Ashley - DIY Santa Bag

So with this Christmas party for my husband's battery is tomorrow, and no matter where my poor friend searched she could not find a bag for Santa to use at the party so I got on my ipad, looked on pinterest and found a blog where a woman did this really adoarble Santa bag. Here is her site and full tutorial so you can make your own. http://www.crafterhoursblog.com/2011/11/make-santa-bag-tutorial.html

 

I put my husband's unit flash and crest on it to put a little extra special somethign to it and there you have it! Tomorrow I will take better pictures I promise but for now this mama is hitting the hay :) Enjoy!

Ashley - Mini Stockings tutorial

Ok I am back on the straight and narrow writing posts for all you lovely people out there :) This last week I had a meeting with some of the other wives and my husbands command to start planning their annual christmas party. I was asked to make little miniature stockings for all the children attending. The original number was 35 so I made a few extras and I started out making my 44 stockings, but then there was a phone call and I was asked to make a few more lol so I ended up making 51 total. So if your wondering why it looks like there are more finished ones then what we started with that's why.

What you will need:

1yd of red felt
1/2yd of white felt
I ended up using 4 spools of the striped ribbon (3m spools)
And I only went through 1 spool of the red ribbon I used for the hangers.
Thread
Scissors
Felt tipped pen

 

So the first thing I did was I made a pattern out of a piece of cardboard. I made a 6in x 4in rectangle and then cut the shape from that to makesure I didn't make the stockings too big. Look for an update and I will scan in the pattern I used and you can always jsut use that if you don't feel like you can good a good shape on your own.

 

After I had my pattern I grabbed my yard stick and my red felt. I folded felt in half width wise (72in wide piece of felt) and then trimmed the edge so that I could have a nice straight line to start using my pattern on. Then I took my yard stick and my felt tipped pen and started drawing lines on my felt the height of my stockings. When that was taken care I place my pattern down on the felt and started tracing out my stockings.

 

 

 

 

 

Now the easiest way I found to cut all those out was with scissors. I have not yet completely mastered the art of the rotary cutter lol so it may be eaiser for you that way but with the tight spaces I preferred the scirssors. Once you have thsoe all cut out I laid my white felt out and 1 1/2in by width of the stocking to add the white up top.

 

 





Now it's time to bust out the sewing machine. I started with a normal running stitch but I notice in my test stocking that it made it really bulky right there and the stocking didn't look right and I hated it so my solution to that was I used a zigzag stitch to connect the red and whiteand that got out of that problem made the stockings sit so nicely. I had the tension on my machine at 4 just as an FYI and it shouldn't take you too long :).

 Your next step will be to add the ribbon to hide your seam. I turned the machine's tension down to 2 so the ribbon would sit nicely for me and I used a normal old running stitch and I just lined the needle up in the middle of the foot like so. I sewed along both edges of the ribbon to make it look nice and finished.

 

This was the part that took me the longest....

 

 

 

But as you can tell it really adds a nice touch to the stockings :)

 

 

 

 

The final step is to sew it all together! I used a serger type stitch it was number 6 on my machine.

 

 







Take it slow if it's your first time using this stitch and if you aren't comfy using this stitch you can always go back to the zig zag it will do about the same thing I just like the finished look of the stitch I used. Make sure you turn your tesnion back up to 4, and get to work :) I added my little ribbon for the hanger into the final seam so be sure to remember that as well so you dont have to run another seam.

 

Now just turn them right side in ( remember felt does stretch easily so don't yank on it too much or it may sit a little funny ) and your all done!!!

 

 

 

 

My stockings are all ready for the kiddos at the Christmas party :) Happy Holidays everyone and enjoy! 



Ashley - Minnie Mouse Christmas Ornaments :)

I know that I have been gone forever and Alisha and I apologize, life has been hectic. But enough about me I want to show you something sweet.

 

 I made these darling little ornaments from these awesome cookie cutters I found on Ebay. They have this cool little stamp that stamps the faces on there :) So I found a really awesome clay ornament recipe and got to work.

When I did this recipe I used wheat flour so that the color of the Minnie faces would be the right color so I wouldn't have to paint that flesh color on the faces. So I made my dough and rolled it out and got to cutting. Then I stamped them and I decided that I was going to put them in the oven to dry them out.

 

I left mine in a little longer then a 1/2 hour like the blog said because some were a little thicker then others. But while these were baking I set out work station and got ready to paint these puppies. Once they were out of the oven I got the acryllic paint out and my brushes and started the process of getting them all painted.

 

 

 



It may take you a little while. I had alittle help from my loving man :) (I have such a good man) and we made short work of the painting.

Next I took out my gloss and sprayed them out back on the back deck and let them dry.

Then to add my own little personal touch I glued a little rhinestone into the center of the flower on Minnie's hat. Girls have to have their little bit of glitz ;) And the final step after that is put the ribbon on there and I was all done!

I have more to put on my tree but here it is so far!

I love how it's looking!!!! And I love these little ornaments!

Now get to work ladies! Have fun and enjoy!!! :)

Ashley - IPad Bag tutorial

Ok I know some time ago I was asked to make an IPad bag tutorial and I know it took me forever (I'm sorry Melody's party occupied all my crafting time) but here it is now :) Ok first things first you need to get your supplies together. Now pardon me because I kind of fly by the seat of my pants when I do things like this.

• 1 yard exterior fabric
• 1 yard interior fabric
• 1 yard mid weight interfacing ( I get mine from walmart and I get the non fusible 926 weight interfacing but if this is your first time working with it get the fusible and run the iron over it to keep your fabric in place on the interfacing)
• Zipper
•  1/2 yard fusible fleece ( I didn't have fusible for the tutorial but it would be much easier with fusible)
• coordinating threads
• Ribbon or any other coordinating embellishment you may want.

Now lets get started! Make sure you iron everything, it's a great habit to get into, it will amke your cuts much more precise. We are now ready for cutting your fabric. In your exterior fabric you will cut these pieces:

• (2) 10in by 13in pieces (front and back panels)
• (2) 4 1/2in  by 10in pieces (side panels)
• (1) 4 1/2in by 13in piece (bottom panel)
• (1) 5in by 30in piece (strap)
• (2) 2in by 12in pieces (for the zipper area)

For you interior fabric you will need to cut the same measurements as above for the exterior fabric except for the strap. Then the only other pieces you will need to cut are the pieces for the pouch to hold your IPad and any pocket you might want to add. The pouch for the IPad you will need (2) pieces of fabric 9 1/2in by 13in. And you interfacing pieces you will need to cut pieces that are the same measurements as the exterior fabric for the front and back panels 10in by 13 in), the side panels ( 4 1/2in by 10in), and the bottom panel (4 1/2in by 13in). And the fusible fleece you will cut  2 pieces are the size of the interior pouch size (9 1/2in by 13in) and this is optional but I padded my strap to make it more comfortable and to keep it from getting all creased and crazy looking and so I cut 1 piece of fleece that was 2 1/4in by 30in.

 I'm sorry I know that was a lot but I want to make sure to tell you as much as I can to make sure you the best chance in succeeding with your own bag. Ok so after you have your pieces cut take your exterior pieces and your interfacing pieces and warm up that iron again and fuse your exterior and interfacing pieces together. And if you want the outside facing portion of your IPad pouch padded you will fuse your fusible fleece on top of your interfacing and you will want the bottom of the fleece to line up with the bottom the panel. Up on the top your fleece will come up a little short and that's what you want it will make it eaasier for you when you assemble everything together.

 



After you have done that start sewing your panels together. Now all seams will be 1/4in seams unless I say otherwise.

 

 



 

 

 

Now when you have the side panels and  the front and back panels sewn together it's time to put the bottom panel in your bag. I'm going to try and explain this the best that I can and the pictures I took to show you were when I put the inside of the bag together so don't let that throw you, your going to be doing the same steps again when we get that far. Now to put the bottom into your bag. You will turn your bag shell inside out then you will take your bottom and line it up to either your front or back panel. Line it up well and make sure the little excess on each side is about equal.

 

 

 

When your ready to sew start out in the middle of the panel. When you get to the edge seam where the side panel starts your going to want to stop the needle when it hits that seam.

 

 

 

Then without lifting the foot you will rotate your work so that you have lined up the side panel like your going to to sew that next. Then you pull down the bottom panel and line it up with the side panel and start sewing again.

 

 

 

You will repeat that at each corner until you have completely gone around the bag and I usually over lap my stitch a few inches when I reach the end.

 

You have officially put the outside of your bag together! :) If your wanting to pur ribbon around the outside of your bag like I did I just pinned the ribbon in place then sewed it in. REMEMBER turn down your tension on the machine when you sew your ribbon on (I turned mine down to 2) so it doesn't pull the ribbon apart and it keeps it from pooching on you.  Here is the outside of my bag so far :)

 

 

 



It's time to start on the interior of your bag. Grab your (2) 9 1/2in by 13in pieces of the interior fabric and the piece of fusible fleece that you have cut that is the same size. Heat up your iron and fusethe fleece to one of your pieces. If your going to try and do this just like my bag and put ribbon on the inside as well go ahead and do that now. Take the interior piece that you didn't fuse the fleece to and sew your rbbon on. Now you will sew the two interior pieces along a 13in edge. This is what it should look like.

 

 

after you got that all done grab the rest on your interior pieces and put them together just like you did with the exterior. My tip is if you have an extra pocket that you want to put in like the one you see down below in the bottom left corner of the picture you will put that in before you start assembling. And when you assemble you are going to want to put your padded pouch sandwiched in between a front/ banck panel and the two side panels. Makse sure when you line the pieces up before sewing that the bottoms are the ones that all match up again the top of your pouch pocket will be just a little short, that's what you want. 

 

Ok ladies we are getting close! Now we will just put the strap together. Just fold the long edges together and sew you will flip it right side in and then feed the fleece in lay it down flat (it will take a little patiene but I promise it's worth it) and then fuse it. I also did two 1/8in seams on each side of the strap just to hold the bottom and the top of the strap together. It dresses it up a little too :) And for the zipper I didn't do a full zipper tutorial you can find them on youtube I'm sure. Thats why I had you cut those 1 1/2in by 12in strips. But I can show you pictures of mine and with a tutorial from online you will be a pro.

 

 

 

 

 





 





And now for final assembly! You will need to heat up the iron and along the tops of your exterior bag and interior bag your going to press about 1/2in worth of the fabric down. The more you press and get that nice crease in the fabric the easier things will be for you. Now we move onto pinning everything together. to make it easier it you want to tack in your strap before you do the final seam that can make it easier too. Remember to also make sure you put your zipper pieces in, just center them and pin them in when your pinning your exterior and interior bags together. Take your time and pin as much as you need.

 

 

 

When you're ready to sew your going to want to start in the middle of the back panel like you did when you put the bottom in your exterior and interior bags. Go slow and pay attention to your different layers to make sure they are staying lined up. And that's it! nothing to it right?!?! lol

 

 

 

 

Now you have a beautiful bag to carry your IPad around in! Let me know what you think ladies and don't be afraid to contact me with any questions or concerns with the tutorial. I will be making another one here starting tomorrow so I will be doing it with you :)

Ashley - Halloween Wreath

Ok gearing up for Halloween and it's been my goal since I started this blog to try and start doing crafts made from just dollar tree materials. I have pulled that off for the first time and am so thrilled with how it turned out! Ok so I started by buying these plastic skulls. I bought 12 of them and then finished up my shopping by picking up some black roses, some plastic bugs, and some black stringy cloth.

I cut out a cardboard foundation to glue everything to and started by just doing a quick black layer of paint to hide the cardboard

 

After the paint dried I started by gluing down the black cloth. Take your time and really mess with draping it, it took me a little bit but I got it to work :)

 

 

Then I laid out my skulls and started to hot glue those. Next I moved on to the black roses. I glued them in between each of the skulls to help really fill out the wreath.

 

 

 

And then last but not least I glued on my creepy crawlies :) and viola! You have a creepy yet thrifty halloween decoration to put out on your door!

 

 

 

Tomorrow night I will have to try and weave in the purple lights that I bought and get some more pictures for you. Check back for the update!

 





Melody's Minnie Mouse Party :)

     So yesterday was my little one's birthday and it was so much fun :) I wanted to download a few pictures to show you all the fun :)

 

 

My birthday girl :)

We had some great food made by my husband :) The background I made with gift wrap and my mickey mouse hole punch and some scrapbook paper.

There was a pinata...

and a bounce house...

and of  course new toys :) All in all it was a great day. Everyone had fun.



Ashley - Minnie Mouse Party Window Valances!

Hi all! I have been wanting to do these window valances ever since I got the idea for them when I did the table runners so I actually took the time and sat down to do them. Originally I was going to just sew those few seams and call it good but I thought that was just a little too plain and so I brainstormed and this is what I came up with :)

( Don't mind the one broken slot on the blinds, someone found out they were tall enough to reach them) Anyways this is totally adorable right?!?!?! This is how I did it.

You will need:

Enough fabric to reach all the way around your window

1in. white grosgrain ribbon

Black and pink felt

Valance rods

First I took my fabric and cut it down to 15in X 84in. I then folded both ends, pressed it and started sewing. Quick tip if you use fabric like this the polka dots will help you line things up and will help you sew straight lines so watch the polka dots!

After I got the edges done I moved onto the ribbon. When I sewed the ribbon on I loosened the tension a bit (between 2 and 3) and made my stitches longer.  

When I was done with that I moved to the next step, the Minnie head. Cut out your Minnie head of your black felt. I left the stitches long and just switched out my top bobbin to to black thread. Sew on your Minnie head.

And for the cherry on top, the bow. Get your pink felt and cut out the shape of a bow. Now with my bow since the head was sewn on all I did was glue the bow to the black felt of the Minnie head just to make it easier and since it's going to be just hanging you can cheat lol.

I had my husband put the valance rod up for me while I was finishing up and boom!



You have an amazing looking party decoration that you can move into your princesses room after the party is over :)





Enjoy!