Learning to sew...

There's nothing like realizing the summer is almost over to motivate you to finish some craft projects.  I have been working on a dress for little miss for months now and I finally finished it! (pause for applause)  Let me tell you, it was no easy feat and my sewing machine and I are not on friendly terms.  In fact, most of my sewing on this project was done by hand. 

The tutorial for my project can be found here.  It's something I found on Pinterest.  First thing I had to do was find a shirt to turn into a dress for Zoe.  Zach was gone on a trip so naturally I chose one of his that he had been unwilling to get rid of but also unwilling to actually wear.

I don't think he'll miss it.

The first part of the project was easy enough.  It wasn't until I attempted gathering the skirt that I had problems.  I followed the advice of my friend Brittney ( you can follow her blog here) and did the gathering by hand.  I tried to do it by machine, setting the tension on high and all that, but it wasn't very pretty.  However, the hand sewing worked good enough.

The next problem I encountered was the straps.  The original tutorial didn't have any way to buckle the straps so that they could be removed to put the dress on.  When I tried to put the dress on Zoe with the straps attached it turned into an acrobatic exercise that she did not appreciate.  On my last entry I reached out for suggestions and got one that was great.  I attached hook and eye fasteners (or trouser hooks) to the straps.  Then I sewed buttons on the straps to give the allusion of button holes without trying to attempt them.

The finished product:

I didn't attempt the pockets from the tutorial because, well, I think that pockets are far beyond my skill level, or at least the skill level of my machine (let's blame it on the machine). 

Anyway, sewing project number 3 is in the books.  Now all I need is some fabric to crank out one of the other ones I have pinned on my Pinterest wall...

Happy crafting my friends!!



Summertime Craft

In my last post which, admittedly, was ages ago I mentioned that I was working on a dress.  I have almost finished said dress but I am stalled because I'm not quite sure how to handle the straps.  Any insight you may have would be greatly appreciated.

In other news, summer is upon us and I am wracking my brain to come up with ideas to keep the kids occupied.  I came across some things on Pinterest that I have started with the kiddos.  Z will be starting Kindergarten in August and, knowing how quickly they can forget things if kids don't keep practising, we continue to work on our letters.  I was inspired by this site first which has several art projects centering around letters.  We started there.  I also came across this site which I actually kind of like better because it's a little easier to navigate in, in my opinion.

Mainly Z and I work on this while little brother is napping but I have actually been able to do some with him too.  He is just now becoming interested in doing art projects, where before he could care less (as his preschool teachers can attest). I'll usually let him do some things on the computer while Sister does her letter, then switch.

Fisher Price has some good toddler games here.

I've learned by doing this that I am apparently lacking some art supplies in my craft closet.  If you go to the sites and then look at what we did, then you will surely notice our projects are missing some of the "cooler" components.  Hey, you work with what you have.

Mainly what I have is paper, markers, and glue.

However, I did buy cheap paper plates specifically for this project.  Now I have enough plates to make 300 more "a"'s...

Oh, yeah, I have finger paints too.

Sing with me "Noah is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s..."

When do kids learn that they don't have to use great gobs of glue??

I am hanging these on the kids doors, at least until I run out of room.  Here's Z modeling her letter's.  We have the rest of summer to finish.

The round thing above her head is an apple she made from a plate (so, 299 left).

She did this project all by herself.

 Noah's door is lacking but hopefully he'll will catch up.  He was also napping when this photo was taken so that's why there's no little guy pointing up to his projects.

He also got an apple (298 left).

So, that's what we've been doing with our time. Please share any projects you may be doing!  I dug my scrapbooking stuff out so I hope to be able to get that done.  And, let me know if you have any suggestions for my dress dilemma!!

Happy crafting!

Crafty Christmas part I

As I have stated in earlier posts, this Christmas was slated to be a crafty one.   I had several ideas of gifts to make for my family and friends and I actually did some of them.  A few of our grand ideas didn't quite turn out as I had envisioned so those had to be scrapped.  However, there were a few projects that I am actually quite proud of.

As many of you probably know, I have an addiction to Pinterest that I'm proud of.  One of the first things I pinned was a gift idea for the inlaws.  I know you have all seen it.  A board painted with clothes pins for photos of the grandkids - you can see the one on Pinterest here.

The hubs went to Lowe's and got a board that I painted with some black latex paint.  Then I tried a tracing technique, also found on Pinterest here, and painted on the words.  I had found the cutest little binder clips at Office Max after Thanksgiving that I hot glued on and printed out some wallet sized pictures of the kids from Walmart.  Here's my final product:

Overall, a pretty simple project that just requires a little time.  The cost was pretty low, all under $10, and if this uncrafty woman can do it, I know you can!

In my next craft blog I will show you another gift I made.

Happy Crafting!