Camera Strap

My sister in law asked if I would make a strap for her fancy camera. It is removable and washable. I used this link here. It says that interfacing is optional, but it definitely is better with fusible fleece. After being told twice at Joann that they were getting some in the next day, I found it at Wal-Mart. This was my first attempt, and maybe I will have to make her some more to coordinate with her outfits.

Self-binding blanket

I have been wanting to make one of these for a while, so the morning of the most recent baby shower I went to, I whipped this up. (In case you were wondering, no, I wasn't confident in my ability to do it fast, I just am really good at procrastination.) It turned out pretty well, just don't look too close. I thought about making a tutorial, but after a quick Google search, I found these links.
From Observations of an Everyday Mom
The blogger above used flannel for both sides. If you decide to use minkee like I did, the link below has some really good tips. Don't skip the pinning!
Tips for Working with Minkee
The next link shows how to make matching bibs and burp cloths.
Bib and Burp Cloth

Twirly Skirt

I got this fabric for Christmas from my mother-in-law, and figured it was finally time to use it. I made a skirt for Lil using this pattern. If I had it to do again, I would make the waistband wider or not cut the top layer so tall. I also probably would have put the stripe on the bottom. The hardest part was the gathers.

Mickey Mouse Charm Bracelet

This is a charm bracelet I helped Mandy make for her mother-in-law for Christmas. We used shrinky dink plastic in the Cricut for the Mickey heads, which we then used Matt's heat gun to shrink. We had to play around with the sizes. The red beads are Swarovski crystals on head pins.

This is just a quick box I made using my Cricut.

Better Late Than Never--Lily's Halloween Costume

I realized that with everything that has been going on in our little family, I never posted Lily's Halloween costume! I worked many hours on this, and I am quite pleased with how it turned out. I used Simplicity pattern #3594, cut at a size 4. It took 2 skeins of yarn, fuzzy fleece, satin, and lots and lots of thread (mostly because I kept having to pick everything out), and a new sewing machine. I wouldn't say that it saved us money, but the quality of the costume was so much better than last year's store-bought costume. Plus there was the added bonus of it being unique
(Old Navy has cute costumes, but I tend to see them over and over). It was fun to make, and I will probably attempt next year's costume, too. I thought I had picked a simple costume, but there were so many different sewing techniques. It definitely was a great project for learning and also for sparking a new found interest in sewing!

A Few Sewn Gifts for Baby

Here are some goodies that my sister, Mandy, and I made for our cousin Shelby's baby, Maya. We waited until the last minute to make them, but I think they turned out pretty well. I really think the hardest part is picking out the fabrics. Close-ups are after the main picture.
As you can see, we made everything coordinating.


This is the onesie I did. I cut it out with my Cricut, and then zig-zagged stitched around the edges. I accidentally kinked the handle of the rattle, but a piece of ribbon stitched over it fixed a bit.


This is the bag. You can probably tell that this is the Hip Mama bag, again. We used interfacing this time, and it was much stiffer. Something odd though is that there was no interfacing on the back side, so next time, I will definitely add this in.


Here are two burp clothes I made, using extra fabric, ribbon, and cloth diapers. I then folded them up and tied them together with a ribbon. I got the pattern from here:


Then, I had to make a coordinating card to go with everything. At this point, it was about 3:00 in the morning, so I just pulled out the cuttlebug for the tag and some inking around the edges. The tag says, "For you with love."


All in all, I think it was a success, or at least fun to make at any rate.

Dipped Glitter Brads

This is for my aunt and my cousin. We were talking about how to make your own colored brads, in any color, with glitter or not, and I realized I told them the wrong directions. Here is the right way, from Okieladybug on the Cricut messageboard:

"I hold the brad with tweezers, put it in front of the heat gun, count to like 10, dip in the red, put in front of the heat gun again if needed, then dip it in the white glitter powder and put the brad in front of the heat gun again if needed. It sounds like it takes a long time to do them but I did a couple dozen in no time."

I haven't tried this, but the pictures look cute. Give it a try!