Appliquéd Tie Onesie

Let's face it... the onesie tie tutorial has been around the block or two, but I still can't get enough of them! They are beyond adorable and make for an awesome (and inexpensive) baby-shower gift! I love the fact that you can customize them for each person you are giving them to. I downloaded the FREE pattern on Crap I've Made, and followed her detailed step-by-step tutorial! 

I have quite a few friends who graduated from the University of Florida. Each of them are die-hard fans, which ultimately means their children will be (forced to be) die-hard fans as well! You can customized these onesie ties with just about any type of fabric you can find! 

Pictured above is a homemade card and a two pack of customized Florida Gator onesies tied with some coordinating blue ribbon. The parents who received this belated baby gift are huge Gator fans and beyond loved the personalized onesies for their new baby boy! 

I bought some Florida State Seminole fabric to make an appliqued tie onesie for another friend of mine. 

This same friend has "a house divided" (her and her husband each graduated from a rival college). I sent one of each onesie to them; Florida State University and then one of the variations of the Florida Gator's onesie tie. Both parents fought over which onesie the baby would wear first. 

If you haven't gathered yet from a few of our "sports related post" we are HUGE Pittsburgh Steelers fans. I figured it was most appropriate to send the Steeler's onesie for my cousin Ricky to wear! 

Here are the three onesies we sent to my newest cousin earlier this year. 

Here is my new baby cousin, Ricky, surrounded by all of his gifts from us, and of course modeling his Steeler's onesie! He's ready for Football season. Is everyone else? 

And for some giggles here is a sneak peak into our photo shoot. 

Mr. Woodsy was part of my close line! He never fails to amaze me with his eagerness to help! 

Pacifier Clip

Back in January I saw this blog post from Running with Scissors about making your own pacifier clip. Since I have a million friends (ok maybe I'm exaggerating on the number) that all seem to be having babies I figured this would be a perfect project to try and hopefully give as gifts! Right after my most recent cousin was born I decided I would give this project a try. I am not going to re-create the wheel here since Jessica did a great job on her tutorial. 

This project took me a little longer than 10 minutes {as stated on Jessica's tutorial}; however, most projects take me double if not triple the amount of time. I think it would have been easier if I would have chosen a non-satin ribbon. This was an easy and inexpensive gift to make. 

I can't wait to make more in the future! 

4th of July Word Cloud {How to make}

I love the varieties of subway art that all the crafters in the world make; however, lately I've had very little time to make anything. I recently started using a very cool and free word cloud generator; Wordle. 

I decided to give this free program a try in hopes I could make some cool word art for the Fourth of July. A lot of teachers use this program to make classroom decor or even assign projects to students. You can either type in words to create your word cloud or type in a URL. I choose to copy and paste the first paragraph about Independence Day in Wikipedia. Then I multiplied words to make them stand out more. Once I hit the generate button. Once you've generated your word cloud you can delete words by selecting a "right click". Wordle provides the user with a variety of fonts along with color schemes to choose from. You can also decide whether or not you want it vertical or horizontal or a mixture of both! I choose to make mine fully horizontal, I added in custom patriotic colors and used the "Loved By The King" font. 

I also looked on the forum board to see what other tips and tricks I could learn. 

If you want one word to stand out more than others you want to repeat it more times than the rest of the words. 

Here is an example of what I copied and pasted and manipulated in the generator box:

fireworks IndependenceDay fireworks IndependenceDay fireworks IndependenceDay fireworks IndependenceDay fireworks IndependenceDay fireworks IndependenceDay,  JulyFourth JulyFourth JulyFourth JulyFourth  JulyFourth JulyFourth July federal holiday federal holiday in the UnitedStates commemorating of the DeclarationOfIndependence DeclarationOfIndependence on July 4, 1776  July 4, 1776  July 4, 1776  July 4, 1776  July 4, 1776, declaring independence  IndependenceDay is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games, family reunions, political speeches  ceremonies, and various other public and private events celebrating history, government, celebrating history, government, and traditions of the UnitedStates. IndependenceDay is the national day of the United States UnitedStates UnitedStates UnitedStates UnitedStates UnitedStates United States

I had some difficulties trying to post my wordle into my blog post. You will want to select "print" at the bottom of the screen, and then click on "PDF". Save the wordle as a PDF, and then re-open the PDF and do a "save as" to make it a JPG. This will allow you to post it on your blog or on a public site.  

