The Beginning of a Fashion Designer

Ever since my daughter was 4 she has let me know that when she grows up she is going to be a Fashion Designer.  She has asked many times for me to teach her how to sew.  But I don't really like people messing with my sewing machine.  A few months ago I found a decent brand new sewing machine on sale for under $50 and bought it for her.  I told her that it would be in her room but I wouldn't teach her how to sew unless her desk was clean so we could sew.  Well, have you heard that creative people tend to be messy?  That's my daughter.  (Well, it's kind of me too.  But this isn't about me!)

Yesterday she cleaned off her desk!!!!  So it was time to sew.  Most people choose to make a pillowcase as their first project.  But as I mentioned before, my daughter wants to be a Fashion Designer.  And a pillowcase isn't her idea of the perfect sewing project.  So I decided to start her off with an infinity scarf.

She chose a Disney fabric because, well, we are all slightly obsessed with Disney in this family.  Her fabric is a pinkish/purplish flannel with Aurora and Maleficent and the Dragon.  (It was already in my large Disney fabric stash that I'm hoarding at my house so I'm not sure if they still sell it).

After a long conversation about safety and all of that fun stuff, she helped me cut a piece of fabric to make it 12" x 60".

At this point we should have hemmed one side.  But we didn't.  I had to help her with that later.

She folded the right sides of the fabric together (long ways) and pinned it. (This made the fabric 6" x 60").

It was time to finally break in her sewing machine!!!  I chose this project because all she had to do was sew a somewhat straight line.

Here is where I slacked in the pictures.  I forgot about my camera!  So let me try to explain.  After sewing the long side together we turned the fabric right side out to make it a tube.  Then I helped her hem one side of the tube.  We stuck the edge that wasn't hemmed into the hemmed edge, pinned it and sewed it together.

She is so proud of her new infinity scarf and plans to make lots more! (It's almost a shame we live in Florida and have very little cold weather).

The Non Traditional Birthday Cake

Today marks my niece's 12th birthday.

As with many of her birthdays we are celebrating it at our cabin in Maine - which does not have my KitchenAid Stand Mixer, stoneware pans and other favorite baking utensils that are back at my house in Florida. I am not a huge fans of store bought cakes (which seem expensive for mediocre flavor or really expensive for a wonderfully tasting cake).  While that may seem like a conundrum in itself it's worse because she doesn't really like cake.

I am known for my homemade chocolate chip cookies.  She loves them, as does the rest of the family.   But they seemed so unbirthday like.  Hmmm...what should I do?

A Chocolate Chip Cookie Birthday Pie!!  I would love to say that I came up with this creation myself.  But I didn't.  While searching on Pinterest I found this recipe on a blog that said they adapted the Nestle Toll House recipe.  However, when I looked at the Nestle Toll House recipe I realized it was an identical recipe.  Seriously people, don't pass something off as your own version if it's not.  The credit goes to Nestle Toll House.

You can find the recipe here:
Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Pie

Although my favorite baking aids were not up here, my mom had this beautiful green pie plate that I thought would be wonderful to dress up a celebration.  I just love it!  I"m sure that in the coming years I'll be using it more for a variety of other pies. Now if only I really knew how to crimp pie dough, lol.  If anyone has tips on that please let me know.

This pie looked good even before it was in the oven!  Probably because I'm a sucker for anything chocolate chip cookie dough! The pie came out a little bit dark but my brown sugar was really dark.  Next time I'll be using light brown sugar so it looks a little more appealing.  Sometimes you just have to use what you have :)

The Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Pie was a complete hit.  Serve it with a little bit of ice cream or whip cream - yum!  Since we are in Maine for so many of her birthdays I think I'll tuck this recipe away to celebrate with it again.

I'm curious ... do any of you make a non traditional birthday cake?  If so, what do you make?  Thanks for sharing!

Maine Wildlife Park

Every year we are lucky enough to travel to a family cabin in Maine for a couple of weeks out of the summer. Spending the summer in Maine, however, always causes a conundrum in my family.  Some of us just want to sit by the water, read a book and relax.  Others want to travel around the state.

