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Two More
Can you believe summer is almost over? In just a little more than two weeks my two little babies (2.5 and 4yrs) will be starting preschool. I don’t know of anything that can be more sad, yet more exciting at the same time. What in the world will I do with all that time??? (hahahaha). Actually, it’s only 3 hours a day, and their school is a little more than a 30 minute drive, so I doubt I’ll be spending much of that time at home. Which is a shame, because I really need to paint my bedroom wall one color. I was thinking about yellow, hence the two tones, but I think I’m going to go in a completely new direction all together. We’ll see.
I’m still turning out bags as quickly as I can. Each bag comes with a new skill to learn, so sometimes they take a while.
For example, it took me one whole evening to figure out how to install a zippered pocket in the lining. I read tutorial after tutorial, but it took me doing a hacked-up practice run on some scrap fabric to finally figure it out. But…I lurrrve the finished product!
Details:
Green bag: I used Made By Rae’s free buttercup bag pattern. Outer fabric is a home dec weight thrift store find, inner is something from the remnant bin at JoAnn’s.
Purple bag: Basic pattern from a Japanese bag book (pics to follow in the coming days). Outer is Echino “bird to hang” cotton/linen blend, inner is Momo’s Freebird Eggs in grape.
I’ve got two more bags waiting in line, but I’ll probably have to put them on hold until next weekend, unless I can sneak in some time between all of the busy-ness we’ve got going on this week. Isn’t summer supposed to be laid back?…Looking forward to Fall for things to slow down a bit.
Take care folks…I’ll see ya soon!
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Month O’ Bags
Well, I’m back after taking some time off from Ye Olde Blog. Things were a little upside down around here towards the end of June. On the heals of celebrating my 31st birthday at the beach I was faced with the news that my father had passed away. Disbelief. Sadness. Acceptance? Perhaps. Either way it took a while for me to feel like crawling back into my tiny little craft room and getting back behind my machine. But, alas…I finally did.
And I made a bag.
I followed this very simple tutorial and used some 25cent upholstery-type fabric I had picked up at a thrift store at the beach. And I was so lazy I didn’t even bother to add a snap or pocket or anything useful. But, it was my first time back on the horse in about a month so I’m going to cut myself some slack already. 
.Then, I made another bag. I followed Noodlehead’s very popular gathered clutch tutorial.
The Kaffe Fasset fabric was an excellent score from the Sew Mama Sew FQ Swap. I really love the design of this clutch, but I think the gathers would be much more becoming on a solid fabric. Maybe I’ll give her another go. If I do sew up another one of these cuties, I’ll also use a bigger seam allowance around the lining, do away with the end tabs on the zippers, and add a little wristlet hangy thingy. What are those things called?
But, at least I didn’t skimp on the add-ons this time. I included the divided pockets and compartment separator (not shown)!
I also currently have a buttercup bag in the works. The pieces are all cut up and waiting to be stitched back together! Since bags are currently my, um, bag, I am hereby declaring the rest of July “Bag Month” for myself. I’m going to see how many totes, purses, clutches, handbags, etc. I can turn out in the next couple of weeks and hopefully be a bag expert by the time all is said and done.But not tonight. Tonight I am watching reruns of Glee and knitting up washcloth #3 out of 10 for the latest Craft Hope Project. There’s still time to participate, so please go check it out.
See you soon!
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Happy Birthday, Etsy!
The hubs and I dropped the kiddos off Grandma’s Friday night and made our way out to celebrate Etsy’s 5th birthday! We attended the Etsy Craft Party in Tampa and enjoyed meeting some of the area’s fine handmade sellers. Actually, we didn’t stay long, but we lingered long enough to make our way through most of the booths and pick up some goodies from local crafters, including Etsy seller Fox and Bauble!
The event was incredibly inspiring. Seeing so many makers in one place… peddling their wares and showing off their handiwork…I am now more convinced than ever that I want to open up shop myself. The what, where, and how has yet to be determined. My goal last year was to start selling something this year, and here it is, already June. I’m trying not to get too caught up in the details and just start making stuff. Maybe the rest will fall into place?
Cheers!
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On Father’s Day
We had an understated celebration at the house today, which included small gifts and a hefty banana pudding pie. I can’t wait for the girls to be old enough to understand days like today a little better. My oldest asked if it was Daddy’s birthday. No, it’s not. In fact, in some ways I think it’s even more special than a birthday. I don’t think fathers get much better than my husband, and I look forward to the day when his daughters can fully appreciate him as such and can tell him so in their own words. Until then, he’ll have to just take my word for it. Happy Father’s Day, Cory. You’re the best!
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Butterfly Cupcake Toppers: Tutorial
These little candy butterflies are super-easy to make and add a sweet a colorful touch to cupcakes and cakes!
