Beach Robes

 What better way to top of a beautiful day at the beach then by a snuggly robe to keep you warm on the way home?  The kids LOVE their robes! Thank you MADE for the super easy to follow directions and great pattern!  Ceri and I also found a new obsession while making these robes - BIAS TAPE. It's always seemed super intimidating to make but really... super, super, super easy and fun to make.  It's very therapeutic pulling yards and yards of fabric threw a little bias tape maker!  

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

{elyse}

Easter Buckets

I went all out this year and decorated Easter buckets. And by all out I mean I sent my husband out to buy $2 buckets at Target and I rummaged my felt and tutu making supplies. These were really fun and quick and best of all easy! You want to whip one up super fast too? It's not too late!

Happy Easter Everyone!

 

xoxo

{elyse}

okay...So these links are the place I was looking at when I got the ideas:

(Ceri came up with the superhero idea I just put it to action)

I Am Momma Hear Me Roar 

Check out the amazing Super Hero painting her mom did for her

Google Images: "Tutu Easter Baskets"

Earth Day Shirts with Tutorial

Happy Earth Day everyone!  To celebrate I made my daughter and I matching shirts for school.  She is pretty excited about it.  And I'm not going to lie...I am too.  They turned out adorable.  I made a tutorial to go with it.  There are a ton of freezer paper and applique tutorials out there so who knows how good this one is in comparison...But this is one stop shopping...a two for one special...that's my kind of tutorial.  : )  Enjoy!

1. Get out all your stuff:

Shirt

Wonder Under

Fabric Paint

Sponge Brush

Felt

Print out of design 

(I google imaged the design **disclaimer** There were no "copyrights" that I could find on the image so I figure it's fair game)

Scissors
Pencil

All the following is not pictured - whoops

Freezer Paper

Sharpie

Iron and Ironing Board
Sewing Machine (you could hand stitch this if you wanted)
Coordinating Thread

2. Turn design over and trace picture with a sharpie (or other dark marker) on the back side of paper (so you're getting a backwards image...If you've got some mad skills on the computer - print out the backwards image (I do not have mad skills...I trace).

3. Now trace that backwards image on the smooth side of your "Wonder Under".

4. Trace and cut out your freezer paper stencil.

5. Iron your "Wonder Under" onto the felt.  Make sure that your heat setting is not too hot and that you stay on the Wonder Under. The iron will melt the felt (I use the cheep-o felt sheets not the awesome wool kind).  OR you can do what the package says and use a thin towel on top  of the felt and Wonder Under (but where's the fun in that?).

6. Iron down your Freezer Paper stencil onto your T-shirts. Place a piece of Freezer Paper on the inside of the shirt (plastic side up) so there is no paint bleeding. Make sure to iron it well so the paint doesn't go outside the lines!

7.  Now apply your paint.  You will notice on the big heart that there is a little bit of bunching going on.  Don't worry about it...It usually works out just fine in the end.  If worst comes to worst it will look a little "vintage". perfect.  Thinner t-shirts like that one are just hard to manage because they are so  stretchy.

 

8. Now wait 24 hours....if you can...I made it 20 hours then I couldn't stand it any more and I heat set it.

9. "Heat set" your painted area - heat iron according to fabric and iron for 30 seconds on each side. 

**I use a paper towel (or very thing fabric) as a barrier between the iron and the paint**

 

10. Now turn inside out and wash and dry your shirt according to directions.

11. While your shirt is washing and drying cut out felt pieces.

 

11. Once your shirt is nice and washed and dried, take off the backing of the felt continents, line it up where you want them to go and iron into place.  Use that paper towel again because the cheep felt will melt and all your hard work will be wasted...or maybe it will turn out looking "vintage"...  but odds are you'll ruin your iron...don't you think?

 

 12.  Last but not least: Stitch around the border of the continents to secure them in place...and to give it a final touch!

  

 13.  That's it! You're done! Now go and show the world that you love the Earth!

p.s. I just couldn't stop at the shirts.  I had to top of my daughter's outfit with a cute skirt.  It's the "Simple Skirt" from Made.  And it really is simple.  I whipped one out in 20 minutes last night.  awesome.

xoxo

{elyse}

Aprons

Around Valentines day My mom (who is also my boss) had me make a bunch of aprons for some gals at work.  They turned out pretty cute! I made the pattern from a pre-existing apron and altered it a bit to make it super cute with the ruffled bottom.  I love me a cute apron!

This is 5 out of the 7 I made...the other 2 gals weren't there for the picture.

xoxo

{elyse}

carseat uplift

Third baby + first girl = greatest excuse to redo a very loved carseat!  

This was my first carseat I did (Ceri has done a bunch) and I went into it thinking, "no big deal...I'm good with a seam ripper and a sewing machine...I can piece things...no problem." What I didn't expect was that THIS carseat was European...oy vey.  Needless to say it was no Graco.  Lots of pieces...one HUGE carseat puzzle.  In the end it all came together and looked great but I wont lie...I was worried for a bit.

Things I learned:
1.  Never underestimate how much time a "first pancake" project will take.
2. When doing something like this take LOTS AND LOTS of pictures so piecing it back together wont be so difficult
3. The later the hour the more seam ripping will be done...better to say goodnight before silly mistakes start to be made.
4. Always live close by to Ceri so she can bail me out of any sewing crisis...she did the canopy...again..time...I ran out. 
5. Just say no to European projects...period.
6. Check the "die lot" when buying bias tape all "just peachy"'s are not created equal
6. learn how to take better pictures...I'm in awe by so many crafters out there who know how to work a camera.  

The end result turned out awesome and my co-worker loved it! I'm in love with the gray, red, and peach combo.

And for an extra touch...a little cover totally tops it! To make your own go here.

An adorable carseat for an adorable little girl!

Apothecary Console

This was mine and my husband's project over my Spring Break.  We were in the market for a new console and after looking and looking and only finding things that I loved in the $500+ dollar range we needed to come up with a plan B.  Enter Ana White from knock off wood. That woman is amazing.  Matt (my husband) is pretty amazing too.  He just needed me to tell him what I wanted. I was looking through her sight and saw this. gorgeous. It got even better. We could cut the cost by a lot by using my childhood dresser and refurbishing it.

The Before:

Changes:

1. Changed the top because it wasn't real wood that could be sanded down and re-stained

2. Removed and discarded top 3 drawers. Converted to segmented shelves. 

3. Replaced the drawer fronts

4. Painted blue

After:

I'm in love.

total cost: $75 (ish)

What's for Dinner?

I Am Momma Hear Me Roar blogged about these 5 meals in 1 hour.  Ceri and I have jumped aboard and are riding the awesome wave that is 5 meals in 1 hour.  To celebrate this new chapter in my family's dinner life I made this board.

It was a collaborative effort.  I called Ceri up one day on my way to Goodwill with this "dinner plate" idea (mounting plates and using white board markers to write on them) but I needed help on how to mount or hang them.  She came up with the board idea.  genius, yes?  (She totally got the brains of the family) I bought all the supplies then enlisted my husband to do the manual labor of cutting all the wood. Then before I new it it was done and hanging on my wall.  Isn't it beautiful?  I think it would be great as a piece of art too - no writing needed.

Taking pictures of my writing makes me want to go back to elementary school and work on my handwriting! sheesh....

Hopefully Ceri will make hers soon.  I think she's may go with a different color scheme that sounds totally awesome! I can't wait to see how it turns out!

It's good to be back

Over the past few months new babies have made life busy and a few unsuccessful boutiquing has given us a case of the debbie downers.  BUT now that we have more energy (ha!) and a new outlook we're ready to be back.  It's not like we stopped crafting and doing boutiques...we just didn't blog about it. 

We had a great time the past two weekends setting up boutiques in front of our homes.  We got some surprisingly good traffic - but best of all we had some good, quality sister time. This is our spread from yesterday.

These are new: Aprons and Oven Mitts - I love them so much! 

Hair wraps...I honestly wear one in my hair almost every day...(um...take a look at the peg board that they are clipped on...Ceri had just painted it and is now hanging in her craft room as her spool organizer (love, love, love the gray scalloped edges!))

All of our baby/toddler items.  Check out the adorable toddler ties in the middle right.  ADORABLE! Prime looks like such a stud in his!

Some more...

And this is me...I thought Ceri was reviewing some pictures...not taking one and I was being...well...whatever...I like it...