Sweater dress....thing

I'll be sharing more on Haley's Up! birthday party next week, but today I wanted to share a recent craft fail with you because we ALL have them....and I feel like I've been having more and more of them lately! Have you ever started a project with this grand idea in mind of what it's going to be, then halfway through realize "oh crap, this is nothing like I imagined."

That was what happened with this project.

I got it in my head to make a sweater dress for Haley since I absolutely adore little girl's sweater dresses. I imagined a cute little patterned dress with some pockets and maybe a pom pom tie at the waist.

This is what I actually made:

Notice a couple differences? Like, everything?


First, I found a sweater in my refashion pile that I thought would work. It didn't have a pattern, actually it was just plain brown, but I figured I could jazz it up with some pockets made with fabric that had a pattern. No biggie.

Then I got to work cutting the actual dress itself. I had some issues at first trying to keep the sweater lined up properly (man, sweater fabric is evil! It moves EVERYWHERE as you cut it) but I pressed on.

Next came sewing. My machine was not a fan of the ribbing. No worries...I just went back over the stitches a few times to make sure there weren't many holes. Then finally, I sewed on the sleeves and started thinking about the pockets.

And it was then that I realized my daughter's head would have to be the size of a doll's to fit into the opening.

Sigh.

It was then that I threw my entire plan out the window and literally free-styled this dress. I had to cut one of the shoulders open so that I could fashion a button closure that could be opened then fastened after Haley got the dress over her head. (Ever since I learned this method of making a button closure from Craftiness is not Optional, it's my classic go-to method for closures in general - especially when something turns out to be smaller than planned.) It may look pretty decent but believe me, the closure isn't as pretty as it should be. But it's functional and I didn't have to throw the whole dress away. I do love the flower buttons though, just more I dug out of my stash :)

After finishing the button closure, I was definitely not in the mood for making pockets but I felt like the dress still needed SOMEthing, so I cut a very crooked strip of lace to make a sash.

At that point, I was all "you don't even deserve a sash!"

The dress just mocked me.

So there we go, a free-styled, very imperfect sweater dress that actually turned out pretty well despite my best efforts. That's just how things go sometimes I guess.

Balloon wreath

Of all the things I made for my daughter's Up!-themed birthday party, the balloon wreath is the very first thing I did. Since a major part of the movie Up! is centered around balloons, I knew I had to make a balloon wreath for the front door to set the theme. I got the inspiration for the wreath from this one on How Does She? I put my own spin on it, and this is what I came up with!

Supplies:

• Styrofoam wreath form
• Crepe paper
• Balloons
• Greening pins (u-shaped pins found in the flower arranging section)
• Embroidery floss
• Hot glue

First, wrap your wreath form in crepe paper, gluing at the ends with hot glue. If you want to use something sturdier, wrap your wreath form in fabric. I went the easy route, but crepe paper is fragile so you have to watch out for tears as you wrap.

Next, take your greening pins and a balloon and stick them to your wreath form. You want to push the greening pin in around the middle of the balloon to secure. Make sure your balloons are close together so they hide the greening pins.

Repeat this process to make a cluster of balloons. To finish, wrap some embroidery floss around the wreath and glue at the ends.

And now you have a cute balloon wreath, perfect for an Up! birthday...or any birthday party really.

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Disney Up! birthday party

Whew, what a weekend! I have been up to my ears in sprinkles and balloons for the past month, but all the hard work was worth it when I got to see my little girl's smile when she saw her Disney Up!-themed birthday party come to life. I drew a lot of inspiration from across the blogosphere, and I have several tutorials to come later in the week after I recover from all the madness ;)

The Invitation

I used Photoshop and Picnik (while I still can!) to make the party invite. I originally wanted to make an elaborate pop up card design, but it ended up being a simple design with a bunch of balloons. Sometimes simpler is better :)

The Decor

I made my own spin on the balloon wreath for our door (tutorial to come!) to set the theme as soon as people walked up to the house. It was an easy project (love those) and I really love how bright and colorful it was.

And of course, there were balloons everywhere. We bought a small helium tank and blew up as many as we could (about 30) and used them to decorate the house and food table.

The Food

For the table, I made a simple pom pom garland to drape across a blue table cloth, and taped bunches of balloons to the back of the table. Then, I got to have fun making lots of colorful snacks.

1. Skewers of fruit with "cloud dip" - marshmallow fluff and cream cheese whipped together
2. Little cups of cut up carrots and celery with ranch dressing in the bottom
3. Marshmallow pops dipped in chocolate and covered in sprinkles
4. Paper cones made out of scrapbook paper and filled with popcorn
5. (Not pictured) pigs in a blanket

The Cake

Then, there was the star of the show - the cake! Haley has been asking for strawberry cake this whole time, so I went the simple route and made a Duncan Hines cake mix and frosted it with a cream cheese frosting that I got from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. It was delicious!

