As I said yesterday, I wanted to share a bit more about the decorating and goody bags from CT’s 3rd Birthday Party. I was very frazzled the day of, so all these photos were taken the day after! Just imagine cupcakes sitting on the white tray in the middle, some macarons on the two tiered tray and more “goody bags” in that white basket. Plus other odds and ends that were moved about.

It was a lot of fun to pick everything out, be it handmade, from a store or just from around the house. I didn’t go overboard, and I think it looked very cute and sweet. I really wish I had taken photos the day of!!!

I accidentally stumbled onto a color theme. It all started with those paper chains, I just picked out a multi pack of paper in what I thought were cute colors. After making them all (at night and in the car btw) I started to buy other things in the same colorways. All of the plastic silverware was in those colors, the last minute “Happy Birthday” banner matched (I meant to make one), even the flowers I found the night before matched! I sorta, kinda, accidentally made it all match! Ha. I love when things work out that way.

Oh and the wrapped picture frames! A lot of the guest liked those. I mainly did it because I felt the photos artwork underneath wasn’t really appropriate for a kid’s birthday party. It’s my Jordan Crane Triptych of a party with loads of booze on the ground, you can see it here. It’s fine for everyday viewing, just not a birthday.

I love the way it all looks, and I really don’t want to take it all down. Do I have to?

Ok, now onto the little chef hats…

These were a last minute idea! I mean, four days before the party last minute. I was flipping through the Fabric-by-Fabric One-Yard Wonders book to see if there were any xmas gifts I could make, when I came across the pattern for a kid’s adjustable chefs hat and apron. I read through the instructions and figured they wouldn’t be too hard to make, so I made a test one. The one above actually. It took me about 25 minutes from start to finish (I’ve been told I sew FAST, so it make take others longer). I figured 11 kids were coming, and that they would only take me an afternoon to make one for each. It kinda did. I ran out of some supplies halfway through and had to wait until I could go out and get them. Then I waited until the night before to attach the velcro, which wasn’t the best idea. But I’m glad I made them! All the kids looked soooo cute decorating their cupcakes while wearing chef hats!!

Now onto the goody bags, or in our case, balls! My original plan was to make the bags for the goody bags, but after seeing the over sized gumball machine capsules above, I changed my mind! How cool are they? We bought them in blue, green and purple. CT picked out a kazoo, mini view-master camera thingy, some chocolate and tattoos/stickers. I didn’t want to only have plastic trinkets in the balls though, so like an insane woman, I also made the crayon rolls! Another last minute idea. I felt crazy making them, so I didn’t even tell my husband what I was doing until I was halfway through. I didn’t want someone else thinking I was crazy too! They actually took less time then I thought they would and I was able to just use scrap fabric from my stash.

In the end it was all more work than I anticipated, but you know what? I felt great about the way the house looked and the things I sent home with each kid! Now they each have a chef hat for pretend play, and a crayon roll to take with them anywhere. Plus I made one of each for CT too. I wouldn’t change a thing, well, with the exception of having more sewing machine needles on hand.

I know there’s loads of tutorials online to make crayon rolls, I didn’t use any of them because of their sizes. Would anyone be interested in a tutorial to make these simple ones?

Saturday was Crafty Bastards. It is an Arts and Crafts Fair held in Washington DC. It’s pretty close to home and is almost always super busy, which is why I love the show so much.

Normally my husband or sister would help me at the show, but this year that just wasn’t in the cards. Instead, luckily, my friend Molly was able to help me! No offense to my husband or sister, but Molly was the absolute best helper I’ve ever had! Thank you! It made the show a bit calmer for me to have her there. Though the start of the show was of course hectic. I’m apparently not that great at giving directions (especially when im distracted by talking), so we missed a few exits and arrived late for set up. By the time we were done getting ready, shoppers were walking around, so the only picture I was able to get of my booth was the above one (it was my view of the booth all day). There were so many people I just couldn’t get a picture in any other direction. I need to get better with documenting things again. The show was great. It was in a new location, so I was a bit worried at first, but once the aisles filled up I felt fine. I sold a bunch of my new pieces, and I was able to see which pieces people liked more than others. That’s always useful. I was also able to see a bunch of old friends from the area and from other shows.

