Doll Clothes Overload

So now that Christmas is over and gifts have been opened, I can show you what has been occupying my time. All the little girls in my life were getting dolls for Christmas, so I decided that I would make doll clothes for them. I had grand plans to make several outfits for each of them. I will have to be honest. I was a little disappointed in the outcome. All of the cutting and sewing of the tiny pieces took WAY longer than I had anticipated. So I was not able to make as many outfits as I had planned. My stitching kept getting wonky. You get the idea. Let's just say there were many lessons learned.

Here is what I made my youngest niece.

1 outfit, a sleeping bag and pillow, and a mermaid (from the new Wee Wonderfuls book)

I also finished the apron that I cut out for her last Christmas. It matches the one I made her sister last year.

This is what I made her sister.
1 outfit, coat and boots, sleeping bag and pillow, pillowcase dress, and a mermaid

This is what I made my other niece, which is pretty much the same.

Here is what I made Harper.

I was able to use one of my old t-shirts and a pair of her old leggings for several outfits, which was nice.

Harper and her doll in their matching PJs on Christmas morning. This was by far the biggest hit. She loved that they were able to match.

At the moment I am a bit burnt out on sewing. I am sure it will pass, but for now I am giving my sewing machine a break.

Happy Crafty Tuesday everyone.

Almost there

My crafting has been in high gear this week. I am really, really close to being finished with all my sewing. I am looking forward to just relaxing this week.

Here's a preview of some my projects completed this week.

Some bibs and burp cloths

The bottle cap necklaces all packaged up.

some custom cozies

Homemade Irish Cream and Pomegranate Cosmo

Hopefully, I will remember to take photos of the rest of the goodies before I wrap them up.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.

Exciting News

Just wanted to pop in and share a few bits of news.

There was a little segment on the local mid-day news, Talk of the Town, yesterday and they talk about some of my goodies that were being sold at the charity shop.

Here's the video. If you don't want to watch the whole thing, she mentions my stuff around the 2:00 minute mark. Very cool!!!

I also created a Flickr group for projects made from my tutorials. I have been meaning to do this for awhile and finally got around to it. Please, please, please add photos if you make anything from one of my tutorials. I would love to see it.

Stacy and Carrie if you could add the photos of all of those wonderful art purses you have made, I would be ever so grateful. You guys are the best!!!!

Have a great weekend!!

Team-Up Thursday- December

Cara and I went with the group this week and did December as our theme. My shot is on the left. Cara's is on the right. I love how both shots have bokeh, greenery, and a pop of red. They work perfectly together. If I do say so myself.

If you look closely, you can see me in the red ball. Hello.

For more Team-Up Thursday hosted by Megan and Melody visit Mental Inventory.

Recycled Bottle Cap Necklace Tutorial

This little project about did me in. I spent way too much time and effort on it, but that is all behind me now. Harper wanted to give the girls in her Daisy Scout Troop a Christmas gift. I wanted it to be something that we could do together.

I had one of those lightbulb moments and thought bottlecap necklaces would be perfect. After all we have a gazillion bottle caps that we have collected over the years. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, I discovered very quickly that the nice looking ones that you see for sale everywhere are actually using unused bottle caps. The edges bow out making it easier to flatten them.

It took me awhile, but I finally figured out how to make the used bottle caps work.

First I picked through our box of bottle caps to find plain or non-alcohol related caps, since these are going to 6-7 year old girls.

Ok, now let's remove that yucky liner.

I set my toaster oven to 250 degrees. A regular oven would work too. I just thought the toaster oven was easier since I was working in small batches. Once the oven is preheated place about 6-8 bottle caps in the oven for about 5 minutes. You have to work pretty quickly because if they stay in too long the liner is hard to remove. Some of my liners actually started curling up, which made it really easy to remove them. Some were harder.

Remove from the oven. I used tweezers to grab them since they were hot. You should be able to just peel the liner off. If it doesn't come up easily, you can place it back in the oven for a few more minutes.

I washed mine after this step. Sorry no photo.

Then I took the clean bottle cap and started turning out the sides with needle nose pliers. I just worked my way around once pulling the edges out. Then worked my way around again really turning the edges under. I tried my hardest to make it look like an unused bottle cap.

In the photo below you can see the cap on the right is an opened cap. The one on the left is the one I have worked on.

Now it is time to take out some frustrations. Lay the cap as shown in the photo below and hit it with the hammer all around the edges turning the bottle cap as you go. I only hit my finger once.

Keep pounding.

Ok, that looks good. Now you are ready for the fun part.

Choose what images you want for your necklaces. Harper picked out some on Etsy, but you could create your own or just use scrap paper. Your options are endless. I used a 1" circle punch to cut out the images to make them look more uniform. I also purchased some clear round stickers to place on the images to give them a finished look. I bought mine here.

Once you have your images selected and cut out, use mod podge to glue the paper to the bottle cap.

This is where Harper finally got to help.

Once the glue has dried, you can place a clear epoxy sticker over the image in the bottle cap.

I spray painted the bottle cap below, which I thought looked cool. Harper liked the look of the unpainted caps better so we went that direction instead. You can see that the epoxy sticker makes it nice and shiny and gives it a finished look.

Now it's time to glue your magnets to the back of the bottle cap. I used E600 glue, which is really strong but it stinks. You need ventilation for this step. If there is a next time, I will probably explore different glue options. Magnets can also be found here.

