stockings!

 I have been so excited to show you the stockings I made for us! I told myself I would make them before Christmas this year....last year. So, I made my deadline, but barely. Oh well! Without further ado...our stockings!

I used Anna's tutorial-and love how they turned out! I did cut my accent piece of fabric 1.25" instead of 2 and adjusted it as needed. That's the only change. I chose a simple font to embroider the names-Castorgate.

I just love the fabrics...

  Home Dec fabric from Joann's...sorry don't have the selvage anymore!

 Michael Miller Large Whimsy Doozie in Candy

 Michael Miller Geranium Ta Dot and Large Whimsy Doozie in Candy

Michael Miller Large Whimsy Doozie in Candy

 I LOOVE the ribbon I picked out-some candy cane striped grosgrain. Purchased here.

I am still trying to figure out my Christmas decorating style.  These stockings are a step in the right direction...wish me luck!

giveaway-vibrant designs bag

 ***This giveaway is now closed***

 Hey there! Hope you all had a great weekend...I did!

It was a whirlwind-lots of family get togethers, and an engagement! My brother and his girlfriend Anna got engaged on Saturday-we couldn't be happier-they are perfect for each other!

Aaaaand I have an awesome giveaway for you today!

 Julie, from Vibrant Designs, is giving away this gorgeous Hobo bag to one of you lucky readers! This would be a perfect gift for a sister, mother, gal pal, or anyone who needs a great bag...(yourself included ;)

 She is also offering a 20% discount to all Craftiness is not Optional readers for 2 weeks after the giveaway! Awesome :) Use the code: Craftiness20 while checking out at her Etsy store.

 

To enter: (two ways)

1. (MUST do this) Become a follower of the Vibrant Designs blog. Leave a comment on this post letting me know you are a follower, and your favorite item in her etsy store!

2. (for an extra entry) If you are a follower of this blog, or become one....leave another comment letting me know that for another entry.

Please include your email address in your comment so I can contact you if you win! This is important! You can write it out like this: craftinessisnotoptional(at)gmail(dot)com, if you are worried about spammers. If you accidentally post double a comment, go back and delete it please. :)

International entries are welcome.

Comments will be open until this Friday, December 3rd, and a winner will be randomly selected then. 

Good luck!

The winner of the Vibrant Designs bag is......Katherine, Jerrod and Elizabeth! Congrats! I'll be getting in touch. :D

cutest. pilgrims. ever.

am I right? or am I right. ;) Hope your Thanksgiving was great! (if you're in the states that is, if not, hope your Thursday was great ;) We had a huge crowd and TONS of delicious food to eat! The highlights were the Bunco tournament, food (of course), visiting (although I still didn't get to visit with everyone!), parties in the baby-nursing room (haha), and trying these pilgrim hats on the kiddos. 

That little guy is my cousins son Everett. He is so cute, and soo tall! He's a good couple inches taller than Charlotte, and she's older. (by two weeks) Of course, she has my genes and is destined to become a lengthy 5' 4''. woot! How was your Thanksgiving? Did you eat til you burst? Shop til you dropped this morning? We picked out our Christmas tree this morning and I'm so excited to set up Christmas decorations! I am almost finished with our stockings-just have to sew on the ribbons to hang them from-and then I'll show ya. I LOVE them. Can't wait! Enjoy your leftovers! We're off to a second dinner at my inlaws. :D

simple felt bow tutorial

I whipped out these cute lil bows the other day and took a few pics to show ya...They're pretty self explanatory, but I'll add words anyways.

Minimally.

Click below for more!

blue shirt for me

Thanks for all the birthday wishes yesterday! I had a great birthday and got to see the new Harry Potter movie-which was awesome! I loved it...and now the torture of waiting for the last part starts....grr...

so here's something I made awhile ago for myself.......I know-shocker! Not something for the kiddos. I've been wanting to try out this pattern-so I gave it a shot with this blue flowered fabric I picked up thrifting for about $2. I figured if it didn't work out, at least I didn't waste the expensive stuff. I followed the advice here about pinching out an inch on the yoke-it worked great!

I like how it turned out! It's a bit baggy in front so it's good for those chubbier days. (ya know ;)

and this is my sassy pose. no head in the pics today-didn't feel like showing you the sah-weet faces I make while posing. They're winners, I'm telling you.

twenty six

Happy Birthday to me! 

One year older and wiser (?)...I won't say anything about how old I'm getting, cause I tend to get a lot of flack whenever I do that. So I guess I'm not that old...but the other side of 25 feels weird. 

In honor of my birthday, here are a few things I'm loving right now, just for fun! ;)

The start of our family stockings: Charlotte's was first cause her name is the longest to embroider. Mine's next, followed by Sadie and Rory. At least only half of our family have long names! ;)

This little felt flower clip I made the other day. Nothing special, just loving the little leaves. My sister Janae came over to hang out the other night and we made hair clips galore! We had a great time watching music videos on you tube while crafting it up! This one's my fav right now.

