The Easiest Bow Holder Tutorial Ever

Avery has a lot of bows.

I thought I had a decent organizational strategy for them, but the baskets-in-drawers system just wasn't cutting it anymore.

I've seen tons of cute bow holders all over the internet, but I couldn't bring myself to fork over the money when I could make one myself. The problem was, I wouldn't actually take the time to do it.

I got my inspired idea while enjoying the quiet of my shower (aka the only time of day I can hear myself think). I decided to take a few things I already had and put them together to make a customized bow holder for Avery's room. So here you have it, the easiest bow holder tutorial ever.

Supplies

• Picture frame (I used 4x6)
• Ribbon (length varies depending on how many bows you'd like the holder to fit)
• Scrapbook paper
• Chipboard for initial (optional; I used a colored self-adhesive letter "a")
• Coordinating embellishments (not pictured)
• Glue gun

Process

1.  Attach two strips of ribbon to the bottom of your picture frame using hot glue. Don't burn yourself because it hurts like crap. I might know that from experience.

2.  Cut your scrapbook paper to fit the frame. Adhere the chipboard initial to the paper wherever you see fit. Insert your new work of art into the frame.

3.  I thought the frame was still a little blah at this point, so I hot glued some flower embellishments to the top of the frame. Perfect!

4.  Hang your super awesome bow holder on the wall. Admire your hard work.

5.  Start clipping those bows and say, "Now why didn't I do this sooner?"

Total cost: $0. Okay, so it cost me something somewhere along the line, but by using the stuff I already had just sitting around the house, I felt like it was free.  And you just can't get any better than free.

Now go make a bow holder for all the cute little girls you know. (And for the not-so-cute ones because they can use some bow love, too.)

Throw Pillows with Accent Stripes {Semi-Tutorial}

While my sister, Allison, was still in Costa Rica, she sent me a Facebook message that informed me that she would continue being our personal photographer if I would start sewing her stuff (since I now had a barter-worthy ability). She then proceeded to send me links to all these cute tutorials so I would be "inspired" to start making her something.

Since I thoroughly enjoy having our own (free!) family photographer, I naturally obliged. Plus, I like sewing, and this gives me a way to keep up the hobby without having to actually buy materials, haha!

My first project for Allison was actually for her and her soon-to-be-roommate-but-friend-since-high-school, Emily (whom I just adore!). They wanted pillows for their couch.

Pillows are easy. Cut, sew, flip, stuff, and close up.

But then they decided while we were out fabric shopping that they didn't want them to just be plain. No. They needed an accent stripe with coordinating fabric.

Still an easy project. Only now I had to think and calculate measurements. Ugh. This is why I like to follow tutorials and patterns; someone else has already done the thinking for me!

Once I sat down and sketched out the patterns and crunched the numbers, it really wasn't so bad. And the best part was that it worked. I didn't screw it up!! Woohoo!!

I love the way they turned out; I might even have to make some for our living room! (And since I'm so nice [and had a little bit of extra fabric], I was even able to make them a set of matching coasters.)

I didn't go through and take pictures for an actual tutorial, but if you're interested in recreating these, here are the measurements for a 16" square pillow:

• 17" x 17" of fabric #1
• 17" x 5" of fabric #1
• 17" x 5" of fabric #2
• 17" x 9" of fabric #2

I used 1/2 inch seam allowances and a basic poly stuffing. (Oh, and the fabric on the back of the pillow is the same as the stripe on the front.)

Sew the 17" sides of the 17" x 5" strips right sides together and then sew the 17" x 9" strip to the other 17" side of the fabric #1 to make one 17" x 17" panel.

Place your new panel on top of the solid 17" x 17" panel (right sides together) and stitch around the edges (still using the 1/2 inch allowance), leaving a gap for flipping purposes. (I used the width of the stripe strip [confusing much?], which ended up being about 4".)

