Something for ME!

We will be heading to our annual beach trip soon, and I wanted to make a new bag for myself for the trip. I wanted something bright and summery, and I found this wonderful fabric combo that I fell in love with. Here is a closeup of the fabrics and my quilting.

I quilted the whole bag and added sunny yellow rick rack.

I had just enough fabric left over to make a bag to hold my books and magazines for the beach.

I did a simple little log cabin pocket for the front.
My goal for the summer is to do some more quilting on bags. I have been totally inspired by a recent book purchase PATCHWORK STYLE. The photos and fabric combinations in this book are lovely. I love quilting, but I seem to have a short attention span, so quilted bags are quick and rewarding!
****I just found this link to Patchwork Style that includes 2 FREE PATTERNS in the top right corner of the page. Have a look HERE!

I'm back! sorta...

I know I've been gone a while...and I wish I could say I was on some fabulous adventure. But the truth is I had the flu which turned into bronchitis and I have been sick as a dog for about the past 9 days. Not fun or exciting =(

Prior to getting knocked out by germs, I was very busy making zipper pouches. Zipper pouches are one of my favorite things to make, super easy quick and take little fabric. First, I made these little cuties for a dear friend's daughter. She is having an "End of the School Year" bash and these will hold the invites and serve as the party favor too!





The zipper pulls are made with some cute pink peace sign earrings I found at Target.



Then, I was asked to do a personal swap with a fellow Craftster who is making her first trip to Disney and wanted 2 pouches to carry cash and cards in. I found this really cute Tinkerbell fabric.



For these zipper pulls, I used these cute Mickey beads. They sell these Mickey bead bracelets in the Disney parks, I always buy them when we go, because when you take them apart you can use them in so many different ways!

If you have some spare time make a zipper pouch! You won't regret it, there are about a million tutorials out there, but I found THIS ONE for you that is really well written and will make the perfect pouch. Go for it!

And lastly I leave you with a picture of how my dogs spend their day. They both sit on the left side of the couch in my hubby's office looking out a front window. They bark and growl at anything outside that moves....such fierce watch dogs!!


The pillows on that side of the couch are all squished....drives me nuts! =)

EtSy FriDaY FUN!

Happy Friday! I had a message this morning that my Chocochippies on Etsy were added to the HANDMADE J.U.N.K.F.O.O.D. Treasury on Etsy.



You can take a look at all the goodies chosen for the Treasury HERE. There are some really cute things on this Treasury, I really like that donut ring!

More Fabric Folios!

Remember the fabric folios I made for Teacher Appreciation? Well....the teachers REALLY liked them and I was asked to make 8 more!

I made them all different so each teacher could have the one that most suited her tastes. I really like making these, and sure hope they love them and find them useful.
The school year is winding down, YAY!! I think I want summer to be here as much as my son does. They sent a note home today saying this would be the last week of homework for the year. What a relief! HAHAHAHA
Anyone have any good ideas for a craft project I can do with 2nd graders at the end of the year party? I have one idea but need another.....HELP!

Yikes...where have I been?

Okay I guess this should be an update post...
Teacher week ended on Friday, but I did give 2 more gifts that I neglected to post.
Day #4:
A Cupcake fabric bucket filled with dry erase markers. Dry erase markers are always needed by our teachers and I thought she could use the bucket to hold them, or to hold whatever she wishes!


Day #5:
Then for Friday, I made her some Georgia Bulldog pillowcases.


I found this cute pink Georgia fabric, and knew she had to have it because she is such a huge Georgia fan. I wasn't sure if I should make a bag with it, because it is so baby pink. I was asking aloud what to make....and my hubby answered very matter of fact.."pillowcases". He's so smart! I must be rubbing off on him HAHAHA

These pillowcases make such great gifts, my Mom got me hooked on them a couple of years ago. I found a good tutorial for you all if you'd like to give them a try. You can find it HERE

And last but definitely not least...I received my stuffie from the Craftster Swap. This totally adorable owl. I love the fact it's so colorful and I love all the details she added!



Owls are a fave of mine, and I love all the owly variety out there in the crafty world...every owl I see out there is so different from the next!

Fabric Folios and a Pink Wig

Teacher Week Day #3
I had purchased a Tutorial off Etsy a little while back on how to make patchwork portfolios and had been wanting to give them a try...finally got to do it for the teachers, and had fun making them! Mine aren't the same size as the tut says they will be...I may not have printed the pattern pieces correctly, oops. Anyhoo, they are really easy and quick and turn out super cute!

On the inside I added a notepad, pen and gift certificate to Artsy Abode, one of my fave little boutiques for Brighton and Pandora goodies.

Once I finished the teachers' folios, I quickly made myself one with this adorable skully fabric, you can sort of tell in the pic, but the fabric is glittery too!

With all my required gift sewing done for the week, I am sitting relaxing in the a.c. (It's 93 outside!!) making alterations to a candy pink Blythe wig....one of my Pullips is getting a makeover. I didn't think about her head being so much smaller than Blythe...luckily it's an easy alteration. More pics to follow on that subject.
Off to football practice later...ugh

Cupcakey

Teacher Week day #2....
My son and I planted a cute pink plant in a pot we hand painted to look like a cupcake paper liner and then added a little cherry on top.

The cherry is made by adding a wood bead to the end of a wood dowel. I made a cupcake tag just to give a little hint it's supposed to be a "cupcake" =) then my son wrote a cute note on the back of the tag.

I got this idea from Nikki at Whimsy Love. She used way bigger cherry beads, which I like better...but I was trying to be a good girl and use up beads I had on hand. Next time, I will use the bigger beads too! =)

When we took it to school this morning, all the kids said, "Hey there's a cherry on top!" Made me smile.