For the cute cake toppers, I found this idea from Potter and Butler. I used felt and made the poufs, then I hot glued them to skewers to make really adorable cake poms (and check out Potter and Butler's shop, they sell all sorts of fun cake toppers!)

The Giveaways

On the giveaway table, I made a sign with the Up! house design on it asking people to take some goodies home with them. Balloon clusters were taped to this table as well.

For the kids, I made "Ellie Badges," the cute little grape soda bottle cap pins that Ellie and Carl wore in the movie. I designed the labels myself and adhered them to bottle caps that I saved (tutorial soon.) There are several shops on Etsy that sell similar pins, but I knew I could make them myself (and I had a lot of fun doing it too.)

I also designed Wilderness Explorer Badges like Russell wore in the movie. I handed these out for the kids to color and cut out at home. I wanted to also make felt sashes for each of the kids to be able to glue the badges to, but I ran out of time. I'll be sharing these printable badges with you soon too :)

For the adults, I made simple sandwich cookies by purchasing store-bought sugar cookie dough and mixing sprinkles into the dough to make colorful cookies. I then made more cream cheese frosting and sandwiched it between two cookies. Each guest received 2 cookies in each cellophane bag tied with ribbon. Luckily, we had some leftovers :)

The Dress

For the birthday girl, I wanted to make her a dress to wear that would look like something Ellie wore in Up! I bought some yellow gingham and flower buttons and followed this tutorial for The School Girl Jumper by Simple Simon and Company. It turned out really cute! And of course, she wore the Ellie Badge that I made her to complete the look.

I sewed cute flower buttons down the back of the dress to complete it. I also had cute little shoes to wear with the dress, but Haley loves her Crocs and it was her special day, so I wasn't about to push it :)

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I hope you enjoyed all the party details! It was a really fun party to plan, especially since I had so much creative reign since there aren't any commercial Up! party supplies out there. 

I'll be sharing the DIY projects that I made throughout the week in case you're planning an Up! party too.

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Spring Flowers Shirt

Spring has come early this year it seems! I'm not complaining. Spring and fall are my favorite seasons. There's something so refreshing about walking outside with the smell of rain in the air and budding flowers everywhere. In fact, we haven't gotten ANY snow yet in my part of Tennessee. My husband, who comes from PA, is not happy about this fact - but I'm pretty darn thrilled with the mild weather. It means more play time outside for the kids, and more outdoor running for me :)

I made this shirt for my daughter as a way to welcome in the pretty spring flowers. The flowers are made using organza and seed beads then hand-sewed to the shirt, so no sewing machine needed - yay! You can find lots of pretty colors of organza at your local fabric store too, so the color combinations are endless.

Supplies:

• Shirt
• 1/4 yard organza
• Fray Check (to keep the edges of your organza from fraying)
• Seed beads
• Needle and thread

Step 1: Make your organza flowers.

First, start by folding a square of organza in half and cutting a little petal shape out (don't cut the fold!)

When you open your petal, it should look like this. Repeat this process to get 6-8 petals per flower. Apply your Fray Check to the edges of your petals and let them dry according to the bottle's instructions.

After all of your petals are cut out, stack them on top of each other (keeping them folded) and fan them out into a flower shape.

Pinch your flower in half and, with your threaded needle, sew through the bottom of your flower. Unfold your flower and pinch it in a different direction and repeat the same process 2 more times. Knot your thread and clip.

You should now have a flower that looks like this! Repeat this process for however many flowers you want. I suggest making at least 3.

Step 2: Stitch your flowers to your shirt.

Now to attach your flower to your shirt. Hand sew your flowers to your shirt with your needle and thread by sewing through the middle of your flower with coordinating thread. On your third stitch, before threading your needle back down through your shirt, add 3 seed beads for the center.

And there you have it, a pretty new spring top!

When laundering your shirt, lay it flat to dry so your flowers aren't crushed and deformed by the dryer. While they're wet, press the flowers open with your fingers some to help keep their shape.

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Chevron jewelry organizer

My jewelry situation is a sad mess. All of my necklaces are tangled in one giant knot (both from being clumped together and from little hands playing with them). I've been keeping all of my jewelry in an old, standing jewelry case in my bedroom, and I'm tired of looking at that big, clunky thing in the corner of my room everyday. I wanted to make something that would keep all of my jewelry organized, but look cute at the same time. Can you guess what I used?

A bulletin board! (OK, maybe it wasn't that difficult to guess...)

I originally wanted to buy a bunch of mismatched drawer pulls and drill them into my wall, but when I found this bulletin board for $6, I immediately knew what I wanted to do

To make your own chevron jewelry holder, here's what you need:

Supplies:

• Bulletin Board
• Spray paint or acrylic paint - 2 colors
• Clear sealant
• Foam brush
• Nails
• Double fold bias tape
• Vinyl or contact paper for the stencil
• Masking tape

Step 1: Paint your bulletin board.