Just think of the creative possibilities you can do with this awesome free program! Baby shower gifts, birthday/anniversary gifts, home decor, and holiday inspired themes just to name a few.  


Now, that I've introduced you to Wordle, I'd love to see you come up with your own! You can link your Wordle examples below, and share with others! I'll keep this link open for the next month!

Wordle link up ONLY! :) 

Simple {Reversible} Tote Bag

*This is the only photo I have and it was taken on a camera phone. 

One of my first sewing projects I attempted after receiving my sewing machine in 2009 was the simple (reversible) tote bag. I found a plethora of awesome tutorials from Skip to My Lou, and instantly fell in love with the reversible tote bag. It looked easy and I figured it would be a great first project. This one hour project took me at least a good 3 hours. I think I had to seam rip a good three times, and at one point I had sewn the bag completely shut! In the end it was a great learning experience. 

*This photo was taken on my camera phone. 

I made this bag for my sister in-law to house her birthday gifts last year! I used four full fat quarters and a quarter of a fifth fat quarter. This is probably my favorite bag I've made to date, and after making it I never found the same fat quarter pattern again at JoAnn's. 

*This photo was taken on my camera phone. 

I love the contrast of the blue inside the bag. Not sure if you can tell, but the straps have little blue flowers on them that match perfectly with the inside. 

After almost a year of no tote bag making I made a tote bag for a very special 3 year old's birthday!

It housed her birthday gifts, and best of all she now has a new bag to tote around her toys. I used my Fabric Heat-N-Bond application to apply her name and the crown to the bag. 

I am so pleased on how the letters came out! 

Here is what the bag looks like when it's inside out.

So, if your looking for an easy, beginners, sewing project. This my friends, would be the project for you! 

Tutorial: Monogramed Tile Coasters

I've scene this tutorial on mutltiple blogs--so many that I think it would take up my whole post to name all the tutorials. I figured I would host my own tutorial; to add to the hundreds of others out there! This is a pretty simple project, and makes for a great inexpensive gift (or simply to just spice up a boring coffee table)! The first time I made these was for a house warming gift (see the picture in our header). *I labeled this as $10 project giving the cost of all the supplies involved. Once you own the supplies this comes out to less than $5 for the set of 4 coasters.

Supplies Needed:

- 4 Ceramic 4.25” x 4.25” inch tiles

- 4 (4x4 inch) pieces of foam (or cork)

- Mod Podge, Matte

- Spray Adhesive & super glue

- Old gift card (for spreading glue)

- Sponge brush

- 1 piece of 12x12 scrapbook paper (cut into four, 4x4 pieces)

- 4 letter cut outs of choice

- Crystal clear acrylic spray

First you will want to adhere the foam onto the bottom of the tile using spray adhesive. (This will help protect the surface the coaster will reside on.) You will also want to add a drop of super glue to each corner of the foam. This will guarantee that the foam will not come off the tile. 

Next you will want to apply a generous layer of mod podge to the top of the tile. Then add a single layer of 4x4 scrapbook paper to the top of the tile that has modge podge on it. You will want to use an old gift card to gently move the bubbles from underneath the paper. Once you've done this you will want to place mod podge on the edges of the title and seal the edges. I like the wrapped look, so I typically have a smidge of overage that I need to wrap around the tile. Once this is done apply a generous coat of mod podge to the top layer. Let it dry before continuing onto the next step. 

Next, you will apply another layer of modge podge onto the top of the scrapbook paper, then add your cut out letter of choice. I used the Happy Hauntings "spooky font" (can't remember the exact size) and cut it out with my cricut.  Make sure you modge podge over the letter as well, and then let it dry.

 Add two more layers of mod podge to the tile (letting it dry in between the two additional layers). This will ensure that the coaster is sealed and will prevent any future water damage. *You'll notice that the mod podge goes on white. It will dry clear. Don't worry! 

Lastly, you will want to spray a thin layer of crystal clear acrylic to each coaster top to ensure that no moisture gets into the coaster. This will also give a nice shine.  

Here is the finished product! 

As seen on: Craft Gawker