Ice Skating Theme Party

So last week was my first born's 9th birthday!! She has known since last year that she wanted an Ice Skating party, but being ME of course I waited until the last minute to get things ready!! Thankfully with the help of my friend, I was able to get all of the decorations and party favors done on time! :D

The invitations went out a week before the party...but most of the girls and parents knew about it before-hand so don't judge! Anyway, I used my Cricut and the SVG file I found last year for the Roller Skate invitation to make this year's invitation. I tweaked it a little with my Sure Cuts Alot software to change it into an ice skate.


Then glued aluminum foil to the "blade" and added the info and a ribbon "lace". Most were blue to go with the theme, but I forgot to get pictures before Ms. Priss scooped them up to deliver to her friends!

I had gotten some comments last year about the SVG file I used. Here is the link to Paper Therapy...a wonderful blog with a generous giver!! It is a SCAL file...so you must have Sure Cuts Alot to use this file with your Cricut!

The day of the party brought everyone to our house first, so I made this wreath to greet them.

So I've discovered yet ANOTHER use for a Pool Noodle!! I bought a bunch of them from the dollar store...clearanced at 50 cents!!! I just bent it into a circle, stuck a stick from the yard into the holes to "hold" it together, and tied some tulle and ribbon to hold it even more. Hot glue will not work...DUH!! I had one of those moments HA! So I will keep working on a better way and let you know!! This noodle was already light blue, so I just sprayed it with some white spray paint and threw iridescent glitter on it to give it a "snowy" look...then just started adding little embellishments with some plain sewing pins. Pretty cool huh?

My friend Kathy came over one day and helped me make tissue paper flowers...



And then went home and painted a sign...isn't she AWESOME??

I know it is hard to see in the pictures, but I also made a couple of "streamers" using blue and silver Mardi Gras beads. I cut a bunch of ice skates and circles then glued them to the beads, along with some pre-cut glitter snowflakes and pom poms. I also did a quick banner using card stock and scrapbook papers, stringing them together with a ribbon.


The centerpiece for the table was this "tree" I made using a branch from the yard, spray paint, glitter, pom poms, and the cut out ice skates and circles.




I used a big Country Time Lemonade can covered with scrapbook paper for the base. I just threw in a bunch more bead strands to weigh it down, then added tissue paper and tulle to hide them.

For the party favors, all of the girls got a little basket of goodies...

The little plastic baskets were on clearance for 25 cents for THREE!! I used the scraps from the tissue paper flowers for filling and made LOTS of these...

I found a tutorial on YouTube to make tulle flowers...here.

So fun...and the girls LOVED them!! They all wore them when we went to the ice skating rink!

And of course Ms. Priss got a tee for her big day...

And she was the only one who sustained an injury...

Right after we put on our skates, she was sitting on the floor and one of her friends skated right over her finger...thankfully the blades weren't sharp!! With some ice and kisses she was all better and on the ice soon after!! A happy time was had by all!!

Now that it is over, I have some orders I am working on, so I will be back soon to share more! :) Until later...

Fun Pillows and Headbands

We've had some birthday parties and free time...can you believe it?? So I worked on some fun things! I am currently working on a Flapper-style fringe dress for one of Ms. Priss' friends, so I have loads of black satin scraps laying around. For this Birthday Girl, who had nothing specific she wanted me to make her, I decided to go Girly!! Inspired by the black satin, I made this "Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend" pillow for her totally pink and girly room.


The back of the pillow is a silky soft fabric that I've used for other pillows and a nap map! I think it is just perfect for a 10 year old girl! :D

For the other Birthday Girl, who DID have something specific in mind, I made this My Little Pony inspired pillow.

Her favorite MLP is Rainbow Dash, so I googled it...not knowing much about MLP and found a free SVG file for my Cricut!! It cut out the paper "pattern" and I used that to cut the fabric! I used flannel for the pony's body, and rainbow fleece scraps for the mane and tail. I used fabric paints for the eye, rainbow emblem, and little heart on the front leg. The pillow is a lime green fleece, with a sheer rainbow ribbon on the end for fun!! It was a little work, but I am happy with how it came out...especially because when I was told the request, I had NO idea how to make it!!

