New Belt - Zero Dollars Spent!

I am learning a lot of new sewing projects from Pinterest and I couldn't be happier about it!

Awhile back I purchased a super cute black dress for work but it desperately needed a belt to go with it to add a little something! I was just going to purchase a bright colored belt but have not been able to find any. While "surfin" Pinterest one day I saw an adorable bow belt and it looked easy enough.

I had some cute polka dot fabric that I used to make a valence for my scrapbook room (oldie but goodie - Valence) and figured what's cuter than a polka dot bow belt?? Plus I used velcro (instead of a button snap) since I already had that, thus not having to spend any money and no need to go shopping. That may sound weird but I am so sick of shopping and spending money. I usually get this feeling at the end of summer cause we tend to always be out and about but add in two weddings and I am spent when it comes to shopping and money spending....over it!!

Since this project cost me zero dollars out of pocket it was perfect!! Unfortunately I didn't take my normal set of pictures, just felt like working through the project and of course regretting it as soon as I finished it!

Even without a how to guide on my blog (you can get instructions for this here.) I wanted to share the cuteness of the belt so that any sewers out there could make one too!!

Here is an up close shot....so cute right?!?!?!?

And excuse my hot mess look, on Sundays I barely make it into the shower let alone do my hair and make up!! 

I love this bow belt and it was sooooo easy!! It was a cute project that took me about an hour and half to complete and is totally worth it! I am definitely going to make some more of these in different fabrics once I feel like shopping again!!

Seriously though....this project is so easy and so cute, definitely give it a shot if you like sewing!!

Thanks Momtastic for a fun Sunday Project!!

DIY Car Garbage Sack!

This past weekend I got to spend a lot of quality time being crafty in my scrapbook room! While that was not the original plan for the weekend I was extremely excited to get in there and have some fun! And thanks to Pinterest I was able to pull off a project to do within 5 minutes!

I had found this awesome little Travel Trash Bag on Pinterest and knew immediately it would help keep my car cleaner longer! Am I messy person? No, but during the summer months we take my car everywhere and it ends up pretty darn dirty! I recently cleaned it and am now being super anal about no food, no scraps of paper, no drinks come in that do not leave within the same trip...yeah it's pretty bad but she just looks so pretty!!

Enter this amazing little project that will only aid my attempts at keeping my car spic and span!!

Hello Super Cute Travel Trash Bag

I will give you the brief commentary on how to complete this project, accompanied by a million pictures, but I would highly recommend you check out the originators blog post about how to complete this trash bag!

Thanks Nancy's Couture for a fun and easy project!

Thankfully I had all the supplies to work on this project cause this woman was not leaving her house unless absolutely necessary!

You will need:

• 1/2 yard of fabric
• Interfacing
• Boning
• Scissors
• Velcro
• Thread
• Sewing Maching

I actually had purchased a bunch of this fabric a couple years ago in hopes of making my own grocery tote bags, nope they still haven't been made, but I do have them on my ever growing To Do list!

I started out by ironing out my fabric to make it easier for cutting.

You will need to cut a rectangle of fabric measuring 20" x 15", 2 fabric rectangles measuring 2" x 11", and 2 pieces of interfacing measuring 2" x 11".

Once those are cut out you will want to attach your interfacing to the wrong side of your fabric rectangle strips. Read the directions on how to attach your interfacing. Mine was easy, you just use an iron, but what this crafter didn't realize when I originally purchased the interfacing is that it was double sided adhesive. To sum up I had to be very carefully when attaching my interfacing so it only stuck to one side of fabric and not my ironing board as well.

It worked out well!

Next up you will fold each on of those rectangles in half using the "hot dog" method :) And pin in place!

Then get to sewing the open ends up, but do leave one end open (either top or bottom).

And voila, you have yourself a set of straps!

The next step calls for you to start working on the actual bag. Take your bigger rectangular piece of fabric and fold it in half, with the wrong side of the fabric facing out.

Sew the open ends shut.

This part got a little tricky for me and I ended up opening up her blog on my lap top! For some reason I was just nervous this part wasn't going to work right and I had a hard time. I also "altered" one part of her directions, basically because I was confused.

She has you to do two folds, first you fold the top over 1/4" and iron, then fold another 3/4" and iron again. I ended up just folding it over 1" and then ironing. After you are all done ironing you slide the unsewn part of your straps underneath your fold and pin. Then sew the top part, leaving enough "empty space" for to insert your boning. Important do not sew all the way, I left an inch opening in the fabric to insert my boning.

See how an inexperienced sewer may have gotten slightly confused? I'm sure it's just me that's confused and nothing to do with the original bloggers instructions but I still was slightly stumped!

After you've sewn the top part (leaving an inch unsewn) you can insert in your boning. Cut a 15" piece of boning.

The boning I got (and maybe it's all boning I'm not sure) had a cloth covering so I removed that and then just inserted the hard part of the boning into my bag.

Once your boning is in (you want the two ends of the boning to end at each strap) go ahead and sew up that 1" piece you left open.

The next part is another alteration (pun intended) I made to the original instructions. My straps were kind of funky when I flipped the bag right side out. It just looked a little funny to me so I  ended up sewing them in place. This is going to be hard to describe so bare with me - I "folded" the straps over so that I could get an idea of how it was going to sit in my car and then seemed to be a little "unsteady". I just added an extra set of stitching to help hold them in the place I wanted them to be. I know totally confusing, I am sorry about that, but you can probably skip this alteration altogether!

Next up you attach your velcro to your straps! I had iron on velcro (Yippee) so this was done within 5 minutes for! For those of you who don't have iron on velcro you can either A. Just sew on your velcro or B. Go get iron on velcro! I love it! Make sure to put the pieces on the correct side of each strap so the two connect perfectly!

And that's it folks!! Your travel trash bag is complete and ready to be hung in your car!

Oh yes you better believe that within 10 minutes of finishing this project I was headed out to my car and ready to even start using it! Alas, I had no garbage to put in it but it still looks AWESOME!!

I am so stoked with this project and so pleased with the ease I had in putting it together. Sure I had a few moments where I struggled but nothing that wasn't easy to manage! It was such a fun project to make and I am sooooo happy I found it on Pinterest!!

So thanks again to Nancy's Couture for their awesome project ending up on Pinterest!! It provided me with a great afternoon!!

Sunday Bloody Sunday!

Sunday in our house used to mean football all day, until Chuck started working Sundays. Well now that he's got himself Sundays off again (starting this weekend YAY) I know our house will be back to football bloody sunday!

You'd think I'd run and hide and turn my last solo sunday into an extreme princess day...but no. Instead I embraced my new life of Football Sundays!

I did make my way up into my scrapbook room and lit up this beauty! Thanks Bath and Body Works for providing a plethora of new scents that seriously make me swoon. The particular one I chose to burn this day was Cinnamon Sugared Donut!

After getting my room smelling like the local donut shop I gathered the materials I'd need for my Football Sunday Project!

Since my Honey is a San Francisco 49ers Fan, (I hear they are developing a vaccine for this horrible disease) I slipped on my face mask, plastic gloves, and disinfected my sewing table....

I kid I kid :-)

While I may not favor the Niners I do still love Chuck and I had promised him I'd make him a new valence to go in his Mancave, you know to "complete" the look!

Thanks to my awesome Mom for teaching me how to make a valence I just jumped right in and got started.

After spending what felt like a 1/2 hour ironing out the fabric, cutting it, pinning it and then ironing again I got to put in my first stitch! Of course a picture is 100% appropriate for such a task :-)

Suprisingly I whipped this sucker up in an hour and 20 minutes! So proud! 

Check out the before!  

And AFTER!!!  

I've considered making another set so they "scrunch" up but alas the Man of the Mancave likes them just the way they are!

Chuckles loved them and he was quite impressed that I survived, despite having to touch 49er paraphernalia (shudder).

I should explain I'm not even a huge fan of football. I'm a huge fan of the cutie pie players! (I'm looking at you Miles Austin and Jason Witten) Yep I'm that chick!

And technically I'm banned from watching Niner games anyways - apparently last season I was the one who made the Niners lose! It couldn't be because the team sucked - no it was my fault. Essentially any time I'd come down to hang out with honey the Niners would lose. The Brett Favre incident = my fault!

Not that I'm sad to be banned at all...just means more time in my scrapbook room surrounded by pink walls, cute trinkets, and the glorious scents of girl-ville!!

BTW - I should add, I'm a hater on the Niners cause I grew up with a DIE HARD RAIDER FAN for a Paps and a Sister who turned out to be just as intense :-) It was just in my blood! 

Sew-Tastic!

Another layout done YAY!! I had so much FUN working on this layout because it was soooo girlie and it was the first time I've seriously worked with buttons on a scrapbook page!! Thank you Storyteller's for including them in that month's kit :-)

Here it is folks - my Sew Easy layout!!

Chuck thought my title was so clever, I didn't want to tell him that I'm sure I saw it somewhere else and "Stole" the title :-) This page is actually of Mom coming up and teaching me how to make a valence for my scrapbook room!!