After I flipped the pillow to be right sides out (after trimming corners, of course!), folded down and ironed the opening, and stuffed the pillow, I cheated on closing up the hole. I actually just (very carefully) machine stitched it really close to the edge. It looks better than it would if I were to have hand-stitched it, and since I had four pillows to close up, I was lazy. Plus, since I made the gap on the pillow's stripe, having top-stitching there didn't look out of place at all.

I played around with the fabric and did two pillows with one combination and two with the other (I also had to play with the stripe direction since it was a directional fabric and I had to make the measurements work), so there's a lot of flexibility with how these turn out.

Hope y'all like these, Al and Em!

p.s. I seriously need to catch up on my sewing posts. If I don't do them soon, someone remind me that I still need to post about Kindle cases (with velcro closures this time) and hooded towels. :)

Button Bouquets!

I've already sung the praises of Craftgawker, but can I just remind you how much I love it? I'd seen this project multiple times before (it's not a new idea), but I was re-inspired by a Mother's Day that was approaching without any gift ideas in my brain.

Enter the button bouquet. There are a kajillion tutorials for all different types of these bouquets online, but I found the ones at WhiMSy Love and Blue Velvet Chair to be the most helpful.

Unfortunately, I don't have an abundant supply of miscellaneous buttons, so I raided my mom's stash (classy, I know. I stole her supplies to make her gift. Judge all you want.) and was able to put together a fun little variety. I wanted a little more than just the buttons, so I also added in some scrapbook embellishment flowers to about half of the button flowers, and I just love the way they turned out!

**Just a note about the flower embellishments: Since they didn't have two holes in them, twisting the wire to secure the flowers just made them slide down, so an easy fix was to add a very small button as the base and the problem was solved.

Here's my mini-tutorial:

{Supplies}

• Green floral wire (I used 24 gauge, and the smallest package/spool was way more than enough)
• Buttons (I made 30 flowers with 3 buttons each, so if you're not good at basic math, that would be 90 buttons)
• Flower embellishments (completely optional; I used plastic, but felt would work also)
• Mason jar for vase (save those spaghetti sauce jars!)
• Ribbon/hardware for vase
• Clear marbles for vase filler (you could use whatever filler you want though; I found the best deal on these marbles in the floral department at Hobby Lobby, 50% off, of course!)

{"Flowers"}

• I started by sorting through buttons and putting different combinations together. The color schemes are endless! (Well, endless depending on your supply. Nevermind.)  I used three buttons for each flower. You could always mix it up, using 2-5 for each, but I'm a little obsessive and couldn't bring myself to not be consistent. I have issues.
• Once I had my buttons ready to go, I cut all of the wire at one time. 13ish inches was a good length, but you might need to adjust based on the height of your vase. You can always trim up the length when you're done with all of the flowers so you have some height variety in your bouquet, so don't get too worried about the length of your wire yet. 
• Then thread the wire through one button hole of each button (send lots of excess through also!), bringing the excess back down through the other hole.
• You should have a couple of inches of wire to twist tightly around the stem.
• And there's your flower! Repeat for as many flowers as you want to make.

{Vase}

• Be creative with your vase! I used mason jars, but I've seen some precious button bouquets made to fit into more unconventional items like salt shakers. I'm also planning on making a bouquet for myself using a glass Coca Cola bottle as a vase. 
• For this particular vase, I just tied a thin ribbon around the jar opening, including a little charm hanging down from the knot. Then I hot-glued my fingers the coordinating wide ribbon to the bottom of the jar. Hey, I was going for simplicity, but you could be as creative or as simple as you want to be.

• When I went to arrange the flowers, I found that it was much easier to adjust the height of the flowers while I held them in a bunch in my hand. Once I had them arranged to my liking, I trimmed off the ends and tied the bunch of stems together with floral wire. Then I set them in the vase and filled it with marbles. Easy breezy. 

Just a little update.

So this post started out as a weekend update, but now that it's Wednesday, I think I'll just make it a catch-all. It's not even that exciting. Trust me.


We had a good weekend, during which...

