Tea Party

H is going to a tea party next month at a local museum with my mother.  The tea party is an American Girl doll theme so the girls are supposed to bring their dolls with them and to dress like their favorite American Girl.
Confession time: H does not own a real American Girl doll, only knock offs.  Those things are $100 + each and the girl is only 6 years old, I dont trust her with that kind of investment.  So, instead of dressing her to match a doll she already has, I decided to start from scratch and make matching dresses for both of them.  I took H to the fabric store and let her choose the pattern and she told me what colors she wanted the dress to be and helped ick out the fabric.  The dress is almost done.  There is a flower detail that is supposed to be sewn on at the waist but I'm going to attach it to a pin so that the flower can be removed for easier laundering.  I also still need to sew the hook and eye closure to the top of the zipper in the back.  I don't usually sew clothing, I tend to stick to bags and quilts so this was a bit of a challenge for me. It's not perfect, I mean I'm not winning the next season of Project Runway or anything, but I am quite pleased with the results.  I made this dress from McCall's pattern 7074.

Birthday Time

I have two children and that means we get invited to a lot of birthday parties. I have problem with parties. I don't mind buying a gift for the celebrant. My problem comes with the wrapping of the gift. I have a touch of perfectionism in me so l want the wrapped gift to look great. But l'm missing the talent. Usually I either get over it or I put the gift in a bag. But bags are a problem too.Have you purchased a gift bag lately? Those things are pricey. I have A mental block against spending that kind of money on something that will likely just be thrown away. So I came up with this solution. most of the gifts we purchase fit comfortably into a standard canvas tote bag. So, I purchase an inexpensive tote bag and embroider the recipient's name on it.This way the wrapped gift looks great and the gift bag is now part of the gift and reusable for multiple purposes in everyday life.
For this bag, I got the bag itself from Walmart , I think I paid .97 for it, and the embroidery font is called Payphone and its from Designs by JuJu.  l probably paid the same if not less for this bag than I wouldhave for a preprinted paper gift bag and its personalized and much  less likely to just get thrown away after the party!

I made it Monday - scrapbook layout

I haven't done any traditional scrapbook in in a very long time. I just haven't been inspired. But I was looking at some photos the other day and realized just how far behind I am.  So I dug out my stuff and rearranged my craft room and this is what I came up with. The patterned paper is by pebbles and the card stock is from close to my heart.

The Weekend Wrapup-Winter Break Comes to an End

The end of another week is upon us.  I'll be honest.  This has probably been one of my laziest weeks in recent history.  And I loved it!  It was the last week of winter break, its back to the routine on Monday.  This week we've mostly stayed home and done a whole lot of nothing.  I really enjoy these kind of weeks where we can just stay home and do things on our schedule, or not do thing if we so choose.  I'm not winning any parenting awards for this kind of week, I let my kids have way too much screen time, way too much junk food and nowhere near enough physical activity. But, y'know, sometimes you just need a week like this.  The week as a whole has been very relaxing and undemanding, but today did not fit with the rest of the week.  Today was basketball tournament day.  C's basketball team was participating in a basketball tournament in a nearby town about 30 minutes away.  His first game started at 8:00am and the coach wanted us there at 7:30!  That was really early!  We had to leave the house at about the time we're usually starting to get up on a school day.  The next game was at 11am and then we had games at 5 and 7pm.  It was a really long day, thank goodness my parents came to the 5pm game and took H home with them afterwards so she only had to go to 3 of the games instead of all 4, watching bubba's games just really isn't her thing.  We only won one game, but it was against a team that beat us soundly the week before Christmas, so it felt pretty good to win.  The boys had a good time and played their best, which is all that really matters.  Everyone was exhausted by the time it was all over.  I bet C will sleep good tonight, I know I will!  Tomorrow I plan to take it easy and rest up, Monday is the start of another busy week!

Plan for success!

I've been lusting after the Erin Condren Life Planner for some time now but I was having trouble spending that much money on a planner, especially since I had a little nagging v something in the back of my brain telling me something was wrong with that planner.  After talking to my dear sweet hubby, he pointed out to me that the way the week was laid out wouldn't work for me.  And, he's so right!  The EC planners are laid out with columns for each day, they're just too skinny for me.  I like to be able to write out my entire event in one line and that just won't work in an EC planner.  So, I've been on the hunt for a planner that will serve my needs.  I've checked office supply stores and discount stores and scoured online to find the perfect planner.  Unfortunately, most of them use the column method for their weekly layouts.  I found a few that didn't but they were so boring, I just couldn't bring myself to purchase them. 
Since I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, I decided to create it!  I used Adobe Photoshop Elements 11.0 and the Life in Real Color kit by Sugarplum Paperie from Sweet Shoppe Designs to create my own planner pages.  My mom is the supervisor of the print and copy department at a local university, so I sent the final files to her to print for me.  I ordered a cover from Staples for the planner.  I chose to use the Arc system to house my planner.  I picked a pink quilted leather cover.  Once everything arrives, I will put it all together and get busy!  I can't wait. 
Here are a few of the pages that will be in my new planner:

Once I get all the pieces together, I'll be back to show you how it turned out.
Have a great day!

Back to crafting

Hello Friends!
I know its been a while.  I finally got my craft room reorganized and cleaned up so I actually have space to craft again.  I also got done with all of the Valentines giveaways and teacher gifts that I had to make for my kids classes so I can get back to the stuff that's a little more inspiring to me.  I'll share pictures of my craft room soon, but in the meantime, I've got a couple of pictures of what I'm currently working on.  I decided to make a quilt using the Paisley Feathers machine embroidery design set from Designs By JuJu.

Aren't these birds cute?  I am embroidering the designs on a piece of fabric large enough to fit in my hoop (approx 8"x8") and then trimming it down to a 4 1/2" square for use in my quilt.  There are twelve designs in the set and I plan to use each one once in my quilt, therefore I will have 12 blocks.  I'll be back soon to share more progress on the quilt!
~Shelly

Mojo 326

Hello Friends!
Its the last Mojo Monday of the year so I had to play along!  This is actually the second card I made using the sketch.  The first one just did not go well.  I had it in my mind to use specific paper and a specific stamp set and forcing them together was a bad idea!  So, I started over and came up with this:

Supplies used in this card:

Paper:Yours Truly by Echo Park, Cardstock-Holiday Red, Black and Blush by CTMH

Stamps: A Love by CTMH (Disc.)

Inks: Slate Dye Ink and Cranberry Pigment Ink by CTMH

Accessories: Gems by Recollections, Ribbon from the Ribbon Retreat

I cut the card and the black ring from the Cricut Wild Card cartridge.

Thanks for taking a look, have a crafty day!