Oliver + S Backpack

The temperatures here have been over 100 degrees and the heat sucks the energy right out of me.  This may be the reason I haven't been up to sewing much lately.   I did recently take the time to make the backpack out of the book, Oliver + S Little Thinks to Sew.   I like the book but the only complaint I have with it is you have to trace the patterns because the ones in the book are double sided.  If you cut a pattern out of the book you will mess the pattern on the other side up.  Below are some pictures of my E's backpack.   It took me two days working a few hours each day to complete it.  The most time consuming part was tracing the patterns. The lining of the bag was made out of one of my husband's old shirts.

Felt Learning Board

Felt Learning Board

Supplies needed:
Stretched canvas
Staple gun and staples
Several pieces and colors of felt.
scissors

This project is simple to create. 

Trim your piece of felt leaving at least two inches

Staple around sides of canvas pulling felt tight.

After stapling the felt to the frame on the back of the canvas trim excess felt.

I cut out and sewed together the felt to create a heavier and sturdier letter and number.

  Felt sticks to felt.

This is a great project to be used as a learning tool or to play with. 

Another Homemade Gift

I made another homemade birthday gift.  Again this purse is for a four year old little girl.  She is one of E's favorite little friends and they get along great together.  We didn't get to go to the party but we dropped the gift off on our way out of town early that morning. The next morning at church we saw her walking in the front door carry her purse full of goodies.  She loved it! 

Zipper pouch with her intial "E".

Purse with small flower pin.

Large flower pin.

Purse with the large flower pin.

I love giving and receiving handmade gifts.  If I'm going to continue with the homemade gifts for Christmas I better get started because Christmas is right around the corner and I don't want to fill rushed. 

Designing your own fabric.

I just discover a site where you can design your own fabric and then order it.  This is a great thing because I am constantly get ideas in my head about what kind of fabric I want to use with different projects.  When I start shopping around at local fabric shops, online and some larger hobby/fabric shops I can never find the kind of fabric I dream about for certain projects.  Now I can just get online and design my own. The fabric maybe a little pricey, but in some cases and for certain projects it's worth it to me to pay a little higher price to get what I want.  If you would also like to design your own fabric try out Spoonflower.

Homemade Gifts - Linen Bucket, Crayon Roll, Cake Balls

These are a few of the projects I have made over the past few weeks.  All were gifts.  I made the fabric bucket as a baby shower gift and filled it with baby shampoo, boogie wipes and lotion.  I made the crayon roll for a 2 year old little boy who is a friend of my son and the cake balls were for my E's Easter party at school.

Fabric bucket - vintagericrac

Crayon Roll - skiptomylou

Cake Balls - Bakerella

Magnolia Cupcakes and Birthday T-shirt!

Today is my little Dennis the Menace's 2nd Birthday.  Happy Birthday!  So this morning before I took him to school I decided to make him a t-shirt.  I also had to shorten the shirt because it hung to his knees.  I'm happy with the way it turned out considering I made it in less than 30 minutes.  On the front is an E for his first name and a 2 on the back for his age.

The Magnolia Bakery cupcakes for E's birthday party at school.

Cupcakes

Level: Easy

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 2 (1/2 cup-12 capacity) muffin tins with cupcake papers.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.  Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Vanilla Buttercream

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

6 to 8 cups confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. (Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.) Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Yield: enough for 2 dozen cupcakes or 1 (9-inch) layer cake

I wanted to try out the new coloring paste I bought the other day but didn't think coloring the icing blue for a bunch of one and two year olds was a good idea.  So I colored the left over frosting and decorated a few for home.  Yummy!!

Ruffled Camera Strap

Number one on my sewing projects for 2011 is complete.  The camera strap was oh so easy to make. 

 I think I would've whipped out a few of these babies if it hadn't been for being cooped up in the house for nearly a week .  I took my two year old to his mammy and pa's and I went home and did a little sewing.  The only problem was I wanted to be outside and not because the weather was warm and sunshiny, but because I couldn't sit still.  We had blizzard conditions and over a foot of snow Tuesday and added probably an additional 2-4 inches on top of it today. I have a serious case of cabin fever and wanted to get outside.  It was hard for me to focus on sewing but I needed to get some projects started and completed.  The camera strap was project #1.

I followed to tutorial on cluck cluck sew.  The link is below.

   http://www.cluckclucksew.com/2009/01/camera-strap-cover-tutorial.html

Pictures from the Blizzard of 2011!!!

 Looking down the road.

 Our chickens huddling together trying to stay warm.

My snow angel!!

11 Projects I Want to Make in 2011.

In 2011 my goal is to complete 11 craft projects.  Listed below are the projects I want to make.  I have already completed one of my projects and I'm making progress on some others and it's only January.

1. Camera Strap
 http://www.cluckclucksew.com/2009/01/camera-strap-cover-tutorial.html


2. Nap roll
http://www.prudentbaby.com/2010/08/diy-nap-matbed-roll.html
http://sew4home.com/projects/bed-linens/690-cozy-kids-roll-up-nap-blanket


 3. Dress-Socialite dress from Anna Maria Horner
http://store.annamariahorner.com/sewingpatterns1.html


4. Pillows for my couch.
http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2010/01/decorate-my-home-part-6-pillow-with.html


5. Felt Garland - For Christmas 2011 I want my tree to be covered in homemade ornaments. 
http://annamariahorner.blogspot.com/2006/12/cozy-up-with-blanket.html


6. Ragdoll - My favorite dolls are Ann & Andy so I can't wait to make these.  I think they are so cute.


7. Dave Ramsey money envelopes - I'm going to make these for a friend. 


8. Flat Emelie & Matt - When I was little I would play paper dolls with my mama.  These fabric "paper" dolls must be the new paper doll.
http://bluesundayhandmadewishlist.blogspot.com/2010/04/flat-emelie-and-matt.html


9. Felt Ornaments
http://annamariahorner.blogspot.com/2006/12/its-hoot.html


10. A Quilt - I have wanted to make a quilt for several years now, but it just seems like a big project to take on.  This is the year I'm going to accomplish my dream of making a quilt.
http://www.cluckclucksew.com/2010/07/tutorial-road-trip-quilt.html


11. Toy Suitcase - My first craft project completed for 2011. 

When my little boy goes somewhere he always has a handful of tractors, cars, dogs, cows and horses in his hands.  He needed something to carry those toys in when we leave the house.  I decided to make him a toy suitcase.  I don't like putting his toys in his bag because they always fall to the bottom and you have to dig or take everything out to get to them.  This is my solution.