, but I decided to experiment instead. I did long ruffle strips like the ones I added to the sleeves of my white shirt above, and then I added some flowers with extra fabric pieces from various projects, including the leftover sleeve material from the yellow cardigan I just added lace to.

This is also after it was washed.

What I REALLY want to be able to do someday are the shirts from this lady's blog.... Tea Rose Home. She buys two of the same shirt on a sale, cuts one up, and makes the prettiest shirts ever. Here's a couple of my favorites.

Everything I've seen on her site is AMAZING though. I just need to wait until I have a little more fundage to go buy shirts that are the same color, and such. I've just been using whatever I can get my hands on for free, or super super super cheap.

Go check it out.

Ok, on a side note. I know it must seem like I'm completely spoiling Tegan, but it's just because she's the little girl. I can't exactly make Enoch hair things, or put ruffles or lace on any of his clothes. I haven't done anything for Josh either besides hem up his pants, and stitch up the holes in his church socks =0). I would make Enoch some pajama pants like I did for Tegan, except that he actually has tons of pajama pants already. Any ideas on what I could do for him, so that he doesn't start to feel left out?

Misc. projects

2010-08-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

Here's a few things I've been up to.

Big sticky outy sleeves...

into cute ruffled sleeves. It looks better on an actual arm =0).

Basic hem job on some exercise pants that were too short.

I just made them into capris, and wasn't too worried about the thread matching or how they looked since they are just for exercise.

I found this waist (not hips) belt at the thrift store. It actually used to just have those rings on it, and I didn't think that looked very good, so I took them off, cut off the excess fabric, and made a flower pin to connect it.

When am I EVER going to wear a gold sequined belt. Not a clue, but it was so pretty and shiny...haha. It's actually really cute with just a black shirt.

Here are the clips I had started with that left over material from the black sweater I redid. One of the black flowers and the poof are clips, but the other black flower is a pin.

I changed the lighting in the picture so that you could see the detail better.

Wear them separate.

Or put on a head band, and wear them together.

Well, I had nothing left to fix, or change so I made Tegan some pajama pants. I basically just used some of her other pajama pants as my pattern. Someday I'll learn how to sew from an actual pattern, but I pull all that paper out with all that writing and my head almost explodes. =0)

She doesn't like how she hardly has any matching pajamas so I took a t-shirt, and just put the little bit of extra hello kitty material across the front to make it look like a set.

Now of course she wants to wear pajamas all day.

Sewing Day

2010-08-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

I had a sewing day yesterday. It was actually kind of frustrating at first. I woke up at 6:00...WAY TOO EARLY for me, and couldn't get back to sleep because I had ideas going through my head of what I wanted to do to some stuff. So I got out of bed, and got started. I actually took some before pictures this time.

This is just a pink shirt of Tegan's that had a big hole in the front. I attempted to sew it up, but it looked awful.

So I cut a strip out where the hole was, cut a strip of an old white t-shirt, and sewed it on. Then I used some scraps of an old shirt I had cut the bottom off for another project and made a little flower. The flower kind of looks like a target, but I'm hoping after the fabric rolls or crinkles up a little it'll look better.

This is an old black sweater of my grandmothers. I got it from my mom the same time as that other stuff I modified for Tegan, but I was just going to give this one away. I kind of liked the fringy stuff, but didn't know what I was going to do with it. I was feeling brave though, so here's what I did.

I cut the fringy stuff off, took a bunch of the bulk out of the sides all the way from the bottom through to the sleeves, shortened the sleeves, and then added the fringe back on in different places. So, now it's a more fitted open cardigan with 3/4 sleeves. I added the sleeve fringe back on, then I took the buttons off of one strip of fringe and put it around the neckline, and the other strip that had the button holes I twisted around and made the flower poof on the front.

This is a shirt I grabbed at the thrift store for like 25 cents. It was a back to school sale $3.00 bag day. I got the kids a bunch of school clothes. Anyway, when I got it home it was way too big around, but cute on top.

So I went around it a couple times with elastic thread so that it's fitted under the chest, and took out a couple inches of the bottom on each side. Now, it fits great.

This was a black Down East crew tee that is nice and long, but the neck was so high, so I didn't like to wear it under stuff, and the sleeves are so short I didn't want to just wear it by itself. I decided to try to fix the neckline. I cut out the origional neckline, and pinned it down, and sewed a couple stiches around it.

Then I added some elastic thread across the front for the ruffle look. It's super cute.

