Christmas Wreath

This elegant wreath has a grapevine base with quality fake evergreen branches, adorned with gold berries and red burlap ribbon with just enough sparkle. Wreath measures 31 inches in height by 28 inches in width. 

DIY Vanity Stool

Check out the stool I made! Cost me 8 bucks to make! Amazing, right?

It was very simple to make actually! 

Here's what you need:

End table or other short furniture piece from the thrift store

Pillow (so much quicker) or trim and fabric of choice

Spray paint (optional)

I got a pillow from Hobby Lobby on super sale for 5 bucks and cut a square from the back, making sure to leave about 2 inches from the trim to staple to. Then remove the stuffing for later. When I bought the pillow I made sure it would fit my end table and wanted to get one with a thick or long trim to cover the stapled part. If you don't want that, you will have to make sure your stapler will fit under the pillow and still have the pillow fit up to the edge. When I stapled it the staples were hidden but the trim I got was heavy enough to pull the edge down, which makes it looks cleaner. I got an end table from the thrift store for really cheap and gave it a new paint job to make it look nice. After you cut the square from the pillow, load you staple gun with just the regular staples, nothing fancy, and staple the first end inside, taking care to get it right up to the edge. I placed my staples one inch apart. On the rest of the sides staple just under the trim but on the top of the pillow fabric to the end table. When you get three sides down, stop. Stuff half the pillow and put four staples down, making a half square inch square, in the middle. This is where the button will go. Then stuff the rest and finish the last side. Next, take you large button, large enough to cover the staples in the middle, and wrap thread through all the holes, faking that it has been sewn on. Then take 4 small nails, small enough to go through the holes in the button, and paint the nail heads the color of the thread. Place the button over the half inch square, and nail the button to the stool. And there you have it! Cheap, beautiful stool! I use mine for my "vanity." (The space I use as a vanity in my bathroom. It actually has a hole to put the chair so it works rather nicely)

Comment if you have any questions!

Birdie!

This is the bird pillow I made for a friends baby shower this year! 

I made it to match the curtains I helped her make for her nursery! This is the fabric she used

We decided to make the main colors the light blue, red, and pink, so that is the colors I made the pillow. I started with a blue fleece, pink bubble fabric, and different colored felt. I created a pattern based on the big red bird, the wind shape big blue and yellow birds, and the felt topper of the yellow bird. 

To start, I sewed the wing inside out except for the top and turned it. Then I over stuffed the very bottom. When I stuffed it I kept in mind that just a little bit of stuffing is best so the wing looks more flat. Then I folded the top inside so it hid the rough edge, and placed the wing up on the pre cut body of the bird so that the edge would be hidden when it gets folded down. Then I sewed it on and fluffed it so the stuffing redistributed. Then I sewed the beak and turned it.Then I hand sewed the eye and beak on. Next, I sewed the top in the general shape of the feathers and stuffed it, then sewed cut felt feathers to it to make it look detailed. I then sewed the birds body inside out making sure to sew the head part on first and leaving a space on the bottom open for stuffing. I made sure I started at the and turned it inside out, revealing the feathers, wing and face. Then I stuffed it and hand stitched it close, leaving me with a finished bird! Just tie a ribbon around it's neck and tack it into place with some handy itching so baby can't rip it off and it's perfect! I plan to make a different version for a second one to give her for Christmas! So when I finish I'll post that! If you have any questions feel free to ask!

T-Shirts

So I am sort of a starving college student and I don't have much money to spare on gifts. Especially this time of year. From the end of October to the middle of December, my family has a birthday almost every week. So, to save some money I started making everyone t-shirts for their birthday! And I have made some sweet ones. Here are the many I have made so far:

Here's the sweet t-shirt I made for my bro. I used iron on vinyl and lots of time, haha.

I made this one for my hubby! I love Zoidberg, haha. Iron on vinyl and some paint! 

And here is the other one I made for Christmas:

I used vinyl as a stencil and painted the design.

This is the shirt I made for my baby sister today! I made it with iron on vinyl and fabric. Pikachu got a little messed up but I think I fixed it pretty well!

I made this racing jersey for my sister to wear to her boyfriend's racing events. I painted the whole thing using vinyl as a stencil. I painted it in the colors of his truck. Go Samm!

I made a t-shirt for my other brother for his birthday as well. I used iron-on vinyl for it too. Yay Zelda!

And as a bonus the t-shirts I made for comic con! Why hello there Simon Helberg! Iron on vinyl this time too. Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock!

Hope you like it! as always, feel free to ask questions! See you all later!

Halloween!

Hello everyone!
I also wanted to share with you guys the side projects I make! I usually end up making them as gifts, haha. So here are the costumes I made for Halloween! This is me and my husband, Matt, as Rapunzel and Flynn Rider! When the movie Tangled came out it was uncanny how much we not only resemble the couple, but ARE them. My hair is even super long. It's been to my waist for like half of my life, and between mid back and to my waist for the rest :) Anyway, so I decided we would be them this Halloween and this is the result! (Also please forgive my messy house in these pictures. I just sewed three costumes in 2 weeks so it kind of exploded and I just put food everywhere haha!)

"It can probably smell fear"

So here is my costume. I made the whole thing myself, and I used a pattern that I designed. I studied Rapunzel's costume and came to some conclusions on how I think would be the most accurate and simple way to make it. It's obvious when you look at her dress that she wears a corset over an undergarment which the sleeves and lace are attached to, as well as the buttons on the back. From the back it is obvious that the material is sheer. I thought that if I made the undershirt with the bodice underneath it would likely slip and bunch and not be as pretty to look at, so I decided to sew the sleeves and sheer fabric on the back to the corset. I did make the corset a true corset with stiff interfacing (very stiff) which I sewed the fabric to and with grommets. The corset is put on by lacing into it. The piece under the lacing I made separately and is held in place with velcro so that I could move it around and place it just where I want. It also helps smooth out the look. The fabric for the bodice is brocade (which was HARD to find. I ended up finding a white on white brocade fabric which I dyed the proper purple. That was terrifying by the way. I had never dyed fabric before! It was very easy though, and I achieved this color by mixing one pink box and one purple box of dye. (I also dyed the appliques, which I will get to in a minute.)

For the sleeves, I sewed on thin pink ribbon (mine had subtle flowers on it!) about half an inch apart and barely made the sleeves puffy. To fake the embroidery on the sleeves (I want an embroidery machine so bad!) I used some trim and a flower shaped ribbon. I used sheer pink for the rest of the sleeves, which I made quarter sleeve length.I put pink jewel buttons (for added detail) on the back on the sheer section I sewed on. (I ended up having to glue them since I ran out of time, haha, so it doesn't look as good, but you get the idea)

For my skirt I found a darker purple brocade to be the underskirt, and used silky purple fabric that I sewed together in panels to achieve the desired shape. I sewed the underskirt as one panel and sewed it on so that the two front panels overlap it. I didn't tack them down so the move freely. For the embroidery section of the skirt I dyed appliques with the same dye solution as above, but I dyed half a little longer for a two toned effect. I used appliques with little pearls for added detail. The lace on the bottom I sewed to a slip or the underskirt effect she has in the movie that I love. Add some flowers in your braid and a Pascal purse from the Disney store and you are ready to go!

 Here is my hubby! I luckily found a shirt and some pants and the thrift store to save me some time, (the pants were mislabeled and huge, ha! I didn't realize it until it was too late!) so I just made the vest and his little leather pouch thingy, haha. I made the vest with some added detail because I felt it was too simple. I created the pattern for the vest as well and you can't tell, but I sewed little lines with the thread to create the texture of Flynn's vest. I used clips with D-rings that I sewed tabs to for the front closures. I used blue rope cording and dyed leather strips for the trim and added copper rivets
to the sleeves where they are on the movie's costume, but I also added them other places for added detail. I sewed on belt loops and the mini sleeves and that was that!
 I also made his pouch which attaches to his belt. I sewed real leather pieces together and cut the front piece into the desired tab like shape with a hole cut in an ever so slightly oval shape to be the button hole. I sewed the button to the leather and then used a glue gun to reinforce the thread on the inside. (I made the satchel to fit his phone and keys so I made it sturdy. It worked great!) I added a compass looking disc (found it at hobby lobby) that had a hole on the middle that the rivets I already used on the costume fit perfectly through, and secured it with the rivet. I sewed decorative stitching on the leather as well.

Here is my adorable friend McKenzie! Isn't she beautiful? I made her a Rapunzel costume as well! I used all the same fabric and materials, but I made it easier to sew and get in. The front was all sewn together so the lacing was just a detail. (but I still used grommets so it looked like mine) I added an invisible zipper to the back and sewed a panel with the buttons on it with velcro so it would cover the top of the zipper and the buttons were where they were supposed to be. I just sewed it as a bodice and not as a corset like mine. I also used a brocade ribbon instead of the flower shaped one I used on mine for the sleeve embroidery to make it a little easier to sew on. (I didn't use interfacing but used the same pattern)

So there you have it! Two different versions of Rapunzel and a Flynn Rider! I left some stuff out but if you have any questions feel free to ask!

It's Fall Y'all!

This fall pillow is cheeky and fun! The felt sumflowers are cute and add dimension to the pillow. It's cute by itself, in a pair, and goes perfectly with green and orange pillows! Get it here. If you want more holiday fun, look here!

Dry Erase/Cork Organization Board

This is another customized organization tool! I originally made this one for a friend's wedding. She loves it! It's great to put in an office to write reminders and keep receipts, or by the front door to corral the extra papers and to write to do lists. The black writing in the picture was done with dry erase markers and isn't a part if the design. Go here to get it. For more beautiful organization helpers, look here!

Custom Dry Erase Calendar

This is one of the custom, hand made organizers I offer! I created this calendar originally for myself. I walk by it everyday and I adore it! It's big enough that I can fit whatever I want in each space, although I usually just fill mine with drawings ;) It's dry erase and works well with any dry erase marker. The background is decorative but it's still easy to write over and still read! If you like it, check it out here, or just look around at my shop!

What the calendar looks like with writing on it.

I obviously love drawing pictures on mine :)