TUTORIALS

Use the categorized galleries below, or scroll through the archives here to browse tutorials.

SEWING

  • decorative ribbon decorative ribbon
  • pocket quad pocket quad
  • scrapped animal: bunny scrapped animal: bunny
  • color-blocked gloves color-blocked gloves
  • scrapped animal: duckbill platypus scrapped animal: duckbill platypus
  • placemat rugs placemat rugs
  • scrapped animal: snail scrapped animal: snail
  • up-sizing a pleated skirt up-sizing a pleated skirt You know that time that you were thrift shopping and you found this adorable plaid pleated skirt that was made for someone with a 20" waist and no rib cage? Remember that feeling when you held that tiny skirt to your own waist and realized it would only cover either your front or back end? Well I just bought that skirt.
  • from len to michael from len to michael This last weekend my girls were invited to their first ever birthday party! My girls are 2 and 1, but for some reason I felt at a complete loss trying to decide what to give this little boy for his first birthday. Maybe because he's a boy? I don't know what it was. Here's the thing about handmade gifts, if executed well it can be something special and mean more than a store-bought gift, and it's usually a lot less expensive. Our gift to Michael was quick and free, but Lenna got to be a part of the process.
  • woven blanket woven blanket On friday I showed you my inspiration for Bev's blanket (it was inspired by a wooden fence, in case you missed it), and today you get the details! I guess it's just a spin on the classic square pieced quilt, but this blanket is especially soft and flexible.  It gets squished and crumpled any time Bev gets her happy little hands on it!
  • crayon stuffie crayon stuffie With this project, your child will create a stuffed toy of their own imagination. It's fun for them to play with their creation, but even more special as a keepsake later on. I've loved seeing some of the darling crayon stuffies so far.
  • her $41 wedding dress her $41 wedding dress
  • tapering your own pants tapering your own pants I buy all of my clothes at thrift stores. The thing is, it can be tricky finding secondhand pants that, well, fit. That being said... I have this pair of pants that made me feel like I was 14 again, trying on my long pants after a summer of shorts and an unknown growth spurt. I love a great pair of ankle pants, but these weren't a great pair of ankle pants. So for months and months, and months I rolled each leg up twice, in an attempt to hide the floodwater-flair. Psssh, I should have tapered these bad boys a looooong time ago. Maybe you should too.
  • shell spiral technique shell spiral technique You got a little peak at this dress on Friday. It's part I of II from my beach inspiration.
  • walkway dress walkway dress The chevrons on this dress are made by cutting on the bias, which helps prevent the edges from fraying. I chose to have a random order for my chevrons, including a lone green stripe, but you could make your own more uniform. I just tend to avoid reasoned patterns. Probably because if someone else's kid were wearing this I would sit and stare at it, trying to FIND a true pattern in the chevron, so in my mind this equates to something interesting.
  • sewing a shirt "tucked in" sewing a shirt "tucked in"
  • sunglasses case sunglasses case
  • asymmetrical apron asymmetrical apron
  • closed pillowcase closed pillowcase
  • ***ahem*** skirt ***ahem*** skirt
  • bowl cover bowl cover
  • tissue box cover tissue box cover
  • scrapped animal: fox scrapped animal: fox
  • sleeve roll sleeve roll
  • ironing ham ironing ham
  • pinstriped napkins pinstriped napkins
  • placed mats placed mats
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OTHER

  • decorative ribbon decorative ribbon
  • stamped eggs stamped eggs
  • cork pendants cork pendants Last month I had the pleasure of contributing to U-Create's simple gifts series. I came up with a super simple cork pendant, and I wear mine -in one form or another- all the time.
  • learning nativity learning nativity A nativity set is one of the fundamental Christmas decorations. Problem - most of them are fragile, and Lenna's Inspector Gadget hands would manage to destroy a ceramic nativity no matter how high I put it. So I set out to find a way to make a simple wooden nativity, and it turned out better than I had even hoped!
  • peanut butter cup recipe peanut butter cup recipe Growing up, I always loved the day that I came home from school and found my mom making giant batches of peanut butter cups. It meant two things: Christmas was just around the corner, and I got to pig out on peanut butter cups. Both insanely exciting occasions. Our peanut butter cup recipe is a cinch. Oh, and it's delicious. And addicting.
  • global pumpkin carving global pumpkin carving I know, I know, it's super late in the Halloween season to just now be posting about pumpkin carving. Here's the thing: I got lazy, and more importantly, this isn't a Jack-O-Lantern. It's an etched pumpkin, so I hereby declare this my pumpkin decor through Thanksgiving.
  • connect the dots t-shirts connect the dots t-shirts My girls aren't old enough to trick-or-treat, and while they adore all-things-sugar, they wouldn't notice the difference if we skipped Halloween this year.  I found myself torn because I didn't want to make them costumes, but I didn't want to completely neglect the holiday.  So... I am dressing my girls up as connect the dots pictures.  They can wear them to Halloween and Beyond!  Plus, who can resist a baggy tee on a tiny body?
  • embroidery hoop shelf embroidery hoop shelf
  • embroidery hoop thread rack embroidery hoop thread rack
  • embroidery hoop wall hooks embroidery hoop wall hooks
  • embroidery hoop pin cushion embroidery hoop pin cushion I kinda have a thing for pin cushions in general, but especially this one. It's just happy. Whether it's hanging up, or displayed on your table, it's just... well, happy, is still the word that comes to mind.
  • doily rings doily rings I second guessed the project part-way through (don't worry, I love the end result... you can keep reading) and I'll tell you why: I had an idea. Take a simple ring and wrap a doily around it. I just bought a small doily at the fabric store for a couple dollars and some simple rings.
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