I like the black one so much I decided to do it to one of my white shirts, but on this one I also took out the seems of the sleeves and did the elastic thing around them too. Now I have a cute white shirt to go under jumpers and stuff.

I even made a couple more hair things. I saw this done somewhere and decided this shiny glittery fabric left over from Tegan's old cinderella costume that my mom made would be perfect. You cut out the circles then burn the edges with a lighter to make them kind of curl up, and not fray. Hot glue them together and wah lah (hmmm, I don't know how to spell that).

Tegan still in her pajamas, and hair not done, because I spent all day sewing...he he.

I was going to try the circle flower with some left over black sweater too, but I had to stop...you know to make dinner, and clean up. I'll post it when I get them done.

Bow crazy!

2010-08-10T15:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, I went a little crazy yesterday making hair things for Tegan. I'm talking hours. My poor family. I was in my own little world, but my creative juices were flowing, and I had the motivation...so I didn't want to stop.

Here's some of the smaller ones.

These kind were in style when I was a kid. I used to make them and try to sell them at craft shows when I was like...I don't know...9 or something. I still think they are pretty though.

Here's some more lace ones that I made out of the lace my mom grabbed at a thrift store.

These are fun. The green ones are actually a clip, and a pin (I may have to borrow them), and then there's another long green ribbon to match that can go around the waist of a dress or something.

I like the red one. It looks like a Christmas present ribbon.

Big bows with some of my favorite ribbons I had. I LOVE RIBBON!!

These have a longer piece to use as a headband, and then you clip the flower on to keep it in place.

More of the lace my mom got. It looks old fashioned. Pretty pretty.

This is to give you an idea of how big some of the bigger clips are.

She is all set for Kindergarten.

Josh says I should sell them, but I want to keep them all =0).

Like I said. I went a little crazy, and these are just the ones I made yesterday. She's got lots of big flowers, and other stuff I've made or gotten in the past, and some headbands.

Jewelry stands and socks =0)

2010-08-10T14:40:00.000-07:00

So here are my new jewelry stands, which I LOVE, by the way.

I used to have a smallish jewelry box, but somehow I just accumulated too much jewelry for it. Then I tried an accessory holder thingy, but the necklaces weren't hanging, and kept getting all tangled up.

I looked online at a bunch of different jewelry boxes, and things you could hang on your wall, but finally decided on these. I got them on Amazon I think, and it was $30 for both. So, quite a bit cheaper then a great big jewelry box.

I think it's great fun to see all my sparkly jewelry displayed all the time.

I grabbed a long strand of green beads the last time I was at the thrift store for like 25 cents. It was really long, and you could tell the string was really old. So, I shortened the necklace, and made a bracelet and earrings to match. It drives me crazy when I don't have earrings to go with necklaces and vise versa.

While we were visiting in Idaho again my awesome sister in law let me make some jewelry with her beads and stuff. Thanks again!!! I love these massive pink earrings.

These beads are fun. Sometimes they look baby blue, sometimes purple. It depends on the light.

Can you tell I like the big round beads?

While in Idaho I also bought some stretchy ribbon at the craft store. Half a yard of each color.

I brought the ribbon home, and made Tegan's plain socks into cute socks.

Fun fun.

Another quick sewing fix

2010-07-17T10:39:00.001-07:00

First off I want you to know that I felt completely ridiculous posing for these pictures, and I now feel completely ridiculous posting them, but all well right.

This is a little red dress I got at Wal-mart for like $3.00 I think. I had gotten the black leggings for that much a while ago, and so I'm always on the look out for stuff that I could wear with them. Obviously this dress is too short to be an actual dress. It came with a weird thin red and gold belt, so I added a big black one I grabbed at the thrift store.

The adjustment I made was to the sleeves. They were a little big around my arm, and kind of stuck out. I'm sure everybody has a few shirts like that. So, I just ruffled them. It's super easy. I've done it to a few shirts now.

You can get elastic thread at Wal-mart, and you just hand wind your bobbin with it, and use regular thread on top. Instead of going back and forth to keep your seem in place, you leave them loose so that you can adjust the tightness if needed, and then you hand tie it together afterwards. No more loose sleeves.

Thanks to my seven year old son for being my photographer...haha.

Hair Cuts

2010-07-17T10:28:00.000-07:00

Ok, so hair cuts might not seem like much of a project, but for me it was this time. I attempted something I have never tried before. I layered Tegan's hair =0).

