House Warming.

A couple Ben works with is closing on their first home tomorrow. What's better to 'warm' a home than a cozy fleece blanket? I love embroidering blankets. They're easy to hoop, hard to mess up, and who doesn't like a blanket?

CAKE DECORATING!!

It's a sign. The day after I blogged about taking a cake decorating classes I saw a sign offering classes in my area. It's the introductory class, offered through Hobby Lobby for only $17. It's a four week class the Tuesdays in the month of June. The class is from 6-8 pm which is pretty good timing since I get out of work at 5:30. I'm pretty excited. I anticpate making this cake after the last week of classes...



NOT! This is a beginners course, so let's see if I can shoot for not injuring myself or knocking someone else's cake over.

Burp cloths and baby hats

I think I mentioned before that I pledged a few embroidered items for an online charity auction benefiting cancer research and awareness. This is one of the items, two pairs of personalized burp cloths. I threw the hats in for good measure (because what is more adorable than a baby in a personalized hat?!). Thanks Carol, for your support of such a wonderful cause!

Cake decorating attempt

I would love to take a cake decorating course. I don't know when I'll have the time, maybe at some point this summer. I do own the Wilson cake decorating kit and I occasionally break it out and attempt to make something not-too-homely looking. I need to work on my icing writing. But this isn't terrible for one of my first times at cake decorating without any supervision!

Cowboy cuteness (LISA! DON'T LOOK!)

Ben's cousins Andy and Lisa are delighted to be expecting twins this summer. They are decorating their nursery in a cowboy theme and I took the opportunity to make a diaper wreath in coordinating colors and style. I'm thrilled with the results. Here's the finished product.



Here are a few close-ups.






Items needed to make this wreath:

- Metal wreath base and wreath hanger.
- 30-32 size 2 diapers (depending on how tight you roll them)
- Two rolls of approximately 1/2 inch ribbon to tie diapers to base
- Stuffed animal for the top of the wreath (I bought a set of two in the toy section at Target)
- Two pack of pacifiers
- One baby hat
- One rubber piggie
- Two pairs of baby socks
- Two bottles
- Two small cowboy hats (I found these in the doll section at Hobby Lobby)
- Two personalized bicycle license plates
- One page of cowboy themed scrap booking stickers
- One roll of twine to tie on embellishment
- One roll of ribbon to tie on embellishment

Instructions for wreath assembly. This method can be used for any wreath. I recommend taking a couple weeks to look for items to go with your theme.

- Do not open the diaper to roll. Leave the diaper folded and tightly roll from the top down. Guide the ribbon through base so the ribbon holds the diaper to the inner two meatal strips. Roll each diaper and tie to wreath base with alternating colors of ribbon. Roll and attach diapers one at a time rather than rolling them all then attaching.

This is the blank base



This is what the back will look like after you have tied the diapers to the base.






- Cut each bandanna in half, then in half again so you have four equal square small pieces of both red and blue bandanna. Then cut each of these squares into 4 strips approximately 1.5 inches thick.

- Tie strips of bandanna between each diaper in alternating colors. Do not knot the ribbon, just tie once then spread the top and bottom of the strip open so it shows on either side of the diapers. These strips should be too short to make a knot, and less of the bandanna would be visible.

- Once base is fully covered with diapers and bandannas determine which point will be the top. I recommend attaching the stuffed animal at first (at the 12 o'clock position) so you can symmetrically distribute the rest of the embellishments. Use either twine or additional ribbon to decorate with a bow. I used an additional smaller stuffed animal in the 6 o'clock position, tied and decorated with a bow.

- Next embellish the bicycle license plates with cowboy themed scrapbook stickers.

- Tie the embellished name plates at the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions using twine.

- Desribute remaining embellishments evenly. I used two pieces of twine to tie on each additional embellisment, and leftover strips of bandanna to attach the pacifiers on either side of the stuffed animal.

- To attach the doll hats I poked holes on each side of the hats and used twine to attach.

Please let me know if my instructions are confusing or if you have any questions. Happy crafting!

Bag lady

When I think back at all the beautiful purses I've seen my Mom and Mary sew from scratch, I CRINGE at the thought that I don't have pictures. Sewing a bag from scratch takes several hours and lots of patience (both of which seem to be consumed by my five month old and twenty-nine year old). Therefore I've been focusing on premade items lately. I love finding embroiderable bags for a good price. Cosmetic and tote bags that have already been made make nice gifts when personalized. Here are some pictures of bags from the past year!

Made from scratch:












Pre-made bags:

Aprons Galore

While perusing my sewing pictures I noticed I really have sewn a plethora of aprons! They're quick, easy, and fun, and I love picking fabrics that reflect the recipient's personality. If you're bored, peruse my pictures of aprons past :)























My favorite model. Isn't he studly?!