First, you'll need to paint your bulletin board white. It may take a few coats to cover it completely, but make sure you have good coverage, especially over the wood frame. You'll want to paint the cork board too. Spray paint would probably be best, but it was night time and I was impatient, so I used acrylic paint instead.

Step 2: Apply your stencil.

Now, you'll need to apply your chevron stencil. I used my Silhouette to cut out a chevron design and apply it to my board, but if you don't have a craft cutter, just Google "chevron" images and then trace the pattern onto the paper backing of your contact paper, cut out, and stick to your bulletin board.

Step 3: Apply your second color. 

Next, put tape around the wooden edges of your bulletin board, right up to the cork so that when you apply your other color of paint, none gets on the wood border. Apply your second coat of paint and let dry. You will probably need several coats of your second color as well.
 

After your paint has dried, peel off your masking tape. As you can tell from my picture below, some of my turquoise paint leaked into my white areas. I just took a small brush and touched everything up until it looked good.

Here's what it should look like when you finish painting!

Step 4: Add nails and bias tape to hold your jewelry.

Finally, I used a ruler to evenly space my nails. I simply used a hammer to gently hammer them in without pushing them completely through the cork. From there, I just hang my necklaces on the nails.

To hold my earrings and bracelets, I folded the ends of a piece of bais tape under and hot glued them. I then placed the looped ends over a couple of nails, that's it! The earrings I just hook onto the bias tape and for the bracelets, I string them onto the bias tape and when I want one, I just take slip the end off the nail and choose the one I want.

This project turned out better than I could have hoped. I'm so glad to have a functional, pretty new jewelry organizer.

I won't even pretend that this is half of my jewelry. I might need to make myself a couple of these...

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Review and Giveaway: The Sharp Crochet Hook

***This giveaway is now closed***

I love to crochet, the only problem is that I can only crochet things that are square or rectangular. When my daughter was born, I made a huge baby blanket made entirely of about 70 or so crocheted squares joined together. I was pretty impressed with myself because before then, all I had made was a ton of scarves. Needless to say, when Laura from The Sharp Crochet Hook contacted me about doing a review and giveaway of her product, I was thrilled to be able to make something other than a scarf.

The Sharp Crochet Hook is a brilliant little crochet hook with a sharp point on the end that lets you easily add decorative crochet edging to projects without having to poke holes through the fabric before crocheting. You simply push the sharp end of the crochet hook through the fabric as you crochet. It's perfect for people like me who aren't experienced crocheters because you can easily add crocheted edging to projects to give them a beautiful handmade look.

Armed with my new Sharp Crochet Hook, I decided to make an appliqued shirt for my daughter. for Valentine's Day.

Supplies:

• Shirt
• 2 colors of felt squares
• Sharp Crochet Hook
• Yarn
• Sewing machine and basic sewing materials 

First, cut out a heart from one of your squares of felt. Make sure it's about 1/2 inch smaller than you want your final heart to be since you'll be crocheting a border around it.

Next, use your Sharp Crochet Hook to crochet a border around your heart. I used The Quick and Easy Variation stitch in the Crochet Edging Handbook that came with my Sharp Crochet Hook. It was really easy to follow, and it contains 14 other stitches that I'll be trying on other projects soon.

Since the felt was so thick, I had to wiggle the fabric a little to get the crochet hook to poke through, but if I had chosen to use knit fabric instead I wouldn't have had any problems. The hook made edging SO easy since I didn't have to bother with poking holes through the fabric beforehand. I simply crocheted away while watching television and after a little while, I had a beautiful little crochet-edged heart!

Once you have your edging finished, pin your heart to your shirt and sew around the border to secure. Cut a second heart from another piece of felt and place on top of your crocheted heart. Pin and stitch to secure.

That's it! The the crocheted edges really made the shirt and gave it some personality. I can't wait to use my new Sharp Crochet Hook to add decorative edging to other projects!

So how would you like to win a Sharp Crochet Hook for yourself?

Laura is giving away one of her Sharp Crochet Hooks to one of my readers. The Sharp Crochet Hook is perfect for adding decorative edges and borders to receiving blankets, gloves, clothing, towels and even paper products!

You can enter 3 different ways to win your own Sharp Crochet Hook:

1. Like The Sharp Crochet Hook on Facebook and leave me a comment on this post letting me know

2. Tell me what you would make if you won
3. Follow My Own Road and leave me a comment on this post letting me know

**The giveaway ends at 11:59 pm CST on February 16th. The winner will be chosen via Random.org and announced here on February 17th. Please make sure you include your email address in your comment if it's not linked to your profile.**

Even if you don't win, the Sharp Crochet Hook would make a great gift -- or just buy one for yourself! You can buy the Sharp Crochet Hook by itself for only $6.99, or you can purchase the combo pack that includes the hook and the Crochet Edging Handbook with 15 different crochet patters for $10.99.


Good luck, and thanks for entering!