Tutorial: Scripture tote

If you're scrambling for a last minute gift for your daughter, mother, sister, or friend, this is a simple but useful homemade one. The first one I ever made was actually for a boy, so if there's a guy in your life who could use one, give it a try using appropriate colors/ribbon(handle material) and embellishments! Sorry for all the super bright pics, I didn't have a chance to edit them and I knew if I didn't post this while I had the chance, it probably wouldn't happen :)
Materials Needed:
1 placemat
2 yards of ribbon
needle (or hot glue gun) and matching thread
flower/other embellishments
Directions:
1. Lay placemat horizontally and place your ribbon 2-3 inches from the side in straight line, and sew down both side of your ribbon.
2. Repeat on the other side, just make sure to use the same measurements.

3. Decide how long you want your handles and pin them on the opposite side (wrong side/inside) of the placemat. Turn under about an inch of the ribbon from the bottom to reinforce and keep from the ribbon fraying. Sew each side of your handles on. Make sure to reinforce or sew over a couple times so it's nice and strong! Nobody likes breaking handles ;)
4. Fold placemat in half, so handles meet, and sew a straight line down each side5. Fold your corners the opposite way so it looks like this: (kinda hard to put into words, or it's just late and I need sleep)
6. Sew a straight line across your corner, about 2 inches down from the tip.
7. This is what the bottom should look like after you sew the corners:
8. You're almost done! Sewing is out of the way, easy right?! Now turn your tote right side out, and add embellishments.

9. For silk flowers, I take them apart, completely discard the plastic parts, then reassemble the layers again. Hand stitch your flower on the front of your tote. On this tote, I added a pearl for the center which can be hand stitched, or hot glued on there. I've even hot glued my flowers on, but if you do that, glue each layer one at a time.
There are endless possibilities, have fun!
Merry Christmas :)
Linking up to:
Keeping it simple
Craftastic Monday- Sew Can Do
*Brittney*

Super Saturday

Last weekend our ward (church congregation) had a craft day "Super Saturday". It was intentionally just in time for Christmas so things could be made as gifts or Christmas decorations for the home. Here are some of the projects we did, well the ones I got pictures of at least!

Ribbon Bracelet- $1 each

Small handbag/Scripture Tote- $5

Seasonal Wooden Blocks- $7 found at Brown Paper Packages (love this blog!)

^side note: do not attempt to sand 112 wooden blocks...it's NOT fun!

Light up Snowman-$3

Ornament Wreath-$15-20

We also had Christmas cards using stamps that I didn't get pictures of, they were SO cute too! Thanks to everyone who helped, I needed it! This was my first time putting one together, AND attending one! So happy with how the day turned out, but more happy that it's over ;)
Merry Christmas!

*Brittney*

Baby Booties

I know, I know...another baby craft! All this thinking about babies almost makes me want another one right now, better get crafting on other things! I've been eye-ing some cute baby booties for a while now, and since I'm some sewing kick right now I thought I'd give it a whirl. I'll admit that the first one seemed to take forever, but the second little bootie was super easy once I knew what I was doing and didn't have to look at the instructions every 3 seconds! Ugh... I'm glad I made them, and I'll be making more, since it seems like everyone I know is pregnant! So here is yet another suggestion for all you beginner sewers like me, looking for a cute baby gift that is simple, cute, and very inexpensive...LOVE that!
These are the last little part (I think) to this little baby gift, hope she likes it! Oh, almost forgot to tell you where to find this FREE pattern...Here! ;)

>Just made up these too! These will be going to a little boy expected this week, I can't wait to meet him :) I decided to try my first "refashion" project with this old (but new with tags) khaki jacket I never wore, and a random black pleather piece I had on hand for the sole of the bootie. This cost me $0! NOTHING :)

Materials Before:

After:

Still needs a little bit of touching up, but not so bad for a struggling sewer ;)

*Brittney*

Linking up to:
Keeping it Simple
The Girl Creative
It's So Very Cheri
Between Naps on the Porch
Sew Can Do
Mad in Crafts
Creative Itch
Tip Junkie
Today's Creative Blog
A Silly Little Sparrow
I'm Topsy Turvy
Women Who Do It All
Someday Crafts
Blue Cricket Design
Me and My Bucket
Frou Frou Decor

Baby Onsie

Cut out your design...
Use some Heat n Bond...
Ta-Da!

