summer birthday wreath

  I hope everyone had a blast this 4th of July.  I know my family did shooting off fireworks!

I love this picture of all of them huddled around Dad lighting a snake, even the dog wanted to be a part of it all.

This weekend was filled with everything that has to do with birthdays.  Buying presents, wrapping presents, making decorations, hanging decorations and planning my grocery list.

I finally finished several projects that I will share in the next couple of days.  Today I will show you my front door wreath.  If you have read my blog before, you might have noticed that I love making wreaths!  It's a quick project that I usually I can get done in a day.  And if not I can usually work on it during nap time.

This wreath is by far my favorite!  I will probably do this again, just using different fabrics.

Watch out there are a lot of pictures!

Instead of wrapping the ruffle around the wreath like I did in the previous one, I ran the ruffle in circles.

I started with just one long 3" wide strip of fabric.  I ruffled it and pinned it to the wreath.  It so was missing something!  Then I cut another 3" strip and pinned it to the back of the wreath.  It still looked like I needed to add another strip.  I cut another one and pinned it in the middle.

I didn't like how you could see the pins in the ruffle so I hot glued only the inner ruffle.  No need to do the other 2 - you don't see them.

I didn't like how the edge of the ruffled fabric was straight.  So I free-hand scalloped the edge and then frayed it.  I love the tatted undone look!

I added some flowers and made a banner that coordinated with my invitations.  I hung the banner with some orange baker's twine.  I had originally thought I would also include a "Happy Birthday" stamped on a piece of paper and hung with the flowers but I now think it might be too much. 

The yellow zig zap banner is my favorite!

I thought I would show you one last picture of our 4th of July.  In this part of the country these fire-proof fabric lanterns that you set on fire, somewhat like a miniature hot air balloon are all the rage.  So of course we needed to get one.  You might think it's illegal - I sure did when I first saw it.  But they're not and according to the fire marshall he says they are safer than fireworks.  Our night sky was filled with them.  It was quite a sight!  Our girls were so hoping to follow one and catch it as it drifted down to the ground but not such luck.  But when we woke this morning one had come down in our back yard.  Our Hannah said because of it it was going to be her lucky day!  How cute!

Thanks for stopping.

Bye for now!

Linking to these parties:

upcoming birthday

  In our family we have a summer birthday coming up! 

Our middle child will be turning 7!  It's hard to believe!

I am in busy birthday celebration planning mode.  I like this part!  Not saying that I don't enjoy the party, but planning what the invitations and decorations will look like is always the fun part for me!

I started with these cupcake wrappers I found at Jo Ann's as my jumping off point.  I could have bought everything in this line there but I limited myself to these 2 things.  I loved the colors and it seemed so summer-like. 

A couple of weeks ago I downloaded the free 30 day trial of Adobe Illustrator.  It's awesome!  It took me awhile to learn the program, but I feel comfortable now in what I want to do.  After the 30 days I don't know what will happen....I'm not able to pay for it so I want to make the most of it right now.  Anyway, I made these invitations for our party.

The banner I created in the invitation, I plan on making actual banners to hang within the house.  There are a few pictures below.

I also made my own envelopes to coordinate with the invitations along with the stickers.  I do have a similar template available in my Etsy shop for sale.  It is an A2 size.  If anyone is interested I can modify it to whatever size you want.

I'm also in the process of making a new "birthday" wreath for the front door.  I found this hot pink linen on sale at 75% off at Jo Ann's.  Then I plan to hang a mini banner on the wreath with a grouping of flowers and a birthday sign. 

(Puzzle pieces not included in birthday wreath.  Our kitchen counter is the place to be and everyone has to share it.  I actually like them in the picture!  They coordinate with my banner.)

Then I made 2 sets of bigger banners.  I really haven't planned on how I will hang them yet.  We are having a swimming-water sliding party in our back yard and I don't know if I will have some decorations out there as well. 

I will have to say the banners were quite involved!  They took sometime.  I used a heat bond interfacing that I have never used before so there was a learning curve to it with me.

I had seem on someone's blog they made a similar banner from their Silhouette machine.  Ohh to have one of those!  My birthday is in September.....just maybe I will ask for it and Illustrator. 

Well better get back.  It's nap time and I want to sew a little while everyone is sleeping.

Thanks for stopping by.

Bye for now!

fancy fabirc envelope

OK.  I'm going to sew again. 

I wanted to try to make a fabric envelope as seen on my favorite blog, Jones Design Co, found here. 

To my surprise it was super easy and the end result looks super cute.

I have several family birthdays in August and I plan to use these to hold gift certificates.

I changed the size of the envelope that Jones Design Co used a little bit.  I made my a bit bigger and I knew I wouldn't feel comfortable sewing the flap detail that she did.  So I made it a half circle flap instead.

You will notice in these pictures that sew lines are NOT straight what-so-ever!  At first I minded but once it's all put together and the rawness of the flower it doesn't bother me.

