Flower Face Lift

I FINALLY PLANTED FLOWERS TODAY!!!!  I feel like a new person.  Our house is on the market and in MANY ways I feel like a renter.  I don't want to do things to our yard and house because then we will be moving.  BUT today I decided that nobody was going to buy our naked bare little house SOOOOO I went out and spent my garage sale money on pretty flowers.  I also did not want to spend a ton on pots and containers, so I made do withwhat we had (sort of).  Here is what I did---just in case someone else in the world has not planted flowers and is also SUPER cheap about it:)

I started with these bare pots from years past.  I sprayed 3 of them red (one is not there if you are wondering) and 1 blue.  I used plastic spray paint until I ran out and then just used the regular kind---we shall see which holds up.

My little helper REALLY wanted to help paint.  The only thing she ACTUALLY helped at was getting paint all over herself---bummer!!!

I turned ONE of the big red pots upside down and then sat the other one on top of it---I wanted there to be a difference in the heights of the buckets.  Then I put the blue one on the ground.  For the last one, I spray painted an ice-cream bucket red and then put the little pot on top.  I like the square shape and thought it was kinda fun.

I also had these oldies but goodies.  They were faded and ugly, but still in fine shape.  SOOOO of course I painted them right on up.  I also thought they were toooo short so I stacked two on top of each other.

Here it is the new patriotic front to our house:)  I kinda love the new red (taller) flower box.  What a difference a little paint can make.

I also wanted some smaller pots for my patio furniture---again I am always shocked by how much flower pots are.  So I looked in the dollar section of TARGET (I love it there almost as much as I love Christmas). These were chip bowls and DUH---only a dollar.

I used my handy drill that I FINALLY learned how to work and I DRILLED BABY!!!  I poked some holes in the bottom for drainage and then filled them with pretty-ness.  I really love wave petunias---can you tell:)

Not too shabby for a buck-----right???

So for the cost of some paint (which I had) and some flowers and soil (which I did not) and 2 dollars---I got a whole new front door.  I think we went from drab to fab and I would TOTALLY buy our house:)

 

My dirty little helper approved too.  I am not sure why the hair brush is outside by the way....or why she is licking it (shrug).  Let's look at the flowers again and forget about the poor little orphan child sitting on my porch....

Mmmmm---pretty flowers---what kid?????♥

Not your Father's Cake....

Were you thinking of giving the HUBS a tie for Father's Day????  How about a tie cake instead.  Is this not the cutest (or I guess it must be handsome) cake you have ever seen???  Go check out more amazing tie cakes over HERE at tiepedia.  Super cool cakes!!!  BTW the whole site is about ties, so you could even grab one for Mr. Father while you are over there:) 

Mediterranean Love

You know how things just pop up on ya?  You know they are coming, and then BAM they are HERE!!!!  That is what happened this week with my cousin's wedding shower. Her wedding is in July (and has been planned for months, but in my head there were no thoughts of a shower gift (or a wedding gift for that matter).  THEN the invitation comes and yet STILL I do not come up with any ideas or plans.  GRRR...  So long story short I had to come up with an impromptu wedding shower gift---while at the same time planning and preparing for a yard sale.  Kinda kicked my butt---not gonna lie.  I have had a week of 1 or 2 in the morning nights and bright and early mornings.  BUT big sigh of relief....last week is over and I believe it ALL got done...PHEWW!!!

The bright idea for a tablerunner came from a quick trip to JoAnne's.  I found some fabric that I could not live without and so I decided SOMEONE should enjoy it. What I found was a pack of charm squares called Neutral Mediterranean.  Don't you love the oranges and teals---PLUS brown----what could be better???  AND it was fate because they actually had coordinating fabric for the binding, sashing and backing---that never happens at JoAnne's (Am I the only one who never finds coordinating fabrics there and grinds her teeth in frustration over the the lack of matching items----why do they not carry LINES of fabric?).  Anyway....I decided to use my old standby pattern that can be found over HERE at Camille's blog.  I have made this pattern----hmmmmm at least 10 times and have ALWAYS loved the results.  It is quick, easy, and super cute.  Plus it is simple to make it bigger or smaller than the pattern just by removing rows ( I swear I am not a paid spokesperson for this pattern:>)

And isn't the backing just---yummy.  I LOVE this fabric---did I already say that???  I think this would be fun even flipped over with the back showing---for a change. 

