BEEP, BOOP, Robot PARTY!

Last week, my little guy turned 4 years old. We hosted a ROBOT PARTY for him. It was really fun to put together.
These are the invitations I came up with for the party.


I had all the fun stuff out on my kitchen table.

We made a goodie bag for each child with a tag that said, "Thank You For Coming." Inside the goodie bag was a wind up robot, a glow stick, silly bands and a baggie of M&M's, pretzels and Cheerios. I attached a tag to that bag with robots that said, "Nuts and Bolts."
I loved the idea of ROBOT FUEL for a beverage. :)
The cake turned out great! I couldn't find much inspiration for a robot cake online, so I came up with this little design. I was pretty happy with how it turned out. However, more importantly, the birthday boy loved it!
I made this shirt for the b-day boy to wear for the party. I used the Robotz Cricut cartridge for the template and dabbed acrylic paint around it.

At the party, we made robots out of pretzels and marshmallows. The kids had a blast.


Another activity was Pin the Robot on the Spaceship. I had all the kids color their own robot to pin on an enlarged image of a spaceship on my door.
We also made robot costumes out of paper bags. The kids really got into this. Check out these cute little robots. :)


Happy birthday dude! We LOVE you!

Finishing Quiet Book Pages- Directions

My long-time and close friends from Ogden, UT made some exciting quiet book pages for which I'll be checking my mailbox at least 17 times a day until I get them! I can't wait to add them to my book!

Here's a quick tutorial with pictures of what I'm talking about for you cute O-Town girls!

Step 1: After making all reinforcements to the pages that you'd like, decide the order you'd like the pages to be in. Place two pages right sides together (be sure that you have them facing the right directions so that when you flip the pages right sides out, they aren't upside down).

Using a 1/4" seam, top-stitch down one length-side of the page, across one width-side, and up the other length-side.

Step 2: Flip the pages right sides out, and iron flat. Be sure to place a towel on top of the pages with felt, as the iron can melt the felt pieces. On the unstitched end of the page, fold the unfinished edges in, and iron flat. Begin to topstitch the top side, the outside edge of the page, and the bottom side of the page. When you get to the inside edge of the quiet book page (where your eyelets will be), finish your straight stitch, and begin a zig-zag stitch.

I used white thread on the page on the right, so you can't see the stitching very well. Look at the page on the right of this pic to see the stitching. Be sure to back-stitch at the beginning and end of the seam.

Step 3: After finishing all quiet book pages, begin setting your eyelets. Remember that I used:

• 1 package of 15 Large Eyelets size 1/4" (6mm)- Dritz brand, silver color. You can buy a starter pack that includes the little eyelet tool for applying them to a page. I think one package is only like $3...
• Book Rings- I got 2" size, and they're really big. I went big because I planned on adding pages to the book often, so it made sense to do that. I bought these in bulk at Office Depot, and we all just split the cost at the exchange party... Super cheap too.

When deciding where to place the eyelets, get a piece of notebook paper, place it over your finished quiet book page, and mark over the holes onto your page using a pencil. This gives you a uniform guide to use on all your pages.

Good luck girls! I can't wait to feature all your pages in an upcoming post!

Canvas Mail Sorter!

Nothing sends my heart into spasms like Office Depot, and the Rubbermaid aisle at Walmart. I LOVE organizing!

It's a mail sorter! Custom with the sections labeled just as I need them. Exhilarating, isn't it?!

Here is a detailed tutorial from Bright and Blithe:

Materials:unbleached cotton fabric (I, Tori, used canvas. It stretches less...)

coordinating thread

1/2″ wide elastic or ribbon (depending on where you’re hanging it)

safety-pin

off-white cardstock

Steps:1. From your fabric, cut a rectangular panel measuring 27.75″ by 16.5″ (or whatever dimensions you deem appropriate depending on your needs).

2. On each of the long sides, fold in the edge about 1″ and press flat.

3. Top stitch both folds closed using a 1/4″ seam allowance.

4. Determine which side you want to be “the front”, and top stitch a second time 1/4″ below the first line of stitching. (See the image if you’re confused.)

5. Fold the panel in half, lengthwise, right sides facing, and stitch up the sides. (1/4″ seam allowance again)

6. Now it’s time to add the pockets. I chose the size of mine based on the widest piece of mail that we receive on a regular basis. Using a straightedge, simply pencil in a faint line from the top to the bottom of the front panel to show you where to stitch in your dividers. This makes it easier to sew in a straight line and you can’t see the pencil mark after you sew over it.

7. Stitch in your dividers, following your pencil line, beginning at the bottom and stopping when you reach the lower top stitch line. (Again, refer to the image if I lost you.)

"Congratulations" Banner with Tutorial

How many times have I said to myself, "Ugh, I'm so tired of my boring crate paper and balloon go-to decorating for showers I throw! I wish I had a big ticket decoration that I could reuse and something that looks pretty and finished (but mostly pretty :) ...)." So I decided to stop whining, and actually make something, in advance, for a baby shower for our dear friend, Angela.

With the help of Natalie from A Tale of Two People, who donated the gorgeous fabric to the cause, I made this little beaut!

Here's all I needed to make this happen:

- A total of one yard of three different fabrics (I just used Natalie's scraps, and didn't have a ton of the orange, so I staggered the colors).

-1/3 yard fabric for letters (if using Cricut)

-6 Yards of coordinating bias tape

-one yard of lightweight interfacing (optional for between layers of each flag)

-pinking shears

-iron

-Cricut for cutting letters

-Heat 'n Bond

-thread, scissors, and sewing machine

Step 1: Prep all fabric by ironing smooth. Then, on wrong side of fabric, measure down 8.25", fold, then press the entire length of the fabric on that fold. You should have 8.25" of the right side of fabric showing. *

*(I forgot to take a picture of this step while making the banner, so here's a photo using different (and wrinkly) fabric just to show you what I mean)

From here, you can measure across the fold 10", and that's the length of each flag. Cut as many across as you can on the fold, then move down the fabric and fold and cut again. By folding the fabric, you're able to make two flags at a time, with wrong sides of fabric facing, and the top of the flag is attached (if you unfold the flag, it'll be one long diamond shape). And, the banner can be reversible!

Step 2: Now you've measured and marked every 10" across (leave about 1/4" between each 10" segment), Find the middle of each 10"segment (5"), and that'll be the point of your triangle. Each triangle is 10" across, and 8" down.

Step 3: Cut triangles with pinking shears.
Step 4: Topstitch all three sides of flag. Pinking shears dramatically reduces the potential of fraying, but still try to stitch closely to edges of fabric.
Step 5: Cut 12" x 12" squares of fabric for letters. Iron on 12" x 12" squares of Heat 'n Bond, and place on Cricut mat. Cut letters.
Step 6: Iron on each letter to each finished flag.
Step 7: Find middle of 6" bias tape and sew on the middle triangle (letter U). Sew each banner on from there!

Isn't that easy! I'm so stoked about it, and I love it to pieces!

It was a hit!

Julie's Jewelry Frames

My friend, Julie, has a TON of beautiful jewelry! So she repurposed some frames to make not one, but THREE jewelry frames. For her long necklaces, she added hooks to the bottoms of the frames so they can just hang.

Great job Julie!

DIY "Moby" Wrap Tutorial

My little lady is 2 years old now, and too mobile and heavy to carry in any sort of wrap. She enjoys the Kelty pack only because she's carried high enough over our shoulders to not miss out on anything.

I've seen a lot of my friends with infants using this style of wrap- the Moby Wrap.

Isn't that sweet?! When my friend had her baby boy, I immediately knew what I was going to give her. Since these wraps seemed a bit spendy for what they actually are, I decided to make my own.

Here's all you need. Pencils ready...

~5-6 yards of fabric (I prefer jersey knit)

~Scissors

That's it! It's super easy, and my friends have gotten a TON of use out of them from church, to parks, to getting things done at home.

Step 1: Fold fabric in half lengthwise ("hotdog fold" for you educators out there)

Step 2: Cut along fold to make one looooong strip of up to 30" wide fabric.

The edges don't fray with the jersey knit (but do roll a bit), and it stretches nicely as you're doing the wrapping. Click here for directions on all the different wraps, and if you're giving this as a gift, be sure to print these off for the mommy so she'll know what the heck to do with all this fabric!

March Card Event

Here is a preview of the beautiful cards I got to take home this month! I {heart} card club!

Wire stems, glittery paper, and Cricut love.

Button embellishments, stamps, and graphic designs.

Great job ladies! Absolutely lovely.