My Sewing To Do List for 2012

Thanks to Pinterest I have a huge list of projects i want to complete!  Several are for myself to dress up my craft room a bit. Here is what I am going to be working on...

-Curtains for under my desks, I need to hide all the supplies i have stored under there and add more color to the room.
- a sewing machine cover
- an ironing board cover (to match the sewing machine cover)
- curtains for the window
- just found these cute terry cloth (AKA Towel) shower curtains today!

The CopyCat Bag... Thank you Pinterest!

For my birthday this year, my hubby took me to JoAnn's and let me pick out whatever I wanted. Since I was neck deep in Christmas projects I was grateful for the break and decided to spend the afternoon making myself a little something!  I found this purse on Pinterest and I fell in LOVE.  So much so that I even snagged the same fabric used in the tutorial to make my own. 

While there is quite a bit of cutting, this was a pretty easy tutorial to follow and within a few hours I had a new purse!  I added some pockets to the interior of the purse to hold chapstick and such. In retrospect I would have also put in a snap to close the bag. When I made this same bag for my sister in law for Christmas i put a snap on hers. 

This purse has gotten quite a few compliments and it is roomy enough to be a perfect mommy bag!  

(just tried to link back to the blog post where the tutorial was given and the page it no longer being found.)

Christmas Gifts

Christmas has come and gone. All the gifts were completed (by the 22nd, I might add!)  Final count of projects:

13 hostess aprons

2 full aprons

9 BBQ aprons

12 Lego bags

3 robes

5 PJ bottoms

1 purse

 Here is my nephew's lego bag. I LOVE how this one turned out. The shark fabric is just adorable. These are great for all children but since I have A LOT of boys to make gifts for these were perfect. Basically this is a huge circle with drawstrings in it and when playtime is over you can just pull the drawstrings and put the pouch away.

Here is some of the assortment of aprons I made. Hostess aprons were a hit among the family.  Since most of my crafting is done at night I don't have very great pictures. These were pretty simple overall and the coordinating fabrics make them just adorable.

My boys just love their robes and have been wearing them around the house. I must say they look just adorable in them.

SEW much to do!

Christmas is a mere 89 days until Christmas and I still have not really even begun to make Christmas gifts. I have known what I was making since LAST Christmas and yet, NOTHING! I have 6 sisters, 4 brother in laws, 2 sets of parents, a hubby, 4 kids, and my close friends and their kids to make gifts for. So I have begun having craft nights several times a month. I have enjoyed these since I have been inviting friends to come create with me. Nothing better than working with friends. Last Friday I got ONE present completed and that pushed me to get 3 more started. I am on my way!

Adorable Apron

I am making aprons for Christmas presents so I have been on the lookout for online tutorials. When I found this tutorial I fell in love!  This is the cutest apron with such attention to detail. So one day during the boys naps I decided to test it out. I have LOTS of these to make so I wanted to see it if was possible to use this pattern.

Before the boys woke up from naps, I was done with the apron! It was that simple. Definitely going to be making these as gifts. Since making this one, I have gotten 1 more completed and 3 more are about 1/3 of the way done. Yeah!

Hero Snacks - Father's Day Gift

If I have learned anything over the past few years it is that when you make gifts for guys, snacks are always a hit! Every time I have to make something for a guy, I struggle to find an idea I feel they will truly enjoy. So when I saw this Hero snack kit on a blog, I instantly knew this would be perfect!

I took a taco box from Del Taco (that is used to house their 6 taco and 6 burrito deal) and covered it in paper. It has become a habit for me to save items that I can use for packaging or a cute craft. When I saw the Del Taco boxes I knew they were perfect for something! 

I then printed off the labels on cardstock, cut them out and then adhered them to the various packages of snacks with either glue dots or staples. I got snacks that I knew each guy would like (for example: Bryan's  vitamin pellets were sunflower seeds but I used honey roasted peanuts for my dad and father in law). 

Here is my sweetie on Father's Day afternoon enjoying his "hero juice"! 

Summer Activity Jar

Here is the finished product! Our Summer Activity Fun Jar is complete and full of fun ideas to entertain my little men all summer. Cards are color coded - blue is for easy to complete activities, green activities are outside fun, and orange are trips that involve money or a bit of notice (like a SeaWorld trip).

The boys are enjoying choosing a card each day and seeing what they get to do! My oldest is dying to pull the "silly string war" card. It will happen soon enough but for now we are enjoying doing things together.

Download the Summer Activity Fun Cards.