In the past my husband and I have traveled several hours to Greenville, Maine to see moose.  We didn't bring the kids.  This year there was chatter that they also wanted to see a moose but didn't want to go so far from the cabin.  A friend of mine mentioned a place in Gray, Maine called the Maine Wildlife Park.

Getting to the Park from where our cabin is (near Bath, Maine) was not fun for those who succumb to car sickness.  Our group used Sea Bands to help out with it but there's your warning.  I'm not sure if there's an easier way to go.  We used our phone's GPS to get there.

The park was beautiful and a lot more than I expected.  There are over 30 species of native Maine Wildlife.  Here are just a few pictures of the animals we saw:

And best of all, we saw a moose!!!  Unfortunately I was not able to get a good picture because they were sitting so close to the fence.  There were 2 male and 2 female moose.

The walk through the woods was beautiful and as you can see the animals were very cool.  The animals housed at the Maine Wildlife Park were rescued and cannot survive in the wildlife alone, which I like better than a regular zoo.  According to a volunteer we talked to at the Park, it only has 4 employees and lots of volunteers who keep up the grounds gorgeous, act as tour guides and so much more.

The only downside I found is if you are visiting mid-day and  forget to bring a lunch.  Snacks and other sweet stuff are sold but no actual food you would consider lunch.  So don't forget to bring your picnic baskets!

The Maine Wildlife Park is open every day during the season from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. (although guests already in the park can stay until 6 p.m.).

For more information on prices, events, photo passes, volunteering etc. visit Maine Wildlife Park.

DIY - Girl Scout Apron

2016 was the 3rd year my daughter sold Girl Scout Cookies - she loves it!  As with most kids, she was really excited about the prizes she could receive.  In particular the memory box (which she plans on using as a recipe box - I'm so proud!) and the Girl Scout cookie apron.

Unfortunately, to get the apron the troop as a whole had to sell a certain amount of cookies per girl - and our troop fell a little short.  She was disappointed but she understood.  It was when she received the Girl Scout cookie bandana that an idea began to form.  We would make our own apron!!

I came up with a design so I wouldn't have to cut the bandana (in case she ever wanted to use it as a bandana.  I doubt she will, but who knows).  Now, before we get into this project, I have to remind you of something.  I am no Martha Stewart.  The way I do things may not be the correct way, but they work for me.

The bandana that was given to me was approximately 20" x 20".  And a beautiful fabric.

To begin with I turned the fabric inside out and sewed two of the sides together.  The seam became the back of the apron.  At this point you can also sew the bottom of the apron together.

Next measure on your girl where her arms are.  You want to fold two triangles into the top (back side) of the apron and pin them.  Like this:

 Sew the long outside edge of the triangle.

Now on the triangle's opposite side sew from the top corner down the long side only HALF WAY.  (Sorry, the green part in the picture is the ribbon you'll be adding in a moment).  Repeat on the other side.

Then you're going to take ribbon (I found a color similar to Girl Scout green at the Dollar Store) and thread it through both sides of the apron, making a loop at the top.

And you're DONE!  Here is the final result on my Girl Scout:

Questions?  Just ask!

Halloween Spell Book Tutorial

A couple of weeks ago, as part of a Disney craft swap group, I made some Halloween Spell Books.  Several people asked me either to A) Make them one they could buy or B) Tell them how to make them.  I still needed to make myself a Spell Book and I don't like selling my crafts because my perfectionism drives me crazy if I do, so I decided to make a tutorial.

Materials:

- Book you aren't intending to read again

- Plastic Halloween decorations (spiders, skeletons, vampire teeth, etc)

- Hot glue gun

- paper towel

- modge podge

- black paint

- gold or copper paint

- black ribbon

I started with a book I bought from the Dollar Store.  I chose it because the cover was already black so I knew that I wouldn't have trouble covering it with black paint.

My husband applauded my choice of books because he has apparently read the Portrait of Dorian Gray and thought it was an appropriate Halloween book.  I'll take his word for it.  I love to read, but not thrillers.  I opened the book to the middle and sprayed the pages with a whole bunch of water.  this gave it a curled, older look.

