Valentines Wreath

I found a great idea & tutorial for a Valentine's wreath and knew I had to make it.  It was very easy and Hannah even made half of it for me!  

We love it!

James' Baby Blanket (Rag Quilt)

A lot of sewing, and a lot of thread.

My sweet nephew James was born in September and I wanted to make something special for him.  My sister asked my dad to donate some of his Aloha shirts for the project.  Here is the batch she sent me.

I cut the shirts apart (I used 8 shirts total)

And then cut them into 6" squares

 I laid out the squares into a 8x11 pattern. I thought that would be a good size for a baby.

I needed 88 squares for the front, back and middle. I used flannel for the middle and minky for the back.  I needed about 2.75 yards for the flannel and 2.5 yards for the minky, since it was wider than the flannel.

Finally all sewn together!  I used 2 1/2 spools of thread as well!

Here you can see the seams before they are clipped to give the "ragged" look.

And the seams all clipped.  The minky and cotton shirts didn't curl up as much as I'd like, so it doesn't have a very "ragged" look.

All done! And I think it turned out super cute. 

I'm glad I could make him an heirloom that hopefully he will treasure forever.

Parent Appreciation Gift

 My Gift

Each Tuesday this past year I've helped in my daughters 1st grade classroom.  Today my daughter came home with this amazing gift from her teacher and class.

Each student wrote me a thank you card.

And Hannah's teacher made this bag for me.  

This is the front...

and the back.

All the students signed it (and Hannah's teacher)!

I absolutely love it!

Dress to Skirt Refashion

Finished skirt with purchased dress.

I bought the dress (below) from Savers, a local thrift store.  The top was a little immodest for our taste, but I knew it would make a super cute skirt!

$3.99 with 50% off, made it only $2.00!!

Here is the back

I cut off the entire top...

folded over the edge to make a casing for the elastic.

A friend of mine suggested using the top as a pocket on the skirt. 

I think it turned out darling.

Growth Chart

Finished Growth Chart

 Following this tutorial from Whipperberry, I made a few portable growth chart.  

I bought all the rolls of Jute Webbing I could find at my local Super Wal-Mart.  Each roll is about 6', so it's perfect for a growth chart.

Here's the roll before I started.

With a ruler I marked off each inch with a sharpie.  Using a stencil, I made numbers for each foot mark.  Whipperberry put numbers every other inch, but this way was easier looked less cluttered.

With WordArt (in Microsoft Word) I made a template for the name.  I used an X-Acto knife to cut away the letters.  

I colored in the first letter with the sharpie...

and then pulled it back to see if it worked.

I finished the rest of the letters and then went over them again to make sure they were dark enough and to fill in any spots I missed.

Goudy Old Style is the font.

I used a grommet for the hanger at the top...

which worked great!  

I love how easy and cheap it is, so that each child can have their own.  

Bunny "Tails"

It's nice when you own a printing company and can print every cute printable on the internet!  These adorable "Bunny Tails" printables are from eighteen25. 

Each of the marshmallow bags I bought had 28 giant marshmallows in them, making 14 "Bunny Tails" total.  My first choice was to use donut holes, but I couldn't find any bags that only had white donuts in them. But the marshmallows did turn out super cute. 

Scrabble Tile Place Settings

Finished Place Setting

I scoured the thrift stores and found a few scrabble games to make these place settings.  

I used a glue line, and cut off the amount I would need for each name

This way it's not permanent in case I need letters for something else.

The finished product!