Delia's Dress Preview!

So, I go through what I like to call "periods of creativity". For a few weeks, I will be into jewelry making or paper crafting... You know the gluing, pasting, taping. painting kinda creativeness.  Then, the next month I'll want to sew.  I don't plan these time periods in advance... my creativity just kind of takes over, and when I tire of making one type of "craft", I start a different one! With that said, my sis-in-law pinned (ahhhh... Pinterest) a pillow case dress tutorial (soooo cute and easy), which motivated me to sew up a pillow case dress.  But, of course I'm surrounded boys.  Two boy nephews (one on hubby's side, and brother's baby)... And my own son... And then there is my husband (ummm... get the picture)?  In other words: who in the world am I going to make a dress for???  Then, there is my most adorable youngest female cousin, Delia.  Ding, ding!  I have my model!  Too bad she's like 800+ miles away.  Well, I made her two pillow case dresses. The first was practice. The second needs ribbon. And, the third, well, its not really a pillow case dress! Its a jumper! I found it in this book that my dear hubby bought me over a year ago (hubby... please do not be mad that this is like the first thing I've made from this book)!  Well, I was soooo impressed with how it turned out, I'm also planning on making a paisley one (the paisley material I picked up was supposed to be another pillow case dress).  But, this next one is kinda my own idea! Anyway, here is her jumper dress. 

Cute, isn't it?! Looks way bigger in the picture than it does in person! She's a petite little girl!  I hope it fits her really, really good. If it doesn't, her momma can just save it for when she's a little bigger.  Sorry about the lighting... I am not a professional photographer... and I usually photoshop!  Anyway, just had to share. 

My sis-in-law has a fabulous pillow case dress tutorial on her blog if you want to check it out! 

Fabric Necklace Tutorial

Yay, a new tutorial (okay, I've only posted like two).  Anyway, I saw this necklace on Pinterest, and I immediately thought, hey, I could make that!  And, after researching it some more, lots of people have made "that".  So, this is my tutorial for that cute necklace. 

Supplies:

• Round wood beads or balls (I used 1" and 3/4" round wood balls found at Hobby Lobby). Please note, you do not need two different sizes. I used various sizes, but it is not necessary.

• 1/4 yard of 44-45" fabric (bold prints work best for this project since you are knotting the fabric, and it will be difficult to see smaller prints after knotting)

•  Sewing machine
• Coordinating thread
• Scissors
• A few minutes of time

Now, the fun part! What to do:

• Cut the 1/4 yard of fabric in half length-wise, or the hotdog way, or long-ways... You should end up with two strips of fabric measuring approximately 4" x 45" (depending on the width of the fabric you bought). Essentially:

This should be about the size of your fabric before cutting. 
You want to cut right down the middle lengthwise.

After cutting, you should now have two strips 4" by 44"- 45"

• Okay, take your two strips of fabric and place one short end from each piece right sides together and sew.  Reinforce your stitch at each end.  You should now have one very, very long piece of fabric. 

• Now, fold fabric in half hot dog style with the right sides together and sew only the long raw edge.  Don't sew the short ends because we want to turn it right side out... creating a long fabric "tube". 

• Turn on the TV, make yourself some coffee or a grab a Diet Coke, and turn that tube right side out.  This takes a few minutes, but it is fairly easy with the tube being so wide. 

• Now, the fun part! Find the center of your tube. Doesn't have to be exact!  This will probably be where your seam that you joined the two long strips of fabric together is.  And, tie a knot. I tried to tie mine right into the seam, so that you don't see the seam... didn't happen, but you can't really tell anyway!  Easy, huh?! 

• Now, drop one of your wooden beads or wooden balls in. I chose 1" for the center.  Tie another knot really, really... I mean really close to the ball on the other side.  So, now your ball or bead should be securely encased between two knots!  This should be about the center of your tube.

• Keep going. I put a bead/ball on one side of the centered ball, and tied a knot. Then, I put a new bead/ball on the other side and tied a knot. I repeated this so that I could keep the necklace balanced. 

• Do as many beads as you like, but leave at least 12" on each side to tie behind your neck.  I ended up using five 1" inch beads and put two 3/4" beads on each side.  You can use more or less, or the same size beads, etc... make it your own!

• Once you have all of your beads/balls secured inside knots (make sure you tie a knot on each side at the very end of your beads too), then you need to put the necklace on!  We're not finished yet, however.  Find where you want the necklace to fall (long or short).  Then, tie a bow.  If you don't want long "tails" or bow ends, cut off some of the excess. Please remember to leave enough of a "tail" on each side in order to be able to tie a bow when you are finished! 

• Okay, now fold in the short raw edges, and put a stitch in it. I only had to fold mine in about 1/8".  Just depends on how you want to do it.  Do that on each side.

• And, you're finished! Yay! Now, put it on! Or give it to a friend! Or make more because they are so easy and fun and the possiblities are endless!

