right on, Target!

All the way back in March I saw this on the Pleated Poppy.  I had long admired Lindsey's product, but in this purse revamp I was finally like, "I can do this! And the bag is from Target - my Mecca!"

So off to Target I went and stocked up on bags. I started playing around with fabrics. Just looking at fabrics is fun enough there are so many pretty ones. Lindsey is absolutely correct when she says you should check out Hawthorne Threads - uh-mazing! 

Now with my nice little stash of fabric and embellishments I had made an awesome bag for myself. 

Well, as you can imagine, I started getting lots of compliments on this fun bag. And it is fun. I had fun playing with all the different types of materials - I've got a zipper flower on there, ribbon flowers, fabric flowers, and little felt buttons. It is definitely something that took time. I had reached a point where I thought I was done, so I hung it on the back of a chair and kept looking at it for a day. A few things stuck out at me so I pulled them off and readjusted - just like fine tuning or "sleeping on it."

I kind of had in mind that these bags would make excellent diaper bags and my cousin was expecting twins this month. Back in April she said to me, "what if I found some fabric for you, would you maybe make me a bag?" And I said, "what if you just wait and see what people have planned for you!"

Well there went my surprise, but it did take me all the way until now to get it to her. She had those two sweet girls yesterday morning and I got to meet them today. Baby A weighed 4 lbs. 1oz. Baby B weighed 4 lbs. 11ozs. I can officially say those are the smallest babies I have ever held, let alone seen. Here's how her bag turned out:

And well for me, it's all about presentation, so you have to fill a diaper bag with all kind of little goodies!

I made sure to include the Big Sis, with her very cool t-shirt of course. And at Target, of course, they have these awesome marker boxes and notebooks that you can 'make your own.' See how they are black and white and have designs? You just get markers to color in the designs. I thought she would have fun with that. Plus a few new frames for the babies when she is in kindergarten next year. Then, in the diaper bag went two receiving blankets, their Lil Sis t's and two dry erase boards that I made. Again, the frames came from Target. They came in a two-pack (ha, so did the receiving blankets). I used some of the same fabric from the diaper bag, put it inside the glass, as well as a few stickers on the inside, and voila! I think my cousin will be all set, at least for a couple of hours :)

*go see this and lots of other great ideas at 

and since this was a gift, go check out  for this and more great gift ideas! 

new necklace and fabric flowers

I did it. I finally sucked it up and gave it a whirl! I read blog post after blog on how to make fabric flowers. I filed them away. I reread them. I watched any tutorial I could find. I still never felt confident. But then I saw this necklace at Just Another Day in Paradise.

Isn't it beautiful? I fell in love. And then Larissa posted that tutorial. Well if you notice in her tutorial, she even says when she starts explaining how to do her flowers that this is the part that gets tricky to explain -- well leave it to me to have this be the method that worked the best for me! Go figure. I'm not even positive that I did it exactly the way she meant for us to, but I wound up with what looked the most like rosettes of any other way I have tried. I have since also tried it with grosgrain and satin ribbon and they also look AWESOME. 

I then did the big felt flower exactly how she said, well sort of. I used my Sizzix to cut the circles. So that went super fast and easy. But for the smaller flower I didn't have enough circles left, and I didn't have enough of the same color material left to make more circles. SO I used the circles I had to make a flower like this: 

If there was a tutorial out there on blogland let me know. I didn't use one though. I just glued and folded. I can make a tutorial if people want one. 

My whole necklace came out like this and I have gotten lots of compliments. 

Thanks again, Larissa for the inspiration! You can find her tutorial here and here.

more fun with frames and wall art

Like I said, I LOVE frames. Even on my website's 'About Me' page I have mentioned on there somewhere that my dad said to me one day "you have more frames and pictures than the Louvre!" Well, it's kind of true, I do. And I do have a lot of stuff. Sometimes I think though its what comes along with being a creative person. In fact, I've yet to meet a true creative person who is also a true minimalist. They may appear to be one, but that just means they can organize and hide it well. We all have our stuff. In the end it's all how we use it and display it. I think right now my stuff looks a little cluttered cause I am cramped in a smaller space. Sometimes I think all my dad sees no matter what is clutter. But I know for a fact that I have a friend who wonders, "how does she do that?" "how does she just take these thing and make it look like that and then arrange it so it doesn't look so boring?" <--- that's the thinking that keeps me going.