This pile of sweet new fabrics just waiting to be played with! I picked the top one up at Joann's for 50% off...love those Joann's ladies...she gave the end of bolt price to me on the whole yard, not just the last two inches. :D

Almost done with my gifts I am making this year, but still some shopping to do. Getting close though! (close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades so I'd better get crackin'!)

My birthday gift to myself

Also can't wait to see lots of family this week for Thanksgiving. We've got about 40 people coming (!) and had to move the dinner to our church in order to fit us all. Should be fun-and filling.

Can't wait to get our tree/lights/decorations for Christmas up!!I am sooo excited this year!

My birthday plans are: watch Harry Potter tonight and eat some cake with my family. :) Happy days. 

want some scraps?

 

First TWO people to comment get 'em! (US only, sorry) 

They are gallon size bags, just so's you know.

aaaaand.....GO!

Now come back and look at these cute turkey sandwiches I made for the kiddos at a play date I hosted today. I took the general idea (found on many blogs online) and used what I had on hand to make some wee birds. The kids devoured them! except for the undesirable bread scraps.

I also made these pilgrim hats for dessert!  I found the idea here.

They were tasty and cute, always a good combo! (do you like my new tablecloth?)

Happy Friday!

Thanksgiving/fall dresses

So...I couldn't help making some matching "dresses" for the girls to wear on Thanksgiving. I picked up a cute top made of fall-ish fabric last time I was thrifting, and used that for the ruffles. I used this tutorial-and almost threw in the towel halfway through when I remembered I hate making ruffles.

HA! The joke was on me.

 Luckily, I persevered and I think they turned out ok. The middle ruffle isn't really ruffly cause I was working with what I had at the moment, but oh well! I also slapped on some quick matching appliques to the front of the tee.

 

It took me FOREVER to find a good spot to take pics of these. You can kind of see the changing leaves on the trees in this pic...that's about all we get in Cali. ;}

christmas fabric picks

 For our matching coordinating family stockings:

 found in this etsy shop and this one

and for the girls' coordinating matching Christmas dresses:

 found in this etsy shop

 I can't wait to get sewing!

gathered clutch

 I finally made one of Anna's gathered clutches-it's been on my to do list for ages! (well, ok, since she posted it-but it feels like forever)

I got the Joel Dewberry fabric for my birthday from my pal Cassy (another fabric lover-so we always know what to get each other!) and I wanted to make something special from it. For me!

So happy birthday to me! (it's next monday in case you're wondering or want to send me fabric.)

;) haha

It was a quick sew and I love how it came together. Anna, you've inspired me-I just bought a bunch of zippers and am planning to make more!

ironing board cover tutorial

 I made this tutorial FOREVER ago...and am just now getting around to posting it. eh.



I needed a new ironing board cover-my old one was getting grungy! These are so easy-but I thought I'd make a tutorial of how I did it anyways. here goes...

Click below for more!

thoughts

 I've been working on another sew along project...the first go-round was an utter failure-luckily an easy fix though. I'm not sure when I'll get that done. Would anyone even be interested in doing that before the holidays, or would after them be better?

and speaking of sew alongs-check out this UBER cute Sadie shirt my BFF Cassy made-isn't it adorable!? I am soo in love with the fabric combo-and she made the bottom portion gathered all the way around. love it! She said she had extra of the plaid if I wanted it so I plan on taking it off her hands. ;)

 

sooo...It feels like my plate has been stacking up lately...with projects, yes... (of course) but also with things I want to and should be doing. Like working on my patience. Sadie has been ERRRR AHHH lately. (that's me screaming in frustration) She's testing her boundaries-learning to kick and hit as well, and today she bit me on the leg! WHA?

It's been swell. I have to laugh to keep from crying when dealing with her. (or swatting her on the bum)

And baby. Last night I got about 3 hours of sleep...due to one little miss who forgot that night times are for sleeping! (she did have some gas, but still! gas drops should fix anything, I think)

This is going to be a random post, I can feel it in me bones.

Christmas shopping is in full swing round these parts. I'm (gasp!) not making many presents this year. Just a few. I wore myself out making the kitchen and blocks last year and didn't get to enjoy the last few weeks before the big day. Not going to make that mistake this year! I want to enjoy Christmas-time! Superwoman-I am not. I surrender the cape.

So, I guess I'm a little lackluster today. Probably the 3 hours of sleep talking. ;) Feeling a bit overwhelmed is all. Mostly with kid/life stuff. 

I want to thank you all for stopping by my little slice of ye 'ol internet. I appreciate all your comments-even if I don't always respond. (I try to, but you know life...)