...I finished three sets of coasters for shower hostess gifts. I seriously love the way they turned out, especially because I super-simplified the way I made two of the sets. I just did solid pieces instead of patchwork, and it made them SO much quicker to make. Plus, that way I don't get overwhelmed with fabric coordination since I just have to choose two fabrics instead of five. And then I didn't even get a picture of the finished product. Go figure.

...Avery and I had a fun Welcome Home, Allison dinner at my parents' house (although we missed Matt, Aaron, and Chelsea!). Again, no pictures. (Come on, Heather!)

...we caught a couple of good garage sales while we were running errands and Matt was working at school on a weekend (not that I'm complaining because this actually paid extra). 

This sells for $18.99 on Amazon, and I got it for $1 in perfect condition.

And this one is on Amazon for $37.99, but we got it for $2. It was in great shape but needed a cleaning. Shoot, I'll clean the thing to save $36.

...Avery and I went and hung out with Matt in the sound booth at the show choir concert.

...I spent Sunday morning in the ER with my dad, who found out he has a kidney stone. :(

...some friends threw a shower for Landon.

...we had some major bedtime battles with Avery.

And so far this week...

...I've fallen asleep in two movies that I really wanted to see (The Fighter and The King's Speech)

...we're still having bedtime issues (our sweet little girl has recently decided that she doesn't need to stay in bed when she's supposed to), but I think we're making progress.

...I've been working like a busy little bee in Landon's room trying to get it ready before he gets here.

...I've been a blubbering mess of hormones. Someone make it stop! Okay, fine, so it probably won't stop until after Landon is born (and he really needs to hold off until I'm considered full term on Monday), and even then, I'll have more hormones to contend with. Aah! Maybe y'all should pray for Matt. :)

...Avery hit the 22-month mark (and I still haven't finished her blog post)!

Today I've definitely been nesting (with the help of a very cute little girl!) and really need to finish up a few things while Avery naps so we can run errands when she wakes up. Someone please make me get up off the couch...

Coasters

So my (male) cousin is getting married this summer, and there's a shower this weekend. I can't make the trek up to Oklahoma, so I decided to just send my gift with my mom who is going.

I'm obviously on a sewing kick, and I love to make things for people. I'm trying to find a balance though because 1) I don't want to be too lame and be that person who everyone dreads getting gifts from, and 2) not everybody really likes homemade/sewn gifts. (Whereas I love when someone's put the thought and effort into making something they think I'll appreciate.)

Anyway, hand-sewn baby gifts are easier to think of than wedding gifts, so it took awhile for me to decide on coasters, but I was planning on buying their drinkware, so cute coasters seemed like a natural fit. But then stupid Bed, Bath, and Beyond didn't actually carry the ones they were registered for, and the only set they had at the store was a broken return. Since I had already planned on the coasters, I went with a coordinating gift Plan B: Keurig K-Cups. Coffee needs coasters, right?

Okay, so now that you know way more of the back story than you ever wanted to, here is the final product:

I found the tutorial here (thanks to my sister's recommendation to obsess over Craftgawker), and it was super easy to follow since it was written for beginners. My mom and Darla (practically my second mom) even enlightened me to the easier way to make these in bulk (sewing one long strip and cutting to size). Granted they told me after I had already made two sets, but it's helpful nonetheless. (I made two sets because I bought WAY too much fabric and a friend from church hinted that they would match her living room decor. Plus, they really only take about an hour to put together.)

The hardest part (as always with gifts) was picking out fabric for someone else's taste (especially someone I don't know!). I just went by the dishes she registered for and chose a coordinating color scheme.

I have realized that I need to start buying a variety of thread colors. I only have brown, black, and white, so my options are super limited! I mean, one of those will work with any fabric I use, but sometimes you don't want such a contrast (especially when sewing straight lines is not your forte, ahem).

This is a great project for your fabric scraps. It really was easy (and would've been inexpensive had I not gone overboard with my fabric purchase, oops), so I definitely recommend giving these a try.

