little striped top

I had the hankering for a quick sewing project the other day so I pulled out some knits and made this little top for Sadie. I'm thinking that I should sew for Charlotte more, though...Sadie is such a stinker when it comes to photo shoots nowadays! Although once she gets down to business she always pulls through. (she usually needs the promise of a Squinkie and some candy. Sheesh she is getting more and more expensive of a model every week!)

It's such a simple top, easy to put together, and I love the stripes with the solid top. I'm thinking I might have to make more for her! (cause really Charlotte has WAY too many tops right now...she's growing into all of Sadie's old stuff)

I don't have much of a tutorial for you, because I basically used this one, with a few changes. 

I cut the pattern in half higher up (add seam allowance when you cut the piece out), and extended the sleeves out like so. (similar to the Leah top but not so high)



Then I sewed it up the same as the colorblock tee, adding binding on the sleeves before sewing up the sides. I left the bottom hem raw since it's jersey and won't fray, and was a little short on her. It's super easy because essentially there's no sleeves to set in! yahoo!

thrifting lately

Thrifting has been a little sparse for me lately...and my favorite thrift stores stopped having sales as often, which is a bummer. Hopefully awesome people start donating awesome stuff again soon!
Ya know, so I can find it and bring it home with me. So maybe it's a good thing I haven't found much lately. I'm sure Rory appreciates it. ;) (although I have dropped off my fair share of boxes lately-feels good to finally get my spring cleaning done...plus I organized my craft room! yeehaw.)

However, the past few trips have turned up a few gems!



 Grabbed this trio of pretty colored dishes-$4 for the lot. 

Found these fabulous vintage Mikasa plates-$6 for 4. I've been enjoying my lunches on them for the past week-it sure brightens up my lunch hour!

I found this awesome vintage box for $3, which now holds my craft paints! And very stylishly, might I add.

I also snagged this vintage Singer sewing book for $4-I fell in love with the cover, plus I felt a little obligated to buy it since I sew. It's my duty as a sewing book collector, right?

If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen these already...I love that app like a pregnant woman loves french fries...my username is craftinessisnotoptional if you want to follow me!

What have you found lately?

Skirting the Issue guest post

Hey guys! I'm so excited to be posting today over on Simple Simon & Co. for their series, Skirting the Issue-and what a great cause to be blogging for! (they're encouraging donations of skirts for foster care girls!) Let's give it up for Elizabeth and Liz for organizing this whole thing! (cue applause)

I hope you can participate! At least hop over and check out all the adorable skirt action going on!

A big thanks to my pal Shauna from Shwin&Shwin for the lovely fabric I used for this skirt! Isn't it adorable? She has great taste. :)

nursery progress

 I've been having SO much fun redoing the nursery for this newest little one! You might have seen my fabric choices here, and here's a few more sneak peeks at the progress! I am juggling like a bajillion projects right now and I LOVE it! Nothing better than getting creative and crafty...I live for it. :D

Here's a little peek at the wall above her crib-more info on the hoops to come...and the print and frame were from the SNAP conference. The print was in our swag bag (by Rhonna Farrer I believe), and the frame is from Cut it Out. The fabrics are all from Fabricworm, the organic cotton line called Mod Basics.

Rug is from Urban Outfitters...

...and you saw the ombre dresser here!

I whipped up (really it's that fast!) a crib sheet using this tutorial, and this fabric. So easy! I might have to make a few more for backups.

Still on the to-do list:

finish making foam window cornice

sew crib skirt

sew bunting and hang it up

buy or make a big monogram (decide on name first!)

new lamp?

finish quilt  did that!

ombre dresser redo

I heart ombre. There's just something about all those shades of the same color that is so gorgeous! I already knew I wanted to paint our nursery dresser, which was pretty plain jane white...a walmart special we bought when we were getting ready for Sadie. (aka really cheap aka we were poor) I saw my friend Melanie paint her dresser drawers like this and I knew I had to do it too!
 

Please ignore the random stuff on top of the dresser! It's not exactly "styled" up yet. ;)

It's just cheap laminate, so I primed the drawer fronts first (with two coats and lots of air flowing, don't worry), then rolled on three coats of each color.



At first I wanted to get the paint color matched to my fabric, but the guy at the paint counter wasn't feeling helpful, so instead I checked out the paint samples and found one that matched pretty closely. Then I just got sample sizes (around $3 each I think) of the four colors. (I got the four in the middle of the pic above...)



Never mind here's a better pic, with the end samples chopped off for clarity's sake. These are the Valspar brand in case you're wondering and hopefully you can read the names if you want to know!