I did this quick headband for her also...

And just kept making them...

The above headband was made using the ruffles I took off of The Middle Child's red shirt, before I added the UL applique.

I found this really cool blog that had such adorable bow and headband tutorials....and made these!! Of course, theirs are much cuter...but my girls and their friends were happy with mine! ;)

These are on little clips. The one in the middle was made by Ms. Priss using Kimara and Michelle's awesome pattern...check out Wee Folk Art for more inspiration with felt!! She is also running a newbie knitting lesson series right now, if you are interested!!

And lastly, Ms. Priss' teacher asked that "since you sew..." could I make her a valence for the window in her class room. How can I resist when she handed me a piece of fabric?? I provided the tulle!

Every 2 years our Teachers come up with a learning theme. This cycle's theme is WILD about Learning, and all of the teachers decorated their classrooms and hallways with fun animal prints, trees and vines, and lots of cute animals. I wanted the valence to be versatile and decided to make it reversible instead of simply adding a liner.

Fleur de Lis are ALWAYS popular in Louisiana!! :)

Well, that is all for now! Hope your school year has started off great!! Until later...

More Back-to-School Items

I hope you all had a nice relaxing Labor Day! Our plans for the beach were cancelled due to Tropical Storm Lee...UGH!! Although my Momma and siblings were die-hard beach go-ers, I opted to not make that trip! So instead I stayed home and watched the Star Wars marathon on Spike TV...YAY!!! Love Star Wars!!

Anyway, now that my children are back in school I finally have time to post some of the items I completed! I FINALLY tried Made's tutorial on fusing shopping bags! I wanted to do it for a teacher's bag at the end of last school year, but never got around to it! Thankfully, I did start saving up a lot of plastic bags! And when I saw what Alexis over at Made By Lex did with her fused bags, I knew it was time to gather my collection! I give you my adaptation of The Recycled Lunch Tote...

Instead of just plain white, I had several colored bags! So I opted to not do too much embellishing, other than their names.

The fusing was a little tricky, and mine wasn't as smooth as theirs...but I kind of like the "crinkled" look. I just fused, cut into squares and rectangles, then serged. I did go back with my sewing machine to reinforce my seams. I know that many of you will sew first, then serge...but I like to use my serger first, not sure why! I used heavy duty stick-on Velcro for the closure. It adhered well, but make sure if you use them to put them where you want them...they bond quickly and you DO NOT want to have to try to remove them!!!

The yellow one is bigger than the blue one...not as many blue bags!! But I did figure out that since you are using so many "layers" to fuse, it will work just as well to put plain white bags in the middle layers with the colors on the outer layers. This way you will have more "yardage" of colored bags! Oh, for the names...I used scrap fabric to cut the letters then used clear contact paper to cover/ protect them. I did a tight zigzag to stitch it to the tote! So far it is working out pretty good, and the letters are staying clean and dry! Although I know these totes aren't very insulated, I really like re-using something that would otherwise end up in the trash. Another good recycled project is using cereal boxes for fun place mats!

I did these Back-to-School place mats for the kids. I used the aforementioned cereal boxes, scrapbook paper, and contact paper...patterned and clear! Cute, huh?

When The Boy got his school tote bag I knew EXACTLY what I was going to put on it...

The machine embroidered font is BONES...love it!! I used my Cricut to cut out some dinosaur shapes on paper, then used them to cut felt...my Cricut won't cut felt...no matter HOW HARD I try!! :( Then I just hand stitched them to the bag with crochet thread! He LOVES it!! The camo ribbon added just a little more color...without being too girly! ;)

Okay...so I think secretly, I am an OVER-achiever...is that even possible when you are as in-exact and as FAR away from being a perfectionist as I am??!! I just don't understand WHY I would poke my hand up for being my kindergartner's ROOM MOM!! I mean last year I was CO-room mom, but that was third grade...they don't do anything in third grade!! But in Kindergarten there are TONS of things that need to be done all.year.long!! And on TOP of that...I said yes to my friend Kathy when she said, "hey, let's do a TENT for Symposium this year"!!!!! Ya'll I seriously think I am OUT OF MY MIND!!! See what happens when I get a wee bit of freedom? I mean, the Boy is only in school for a couple of hours on Tuesdays and Thursday...but here I am going CRAZY!! :)