I was so ecstatic with the embellishments for this one because I was able to fill that whole top space with just cutesy flowers!!

Here's the second 2-page layout! Check out the buttons!!!

I was so grateful my Mom took pictures of me sewing cause it made this page so much more fun! Without those it would have been one 2-page layout with a before and after I'm sure! But nope I've got plenty of us working away!

Yes Mom did all the ironing that day! I can now say I iron everything but when Mom's around why not let her do it right? Yup I'm spoiled :-)

I was so happy with how these turned out and it was so much fun to work on! And I am no longer a button virgin YAY!! I can gurantee I'll be using buttons more and more....

Caution: Disaster Area

Not only did I move all that furniture, clean out the garage, and load my car up with donations....I also made something really yummy......Can you guess???

Let me give you a hint this goes in it!!

What is that?? some of you might ask....well that is a lovely ham bone and a piping hot pot of peas!! Oh yes I am making split pea soup! It's still simmering now and I can't wait to dry it!! I am so happy that my parents give the ham bone everytime now and I get to make Split Pea Soup! It's my favorite!!

And now onto my next project!!! This weekend I will be painting my "new" bathroom and moving into it while move Chuck's belongings into the other bathroom, my old teeny tiny one....but that is not all I am doing....I will be cleaning this space>>>>>>>>>>>>

I know horrible right! It's a MESS!! I still have the totes sitting in there (empty) waiting to be put out in the garage!

Is there even room to navigate????

I am determined to get my scrapbook room clean and be able to work on Bridal Shower name tags this weekend in there...and maybe even sew myself a new apron! I need an alternative to my V-Day one and my Christmas one!! Heck maybe I'll even go crazy and scrapbook a page!! We'll see if I even get the name tags done...I never seem to have enough time in the day....anyone else feel like work gets in the way of more important things like scrapbooking and sewing?

Updated Scrapbook Room

So I got a few new items for my scrapbook room for Christmas. I decided to go through and rearrange and clean my room!! So here are some pictures of my very favorite room to be in!!

The windo in the room! I made the Valence with my Mom :)

The scrapbook/all crafts table! It's set of 4 storage square blocks from Target/Michaels. I also got a long piece of countertop from my parents for my birthday!! I was so excited!

Here is this awesome thread catcher bag my parents got me for my sewing table!!

The new sewing box I also got for Christmas. And underneath it is a rolling cart with fabric, patterns, and supplies!

A shot of my whole sewing table!! I also redid the chair and made the fabric on the seat match the valence.

My Paps made this for me for Christmas! I love it!! It's hanging on a wall in my room!

This is an amazing rolling cart I bought at Michaels! It has been such a great purchase!!

This is a view of my closet! I took the closet doors down to make the room feel bigger!! And my Mom bought me the 5 12 x 12 storage boxes, which are amazing!!

Another shot of the closet!

Another one of the closet!

I love my scrapbook room! Happy I could share!

Grammy's Apron

For Christmas this year I wanted to make my Grammy an apron. Originally it was supposed to be her birthday gift, but the pattern my Mom and I started using just was not working. It was really difficult and I was not impressed with how it was turning out.

So I went to JoAnn's and found a pattern with fabric for an easy apron. I loved the fabric, at first, but then I found this cute dog pattern and decided I would use the pattern for this apron! I am so happy with how it turned out. I just wish I could see her open it on Christmas day!

The pocket

And here it is :-) You can't see the straps but they aren't anything special LOL

Sneak Peak....

This past week and this weekend I've been working hard in my Scrapbook/Sewing Room on Christmas Aprons for my Mom, Sister and Me. Each year we have done this since I can remember we have Baking Day before Christmas. It started with all of us (Aunts and Cousins) heading over to my Grammy's house and we would bake all day, dozens and dozens and dozens of cookies. But then with people moving it hasn't been at my Grammy's. But my Mom and Sister and I still do it! I thought it'd be neat for us to have Christmas Aprons!

I of course couldn't start any work without my assistants keeping watch!

Or sleeping :-)

This fabric is the cutest fabric I got for an apron I am making my Grammy for Christmas. This is just one piece of it and I love it! These doggies are so cute. And not sure if it's clear but the stripes are a really pretty mintish green!

Sneak Peak of my Christmas Apron (I can't show the whole thing until I give them to my Mom and Sister)

And a sneak peek of my sisters! She's a little more simple than mine, which is pretty busy! But I loved this fabric and thought she'd appreciate the classic christmas colors :-)

Hopefully tomorrow I will finish my Mom's apron and also my Grammy's Christmas present (apron). I have had so much fun doing these. I wouldn't mind doing them all the time! They are super easy and just so cute!!