How to Restyle a T-Shirt into a Ruffly Cardigan - CraftStylish

I just stumbled across this awesome post in a crafting website called CraftStylish. It is the coolest idea ever!! I will have to try this soon. Just wanted to share.Please take a minute and check it out. Click on the link below & it should take you directly to the instructions.It's always good to recycle and re-purpose!

If anyone is inspired right away and tries this before I do, I would love to see a picture! You can even post it in the comment section below. 
I hope your weekend was wonderful and this next week is even better.


 How to Restyle a T-Shirt into a Ruffly Cardigan - CraftStylish

Until next time,

I Think Things Will Be Back To Normal Now.

Hello All,
I can't believe a whole week (and a day) has flown by since my last post!  I knew I was missing something & that there was a reason for the gnawing in my tummy ~ I miss my blog!

Last Thursday, my niece & nephew from TN came to visit for the long weekend.  They are in their teens and lots of fun.  As a matter of fact, this was actually their birthday weekend. My nephew turned 16 on Thursday and my niece turned 18 on Sunday. We celebrated at my house, at G-Ma & G-Pa's house, and in San Diego for two days! We went shopping, many trips to the yogurt shop, doggie park, bowling (well, not me...THEY like to bowl.  I don't wear rented shoes ~a quote I borrowed from my girlfriend). They even humored me with a little Facebook game time. My niece was sweet enough to model a few of my ETSY items for me. (Like I had to twist her arm! She was pretending my hallway was a catwalk as soon as the apron strings tied a bow around her neck !!! )

My Latest Apron.  Retro Style with Bunnies.

Modeling the pink scarf with "fun fur"

Modeling the purple multi-color scarf I made.

As you can see, she had a blast!  Even though she's super tiny for 18, she still couldn't fit into the toddler size dresses I made.  But don't think we didn't try!  That's one thing I do need to do is get a model for my handmade things.  I think they would display much better than on a table or hanging from my orange tree, don't you think?

Modeling The "Tooty-Fruity" Green and Pink Half Apron

We used up every minute they were here, and just as they were getting used to Cali time, it was time to leave on that jet plane again.  That took place at O'Dark Hundred Tuesday morning.  I made my brother stay over so that he could do the 3:30am pleasantries, like waking them up and gathering loose ends before rushing off to the airport.  Luckily John Wayne airport is ten minutes away! We look forward to seeing them again in summer and having a lot more than five days.
Later that Tuesday morning my hubby had a procedure and required an overnight stay at the hospital. All went well. I brought him home last night and I think "normal" routine will be mine again.
I did get to finish up my latest apron and make a little zippered pouch.  Oh and I finished a scarf              (I started a long while ago)   on the car ride to San Diego and in the hospital waiting room. Just need to finish it up with the fringe.

Zippered Pouch with unusual shape!

The Inside Of Pouch

The little pouches are fun to make.  I don't have a pattern, I usually go by how much leftover fabric I have from a previous project. For this one, both the fabrics, inside and out, as well as the zipper are recycled and repurposed.  It just goes to show you that it's a good thing to hang on to those odd pieces of fabric!  (zippers and buttons, too).
 

I'm going to call this scarf "Sherbet" because that's what it reminds me of.

Or maybe a 50-50 bar !

One more thing before I go.  I have to mention about these tags I ordered from a fellow ETSY shop (SillyLilly). They arrived yesterday and they are so awesome! Unfortunately she is closing shop but fortunately for all who purchases from her, the prices are amazing!!  I'll need to order again !! Check these out :

Gift Tags & Paper Flowers From SillyLilly

Okay, so they're not all tags but I couldn't resist the flowers with the *bling* in the middle. Could you? Each little package of 28 or so pieces were only a dollar! That's right, one buck. My recommendation is, if you need anything like this, take advantage now!
Just click Right Here  You won't be sorry :-)
Until next time,

Really Special News !

