And Now For Something Completely Different...

Hello from my iPad! I've never blogged this way before but since I took the pics of my most recent project on here I thought this would be the easiest way to do it! 

I've decided to start this new blog to document sewing and craft projects. My first post is going to be relatively short because I don't have much to say about it yet...its a WIP. :) 

My sons occupational therapist told us he needs to keep working on some fine motor skills so I decided to make him a "busy book" or "quiet book" to help him work on his motor functions. I was inspired by this super cute one by Forty Two Roads. Hers is way cuter but my kiddo doesn't care about all the pretty stuff and embellishments--its all about function here! It's a work in progress but here's what I did today. 

All of the clothes or doodads on the pages were purchased at a local thrift store for less than $10. The backing is some placemats I picked up at Dollar Tree. More pages will be added as I find things for him to work on. I have some belts and some Velcro page ideas. 

Lacing Page:

Buckle Page:

Zippers (and snaps) and Buttons:

Snaps:

Firefly Craftiness!

This coming weekend I'm going to be participating in my 2nd 5K. I walked with a group of my favorite girls last year and loved it so much that we're doing it again this year. If you've never experienced FireflyRun DFW you need to.

Our theme this year is "geek chic" (thanks to the suggestion by my awesome friend Chris.) Nothing screams geek to me more than argyle (I should know, I love it) so I knew I wanted to incorporate it into my costume. I couldn't find an argyle sweater vest at the thrift store, but I found an awesome (brand new, with tags, 3XL Old Navy) argyle sweater and decided to fashion my own! (Plus, it needed girly flair, and traditional argyle sweaters lack the flair.)

I made my own pattern from some paper grocery bags I had in the pantry (I used another vest as a sort of "guide" but ended up just kind of hand sketching it.) I had enough sweater to make the front of the vest plus the lining (thanks to the sleeves) and a back piece but I needed some lining for the back so I hit my fabric stash and grabbed some cute kid jammie fabric (complete with monsters on it.)

The whole thing took less than 2 hours from start to finish and I can't wait to wear it with the rest of my costume! :)

Lucas's Christmas Stocking

If you've never been to Prudent Baby, you are missing out. I freakin' LOVE this website--these ladies have fabulous tutorials and super-cute projects that sewing geeks like me love. I made Lucas a stocking using the same fabric as the tree skirt because I had enough leftover. His stocking is by far the coolest one on the mantle right now. (The rest of them came from the Dollar Tree store.) Here is the link to the Christmas Stocking pattern and tutorial from Prudent Baby!

Starfish Tree Topper

I love to craft, and I love to spend countless hours in stores like Hobby Lobby, Joann Fabrics and Michaels. I've been searching for the "perfect" tree topper but never came across anything I loved. Since we have a "beachy" theme I thought a starfish would be the perfect topper. After a trip to Hobby Lobby and a quick whip of the glue gun, here's my gorgeous starfish tree topper! Goes great with the Floridian Christmas Tree Skirt that I made in November.

A Floridian's Christmas Tree Skirt

So, this year is the first year we're actually going to be home for Christmas. We've lived in our house for 3 years but usually we go to New Mexico. Now that we have Lucas, we're going to be staying home so he can have Christmas in his own house. I married a Florida boy and I wanted to create a theme that would incorporate a little of his "beach bum" persona and this is what I came up with. It all started with the tree skirt--a blend of coordinating fabrics that are not "traditional" in the usual sense. I love that Santa has Bermuda shorts on and that there are fish and palm trees on the blue water-colored fabric. I used a tree skirt from Dollar Tree to figure out the size and to back the skirt with and I kind of just made up the rest as I went along! My son thought it was fun to wear as a cape...

Dog Food Bag Purse

My friend Kristin over at Pawsitive U asked me if I would make a few things for her Chihuahua rescue group this year and this is one of the projects. Its made from a "repurposed"paper dog food bag, some fringe and aquarium tubing that I got at Petsmart. I guess it could be used to carry a Chihuahua in too.

The Repurposed Chip Bag Shopping Tote

I run a club at my school called the Ecomaniacs--we just started this year and so far its been a lot of fun. The purpose of our club is to make fashion and crafts from materials that might otherwise be thrown away (for instance, the ridiculous amounts of chip bags that get thrown in the school cafeteria trashcans.) To demonstrate what "could" be done with the bags I made this bag. Its just a prototype. Future models would need some vinyl sewn onto the top to make it sturdier and more durable, but this is the start of something fun! I took this pic from my cell phone so its not the best one but its what I had at the time.