Crafty Afternoon

Shortly after returning from Washington I felt the need to get moving on Christmas things. That was at the beginning of November. It was a good plan, to get together with my favorite crafting ladies for a little lunch and a crafting afternoon. Kel always had some interesting food concoctions. 

They always turn out to be fantastic too!

We enjoyed a little baked potato soup with a side of lovely fruit.

This is what happens when Kel comes over. She brings just half of her craft room, which fills up my entire table, leaving no room to work. Thankfully, my kitchen includes plenty of counter space.

Since Heather is the queen of glitter we put her to work on these awesome ornaments.

With just a little modge podge, glitter, and vintage cookie cutters this is what you get.

These cookie cutters would make great decorations on your gift wrapped presents as well as being hung on your tree. Hint, hint! Aren't they cute? These would be a great project for children too. They would love to make a mess with all of this. It took me days to wash glitter out of my little girls' hair. 

The Massive Make-up Bag

Lately, I've been obessed with sewing these adorable makeup bags. They're such a quick and easy project to make, and they are amazing gifts, especially for Christmas. I used mine on my trip to Texas as well as our trip out to Washington. Now it stays in my purse with an extra change of clothes for my baby girls.  Recently, my friend Edie, asked if I'd write a tutorial and do a guest post on her blog. Being the super sweet gal that she is, no one can say no to her, so that's just what I did.If you missed that post on Edie's blog have no fear, I'm posting it here for you too! 

Often times I have things in my head that I would love to make, but then I'm stuck without a pattern. I've been thinking of making an EXTRA large cosmetic case for awhile now. They're fabulous for travel or even just to carry things in a diaper bag or even to keep in a glove box. You never know when it might come in handy. With a few friends' birthdays coming I figured it would be the perfect time to get moving on this project. I began browsing Pinterest with no success, so after a little trial and error I came up with this pattern. 

I have a friend that loves buntings, so when I saw this fabric I couldn't passs it up. That fabric, on top, will be used for the outside of your bag. The bottom, green fabric, will be on the inside.

What makes this bag unique is that I've lined it with vinyl, so it's easy to wipe clean or you can use it for wet things and the outside won't get wet.

For the vinyl I just used this iron on stuff. It's pretty dreamy and easy to use. Now I just want to iron this vinyl to everything because I have 6 kids and it would make cleaning a lot easier. I love it!Here's where things may get a little tricky, so hopefully I don't lose you and I don't confuse myself. First, you will want to iron heavyweight interfacing to the wrong side of your bunting fabric. It will give your bag more stability. (This step is not pictured.) Next, lay your outer fabric right side up and your zipper face down on top of it. 

Then take your lining fabric and lay it face down on top of the zipper, which is also face down. Then you are going to sew along the edge of the zipper. This is where a zipper foot really comes in handy.

After you've sewn these pieces together, open it up and this is what it looks like.

Iron your fabric along the zipper, but be careful not to get the hot iron on the vinyl. That could be detrimental to the project.

Now repeat the above steps with the other fabric pieces and other side of the zipper.

This is what it looks like when both sides have been sewn. If you turn the bag over you will have the green pieces laying right side out. Got it?

Carefully edge stich along the zipper on both sides, making sure the vinyl undernath is not part of the edge stitiching.

Open the zipper halfway. Don't forget this step or you'll be sorry later. 

Now lay your bag so that the right sides of all fabric pieces are facing inward. It should be green on green and bunting on bunting. Pin the edges together. Then sew along the outside edge with a 1/2 inch seam allowance. Be sure to leave about a 2 inch opening at the bottom center of the green fabric. That is where you will be turning the bag inside out.

Clip all four corners.

Here's another tricky part. This is how we make the bag stand on its own. At the corners of the bag, on all for sides, match the side seam with the bottom seam. It should form a triangle.

Smash it down and sew along the edge with a 2 inch seam allowance.

 You are going to do this on all four sides.

Then trim the edges. It's always hard for me to cut these corners off, but it's got to be done. If they aren't cut off things will be a little puffy later. And, we definitely don't want that.

Remember that opening you left at the bottom of the bag? Now it's time to utilize it. We're going to turn this bag inside out now!

I like to stick one of the farthest corners through the hole first and then work the rest of the bag through the hole.

There! Everything is now right side out.

Now we need to sew up that opening at the bottom of the bag. You can sew this by hand for a more polished finish or you can do it the lazy way, like me, by using the sewing machine. 

Once that is finished you can tuck the inside back into the bag and you're finished! 

See? Pretty easy peasy, right? Now go and make a hundred more and give them to your friends for Christmas!

Materials:

• 1-12 inch zipper
• 2-14x10 inch pieces of heavyweight fusible interfacing
• 2-14x10 inch pieces of outer fabric
• 2-14x10 inch pieces of inner fabric
• 2-14x10 inch pieces iron on vinyl
• Matching thread of your choice

Directions:

1. Fuse interfacing to outer fabric pieces and iron vinyl to inner fabric pieces.
2. Lay outer fabric right side up. Place zipper face down on top of outer fabric. Place inner fabric wrong side up on top of zipper. Sew along the edge of the zipper with a zipper foot.
3. Repeat on step 2 on other side of zipper.
4. Iron outer fabric along the zipper. Then edge stitch along the zipper, careful not to sew the green fabric.
5. Turn bag inside out, so right sides of outer fabric are facing each other and right sides of inner fabric are facing each other. Unzip zipper halfway.
6. Pin edges and sew along the outside of the bag with 1/2 inch seam allowance, leaving a 2 inch opening at the bottom center of the inner fabric for turning, later. Trim all 4 corners.
7. Match side seams with bottom seam creating a triangle. Sew the triangle with a 2 inch seam allowance. Trim the excess seam allowance.
8. Turn bag inside out through opening at the bottom of the bag. Sew opening closed.
9. Tuck inside of bag into bag. Finished!

