Engagement Party

This past weekend, I had the honor of helping put together an engagement party for a very sweet friend's nephew. It wasn't supposed to be at her house originally, so when I got the call, we had to put all crafty gears into over drive.

I had her email me a few pictures of things she wanted to see at the party and ran with it.

I'll provide some of the details, but I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking.

This little sign was at the base of the stairs as you walked up to the front porch. It's made of balsa wood. The sign was stained and hand painted with their names and the date of their wedding.

 In the front entrance, there was an heirloom Bible for guests to sign or highlight their favorite verse along with photos of the bride and groom when they were children.

The gift table

Aren't the flower arrangements beautiful? I love hydrangeas and blue mason jars...you can never go wrong with either of those:o)

There was additional seating outside.

 Here are the center pieces for the tables. Battery operated votives and tea lights were life savers for this outdoor affair.

This was the drink station. I thought it was pretty lucky that we share the same last initial...The mother of the groom made the little flags for the paper straws. I wish I had taken a closer shot of them. They were adorable. 

I had a lot of helpers in putting this together, and it wouldn't have happened without all of their help. 

I was so grateful to be apart of making this sweet little couple feel extra special and I wish them great joy and happiness in the years ahead! 

18" Doll Bed, Quilt, Pillow and a Mattress Tutorial

Are you guys ready for Christmas yet? Do you have all of your gifts bought, wrapped and tucked neatly under the tree? We are done for the most part. I think I am going to make one more thing for E and then we will be done. 

Today's post is about what we(the hubs and I) made for S.R.

She has asked for an American Girl Doll for Christmas this year. She is 4 years old...she ain't gettin' an American Girl Doll. However, she is getting a "Famerican" Girl Doll...(Faux-American). Ole Santy Claus is bringing her the doll from Target that looks just like the real deal, and it's 1/3 the cost.

So, I came across a really cool building plan for a doll bed on Ana White's Blog. It is perfect!

I knew the hubs could make it, and so he did:o) 

I decided that I needed to make some really cute bedding to go along with it. 

This Famerican Girl will be resting in style:o)

(I got a little impatient, and decided to take pictures before the hubs could get it stained..pics of the final product will come after X-mas)

This is my very first quilt to actually quilt myself. I found an easy tutorial at Mommy by day, Crafter by night. I was able to make this little quilt in about an hour and a half. The fabrics were from a fat quarter bundle purchased from the Hob.

 The pillow was an absolute must as well:o)

 Here is the under-side of the quilt.

When I laid the quilt and pillow across the bed, the quilt wouldn't lay right. The spindles were in the way, and it just looked like it needed an extra something, so that's when I realized this bed needed a mattress.

This is sort of a tutorial, but not really a step-by-step because I was in a rush to get this done before S.R. got home from school yesterday:o)

I started with two fabrics, you could use the same fabric, but this was leftovers from the fat quarter pack, so I used what I had.

I stitched them together to form what looked like a pillow. I realized I didn't have enough to cover the base of the bed, so I had to add a strip across the top to lengthen it. Once it was re-stitched, I laid it across the bottom of the bed to make sure it fit.

I then stuffed it with poly-fil, and closed the end up by hand-stitching. I usually avoid any hand-stitching at all cost because I am too impatient. However, I really wanted this to look nice, so I bit the bullet, and used my little needle and thread. 

To prevent the mattress from looking like a big pillow shoved into the bed, I tufted it. I had a fabric button covering kit(is that what they're called??), and I used the purple polka dot fabric to cover the buttons. This task was a little more labor intensive. I used a long needle, and lots of patience. At one point, I really thought I was going to need a Band-Aid as well...OUCH! 

This is the back-side of the mattress. Yes, I realize that there are two sets of buttons...why, you ask? Because this was a last minute project, and I didn't have time to go buy matching buttons:o) And, yes, it's staying that way.

So it's complete, and I am thrilled with the results. 

 Perfect for her Famerican Girl Doll!!

Participating in these parties:
Classy Clutter

Fabric Coasters

I am at the end of our Christmas list. (Hooray!!) I still have one or two more things I have to make, but then I will be done. 

