cute for a cause

Do you remember the first blog you found, the one that you checked every day for updates? For me, high on that list was Naptime Diaries. I loved this mommy's heart for her kids, her husband, her Jesus and the Church, her friends. And coffee. Girl after my own heart. So when I saw that this sweet family is planting a church in Boston and they're raising money to do so, I couldn't help but get in on the action.

Jessi is holding a raffle on her blog this week for all kinds of awesome stuff. You donate $10 [toward the church-planting effort] and you're entered for a chance to win these awesome prizes. So far, there's been the.most.amazing video you can have made of your cuties, some fab running skirts and now, this...

I told you I've been a sewing machine! [No pun intended. Really.] Now I can say it's been for a reason other than keeping busy during the football games :)

Listen up, folks. Head on over to Naptime Diaries and enter for a chance to win this sweet package, including:

a rosette headband, made with an old sweater

...an a-dorable checkbook cover


...a sassy little makeup bag


...and my fave, this reusable coffee sleeve. Because I've been on a kick lately and who doesn't want to drink their Starbucks in style?

Now go! You won't regret it :)

weekend recap: perfecting the coffee sleeve

I told you I was working on a new and improved version!

The weekend was really quite lovely. I had an unexpected and welcomed visit from my aunt, who I adore. I'm convinced that my desire to be well-dressed and classy came straight from her gene pool. And perhaps that's the same gene pool that feeds my tendency to be slightly high maintenance, but that's neither here nor there :)

Here we are in Charleston for my spring break, during my sophomore year in college. We've been doing girls' weekends since I was 12 years old. This was about 5 days after Andrew and I started dating and what you don't see is the phone clutched in my other hand, waiting for his name to pop up on my caller ID. Oh, dating...

As is typical of our visits, we ate well [read: over-ordered and ate too much], shopped [read: bothered the lady at the custom curtain store with our made-up words and inability to make a decision] and laughed a lot. To say that her company is a blessing is the understatement of the century. She's just all around, good for the soul.

After she left on Sunday, the living room morphed into a fantasy football command center. So I retreated to my craft room to work on something to help out a bloggy friend [more on that later!]. And it was there that I perfected the reusable coffee sleeve.

Why I'm acting like this is newsworthy, I'm not sure. But go with it. Here you saw my first attempt at the coffee sleeve, but I didn't like that it wasn't versatile. And I was not even about to sew elastic into that same pattern. Please. I came up with this instead:

Leave it open on one side, with an elastic/button closure.

Total lightbulb moment. Now it fits any size!

How cute would that be, living in your purse for your Starbucks treat?

[PS: I tried the salted caramel hot chocolate + a shot of espresso this weekend. Um, wow.]

So that's that! How was your weekend?

Sometimes I like to party....click here to see where I link!

sew it up: a headband and a coffee sleeve

Hey party people! Earlier this week, I asked for ideas on what to sew and sell. You can still make some suggestions - at the end of the weekend I'm picking a random commenter [who has a blog] to feature next week! Bribery? Youbetcha :)

So far, there have been some really good suggestions. See why I love you all so much? I've been cranking out a few things here and there, so let's take a looksie...

I need a little girl STAT so I can make a bagillion of these headbands and make her wear them every.single.day. Precious, I tell you!

This next one I absolutely LOVE. Corrie made this suggestion and it's such a good one: resuable coffee sleeves! A] they're green and B] they are too cute for words.

I mean seriously, who wouldn't want one of these to throw in their purse? It makes your Starbucks habit seem a little more responsible :)

First things first, make your template. I saw a coffee sleeve online and just kind of eyeballed it. I think I'm going to need a real one to make my next template, but this worked for now. Cut a piece of felt to the size of the template.

Next, cut two pieces of the outer fabric and two pieces of the inner fabric, about 1/4 inch bigger than the template [I used my felt as the guide]. Stack the fabric like this: 1 piece of inner fabric [front side up], 1 piece of outer fabric [back side up], felt. Got it? Do the same thing with the other pieces.

Sew along the edges, leaving one short end open to turn inside out. I used the zig-zag stitch so the fabric would give a little and because I found it more easily grabbed the fabric and the felt that way. When you turn it inside out, do it so that the felt is on the inside [in between the two fabric pieces].

Now you sew the two pieces together. Lay the pieces so that the outer fabrics are facing each other. Sew along the short sides and turn inside out.

Voila! I don't have a coffee cup on hand to model it. Oh no, I guess I'll have to get Starbucks this weekend to test it out. Darn :)

What do you think? I already have some ideas on how to perfect the design and make it a little more functional. Stay tuned for part 2!

Sometimes I like to party....click here to see where I link!

bible bling and a question for YOU

First, in unrelated news, I'm trying to enjoy the weather with my windows open but the neighbor's dog is barking in a way that is equivalent to nails on a chalkboard. Yikes.

Now for the task at hand: Monday night, we were at bible study and I noticed that my bible cover was looking a little rough around the edges. Literally. It is a product of my less patient, less experienced sewing machine days and it needed to be replaced. [And yes, I was paying attention during bible study. Cross my heart.] Thanks to a few spare minutes and some Hobby Lobby fabric scraps, we have ourselves a snazzy little facelift...

Adorable.