Note: These necklaces can also be used as "teething necklaces" as a safe alternative for baby to chew on instead of fashion jewelry or metal necklaces. Please, please, please DO NOT give to baby unsupervised.  And, always reinforce your stitches and make sure the knots are secured. Inspect before letting baby chew on or play with your necklace. The beads ARE a choking hazard if not safely secured inside the necklace. Also be aware that if you intend to use this necklace to wear as a teether, only use natural wood. Do not used finished wood beads or balls.  You can handwash your necklace easily, and air dry.  

Okay, So I'm a Blog Failure!

Yeah, so with all good intentions, I totally failed blogging everything I wanted to blog about this past week!  I did, however, post this homemade laundry detergent post. If you're interested in making your own laundry detergent, that is! 

I also finished my wholesale keychain order! I just took pictures of the keychains and listed them on my Etsy shop.  Want to see?! I'm going to show you anyway! This is just a small section of the set.

I'm not one to brag on my creative abilities, but I must say, they are cute! I think most of the cuteness is from the bright and colorful fabrics (and not my sewing abilities)!  Anyway, I was just excited to have the set finished, and excited that someone actually wanted to buy my stuff!  Yay!  I am going to give it to God, though! He gave me the abilities I have, and the passion for making things and trying new things!  It is only because of Him that I can create the things I create!  With that said, I hope with all my heart that the person buying these keychains really, really likes them. And, I hope she makes a good profit from selling these keychains at her shop! 

What a crazy week (last week, that is)! I haven't had time to do anything. I feel like I was constantly busy, but accomplished absolutely nothing. I haven't blogged (and there's tons of topics I want to blog about). I wasn't able to go to BSF, a study I started going to since we've moved to Texarkana. My car decided to run over a miscellaneous object in the road, and go flat.  Thankful for a hubby who can fix those kind of things so we didn't have to take my car somewhere to get it fixed! Yay!  Lots of very important undisclosed decisions have been discussed within our little family. Matt had to work every single night with mandatory overtime (which translates into sixty hours soon to be seventy hours this week), which makes it hard to get out and do anything.  But, I'm okay with that. He has a job!  Sometimes, we need to take a step back and thank the Lord for that. Many people are going without a job right now. Oh, and on top of all this, I got my first big order from my Etsy shop which you can find here.  Hopefully everything works out with the order.  Its a wholesale order for a shop in Oklahoma.  I'm pretty excited about it, but my spare time has been devoted to getting the order ready. Since its wholesale, its a large quantity!

With that said, I hope to write lots of blogs the rest of this week. I found some great recipes I want to share with  you (after I make them first, of course). I want to have another financial blog post (haven't decided what the will be about yet). I really really want to post about Psalm 32 (go ahead, look it up).  I have a running list somewhere in our apartment... 

And, a shout out to all the new mom's this month!  Congratulations!  If you're reading this blog, and you just had a baby, I'm most likely talking to you!  And, if you're not, I'm probably still talking to you! Seems like this month has been a month for babies.  Horray for new, precious, God-given life! 

And, those of you who got to watch The Hunger Games... I am sooooo jealous!  The books are fabulous (if you didn't read the whole series in like a month like I did, you should read them)!  I can't wait to be able to see the movies! 

To my fellow blog readers who have a blog I can follow (if I'm not currently following you), let me know your blog site url, and I would love to read and follow you! 

Couponing!

Okay, I'm labeling this post as a "financial" post because its going to help you save some moola!  Anyway, I've been into this couponing thing lately. I am not an extreme couponer, meaning I will not buy out the shelves so that no one else can use their coupons or purchase the product if they need it. That's just plain greedy. Seriously, I don't know of anyone who needs twenty packages of razors because they got them for .50 cents each. Enough about that. So, I'm always looking for good deals, and while browsing the internet, I discovered that Target has in-store coupons you can print. Find those coupons here. You can browse different categories (i.e. groceries, baby, entertainment...) on the left side of this site. And, you can use a Target store coupon with a manufacturer coupon. So

Pretend this is a Target coupon for Colgate toothpaste!

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Extra Savings!!!!!

Of course the coupons have to be for the same quantity and for the same product. So, say for example, you have a $2.00 manufacturer coupon for a package of Pampers diapers. Target has a store coupon for $1.00 of the same size package of Pampers diapers. You can combine the two and get $3.00 off!  Yay for savings (especially on diapers)!  Well, I came across some apparel coupons on the Target website.  Search under "apparel & accessories" category on the website.  There are $3.00 off coupons, 20% off coupons... etc.  Well, did you know that you can use these apparel coupons on clearance items, too?  Let me tell you what I did:

• I printed off two $3.00 off coupons from "apparel & accessories". You can only print two of the same type of coupon. 
• I headed to the clearance section at target.
• I found a gray t-shirt marked $4.00 in the brand I had the coupon for.
• I found a white t-shirt marked $4.00 in the brand I had the other $3.00 off coupon for.
• I headed up to the check-out, and paid $1.00 for each shirt! Just a dollar!