Native American Indian Costume

My daughters class have been doing a project on the Native American Indians of Texas and the final part of this was the kids dressing up as Indian's in a type of wax museum and coming to life (with the press of a pretend button) to tell their part of the story.

My Daughter was a Lipan Apache Shaman. I did some Internet searching which surprisingly didn't turn up much. luckily it coincided with me purchasing a remnant with a fringed edge that was perfect for this. I am addicted to remnants. It it the first place I head for when I go to a craft store. Having said that though the first thing I thought of was a poncho. I found the most gorgeous fleece at Hobby Lobby and made this first. I followed the pattern in a book I had found called 'sew what! fleece'. it's a great book with lots of easy to follow fleece ideas.

The dress was a fairly simple design that came right off the top of my head. I simply sewed up the 2 sides about 3/4 of the way. leaving room for her arms and cut a hole for her head. Fringed each side all the way up and it was looking pretty good.

It was then I came across another remnant in a different store and added a second layer to the top half of the dress. I also used this fabric to make her a belt and headdress. To finish the ensemble we got her a pair of moccasin slippers and platted her hair. Even though I say it myself she looked pretty darn awesome.

Thanks for looking

Hugs
Nic

Fleece Baby Blanket

Friends of ours are expecting their 2nd baby. I believe her due date is Christmas Day. What a wonderful gift. I am so excited for them.

A few weeks ago they had a baby shower and I took on the task of making my second baby blanket. this time with baby being due in the winter I chose to use fleece for it. I made the mistake of putting batting in the middle. I have a feeling it would have been warm enough with just the fleece but now it is super duper cuddly.

One side is 4 inch squares and the other 4 inch strips. I broke my needle due to the thickness but am really happy with how it turned out. I hope baby likes it too.

Thanks for looking

Hugs
Nic

Hermione and The Doctor

Look at absent minded me again. I came in and wished you guys a Happy Halloween and then promptly forgot to show you all my hard work for the occasion.

My sons costume was fairly straight forward. He wanted to be Dr Who is a famous British based time lord who has an increasing fan base here in America. we were able to watch some episodes of the latest regeneration Matt Smith while we were in the UK over the summer. Ever since he has been fascinated by everything Dr who related. This prompted a trip to the thrift store where we found his jacket and eBay found us the bow tie and suspenders. All I really had to do was sew elbow patches onto the jacket and make an inside pocket for storing his sonic screwdriver.

My daughter wanted to be Hermione from Harry Potter. She got the wand while on a trip to Universal Studios last Christmas. I put together the uniform pretty easily by going to Target. I gave in and purchased a proper Griffindor tie from Party City. The key part to the whole thing coming together was Hermione's robe. I found the perfect pattern and black fabric at Hancock Fabrics. Oh, my goodness did I have fun with this project. Although in my efforts to play it safe on the size front I ended up making it a tad too big, OK a lot too big but I managed to make it fit and she has the opportunity to grow into it for some time to come.

Thanks for looking

Hugs
Nic

Work In Progress - Tidy Craft Room

That was all the backed up stuff I had waiting to show you. Turned out to be more than I thought it was. Lucky for me though as my craft room took a little longer than anticipated. Here's hoping it doesn't get that out of hand again.

Thanks for looking

Hugs
Nic

Anniversary Card

My husband and I celebrated our 14 year anniversary this year. I had given in to temptation and bought him a card from the store but I was feeling bad for not having made it myself so when I saw this cute sticker set in the craft store I bought it and sat down and made my wonderful hubby a second card.

Here's a picture of the beautiful flowers he got me and one of our cats who was curious to see what I was doing when I took the photo.

Thanks for looking

Hugs
Nic

Happy Halloween

Just popping in to wish everyone a Happy Halloween. These are our carved pumpkins this year. Hubby did the Dr.Who one for our son who is Dr.Who crazy and I did the smiley face one for our daughter. Have fun and don't eat too much candy. xxx

Owl Card Front

Do you remember the owl themed birthday card I made back in April for my friends daughter? Well, the card ended up in her sisters room as she liked it so much and it was the same colors as her bedroom.