Now for my question. My mom works at an elementary school and she offered to take some of the goods I've been making to the teacher's lounge after Thanksgiving to see if any of it would sell. What you don't know is that I've been sewing my little heart out. I just didn't want to bore you with one iPhone case or headband after another :) But now I have some things to ask you:

1. If you walked by a table of sewn accessories, what would you buy for yourself?

2. If you walked by a table of sewn accessories, what would you buy for a friend/mom/sister/daughter?

3. If you walked by a table of sewn accessories, what would you buy for your child's teacher as a Christmas gift?

4. If you were/are a teacher, what types of sewn accessories would you like pulling out of our bag each morning? [i.e. I currently have a few notebooks/planners, but I'm not sure if that's a sought-after item]

Alright friends, help a sister out. As a little incentive, I'll randomly pick a commenter and feature your blog next week. Pinky swear! :)

summer-to-fall sweaters

While we were out this weekend, I accidentally wandered into the Gap to see what their sales were like. That's when The Boy said: "Now that you've gotten into sprucing up old things to make them usable again, you should do that with clothes, too." [Read: Can we please leave this store?] But hey, maybe he's on to something...

Here are some old Target sweaters that have lost a bit of their form. A few days ago, I saw this clever lady revamp one of her sweaters and I decided to give it a go. It's still too hot for sweaters, but I can at least have a fall-inspired wardrobe, right?

First, I measured how much I wanted to cut off based on how short my sleeves were on the shirt I have on:

[PS: that dog follows me EVERYWHERE]

Technical, I know. I added three inches and cut it right off, saving the scraps for the cuff and a future project.

I rolled the sleeves up and stitched them in place. Then I sewed on the strip to hold the cuff, along with the adorable button.

Later, I realized that I should have put the button in the middle of the sleeve, not the front but meh...what can you do? Better luck next time :)

As for the other sweater, I just cut the sleeves right off so I can rock a sweater vest.

It'll be cuter when there's a shirt underneath, so just go with it :)

Sometimes I like to party....click here to see where I link!

sew many projects [a camera strap and an iphone case]

How cliche/overdone is that pun? You love it, don't lie :)

Remember how I told you that I made up with my sewing machine and now I can't stop sewing? Well, I meant it. And I sometimes find myself twiddling my thumbs, wondering what project I can come up with, just so I can spend a little QT with my sewing machine. The fact that The Boy has had some late nights this week has actually been quite lovely. I can indulge my habit and he doesn't feel bad for leaving me. Win-Win.

Last night, I whipped these up in less than an hour. That does my little impatient heart a lot of good. See that fabric up there? Toile. Love. How about a cutie little camera strap? Easy peasy.

1. Cut a strip to your desired length and twice the width of your camera strap (+ about half an inch all around for seams)

2. Hem the short ends.

3. Fold it in half, hotdog style and sew along the longest edge, leaving the ends open.

4. Turn it inside out, using your turn-inside-out device.

5. Iron it. Good, good.


6. Now slip your camera strap through it and you're done, sir, done!

So stylish :)

Now on to the second project, which deserves the following preface: I joined the Y, in hopes that paying $$$ to be in shape will make me feel guilty enough to do it. I'll let you know how it goes. And when I started thinking about my workout playlist [suggestions?] I started thinking about how I needed something to protect my iPhone from the sweat. Cue the cutie little iPhone cover...

1. Cut a piece of felt and a piece of fabric that is the width of your phone + an inch. My length was about 12 inches. Make sure the fabric is extra cute.

2. Sew the pieces together, with the wrong side of the fabric facing up. Turn it inside out and then sew it all up.

3. Fold it in half, hamburger style [Laura, do kids still fold their paper that way?]

4. Sew along the three sides, leaving the top open.

5. I added a button and sewed on an elastic loop so my phone won't fly out in the middle of some crazy workout move. Hey, it could happen.

Confession: I did NOT sew on that button...I Gorilla glued it :) And so far, it's doing just fine.

xoxo

Seriously, this took me less than an hour and I used fabric scraps from other projects. That's a happy feeling.

What have you been sewing lately? Give me some inspiration, ladies :)

Sometimes I like to party....click here to see where I link!

another sassy apron

Can you tell I'm on an apron kick?

Let me tell you about my sewing machine. We've been on the outs for a while. I never could figure out how to keep it from being my worst nightmare, so I stopped using it. Then I got a determination streak and decided it would.not.win. Turns out I wasn't setting it up correctly :)

Now that I realize that I'm not a complete failure, I'm getting more and more comfortable with it and all I want to do is sew. Much to my husband's dismay.

Sorry, love.

The last time, I used a pattern and decided that patterns are for the birds. Could those tissue-thin things BE any more annoying? [Chandler fans, anyone?] This time, I did it myself. Thankyouverymuch. My pattern? An apron I already had!

Lay it on your fabric of choice and cut around it. Do the same thing again on another piece of fabric for the back. You can't tell here, but the back is yellow. Sew the two pieces together, turn it inside out, add some ribbon for the ties and you are done, sir, done!

I even added a cutie little rosette, because that's how I roll.

Do you love it??

Sometimes I like to party....click here to see where I link!

weekend recap: hobby lobby and a sassy apron

First up, my dream come true. When I told my sister-in-law that I was planning a day trip to Hobby Lobby, since there isn't one nearby, she offered to meet me. And shopping with a friend is way more fun. Or expensive, whatev. Either way, we've been looking forward to this date for a while. And the best part? 50% of Fall decor :)

I think it's safe to say that I depleted my mad money for the month. You just stay tuned for all the goodness that will come of it :)

In other news, I decided this week that I wanted to sew some aprons.

I love fabric. And I especially love extra colorful, flowery, bright, girl fabrics. But there are only so many things a married gal [without a baby girl] can do with that variety. But an apron? There's nothing better than a sassy apron, in my opinion. So I went a little crazy in the clearance section and got several prints to work with. And when football took over the living room this afternoon, I sewed my very first one...

Do you love it?

I think the ruffle is so sweet. The next one will be all ruffled up and extra sassy. Oh yes.

Christmas gifts, coming right up!

Sometimes I like to party....click here to see where I link!