Teaching My Kids to Sew = AWESOME.

I was almost 5 years old the first time I remember seeing my mom sew. She was excellent. We never had a sewing machine, but she would make the coolest Halloween witches, etc., by hand. 

On that day, the first I remember seeing her actually sew something, I was walking down the hall to her room and saw her on the bed with needle and thread in hand. I watched her for a few moments at the doorway, before she called me in. I was so excited to get to sit with my mom in her bed, under her covers next to her and watch her sew.

Then she asked if I wanted to learn.

I could have died there. I was ecstatic.

And now it's my turn.

My kiddos have been asking for me to show them how to sew for a while. While I don't think my daughter, at 3, is ready, she wants to do anything/everything her big brother does. He's almost 5 (WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?), so he's ready. At least, I hoped so.

I went out today to HobLob and purchased craft needles (blunt tip--I found them in the carpet weaving/cross stitch aisle), flexible foam sheets and cheap yarn.

On the way home from school, I told them both I'd be teaching them to sew tonight. They FLIPPED. I remembered the feeling.

When we got home, I sat them both down and showed them the parts of the needle, how to thread it, etc. 

I dotted each sheet with the path I wanted them to follow.

Then I let them go.

My son REALLY impressed me. The girlyQ? Not quite ready. But I knew that going in. Three is a little young. But almost 5?

Perfect.

New Dress, yo

Have you ever had one of those weeks? Where things are so crazy that you're not sure if Tuesday is Friday or Thursday is Sunday?

This last week was mine.

Without going into too much detail, a big project at work wrapped up after 12 weeks, and all of my energy was put into that.

So, not much time for crafts. Or cupcakes. Or anything else, like TV shows I love.

Last night, however, I had a chance to catch up with Project Runway. And it feels so odd now when I don't sew while watching the show. So with the best of intentions, I decided to start documenting a new dress for my girl.

I started with this -- some fabric left over from curtains I intended to make when I was pregnant with my daughter. Three and a half years ago. Yeah ...:

And then my dad called. He was coming in town for the weekend and wanted to know what I wanted to eat. So we chatted. I kept sewing. He came and we ate. And before I realized it, I'd finished the dress and ... no more pictures. I got all discombobulated and forgot to take pictures of the process!

Sigh.

So, no tutorial. This is how it looks now, though (I even made my own bias tape!):

But it was pretty simple. If anyone wants more details, let me know. Took about an hour and a half to sew, including time to make the bias tape.

Shirt Dress

I saw this on Pinterest and had to make it!

It took me about 3 hours. But I'm a newbie. And I didn't follow the tutorial EXACTLY. But I really LOVE how it turned out.

Ruffle Skirt

I bought a dress at the thrift store about two months ago that I loved. I didn't really need to do anything with it except take out the shoulder pads, fix a small rip and shorten it by about a foot.

But it's so pretty. Black with white polka dots and mini pearl buttons down the front. Love.

I kept the scrap of fabric I cut off the bottom and wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with it. But last night, I made a really adorable skirt for my little girl.

Guys, I really need a better camera.

That said, here's what I did, in case you want to make something similar.

Measure your little girl's waist and double it. In my case, hers was 20", so I cut two strips of fabric 40" long and 9" tall. On my fabric, I was able to keep the bottom hem of the dress to use as the bottom of each ruffle. But if you don't have that luxury, you'll need to hem each strip.

For the top of the ruffle, you'll need to fold the top over .5", then fold again another .5", so you'll strip will be about 7" or so, depending on how deep you made your hem.

You don't want to secure the stitch at the top because you're going to ruffle the top by pulling the top string and pushing the fabric toward the center. See here for more specific tutorials on the ruffle. She explained it better than I could! You'll want to continue to gather until the top of the strip is 2" longer than your daughter's waist.

Ruffle each strip, then sew the sides together, making sure you secure the top where you ruffled the fabric so the ruffle doesn't come undone. Each strip should be about 1" wider than your daughter's waist.

Next, I took a pair of bloomers and attached the ruffles to them. One went around the elastic on the top, and the other went about 4" down, right above the leg holes.

And that's it. I put two buttons from the bottom of the dress on the top of the skirt. Now we have matching outfits! So excited!

I added two of the pearls to the front of her skirt. Now we can wear matching outfits! I'm SO excited!

Pleated Scarf

Ala Ruffles and Stuff.

I love this scarf. I'm going to make 20 and wear them all the time.

Probably not. You need 175" of fabric.

But I'll make one for me and some for Christmas gifts, for sure!

I started with this one I did last night for my little girl using old scraps from her quilt. It's cute -- and I can't wait for her to wear it this winter!

It's was really easy. I think it took MAYBE 20 minutes. And cheap. So, a winner in my book.

Old Nailpolish = New Toy

I've seen this a lot of places lately, and thought it was a brilliant idea. My girl is only 3, and still too young, in my opinion, for play makeup. But that doesn't stop her from asking every morning if she can put some on when I'm in the bathroom getting ready.

