My First Apron

Learning to sew is so much fun!
It took me a while but this is my first apron.

The gathered top is too easy. The bottom is two half circles with gathered ruffles.

If I make another apron I will absolutely line the back side of it. No one can see the stitching but I think it will make it thicker and also more washer friendly.

This was perfect for our cookie and mini gingerbread house party! With all of our nieces and nephews squirting icing, it's smart to have a shield. haha

 Merry Christmas ya'll!

Reusing Old Bed Pillows

Maybe it's the fire or maybe I've always been this way but I hate to toss things that can serve a second life. It was pillow replacement time!!
Faced with 4 pillows to trash, I decided to get a little creative and get a little more sewing practice for myself and my teenage daughter. This was such an easy thing for us to do together!

If you're into reusing, here's how to reuse your pillows:

1. This is an old pillow. Wash it, dry it and let's get going!

2. Fold the pillow in the direction you like. Using 8lb fishing line, sew it together. I did length but you can roll and sew it any way you like. 

Why fishing line you ask? The thread kept breaking. Why 8lb? Simply because I had it and it fit through a sewing needle. The thin monofilament doesn't have the hard feel of the heavy weight stuff, so it worked perfectly for this.

3. This is the rolled up pillow all sewn and ready to be covered. 

We used this bolster pillow cover tutorial except we didn't use a zipper. Instead we made a hemmed overlap so it was an envelope style pillow cover. Zippers are on our To Learn List...and we will get to them eventually. Don't look too close, my print isn't straight. It is what it is, a first attempt at sewing a bolster cover, ;) We had fun making this! We are planning to make one more and use the other two pillows to make throw pillows.

Happy crafting!!

The Flamingo Cake

My adorable niece is turning 4 today!! She sat me down, very seriously, and described her cake. She asked for a "giant flamingo on a plain green background," It was very important to her that the inside of the cake be pink as well. Of course! What else would it be?

I set out using 2 rectangle 13X9 baking pans. Using my handy favorite steak knife, I cut away the parts that would become my snack cake pile (top of the photo) and left a basic flamingo shape.

With it all lined up on the board, I thought a little of the neck should be cut down. In hindsight, I should have left it longer. Eh, she's gonna love it anyway! She's four. haha

All that was left is to toss some (of course, pink) icing on it and cover it in fondant. The fondant was tricky around the neck but it worked out nice and smooth. In my opinion, with our limited cake tools we did a pretty good job.

It was a fun cake to work on with my girls. We had a good laugh at how much pink cake batter looks like pepto! Haha We are off to the party.

I hope you have a sweet day! ;)

More Nightpain and all she has learned

It's been a week and Nightpain has been a fun learning tool.

After just a day my teenager was tired of lugging around a 5lb sack of flour, even this cute one!

Being the oldest cousin, dressing and even the idea of changing a diaper was nothing new or difficult for my kiddo. For her, the lesson was really  having to keep up with this heavy doll 24/7. In and out of the car, up and down the stairs and while carrying other items in her hands was enough for this teenager!

Everywhere Nightpain went she was complimented. Aurora did such a good job on her little doll. The local Game Stop clerk joked that she better not set Nightpain down or someone might try to buy her! Hahaha

It was a great lesson and a good time was had by all. If you must carry a 5lb sack of flour for an educational project, give it a fun personality.! ;)

Happy crafting!

Flour Sack Baby Adventure Continues...

Our little Nightpain is settling in nicely.
Already she has been to the park and the court house on a field trip.

She sleeps in this basket. She gets to snuggle up with Black Butler's Sebastian and a chocobo.

The kiddo did debate making Nightpain her own mini coffin bed out of cardboard. After much thought, she decided that it would be too dark and scary, even for a baby vampire.


Let's talk about Nightpain's hair. We didn't go all out and make it perfect but we did follow this tutorial loosely. http://easypeasycraft.blogspot.com/2011/09/yarn-wig-tutorial.html

I helped a little with this part of the project. It required an extra set of hands.

Making a yarn wig was new for us but this may have started something! Hello Halloween projects!!

See you next time.
Happy crafting!