So I took a regular frame, one of the ones I use for my clocks, and turned it into a jewelry organizer. I know there are a lot of these out there on blogland. But I hope you'll keep reading because I haven't seen many like these. I see a lot of these in store displays and sometimes at craft/art shows and fairs. So I went ahead and made my own. I like the open-ness of the frame. It doesn't distract from any of my jewelry. I wanted to be able to put more than just earrings and bracelets, so I just drilled a screw in over there and hang my necklaces down the side. The bottlecap earrings and the necklace with the big butterfly are both done by my friend Jenni. She's very talented. 

And this below was another piece of wall art, though mine is propped up because as mentioned I am dealing with a small space, that I use to display/organize. This also was done one night while babysitting. I knew P&A would love to pick out their own fabrics, ribbons, and buttons for their own boards. Theirs actually do hang on the walls in their bedrooms. I'll have to get pictures. P's is hot pink, lime green, and black. A's is turquoise blue and lime green. They are so fitting of their personalities. We even used tools that they could control - a hot glue gun (with my supervision of course) and instead of those crazy staple guns, Staples office store has some staplers that are kind of automatic in themselves in the regular aisle and worked awesome! Here's a pic of a smaller one I did that night. We also found these cute buttons. I let the girls each pick one for theirs, too. I think P has one that says Peace maybe and A's says girlfriends. I'm sure they'll correct me if I am wrong. 

You can also see on mine I save some of my favorite placecards from my friends' weddings (we'll see if they read my blog!). It's always good for ideas. :)

scrap happy and a happy friday!

Yep, it's pretty much official - the Wal-Mart Singer machine has bit the dust. I guess that sweet little old man I went to visit last weekend was right, "Ya get what ya pay for!"

I needed something I could whip up quick, and boy was this the project!

Basically all you need are some scrap strips of fabric, about 15 inches long. and braid them. I used a safety pin to hold each end until both braids were done. Then I held both  braids together and put one end through the sewing machine (this was right before it broke), and then did the same on the other end. This way both braids are now attached to each other. Like this:

Then the last step once you have attached the two braids is to cut the excess off the ends, and attach the elastic (approx. 5-6 inches). I had to hand stitch that part. 

I've got the most adorable 7 month-old niece with beautiful red hair. This little mini will be beyond cute, I have a feeling!

You can see I even used a paperclip to hold the spot in the braids because I couldn't find another safety pin at that moment. Whatever works! All this with just some scraps. Quick and fun, what could be better?!

Check this other one out, she did a great job. 

Also, here's another fun giveaway going on...love stitched is hosting one for Sherri's Boutique for this awesome Amy Butler bag. Love it!

bags, bags, and a giveaway!

So we got my sewing machine fixed the other day and as we were about to finish my cute cute clutch it broke again, in a completely different spot, a different piece and all. I guess there is something to be said for the old quality machines! So much for my instant gratification on what was supposed to be a quick little clutch. I'll show you what I have so far though.

And here's another bag I've been working on. But not having a machine sure does put a damper on these projects, so I think I will be back to some no sew ones.

However one thing I love about blogland is that there are always some fun giveaways to help you try for some instant gratification and tatertots & jello has a fun one going on right now with kristen's custom creations. Go check out it. There's some fun stuff, even this for a dad, like my brother, cause it's his first father's day coming up and I think he's a pretty great one!

things that make you go hmmm...