I also made some matching kitchen towels.  I used 4 charm squares---sewed them together in a row.  I left the raw edges on the sides because it was past midnight and I am lazy like that.  Then I folded under the sides to match up with the sides of the towels.  I squirted the towel with spray starch and then ironed the strip on to the towel---the starch kept it temporarily stuck to the towel.  Then I sewed around the edges and VOILA!!!

I was WAY to unprepard to actually have a card on hand, so this was what I came up with.  I took a leftover charm square.  Cut a piece of paper (I used construction-ish paper) the same size. Then I sewed around the edges using a zig-zag stitch.

SEE???

On the backside you get a cute little border around the edges of the paper--kinda lacey???  Then add your words of wisdom (this was the hard part for me) and ta-da---instant card.

Doesn't she look cute peeking out from the tissue (all crafts are SHES by the way)???  I realize the tissue looks like it went through a tornado, but I forgot to pull the handle up before filling the basket---see the problem???

I SOOO plan on going back and getting more of this fabric.  It is TOTALLY ME and needs to have a new home in my front room (and kitchen and maybe my bathroom--who is to say where I will stop).  SOOO in less than 4 hours of work I got a quilted tablerunner---3 towels---a handmade card---and a huge freaking headache.  NOT BAD FOR  A DAYS WORK ♥

Sarah's Key---holy tear-jerker!!

I completed another book a week or so ago----THE BEST BOOK I HAVE READ ALL YEAR!!!  It was SOO good.   Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosney.  This is not a light beach read, but a tear jerker from page one.  This book tells the story (a story I had no idea about) of the French Jews during Hitler's rule over Germany.  Actually there are 2 stories being told--1st the story of Sarah, a French Jew--and 2nd the story of Julia a modern day journalist who is researching and writing a story about the Jewish people for the 60th anniversary of the horrible events of 1942.  It goes back and forth between the story of Julia and the story of Sarah until the stories collide and Julia finds out that Sarah's story will change her life, and the lives of her family members FoReVeR.  Sarah's story is heartwrenching.  The event that changed her life was the Vel'd' Hiv' Roundup.  It was essentially a roundup and imprisonment of the French Jews by the French police (not the Nazi police).  The turning point of Sarah's life occurs during this round-up as the police knock on her families door to take them away.  She helps her  4 year old brother to hide in a hidden cabinet in their apartment, locks him in with a key, and then keeps the key. As she is taken, imprisoned, marched, re-located, shaved, beaten, starved, and orphaned---she is always thinking about her little brother and whether or not he is still in the cupboard (can you imagine???).  The details of the horrible conditions of the concentration camps was not NEW information to me, but it never ceases to amaze and horrify me.  This book was mesmerizing, but not always easy to read.  I would recommend this book to ANYONE---actually EVERYONE!!!

Cute Upcycled Tank--tutorial

My next project served pretty much no purpose.  Em has more than enough summer clothes to make it through 10 months of summer, but I just could not help myself.  Yesterday Emersyn wore this cute little tank--from Carters--and as she sat in my lap I thought....I can make that.  Of course I could not get it out of my head, so here is the result of such a useless thought.  Here is the shirt that started the whole ball rolling...

Simple and cute...right???  Here is what you will need to make one for your little one---or yourself.

1. an old t-shirt to up-cycle

2. ribbing--1/4 yard was enough to make two 2T tanks

If you want to make the applique you will also need...

3. scraps of fabric--I used old t-shirts

4. buttons

And let the fun begin...

First I took the shirt that I wanted to copy and layed it out on the bottom edge of my old shirt (I wanted to keep the bottom hem). 

I traced the shirt with chalk about 1/4-1/2 inches away from the edges of the shirt (so that I would have seam allowance). I traced the back of the shirt first because it was higher than the front. You could also fold the shirt in half and cut it on the fold, but I did not think that far ahead:) Then I cut out just the top layer of fabric.  If you do not care about the slight dip in the front part of the shirt you could just cut through both layers of fabric and then have a shirt with no front or back.

