Is that really me?!?!

Knit Lite Giveaway

Yes, it does say....Abbie from Woodbridge, VA
Whooo hooo!!!

I won a giveaway from Jenna Lou's blog! Just for being on her emailing list, I was automatically entered in her Knit Lite giveaway! This is just the best! They will definitely be put to good use as I teeter and totter back and forth from my sewing, quilting and knitting gifts for this holiday season.

Thank you Jenna Lou!

Handmade Ornament Tutorial

This is a step-by-step tutorial on how to make one of these:

First let me begin by saying that by no means am I claiming myself to be the brain or the genius behind this design. This has been done in many variations, but this is "my" way of doing it.

MATERIALS:
Scrapbook paper or Fabric but you will need heavy stabilizer for fabric
Scissors, circle template, 1 1/2" circle puncher or anything that will give you a nice circle
Glue or Tacky Glue or your own prefered method of piecing the pieces together
Ribbon or String to hang your ornament
and any embelishments (I used beads and a very tiny hint of glitter)
Optional (Glaze, I also used a glossy glaze for a glass-like effect)

Begin by either tracing your circle onto your paper or fabric, I used a template. By cutting and using 1 1/2" circle this will yeild you a 3 1/4" ornament.

Make 20 circles and cut out if you haven't already

Next, create and draw a triangle on a separate sheet of paper that will create even half spheres from your 1 1/2" circles. (What I did was trace my circle on a separate sheet of paper and drew a line from each end of the triangle and cut it out) You will need to cut out the triangle as it will be your guide on where to fold over the ends.

Take one side and fold over making sure you fold it completely over one side of the triangle

Do the same for the other side

Last, fold over the bottom

Press down with a little force on all ends to create the crease in your circle---it should look like this

Do this for all 20 circles

To create the top and bottom pieces you will need to take one of the folded triangles and apply glue to one side

Take another triangle and join together by one side and have it look like so

Repeat this using only 5 triangles

When gluing the 5th piece your pieces should bend slightly downward, line edges together and then glue.

This is what the inside looks like (make 2 sets of 5 triangles glued together)

For the remaining 10 triangles you will glue them together creating a chain. It will look as though you have one triangle pointing up and then the next pointing down

This is all 10 glued together

Now, take your chain and glue the ends together making the middle part of your ornament, again make sure that all ends match up

Take one of your sets that you created for the top and bottom and glue it to the middle part of the ornament that you just created

Repeat for the other end, and you can end here.....

I sprayed some clear gloss glaze to make my paper ornament shiny and have a glass-like appearance

Now decorate and embelish and if you want to hang it up, don't forget to add your tie, I super-glued my ribbon bow and made an extra loop so that it can be hung on the tree.

Hope you enjoy making them, just as much as I did!

---Did I leave out any parts? Any part of my tutorial hard to understand? Email me and I would be more than happy to assist you further.

Handmade Ornament

This would be the first swap that I will be participating in this year. I loved swaps, but haven't had much time to complete and participate in many---one of my friends sent me the link to an ornament exchange and I decided to participate in the last minute. It had to be handmade and it had to be mailed out before Dec. 7. I'm already done :)
It's being hosted by mammatortilla a friend of a friend who has a really cute blog--stop by and check her blog out.
This was quick and easy to put together, cutting out the circles if you don't have a puncher is what will take the longest time.
I will be posting a tutorial of how to make your own spherical shindig of a ornament in the following post--I remembered to take pics this time as I went along :)
So this is my creation itching to stay in my tree.

New Home, New Tree

This year had to be one of my busiest, with a move, a new baby, and new business ventures, it left little time for me to drop by here and post projects that I had completed throughout the year, and there were many!
During the move, my ornaments for my Xmas tree were ruined, smashed and crumbled to smitherines, so during my Black Friday shopping, (yes ladies I participated, from 12am-8am!) I picked up new ornaments in a new color scheme that I am loving. So, here is my tree for this year :)

A new thing that I have started to do, and I'm kicking myself for, for not doing this sooner, is taking a handprint of my children this year and turning them into ornaments, I hope to continue this and do it again the same time next year and not only will it make my tree so much more personal and meaningful, but it'll be fun to see how much the children have grown in a year.


These are their hands, still in the creating stages, I haven't quite decided which material to use and how I will be decorating them, but you should see how small the littlest one is, those belong to my 4 month old *tear*

Now, some really cool ornaments that I just had to have, and you can see my color scheme for this year.

A yummy sour laffy taffy looking tree, makes me want to eat it everyday I see it

Cute not-so-little lollipop in neon green


Same lollipop, just in red


No topper this year, couldn't decide, but it does have my favorite word this time of the year...peace

And that's my tree w/ some presents, had to stop after finishing the 3rd roll, kids are spoiled and so am I :)

Happy Holidays!

"Stocking" up for the holidays

Nothing like nice and simple craft projects to ease my way back into making custom orders as well as creating handmade gifts for my friends and family this holiday season.

I have yet to make my family's stockings, but managed to complete these 2 orders for custom stockings. I was also able to put my new "toys" to use :)
During my time away I purchased a new serger and also convinced my husband to purchase my christmas present early ....hehehe....a new embroidery machine----HOW IN THE WORLD DID I LIVE W/OUT ONE BEFORE! Just the amazing things that I can now do and the personalization that all of my gifts will now have this year, I'm just giddy w/ excitement, can't you tell??!!

Here is the first of my custom stocking orders using applique, and all of my stockings were made using my serger for extra durability to last the family through many years.


Decorator fabric for the cuff and nice soft blue velvet material for the body, sooo soft in person.

Second custom order.....Embroidered stockings, my new favorite thing to make.



Thanks to Cheryll for sending me a photo of my stockings already hung in her home. I love it when a customer is really satisfied :)


Did you notice those cute little paw stockings? We couldn't leave out her little puppies! They had their own custom stockings too---find the pattern for them HERE.
They turned out so cute, it ALMOST made me want to get a dog just so I could have one of these to hang too.


Quick, simple and required less than a yard for each stocking. These would be great to place to give presents in. You can find patterns for stockings to create your own everywhere! Go make your own and share them with me!

Has it really been almost 6 months?

WOW!

I've been away for so long, and for good reasons :)

Please welcome our newest addition born July 22, William Anderson

I'm so in love! He, along with my 3 other children have taken up a lot of my free time and I have not had the chance to sew or quilt, but that will soon change! I've started a Grandmother's fan quilt for a customer and have several dolls to complete, along with projects that I have completed. I will have to post the pics---COMING SOON! PROMISE

I had to post and now doing a lot of catch up reading all of my favorite blogs!

Multi-tasking

Working on selective coloring--my daughter Bel wearing one of my bows and being a great model :)

Covered Button Pony Tail Holders & Snap Clips for a customer!

A stacked bow I made for my neice, Olivia

I made a woven headband for my daughter to match one of her tops

Top view of one of my rag bows

My friends daughter modeling it for me since my girls do not have enough hair :)

Quilt-a-long week 2 w/ my sashing---I'm choosing to go w/ blue, something different

So many different projects going on at the same, which is good for me in order to keep motivated and complete orders, above are some completed bows that I made for my neice and some of my friends daughter and me messing with selective coloring--I love the black and white photos and having a pop of color here and there!

I've also been keeping up w/ the quilt along--still working on my nine patch Amanda Jean!
I've decided it will not be a twin size, but rather a crib or lap--I don't think I have the strength to make a twin on top of several other quilts and crib set orders that I need to complete. Off to post the photo in my flickr group!

Quilt Along, Week one patches finished

Here they are, I've completed my first 7 blocks for the quilt-a-long w/ Amanda Jean of CrazyMomQuilts. My goal is to use up a lot of my vintage scraps that I have laying around. I wish I decided to use my designer fabrics that are more current and more modern, but I need to get rid of a lot of my vintage scraps.....so here they are, not my favorites, but it's just the beginning and maybe once I add my sashing and complete several more patches, it will start to look better. HOPEFULLY.

Korkers and clippies and boutique bows, OH MY!

I'm hooked! I wanted to make only a couple of clippies, but I just couldn't stop at 2. I stayed up until 3am making some really cute bows that I'm proud of and making quite a mess--who knew this little craft could be so messy, addicting, and frustrating, but so worth it at the same time?!
So I thought I would share the bows that I ended up making :)

My latest korker bow that I made to match a couple of Bel's dresses

A photo of my very first korkers...I've come a loooong way, almost to embarrasing to show these

Mini-clippies for both girls in solid colors for playdates--super no-slip!

This is my twisted, stacked boutique bow that is waaaaay to big to placed on either one of my girls hair, but I know the perfects little girl with TONS of hair to model this bow for me :)

So, that's it for now, I'll have to take photos of these bow and clips in action! Hope you liked my bows!