Pretty Spring Purse

Last week I made a new purse for my sister-in-law. I think she might be the only girl in the family I hadn't sewn anything for yet, so I figured it was about time! I used the free Buttercup Bag tutorial from Made By Rae. I also added some changes- I enlarged it, added a top zipper, piping, and some pockets on the inside.

Do you find it hard to pick out fabrics for someone? I do! Especially for something like a purse, because I want to to be their style, something they'd pick out themselves! Here is what I finally picked out. I think it's really soft and pretty, perfect for a spring purse! I love the symmetrical design. I chose out a pale blue thick stripe for the piping and lining. I bought 1/3 yard of each fabric, and used ALL of it for the purse! Lucky guess!


These are bad pocket pictures, I should have taken them before I sewed everything together! I love pockets. I always have so much in my purse that it's near impossible to find my wallet and phone quickly, unless they are in their pocket.



I feel more secure with a zipper on my bags. This style of bag doesn't sit up really well, so it's nice to know that when I toss it in the car or on the table, nothing will fall out. The little ribbon on the zipper pull makes it easy to open and close.


The finished bag! There is heavy interfacing on the top, to keep it sturdy, and just medium interfacing on the bottom. I've made three of these bags now, I think it's a great pattern!



Now I just need to make one for myself one of these days!

Looking good, but needs a gnome

If not a gnome, some other little nicknack, maybe a little red mushroom, an owl, or deer...


I started this little moss terrarium a couple weeks ago after reading through this post, which has lots of cute pictures and great information throughout. I found this jar at a thrift store, and thought it would be perfect! Kade and I took a walk to collect our little specimens.... rocks from the road by our house, 3 different kids of moss, and a cute little lichen... baby fern??... that I had to practically climb a tree for. Surprisingly, the hardest thing to find was soil. We finally used a stick to dig a hole in the hard pebbly ground, and a couple inches down was some nice damp soil. We carried everything back home in our pockets, with our hands stained green and dirt under our fingernails.

That was the fun part for Kade. I can't wait to see it in a couple more months, once it starts really growing. Once it was all put together (I think maybe I used too much soil?), I excitedly showed it to Kade, who shrugged his shoulders and said, "it's not doing anything. It's bored."
I think maybe a little miniature character to live in this mossy forest would spark his interest and imagination. Any ideas where to get such a thing?

I'm thinking it would be REALLY fun to make these for Christmas presents... I just don't know if it's the kind of thing certain people would appreciate. I know some that would, but a few I am not sure of. I don't want them to think, "thanks so much for the old jar of dirt and weeds". Some people might not get it, you know?

OK, so my terrarium isn't looking that beautiful yet, but here are some I found on Etsy which I am SO tempted to buy! I want them so badly! I could cover every windowsill, table top, and bookshelf with these... there are even ones to hang up on a wall or wear around your neck!! Take a look at some of my favorites:

Terrarium Pendant from WarmCountryMeadows
Vintage casserole dish terrarium from madebymavis

Hanging Terrarium from TheOakLeaves

***Thanks for all the Spider-Monkey love yesterday!! The guy is going to pick it up tomorrow, and I'm so excited for him to see it that I might just scream and throw it at him as he comes through the door. Or I could wrap it in 15 layers of tissue, newspaper, wrapping paper, kraft paper, plastic wrap, duct tape, and 4 boxes... just to build up the anticipation. "HAHA! You thought you were finally going to see it, but NOPE, it's the Sunday comics!!! How crazy is that?!?!?" Or, maybe I'll just casually say, "what? Oh yeah, that thing I made for you. I had forgotten. Here ya go," and then sit back down at the computer to look at the new LOLcats.

Play on Words

Literally! :)
This is something new I'm working on.
Here is the tag that will be tied on to the drawstring bag
(This one is for Banden, the son of a good friend of mine):

Comes with it's own carrying case to keep things organized and easily transportable. The little one also fits into the large bag.

Inside is a stack of hand cut, double layered felt letters, and a rolled up mat.

Unroll the mat, and now you can see that it is a matching game!


Now Banden has a fun new way to learn how to spell his name!

*These are not yet available in the shop. However, if any of you want one of these for a child in your life, I am offering them at a discounted rate, while I make more practice ones to figure out the best way to do things! Just let me know :)

Sometimes it's good to keep secrets

The giveaway ends TOMORROW!!! You still have time to enter, just click here!!

I love hiding places... little corners and nooks, closets under the stairs, crawl spaces under bunk beds, secret diaries with combination locks, old boxes with hidden compartments... I don't know why, since I'm not the kind of person who has anything much to hide. I guess it's just the knowledge of being the only person to know about something. That if I DID have a secret that needed a safe haven, I would know where to put it!

That is what sparked the idea for this guy.


On the outside, he looks like an innocent plush buddy, a little pillow to decorate your bed or sit on your shelf. Or even to cuddle with!


But, he is hiding something. He's got a secret, and as you can see by the look on his face, he'll watch after it faithfully, day and night.


Are you dying to know his secret? Fine, I'll show you. Just don't tell anybody!


He's got a concealed pocket! It's perfect for all your special little treasures that need a safe spot. Maybe some extra spending money, notes from your best friend, pictures, who knows what else! This owl is a faithful keeper, and I hope his new human loves his secret as much as I do!

My ONE YEAR ETSY-VERSARY!!!!!!

*
*
***UPDATE***

click here to see who the winner is!!!


***GIVEAWAY CLOSED***
The winner will be announced tomorrow, August 11th! THANKS everybody!!! :)

July 27th marks ONE YEAR since I joined Etsy!

Since then, I have had almost 80 sales, almost 500 hearts, been on the front page at least 2 times, met some new friends, and had lots of fun!! I think this is something worth celebrating, don't you?? Here are a couple of my firsts I'd like to share with you-

My first sold item:

A custom order pair of sock monkeys!

The first shop I hearted:

dapperduds - cute stuff for babies, and lots more!

The first shop to heart me:
Mehran - a handbag should be as unique as you!

My first blog post:
Messenger Owls


My first sale:
(Only one item left!)
Little girl purses on sale!

And now, the FIRST (but definitely not last):
BLOG CONTEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

I am giving away a prize pack of *three items*
worth $35, to one lucky person!
One Plush Messenger Owl, one owl wallet,
and one girls and boys magnet set.



The rules are simple. There are TWO ways to win.

• Write about this contest in your own blog. Then, leave me a comment to this post with your link!

• If you don't have a blog, just leave me a comment telling me your favorite item from my etsy shop.

You must make sure to leave the comment in this post in order to win the prize! *NOTE* You can enter both ways, to double your chance of winning! Remember to leave one post for each entry. Please don't enter more than two times!

The contest will end 2 weeks from now,
on Sunday, August 10th.

I will pick the winner using the
Random Number Generator on August 11th.

The winner will be notified by email or by a comment on their blog, so make sure to leave me a way to get a hold of you! :)

Ready, set...... GO!!!

Sonic the Hedgehog

Last Christmas, when we drew names within my family for gift giving, I drew my sister's name. Surprise! I have made her so many things, why not one more :) I wanted to make her something one of a kind, and I searched the internet for a long time looking for just the right pattern. I finally found it here: Silver Seams- That link takes you to a free plush hedgehog pattern! Looked easy enough, but I had never made a stuffed animal before, so I started with some muslin. It was a good thing I did, because it turned out absolutely horrible! It took me forever to figure out how to sew the pattern pieces together. Sewing 3-D creatures is a lot harder than it looks! After fiddling with the pattern and making three more deformed muslin hedge-things, I was brave enough to start on the real thing. I used some white faux fur fabric that I had gotten off Freecycle (I have received lots of great fabric from Freecycle!) for the tummy, arms, legs, and face.
I used neon green fleece for the back.
I hand cut little felt hands and feet:

I used felt for the nose, embroidered the mouth, and used safety eyes for the first time!
I trimmed the fur around the face to make it a more defined area.


Now for the hard part. Little did I know that they actually HAVE long, bright blue fun fur fabric. I almost died in the store when I saw it a week after Sonic was finished. I have a knack for always choosing the hard way, though! Instead, I went to Ben Franklin and found some bundles of bright blue eyelash yarn with specks of pink and neon green. Perfect! I bought three. They were normally $10 apiece, but I found them on sale for $2 on clearance.

I made the furry back by wrapping the yarn around 2 fingers about 10 times, cutting, tying the center, and sewing onto the hedgehog.
Repeat hundreds of times. Run to the store to buy SIX more bundles of the yarn.
Get cramps in your hands.
Slowly grow to hate the hedgehog, as you work on it for hours and hours and only seem to get an inch of work done.

And then one day, he was done! I used the *very last inch* of all that yarn I bought to cover the last bald spot on the hedgehogs butt. I was tricking myself thinking he was done, however. Next, I had to cut all the loops so the yarn would stick up like soft spikes. There were lots of loops. After that, I had to give him a haircut so he could see. That created a pile of blue fur on the carpet about 5 inches high, which got the attention of K's potential mess radar. He ran through the pile before I could stop him and now, months later, I am still finding blue fur in weird places.

I am just glad I got him done before Christmas (barely). Sis gave him the name Sonic, since he's blue, and he has had a happy life ever since.

Old Dickies Jeans = New Wallet

I had this pair of Dickies jeans in my fabric stash for about 4 years. The only thing wrong with them was that they were missing a button, and, no longer fit J. He saw the needles and pins holder (a couple posts down) that I made for myself, and wanted me to make something for him. So, he chose out these jeans and an old camo bandanna, and now they are a wallet! Right now he just uses a small binder clip- he does not like anything big or bulky, and having to actually open something up to get money out would be horrible! So this is very simple, with just a pocket on front for essential cards and a pocket on the back for cash, receipts, or whatever. I have to be honest... the first wallet did not come out as planned, so it is now a carrier for K's tiny beloved transformer! Luckily there was another Dickies patch on the other pant leg, and this wallet turned out much better. I hope he likes it!