You need:-
Starburst candy or similar soft candy (I tried Airheads as well,
but found better luck with the Starburst) -
Tiny heart-shaped cookie/fondant cupper
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Non-stick rolling pin (found in cake decorating section of stores)
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Smooth, clean countertop or non-stick cutting mats
cut out heart:
then another:
pinch ends together:
et, voila! You have a butterfly!
Now go back and make a bunch more.
Store these little fellas in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use them so that they’re nice and stiff. If left out, they may soften more and start to droop or become misshapen.
Enjoy! -
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About the Party
Well, I couldn’t have cut it any closer with getting all of the party stuff finished. The guests were arriving as I was putting the finishing touches on the cake topper and sewing the elastic on the birthday girl’s princess hat! Thankfully, everyone was very forgiving and even helped out with balloons and getting food set out.
All the kids had a ball playing around with the dress-up clothes and playing in the slip-n-slide, but I think Annabelle had the most fun of all. She loved every single aspect of the party and made sure to wear her superhero costume while blowing out the candles and put on her princess hat to open her gifts (unfortunately, a poor choice of interfacing kept her from wearing the hat as long as she would have liked).
Here are some acknowledgments:
- Clothespin doll cake topper inspired by the beautiful toppers created by Wee Cute Treasures (wish I could have bought one of hers, but I’m happy with how mine turned out)
- Butterfly wings purchased from Etsy shop AttiTUTUde
- Felt for wands, masks, and princess hat purchased from Etsy shop BenzieBazaar
- Cape tutorial from Creative Kismet
- Princess hat tutorial from Skip to My Lou
- Mask templates from Ambrosia Girl
- Hardening buttercream recipe from Cake Central
- Smooth buttercream tutorial from Cake Answers
- Watermelon dish (not pictured, but served at the party) from The Long Thread
Thank you to all of you bloggers and general crafty-types….I couldn’t have done it without you! And, special thanks to my husband for doing a majority of the cleaning and other running around while I got to hang out in my craft room doing fun things.
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Slowly progressing…
…through my list of things to do for Annabelle’s 4th birthday party. This little girl is still deciding what to wear:
and the butterflies are frolicking while they await their final station atop giant swirls of icing.
Still lots to do. I’ll be back at the end of the weekend with the details on how I made the butterflies!
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Daily Spice a la Julia Child
Friday night we had the great pleasure of joining our friends for dinner at their place. My girlfriend, Christine, recently found a new passion in cooking and delighted us with steamed artichokes and baked brie, followed by a main course of veil marsala. Yum, yum, yum.
I thought an apron would be a fitting gift for Christine, and, knowing that she’s a big fan of Julia Child, I took my inspiration from this book:
I found this pretty little fleur de lis print from the American Jane Breath of Avingnon line (purchased at a local quilt shop) and it couldn’t have been more perfect with it’s tiny red fleurs all throughout. And, as fate would have it, a visit to JoAnn’s led me to find two cuts of red Kona cotton, nearly a yard a piece, in the remnant bin. Fancy that. 
Heather Bailey’s Daily Spice apron pattern is a really lovely pattern and came together relatively easily. I cut the pieces one night, spent an entire afternoon sewing all the bits together, and was able to finish the hand stitching the following day during two episodes of Glee.
Dinner was delicious and it was such a treat to be able to spend some time with our friends. The weekend is winding down now and things will be probably be slow around the blog next week as I try to attack my list of things to do to get ready for our little girl’s birthday party. Hope everyone stays safe and well over the Memorial Day weekend and I’ll be back when I can!
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Dress-Up Party Invitations
The dress-up party is on! We got these invites printed out last night and in the mail this afternoon. My first sketch included butterfly wings in addition to the cape on the little fella, but they looked too much like ears sticking out. As you can see, I omitted them in the final design and just went with the cape, mask, crown, and wand. Does it say dress-up party to you?
I’ve only scratched the tip of the iceberg with Illustrator, so it’s a pretty simple design, but if it’ll save somebody a little bit of time making up their own, I’ll go ahead and put up a pdf for a printable version in the near future.
I’ve got some other things in the works right now that I can’t mention just yet, but I can’t wait to post about them next week…assuming all goes well and I complete them. See you soon!
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Dress-up Party Preparations
Party preparations are moving right along for the fairy/butterfly/princess/king/superhero dress-up party, but I’m at a bit of a roadblock with the invitations. I had hoped to don Annabelle in some of the party elements and snap a picture of her, but things just weren’t coming together as I had imagined and I ended up abandoning the idea all together. What to do, what to do…. still thinking.
FYI: Used a mash-up of tutorials from Juicy Bits and Balancing Everything for the felt crown. I think both called for fusible interfacing, which I omitted because I have a tendency to skip steps whenever I can. I know…bad, bad, bad! Also used templates from Ambrosia Girl for the masks, although Hazelnuts has a spiffy one as well!
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