Enter this quick fix. You take nail polish, old makeup containers and create pretty pretend makeup perfect for little girls.

Start with a cleaned makeup case and your choice of nail polish.

Carefully fill the slots with nail polish.

And let dry. Quick and Easy.

Give it a try! Took less than 5 minutes and now she has something she can use that we're both happy about.

At Least We're Safe ...

We had superheroes visit our house ...

He's super fast.

IRON GIRL.

The fan helps him fly.

Lollipop T-Shirt!

Want to make a quick, ADORABLE lollipop t-shirt for a little girl you love?

OK!

Go here for the tutorial. I love Ruffles and Stuff!

Here's what I whipped up for my little lady last night ...

Quick, cute and perfect for my sweet girl!

This Girl

Is the little girl light of my world. To say I love her is to say the sun is SORT of warm.

She is ... so beyond wonderful.

And dramatic.

And sassy, independent, mouthy, headstrong, willful, certain, confident and beautiful.

Smart. Funny. Loving.

My girl.

I love you more than words. To the moon, my dear.

Zee Party

We had our little girl's birthday party this weekend and it was a hit! Everyone had a great time. I made these, which were a HUGE hit.

But her cupcakes were awesome!

I used a plain white cake mix, then dyed the layers in 6 different colors. They turned out so cute! I was going to used store-bought icing, but I went with my favorite buttercream instead.

Happy birthday, to my little belle.

Gumdropapalooza

In preparation for my daughter's birthday party this weekend, I've been doing two things:

1. Stressing out.
2. Making a mess.

Number two is directly related to number one. Or is number one directly related to number two? Either way, it's been crazy.

Last night I attempted to make gumdrops. I should say I attempted to make them WELL, as I did succeed in making them, but also, number two.

I wish I'd taken pictures.

Have you ever made gumdrops? If so, have you ever made them in too small of a pan? I have. And let me tell you, the results were disastrous.

I have a flat-top stove and the four cups of sugar and six packets of gelatin boiled out of the too-small pan and all over my stove. Black clouds billowed from my burner where the burned sugar crystallized on top.

Ya'll, it got crazy.

But, the end result, minus number 1, was this:

Goodie, goodie, gumdrops.

I made my husband try all of them except the blue. The yellowish color is lemon, the red is orange (I know, weird.) and the blue is peppermint. I've been told I was too light-handed with the extracts. So use more than you think you should.

Everyone likes them. Now we wait for them to crystalize and get ready for my little gumdrop's 3rd birthday party.

Goodie, goodie!

And Runnin', Runnin'

I started the couch to 5K program last Friday and so far, it's been pretty good!

I actually ran at 6 on the treadmill (10-min mile), which, if you know anything about me, is RIDICULOUS. Of course, that was last week. I ran Friday and Saturday, then Zumba on Sunday. I took an off day yesterday then ran again today between 4.8-5 because my asthma wanted to kill me. I was not as quick-footed as last week.

The plan for this week:
Wednesday - Zumba
Thursday - Run
Friday - Bike
Saturday - Run
Sunday - Zumba

Saturday is also the little lady's THIRD birthday party! I'm doing a sweets-themed bash and am making gumdrops, banana/nilla sandwiches, melon skewers, chocolate and peppermint meringue drops and rainbow cupcakes. I was going to have a cookie bar for the kids to decorate their own treats, but there are only 8 kiddos coming, so I'm just going to let them sprinkle their own cupcakes.

Big week coming up!

Ruffle Tank Top!

I made a quick little ruffle tank top for my little girl tonight. Took about a half an hour -- but if you're more experienced, it would probably take a LOT less.

Have you been to WalMart lately? They have super cheap tanks -- $2.50. Earlier this summer, I MAY have bought one ... of each color.

I've done a few things to several of them, but I still have a few left that are plain. With summer coming to a close soon (soon, right? Yes? Please?), I wanted to doll up the rest since they won't fit my little weed next year.

I started with this:

Just a plain tank with a piece of scrap fabric (7" long x 5" tall) and cut in in half longways. Then I used my sewing machine to sew a strip down the center of each piece like this:

Then, I gently pulled the bottom string to ruffle the material. Make sure you don't pull the thread all the way out from the other side or you'll have to redo this step. One, two or three frustrating times.

Sew each side down after ruffled to keep it in the shape you want:

Then I sewed each ruffled strip to the sleeves along the center ruffle strip and across the bottom hem.

And I finished with buttons! I've loved these buttons and am sad to see them go. I think the bag was $4.99 at HobLob, but I got them 50% off. So in total, the shirt cost about $5 if you had to buy all the items. But you could easily use any scrap material on had and any shirt. If you didn't want to use them across the sleeves of a tank, you could decorate the bottom of the shirt with longer strips or across the front of the shirt.

I think she'll like it! Quick and easy -- love those types of projects!