I was so tired from the week leading up to the show that I didn’t get up and shop as much as I usually do. I only gave myself the last 20 minutes to shop, so I was pretty much speed shopping! Ha. I did get a few neat things…

Above you can see the few items I got…

- The set of prints are by Berkley Illustration. They have loads of prints and it was really hard narrowing it down to two. If I had had more time I may have even purchased more. I just thought the Cowboy T-Rex print would complement are eclectic style the best , and the Hedgehog print is actually for someone else.

- The light aqua colored coyote skull is by Skullery. It’s actually a hand cast plastic replica. I talked to the artist for a minute or two, and found out that it is made out of the same material as my jewelry. How cool is that?!? I love odd things like this, but I only like replicas or faux versions. I just can’t bring myself to bring a real skull in the house, so these are perfect! I want more!!

- The large plush mushroom is by My Paper Crane. Heidi’s booth was actually right next to mine, and I saw this mushroom the second we started setting up. I love pretty much all the stuff she makes, but I am always drawn to the larger pieces. Larger pieces can be displayed on couches or on the ground. Perfect for someone running out of shelf space, like me. This particular piece is on the couch since CT thinks it’s hers. I tried to buy her something at the show, but they were sold out of her size, so since she’s careful with things I let her have the mushroom… for now.

This was the smallest, and quickest, shopping spree I’ve ever done at a show. I did collect a bunch of business cards from booths I really liked. So I may still get a few more items.

Crafty Bastards really was great this year, I really enjoyed it and I hope to do it again next year!!

Oh and Sunday I started holiday shopping, with a quick stop at an antique mall. It wasn’t AS exciting as Saturday, but I did find some neat things. I’ll share them tomorrow!

I tried out several patterns before I was happy with the outcome. The first few were commercial patterns I bought at Joanns. They never quite fit CT right, and the sizes were all wonky. Very disappointing, and such a waste of my time. In the end I found one on Etsy by Ruby Jeans Closet. The pattern is called the Peony Flower Girl Dress, and is absolutely perfect for simple princess dresses. The instructions were super easy to understand, you don’t need any hard to find supplies and the sizes are perfect! I also like the pattern because it’s easy to change up a bit, so I can make each dress a little different to fit whatever theme I want. One pattern can yield so many different dresses. I was only able to finish four dresses before our trip, but I have plans for so many more once things die down.

The first dress I was able to finish was a Minnie Mouse inspired dress. My original plan was to make it red and white polka dotted, but I remembered last minute that Minnie wears PINK on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and CT knows her from that show. Luckily Joann’s has the same exact fabric in pink! I may go back and get the red and make a second dress, because it’s just too cute on her.

The only thing I changed on the pattern to make this dress was the waistband. In the instructions you’re supposed to put the band on the inside of the dress to hold the elastic, I put it on the outside to add a little detail. The next one I make I’m also going to put a little lace around the arm hole, just beacuse.

Oh and funny thing, CT is doing a robot dance in the first photo, It’s really funny and cute in person.

The second dress is Marvel Comics themed. This dress kinda happened by accident. While I was picking out the fabric for the rest of the dresses, my husband was wandering the store with CT. He found this fabric and asked me what we could make with it. I was still in “lets make dresses” mode, so I said I’d make CT a dress out of it. Since Disney is now associated with Marvel, I thought why not make it for the trip! I didn’t know what to call it, but by the end of the trip I said CT was dressed up as a comic book store. Ha, that totally confused people.

I did change the pattern a bit more for this dress. I cut the pattern on the line meant as a waistband guide, so that I could use two different fabrics (I thought an entire dress made out of this would be a bit much) I also added some of the patterned fabric to the sleeves as casing for the elastic. I think it added a nice little touch to the dress.

The third dress is actually my favorite one, and was a lot of fun to make. It’s a Snow White inspired dress, and was the dress CT wore as her actual costume for the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at Disney World. It’s super lightweight and very flowy, great for spinning apparently. A bunch of people called CT Snow White throughout the day, and after awhile she started to love that (I think she was a bit confused at first).

So the changes to this dress are very similar to the changes on the Marvel dress. I used the waistband guideline as the cutline again. I also used a different colored fabric for the sleeves, which I appliqued the red stripes on myself since I couldn’t find the right material in stores. I also added white binding around the sleeves as the elastic casing. Oh and I added the little red bow. I felt very good after making this specific dress and hope I can make all the princesses for her eventually.

The last dress! This dress is Alice in Wonderland inspired, though we were also told that it looked like Belle before she got that pretty yellow ballgown. Two costumes in one! CT really enjoyed wearing this one and everyone either called her Alice or asked if she’d met Alice yet (which she had, while wearing the Minnie dress).

This dress seriously took me the longest to make. It had a bit more details, had to be more precise and I had to free hand the apron pieces. I basically just winged it all! Ha! The way I changed the pattern on this one was kinda like the Minnie Mouse dress. I placed the elastic casing on the outside of the dress again, but this time I placed the apron pieces underneath the casing to make it look like all one piece. Because of the gathering around the neck, the apron pieces were only attached at the waist, their loose everywhere else. That way it laid flat. I didn’t attach the straps until I tried the entire thing on CT, that way I knew exactly how long to make them. It was a bit more work, but I’m beyond happy with the outcome. If I ever do it again, I’ll add some white casing to the armholes and some ruffles on the apron.

These dresses took me an entire week to make, but I’m happy I made them all. I think having themed dresses just added that little touch to our trip that we’ll remember for years to come!

Edit: I forgot the best part!!!… each dress cost me on average about $6 to make, and If I had a 50% off coupon for Joanns instead of the 30% off one I used, they would cost even less. 

The Wonky Woodgrain above I actually created specifically for wallpaper, I really wanted the dark gray for my dining room. I ordered the swatch and was about to order the 8 huge rolls needed to do it, but then I changed my mind. I ended up painting the walls the same color, just no squiggly woodgrain lines. I’m still trying to find a place in my house for this paper… maybe as an accent wall? or in my soon to be new sewing room? I’ll figure it out.

I’ve also made it so most of my other fabric designs can be used as wallpaper too. Not all of them worked well, and I tweaked some to make sure the pattern wasn’t too big or too small. I’m really happy with the way they all came out. Oh and now you can also purchase monster decals and growth charts to go with the fabric!!

I also created an alphabet wall decal set that coordinates with most of my girl themed monster fabrics. I actually ordered a set for CT’s room that I will show once we finish painting her room. (and that won’t be until we have a free weekend!!) Each letter is around 8″ tall. and can be cut out and configured anyway you like. The decals feel a lot like fabric is don’t rip easily, Oh and they can re-positioned numerous times! I’ve been testing them!

As you can tell from this post, I’m super excited! I just wish I had more time in the day to do all the projects I want to do. I would seriously make so many things out of wallpaper.

Is anyone going to try out Spoonflower’s new wallpaper or decals? Have you already tried? I’d love to see!!

I have searched fan sites, google, etsy, flickr and pinterest for some inspiration. I think I may have searched too much, because now I’m overwhelmed with possibilities. I have to take into account my body shape, the weather and what I’ll actually feel comfortable in… Ugh!

Have you seen any on the internet that you think I may like? That won’t take me forever to make? I still have to make CT’s costume too! I’m also stumped with hers, more because she can’t decide, not because I can’t make it.

I guess I could just be lazy and buy a trench coat, red chucks and a blazer…

Don’t worry, she also loves princesses, dressing up and everything else girly. CT is a very well rounded toddler.

