I made this plate earlier this year to use as our special Santa plate. I figured we could bake some cookies and heap the plate with them on Christmas Eve. Sadly, we’re travelling this year and I don’t want to risk breaking it by taking it on a bunch of airplanes so it won’t get used until next year. I am debating adding a mug to match. I mean Santa needs a drink to wash down all those yummy cookies!
Ordered two books and I’m so excited about them. One Yard Wonders is amazing! I can’t decide where to start!! Bend the Rules with Sewing, I suppose the book I should have gotten first, is really neat too. I’m such a sucker for bags and totes and between these 2 books there are so many to choose from.
I also managed to sneak out to the thrift store on the weekend and found that neat little pineapple napkin holder. I thought it might hold some of my newly acquired craft and sewing books nicely. Seems it’s a perfect fit for my Amy Karol collection.
Now that my recipient has their gift I can show you the full cover of my soft counting book I made. I still have to make my son one, I’ve been consumed by other crafts. My gift was ever so graciously received. I was happy to make it and give it. I hope it bring years of enjoyment and stands up to the test of time!
Posted in sewing
Thanks to this tutorial I was inspired to try a crayon cozy. It was fun and I only made one ‘oops’.
I even got fancy and added my own little lable to it. I did however make a mistake when cutting the pieces and for some reason it’s about an inch too short. The result is it only holds 15 crayons rather than the 16 it should. So out you go Red-Orange, who needs you anyway when there’s Orange and Yellow-Orange!?
I got a little bit inventive and added a button and elastic closure. I’m a pro at that after my car cozy and playmat.
I’m sending out 25 Christmas cards this year. They’re all handmade by me!
Last year I sat down and made multiple copies of the same card and sent those out to everyone. This year, with 2 little ones underfoot, I haven’t had time to be that creative so I resorted to digging through my stash of previously completed cards. I did manage to sneak away to a card making workshop this year so I had 2o new ones to pick from. These are some of my favourites. I particularly like the little trend of choosing colours that aren’t traditionally associated with Christmas. It’s a nice change from the usual red and green!
I don’t remember about each individual card but I know some of them are made with Stampin’Up supplies and some are make it Close to My Heart.
I tried to make notes as I went along, and take pictures, but it’s hard enough creating something from nothing and then to document it as well!! But here it goes. Using some advice from Bella Dia, and what I think is my own good sense here are the steps I used in making my fabric counting book. Hopefully it’s enough information to help you create one too.
1. Plan – First, because I was lounging at the TV when I was struck with this idea, I sketched out my plan for each page. Knowing what materials I had on hand helped me decide on the page designs. I made the pages like this: 1 sun, 2 cherries, 3 blind mice, 4 triangles on a kite, 5 fingers on a hand, 6 flowers, 7 colours in a rainbow, 8 fall shapes, 9 buttons and 10 bows.
2. Cut – I cut 10 pieces of fabric, 6 1/2 by 6 1/2 square. I was going to make the cover out of some other material but I decided in the end to use the same fabric and cut 2 more pieces. So you’ll need 12 altogether, split if you want to vary your prints.
3. Create (I know it’s a vague step) – Based on your ideas for each page just go to work creating them on each of the 10 squares. I used a variety of methods to put my pages together. Here’s a layout of all the pages before some finished touches and before they were assembled.
I used Steam-A-Seam, applique, yarn, rick rack, buttons, embrodery, ribbon, rubber stamps and paint to complete all 10 pages. See my previous post for close up shots of each page.
4. Page assembly – Pin pages 2 and 3, right sides together, here’s where it takes some thinking, leave the side that will go in the ‘binding’ of the book open for turning. It’s going to covered by the printed fabric so it doesn’t matter about finishing that edge. Since I placed all my numbers in the top left corner it was a bit easier to remember what side to leave open. Turn and Press. Repeat for pages 4 and 5, 6 and 7, then 8 and 9. Sew, turn, press.
5. Cover creation – Since I decided not to use my original cover pieces I went back and cut some from my linen. But my supply was running low and I had to cut 6 1/2 by about 6, leaving me a bit short. So I cut a piece of printed fabric to use as a ‘spine’ for the book. I accidentally put my fabric where my cold drink of water had been and it got a bit wet, ignore the spots. I zigzagged stitched the spine to the front cover and back cover of the book.
6. Personalize – Attach any sort of label/saying you want on the back page of the book. Fabric stores have those cute, ‘Made by Mommy’ or ‘For Someone Special’ labels that would work well here.
![IMG_2944 [1024x768]](http://www.sewtara.com/wp-content/uploads/IMG_2944-1024x7681.JPG "IMG_2944 [1024x768]")
7. More Personalizing – Decorate the front cover, I personalized mine and embroidered it. You could appliqué it, or sew some 3D embellishments on. Then when finished, sew page 1 to the spine, leaving the binding side open for turning. (Name blocked out for gift surprise protection)
8. Cover assembly – Sew page 10 to the back cover, right sides together, sew on the top, right and bottom leaving the left side open for turning. Then sew page 1 to the front cover , sew on the top, left and bottom, leaving the right side open for turning.
9. Loop – I also attached a little loop piece of fabric, it was about 2 1/2 by 3 and I just folded it right sides together, sewed along the long side, turned it and pinned it to the top of the binding. Sorry for the busy pattern of my ironing board.
10. Top stitching – Top stitch around the edges of all the pages, as close as possible. I used a brown thread so it showed on all my pages. You could get fancy and change threads but at this point I was excited to get finished, hence the lack of photos. Lay the book cover/page 1 and page 10/back cover page flat. Fold over and press the book spine part to make a little hem. Top stitch all around that piece.
11. Inserting the pages – Once I finished all my top stitching I carefully set the pages inside the book making sure to line all the edges up along the inside at page 1 and 10. Then I realized just how thick my book was and wondered how on earth I was going to get it under the sewing machine foot!! I’m relatively new to sewing, and mostly I learn just by trying stuff out so here’s what I did in this situation. I put the pages in, secured with some pins, folded the cover over the book and then slid it under the machine foot in the middle of the spine where it was thinest. Then I sewed down to the bottom of the book and backstitched. Turned the book over, inserted it where my stitching started and went in the other direction to the top of the book.
Posted in kid fun, sewing, tutorial-ish
Tagged baby, quiet book, scraps, soft book, tutorial-ish
Within the span of about an hour on Friday night I went from having an idea for a cloth counting book to sketching out a plan and cutting the fabric. So here’s a peek at the finished product. I’m so hyped!!! I can’t believe how well it turned out. Or how sad I am that I made it as a gift and have to give it away!! Now I’ve started to work on one for my son so I can keep it around. I personalized the cover so had to hide the name so the wonderful mom who reads my blog doesn’t discover what I’ve made her child for Christmas.
Embroidered cover.
This was my first attempt so there’s some things to iron out but I’m totally impressed with how it turned out!! Plus, in my opinion, the little things that make it imperfect are just fun details that come from a totally handmade gift crafted with love! I added a loop to attach some links for the stroller etc.
Here’s a glimpse at what I put on each page.
Page 1 and 2.
I only bought one thing and that was yellow thread so I could machine sew the sun. Other than that, I made the entire project out of things I already had on hand, which I thought was pretty frugal and resourceful, but my husband said it means I have way to much stuff.
Pages 3 and 4.
I started with 3 little mice and then realised how cute it would be to tie in some fairy tale reference, so there it is. Their tails are yarn and freely flop around. the tail on the kite is thick pink rick rack. The mice and the number 4 are made out of super soft minky fabric.
Pages 5 and 6.
I used Steam a Seam and fused the handprint on, cut from pink flannel. The flowers are from my scrapbooking supplies, with button centres and embroidered stems.
Pages 7 and 8.
This page was a bit finicky. I used ribbon, again what I had on hand, for the rainbow. For my next book I think I’ll purchase thick ribbon for this page, it was a bit tricky to work with the thin ribbons. However, the lumps and bumps here and there in the rainbow give it character! I was a but stumped for page 8 and was going to use butterflies when I thought of stamping instead. I was trying to vary the textures and colours in the book so this was a good opportunity to use something different.
Pages 9 and 10.
This is the super 3D double spread! The buttons were a piece of cake. The bows were a little more involved, tying them was one adventure and then sewing them on to make sure they weren’t going to undo was another! I wish I had made the number 10 a little bit bigger but oh well.
Backcover with my label.
My labels, which I finally got around to making, which I suppose is another post. This book was great fun to make and I made it in a about 3 sessions at the machine, started Friday night done Sunday noonish. Working on a tutorial to post soon.
We made this ornaments for our tree. I used to have only handmade ornaments, I would paint some every year, but we’ve decided to pick them up as souvenirs as well. So now everything on the tree is meaningful in some way, it was a gift, or handmade, or bought in some exotic land! I made these ones with the boys this year, they’re actually Crock-A-Doodle ornaments that I got crafty with. I dipped one of their fingers in the green paint and made a little circle with the fingerprints. After is was glazed and kilned I added a little satin ribbon bow and stuck it on with a glue dot for a cute little embellishment.
I finally had time to run to the sewing machine and finish off my juice pouch tote attempt #1. I’m really happy with it. It took 17 pouches to make, 4 on each side, 5 to go around the sides and 1 for each handle. I sewed it all together with a zigzag stitch and attached the handles with just a straight stitch.
I’m going to get to work planning a messenger bag or something for my laptop.
Posted in repurposing, sewing
Tagged bag, juice pouches, kool aid jammer, sewing, tote
Just cleaned up my desk/craft area and found this hidden away in the corner. I was supposed to be adding some more pictures to it and putting it back together . . . . ages ago. Now there’s a 11 month old sibling to add to it!! But since it’s a papercraft, and I haven’t posted about any of those, I thought I should share.
ABC cover
I used a hinge bound 7 x 7 scrapbook, it was from Creative Memories ages ago so I doubt you can still get one. There are so many school themed books out there I’m sure one of those could work.
ABC poem
I found the little poem online, not sure where but you can download the document here. (as soon as my techie hubby helps me)
An easy letter to fill up, B. Here's the 2 page spread.
I made each page a 2 page spread for the letter, except near the end I used 1 page for those less likely to fill up, like W, X, Y, Z. In hindsight I should have done that for Q as well, other than quilt I’ve been stuck on that one. I used a bunch of different coloured alphabet sticker sets, again from Creative Memories, but you could just by I sheet and use it for your entire book. I just had a lot of alphabet bits and pieces.
S is for sunglasses, smiles and snowmen!
You can use scraps and bits of paper to decorate the pages. If you have punches it’s even easier.
C is for cookie
This is also a great way to make use of sticker odds and ends you have lying around. I also find it handy for using up photos I printed but didn’t scrapbook, I have a bad habit of overprinting. I also print a lot of wallet sized pictures for this project, since the pages are smaller and I can fit 9 of those photos on a sheet it works out well.
I started writing the words next to the pictures as well. Depending on your child you may want to add words.
Guess I’d better get updating!