Today I worked on some fabric coasters for the kids' teachers.

Simple, easy and very little time to make.

You can find the tutorial HERE.

In about an hour, I had 3 sets of coasters made.

Today was also Polar Express day for E. He got to wear his jammies to school and he got to take a coffee mug full of goodies for a gift exchange. 

Can I just say that I love this time of year, and all of the fun things that there are to do?!?

The hubs and I have both been busy little elves. He made S.R. a doll bed the other day, and I made a quilt and pillow. Pics tomorrow if I get around to it;o)

Teachers Gifts

School is out, and E couldn't be happier. I think he was a little bothered that S.R. got to stay home with mommy & do all sorts of cool things:o) But he really did love his teachers and made tons of friends.

Here are the gifts that he gave his teachers.

I love vinyl, and I will put it on just about anything. Teachers need to stay hydrated, right? So why not supply them with a cute cup to keep the hydration going?

One of his teacher's is a HUGE Bama fan. So her's was easy enough to figure out.

E was so funny about the next 2:o) He said that Mrs. J loved fingers...hahaha!

And he said that Miss C loved flowers:o) Too cute!

They really loved their cups. Mrs. S even sent me an email to tell me she had been using her cup all weekend. Score!

Nothing like making someone happy with a little something special!

***

Tomorrow I hope to be starting a little something new, so stayed tuned...should be fun!

Summer Printable

Summer break is just days away, and I wanted to give E the chance to hand out a little something special to all of his buds at school.

I stopped by Walmart and browsed their party section last night. There isn't much to choose from, but they did have these cute little guitar necklaces with bubbles inside. They are $2 for a 4-pack.

Here's what he will be handing out:

And if you are interested in this printable, 

then go 

HERE to download.

We are going to eat lunch with E today, and he really excited:o)

Looking forward to making his day!!!

E's Easter Party

Yesterday was E's Easter party, and I was one of the helpers. I'd like to say that it went off without a hitch, but that's not true. It was slightly underwhelming, and of all things, we forgot to bring drinks...DUH!

BUT, I got to witness E's very first program at school, and it was so exciting for me...it wasn't spectacular by any means, but it was a "First" for him, and I got to witness it. I even got a little misty-eyed at the beginning. I am really proud of him..he's a good boy:o)

I spent Wednesday getting ready for said festivities. After I got home from church, I whipped up this shirt for E.

 The inspiration came from THIS post. I just made it a little more masculine:o)

For teachers' gifts, I found some jars (50% off at Hobby Lobby this week) and filled them with candy. I found the printable from THIS post.

 These are the CAKE POPS that I made for the party. They are supposed to be Easter Eggs:o) Most everyone seemed to really like them. Just a little side note, the actual cake part needs to be frozen for 2 HOURS or the melted chocolate will not harden fast, and it becomes a drippy mess. 

They are delicious though:o)

Aren't these little bunnies the sweetest thing? E's teacher made them for all of her students. 

  And here are the

FREE 'PEEPS' PRINTABLES

put to use.

One of the other mothers helping with the party put 3 Peeps in a sammy bag and tied it off with curling ribbon. Then we attached the little Peeps tag. Turned out cute:o)

So obviously with all of this sugar, I had some WILD children when I got home. 

There were delayed naps, an incident involving mud on my floors AND a wall, a "come-apart" performed by yours truly, and a poopy "event" with the puppy which involved scrubbing the dickens out of his little hind parts(that had to be one of the grosser things I have ever had to do).

Needless to say, yesterday wasn't what I had planned, but I survived....and isn't that what it's all about anyway?

SURVIVAL???

:O)

Batman Cape

Last Saturday was my first time out this year for yard sales. I was pumped and ready to go...but apparently those needing to rid themselves of unwanted junk were not of the same mindset. I only came across 3 yard sales near us:o( I found a few things, but nothing that you would call a "treasure." Anyway, the last yard sale I went to had a lot of dress up clothes, mainly for girls, but they did have a Batman mask. I snatched that up b/c I new that E would have a fit over it.

I was right:o)

So I thought  I would make him a Batman cape to match. I got busy making it yesterday, and I was so excited to show it to him.

He was really excited to see it...and then he put it on...

He said, "Where are the holes so that I can fly?" with utter disappointment. 

I apparently told him that I was going to make little pockets for him to put his hands in so that he could spread the cape out, but the way I made the cape, it wasn't possible.

He then told me that he didn't want it....my feelings were hurt:o( That is the very first time that I have made anything for my children that "FAILED".

 So who's wearing the cape, you ask? Why, S.R. of course:o) She even came in this morning with it on. She loves it, and doesn't care that she can't "fly" in it! It is the perfect size for a 3 year old:o) 

I guess I will be making a larger one with pockets/holes for flying. I will include a tutorial with that one as well. 

I hope that you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

Easter Decor

I cannot believe that Easter is at the end of April this year. We actually get to enjoy having out all the Easter decorations for a tad longer than usual.

 I love spring decorating. It brings life back into your home after the hum drum of winter.

I hope to be sharing lots of spring decorating with you this month. Here is a little something I made a few weeks ago....

I made this flower arrangement for my mother as a "get well" gift for her surgery. I wanted to give her something that she could enjoy for years to come.

 I fell in love with this little lamb and bunnies from Pier 1. I knew I had to use them somehow:o) The flowers were purchased from Hobby Lobby. 

This was such a fun arrangement to make. My mother loves most anything with spriggy things coming off of them, so it was perfect for her. 

She was very happy with it...or maybe it was the drugs she was on;o)

Participating in:

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day! Ours started bright and early this morning:o) I wanted to share the kids' Valentine's cards that they will be handing out.

These are for E to pass out today to all of his little buddies....all 22 of them. 

 The inspiration came from Better Homes and Gardens. These took FO-EVUH  to make, but they are super cute. Who cares that as soon as the little ones take hold of this that they will be ripping this sweet little robot to bits....not me:o} 

 This is the back. I made E write his name on EVERY single one of these cards. He was very unhappy about it. Especially since it was 22 times, but he got it done....btw, I erased the rest of his name for privacy purposes;o)

 Since S.R. isn't in preschool yet, I let her hand out goodies to her buds at church yesterday. She felt so big:o)

For this free printable, head over to Skip to my Lou.

 This is for E's teacher. The inspiration for this box came from eighteen25.

 A look inside

Hopefully you haven't waited until the last mili-second to get your V-day cards in order:o)

Have a good one!!

***

Make sure to head over to Sew Dang Cute to cast your vote for the Champion of Crafting with the Stars. They brought their A game, ya'll!

Super Cape for a Thomas the Train Lover

Well I survived the weekend. All I can say is WOW! I am sooooo glad that it's Monday. There may be a few of you out there that are saying to yourself, "What is she thinking???" Just trust me:o)This week is so much slower paced than the past 2 weeks have been. So now I will be able to post more for those of you who have nothing better to do at work;o)
So here is the super cape for the  sweet little boy across the street. He LOVES Thomas, so I figured I would use Thomas fabric. I will have to say, I think this is the best super cape I have made thus far. Not to brag or anything;o)

I finally figured out how wide to make the zig zag stitches to make it look really clean. I think it was 0.3mm x 4.5 mm...something like that. Anywho...it took me a while to get his name on the yellow fabric b/c my machine only embroiders a 4"x4" surface area. Stinks, but I am grateful for my Brother(machine that is...I am grateful for my real bro. too):o)

Just your basic red fabric for the interior with a velcro enclosure. I think his mother was more impressed with the cape than he was;o) E was the same way. It took him a year before he would wear his:o) I got him to model Stephen's cape for you guys:o)

 Sportin' the Buzz Lightyear jammies. He LOVES those things...thinkin' Ima gonna have to go get him some more...just in case he goes thru ANOTHER growth spurt.
I can not WAIT to share with you S.R.'s new outfit I made for her in tomorrow's post. I. LOVE. IT!! And I found a matching hair bow on Saturday. EEK!