Now you can create the two inner pages yourself or you can find some on the internet.  Thank you to http://griffithsrated.blogspot.com for creating these pages that I used.  You can download them here:  http://www.mediafire.com/folder/vdsbazb64zz7d45,tqm8s3qpdx41376/shared  I only had a black and white laser printer so I needed to make my pages look a little older.  I brewed some tea (because I'm slightly addicted to Sweet Tea) and then pressed the used tea bags all over the pages and let them dry.

Next it was time to work on the outside of the book.  I took some of the plastic Halloween decorations and glued them on.  You can also use raised letters, thumbtacks, etc. to decorate your book.

After gluing take a piece of paper towel and separate the two layers.

Modge podge the entire cover of the book, including over the Halloween decorations.  Don't worry if the paper towel gets wrinkled or overlaps on each other.  At this point it doesn't look very pretty.  But it will get better.

When the modge podge is completely dry, paint over it with black paint.  When the black paint is dry, lightly brush over  all of the decorations and bumps with gold or copper paint to give it more of an aged look.

When the cover is completely dry it's time to turn it over.  Take your dried pages and modge podge them into the book.

After the modge lodge is dry just cut a piece of black ribbon and hot glue it to the middle of your book from your bookmark.

I hope you guys enjoyed this tutorial!  If you have any questions, please let me know!

Superman Taggie Blanket

A good friend of mine, Keri, is expecting in August!

I'm planning to give Keri quite a few practical things.  But I also wanted to give her some personalized gifts for the baby.  They have not yet revealed his name.  However, after throwing her a really cute Gender Reveal Party in March (maybe one day I'll remember to post it!), we discovered that she LOVES Superman.  Yes, it's a boy.

I recently received the Baby Shower invitation, unfortunately I'm going to have to miss the shower because it's during our trip to Maine.  Anyway.  Around the same time I received the invitation I found some super cute, not too expensive fabric at Wal-mart.  It was meant to be.

The first thing I decided to make with this fabric is a Taggie Blanket.  This is a really easy project, great for beginners.

The first thing you are going to do is cut 2 shapes (they need to be mirror images of each other) out of fabric.  You don't need a whole lot of fabric and your really can choose any dimensions you want.  A lot of people do square taggie blankets, they are probably the easiest.  Because of the theme I chose to cut out a Superman symbol.

Now its time to cut out your ribbon.  I had a variety of ribbon just laying around so I chose 5 of them that coordinated with my fabric. It's great to have a variety of sizes and texture.  I then cut them into 3 inch strips.

I folded the ribbons in half and sandwich the ribbons between the two pieces of fabric (the fabric is going to be right sides touching each other).  The rough edges of the ribbon matched up with the rough edge of the fabric.  Place a pin on each piece of ribbon to hold it in place.  You can measure to make sure the ribbons are the same distance apart but you don't have to (I didn't).

Sew around the fabric, carefully removing the pins while keeping the ribbon in place.  Leave space open between two ribbons so that you can turn the fabric right side out.  After sewing go ahead and turn the fabric right side out.

Now it's time to close that small opening.

Simply fold the unfinished edges in.  Then stitch around the edge of the ENTIRE blanket (this is called top stitching.  It will close the opening, make the blanket look nicer and help make sure the ribbons don't come out.)

And Wallah!  Your taggie blanket!!!

Stay tuned for a couple of more projects with the left over material!

The 20-minute (sort of) Kid's Skirt Tutorial

Disclaimer #1.

The skirt should only take about 20 minutes.  I made 3 and it took me 2 days.  This is due to spending time with the kids, having to cook dinner/lunch, kids interrupting me when I was actually sewing/ironing, a migraine and not being able to sew when the kids were in bed because my husband was also in bed (My sewing machine is in the bedroom.  He's had a long week at work.)  During the school year, when the kids are at school, I can usually do this in 20 minutes.

Disclaimer #2.

The person who taught me to sew is one of my best friends.  She is awesome.  She also teaches improv for a living (she does workshops and conferences - check her out.  http://www.improveffect.com)  Her sewing can also be described as improv.  There isn't a lot of measurement when making these skirts.  So, the technique I'm giving you works for us but you can always improvise on my tutorial to make it work for you.

I went shopping the other day and came across there fabrics I knew that my daughter would love them: Olaf in Summer, Minions and Inside Out.  Time to make some skirts!

My daughter is 7 (she'll be 8 in just 4 months) but she's very petite.  She just barely wears a 5T in jeans (I have to adjust the elastic in them to make them the skinniest 5T possible).  She's between short and average height.  Since her waist is so small most of the skirts and shorts at the store are what I consider too short for her.  So for me, this skirt is perfect.  She gets the designs she wants and I don't have to worry if it's too short.

All you need is 1/2 yard of fabric, 3/4 inch elastic and a safety pin.  A half yard is the perfect size for my daughter.  It falls around her knees.  If your daughter is smaller you may choose to shorten it a bit.

Step 1

Wash your fabric.  I do this for 2 reasons.  One, every thing I read about fabrics say you should wash them first because of shrinkage.  I'm not sure that would be an issue with this skirt but I still do it.  Two, the moment I finish the skirt my daughter wants to wear it.  It's already washed so I feel okay about letting her.  Go ahead and cut off the part of the fabric on the selvage that doesn't look the rest of the fabric (It's the part that that reads that the fabric is copyrighted and for home use only, etc, etc.)

Step 2

Break out the iron.  I'll admit right now, I hate to iron.  But it's kind of a necessity.  The first thing I do is iron my half a yard of fabric to get all the wrinkles from the dryer out.  Then at the bottom of the fabric I iron a hem.

Here's where my improv skills come in.  I don't actually measure the hem.  There are tools to do that and I know that some of you want it to be exact.  That's cool.  If I were making these to sell I would probably want to but my daughter is okay if it's not perfect and I'm okay if it's not perfect, so I eyeball it.  Anyway, I fold the bottom of the material about 1/4 to 1/2 inch, and then fold it over again and iron.  The reason I do it twice is to try to prevent the fabric from fraying when it gets washed.  If it makes you feel better you can then pin it.  I find that for me, with a really hot iron, I don't need to pin it.  For those of you who are new to sewing, the hem on this skirt goes from selvage to selvage.  A selvage is the finished edge of the fabric.  It runs the entire length of the bolt.

Step 3

Now it's time to add the waistband to the skirt.  Iron a 1/4 to 1/2 inch hem at the top (you don't have to do the double one like you did at the bottom of the skirt).  Now fold it 1 and 1/2 to 2 inches down and iron.  Essentially it's folded twice again to prevent fraying in future washes.  It should look like this:

(First Fold in Waistband)

(Second Fold in Waistband)

Step 4

Time to sew!  I use a zigzag stitch to further prevent fraying.  I'm not sure if this is necessary, but it's what I do.  First, sew the hem at the bottom of the skirt.

Then sew the waistband at the top.  After you are done the back of your fabric should look like this (bottom of skirt is on the left, top of skirt is on the right):

The front of your fabric should look like this:

Step 5

Adding elastic to your waistband.  The first thing you want to do is measure how much elastic you'll need.  You can either take a soft tape measure and measure your daughter's waist or you can take the elastic, loosely hold it around her waist and then cut it where it meets.  Do not add extra to the measurement, it will stretch. Now put the safety pin through one end of the elastic, like this:

Then start feeding the elastic through the waistband.

Use the safety pin to temporary pin the two ends of the elastic together.

Step 6

Now turn the skirt inside out.  The right side of the fabric should be touching each other.  Pin the side of the skirt.

When you get to the waist band of the skirt, take the safety pin out of the elastic.  Overlap the elastic and tuck it into the waistband.  

Use another pin to hold it.  Now just sew up the side.

Step 7

You're done!

 If I'm unclear on any parts or if you just have a question, feel free to ask!!!!

I'm thinking of doing a tutorial next on how to make Minnie Ears.  Let me know if you're interested!