I found these gorgeous octagon glass knobs on Ebay (they don't have anymore but these are similar) and they were a steal. I paid about $28 for all eight of them, including shipping. Score!

And here's my little photo bomber. Little Miss C thought this was a photo shoot for her so she kept jumping in the shot. LOL! She is well trained, what can I say?

So the cost breakdown:

Paint: $12
Rollers: $6
Knobs: $28

Total for facelift: $46

The knobs were a splurge but hey-not too bad, and she looks soo purty now!

herringbone baby quilt

 Tada! I present to you: the baby's new quilt. With some help from my Facebook peeps I decided on a herringbone quilt design, and I love how it turned out! I saw the idea here, and there is a pattern for it, but as usual, I thoroughly winged it. I have only followed a quilt pattern....er pretty much never...I'm a rebel what can I say? (the lamest rebel in the history of rebels, but oh well)

The fabric is all from the Mod Basics organic line, from my sponsor Fabricworm. It is so, so soft. Love the colors too, they were perfect for the nursery!

I backed it in the Birdie Spokes in Coral, and as you can tell, I stink at basting together quilt layers. I'm hoping a good wash will hide some of the worst parts. Again with the rebel quilter tendencies...I just didn't want to fix it. (ok so maybe it's more lazy pregnant lady tendencies....)

So I did use a herringbone tutorial-this one is great! I cut my pieces at a bit more of an angle than she did, and threw in some white sashing, but otherwise followed the tutorial pretty closely.

Thanks to Rory for helping me take pictures! 

What do you think?

Groop Dealz bubble bib necklace giveaway!

***This giveaway is now closed. See the winner below!***

Hey guys! I know, I usually don't do giveaways on Mondays, but this one is just too awesome! Have you heard of Groop Dealz?  They offer fabulous boutique items at a fraction of the price...and there are different deals every day! I am not joking when I say I've bought a ton of stuff from them lately-I just can't resist the great prices and adorable stuff they have! (like, I might need an intervention soon) Seriously, you gotta sign up to get their emails and be updated with the awesome deals they have!



I actually had recently bought one of these bubble bib necklaces from them (the grey/brown one), so when they contacted me about giving one away I didn't hesitate to say yes! Aren't these statement necklaces adorable? So many color options too, believe me it took awhile to decide which one I wanted!

So how would you like a chance to win one for yourself? Yeah, I thought so!

How to enter:

1. Mandatory entry-"like" them on Facebook. Leave a comment telling me you did so on this post.

2. Sign up for their daily emails at their website. Leave a comment telling me you did so on this post.

Please leave your email address with at least one of your comments so I can contact you if you win!


The giveaway will run until Wednesday the 25th at midnight. It's a quick one so get your entries in!

Good luck!

The winner is...Kimberly R! Congrats!

Oilcloth Addict giveaway! (and coupon code)

***This giveaway is now closed. See the winner below!***

I have an AWEsome giveaway for you guys today! Have you ever sewn with oilcloth before? If you haven't, you've gotta check out the shop Oilcloth Addict! They have SO many oilcloth varieties, patterns and cute designs. (plus tons of laminated cottons!)

I love using oilcloth! You probably saw my tablecloth I made last week.....yeah, I decided it looked weird without the bench done too, so I whipped one up this week. I love how easy it is to clean-a quick wipe with a cloth and it's done.

We still use the lunchbag I made a loong time ago, and I'm thinking Charlotte might need her own soon. Maybe with a handle...?

They also have...chalkboard fabric! How neat, huh? I used these to make labels for Charlotte's vintage cowgirl party last month.

So, back to the oilcloth! They have a ton of options like I said...hey this green floral is what I made my lunchbag out of-no wonder I bookmarked it...haha.

florals...

ginghams...

polka dots...

cool mod prints...

More adorable florals...

 apples!....

Hooray for oilcloth!  So to celebrate it's awesomeness, and the awesomeness of the Oilcloth Addict shop, Kelly (the owner, so sweet!), is giving away your choice of 2 yards of oilcloth! Plus her fabulous book, Sewing with Oilcloth! So you can start sewing asap with it and enjoy her oilcloth sewing know how!

How to enter: (three chances!)

1. Visit their shop, take a look around, then come back and leave a comment telling me the prints you might choose if you win!

2. Follow their blog to find great oilcloth tips and tutorials! Leave a comment telling me you did so on this post.

3. "Like" them on Facebook, then come back and leave a comment telling me you did so.

