The Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Party

Lilly is turning two in a few weeks and I wanted to throw a Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Party for her (one of her favorite books). I looked on Etsy for some invitation ideas and found one that I liked, that also looked easy enough to duplicate.

All I did was make the design I liked using some Google images I found. Printed this off onto regular printer paper and then attached it to the red card-stock. I only needed to purchase the card-stock and the envelopes...total cost for all the invitations was $6!

That's all I've accomplished so far, but getting excited about continuing to plan!

My Craft Closet

A few weeks ago I went to Ikea and bought this craft table!

But after taking every piece out of the box I realized that it didn't come with the screws/hinges etc! So, I emailed Ikea right away and approximately 7-10 days later I received the missing parts.

We have a cedar closet in our house and I've been wanting to turn it into my craft room. It was completely filled with boxes and junk and I spent quite a while cleaning and relocating all of that stuff. Afterwards, there was plenty of space for my new desk as well as all the knit fabric I purchased a while back at the auction.

I purchased a few white boxes from Ikea as well ($2 each!) and filled them with zippers, patterns, buttons, etc. I also had room for my sewing books and manuals on the shelves. The glass jars on the shelf were also from Ikea and will be perfect for ribbon, bobbins, etc.

My favorite thing about this sewing table is the drawers. There are three on each side and the additional storage is awesome! It also has the ability to expand on the other side or both sides can come down making it only about a foot wide! So much versatility!!

I love how the 'room' turned out and can't wait to start sewing!

Newborn Quilt from old sweaters

Don't forget to enter to win this week's giveaway...3 yards of fabric! Click here for more info

We cleaned out our attic this week and came across a few old wool sweaters that my husband no longer wears.

These four sweaters were all made of of wool and a bit outdated. I ended up using the first, second and fourth ones.

The first thing I did was cut out the strips that I wanted. I used as much of the sweaters as I could, making sure to get a variety of colors (using the sleeves and striped areas, as well as the solid areas)

Once I had cut out all the strips I wanted I had this:

Next, I arranged them how I wanted them to look and began sewing the strips to one another (front side to front side)

Once all the strips were sewn together I cut the access edges, making the quilt a perfect square. Then I attached a layer of flannel for the inside and used another piece of white flannel for the back. I sewed the flannel and the wool together front to front and then flipped it inside out. I then hand stitched the hole that I left open and the quilt was finished!

Here is the finished product

This picture shows you what the back of the quilt looks like

It's the perfect size for a newborn and has some character because the material holds some meaning. A great way to use up some of your old sweaters don't you think!?

Rag Quilt Tutorial

I've been wanting to make a flannel rag quilt for a while now. I received this adorable flannel material from my sponsor Marie Madeline Studio and absolutely love it. I've never ordered any of their flannel before and I'm definitely hooked. It is the SOFTEST FLANNEL EVER!!! I can't even explain how wonderfully soft it is...you'll just need to buy it and fall in love yourself.

I also picked up two coordinating colors of pink flannel from Hancock fabrics. (Ok, but definitely not super soft)

Here's what you'll need to make this quilt

• 1 1/2 yards of the main fabric (a pretty pattern)
• 1/2 yard of coordinating fabric #1 (a solid)
• 1/2 yard of coordinating fabric #2 (a solid)
• 2 yards of white flannel (for the middle of the blanket)
• Sewing Machine
• Coordinating Thread
• Scissors

Step 1: Cut your main fabric into six strips that are 8 inches x 36 inches. Cut each of your coordinating fabrics into two strips that are 4 inches x 36 inches. At this point you should have a total of 10 strips. Next you'll cut your white flannel into five strips so that you can sandwich a white piece in between each of your other pieces. (Hopefully that wasn't completely confusing)

 Here are all your strips laid out (15 strips in all)

This is what the "sandwich" looks like

Step 2: Next you will sew a straight line down the middle of each "sandwich" so that they will stay together.

Step 3: Once you've created your five "sandwiches", you will start sewing them to one another.  Front side to front side. The wider seam you have the more rag you will create. 

Do this until all your pieces are sewn together into one quilt.

This is what the quilt will look like once you have sewn the pieces together.

Step 4: Now sew around the entire edge of the quilt, about 3/4 inches from the edge.

Step 5: Finally you're going to make small cuts around the edge of the quilt and where each of your pieces of material meet up. Be sure not to cut through the thread though!

Here is the finished product. So Cute! It's perfect for a newborn but it definitely wouldn't be hard to make it bigger. (as in for yourself haha)

 Here is the back of the quilt, smooth. 

Christmas Card Tree

Since our Christmas party is coming up this weekend, I'm putting the finishing touches on our outdoor decor. I wanted the porch to look cute and welcoming.