Domesticity

I've never really been the domestic type. I'm just now at the point that I can cook an edible meal. I've been able to bake decently for awhile, but following and tweaking recipes has just has never been my thing. I married a man who could cook, and I most definitely took advantage of that while we were both working (especially when I was a coach!).

But I ran out of excuses when I became a stay at home mom. There wasn't really a valid reason I couldn't get dinner started before Matt got home from work, so in order to avoid being lazy, I just started cooking. And honestly, the more I did it, the easier it got.

I'm no gourmet chef, but there are nights that I definitely surprise myself with a dang good dinner.

I learned to sew in January, and so now I'm going all Suzy Homemaker and cooking, baking, and sewing as often as I get the chance. I know, it's so unlike me.

Anyway, now to the point of this post.

I would like to let you in on a few of discoveries I've recently made.  You're welcome.

{1} Craftgawker. Y'all, this site will be the death of my free time. I just want to sit and look at all the pretty things and tutorials all day long. If you sew, knit, crochet, scrapbook, or just like DIY projects, you have to check it out. Be sure to start with the "popular" tab so you're not overwhelmed with all the cuteness. It'll show you the the most popular tutorials first, and you can go from there. I've already gotten some great ideas for wedding and baby shower gifts.

{2} Chocolate chip cookie pie. Yum. Really, just yum. It's a mix between a pie and a cookie cake. And you can't go wrong with cookie cake. It's impossible. Be sure to use the oatmeal crust she links to; it's ridiculously easy and tasty (and cheap!).

{3} Okay, this one really isn't a discovery, but I finally mastered the art of sewing velcro! This accomplishment at least deserves a mention. I made my second diapers/wipes case and changing pad, this time for my cousin Kari, and I love the way they turned out! These are seriously so easy to make. Now I just need to make one for myself. Can someone please come and clean my house so I can just sew all day?

Speaking of cleaning the house, I really need to get off my booty and get some work done before Sleeping Beauty decides my time is up.

Batman Pajama Pants!

I actually finished these a couple of weeks ago, but I kept forgetting to get pictures of my goofy awesome husband wearing them, so without further ado...

Ta-da!

If you're wondering why I made Batman pants for a 28-year old man, you kinda just have to know Matt. :) I brought home a bunch of flannel to make burp cloths when JoAnn had all of their flannel on sale for $2/yd (score!), and one of the prints was a cartoon-ish one with Bam! and Pow! speech bubbles all over it. Matt joked that he wanted pajama pants made out of it, and since his birthday was coming up, I schemed to make some for him. 

Only I was too late getting back to the store to get the fabric because they were sold out of it by the time I made it back. They did have their licensed prints on sale too (although unfortunately not for $2/yd), so I decided on the Batman. Okay fine, it was mostly out of selfish motives because Batman is really the only superhero I like. Anyway.

As with most of my sewing projects, I hit a couple of snags (pun only kind of intended). First, I realized when I took a closer look at the pattern that it was only women's sizing. Oops. I solved the problem by using the largest cut and then altering it a little by comparing it to some pj pants that Matt had in his closet that I knew fit him well. My second obstacle was that I chose the one week Matt was home with us (spring break) to make the surprise pants, so it took a little bit of creativity to find times that he was either gone or working outside or something so I could sneak to my sewing machine and put them together.

I finished the pants just in time for his birthday, and I'm SO pleased with how they turned out. BTW, this was the first time I'd actually pre-washed fabric (I know, I know), and I loved not freaking out about whether they would shrink in the wash. 

I wasn't crazy about the pattern instructions because 1) they were confusing, and 2) the online tutorial pics were made using a printed fabric and made it impossible to tell what was going on. I did like that it made a very sturdy final product, and it was relatively easy to tweek for my purposes (ahem, men's pants). I also love the trim. Oh, and I didn't do the button fly that it called for (that was the most poorly worded section of the instructions). And I figured for men's pjs it would work without buttoning it down. If I use the pattern again, I'll just omit a fly all together to make it easier on myself. I'm kinda lazy like that.