I've got about 2 or 3 projects in the works, but my tonsils just came out yesterday morning. So I can't work on certain ones that I would like to finish up since I have been in bed and sleepy. However, my sewing machine is right next to my bed (tempting me, urging me to get better and sit there to use it). We all know I am still learning, but I am also the type of person who likes some instant gratification. After I've practiced my stitching on some scraps, I just can't take it any more. I need to see something tangible. I am super excited because I found a pattern that has basic straight stitching. today may be the day it, though I make no guarantees, and if not you'll know why. But it's a goal. I'll give a little sneak peak!

brought to you by the letter P - Popcorn, Polish, and Pretty fun things

Do you ever have one of those nights where you are totally reminded of what its like to be a kid? Or how it was when you were a kid? I love it when that happens - when the carefree moment comes rushing over you and there is not a worry in the world. It tends to happen more in the summertime, cause you get to stay up late and don't have to worry about going to bed early because there's not always somewhere to be. Like last night. I was bummed that I couldn't go out for my friend D's birthday. We almost always get to celebrate our birthdays together, but a bunch of people were going to the Laser Show and I didn't think I could sit out in the heat as stuffed up as I am. So it was a night at home for me, but a night of but babysitting. So why not make it a crafty night of babysitting. Bonus for the kids! I'm the type who brings my own supplies. Oh yes, I bring the party with me - I'm so much more than a babysitter!

The night started right when we finished dinner, scratch that, before dinner. They saw my toes (see the picture above). I had seen Jen's post, Glitter Toes, and was dying to try this. So I pulled out the choice of colors I had brought for them, which were right up their alley - one was the same as mine, teal, and then I also had a lime green and a hot pink. Ah, manicures were a blast, successful, and done! One step closer to them being ready for their big summer trip!

The girls also loved my headband and so we made some flowers for them and hot glued them onto bobby pins. Then I also let them choose a fabric they liked and we made covered buttons and attached them to paperclips so they had great bookmarks to take on their big summer trip next week (I always try to plug something educational, it's the teacher in me).

AND, the oldest even got so inspired she went and grabbed an old headband of her own to make one similar to mine. I loved that she did this all on her own intuition. She cut the circles and attached it and everything. I was pretty proud of her! She's pretty proud too, don't ya think?!

By the time we were all done our yummy dessert of Peanut Butter and Chocolate Popcorn (it's the very first picture on the top banner - umm, can we say, 'hello delicious?!') was all ready to eat, even though when I was making it I would only tell them that I had a treat for them. The whole time they were watching me and saying, "WHAT, is she doing??" HA, trust me, that's not what they said when they tasted it. I found the recipe here.

Now if that's not a fun yet low-key, stress-free night I don't know what is!

hardware store challenge...and linking up to weekend wrap-up!

and after all that,

**Yep, I was indeed late to the CSI challenge, by like 10 minutes! Me and my procrastinating self! Though for what it's worth I have been sick all week. Oh well, I left the link to CSI because there is always amazing stuff over there. But well, I'm pretty proud of how this necklace finally did come out that I'm going to link it up over at:

and

For a few more details on the necklace in case you're interested:

Yes the chains - they are all from Lowe's as I said. I am sure the guy was loving me being all like, "Okay a foot of that, and 2 feet of that." He was probably thinking the whole time, 'Does she even know what she's doing?!' And then when he had a jagged end left on one of them, I said, "Oh that's okay I'll use my jewelry tools and take care of that!" I'm sure he was like, 'Greeeat she's making jewelry!'

Well yes I did! But I didn't need my tools. I used the keychain rings as I said. I just bought one small pack with varied sizes and voila. I just decided where to link what chain depending on how I wanted which one to hang. As for the fabric flower, if people have amazing lessons, bring them on. I've studied and studied many, but am extremely visual and am having a hard time. The zipper flower, no problem. I just got out the hot glue gun and rolled with it, literally, til it met my liking! I think next up is a belt!

So I'm a little late in posting this. I just found out yesterday my tonsils are coming out in 8 days! Hope you'll still accept this one. School's out and I finally had some time.  I love a good challenge and this one was LOTS of fun. I made a necklace with just about everything from the chain aisle from Lowe's!!! There are key rings on there and other rings and about 4 or five diferent types of chain. And then for some color, a zipper rose, some fabric roses, a ribbon, and a rhinestone. Hope you like it.