Spring Projects

My poor little neglected blog! Now that I have an Iphone, Instagram is my new on-the-go spot to document crafty endeavors. However, here's a peek at what I've whipped up this Spring:

From the top left:

Personalized PBK pillowcase for a preschool friend's birthday

Gym shorts upgrade

Reversible tote bag & personalized bag tag

Bubble shorts

Old Navy dress upgrade

Consignment score upgrade

And the furthest right pics are the front & back views of little sister's Easter dress

If anyone has questions about the embroidery fonts, sewing patterns or materials used, please feel free to comment - I'm happy to share my sources.

Happy almost Summer!

Decorated Sugar Cookies

Last week was Spring Break around here, so making Easter cookies was high on my list of fun activities. Big brother loves cooking, so we whipped up a fantastic sugar cookie recipe. It's delicious, easy and instantly ready to roll out if you have an impatient baker as do I! It even held up nicely in the fridge between cutting sessions...someone lost his steam once we got to the cut outs and wasn't the most gentle. Even so, I think our final shapes turned out nicely!

I let the cookies cool and packed them in airtight containers overnight. Soon we were ready to decorate! 

After having such success with my cupcake frosting, I was excited to make my first batch of Royal Icing. Once again, I turned to Prudent Baby's wisdom to get started.  I made a large batch of white icing and then divided it into small bowls for coloring. Once the color was mixed, I spooned the frosting into my handy squirt bottles. I kept things basic by starting with outlines, and then filling them in for big brother to happily sprinkle.

I've got a long ways to go to match some of the gorgeous cookies I've seen in blogland, but our first go at it was fun! Figuring out the correct consistency of the icing is key, and having a little helper always produces homegrown results. And that's what makes them extra special!

As you can see, the cookies were well loved, shared excitedly and eaten quickly.

Here's to the next batch and I hope everyone's Easter was great!

Playful Playdoh

  

We've had a rainy, chilly week but are expecting Spring's return this weekend. Hoorah! Since we were stuck indoors, big boy and I had fun making April's preschool classroom batch of purple playdoh yesterday...and giving it a test run too!

Find my trusty recipe here.

Apologies for the dull photos. I snapped these in front of an open window, but this was as good as it got due to the gray day. Luckily the sun has poked back out today - aahhhh!

And a big welcome to many new followers both here in blog-land and on Facebook! I'm honored and excited to share my creations with you! Thank you for stopping by!

Easter's On It's Way...again!

I say this all of the time, but time is flying! I've got probably less than 10 weeks left to bake little sister all the while finishing big boy's room and preparing hers. I'm getting so excited to meet our girl! Of course there are several crafty and creative endeavors on my list, so please bear with me as I create and take the time to post them! :)

In the meantime, I was looking back at projects I completed this time last year. One of which is the adorable felt peep. Looks like the tutorial link no longer works tho - bummer. However, I did save the pdf pattern, so here it is in case you want to whip up some for your special baskets. Enjoy!

Sweet Citrus

Voila! Mommie-made felt fruit slices for a certain little boy's Easter basket. I can't wait to be served all kinds of fruity drinks and things from the play kitchen this summer!

Here's my how-to:
I started by cutting out 3" circles from felt sheets. Then I cut slightly smaller circles of quilt batting, and cut them in half. They fit perfectly inside the felt when you fold the circles in half to make the slices! I pinned and machine stitched the edges aka rinds. Then I marked and stitched the segment details with a slightly larger stitch than the one used around the edge.

After last week's basket liner project, these were a breath of easy fresh air! I plan to make more and may stitch some of the segment details prior to stuffing and sealing next time. A plump, juicy wedge of fruit is always a delicious treat! YUM!

A-tisket A-tasket, A fabric lined basket

This idea has been on my to-do list for over a year now. I fell in love with PBK's fabric basket liners and thought it would be fun and easy to make my own. I had all the supplies needed, current catalog pictures to reference and even a handy how-to to get me started - how difficult could it be, right?!


Maybe I've been watching too much Project Runway and was carried away with the idea of pattern making and crafting under pressure. I thought for sure I was on my way to post a how-to on this little number - ha! Little did I know that rough times were ahead for my "easy" holiday project. The liner base is not nearly as attractive as I had envisioned, I had numerous thread issues on both my sewing and embroidery machines, and the overhang did not end up quite even from basket front-to-back. Don't get me wrong, I think it turned out just fine in the end, but there are a few flaws hiding in this sweet basket. It was a-TASKet indeed, but luckily my sweet Easter boy is worth it!

PS - Should anyone happen upon a fabric liner for handled baskets tutorial, please leave the link in the comments as I may add a liner re-do to my to-do list!

Easter's on it's way

Felt food is a new passion of mine. Not only are there SO many cute foods to make and play with, they're softer and safer than all of the yucky plastic stuff. With hopes of holding off my son's sweet tooth for candy (at least this year anyways!), here is a mommie-made Peep ready to hop into his Easter basket. I admit, I made this a little more for me than for him, but hopefully he'll have fun serving it to me from the play kitchen!

To make one or more of your own, find an easy tutorial here. And may I recommend not hand stitching while suffering from allergies. Stitch consistency on this little rabbit is lacking due to a few sneezes and tissue breaks. At least the weather is beginning to warm and I was able to make it child-free during naptime!