GO Baby!

As I talked about in this post, I received a fabulous present for Christmas, this Go baby cutter. I actually got this bias tape machine from my wonderful Hubby, and I was super excited. I was proud that he went to 2 craft/fabric stores to do research. If you know Jerm, then you know he must love me to do that. He let me know which ones he was looking at, and I did a little research. I decided to go with the one he did not pick, the Go baby. It can do more, than just cut strips of fabric, and I was able to get a great deal. I got it for 50% off, and $100 less than the original present I received. It is also very compact so it can easily be stored in my craft area.

The only down side I see so far is the expense of the dies themselves. I actually paid more for the die and mat I bought, than the cutter itself. But that is okay, I am getting so much use out of it, and they should last for quite awhile. Here is just a little example of how much time it saves me.

This day, I was making 2 1/2" strips to make bias tape. Normally this would take me a long time, and they would turn out a bit wonky and not perfectly measured. 

Here are the die and cutting mat.  

First I set my fabric on the die. I folded my fabric so that it would cut through 4 layers of fabric, and end up making 2 long strips. This can easily cut 6 layers of fabric at a time.

Set the cutting mat on top, and start to turn the handle, which will push the die and mat through the cutter.

After the entire die, fabric, and mat are through, you take off the mat and this is what you find.

Take off your scraps.

And you are left with your perfectly cut strips. I was able to cut 20 perfect strips in about 20 minutes, with Brady's time consuming assistance. : ) Cutting these strips with my rotary cutter and ruler would have taken at least one hour, without my assistant. And they would not be perfect, like these.

I loooove it! Check back to see what I do with all of those strips next week.

I can not wait to try out the other dies. This 5x5 inch square will be my next purchase, and will really speed up my next project.

I also want this die. Mostly for the 4 1/2 inch square, but I am sure I can find other uses too.

So many, ideas. This thing is awesome, and a wonderful present. Thanks so much to my handsome hubby, for a great gift.

My first quilt

I have been meaning to share this for awhile, but instead I took care of a sick kiddo, caught up on sleep, cleaned, and tried to relax. But, better late than never, right?

I made my first quilt! It is not really a true quilt, but kinda, and for my first try I think it turned out really well.
Our friends are expecting their first baby, a little boy, and we are so happy for them. The Dad is in the Air force, and I found some Air force fabric for a great deal over a year ago, so I made an Air force themed quilt for the new baby.

This project was made so much easier with my new favorite craft toy that I got for Christmas, which I will talk about sometime this week.

After piecing the top of the quilt together, and adding the batting and backing, I just did a simple stitch in the ditch quilting method. It is not completely quilted, but this method was super easy, and because it is so small, I think it will work great. Don't worry, I will re-iron it before wrapping.

I even made the binding. Easier than I thought it would be!

Everything turned out so much better than I was expecting, and it was not very hard. I am quite inspired now, and I hope that I can find time to make more quilts. I already have a few in mind for my favorite little people.

 

I hope our Air Force friends and baby like it!  

  

Baby's Room Paint

The only thing even resembling crafting I have done the past week has been painting the baby's room. I ran into all kinds of trouble with the room, and I am so happy it is done. Originally I wanted the stripes to be different, but I think they look okay. I am really not happy with the color, but I think once everything is in the room and things are on the wall I will like it.

I have a picture of me painting Brady's room but with his name on the wall. We don't know the name of this little one, but I still wanted a picture of me painting. Too bad it is a horrible belly pic, oh well.

 The painting itself did not take too long, but getting the stripes straight took way too long.

 One wall has the stripes, The other 3 walls area lighter yellow, and the ceiling is white.  

 As straight as they are going to get.

 I thought the colors would look okay in the store, but I don't know. Maybe they will grow on me.

So excited to get the rest of baby's room done. I can't wait to cuddle my new baby in the room in just a few months!

Love Art

I guess is what you call it.
Our shelves in the living room were looking bare after the Christmas holidays, so I have to come up with something.

I found this cute free printable and framed it.

And this heart was made using scrapbook paper, and little rosettes made out of tissue paper.

Behind it is a vase filled with candy hearts, vase filler, and pink pom poms.

This wreath went terribly wrong from what I wanted, but it still is up, so I am not caring that much.

I really wanted a wreath covered in these white ball thingys, to be nice and winter like. But I did not have any white paint, so I did not paint the wreath before I started gluing on the little balls.

After they were all on, you could see too much green from the wreath form, so I decided to paint it pink. At that point I did not really care anymore. Ah oh well, it comes down soon anyway.

Well, that is all of the valentines day decor/ crafts I have... this year.
Thanks for looking, and
Happy Valentine's Day!

Love from last year

I am enjoying a morning in church, yummy food, and football today, and I hope you are doing the some of the same.

I wanted to share a few things I posted about last year for Valentines day.

First is a tie shirt I made for my sweet boy.

Next is Love blocks and various other decor.

Finally a few heart crayons to color for your Valentine.

XoXo pillow

Sometimes I just need to do a quick, easy, sewing project. It calms me, and is slightly therapeutic. What came about during this therapy session was a Valentines burlap pillow.