Do you want an idea how ginormous this bag really is? That's my 4 year old, holding the bag, filled to the gills with awesomeness.

When I travel, I don't travel light when it comes to toiletries and cosmetics. I want to have as much, of my things, with me as a I can. You never know what you might need for different occasions. It's best to be prepared. (On a side note, the pink Beauty Blender is awesome. Get one. Once you have one you'll wonder how you lived without one for so long.)

Yes! It all fits into the cosmetic bag. It also zips. Now you'll notice that it isn't completely full. There's room for more. Perhaps I'll add a toothbrush and some toothpaste since it seems I forgot to add them to the photo.

Now you're thinking, "Toiletries and cosmetics. Big deal." Right? How about 6 swimming suits? That's right.

This bag is great for wet bathing suits. I fit all 6 of my children's swim wear into that bag. It's perfect if you're at a hotel or somewhere that makes it difficult to store wet items.

Elizabeth can hardly contain the excitement over the versatility of this ginormous bag! Now you really need to make a few for yourself and your friends.

DIY Cake Plate

I have been drooling over this cake stand for months hoping that maybe I'll be able to thrift one, but knowing I probably won't. Then, the other week, my friend Colleen was having a book release party (more on that another time) and I saw the cake plate at the party. I just about swiped it and ran, but there was cake on top of it. Imagine that. ("Hi, Colleen!") Anyway, Kellee has known that I've been wanting that cake plate forever and the chances of finding one at a decent price probably wasn't going to happen. She found the dishes you see above and brought them to me. She told me to make my own cake stand.

I had just seen a tutorial in a Martha Stewart Living magazine about making your own cake stands, so this was perfect timing. Heather suggested I use this E6000 stuff, so off to Hobby Lobby I went with my 40% off coupon.

First you need to take some measurements. Then make some markings on the bottom of your large plate. You can use a Sharpie since it will be covered up anyway.

Then dribble some glue over your markings.

Next, add  some glue to the bottom of the cute little candy dish. Let them both sit for a few minutes.

Then glue the two pieces together. 

Leave it alone and don't let anyone touch it for 24-72 hours to let the glue dry and become solid.

Cute right?

I think it even looks cuter with cupcakes on it. I may even like this cake stand better than that Hobnail Milkglass I was drooling over.

Then Heather borrowed the cake stand for a baby shower she hosted. Isn't it beautiful with deviled eggs on top? I think I might be hooked on making cake stands now. It's so easy, fun, and each one is unique!

Recovered

We've had these chairs for years. In fact, we picked them up at the Clothing Co-op while we lived in Indiana and my husband was attending the seminary. While I loved the chairs I didn't love that they were kind of worn and faded. My mother-in-law was out to visit and she helped me recover the chairs. This is what we came up with. We've since moved and these chairs have stayed with us. I was ready to get a little more pop out of them, thus, another makeover. 

When I saw that some of my favorite fabrics were on sale I jumped at the chance to purchase them and figured it would be the perfect time to change things up again. How fun are these chairs now? Cute, right? It think they turned out quite nicely.

We've had this sofa and loveseat set since we've been married, so that makes it pretty old. They kind of needed a makeover too.

I decided to make new pillows for the sofas.

With ideas that I found on Pinterest I decided that a little ruffle would be fun.

While rummaging through my desk drawer I found a ruffler foot that I forgot I had. I had never used it before. (I had bought it for a different machine.) With all of the ruffling I had planned, I decided I better figure out how to use this foot. It's super easy to use and makes for a lot less headaches.

Ruffles in just seconds! I'll never go back to hand ruffling again.

Then it was time to finish up some pillows. Pin your ruffle along the outside edge of your pillow. Then place your other pieces on top. (I made envelope pillow cases for easy removal and cleaning.)

They're like brand new couches aren't they? I love how they all turned out and they were so much fun to make!

All of the ruffles were made with my ruffler foot.

To make your own pillows simply measure them and cut your fabric to the size of the pillow.

Ruffle Pillows

For a 20x20 inch pillow

• cut a piece of fabric 20x20 (front of pillow)
• cut 2 pieces 20x14 (back of pillow)
• cut 4 strips the length of your fabric (should be about 42 in long)x 4 inches wide.

To make the ruffle for the outside of the pillow sew all 4 pieces together. Then iron that long piece lengthwise. Ruffle the the strip. Attach the ruffle to the right side of the front of the pillow piece. Place the pillow backs on top of the front of the pillow right sides together. The pillow backs should overlap. Sew around the outside of the pillow. Finish edge with a serger if desired. Turn pillow inside out and you're finished.

Ruffle on front of pillow

• cut a piece of fabric 20x20 (front of pillow)
• cut 2 pieces 20x14 (back of pillow)
• cut a stripe 3 inches wide by 2 1/2x the length of your pillow.

For the ruffle sew all pieces together. Then finish the outer edges with a narrow hem. Ruffle the strip. Attach and sew it to the front of the pillow. WIth right sides together pin the front and back pieces together. Sew along the outer edge. Serge edges if desired. Turn pillow inside out and you're done.