Her 2nd birthday is coming up soon. Next Sunday to be exact. I really wanted to make her a few of her gifts, something she would actually enjoy and play with. I’ve been thinking about it for awhile actually, and I ended up choosing a cape and shield.

I started with the shield. I wanted to do an actual Captain America’s shield, all red white and blue, but apparently I forgot to buy blue felt. I had a horribly stressful time the last time I went to Joanns (xmas shoppers are CRAZY), So I just said “whatever” and made it Red, White and Pink.

Want to know what the coolest part about this shield is?

It’s form is made with help from a frisbee!!! Yep, I thought of this while picking up CT toys one day. I didn’t know if it would actually work, so I was pleasantly surprised when it did!

Would you like to make your own? I made sure to take photo’s while I was putting this together. So if your interested, keep reading…

Supplies Needed:

• a frisbee, mine was a 9″ plastic one from the dollar store
• a piece of red felt approximately 11″x24″ (cut from a bolt)
• a piece of 3/4″ elastic about 4-5″ long
• a loose piece of white felt (the kind found in sheets)
• a loose piece of grey felt (the kind found in sheets)
• a loose piece of either pink or blue felt (the kind found in sheets)
• a glue gun with glue sticks
• tacky glue
• star and circle template
• scissors
• coordinating thread for each piece of felt (optional)
• a compass (if your frisbee isn’t 9″)

I’m not too great at showing how I did things. I warn you ahead of time! If something seems like it’s missing, just comment below and I’ll fix it.

First thing, print out the star and circle template. I know it looks like all one pattern piece, it isn’t. I just wanted to save paper and fit it all on one piece of paper. I suggest cutting out the large circle first, tracing it on the felt. Then move onto the next size until you come to the star. you should end up with 3 SOLID felt circles and one star. not rings. Trace each piece onto felt and cut them out. I made sure to label each piece.

After you have all your template pieces traced and cut out, get the frisbee and trace it onto the felt TWICE. make sure to leave about an inch around one of the outlines when tracing (you need that extra felt for stretching over the edge later). Cut out one of the circles on the traced line. Cut out the other circle with a 1″ allowance around the entire thing.

Put the smaller frisbee circle aside, you’ll need it later. Take all your other circles and stack them, trying to make them as even as possible. As pictured above. Once you have them the way you like, glue them in place. If you are choosing to not top-stitch or hand-stitch the edges, I would suggest gluing all the way to the edge and securing all the edges as well as you can. If you plan on sewing the pieces just use enough glue to keep them all in place. I used tacky glue. My specific glue required that I wait about 2 hours for it all to dry. It really needs to be completely dry before you can continue.

Ok, so this step is if your top-stitching or hand-stitching yours. Shown above is me top-stitching. I pinned the pieces just to give that last bit of security. I just used a small stitch around the edge of each piece. You could also hand-stitch this in the same manner, or any manner you like! I will say that there is a lot of bulk around the star, My machine can normally handle a lot, but it had some issues there. Seriously a first for me. Once your finished, clip all the loose threads and set the front piece aside. For now.

Now were onto the back piece. Using some of the leftover red felt and cut out two rectangles measuring approximately 2″x3″. enough to cover the ends of the elastic.

Pin the piece of elastic to the back of the other red piece of felt, not the front piece we just put together. Try and center it (I forgot to take a picture of this step). To make it all really secure I zigzag stitched the short edges to the felt, as shown above. You could also hand sew it. I just wanted to make sure it didn’t break on CT.

Next place a small rectangle on each end of the, now secured, elastic. I pinned mine. This will make the handle even more secure and cover up the raw ends of the elastic. Stitch in anyway you choose, I top-stitched just like I did on the front piece.

Were almost done. Now is the time to plug in your glue gun and get it nice and hot. I used a bunch of glue sticks, so I suggest having a few extra easily at hand.

take your front piece, the one that has all the rings and star on it and place it design side DOWN. Place just enough glue on the back side to hold the frisbee lightly. Center the frisbee and attach the top of the frisbee to the back side of the front piece. Flip it over and see how centered it is. If it’s not to your liking, take them apart and try again. That’s why I suggested not too much glue.