I have always cut Josh and Enoch's hair. My mom cut my dad and five brother's hair all my life so when I got married I asked her to show me how to do it so that I could learn. It definitely saves us some money. Josh wants his hair cut ALL THE TIME.

Enoch's is nice and short for summer. I like it a little better longer on top, but it will grow back before school starts. It's just so hot right now, and no matter how much stuff you put in his hair if he gets hot and sweaty it goes POOF. Even when it's this short it's foofy at the end of the day. What a handsome toothless boy.

I have cut Tegan's hair in the past, but just one length. I've seen my hair layered a million times, so I knew what to do. I was just never brave enough. Her hair was starting to get kind of straggly though because some of it would curl, and some of it wouldn't. So, I was feeling ambitious, and I just did it. I think it's adorable.

Now she has the perfect wave. If I sound jealous of my daughter's hair it's because I am...haha. She didn't have hair until she was 2, but it's always been so beautiful.

Maybe someday I'll actually learn how to cut hair for real.

My latest projects

2010-07-09T16:09:00.001-07:00

I decided because I'm having so much fun with my new sewing machine, and I'm so proud of myself...I just had to share some of my latest projects. I haven't sewn anything from the beginning yet, with patterns and all. I have just done lots of modifications. I've hemmed a lot of pants, and taken in the sides of shirts that didn't fit right, and altered some stuff. I've always gotten a great sense of satisfaction when buying or getting clothes that need a little love, or that I wouldn't use otherwise, and fixing them. Even if it's just that they have a small hole. I get most of our clothes at thrift stores or clothing swaps, so that's why I have stuff that I end up with that doesn't fit, or work the way it is.

Anyway, here we go. Sorry about the blurry, and not so great pictures. Photography is not a talent I possess.

This is a long black shirt I had that always had to have a shirt under it, and the sleeves were still a little too short for comfort.

I took a cute little pink and black polka-dotted shirt (that was too small) that came with a cute black vest and took the vest off to wear with whatever I want, cut up the shirt, and attached it to the needed places on the black shirt. Then I added a few ruffles at the neck and sleeves with some elastic thread, and with extra fabric and a black button, I made a matching to pin. This one is unfortunately cuter laying then it is on =0(.

This is a pink shirt I had that again, always had to have a shirt under it, because it was too short.

So I took a white and pink polka-dotted shirt that was too small, cut off the bottom, and attached it to the bottom of the pink shirt. The pink dots happened to match the other pink perfectly.

Then I took the extra material, and a pink bead, and made a pin to match.

Both of the shirts are a lot cooler now that I don't have to layer.

I don't have any before pictures. Sorry. When I get the idea in my head I just kind of do it.

This one was a little jumper I grabbed. I thought maybe I'd wear it with a white shirt under it, and black leggings, because on me it would be a super short mini dress. Anyway, it didn't fit right, so I cut the top off, and made it into a skirt. Add a thick black ruffly belt, and you're set.

This one started as a jumper as well. Kind of a funny style, and a weird length on me, so I never wore it, but I loved the colors and pattern. I finally figured out what to do with it. I cut off the bottom, and made myself a long drawstring skirt. Love it!

I'm limited in my thread colors still, so you can see the white thread around the top, but that will always be covered by a shirt anyway.

I also cut off the top of a black velvet dress I've had forever, and just made it into a long skirt.

Now onto Tegan fun =0). My mom gave me a few things that my grandmother was giving away. Older styles, and stuff that wouldn't fit, but I looked at it all and thought.... project.

The first is a dark maroon skirt that fit around my waist, but was too short, and not my style. So I cut it down, sewed it back together, and made a skirt for Tegan.

It looks like she has no arms, but they are behind her back.

She LOVES it. It's a really flowy material, so she calls it her princess skirt. She's been wearing it off and on for 3 days now.

This next one was a big collared shirt, but I thought it had a cute fake eyelet pattern. I cut off the top, and made a kind of bubble skirt for Tegan.

It's a little weird I know. I didn't actually know what I was doing. I just made it up as I went along.

This next one is so cute. It was a blue skirt of my grandma's that when my mom pulled out, Tegan wanted to dress up in. As soon as she put it on, I saw jumper. So, I cut it to fit her, and added some straps.

The straps are from the blue plaid jumper I made myself the drawstring skirt out of.

My sister-in-law and I swap kids clothes, so they go through a few kids, and start to get pretty worn out. This was a pair of jeans that were starting to get holes in the knees, and they were just too adorable to cut up, or get rid of, so I attempted patches. I thought they turned out pretty good. I just did it by hand, and I knew they'd do the frayed look on the edges. They've been through the wash a few times. So far so good.

