Funky Flower Pin: A tutorial review

Back in October, when I was preparing for this, I started thinking about what I was going to wear. I wanted something professional, but yet fun and crafty. I decided to wear a simple black sweater and go with funky accessories. I stumbled upon this simple tutorial from Blue Cricket Design and decided to give it a whirl. It was so easy! I used it to create this adorable pin!

Seriously, every time I wear it, I get tons of compliments. I decided that my super-chic grandmother would like one. So, I whipped one together for her to give her at Christmas. While I was working through her pin, I made some notes of things that I did slightly different.

For starters, I didn't have any kind of cookie cutters that would work for the template like the tutorial called for, so I made my own. You can download the template I used here.

You can really use as many different fabrics as you want. For this particular pin, I did every petal in a different fabric. To make it easier, I cut four layers of fabric at a time.

Here are all the petals laid out. I did the pink ones as the largest size, the brown as the medium size and the blue as the smallest.

Another thing I did for simplicity was to sew the button onto the small circle before hot gluing the circle over the center of the pin.

 Here is the finished product. Pretty, huh?

Seriously, this tutorial is so easy. It is a great pin and would also be stellar as a bow or headband. These are so fast to make and would be great stocking stuffers. I hope you enjoy this tutorial. If you do, leave Blue Cricket a comment telling them that you do!

Too Cute Reindeer Shirt- A tutorial

I have been crafting Christmas outfits for several little girls I know and wanted to make sure that my daughter had something cute as well. I am really in love with felt designs right now and wanted to work that in somehow. I went with a simple, yet girly, reindeer idea. It is so simple that I wanted to share it with you!

Oh, and while I made mine a girly reindeer, this would also be super cute for a boy if you added a bowtie!

Materials List-

• Felt in beige, chocolate brown, red and black. I bought the pre-cut squares that are like $0.29 at Joann Fabrics. (The red I bought has glitter in it and is sparkly!)
• Steam-a-Seam paper
• Scissors
• Thread
• Ribbon (optional)
• Fray block for ribbon (optional)
• Reindeer Template- You can download it here. (Etsy crafters-feel free to use this design to sell!)

Step 1. Print the template out and trace onto the steam-a-seam paper following the packaged instructions. Make sure that the pieces are all traced seperately (see picture below).

Step 2. Loosely cut out traced shapes.

Step 3. Following steam-a-seam instructions, remove backing and place the paper onto the felt pieces with the sticky side down.

I like to place a paper towel over the paper to prevent pencil from smearing onto my iron.

Step 4. Iron each of the pieces into place.

Step 5. Cut out each of the shapes.

You should now have all of your pieces ready!

Step 6. Peel the paper backing away from each of the reindeer pieces.

Step 7. Layout the pieces of the reindeer onto your shirt.

Step 8. Iron the felt pieces into place on your shirt. Again, I used a paper towel to cover the image before ironing just in case. (I ironed the face and antlers first and then added the eyes and nose. I did this to make sure that nothing shifted while I was ironing).

This is what your shirt should look like after everything is ironed into place.

Step 9. Now it is time to sew the pieces into place. Since felt does not fray, you do not need to use a zig-zag stitch. Instead use a simple straight stitch and sew 1/8" from the edge of the design. There are actually several ways to go about this. You could use thick embroidery thread and hand-sew the pieces on for a unique look. I chose to use my machine but extended the stitch length to twice the normal length. I also use a contrasting thread (bright white) to go around the face and add interest. It would also be cute to do a combination of the two.

Step 10. If you will be adding a girly bow, simply tie your ribbon and treat the ends with fray block (or heat treat if using grosgrain). I used the glue gun and added a dab of hot glue to the ribbon to hold it in place and then I went back and hand stitched it onto the shirt.

Voila! A super cute holiday tee that will make any little one smile.

PS- There are so many variations that can be done with this design. One might be to use funky colored quilting fabrics instead of solid felts...or a combination of both. Have fun!

Check one thing off your holiday to-do list

The holidays are upon us. You know what that means- shopping, parties, shopping, cooking, shopping, eating, you get the picture. One of the biggest tasks in my mind is the family Christmas card. I have really high standards for stationary and paper products and therefore my taste almost always exceeds my budget. This is a serious problem since I am a stay-at-home mom and our family of 4 lives on one modest income.

The first part of the Christmas card hunt for me is the family picture. You know, finding a good one. I think I have that covered this year. We will be staying with my inlaws at their beautiful home for Thanksgiving. My plan is to take a LOT of family pictures on their gorgeous property in hopes that we get one great one to use for our cards. Fingers crossed here because I do not have a back up plan.

After the picture is finalized then it is time to find the perfect (read: high quality and low price) card. This year I am doing my shopping with Shutterfly. You all know them for online pictures, photo books and family web pages, but have you checked out their cards?

If any of you out their are stationary snobs like I am, you are thinking "I don't want to use photo paper Christmas cards". I hear you and guess what? Shutterfly now has high quality card stock cards that are printed with your family's photo! Isn't that great? You CAN have it all, simple downloading, quality cardstock and good prices. What more can you ask for?

You can check out their entire line of Christmas cards here. In case you want to know what some of my favorites are:

 I love the colors here and that it is a folded card. This is perfect for including a family letter.

 So simple! The picture speaks for itself and I really like that.

 I am thinking we are going to wear blue, brown and red for our holiday picture, so that would look lovely on this card.

Or this one!

One thing that I am really excited about is that Shutterfly has a specific section of their holiday cards for religious themes. So, for those of us who really believe that Christ is the reason for the season, then we can choose from a great selection here. My favorites include:

 Elegant and simple

 Christ IS King

 I love that this one is not red and green. It is a great way to include more than one photo should you be lucky enough to have several to choose from.

Again, simple and understanded so that the picture does the talking. I also love the scripture verse.

Make one thing on your list simple this year. Check out all Shutterfly's holiday cards here and take advantage of their current promotion of 20% off all holiday cards. http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

This post is part of a series sponsored by Shutterfly.

Back in the saddle and a winner

This weekend was a whirlwind of social activity. It was seriously the busiest I have been in months. The highlights included hosting my best friends baby shower and having girls night out with 5 of my closest friends from high school.

My best friend is having a baby boy and her shower gave me a reason to get back to sewing again. While it was really hard finding the time to make anything, it was so refreshing to be back at my machine. I really do miss it! A lot.

I am refreshed and inspired to make a bunch of things for Christmas. Now, I just need to find the time to actually do them.

 Here is the boppy cover that I made for sweet Parker

This is the monogrammed lovie for him to snuggle

Anyways, enough about my weekend...The winner of the Lillianna Marie giveaway is....

Heather

from Pieces of Me

who said...

I love the ponytail holders!

November 1, 2010 6:56 PM

Congratulations to Heather and thank you to all who participated.

Heather- shoot me an email at ssgebhardt at gmail dot com so I can get you hooked up with your prize!

What I found in my reader this week...

How has your week been? Mine has been crazy. Halloween just passed and my head is already spinning. I can't believe that it is Novemeber and we are officially into the holiday season. All I can think about is what the heck I am going to get everyone for Christmas and what I really want to be spending all 5 minutes of free time doing is crafting! I miss crafting! 

 

Okay, my dream to-do list just got a lot longer. I say "dream" because with our needy newborn these days, I can barely shower everyday, let alone find time for fun crafts. I found lots of cute things in my Google Reader this week. Granted, I am playing a little bit of catch-up from the last few weeks so some of it is a little more than a week old, but cute none-the-less. Check this stuff out:

  

 This owl bunting is super cute! Seriously, I love it. You can find the tutorial by Spunky Junky here.

 This fabric braid bracelet would be a great gift or stocking stuffer for the fashionista in your life. You can find the tutorial by Kim at Everything Etsy here.

 I AM planning on making some of these. This is too cute and easy to pass up. Find the chalkboard frame tutorial by Bless Our Nest here.

 This is not so much a tutorial as it is a GREAT idea. Check out the lunchbox basket idea by Nesting Place here.

 Look at this gorgeous ruffle scarf. If I have said it once, I have said it a million times, I LOVE ruffles! Check out the tutorial by Living with Punks here.

 Um, is this not precious? Take your old tshirts and make an adorable dress for your little girl with this tutorial. Check out the upcycled tshirt dress tutorial by I am Momma Hear me Roar here.

 Look at this pillow! It is so pretty and funky at the same time. You could totally do it in a variety of fabrics to make it fit any decor. Check out the tutorial by JCasa Handmade on the Sew Mama Sew blog here.

Okay, this idea is wonderful and so timely. I have been looking at camera bags lately and just cannot get over the prices. I will be following this tutorial at some point because it just makes sense! Get the camera bag insert tutorial by Lil Blue Boo here.

Great stuff, huh?!?! I hope you get inspired with these great tutorials. Have a wonderful, and crafty, weekend.

PS- If you do not already follow these blogs, I highly recommend them. They are full of crafty and inspirational goodness:)

If I can ever find the time...

Finding time to work and sew with a newborn has been much harder than I anticipated. Much harder. To prove it, I have these two patterns written. They have been written, photgraphed and modeled. All I need to do is type them up and send them to testing and then they will be ready for the shop. I am really hoping to have them ready in the next month because I hate having these projects partially finished. Plus they are just too cute not to be listed in my shop!

 

This one is an elbow length ruffle sleeve twist on a peasant dress. I plan to layer it over jeans and leggings once the weather cools off (keep in mind my daughter was modeling this in August)

This one is actually a pattern written for knit fabrics. It looks fancy but is actually quite easy and would be perfect for beginners or those who have never tried knits.

What do you think?