I have a topiary tree on the left with a poinsettia and wooden church. I picked up the old wooden chair at a thrift store for $6. The sled was an unfinished wood sled from Michael's and I painted it red and green and added some scrapbook paper with Mod Podge. I like how it turned out don't you? 

The greenery under the chair is from my yard. I just placed it in glass bottles and wrapped the bottles with red ribbon.

I wanted to display our Christmas cards in a cute way and decided to incorporate these branches and vase that I already had. I hole-punched each card and then tied them to the branches with ribbon. The picture above shows it on our porch, where I have it but the picture below is a up-close photo so you can see how it looks.

Advent Tree DIY

On black Friday I picked this advent tree up at Michael's. I had been looking for them everywhere but couldn't find them online or at the Michael's at home. When I spotted it on black Friday in northern VA I was quick to snatch it up!

The first thing I did was paint. I removed the boxes and painted the 'tree' green and the star red. After that was done I cut out some squares from a book of coordinating Christmas scrapbook paper that I had also purchased on black Friday. I used five different pages, that all coordinated together.

I brushed on one coat of Mod Podge to the box, laid the paper down, and then brushed on another coat on top of the paper.

As you can see, each box has a peg on it. Using needle-nose pliers I removed each peg and then once I'd applied the second coat of Mod Podge, I re-applied it by screwing it in thru the paper. I did it before the Mod Podge completely dried so that the glue helped hold the peg in place. Everything is dry now and has been for a few days, the pegs aren't going anywhere.

Finally, for the numbers, I just hand-drew them on, using a black pen I purchased at Michael's. It was a simple project and I'm sure I could have made it more ornate/complicated but I like how it turned out, what do you think?

Adorable Owl Hat...and some ugly sweaters...

Isn't that hat adorable? My friend Hannah makes them and you can find them in my store, or email her directly at hookyhannah@gmail.com

The hat fits Lilly perfectly and covers her little ears which is a plus as well.

Click here to see a gallery of all the wonderful things Hannah has made

Here's a close up of the hats...A.Dorable.

Last night my book-club had an "ugly sweater" Christmas Party. I went to the thrift store and picked up a plane red fleece for $1.98. Then I cut out a felt green Christmas tree and hot glued it onto the sweater,  along with some pink fekt decorations and a big polka dotted bow.

I had all the supplies so it was a quick, low cost, fun project. Below are some pictures of our party..and everyone decked out in their tacky sweaters...

Fun with buttons! (And Fleece Pants)

For those of you who have been following for a while you know I'm in a book club and you also probably know that it's the best book club ever! We just finished reading Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy and it was excellent. Well, last night was our annual Christmas Craft night and my friend Christine came up with the idea to make two adorable button crafts. The first is a wreath made out of buttons (simply string your buttons onto wire) and the second is a Christmas tree. (Buttons threaded onto twine in the shape of a tree) Aren't they adorable! The pictures below are of the finished ornaments hanging proudly on my tree.

Also, I just had to share this picture of Lilly because her outfit is so cute...

I purchased this aqua colored fleece at Joann's on black Friday for only $.70 (it was in the remnant bin which was an additional 75% off) I had enough to make Lilly these cute pants as well as a fleece hat. The pants matched this onesie she already had perfectly!

Don't you like the heart on the leg?

How to have a craft night!

I had a craft night a few days ago and it was so much fun!! Here's the craft we made:

It was a wreath made out of slips of scrap book paper and I love how it turned out. I purchased a coordinating scrapbooking book with 24 different types of paper (48 total pieces of paper). I cut all the paper into slips that were 5 inches long by 1 inch wide. (Yes, that means I cut 1152 pieces of paper)

I charged $10 per person and each person received a Ziploc bag full of all the paper they would need, a piece of ribbon and a plane 12 inch Styrofoam ring. I had four hot glue guns available as well as four staplers so that four people could sit around the table at a time and do the craft.

You fold each piece of paper so that it makes a loop and then you staple or hot glue the end so that it stays. Then you begin gluing your loops onto the wreath. I tried to coordinate my colors so that I didn't have a lot of one color in any area, but for the most part there's really no rhyme or reason and you can't really mess it up.

I found that each person needed about 72 pieces of paper to complete their wreath.

Here are a few more pictures of some of the completed wreaths:

The package of 48 pieces of paper was enough for 13 people to do the craft. Besides buying the paper and Styrofoam wreaths you just need staples, staplers, hot glue guns and hot glue sticks.

For the people who had already finished the craft, or who were waiting to make it, I had Elf on for them too watch and finger food to eat.

Below are the recipes I used and they were all delicious!