Please leave your email address with at least one of your comments!

Giveaway will be open until Friday, July 27th! (yes this is new I'm going to start leaving them open for a week!)

Good luck!


******She's also got a fab coupon code for you lovely readers! Use the code CINO25  to save 25% now through the end of August! Did you read that through? TIL THE END OF AUGUST. sah-weet! Make sure you take advantage of that!

The winner is...SSparks!

Almond Joy cupcakes

If you like Almond Joy candy bars then you will hate these cupcakes.

NOT.

They are life changing...seriously guys. Just trust me on this. Get the recipe here.

Everyone will love you forever and ever if you make them .(I got a few wordy love notes from people....a little embarrassing if you ask me, but I appreciated the sentiment ;) ha, ha.

Coconut haters, sorry....got nothing for you today! :)

Up Up and Away! Mobile tutorial and pattern!

I'm out of anything witty to say today, so here's the tutorial!

So first let me show you how I put together this simple wooden mobile hanger.

See below for the rest!

Fun in the Sun-silly straw shapes

Hey guys! I'm guest posting at Kiki & Co. today for her Fun in the Sun series-a bunch of fun summer activity ideas! The ideas are so great and I can't wait to see what else is in store! I met Kiki at SNAP and she is so sweet and sincere. She handed out some adorable little prints she had designed, one of which is hanging in my craft room!




Sadie and I made these fun...excuse me, silly....straw shapes-so go check out more over on Kiki & Co! 

Make sure to say hi!

cross stitch fabric skirt

So this skirt is just your run of the mill elastic waistband skirt-but the fabric! Guys...you gotta take a closer look....it's made to look like a cross stitch pattern! Fabulous, right? I found this skirt at a thrift store, only it was a teeny bopper size with black elastic at the top...and quite scandalously short even for the shortest of teeny boppers....so I chopped off some inches and added a new elastic casing in....and tada!

I love the colors, so rich and pretty. Sadie and I are on the lookout for a shirt to match....or the perfect fabric to make a shirt to match. She wants red...I like the teal-she'll win though, I'm sure. ;)

fitted oilcloth tablecover tutorial

So I have this table. Isn't it awesome? Kid sized, and big enough for sisters or friends to share. My dad made it for my younger siblings a long time ago, and recently I "borrowed" it for a party and "forgot" to return it. Just kidding, my dad said I should just keep it at our house after the party and I just kept nodding and smiling, knowing the girls would love it. Big surprise that they do!

As cute as it is, there are a couple of dinged up spots on the top, and I had some oilcloth sitting around from my sponsor, Oilcloth Addict, so I made a quick table cover that is wipe-able and slips on and off easily!


I have enough for a cover for the seat too, just debating on whether or not I want to make more bias tape.

Update: I bit the bullet and made a cover for the bench and I love how it looks so much better now!

So here's how I made it! This tutorial would apply to any rectangular table! (or bench)

You'll need:

oilcloth-make sure to measure your table to see how much yardage you'd need, and oilcloth is usually wider than quilting cotton so take that into consideration too.

3/8" elastic
thread
bias tape (enough yardage to go around your table)

Ok so first I just laid it out and wrestled with it a bit while getting it to line up with the table.

I wanted it to hang down 2.5" on all the sides, a bit past the table top. So I trimmed it down using my ruler and scissors so that it was 2.5" wider than the table top on all sides.

Then I pinched the corners together like so.

 Then trimmed off the triangle, leaving plenty of seam allowance room. You want to have wiggle room so it's easy to get on and not super tight.

Repeat with all the corners (or just use your ruler to measure the piece you cut out and cut the same size from the other corners)

Then with each corner, fold the two edges right sides together like so, and sew them together. Since you're not dealing with the top side of the oil cloth, just sew with a regular needle and slightly larger stitches and you shouldn't have any problems. Just don't back stitch too much, as sewing and pinning through oilcloth leaves holes. (tie the thread ends together and trim.)

Then make sure it fits your table! I did have to adjust two corners-so start with a smaller seam allowance on those corners and then you can widen it if needed. I also cut two pieces of elastic to sew in to keep the ends secured down.

So next I just sandwiched the edge into my bias tape and sewed it along the edge. It's ok to pin, as long as you pin inside the seam allowance so you can't see the holes!

Then I made sure to pin in my elastic (6.5" from each end) into the bias tape, and just sewed that right in! When you get to the end/beginning of where you started sewing your tape on, cut a little extra, tuck the raw edge under, and sew it down. Done!