I played around with using different flowers for each one.  I'm not real sure which one is my favorite.  I like the peach colored one, but the fabric I used sheds instantly the minute you touch it.  You can see it in the picture the amount of strands each piece of fabric has.

Probably my absolute favorite is the one with 3 flowers.  If a person were to ever use this, those flowers seem to be the most durable. 

Also I changed how it closes....I used a snap instead of an elastic band and button.  If I were to do this again I might consider sewing on the snap first before sewing it all together.  It was difficult to sew the bottom snap on to say the least!

It's funny because while I was photographing these envelopes, my girls decided who should get which one.  Apparently the recipients have distinct styles that made it unanimous and easy to decide.

Thanks for stopping.

Bye for now!

Linking to these parties:

 

etsy shop

  Wow! 

I just listed a few items in my Etsy shop! 

It took some researching and preparing, but I now have several items listed.

I am currently selling printable PDF files of cards and note cards that can be printed off at home or at a local print shop.  Print as many as you like!

I see myself as a crafty person but I have taken my crafty-self into a new direction.  Instead of painting wall letters for a child's room or making little girl hair bows I have turned to my computer.  This new outlet has no physical inventory as in the past, plus I am able to work on it at various parts of the day which I love! 

Here are just a few items that I am currently selling....

 

Below is what the printable file would look like when sent to you.

 I am also currently selling a template to make the envelopes shown below.  You can print them out or trace them onto decorative/patterned paper.  The template makes an A2 sized envelope.

Click on the Etsy button on the left side bar and that will take you to my Etsy shop.

Thanks for stopping.

Bye for now!

father's day

 Father's day is coming this Sunday.



Here's a nice picture of him looking all spiffy opposed to him covered in drywall or saw dust.

Happy Father's day to you, Eric!  You are a kind, caring and loving Dad who enjoys ruffhousing with the kiddos.  We love you!

I wanted to create a card from all of us that each one could add their special note in their own handwriting.

I started with these things....

I made a card saying, "We love you, Daddy".

I wanted to add a fabric heart to the center.  So I free-hand cut one from one of my goodwill shirts.  Next, I stitched an outline with my sewing machine to add some extra detail. 

I'm feeling all confident on my sewing techniques now that I can ruffle!

My stitching is a little wonky on one side, but I don't think he will mind.  

I also made an envelope to coordinate and a sticker tittled "Made with love".

Thank you, Eric, for everything you do for us!

Also thank you Dad for being a wonderful father and an awesome grandpa, who loves to play hide-n-seek!

Thanks for stopping.

Bye for now!

P.S.  I am in the process of starting to list printable note cards and single page cards in my Etsy store.  Plus I have also created a template to make your own envelope as shown above.  Stay tuned!

my summer wreath

 I needed to change out my wreath for my front door.  I loved the look of all the fabric flowers but I wanted something more summer-like.

So I headed to the goodwill.  To my surprise it was $1.00 shirt day!  Yeah!  I stocked up on vibrate summer colors that I could cut and sew together.  I could just feel the curiosity the lady who helped check me out on what I was planning on doing with these shirts.  I definitely was not going to be wearing these!

I also wanted to do something different than a yarn wreath.  I followed the tutorial from Jones Design Company found here.  I am so not a sewer!!!!  And with this tutorial you have to sew. 

I had bought a sewing machine shortly after I graduated from college.  My dreams of becoming a designer who could offer made-to-order sewn pillows and curtains for customers was short lived, or should I say never lived!  OH-well....I now have a machine that has come in handy. 

My machine did not come with a ruffling foot....(I don't even know if that's the correct name) nor did I know how to adjust the stitches to make it ruffle.  I did know how to pull the thread and gather the fabric.  And I did start to do that, but that was pain-staking to say the least.  Plus my thread kept breaking and all that I gathered before came undone. 

I had come across this awesome sewing blog that she had made a summer scarf found here.  She used elastic thread in the bobbin.  She also said that in some machines it doesn't work.  OH-gosh.....I had my fingers double crossed that it would work in my mine. 

I had some elastic thread left over from my little-girl-hair-making-days (another dream that really never took off and I have incredible amount of bows left over to show for it).  I wound it up on the bobbin, it was tricky, and put it down in the machine.  And it worked! 

I didn't have linen on hand to use as in the tutorial.  I used that Osnaburg fabric (don't know if that's the correct name or not) found cheaply at Walmart.  It ruffled great!  It was light weight and was perfect for my summer wreath.

I liked the ruffles going down the wreath versus the one coming up.  So I wanted to hide them and decided to put my flowers on that side.

I made a ton of flowers and I dont' know if it seems to much.  I really like the different colors it adds to my front door. 

I have flowers in planters on my front porch and this wreath mimics those colors.



Thanks for stopping by.

Bye for now!

Linking to these parties: