Toddler Halloween Skirt & Trick-Or-Treat Bucket

This skirt was so incredibly easy, and I made it in just over an hour. Totally worth your time, because it'll be stinkin adorable on your little lady!

It's just three panels, basted and gathered , then sewn to one another. The waistband is just a casing with 1/2" elastic. I'm so happy with it! I made it just big enough that she'll be able to wear it two (maybe three) Halloweens.

This trick-or-treating bucket was super easy too. It's a re-purposed ice cream bucket (not too hard to come by for me) covered in black felt, and stamped with a template from my Cricut. Her name is on the other side. I lined the top of the bucket with ribbon, then tied ribbon knots all along the handle. Super quick, super cute, and would be a fun craft with older kids who can tie knots! Can be used year after year.

I'm Committed!

With Christmas just 96 quick days away, I've got to step up my game! My mom has always been so amazing with her Christmas planning; finishing up her main Christmas shopping by Halloween, it seems. She's always as cool as a cucumber all Thanksgiving, and gets to enjoy the days leading up to Christmas because she's so pulled together.

My hope is to be basically ready by Thanksgiving this year. To achieve this, I've got to get started now (since my favorite gifts to give [and to receive, by the way] are handmade)! Alexis' main gift from us is going to be a table playhouse. These are not a new idea, so our generation of mommies can't take credit for this idea. Check out this Vogue pattern from the 1970s!

I'm sure you've seen these all over blog land, and I've fallen head-over-heels for this one from Homemade By Jill.

Isn't it absolutely gorgeous?

I love the idea of using felt because you don't have to finish edges, and it's so much easier to add embellishments that kids can detach, thanks to velcro, and actually play with. I'm considering making the body out of a cotton material, then adding the felt accents to that.

Thoughts? Tips?

All her little carrots, ears of corn, and apples come off. I love it!

I'm confident Alexis would get hours and hours of play-time with hers. And, it's so much cuter than that cardboard box she played in for 6 months!

The cute girl at Sew Much Ado made this adorable one for her little boy. Boys need playhouses too!

DIY Growth Chart

I have been wishing I had a growth chart for my little guy for quite some time. After searching in stores and online with no success in finding something that I liked enough to buy, I decided to make my own.

This is probably the easiest thing I have ever made.... and I love it!
I love how simple and rugged it looks. I also like how it looks like a ruler. Want to know how I did it?
Here we go.

First, I made a little visit to our local Home Depot and picket up a smooth, knotty board. When I got it home, I placed it against the wall, above the base board and marked where 1 foot would be. That was my first mark. Then, I proceeded by making marks every 1/2 foot with a pencil. If you look closely, you can see the markings on the board above.

Next, I asked my friend, Terra to cut some vinyl for me: black, simple font, numbers 1-6, 11 dash marks. This is what she came up with. It was perfect!

Next, I rubbed on all those little numbers and dashes on the appropriate marks.

And now we have a finished product. It's cute enough to put inside, but we decided to hang it in the garage.

Now, we can mark the little man's height on every Christmas, birthday and first day of school. Awesome!

Too Too Cute Tutu!

My cute sister-in-law made the Little Lady one of these for Christmas, and she's totally in love! I passed on the love and made one for a good friend's new baby, Kate.

Here's a tutorial where you can get the main idea of how to make one. It's the easiest thing you'll ever make, it just takes a LOT of tule. So pretty! I like getting tule from the bolt and just cutting 6" wide strips, and this girl's tutorial shows by the spool. Either way, you end up with a gorgeous and fun tutu!

Doily Tank

The Little Lady totally joined the doily revolution!

She's definitely the hipster in the family. She and I had such a fun time painting this doily fluorescent pink with fabric paint, then gluing it to the tank top (great for covering up stains, might I add). I sewed it into place in several spots just for reinforcement. Doesn't a cute little bandana skirt just really pull it all together? :)

Blue Cricket Design

Bandana Dress

Aren't all tiny things just adorable? Well, think of a super fluffy skirt made of nothing but a little bandana! That's what we have here. A dress made from a bandana! I love sewing with bandanas because you don't have to mess with any unfinished edges, and they're the perfect size for a 12-18 month old skirt (call me lazy, go ahead).

So, I got this little ribbed tank from WalMart, and the first time the little lady wore it, it got a snag along the bottom. So, to cover up the hole, I grabbed a bandana from my stash (a stash that I've hoarded since my high school days when it was the cool thing on my basketball team to wear it like a doo-rag), and sewed it to the bottom of this tank! Here, you'll see another version of this bandana dress.

Step 1: You just take one bandana, cut directly in half, then sew two short ends together to make one long rectangle.

Step 2: Sew a basting stitch on one long side of the rectangle, and gather the bobbin thread to gather the skirt/bandana. Gather until it's the same length as the circumference of the bottom of your tank top.

Step 3: Pin and sew skirt and tank top, right sides facing, all the way around the bottom of the tank. Finish by sewing up the side of the skirt to close gap.

Flip right sides out, and voila! You have a super cute, and easy play dress.

Wet Bag! What's a Wet Bag?!

PUL Fabric obsession part II:

Here's the next thing I've made with my new favorite utility fabric. It's a Wet Bag! For me, it's been super useful for storing wet swim suits in after we leave the pool or fountains. Keeps the other stuff in my bag from getting soggy. Yuck! And, it's machine washable, so if you have a major emergency while out and about, you can put that nasty diaper inside here and protect the rest of your stuff.

It's such a great bag! Here's the tutorial I followed. Have fun with it! It's sooooo super easy, and you can change things up, like the strap placement (if you look closely, there's a strap that goes right across the top).

Snack Bag Tutorial

Have any of you entered the wonderful world of PUL fabric? I just recently discovered this amazing stuff, and my life will never be the same! It can be used for making cloth diapers, but that's just the beginning of it's possibilies. How many times have I reached into my diaper bag, only to find something a bit damp from grapes, wipes, a wet swimsuit, etc...

So, here's one thing that PUL has done for me! I have been wanting to make these cute reusable snack bags for all of the little lady's snacks I bring to church or just have in my purse. These work great, and she LOVES putting her finger through the ribbon, and toting it around the store with her. :) My super talented friend, Emily, has a great tutorial on her blog.

Here's a view of the PUL. Though it's white, with white velcro, I'm afraid you can't really see it. But, it helps keeps my purse dry!

Check back tomorrow, and I'll show you another great thing PUL has done for me...

I shared this tutorial at Sun Scholars!

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!

Kids' Apron and Chef Hat

My talented friend, Sarah, over at Forced To Cook, had such a fun idea for her handsome little man since he loves to help out in the kitchen. She made this amazing apron using this tutorial. I just LOVE the fabric she chose!

To "top" off the chef look, she whipped up a hat using this tutorial!

Look at this guy in action. Such a charmer with his curly hair sticking out from under the hat!

So cute, Sarah (both the kiddo and the ensemble)!

Peek-A-Boo Quiet Book Page

I have a problem. I'm obsessed with these quiet book pages! I recruited 14 crafty ladies for aquiet book group here in St Louis in December, and LOVED the result. So much, in fact, that I organized another group with friends from college and we're exchanging those pages next month. I can't wait to add to the book!

Here's what's been occupying my life, and dining room table for the last couple of weeks. A Peek-A-Boo page where you can switch out the pictures or flashcards in these vinyl pockets behind the shutters, chimney, windows, and door.

For the detail stitching on the shutters, I found a quick method (since I ended up stitching horizontal lines across 40 of these bad boys):

I fed each rectangle through the machine, one after another. The pic below shows how they're all in one long attached banner, and then I just trimmed the strings and detached them after. You have to be sure to backstitch at the beginning and ending of each line on each rectangle.

I'm thinking of adding a little something to the door for a doorknob. Other than that, all 10 pages are finished!

Now that these pages are complete, I can finally get back to focusing on St Patty's Day again!