Knowing that I could do patches, I got another pair of really nice jeans that got a little hole in the knee, took the leftover fabric from that blue plaid jumper =0), folded it into rectangles, and sewed them on.

They are still a little big on Tegan, so the patches look too low.

I think mostly everybody has seen these, but I thought I'd post them anyway. It's a couple big lace flowers that I just hot glued together. I made one into a clip for Tegan that she's worn a few times, and one into a big pin for me...that I have yet to wear =0). Here's the tutorial on how to make them if you want to try it. They are super easy. My mom just grabbed me a bunch of new lace at the thrift store so I'm excited to do more stuff.

Well, that's all the most recent stuff. I'll post again if I do anything else.

Here's a site that is always so fun to go to and see what she has created, or saved from older stuff. She's definitely more talented than I, but I find it all very inspirational. Ruffles and Stuff

My 11th win

2009-11-12T15:22:00.000-08:00

I entered a giveaway on the Catch the Drift with Mama Snow Blog...

And I won these 6.5-7.0mm Single Stud Black Saltwater Akoya Pearl Earrings

from Museum Way Pearls.

They are beautiful. They even came in a nice box with an appraisal and everything.

My 10th win

2009-11-12T13:53:00.001-08:00

I entered a contest on this Etsy it up blog...

and won these 5 super cute Christmas themed hair clips

from a little Etsy shop called Sweet Bitty Bows.

Win 7, 8, and 9

2009-10-13T09:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, am I ever behind. I did win a few more things. I never win the big stuff (vacuum cleaners and such), but I've won some pretty cute little things =0). My 7th and 8th win were back in July.

Number 7 was from the Shop With Me Mama blog.

I won the Nature's Paradise baby gift set worth over $50.

It was a perfect gift for a baby shower I went to.

My 8th win was from the Born 2 Impress blog.

I won the Is a Belt Giveaway.

I really like it. It's a clear, stretchy belt for when you need a belt to hold up your loose pants, but don't want the belt bulk under your shirt.

For a while I didn't win anything because I really didn't enter any giveaways. We had vacations, then things were busy with school starting. Then I decided I really only needed to enter the giveaways that I was interested in. I was spending too much of my time entering everything...haha. Anyway, I did win something this month though.

My 9th win is from the Fabulous Fun Finds blog. They always have such great stuff. It's also one of my favorite sites as far as giveaway sites go. Everything is clear, and simple, and easy to understand. It's very organized, and visually pleasing.

From them I just won two super cute Halloween hair clips...

from the etsy shop called Made with Love and Glue.

My 6th Win

2009-07-08T10:53:00.000-07:00

My most recent win was from My Wee View

Where I won some body wash

from Breathe Natural

My 5th Win

2009-07-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

My 5th win was from Pour some Sugar on Me

where I won two new hair things for my little girl from an Etsy shop called Avy's Boutique.

I chose this big 4 inch white Boutique bow, and a black one just like it. They are so cute.

She even sent one extra clip that looked a lot like these...just to say Thank you I guess. I didn't exactly purchase anything...I won them, but it was fun to get another free clip.

Just the Most Beautiful Tutus ever.

2009-05-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

Tiaras Boutique is an Etsy shop that has the most adorable and beautiful tutus, and fairy wings, and Tutu dresses, and costumes I've ever seen. Her goal was to create these amazing things at an affordable price for everyone. If I was rich, I'd by my daughter everything there was, and then give all my little nieces some too. Go check it out.

My First Win

2009-05-28T15:42:00.000-07:00

I won this $50's worth of ebooks that were e-mailed to me by entering a Giveaway on the Peanut Butter and Pickles website.

My Second Win

2009-05-28T15:37:00.001-07:00

I won these earrings from Zurina Ketola Desings by entering a contest on The Giveaway blog.

My Third Win

2009-05-28T15:19:00.000-07:00

I won this $50 GC from The Goldsmith Co. Jewelry store in Provo, Utah. It had to be used by that weekend though, so I gave it to my sister-in-law who lives there in Provo as a Mother's Day Present. She said that she got a beautiful bracelet. They were also giving out coupons for free pearl necklaces while supplies lasted, so she was able to get one of those also. I won by entering a giveaway on the Crazi Beautiful Women website.

My Fourth Win

2009-05-28T14:53:00.000-07:00

I won this from a company called JD Premium by entering a contest on the blog - Frugal Mommy of 2 Girls.