Next I folded my shirt in half and trimmed them up so that they were exactly the same---I did not want my sleeves to be 2 different sizes:)

To get the front part of the shirt traced I folded it and layed it along the edge ( I also folded the bottom shirt and layed the top shirt along the fold of the bottom shirt).  Again I traced it and cut it out.

This is what you have so far.  I put an F on the front part so that I could tell which was which.

Now for the ribbing.  I cut a strip 3 1/2 inches wide by the length of the fabric.

Fold your strip in half and iron a nice crease down the middle.

Fold one side in to the middle crease and iron it down.

Fold in the 2nd side to the middle crease and iron it down.

Next I measured the top of the shirt pieces that I had.  Mine measured 6 and 7 inches so I cut 2 pieces of ribbing 7 and 8 inches long (just to be on the safe side).

Sandwich your t-shirt piece in between the ribbing strip aligning the top of the shirt with the middle crease.  Pin. You will be sewing the wrong side of the shirt first.  SOOO in this picture the wrong side of the fabric is facing down to the table and the right side is facing up.

Sew close to the edge of the ribbing (this will be the inside of the shirt).

Next, fold the ribbing over and pin it to the outside of the shirt  Sew along the edge of the ribbing.  I do not have a serger ( although that would be sooooo awesome), so I used one of my decorative stitches that sort of looks serger-ish.  I would probably use a straight stitch in the futre---keep it simple:)

Repeat these steps for the other shirt piece.  Then trim the ribbing to match up to the edges of the shirt pieces.

Now here is what I did to make the applique....

I wanted to make an applique similar to this Carters pajama shirt.

I traced a glass onto an old white t-shirt for the gumball machine.

I freehanded the bottom of the gumball machine.  For the little top part I traced the glass again to get the rounded edge.  Then I cut off the very tip of the circle.

Next I used a water-soluable glue stick to put the applique pieces onto the front of the shirt. I use glue sticks when I applique on quilts too.  It works great because it is not TOO sticky---if you mess up you can pull it right off.  I would glue down the base and then the circle---then sew around the circle applique on your sewing machine.  Then sew around the base. Then glue on the top part and sew around it.  I did it in another order and my applique sewing looks a little wonky.

Now you should have this.  Getting cuter right????

Not quite as cute as my little helper, but not much is:)  She was decorating some freezer paper---I had thought I would use freezer paper and paint a design on the shirt, but changed my mind---that would be cute though.  ANYWAY....back to making the shirt.

NOW BACK TO THE SHIRT DIRECTIONS!!!

Now you will want to measure the straps on a different tank or measure your child in order to cut the sleeve ribbing.  Mine were about 9 inches long.

Ok---now to hook the front and back of the shirt together.  Take your front shirt piece and pin your ribbing onto the sleeve holes---just like you did on the top.

Then attach it to the BACK shirt piece also.  You want the ribbing attached to the WRONG side of both pieces.  I started at the bottom of one sleeve---pinned until the neck hole.  Then started at the bottom of the back sleeve---and pinned up the the neck hole.  The part in the middle will be the strap.  Sew the ribbing on---just like you did on the neck hole.  I sewed from the bottom of the sleeve to the neck hole---picked up my needle and then started at the other neck hole and continued to the bottom of the sleeve.

Then flip the ribbing over to the right side of the shirt pieces and pin it.  Sew your ribbing onto the right side of the shirt---just like you did before. I used a straight stitch along the edge---you have to sew ALL the way along the edge so that you sew the two raw edges of ribbing together on the strap.

Now pin your side seams together and sew the two pieces of shirt together---I used a 1/4 seam allowance. Make sure you match up the ribbing on the sleeve and the bottom hem (I did not do great at this and it looks a little wonky along the bottom).

Then I sewed on my button-gumballs AND.....

Guess what????  Now you have a super cute little tank---I know that was a lot of steps, but pretty simple right???

A certain little someone liked it!!! 

If you happen to make one---let me know how these directions read out (good, murky, ridiculous).  I would love to hear feedback on this ORRRRR you could send me some pictures of some cute tanks.  How fun would that be???  Happy Summery Weather Everyone!!!!