When I found this out I made another one for the birthday girl, just the card front this time and I used the colors in her room so she could display it with her other owl stuff. I also put her initial on it so this one is all hers and no-one else. LOL.

Thanks for looking

Hugs
Nic

School Scrapbook Pages

3rd + 6th Grade

I almost completely forgot to do these. Thankfully I had all the photos I needed already printed off. My daughters page was easy. I made her 3rd grade pages when I made her brothers so all I had to do was add pictures. My sons 6th grade page I had to do from scratch, not forgetting to make a second set for my daughters book. Now he is in middle school i have cut it down to a single page layout instead of a double. They are growing up so fast.

Thanks for looking

Hugs
Nic

Wolf Cushion

My daughters best friend had her birthday while we were in the UK. I had made her gift before we went but were unable to give it to her till we got back. She loves wolves and I had picked up a gorgeous fleece remnant in Hobby Lobby that was covered with wolves. I chose to do a long pillow so she can hug it easily and it will look cool on her bed.

I bought some ribbon in pink and black which when I cut the fringe I used it in every other knot. Did I mention I am loving knotting stuff. Every project is so easy and quick to do I am having loads of fun with projects like these.

Thanks for looking

Hugs
Nic

New Home Cards

 
With the two new home gifts I had made I felt drawn to my stamps. I have not made a card in quite some time. I think somewhere along the way I have lost my mojo or something, not quite sure what but I was inspired to make new home cards to go with the gifts I had made. I wasn't sure if I would have enough time to get them finished but they came together fairly quickly in the end.

I used an image from Rachel Ann miller. The little mushroom house was perfectly suited to the occasion. Then I used a craft card stock base with a red or blue card cuttlebugged to finish it off.

Thanks for looking

Hugs
Nic

American Themed Tea Cozy Set

I mentioned in my last post about our trip to the UK. We went over to celebrate my gorgeous niece's wedding. My daughter was a bridesmaid (it was such an honor for her to be chosen). It was a truly awesome day. It was the first time my daughter had been a bridesmaid so she was a little nervous. However once they had done her hair in the salon she had a grin on her face all day it was wonderful.

Long story short my niece and her now husband have moved into their first home and I wanted to make them something special. My sister had told me that an American theme would be perfect as they holiday almost every year in Florida and it is the whole families favorite place. I had also asked what she thought my niece would like. As it happens my family are a huge bunch of teapots, we all drink an awful lot of tea so the choice of a tea cozy was easy.

I used every spare minute i had before and during packing for the trip. I had picked up an American themed bundle at Jo-Ann's. I had so much fun making the tea cozy I decided to keep on going and use up all the fabric by making coasters, a hot pad and a carrier bag holder. My niece and her hubby loved them and I even got a cup of tea out of it;-)

Thanks for looking

Hugs
Nic

Coasters And Placemats

My long time best friend Alyson (we've known each other since we were 5) recently moved into her first home. It has been a long time coming due to the bad economy and skyrocketing house prices in the UK. To celebrate the special occasion I wanted to hand make her something for her new home.

She absolutely loves the color blue, has for as long as I can remember. So with that in mind I set about looking for blue fabric. I found this gorgeous remnant in a beautiful deep blue at Hancock Fabrics and scoured the fabric aisles till I matched it with a lighter fabric for contrast.
 

I made my usual pin wheel coasters and then incorporated the pinwheel into the design for the place mats. We went back to the UK during the summer to attend a family wedding so I was able to give them to her in person and see her awesome new home.

Thanks for looking

Hugs
Nic

Quick Cards

We had a parcel come a while ago now from the UK full of goodies from the in-laws. There was a little something for everyone. I got an awesome packet of paper flowers. I completely forgot to post it here at the time but came across the pictures the other day.

I have been sitting on some plain/blank cards that I bought from Walgreens. They needed a little something but until now I couldn't figure out what. When I saw the flowers I knew they were the perfect colors for the job.

My daughter and I had loads of fun sorting them into sizes and then mixing and matching them to make pretty combinations. I now have a stash of pretty cards for any occasion that comes along that I may have otherwise been unprepared for.

Thanks for looking

Hugs
Nic

No Sew Fleece Throws

Hello there, as you can see I have had a little revamp of the blog. Nothing too drastic but I think it looks much better. I am in the midst of sorting out my craft room, it has gotten very out of control to the point I was avoiding going in there to create at all.. I have a few things backed up thankfully to tell you about and show you so I will try not to be too MIA while I tackle this humongous task.

My latest craze seems to be no-sew blankets. I made the kids one each for Easter. I know, I know I completely forgot to post a picture for you guys to see. It was one covered in cats for my daughter and one covered in planets for my son. they were very well received. I also made one for my hubby's birthday back in June. I spotted the most awesome Mickey Mouse fleece at Jo-Ann's. I bought 2 yards and I matched up with a plain blue for the reverse side. I just love them and they are lovely and cosy. I was feeling a little left out but luckily I found the most beautiful peacock print panel to make one for myself too. Now we all have one :-)
  

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic



Reversible Tote

In one of my regular visits the Jo-Ann's I bought a couple of sewing kits. The colors and patterns caught my eye, they were really pretty and I had a gift in mind for them. My wonderful sewing friend Lucy's Birthday was on the horizon so I finally got around to putting one of them together. It's a reversible tote. There were no different fabrics involved exactly as it was all printed on one sheet. Made for a quick and simple cut out and put together project. It really is pretty, oops said that already didn't I. I am very happy with the finished bag and so was Miss Lucy.

Thanks for looking

Hugs
Nic

Allergy Pack (for school)

I think I have mentioned my daughters friend with the peanut allergies before. Her mom (my friend) thinks she is old enough to carry her own medications. She still needs an adult to give them to her should she need them but if she has them with her then they are immediately available.

My friend and I tossed ideas back and fore and while out shopping together a few weeks ago she found this fanny pack on clearance at Jo-Ann's. I set about livening up the front with some denim and an iron on applique. I also added some fabric that my friend picked out (the rest I am going to use for a gift for Christmas).

Once the outside was finished I set about the inside. I know I probably should have done this the other way around but I guess I got carried away. Anyways I put a number of strips of elastic inside for holding her epi-pens, inhaler and anti histamine in place so they would not bounce around.

Both she and her mom loved it. Thumbs up on that one, yay!

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

It's In The Bag! (Carrier Bag Holder)

Oh boy have I been busy. Having the kids home 24/7 is driving me slowly cuckoo. Seem like my craft room is just something I pass by each day on my way out the door. However I have been grabbing snippets of time here and there. I have been working on this project for a while. The initial plan was to make 4/5 of them but after the first one I have decided I might need to use a few less pieces for the others.

I made this carrier bag holder for a friend of mine as part of a pay it forward post on Facebook. She is possibly my biggest fan of all things I do craft wise and therefore was the first to receive my PIF project. The cool thing is that all the fabric matches her kitchen perfectly. I found the tutorial for this project on this wonderful blog........ http://saidosdaconcha.blogspot.com/2009/10/scrap-buster-tutorial-scrappy-carrier.html ........ It is a wonderful read, I think this may well have to go into my favorites.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

It Takes Two Baby

Friends of ours recently had twins. A little boy and a little girl. So, so tiny, I knew as soon as I saw a picture of them that I needed to make them something. Straight away I started cutting and piecing and planning. I found this gorgeous teddy bear fabric with both pink and blue bows on it at a local store.

This time around I decided to make bags. We bought cute outfits for each of them. They won't fit them for a while yet but hopefully they will get lots of use out of the bags for various things. diapers, changes of clothes, etc.

These were so much fun to make and have safely made it to California to our friends. I know, I know more friends in California. I'm beginning to think we should move there too so I can be closer to all the little babies. I love babies and seem to be drawn to the baby fabrics. Probably cause they are so smooth to the touch.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic