Ruffled Flower Headband

I just finished revising our Ruffled Flower pattern for The Cloth Parcel, and I just had to share!  I love how this pattern turned out.  We added an elastic headband option to the pattern, along with instructions for using regular cotton material.  Originally, this pattern was written for using denim material, like in our Scarf and Ruffled Flower craft kit.  I thought it could use a little update, since it was one of our very first patterns written just about a year ago.  In the last year, we have learned quite a bit about how we like our patterns to be laid out, taking product photos, and how to write things to be a little more readable.

I am so pleased with how this pattern turned out!  These flowers are the perfect embellishment for every little girl.  The headbands make the sweetest little baby shower gifts, stocking stuffers, and the pins work for ladies of all ages.

 

Fabric Pom Pom Headbands

I made some of these fabric pom pom headbands in anticipation of the newest member of our family-- our third baby girl!  Her big sister was slightly willing to model them for me, since we haven't met our little bundle yet.  We are not hurting for girly stuff around here, but it's always fun to make something new.  This project is great for using fabric scraps, and these didn't take too long using this tutorial from Little Miss Momma.

I got the fancy elastic a while ago from Pick Your Plum, and it's perfect for these headbands.  After googling headband sizes, I varied all the lengths between 12" and 15" for newborn head sizes and up.  Obviously some of them are big enough for a two-year-old, but I also made a couple of smaller baby sizes.

Can't wait to meet our little girl!

Curvy Pleated Pouch & New Mom Hospital Survival Kit

I discovered this curvy pleated pouch tutorial on Pinterest from Charm Stitch months ago, but I only thought to make some a couple of weeks ago for Christmas gifts.  I made two, and they both turned out super cute, although I didn't get any photos of the second one.  I would have made another one for myself, but I ran out of zippers (and time).  I loved that I was able to use some of my cute fabric scraps for these, too.

My sister-in-law is pregnant and due with her first baby soon, and I had her name for the gift exchange, so I thought it might be fun to do a little "Hospital Survival Kit" to go inside the pouch.  It's kind of hard to tell in these first pictures, but these pouches end up as a pretty good sized clutch, so there is a bit of room in there.  Having had two kids myself, I was able to think of a few little luxuries that are nice to have in the hospital.  Here's what I included:

Socks, lip balm, mints, and nail polish may seem like silly things to send, but when you are sitting in a hospital room wearing an ugly gown and not quite feeling yourself, it's the little things that cheer you up and make you feel like a normal person again.  Lip balm is great for when you aren't allowed to eat anything, mints for when you can't get up and brush your teeth, nail polish for if you get some downtime, and socks are the only clothes of your own you can wear all the time.

I had so much fun putting this together, that I may have to start taking these to baby showers.  Hopefully I get around to making one for myself, as I'll be wanting it come March!

ETA: You can buy this Cabbage Rose fabric by Heather Bailey online from The Cloth Parcel!

Chillin' with My Peeps Stenciled Shirts

I was in the middle of about four other projects, when I had this idea for Easter shirts for my girls this year.  I am someone who is easily suckered by seasonal items at the store.  Before, it was mostly candy and decor, but now that I have kids my little love of all things holiday reaches into clothing as well.  This year for Easter, I wanted to make dresses for the girls (which are almost done!), and I got to thinking about other kinds of holiday-themed clothing, which is when I had the idea for these shirts.

Admittedly, the idea wasn't entirely my own.  I first saw it as a wood craft, but thought the concept could easily be really cute for Easter shirts.  Plus, I was able to use things I already had on-hand, so I didn't have to spend a penny on these.

My method was the same I have used on my stenciled shirts in the past, using vinyl cut on my Silhouette as a stencil.  It works pretty well, although I'd love to try their stencil vinyl or freezer paper.  I tried cutting freezer paper on my Silhouette a year or two ago, and it didn't work at all, but now that I have new mats(yes!) I am thinking it might work after all.

After I designed the graphics and cut the vinyl, I put the vinyl on each shirt and used my fabric ink and brushes to paint the shirts.  I had to do three coats of the white, which was a little bit ridiculous.  Once I was done painting in the stencil, and I pulled off the vinyl and let the paint dry.  For the eyes and noses, I dipped the other end of my brush in brown fabric paint and dabbed it on.  To make sure the ink was cured, I baked each shirt in the oven for one minute at 350 degrees.  This was mostly for the silver paint, since it doesn't cure just by air drying.

If you'd like the Silhouette .studio cut file for these shirts, just leave a comment with your email or send an email to audzipan at gmail.

Linked: Craft-O-Maniac, Skip to My Lou, Sugarbee Crafts, Shwin&Shwin, Tatertots & Jello

Baby Mobile Refashions

Nearly a year after my littlest girl was born, I finally got around to putting a mobile on her crib.  And that's only because my mom already had the frame and animals!  To quickly personalize it for her pennant nursery, we added the ribbon pennants and fabric covering for the arm using leftover fabrics from her quilt and name banner.  It was actually a pretty quick project, and she loves to watch the animals spin around.

In my older daughter's room, we recently moved her into a twin bed, so we had to take her mobile down, as seen in the photo below:

She missed "her birds", so I used the components of the mobile, a 12" embroidery hoop, and some ribbon to create a new bird hanger for her room.

The birds are back!  This was also a pretty quick project, since I already had everything ready to go.  I made a quilt for the new "big girl" room, which I will post next with another quilt that my mom and I finished for my craft room.

Modern Baby Shoes

I found a tutorial for Modern Baby Booties that I really wanted to try for my baby girl, and when I finished them today I couldn't wait to post pictures.  It sort of pushed all the other things I have been meaning to write about further down the list, but they sure turned out cute! 

The tutorial (from Tao of Craft) that I used was pretty good, but a little confusing.  On step five, you are supposed to have the velcro side of the strip facing up, but the photo doesn't show that.  Luckily, I realized that it wouldn't work before it was too hard to fix.  Also, none of the photos show the interfacing or the suede bottom pieces, which I am guessing she didn't use at first.

I pretty much made the flowers up as I went.  They are just simple spiral flowers, like these from Craft Snob, except I used flannel instead of felt.

A few things I will do differently next time:

1. Use lighter-weight leather for the soles.  I had some scraps from another project that worked, but weren't ideal.
2. Use lighter-weight interfacing.  I used some leftover interfacing from when I made my fabric boxes, but since these are relatively small it ended up pretty bulky.
3. Use more pins!  I didn't want to ruin the leather soles, so I didn't put any pins in the bottom, but things were sliding around like crazy, especially with all the curved edges.

I really do like how these turned out, and I can't wait to try it again.

Baby Apron

If any of you follow me on Pinterest, you may have seen that I pinned this free baby apron pattern to my "Things to Make" board a few weeks ago.

via Craftiness is not Optional

What a great idea!  My baby has just started feeding herself, and the regular bibs we have just aren't cutting it.  Since I had some leftover bias tape from the Toy Stroller Makeover, I thought this would be a cinch.  Here's what I ended up with:

It's not perfect, but it does the trick.  A couple of things I learned about this pattern:
I wouldn't recommend using bias tape this small.  It was very difficult to work with, and I wrestled with my machine a lot.  There are still a few little places where I didn't catch enough of the fabric in the tape, and it came out a little bit after I put it in the wash.  It also shrunk quite a bit in the wash, so next time I will cut the pattern a little bit bigger.

Overall, it was great for a free pattern!  I was able to do it all in one afternoon.  I can't wait to try it again with bigger tape, which I think will make things go much faster.

Pennant Nursery

What a fun project this room was!  I blogged about it a bit on the way, but I never really summed it all up in a single post.  There are still a couple of things that would be nice to have in there.  Bed skirt and cute mobile, anyone?  If they never happen, it will probably be okay, but if I ever get bored with nothing to do (ha!) maybe I will whip something up.  Well, let's get started on that tour, shall we?

The lovely, awesome quilt was a baby gift from my amazingly talented seamstress, aka my mom.

The circle rug, yellow vase, and sheers are from IKEA, and I made the pennant banner and giant stuffed fish (years ago).

Now for the other side of the room:

I had a lot of fun making those pennant canvases.  They were really pretty easy, too: striped paint background, scrapbook paper pennants, and ribbon for the strings.

My fabric box tutorial can be found here, and here's a quick run-down of the changing pad covers.

This is the art I have on a little forty-five degree wall by the door.  The clipboard is from our wedding reception, and the mini print is from my sister, who got it from The Dreamy Giraffe.  So, there you have it.  I hope you enjoyed seeing another one of our spaces.

Linked up: Tatertots & Jello

Marshmallow Fondant and White Butter Cream Frosting

Last weekend I helped my friend Shauna make this rubber ducky cake for a boy baby shower.  It was my best one yet!  I didn't have any problems with the fondant cracking or anything.  The only thing I changed in my recipes was to make the butter cream frosting a little thinner, and to do a half batch of fondant.  The half batch was just so it would fit in my mixer better, and so I could do the different colors with the mixer, rather than by hand.

White Butter Cream Frosting
(adapted from Lion House Weddings)

2/3 cup plus 1 Tablespoon water
4 tablespoons meringue powder
12 cups powdered sugar
¾ tsp. salt
1 tsp. clear vanilla
1 tsp. almond flavoring
1 ¼ cups shortening

Combine water and meringue powder, whip at high speed till peaks form. Add 4 cups of the powdered sugar and beat on low speed until well incorporated. Add salt and flavorings; beat slightly. Alternately add shortening and remaining powdered sugar. Beat on low speed until smooth. Makes 7 1/2 cups frosting. (*I added more water at the end until the frosting was a smoother consistency.)

Marshmallow Fondant (Half Batch)
(I got this recipe from my aunt Sharon)

1/8 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco)
1/2 pound of white mini marshmallows (good quality)
1/2 tsp. clear vanilla flavor
1/2 tsp. butter flavor
1 tablespoon water
1 pound powdered sugar

Grease the inside of a large microwavable bowl with shortening. Be careful, the melted marshmallows can get very hot.

Put marshmallows, flavorings, and water into the bowl. Microwave on high for 60 seconds.  If marshmallows are completely melted, you’re ready to move on. If not, stir and return them back into the microwave for 30-second intervals—stirring after each—until the marshmallows are completely melted.

Put powdered sugar into a large mixing bowl. Fit stand mixer with dough hook. (If not using a stand mixer, use a wooden spoon).

Add melted marshmallow mixture to powdered sugar. This is where I also add any coloring that I want. (Hint: a half batch is the perfect size for covering a two-layer nine inch cake.)  Process at low speed until well incorporated, then turn speed up slightly and allow dough hook to “knead” mixture until sugar is fully blended into the liquid.

For the rubber ducky cake, we did one half-batch of leaf green (Wilton gel coloring) and one half-batch of sky blue.  Easy peasy!  This fondant recipe is the one used for my wedding cake, and it is my favorite.  The marshmallows make it actually taste like food.

Once the cake was frosted with buttercream, we covered the whole thing with a sheet of blue fondant, then added the green stripes and all the little bubbles.  The rubber ducky was a real one, so that made things easier.  All told, this cake took the two of us about three hours to make the frosting and fondant and decorate it.  Photos were taken by Shauna Spencer.

Stenciled Onesies

I stenciled a onesie and shirt this week for my new nephew, David.  I was really happy with how they turned out!  I used my usual method for the stencils- vinyl cut with my Silhouette.

I got my new bedding, and it was definitely a great purchase.  We got it all set up tonight, and I love it!

We also bought the paint for our bedroom and bathroom.  I picked "Coastal Villa" from Valspar.  I am hoping to start painting this weekend, but the husband has some car repair/maintenance he wants to do. . . I hope it doesn't take the whole weekend.

Linked up: