Embellished Onesies

Click the pics for a direct link to the applique tutorial.


I finished these in a couple of hours tonight. These were onesies I picked up at the Dollar Tree for a $1/ea. I had a big bag of yo yos I got on eBay for the purple one and appliqued the stems and grass. And for the cupcake, the fabrics were home dec samples I got at a local fabric outlet and I used hot fix swarovski crystals as "sprinkles". These are for my niece's first birthday.

Here is a close up of the cupcake, it came out so cute!



And I remembered to take pictures, so I'll have an applique tutorial soon.

Nursing Apron Top Tutorial

Yay!! It's here!! Here is the link to the Nursing Apron Top Tutorial. Just be warned, all I had to model was a child size mannequin, so I apologize for the full length shot, lol. I'm sorry it took so long to finally arrive. I'll be putting a direct link to this new tutorial right after this post over in the freebie list on the left.

I'm off to go sew some appliques, I'll have a S&S show sometime this week. I'll take pictures as I go along if anyone is interested in a tutorial for applique on a onesie - just let me know and post a comment.

A Sneak Peek!!

It has taken way too long for this. And this has been long awaited, and there has been much begging and bribing. But it is coming tonight!!! The long-awaited nursing apron top tutorial!! So here is a little sneak peek of a picture. Can you believe it?? I'm proofing the tutorial right now.

Embroidery Cuteness Overload

Just a warning if you embroider, you will be addicted to the absolute cuteness of these patterns. Just recently, I've started doing more embroidery and I love it. It's easy to do anywhere versus dragging a sewing machine around, lol. So...there is a new site opening soon called Pimp Stitch. This picture is one of their free patterns. Isn't is too cute!? My plan is finish 2 applique onesies and this pattern as a towel bib this week and send to my sister-in-law for her baby's first birthday party over July 4th.

Pimp Stitch have a few free embroidery patterns on their blog right now you can download via PDF And check out their flickr group for some sneak peeks at upcoming patterns for when they open - the jellyfish and octopus are definitely on my list of must haves.

And on a personal note, I have started swimming laps. I used to be an athlete, skating about 15 hours a week, and I hate how out of shape I've become. So the kids and I joined the YMCA earlier this year. Mr E has found his passion in life, and it's swimming. He has been taking lessons since February and he is amazing. He says as soon as he turns 5, he's trying out for the swim team. Miss Em is just as passionate but so shy, so she is still deciding if she wants to do the swim team or not. So, while they are in lessons, I've been heading over to the lap lanes and swimming laps. I'm just so excited I had to share!

I'm also getting my hair retouched this week. I ordered 2 bottles of Special Effects dye. They are supposed to be the best and longest lasting funky dye colors, so I'm crossing my fingers they last more than 4 weeks - none of the other brands I've tried have. I ordered Atomic Pink -- my typical color...and, I also ordered Blue Mayhem -- it's kinda purply blue. I can't decide if I should do the blue this time. I've been getting a little tired of pink lately. Hmmm...decisions, decisions.

And who watched Camp Rock? I don't know, the Jonai are cute and all, but I just like the music on HSM and HSM2 better. But not my daughter, she loved it. HSM is so not cool anymore apparently. Do you have a daughter who loves the Jonas brothers? Miss Em wants to do a tutorial on how to make your own Jonas brother earrings. After watching Camp Rock, she made her own Joe Jonas domino earrings - her favorite Jonas brother.

Make Her Own Earrings & Show

So I've been sort of teaching myself and Ms Em to make jewelry, and Ms Em just got to take out her earrings after 6 weeks ago getting them pierced. She's been wearing all kinds of earrings, so I bought a little package of wires and earring sets so she and I could make her some. She ended up doing most of the work herself afer I showed her what to do.

This is the book I picked up on clearance at Half Price Books for about $3.00. I thought a kid's book might have easier instructions with better pictures, and it's a great book with lots of ideas and clear instructions.

So without further delay, here are the pics she requested I take of her 2 new sets of earrings she made herself. I love the Eiffel tower ones, but pink is my favorite color as we all know, lol. I might have to make some for myself. I got these charms off of eBay, they are so cute!!

Sorry for giant pics, I used photobucket instead of blogger this time.





I think we are going to have to get some other charms and make some more earrings. I have some fertility goddess charms I got off eBay that I must make into some earrings for me. I love fertility goddess jewelry. I already have a necklace and braclet from a swap with a friend a few years ago. But first our next project is an earring holder for all of Ms Em's new earring. Otherwise very soon, we will no longer have pairs of earrings. Stay tuned for a make and show this weekend.

FYI - Dollar Tree and cheap t-shirts and homeschooling

So if you got a Dollar Tree, I highly suggest going. Today mine had some really nice t-shirts for $1, like Hane's Just My Size and some nice Beefy Ts with several different styles from sleeveless to regular t's to even long sleeve. I got some cute pink ones for $1/ea. And if you live near Rockwall, TX, the manager told me he was putting out 5 more boxes full of t-shirts tomorrow. All sizes, all kinds. I grabbed a few for me and the kids to applique. I also picked up some onesies for my niece who is turning 1 yrs old. I'm going to applique something adorable for her and hopefully I can remember to take pictures and sew and show.

And I finally chose my curriculum for each child. I was originally wanting to do a packaged curriculum, but I didn't like the constrictiveness of it, so I created my own, lol. I'm such a control freak (that's my big secret, lol).

Anyway, so here is what we are going to do for the school year:

Ms Em will be a 4/5th grader -

Spelling - www.Spellingtime.com - this one is $38.88/yr for 1 child for 12 months

Math - Teaching Textbooks - www.teachingtextbooks.com - this starts in 5th grade math, I think they are starting a 4th grade soon though, but Ms Em passed the entrance exam to take 5th grade math. This one goes all the way up to precalculus.

Handwriting without Tears - www.hwtears.com

Wordly Wise - vocabulary workbooks (unless I like the new vocabulary website that the spellingtime people are launching this summer called http://www.bigvocabtime.com) - http://www.epsbooks.com/dynamic/catalog/series.asp?seriesonly=2431m

Grammer - Easy Grammer - workbooks for grammer/english - http://www.easygrammar.com/index2.html

Reading - Book Adventures - This is FREE - http://www.bookadventure.org/ - you chose your grade level, if you want easy , medium, or hard, and what kind of books interest you and then it gives you a giant list of books. After you have read the book, you come back and they have a quizz to take for your book.

History - Story of the World - http://peacehillpress.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=2 - I love this series of books. It's made to read history to your child.

Science - Young Scientist Club - http://www.theyoungscientistsclub.com/ - this can come monthly or bimonthly and kits build upon each other.

Art - http://www.meetthemasters.com/homeschool/index.html - they are moving to a completely online curriculum this summer


Mr E. - He is supposed to be PreK 4, but we are going to do kindergarten

Click n' Read Phonics - https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/index.php?option=com_epp_offer&Itemid=570

Handwriting Without Tears

Singapore Math - Kindergarten - http://www.singaporemath.com/

Meet the Masters

Young Scientists Club