Final verdict on the pattern: worth using if you find it on sale (like my mom did) and you're patient enough to read and re-read the instructions. 

Final verdict on the pants: Holy Awesomeness, Batman!

Changing pad, diapers/wipes case, and burp cloths!

Ah, they're finally finished and mailed off, so now I can post my latest baby projects! 


Matt's brother, Justin, and his wife, Miriam, are about to have a baby, so I just had to make a few things for our soon-to-arrive niece, baby Josie!

Changing tables in public restrooms are nasty. Shoot, half the time I just change Avery in the car to avoid them altogether. Either way, you need a good changing pad, and one that you can just throw in the washing machine is an added bonus. I found this fantastic tutorial, loved the way it looked, and thought I'd give it a try.

Overall, I'm pleased with the way they turned out, although next time I'll make sure I have the right size cut of fleece for the batting (sorry about the extra bulk from where I had to improvise, Miriam!). I might also try some interfacing on the diapers/wipes case to make it a little more sturdy (although I do like the flexibility of the case without it).

I also found a good tutorial for the world's best burp cloth. These are SO easy, and I love the way they turned out. I made a ton of them (including a couple of baseball ones for Landon), and I'm pretty sure this project will be come my go-to baby shower gift. :) (Sorry to my pregnant friends who now know what you'll be getting from me. Hey, at least now you can pick out the fabric, right?)

(I actually made 12 of these. I'm taking a break from burp cloths.)

Can you guess who this one's for??

This project made it necessary to learn how to change needles on my sewing machine. Yeah, the edges get pretty bulky, so it took a little tweaking, but I adjusted the process so it didn't require me to sew over the super-thick, needle-busting edges when I was top-stitching down the center seams. Following the edges when I was doing the final top-stitching was fine, and I don't think my adjustment compromised the integrity of the burp cloth at all. :) Haha, look at me trying to sound all technical. I really don't know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, I love finishing projects because it means I get to start a new one. :) I think next up on my list is a cute pair of Bermuda shorts for Avery.

Kindle Case

I finished this project awhile ago, but I couldn't post it until now because it was a birthday gift for my mother-in-law (happy birthday, Arlene!). So without further ado, my first attempt at a non-skirt, zipper project...

I found the crocheted Kindle case tutorial at Little Birdie Secrets about a month ago, and I thought it would be a fun gift to make for Matt's mom since she just got a Kindle. But at the end of the post, she mentioned having a sewn case tutorial that she would be posting later, so I held off and waited for her to post the fabric option. I'm so glad I waited because it ended up being (relatively) easy and so stinkin' cute!

Matt even got to pick out the fabric (after I texted him the picture of my top three options). He picked my third choice, but it ended up being perfect for this project (plus I went back and got my top choice for another project, haha).

I had never sewn a zipper or used interfacing (well, there are a lot of sewing techniques I've never done, considering that this was only my third project), so the task seemed a little daunting. I followed all the steps in the tutorial, but my machine kept stopping when I tried to sew over the zipper. It freaked me out, so I just skipped that part. Once I finished the bag, I realized the error of my ways. The zipper that just pulled straight off might have helped a little with that realization. After a brief moment of panic, I emailed my friend Jessica (seriously, click on that link and check out her blog; she's so talented!) and asked begged her to tell me what I did wrong and how I could fix it.

After backing up a few steps, I was able to re-attempt sewing over the zipper, and sure enough, when I went slowly enough over it, the machine was fine. Problem solved.

I wasn't sure the opening was big enough for the Kindle to fit through it comfortably, but I'm assured that it does. I would call this first bag attempt a success.

And oh my goodness, I cannot wait to post the latest project I finished because I quadruple love it. But alas, I keep making gifts and can't post the pictures until I send them off. Argh.

Ruffly Skirt #2!

I love having a little girl. :) I was totally anti-ruffles and bows when I was pregnant with Avery (I didn't want her to be too girly!), but now I'm just jumping on all of the fun little girly things I can make. Somebody's probably gonna have to stop me.