I stretched the sides over the same way I would stretch a canvas. You glue one small piece on one side, then go to the opposite side and pull the fabric taught and glue a little, then turn it slightly and repeat. This way you will have a nice even stretched piece. You can kinda see what I’m talking about in the photo above. Also, while doing this, please be very careful! It really hurts when you burn yourself with hot glue, make sure to either cover your fingertips or be very gentle and don’t rush.

This is what it should look like once it’s all stretched and secured.

Next step… glue the back piece, the one with the elastic attached, to back of the frisbee. I would only glue the center, just to secure it. Then once it’s centered glue all the edges down. Secure it as nicely as you can.

This is what the back should look like once your done! Which by the way, your done!!! Hot glue dries super super quick, so your new shield is all ready to be played with and enjoyed!!

I don’t have real action shots yet since CT won’t be opening her gifts for a whole week.

I would love to see all the finished shields you guys make!! Maybe you’ll go with a different super hero? Maybe you’ll use your child’s initial? Or a different sized frisbee? The possibilities are endless. Anything goes when your fighting crime.

Next up… A cape! A girl themed cape, of course.

I LOVE to cross stitch. It’s very calming to me. I wait until after CT goes to bed and I just cuddle up with a blanket and watch some TV while stitching away.

Lately I’ve been buying all my patterns from Wee Little Stitches. We love nerdy stuff in our house, and they make awesome nerdy patterns. I highly recommend checking out their etsy shop.

the Tardis, pictured above, is from one of their Doctor Who patterns.

If you would like to see how I made this piece into an ornament, please keep reading…First off, I started this pattern on PLASTIC mesh, not fabric. I felt it would make it easier to cut around and I wouldn’t have to worry about fraying. I live in Maryland and currently can only find this stuff at Hobby Lobby (the closest is 45 minutes away) and sometimes I can find a stray piece here and there at AC Moore. Usually hidden with the regular plastic canvas.

It’s different than the normal plastic canvas in one way, and one way only. It’s perforated, so its small holes evenly spaced, instead of a square grid. I think this stuff is great! You don’t need a hoop and every project I use it in looks so crisp and clean.

See all the little holes?

Next choose any pattern you want and start stitching! The Tardis above took me about a weeks worth of nights to finish. Depending on your pattern, it may take you more, or less, time.

Above is my finished piece.

Next you’ll want to cut around your design, but make sure to cut at least one row away! If you want a larger border around the edge, cut a little more. Just be careful not to cut into any of the slots holding thread.

Here I have the Tardis almost completely cut out. I went boxy on the edges, to keep with the pixelated design, but you don’t need to.

Next I cut a piece of yarn double the length of the loop I wanted on the top. Fold it in half and glue it on the back of your piece where you feel it would hang best. I used Tacky Glue because I was afraid my glue gun might melt the plastic canvas. It worked out well. I left it to dry for about 30 minutes before moving onto the next step.

You’ll need a piece of felt for the back of your ornament, I chose white wool felt, only because it was the best color I had on hand that matched. You could very easily use any kind of felt in this project, I don’t believe it would matter. I piled a bunch of tacky glue on the back of the finished piece, flipped it over and lined up the top, where the loop was, with the edge of the felt. I thought this would help with cutting it out later. It did.

I wanted the piece to dry flat and evenly, so I placed a piece of wax paper on top and then about four large books to weigh it down. I let it be for 3 hours before disturbing it.

Once you feel it is dry enough, carefully cut around the edge of the felt, all the way to the edge of the plastic. As you can see from my photo, I had a loose thread that got caught in the edge. oops. Though it does illustrated the sandwich effect nicely.

Now your ornament is ready to hang!

I’ve never written a “how to” before, so my apologies for anything that may be missing. Thanks!