 I first sewed on my X's and O's. Then I sewed my two pieces of burlap, wrong sides together, leaving an opening to stuff. I stuffed the pillow with poly fil and sewed the opening shut. Finally I frayed the burlap some by pulling out the burlap strings.

As my husband pointed out, it is not a comfortable pillow, but it still looks cute!

Hearts Decor

While we were stuck inside during our -20 degree weather we decided to do a craft. I had to laugh when Brady kept asking, "When are we going to do our crap?" I would laugh and correct him, but he kept getting it wrong, love that boy. We added to our Valentines decor by making these fun hearts, thanks to Martha.

They turned out cute, and Brady was able to help with picking out and working on colors, as well as cutting the hearts with his safety scissors.

Now they are hung all over the house adding a bit more love.

Love Mail

Out of all of our Valentines things this year, I am most excited about the mail bags that I made for Brady and little baby. I have seen these cute mail bags at Pottery Barn Kids for a few years and always thought that I could make those. I can't find them online now, but I did see some similar in the store this year. 

Of course I think that about a ton of things at PBK. This time I tried, and I really love how they turned out.

The best thing about them is how easy they were to make, and for two bags they cost less than $4! Want to make some and see how easy they are?

What you will need:

(I actually made two bags out of this amount)

3 pieces of large size stiff red felt ($3)

1 smaller piece of stiff white felt (.79)

scrap ribbon

velcro

scissors

sewing machine or embroidery floss

optional glue

First you want to cut your pieces of felt, ribbon, and velcro:

-back and fold over red piece- 18" x 8.5"

-front red piece - 9" x 8.5"

- two side red pieces - 9" x 2"

- one bottom red piece - 8.5" x 2"

- 2" white letters

- 2" hearts white and a smaller red

- 4.5" x 2" white piece with mail slot 

- 2" of velcro

- two 23" ribbon pieces with heat sealed ends (you may want to make these longer depending on where your bags will be tied)

Once all of your pieces are cut you can begin putting on your embellishments. Make sure you cut a hole for you mail, and sew on your Velcro first so that your heart can cover up the stitching. Place your Velcro so that the back/flap piece and front will attach once the bag is complete.

I had to sew mine due to the fact that I am losing my mind, and everything thing else including my glue, but a fabri-tac glue could work well also. I added curves to my corners, and sewed around the front flap with a white thread to add a bit more to the front.

Sew on your hearts, MAIL letters, and you white mail slot. I also added my ribbons at this point, but make sure you pin them out of the way, so they do not get caught up when sewing your bag together.

You should now have a front piece with Velcro on it, a bottom piece, and two side pieces. You should also have a back/flap piece with Velcro on the underside, hearts on front, a hole for the mail with a white edging for the hole, the MAIL letters, decorative hearts, and two ribbons on the back side.

Now that everything is sewn on, you only have to put your bag together. I sewed side pieces to the front first, with wrong sides facing. Next was the bottom piece, again with wrong sides facing, and taking special care around the corners.

Lastly you can sew on your already embellished back/flap piece, with wrong sides facing each other and watching your corners. Snip threads, remove your pins, and you are done! The explanation/ wannabe tutorial might not have been easy, but I promise, this is way easy in person. Please ask for any questions.

They make a great addition to our Valentines decor. Best part is that we get to leave love notes and a surprise for Brady to find each morning.

Yesterday it was two candy hearts with a note, and today it was some new matchbox cars from my stash with a note. He loves to run downstairs and see what mail he has gotten that morning. You never know, his love language could be receiving gifts, and lets be honest it is fun to spoil your kids a little.

Pottery barn kids made a pretty cute bag, but for 20 or so dollars a piece for 14 days, I think I will stick with these. Thanks for looking, and check back the rest of this week for a few more valentines day crafts.

Linking up to:
Gluesticks - get your brag on
Shaby nest - frugal friday

Valentines Day Runner

It is sooo chilly outside here and we have been stuck in doors. (It was -12 degrees this morning while in the car!) We can't be warmed by the sun so I have been making a few things around the house for Valentines Day, to make us all a little more lovely. I did not plan on making much, but I just did not stop. And the best part is that I only spent about 4 dollars! Everything else is from my stash that I already have. So this week will be about sharing all of our easy cheap Valentines Day goodies, so I hope you check back.

First up is a scrappy runner for our table. It is simply ruffled fabric scraps and some ribbon sewn onto a piece of fabric. Easy, easy.

I took many strips of pink fabric from my scrap pile, and ruffled the strips. I did not even finish the edges because I liked an unfinished look on such girly fabric. You can cut on the bias and it won't fray as much, but I was not worried about it, so I just left it as is. After I had laid out all of my strips, I sewed them down the middle onto a long white piece of cotton.

Once all of my strips were sewn on, I sewed another white piece of cotton with right sides together. Clipped corners, turned right side out. and sewed shut. I pressed the underside to make sure everything would lie like I wanted to, and done! I told you it was easy and quick.

This would be a great project for a beginning sewer to learn on because it is really just straight lines. It adds just a little more love to our table. Now it just needs a delicious meal on it... wonder who will be making that?