I started skirt #2 the other day and was completely put off by the pattern instructions. They were ridiculous! I'm pretty sure I read them like 10 times before I was able to kind of figure out what I was supposed to do. (Not using that brand again! Whistlepig or something boutique-y like that)

Anyway, the actual pattern was actually just a bunch of strips of material (the pattern also has jackets and bags and stuff, but the skirt cutting was pretty basic), so it was a struggle for me to measure and cut in straight lines without a rotary cutter, but I somehow managed to get them semi-straight.

I also forgot that the basting stitch for a ruffle requires two rows (thanks, Facebook sewing friends!), so the first ruffle took me forever since I was trying to gather the fabric with only one stinking row. The other two were a piece of cake.

I finished the elastic during tonight's episode of The Bachelor (haha!), and voila! It turned out much better than I expected. I think the ruffles hide a lot. I'm still working on sewing in straight lines; it's a process, right?

Anyway, since it is Valentine's Day and all, I'm getting my booty off the computer so I can hang out with my awesome husband. Night!

Sew Cute

I'm not a very original person. I already used this title for my sewing project album on Facebook, and I know I'm not the first to use the sew/so pun. But I can't help myself!

Anyway.

I got a sewing machine!! Can I get a woohoo?!?! My birthday isn't until the end of the month, but since my mom and I were going to spend this past Saturday sewing (and I'll be, ahem, on a cruise on my actual birthday), she gave me my present early. I was SO excited!

I got the Singer Brilliance 6180, and it's so easy to use. It's a pretty basic machine, but since I'm just figuring all this sewing stuff out, I definitely didn't need anything fancy.

We had already cut out the fabric to make this twirl skort, so on Saturday we just needed to put it all together. Easier said than done, right? Ruffles hate me, but I think I'm on the road to conquering them.

My mom definitely walked me through the steps, so I didn't make the skirt entirely on my own (and she even picked out the fabric-- love it!), but here's how it turned out:

And it's still in one piece after Avery traipsed all over the church in it on Sunday! I'd call that success.

And now I'm just trying to decide if I should attempt my other skirt pattern next or go for something a little easier since now I'm totally on my own. Eek!

Thanks, Sarah!

Well after my little embroidery shout out to my friend Sarah, I got a fun little surprise yesterday! Matt came home with a gift to Avery from Sarah herself. It was a pink turtleneck embroidered with a cute little stocking. I love it and am so impressed that she's able to make such cool things! We were going to Matt's choir concert that evening, so I changed her outfit immediately so she could model it for the masses. 

Not so happy about getting her picture taken again.

Nooooo!

Okay, fine, but only if you take it with me!

"Reading" her current favorite book. You will rock my face off if you can tell me which book that is.

Entertaining herself during the concert

Dancing/shaking

Great job, Daddy!

Problem solved.

Earrings are my go-to accessory, so awhile back I found myself searching for a storage solution.

Enter Google. I found all sorts of options. None of which were remotely cute or under $20. Case in point:

Enter DIY. I found some cute ideas, complete with ribbon and fancy painted picture frames. Please, I just needed a place to stash the earrings.

Now enter practicality and a cheapskate.

My earring storage dilemma was solved, and it only required a $3 drawer basket (courtesy of Walmart), a couple of hooks, and minimal effort.

Now about those necklaces...

30(ish) Day Challenge: Scrapbook Update

The secret to quicker scrapbooking: pretty paper. I've only done a few pages so far this week, so needless to say, I'm still behind on my goal (are you sensing a trend here?). But when I did have an hour this week to sit down and work on the project, I churned out four pages in one measly little hour. It was brilliant. (I also happen to like simple pages, so that helps.)

I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm only 13 pages into my 45-page goal for the month (yikes!), but I'm going to my friend Valerie's scrapbooking party on Saturday for National Scrapbook Day (yeah, I didn't know it existed either!). If I stay on my 15 minutes-per-page pace, that's only 8 more hours! 

Um, yeah. Check back on May 1 to see how that works out for me.