Our house has been buzzing with excitement! My oldest son proposed to his girlfriend last night! We are all so excited and I am especially happy to finally, after 26 years, to have a daughter! And how cool is it that I get to bypass the toddler stage and early teen years! I am so lucky :-) She will be a wonderful daughter and already fits in well with our immediate and extended family. They haven't set a date yet but there is plenty of time for that. Her ring is beautiful and I will try to share a picture soon. The pictures I have taken were too full of bling and sparkle (not complaining) so rather hard to capture without bright interference.

I have quite a few projects ALMOST finished, therefore zero new items uploaded! I spend way too much time online. First, I catch up on my FB home page which contains updates from all (several hundred) of my favorite & "liked" pages. Sometimes I have to actually click on their link to take advantage of a great deal or get more details on what they've posted. Take for instance, one of my new favorite shops/blogs Savvy Spending Mommas, they have a great website, facebook and blog. They know where all the great deals are!  I think you should check them out and sign up to receive notices.  Everyone could use freebies and rare coupons, etc.   As you can see the result of all my online surfing, the day quickly passes by and then I realize my awesome sewing projects are waiting for me. Well, actually before I think about my projects,
I move onto my Etsy shop, Twitter, and my Blog & make sure they are updated and current.  By this time, several hours have usually gone by.  My favorite blogs all have such good information and in general, Etsy has such talent throughout all their shops! 
Tomorrow my teenage Niece and Nephew from TN are staying with us for the long weekend.  Should be lots of fun!!
Until next time, * Sparkle *

In The Sewing Room... my favorite place

Hello everyone and  Happy Valentine's Day!!
I hope the weekend was enjoyable for you as it was for me.  I spent a good amount of time in my sewing room (I just LOVE it there!).  I finished up a couple pair of sleeping shorts for two of my besties for Valentine's day.  Not that we usually exchange gifts but I had this idea and needed an excuse to sew.  Here they are,

Pink.  More Pink. Semi-patchwork. Drawstring. One Button.

White with Red Dots All Over. Drawstring. One Button.

They haven't seen them yet, in person that is.  I sent them to this blog to check them out! 
Next I made a simple bag. Very simple.  I decided to make it way harder than necessary!  I really wanted to see how well my seam ripper worked. (by the way,  it works great!).  It was a simple drawstring type of bag that I'm going to package my items in as well as sell sets of them in my shop.  Everyone can use re-usable bags, right?  Well, at the rate I'm going, no one will get to use them.  Maybe tomorrow I'll have a fresher outlook on those bags.
This evening I wanted to use my new zippers that I received the other day from this ETSY SHOP. I had this idea for a half rounded zippered pouchs.  I also wanted to include a divider in the middle and I wanted to quilt it.  So I started cutting and sewing. Ripping out a bit and sewing again.  Opps, ripped out some more and sewed it back up.  Yay, Finally I finished!  I was able to post to my shop.  Here it is:

Zippered Flamingo Print Make-Up Pouch

Inside Of Pouch - Phone Inside But Still Lots Of Room!

Green Flamingo Fabric Divider Inside Pouch

At least I was able to finish this!  I will streamline the next one I make and probably offer a couple different sizes.
Now that I've written this new post, the picture of the Orange tree in my yard will move lower! I'd better insert a picture of the pretty pink roses next to the orange & lemon trees.

I know this could be a little more focused but aren't they pretty? Especially for mid Feb.

Until next time,

TGIF

Mmmmm my yummy orange tree in the back yard

Not to rub it in or anything, but while sitting in the back yard yesterday I noticed my orange tree is totally popping with oranges! How cool is that for a sweet day in February?  I picked a fat, juicy one to taste. Ohmygosh, so good!  I thought it might be a flop because we had so much rain earlier (everyone knows that orange trees don't like wet feet).  But it appears that spring has sprung! It's about 79 degrees today.  That said, Instead of rushing back outdoors to garden, I need to get into the sewing room.... but don't be sad for me because I have a nice big window that faces out front and the perfect breeze blows through just fine.
Until next time,

Oh my! A second Treasury!

Hello all !

Guess what? My Hawaiian themed pouch was featured in an Etsy treasury earlier tonight! Special Thanks To:  MissMerryweather !  You won't believe how excited I am.  Keeping my fingers crossed for a little more traffic to my Etsy shop. You can check it out  here.

And, since my zipper order arrived today, I'm free to whip up a few more tomorrow (in between appointments, that is)

Look at these great colors!  Thanks to KandCSupplies

Speaking of orders, here's a picture of the new fabric that I wrote about in the last blog: just delicious!
Tonight is a quick post, not on purpose but I seem to be having photo sending problems. I'm sure it's just the operator!  Have a great night!

Oh man, don't you just love the red and teal ?  I do!  Be sure to
check out This Cute Shop !!

Of course I'm going to love this color selection!

Some new news...

My flamingo jewelry/makeup organizer was featured in an Etsy Treasury today! I was so excited to receive the email this afternoon.  I hope that it will be seen by many and in turn, expose my little shop some more. The organizer that was chosen, is the same one that I mentioned in my last post about the photo not turning out as I planned.  This afternoon I took a few more pictures in outdoor light and I like it much better. I did replace one but I'm not sure if I can change everything around now that there is a link pointing to a particular view.  Here's the link! My 1st Treasury  
Not a lot of sewing has been going on even though I received my FABulous fabric from PinkedFabrics!  It's so beautiful that I'm almost afraid to touch it!  I do have a gift to make and I will use some of the fabric for it. Pictures to follow, I promise.
Another Etsy shop I have to mention is k and c supplies.  They have every color and size of zippers that you could possibly want. I'm so excited about this! They are great communicators and prices are so reasonable. As soon as they arrive, I'll be getting all crazy making my little zippered pouches!
I'm having a great time reading other Etsy (members) blogs.  I'm learning a lot and with practice I hope my blog will have informative tutorials, interesting links and helpful tips to benefit everyone.  While I spend all this time reading and searching for supplies and products, I will try to remember to mention the shops I dealt with here.  That will give exposure to the shop owner and be helpful to the one looking for product!
I hope everyone enjoys their day!

New Fabric !

I just bought fabric from my new ETSY friend, Amy. She's the best! Her fabric selection is amazing and I want it all. I know she won't mind if I put her link here and if you need special fabric, the kind you won't see in local fabric stores, go see Amy! So easy to work with. Just drop her a note if you have a question and she replies right away. Many times Amy has answered my questions via her phone. I'm especially impressed with this because my smart phone is way smarter than I am. In my defense, this is a brand new phone that I wasn't planning on getting on the spot, just a few weeks ago. My sons are helping me resolve this asap!! Lol.
Back to fabric... It's called PinkedFabrics on ETSY.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/pinkedfabrics

I can't figure out how to get pictures of the fabric here, so you'll have to click link to see for yourself. Once you go, you'll be lost in dream world! Happy looking.
Until next time,

Too cutsey?

My recent project, a travel pouch for jewelry, makeup or trinkets...was a fun item to make. I use paper plates for my "pattern".  I'm thinking this particular one might be a little too cute? But perfect for a younger girl maybe? The cool thing about making your own pouches, clothes, crafts or whatever is the obvious! You have total creativity control. I might even go bigger (for the outside circle) and then two smaller circles inside. Maybe throw in a zippered or a secret pocket. After all, this is a potential travel accessory. The fabric choices are endless.  I had lots of views in my ETSY shop for this so maybe that means it's interesting to enough people to actually click on. Here's a pic.  Let me know what you think!

Looks like a flower getting ready to bloom.

The inside of pouch/organizer.

The bottom of the pouch/organizer.

In case you're wondering... these pics were taken with my phone.  I know, big no-no.  So I tried to "fix" them by messing around with exposure, etc.  THAT'S probably why I had a lot of people click on it! Lol, they were wondering what the heck it was!
My youngest son is the chronologist/historian in his fraternity.  He's supposed to take lots of pictures. He just purchased this expensive, really awesome camera.It does everything with just a push of a button. This thing will make you lunch!  He said he'd come over and re-take my pictures! Yay!!  I'm so excited.  Not saying my phone doesn't do a good enough job, it's better than nothing and always available. But one thing they always say on ETSY is make your pictures DELICIOUS.  So that's what I'm going to (try) to do.
Hope your day is FABulous!!  I'm off to my "studio".  Until next time, stay sparkly,