It is time to assemble the necklace. I used a 12 mm washer and some stretch nylon.

You could also use ribbon or t-shirt scraps for the necklace though. The 1/2 " magnet that I used

fit into the middle of the washer perfectly.

Take your necklace like so.

Then take the opposite end and feed it through the loop.

Pull it tight. Ta-da.

Now place your magnet bottlecap on the necklace and enjoy.

I know there are tons of tutorials out there, but I could not find a good one that used opened bottle caps. So I thought I would share my process.

If you make any necklaces, please add it to my flickr group.

Deep in the Christmas Sewing Trenches

I am stopping for a little breather to show a tiny glimpse of my craftiness this week. I have been busy getting Christmas presents made, but don't want to ruin any surprises. So those will have to wait until after Christmas.

I FINALLY got some pajama pants made for the kids. I bought this fabric last Christmas with intentions of making pajama pants, so I am glad to have this one checked off the list. I just appliqued some shirts to match. The kids were very excited about their new pajamas. I was pleasantly surprised with how they turned out. Now that I have the pattern down, it should be easy to make more too.

I am working on a little tutorial that should be up tomorrow or Friday.

Happy Crafty Tuesday everyone.

Team-Up Thursday- Busy

Cara and I chose busy as our theme this week. It is a very appropriate theme for this time of year. I feel like I barely have time to breather some days.

Cara's shot is genius. I absolutely love it. I tried and tried to come up with a creative idea for busy, but was not successful. Cara on the other hand nailed it. It would be so nice to have some clones to put to work wouldn't it?

Since I have been so busy, my shot is a little lame. It shows you a glimpse of what has been keeping us busy at our house.

Join in on the fun over at Mental Inventory.

Bathroom Remodel Week 2

Mitch made some good progress on the bathroom over the weekend. The beadboard and trim were painted. He installed the baseboard, flooring, light and toilet. He started on the crown moulding. All that is left is installing the sink, putting up the chair rail, and finishing the crown moulding. Then we need to touch up paint. I also need to paint the doors and all the trim going down the hallway, but I am thinking that will need to wait until after Christmas.

Here's a close-up of the vanity. Miller actually asked Mitch how he made the bathroom bigger. It does feel much bigger now. I am really happy with how it is turing out!!

Thanks Mitch for all your hard work on the bathroom.

Reversible Messenger Bag Tutorial

Here's what you will need:

Main body -2 pieces of home dec weight fabric or corduroy measuring 14" x 12" (Fabric A)

Main body-2 pieces of contrasting home dec weight fabric measuring 14" x 12" (Fabric B)

Flap- 1 piece of Fabric A- 12" x 11.5"

Flap- 1 piece of Fabric B- 12" x 11.5"

Back Pocket- 1 piece of Fabric A- 14" x 8"

Back pocket- 1 piece of Fabric B- 14" x 8"

Small Pocket- 1 piece of Fabric B- 7" x 12"

Strap- 1 piece of Fabric A- 6" x 42"

Depending on the weight of your fabric, you may want to interface it. I interfaced all the corduroy pieces, except the strap piece.

I purchased 1 yard of each fabric and had plenty of fabric left over.

Let's get started.

Cut out all your pieces.

Cut a 1 inch square out of the bottom corners of all 4 pieces.

Interface pieces. I used a lightweight iron-on interfacing.

Take your strap piece and iron each side towards the middle.

Then fold in half and iron. Then stitch along both sides. Set aside.

Round the corners of the flap pieces. I used a bowl.

With right sides together sew the flap pieces together leaving the top open.

Clip the curves.

Turn right side out and iron.

With right sides together sew your pocket pieces across the top and bottom leaving the sides open.

Turn right side out and topstitch the top and bottom.

Place the pocket piece on one of the main fabric pieces like below.

As you can tell from the photo my pocket was a little short on the side so I decided to add a strip of twill tape on each side.

Stitch across the bottom of the pocket. I stitched 2 lines to add extra support.

I did not get a photo of the this, but take the small pocket pieces and fold in half with right sides together. Sew all the way around leaving a gap for turning. Turn right side out. Top stitch across the top of the pocket. Then sew pocket to a main body Fabric B piece like below.

Take your 2 main body Fabric A pieces with right sides together and sew along each side and the bottom. Do not sew the square that you cut out of each piece.

Repeat with your Fabric B pieces.

Take your main body pieces and box the corners and sew. See photo below.

Turn the Fabric A main body right side out.

Take your flap piece and pin it right side down on top of the side with the back pocket. Line up the raw edges. Baste flap to bag.

Center the straps on each side. Baste in place.

Take your Fabric A main body and place it inside the Fabric B main body. Rights sides will be together.

Make sure that the small inside pocket is facing the side with the flap.

Sew around the outside of the bag leaving a 3 inch gap for turning. Make sure to leave the gap is on the opposite side of the flap.

Turn the bag right side out through the opening.

Push the Fabric B part of the bag inside the Fabric A part of the bag.

Pin the gap shut.

Topstitch all the way around.

You are done.

Now decide which side you like the best.

Please let me know if you make the bag. I would love to see photos.

edited to add: I have created a flickr group, so if you make something from one of my tutorials please add it to my flickr pool.

Here are photos of the first one I made.

*****November 7, 2011- Check out my updated version here.*****