Don't ask me why I've never tried this kind of project before...maybe I thought it would be more time consuming than it actually is, but I loved making this! This one I just made will be a part of a small baby gift, along with that boppy slipcover from the last post, and this cute "I am a Child of God" framed nursery decor I found on Made with Love and Glue. The possibilities are endless with this stuff, so if you're like me and haven't tried this out before, DO :)

"Sweet" Baby Shower Gift

Hi, hope you all had a great weekend! Ours was busy, but we had lots of fun :) A fellow Coast Guard couple here is expecting their first baby soon and had their co-ed baby shower on Saturday. Our family wasn't able to attend, but I wanted to make sure I congratulated them with a little gift. I've loved doing diaper cakes lately, and I really wanted to do a boy one, but it dawned on me that not everyone uses disposable diapers! Since I wasn't sure, I just made a small one and then added some other "sweets" to create a "dessert tray" for Baby Sitko:

"Candy rolls":
made with 6 washcloths each

"Cupcakes"

made with 2 burp-cloths and 2 pairs of socks each

Diaper/blanket Cake:
made with size 1 diapers, 1 receiving blanket, and 1 fleece blanket

I used the tutorial over at Cute as a Fox for the candy rolls and cupcakes. It turned into a "dessert tray" because I wanted to try them all and didn't know how to package it... DELICIOUS!

*Brittney*

linking up to:
Keeping it Simple
Craftastic Mondays

Diaper Cake

There are about a million tutorials online for this project...BUT for the sake of building up my blog I thought I'd show ya how I do it :)

Supplies You'll Need
56- 63 size Diapers ( I use size 1)
lots of small rubber-bands and a couple large ones
receiving blanket(optional)
ribbon: at least 1 inch think
embellishments: flowers/buttons/bows

hot glue gun/glue
wooden dowel

*I use size 1 diapers so the recipient can "enjoy" the cake for a while before having to use the diapers. You can use whatever size you'd like, it will turn out the same :)
*You'll need 56 diapers if you want to use the receiving blanket for the top, and 63 if you want the entire cake to be diapers. Totally up to you.
*Get creative with decorating! Try replacing some of the diapers with wash cloths, rattles, bottles, bows, pacifiers, soap, shampoo, race cars...ANYTHING! It's fun to play around a little!
*Please excuse my rug/floor for the back-drop. I do a lot of my crafting on the floor where my kids are when they're awake. ;)
*For the small rubber-bands I picked some hair ties up at the dollar store, I got the flowers there too! The dollar store is a great place for the little extras like shampoo, powder...
*For a resourceful new mommy, she can use the ribbon for making hair bows, and the flowers to make clips. It's a gift that keeps giving!

Here we GO:

1.The prep work:

*Start from the top of the diaper (where it opens) and roll it tightly until you get to the end, then wrap a small rubber-band around to hold it securely. Repeat with ALL diapers :)


2."Baking" your cake:
* Once you have all your diapers done, start putting the "cake layers" together by grouping them in a circle with a large rubber-band to hold them all in place. Start the group with 1 in the middle, and 6 around(that will make the top layer).

*This^ would be enough for the top layer. This below is how you start the next layer, just add another circle of diapers. For the bottom layer add yet another round of diapers.

All 3 completed layers. Top layer=7 diapers Middle=19, and Bottom=37
You'll need the wooden dowel to hold the cake together, it's up to you if you want to put it in now or later.

Make it your own:
3. When your "cake" is done, it's time to embellish. You should have large rubber-bands holding the cake together. Start by measuring
Wrap the ribbon around the cake layers, with a slight overlap (for gluing together) and cut the ribbon accordingly.
Using your hot glue gun, place a dab of glue on the end of the ribbon, wrap around the rubber-band (pretty tight so it stays) and close the ribbon. Be careful not to get the glue on the diapers :)
I decided to use a receiving blanket for the top layer of this cake.
To add flowers, take the flower apart and glue the pieces together individually, that way it will be flush with the ribbon.
Add the flowers where you want them, and put your dowel in to hold the layers in place.
I wrapped washcloths around a few of the diapers, and replaced a couple with baby wash and a rattle.
Isn't it pretty!?!
Hope this helps :)
*Brittney*