Quick little blanket

This blanket was meant to be a present for a birthday party, but like usual I procrastinated overextended myself so we went with plan B. I turned it into a doll quilt for our toy room since little items like that are lacking a little. It was made completely from scraps. I thought it was pretty cute. 

Linking up with Amanda Jean this week.

Witch Hats

Recently at church they put me on the Relief Society Committee. We do the activities, offer compassionate service, etc. It being October and all, we had our Halloween party. If I hadn't been so distracted I would have gotten pictures of the tables all decorated. Nancy did a wonderful job on the decorations and I hope she got pictures of it. We had an amazing cooking demonstration by one of the ladies. She made the most delicious potato and ham soup and bread  bowls to go along with it. mmmm. 

Anyway, I was in charge of the caramel for the caramel apples and the centerpieces. 

They are all made from paper and ribbon. After working for a bit making a temple in the craft room of the LPF I was able to whip these babies out. The papers are a combination from Hobby Lobby and SEI

I thought they turned out pretty good for first timers and some paper and ribbon.

I was inspired by a pin I found on Pinterest, but the link is broken so I didn't post it. 

Duck Dynasty Party

Welcome to the 100th POST!!! What a way to celebrate it by sharing three of my loves with you. My nephew, party decoratings, and Ducky Dynasty!!

 My nephew turned 12 this week and LOVES Duck Dynasty and especially Uncle Si. His mom called 4 days before the party asking for some help with the decorations. 

This is what I came up with. The sign is a tablecloth I cut up so the tree would line up and look like one long tree. Then cut out some letters on contact paper on the LPF. My mother in law had the two branches and the short log. 

The cattails are real and I spent the morning clipping them alongside the creek in town. The mesh camouflage fabric was borrowed from a friend, and the "LOGAN" letters were strung between the two branches with wire. 

My sister in law made the cupcakes and I already had the cupcake stands, which I made myself. They are hotplate covers on top of painted terra cotta clay pots. 

I made the boxes. The tutorial is found here. My cousin had the antlers from her husband collecting them while hiking and the three mallard duck decoys I bought from a classified ad $5 for all THREE!!

To make the cardboard deer, I cut out a small one on the LPF out of paper and blew up the images using a projector. 

The snakes I found at the dollar store and they were already spiral-ly so I wrapped them around the log and the two branches on the dessert table.

 And I put this log on the present table.

All in all, it went pretty well, and the total cost for the decorations came to $18.60!! Less than $20. That's my kind of party!

My nephew loved the board so much, he carefully peeled off the "birthday" letters and made it his new headboard. It's the little things that make him the most happy. I was so glad he asked me to help. 

Make your own decor boxes

My nephew's birthday was earlier this week and he had a party yesterday. He's having a Duck Dynasty party and so we wanted to do some decorations with cattails. Since they are still in season here, to keep costs down, I cut real ones. The only problem was, I needed something to display them in. Trying to keep costs down as low as possible, I decided to make my own. I kind of just made it up as I went along. 

First, you will need a sheet of medium weight cardboard that is 19" wide by 32" long. I used a yard stick and a boning/scoring tool  to make the creases. The score marks are made at 7 1/2", 15", 22 1/2", and 30". You will want to measure how wide you want the box and then add a 2" tab along the sides to glue it together with. I folded as I went to make sure the creases were good and straight

 Then I cut a square that was 7 1/2 x 7 1/2" for the bottom and wrapped the tab around it first, hot gluing it in place.

I held the tab down for several minutes to make sure the glue was holding. 

Then glued the rest of it together with a very liberal amount of glue going the whole length of my tab to keep the box intact. I placed weights on it (these are decorative river rocks) and left them there for a good half hour to make sure the glue was dried and holding. 

ta-da!! Two of them.

And this is how they turned out. I bought some camo fabric from Joann's and wrapped it around adding another two inches to each end so it could be folded in and under. On the bottom I taped the fabric down with some painter's tape, and on the top I pinned it down using regular sewing pins. I also pinned it in the back where the fabric ends met. Then tied burlap and orange ribbon around it. Those are real cattails that I cut from the little creek in town. I got the slivers from the pokies around them to prove it. ;). I thought they turned out fantastic! If I say so myself. 

Polka Dots and a Monkey

One of my friends asked me to make this for her as a present for her aunt's birthday. I was happy to oblige. It's been a crazy month with my new job, becoming host home parents for special needs adults, and family functions every weekend, it's been busy. I need to get some blankets done and other sewing projects, but now I'm just trying to get a new routine down.  

Anyway, the only stipulations she had was she wanted blue and white and a newsboy cap. She left all the designs up to me. Pleased to say she thought it was cute. I love the little dress.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Sew Can She

Another Scarf

I thought when we moved to our new apartment I would have all this time to sew. Not so. It seems like the only thing I have time for these days is crocheting and that only gets done at my graveyard job. It's a lot easier to take some yarn and hooks than it is a sewing machine. I found the pattern for this on Pinterest and the pattern here. I changed it slightly. Instead of 9 rows of single crochet I did 2 rows single crochet, a row of double crochet, row of single crochet, a row of double crochet, and 2 rows of single crochet. It worked up quickly and I can't wait to wear it!

Linking up with Amanda Jean's Finish it up Fridays over at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Projects, Projects, everywhere!

I had so many projects get done the last 10 days. Having to start all over decorating a house again after only being in our first purchased home for 2 years, I feel like I just finish doing all of this. Oh well. Such is life. :)

These were the curtains I did for the bathroom. I loved this material and it only took a yard. I did tab curtains similar to the tutorial found here, I used thick interfacing rather than bias tape. It was quick and easy. I didn't bother lining them. The goal was just to avoid giving the neighbors a show every time I took a shower. Mission accomplished. 

The paper on canvas photo was my dad's Father's Day gift. It's himself and my late grandfather when my dad was 4 or 5. I found the picture in the middle of a bunch I scanned in when we lost my grandpa suddenly 3 years ago. This week was the anniversary of his death and was also the first opportunity I had to give it to him. He kept thanking me over and over for it. My dad usually isn't emotional except when it comes to his daughters and his dad. They were very close. 

I figured out some ribbon holders. Since having to downsize from our house to an apartment I need to figure something else out. These were simple. I just cut a hanger in half and bent the cut ends up just slightly. Slid the ribbon on and hung it. Kind of simple, but it works for now. 

The crocks were originally purchased to use as utensil holders and I had always meant to decorate them, but never got around to it. When we moved in to our apartment there is like 8 drawers compared to the two I had available in my house so the spatulas and spoons could go in a drawer. The idea for these were born after several searches on Pinterest for antique crock pots. I used ink and stamps from SEI then sealed it with some spray on acrylic. If you rub it, it will smear, so I will have to figure something else out later, but for right now, it works wonderfully.

Our room. I had wanted to do this in our house, but just never got around to it. In an effort to limit the number of nail holes in the walls I turned to the vinyl that is better suited to walls and won't peel the paint. I order it from Regional Supply. They are cheaper than ordering direct from Cricut and it cuts out beautifully on the LPF. The pictures are more examples of the scrapbook paper on canvas. The paper and embellishments also come from SEI. I'm kind of a scrapbook snob. 

I love the scrolls with my clock. We got it on sale from a furniture store that is closing. It's close to two feet in diameter. I've packed it around for 4 years. 

I'll be linking up with Amanda Jean over at crazy mom quilts. Go check out the other projects!!