Instant gratification - a shirt in one day

What did you do today?

Oh, nothing, really. Played with Madelyn, read my book, made a shirt.

You made a shirt?

Yup :)

I used Simplicity 2593, the same pattern I used to make this shirt. Except this time I made option D and added sleeves.

I love this pattern. I really liked how it turned out with this fabric. I think I'm getting better at sewing, too :) I made this one pretty quick, and didn't have to use the seam ripper once!! It might have helped that I've made it before, but I think my self-taught sewing skills are improving.

Cakes!!

This is the birthday cake I made for my sister last year. I got the idea from this website.



 I decided starbursts and gummi bears wouldn't taste very good with carrot cake and cream cheese frosting, so I used marshmallows instead.

These cakes were for a couple friends' birthdays. I had a lot of fun making them. I got the ideas from this website.

This is the cake I made for Madelyn's first birthday party. It kind of was a "cake wreck", but it was my first time using homemade fondant, so it could have been worse.

I had some trouble putting the white fondant on the cake. It was hard to get it rolled big enough to drape the entire cake without it cracking. I ended up just cutting it in pieces and patchworking it together. This is the good side :)

I used tiny circle cookie cutters to cut out the different sized/colored circles, then glued them on to the cake. I also decorated the candle. The tiny pumpkin pie was for Madelyn.

Elephant coat hanger

I bought this a while back at Craft Warehouse intending to decorate it for Madelyn's room. I finally got around to it today.

This is the before picture.

Madelyn dragged her rocking chair into the craft room to hang out while I worked on her elephant :)

I pulled out the pegs, then traced the elephant onto purple paper. I wanted the elephant purple, and it would have been tons easier to paint it purple, but I didn't have any purple paint.

So I painted it all green.

Then used some Mod Podge to glue the paper onto the elephant, then added an ear. I painted the knobs and re-glued them back onto the elephant.

I glued on a "saddle blanket", a button for the eye, and drew on some features.

Here it is on her wall.

And then with a couple things hanging from it.

Yay for quick and fun projects!!

I am linking with Tea Rose Home's Link Party.

Egg nest necklaces

I saw these on Etsy awhile back and really liked them. I was thinking about buying one, but then realized, wait, I can make that myself!!

To make the bird nests, I took three beads, put them a piece of wire, triangulated them, then just started wrapping wire around the beads. Once I got to the amount I wanted, I simply looped the wire around the sides, and made a loop at the top.

This is the first one I made. I'm keeping this one.

The second one.

And the third one. I'm giving this one to my mom (hope you like it!!). I had the hardest time matching chain to the wire I used to make the nest. I went to several different stores and could not find matching chain. This chain was from a necklace I had but took apart, which is why I ended up putting beads on the side (the existing necklace had that).



For future references, Etsy is a great place to spend forever looking for ideas.

Green Top

Yay!! My second shirt!! I love this one. I used Simplicity 2254.

I bought some really bright green fabric from Joann's with a coupon. I made view A, but without the stitching along the collar and sleeve.

Here it is.

Instead of sewing in the buttons on the front, I left the loops. I liked how they looked as they were. I also hemmed the bottom a little shorter than the pattern stated. I tried it on and pinned it where I wanted the hem. A shorter hem made it less tent-like and more tunic-like :)

I was pondering using this pattern to make a dress by extending the bottom to dress length. I think it would be a really cute sundress. Just need to buy more fabric... oh darn.

Utter Chaos

This is what happens when I try to work on a craft project while Madelyn is awake. She destroys everything...

A Springy Top

The weather has been awful lately, it's April and we had snow-like hail yesterday. What is going on? To get in the mood for spring, however, I bought some colorful fabric and some new patterns for some bright spring tops. I just finished the first one and love how it turned out.

I used Simplicity 2593

Here's how it turned out!!

I was originally going to create view A with the rolled detail around the neck, but it didn't look right, so I left it plain. I added a tie belt so it would have more of a defined waist.

I really liked this pattern. It was extremely easy to sew, and provides a good basic shape that I can use to embellish or alter in the future. I will definitely be using this pattern again. I might try the sleeves option next.

I am linking with Tea Rose Home's Link Party.