the greatest of gifts : )

on this day my  lovely Ellie Sophia blessed us with her presence into our family : ) 7 lbs and 18 3/4 inches : P
The love  just keeps growing!



fabric stash stockings

Last year for my sons first christmas santa left a bowl of goodies rather than filled a stocking. And katie has had a cute knit vintage, thrifted stocking santa has filled since her  first christmas.  I had found a fabric i liked last year but didn't buy it when i should have : P Apparently other people liked  it too : )  This year I didnt see any that stood out as my family.... and Santa is coming soon! also i need to be equal with the babies too : ) i did feel bad last year i didnt make any but  then again i would have made them matching ones and we didnt think we would be delightfully surprised by another on the way!

Sooooo this brings us to today and whipping some up with fabric from the scrap stash : )

Make a template of the shape you want; i almost made these like elf shoes with curled toes : P
I would give the one i created but i think it's subpar far from perfection.

For each stocking you make you'll need an inner and outet fabric

and you will cut out two from each with a total of 4 'boot' shapes

*****make sure you take into account the right side of the fabric print; you'll want to flip your template over to get a left and right : )

Pin the inner and out pieces, right sides together and stitch around the boot leaving the top open.

You  will want to cut out strips for hanging loops too!

These are roughly 7"x3" with a thick 1/2" inseam.

The top is sewn and turned out : ) bottom: just sewn.

Now after you've made your loop a left the top of the boots open you will turn them out and tuck the top in and pin closed to sew. This is for a clean finish on top and for the hanging loop. On one you will insert and pin your folded strip (loop) before sewing so when you seal the edge its in there nicely as shown above.

Here we have the two pieces we've made pinned together, outside fabric together, ready to be

Sewn

and Turned Out : )

Have a lovely holiday!!!!!!

*maybe next year ill have an update with new babys stocking or matchy ones : )

btw, hope you havent been naughty!!!!! lol

snowy, wintery morning

glitter tastes good :)

yummy  fun! we've just discovered glitter gels : )

playing doctor :) with stitches : P

One day i saw my daughter using these bizarre flame ribbons with  velcro, i think were part  of a mcdonalds happy meal toy, as bandages for her beloved puppy dolls : ) So as im still experiencing and learning  the  embroidery sewing machine my Sweet and Wonderful mother in law just gave me recently I thought id make some red cross bandages to add to her doctor/vet kit.

what you'll need: white felt like fabric, red thread, velcro
*if you have an embroidery machine here is the pattern  i made for 5 bandages in two sizes you'll use in a larger hoop.

I did not use a stabilizer so as you can see it skewed a little, but with the nature of the project i'm happy with it :)

So after you cut them apart (the longer is about 6.5 inches long- and be sure to have the cross in the middle!) you sew on some velcro at the ends and your little doctor in training is  ready to patch up some stuffy owies!

Or as we say in our house, "booboos happen" : D

pumpkins for winter

Have any pumpkins lingering around still? Just today I finally took the orange ones off the front porch (I may do something w/the lg white one) and adorned the tree behind our garbage can with them, lol, they made it bright and pretty back there! : ) Since my kids are little I cant help picking up little pumpkins for them throughout fall. Especially the white and green. They dont go bad for a long time and my conscience doesn't want to toss them but I came up with an idea for turning that bit of autumn into winter.  A Pumpkin Snowman! The little guy came out soooooo cute! and it was a Really fun project!

We went from this:

To this:

I used construction paper, green fleece, buttons, beads, and sticks. For decoration on the hat: feathers, a lg. sequin, and some faux mini holly berries too.  Use what you have, I say! : ) That's what makes it individual, doesnt it?
Other materials used were: hot glue and gun, glue stick, scissors, small branch pruners, compass, and white charcoal pencil.

First, I cut the stems off the pumpkins and found a 'balance' for them, mostly at this point to know which would be the head. Then,  using my compass I determined what the width of hats brim would be.  The circle was drawn on black construction paper and from the same point another smaller circle was drawn inside and then cut out.  I probably would've used a stiff black felt if I had any. 
To get the height of the hat I cut a long rectangle roughly 3.5 times the diameter of the smaller circle to have glueing room for the cylinder.

Here you see the arm branches cut, the fleece cut for a scarf (which is twice the length of the black rectangle), the hat circles, and rectangle measureing 3.5 times the diameter of smaller circle.
The black rectanglehas been folded somewhat accordian style and slits have been cut to the fold on both top and bottom perpendicular to the folds.

 the rectangle has been inserted into the larger circle and the seam glued to be as wide as it needs to be

the tabs have been glued to the underside of the brim

to attach the top part, smaller circle, i used the glue stick on the perimeter of the circle insted of on the tabs to make it easier

then the the details were added : ) honestly before this, i havent used a hot glue gun in probably 6 yrs or more, lol

Next, to make the carrot nose out of construction paper i cut a long right triangle the length of a page. It's height is only about 1.25 inches.

On one side I glue sticked : P

Starting from the wider end and with glue on top rolled the triangle like a making a paper bead but keeping a flat edge

Then came hot glue assembly : ) and snowman was complete ! and ready for his close-up : D

one hot dog : ) or warm anyway

My daughter Katie LOVES dogs : ) unfortunately us having one right now is not a reality. She compromises by taking wonderful care of her 'puppies'. She is a fabulous caretaker of these stuffed animals. This includes washing, dressing, and bandageing their booboos : ) She is a major sweetie and I'm really looking forward to seeing her with her new baby sis in few months!

One night she asked for some clothes for her puppies I had a thought! About a year ago when I sorted through my husbands socks he had a lot of loners : P of which I thought we could use and make some sock puppets one rainy day. We haven't done that yet but I discovered a couple cuts will repurpose a wool sock into a really cute sweater for a little dog, real or play : )

I personally think it's cute enough for a real dog. If I had a little doggie, they'd be sporting one in this colder weather : D
NO SEW! folded to fit and the scrap turns into a mini cute beanie : )  Too Easy!!!!!