I also wanted to see what you like about my blog-what you'd like to see more of, less of, etc...More recipes? I have a few but haven't gotten around to posting them. I can't promise to stop sewing dress ups though, so don't ask it of me! haha. 

I have been meaning to take pictures of the kitchen and living room to show you-I've been sprucing those up lately too. :D which reminds me....

...We got a new lamp in our master and I. love. it. Ignore the rest of the dresser, please...but helllo gorgeous.

So that's where my mind's at these days. A little bit frazzled but still working.

Snow White sleeves tutorial

 

OK, so I said I'd put together a quick tutorial on the Snow White sleeves-so I'm writing it up and posting it so I won't forget! (Like I've ever done that before. heh heh)

Alos, sorry about the bad quality of these pics-this was done at night time, obviously!

Click below for more!  

rapunzel, rapunzel....

....Let down your hair!

I just had to make a Rapunzel (from the new Disney movie) dress for Sadie. (had to-meaning...I am very slightly off my rocker when it comes to dress up)

 I used this dress as a starting point, but made it a lot simpler-no overlay on the skirt, embroidery, etc.

 I sewed on some ribbon for the stripey sleeves-love how that turned out! I cut my front bodice piece in half-them trimmed it down til there was room for the white piece, trimmed the edges in bias tape, and then sewed ribbon in a zig zag pattern to a piece of white satin-then sewed that underneath the front piece. (no tute this time, so i hope that made some sort of sense)

 

Next on my hit list:

Jasmine

Sleeping Beauty

Belle, redux. 

 (the elastic on Sadie's dress shrunk up and is now knee length at best, hehe. Oh well!)

chairs

 

Found these chairs at our local Salvation Army 50% sale the other day. (please, ignore the craptastic plaid fabric-that will be changed-SOON!) 

I almost freaked out from excitement when I saw them! We bought a round table there last week with 3 leaves for our dining room, so I'd been looking around online for chairs-and they can get soo expensive!! We got the table for $40 though, so I was (maybe) willing to spend a little more on chairs. 

So anyways, I spotted these, saw the price tag, hailed my awesome Sal Army furniture guy (yes, he knows my name, haha I'm there a lot lately) and slapped some SOLD tags on these babies. Good thing too, cause I saw two other people asking about them later. They are in great shape too.

The price tag? 

$5 each. 

The funny thing is, I was just admiring Candace's chairs she found and fixed up, and lamenting the fact that I can never find awesome stuff like that-and then these showed up!

Love it when the universe is on my side. :D

guest post-kojo designs

 

Check out my freezer paper project today over on Kojo Designs' Gifts for Guys series! There's sure to be tons of fun projects for the guys in your life. Can't wait for some inspiration!

Happy (manly) crafting!

I love to sew! Lots and lots of cute girly things for my two daughters. 

I just don't make much for the guys. 

It's kind of tricky to find something they'll like that's not too girly, or too homemade, or whatever else isn't allowed by the male species. So, I was soo excited to hear that Kirstin and Jordan were putting together this Gifts for Guys series! I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with. 

I stuck with something pretty basic-freezer paper stenciling a t-shirt. Not earth-shattering by any means-but super easy to customize to your recipient. 

Like, maybe he lives in Northern California?

and has a lot of state pride?

and will wear whatever I make him? or else?

Hence, this Nor Cal shirt was born.

Here's what you'll need:

freezer paper 

 (next to the foil, baggies, etc in the grocery store...one roll will last, I'm pretty sure, your whole life)

cutting tool

t-shirt

sponge brush

fabric paint

pencil

 First, decide what you'd like to stencil. For me, it was the Nor Cal logo-but I couldn't find one large enough online-so I copied it as best I could freehand-ish. Trace with a pencil on the papery side of your freezer paper. (the other side is shiny)

Now using your cutting tool, cut out all the spots you want to be covered with paint. Make sure to keep the middles of letters!

Position on your tee...

 ...and iron onto your tee-with no steam. Add your middles of letters in too! Make sure all the edges are well ironed and that you have a good seal. Inevitably you will have some leaking but hopefully less than I did this time!

Also, make sure to put a piece of cardboard inside the shirt-or you can iron another piece of freezer paper to the inside of the shirt so the fabric paint doesn't leak through.

Next: painting! The trick I use is to dab the paint in from the edge of the freezer paper, so you're not smushing the paint under the paper. Does that make sense? I did a good 4-5 coats of this white-on-navy so it would be nice and bright white.

I also added the star in the middle with some yellow felt instead of painting it-it adds some dimension and I like it cause it's cute cool.

then tada! You have a cool (not cute) custom tee!

Then hang it up and take a picture-cause there's NO way my hubby was going to model this for me. ;)