Anyway...my Room Mom duties have already begun, pretty easy stuff so far. But on first encounter with the teacher I get, "so...I hear you are kinda crafty?" So I was given the task of decorating her Popcorn Box. The PTC sells popcorn one Friday a month, and the teachers have cardboard boxes to carry all of the orders to their classrooms. It has seem in the recent years to become a "thing" to decorate their boxes. My friend Kathy is an AWESOME artist and painter!! She did the boxes for two of her daughter's teachers...good stuff!! I knew there would be NO WAY that I could draw book characters like Skippy Jon Jones, Ramona, or Alice in Wonderland...so I had to stick with what I know...fabric and felt!!

I really didn't have a CLUE what to do on her box, but since they teach the Season's in Kindergarten and there are four I chose that! A Season for every side of the box. The one above is Spring. I know the writing is hard to see, but it says "Popcorn is always in Season"! I machine embroidered her last name in the kites.

Here is Summer..I know my flag is backwards, please forgive!

The clouds are polyfil, and the beach is sandpaper.

Fall is my favorite...

And lastly, Winter...

I was really happy with how it came out. It took me about two good days to get everything on, then another to spray on a clear Mod Podge to protect it.

Oh...I also added a grosgrain strap for easy carrying.

Hopefully everything stays on...we'll find out in a couple of weeks when the first Popcorn Day rolls around! :)

So I know this post is sooooo long, just one more thing before I go. Friday was "Paint the Town Red" Day to honor our local college's first football game. I did a shirt for Ms. Priss last year, so I just needed one for The Middle Child.

So now I'm done!! Thanks for hanging around until the end ;) One more shout out to my Daddy...yesterday was his birthday!! Hope you had a good one Daddy, we'll see ya soon!!! Until later...

LSU Crib Set Order

Well, I think I am happy with how the ol' blog is looking...so it is no longer under construction. :D

So here is the order I got from someone who lives in Baton Rouge!! She and her husband drove all the way here to Lafayette to pick it up...so sweet!! They saved me from the Post Office...YAY!!!



This was my first attempt at a crib bumper, and it was somewhat challenging! But in the end, I was pretty happy with it...and so was the expecting Momma! I used foam padding instead of batting to make sure it was good and firm. I used the tutorial, so generously offered at Craft Hours, but obviously not patchwork...it was work enough with just a solid piece of fabric, whew!! And thankfully, this is what my customer preferred. Anyway, I was able to get through it and think the next time will be easier. Isn't that always the way?


The quilt is just 6" squares sewn up with my signature wonkiness *ahem*, with some machine embroidery sprinkled around on the solid pieces. The paw print squares are fleece, and the backing is a solid flannel. It ended up measuring approximately 40" x 60", which is the perfect fit for when the crib gets converted to the toddler-sized daybed.


And there you have it, enough cuteness to turn any baby into an instant FAN!!! Geaux Tigers!!

I am very humbled when someone happens upon my blog and likes what they see enough to place an order with me! Thank you so much Dawn for being patient with my 50 questions and also for the time line you gave me to complete it! :) As most of my sewing friends know, starting and completing projects with small children is a task within itself. Add in the fabric and materials collecting and the process and labor itself...whew, miracles are happening!! ;) It makes me really appreciate the patience I receive from customers AND my family!

Anyway...if someone else is "happening" on my blog someday and is interested in placing an order, this crib set with LSU team fabric and specialized monogramming is priced at $200. It comes with bumper, skirt, and an approximate 40" x 60" quilt. Fabrics will vary with availability, but we can talk about that later....hence the previously quoted "patient with my 50 questions"!! :D

Hope you all have a safe and fun-filled Labor Day weekend, I am off to the beach!! Until later...