Thursday, March 25, 2010

Name That Bag Contest

I am so in love with this new bag! I love the style, the size, and I especially love how the bottom looks. I plan to make this bag in several sizes:
small (approx. 6" x 6")
medium (approx. 7" x 7")
large (approx. 8: x 8")
The one pictured is a medium. When opened, it looks like a square bucket. It has two inside pockets and closes with a loop that fits over a button on the front of bag. The large bag will also have the choice of a front outside pocket.

The only problem I have is finding a name for it, so this is what I decided to do: whoever comes up with the most creative name will win one of these in their choice of size and fabric! I will leave this contest open until Friday, April 2nd (don't want to announce a winner on April Fool's Day--they might think it's a joke!). So, let's hear those creative name suggestions! You can also enter as many times as you wish!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Challenging Children


My great niece and nephew are the sweetest kids in the world, however, when it comes to gifts, they can be quite the challenge! I don't mean that they are difficult to please, I just mean that they really love to challenge my creativity. Not that I mind. I love a good challenge.
When asked, Tyler said that he wanted a bat doll for his birthday. Ooookay. Who knows where five year olds come up with their ideas. So, to the drawing board I went to try and create a bat doll for him. I actually used a Bit of Whimsy Mollie Monkey pattern for the body but still had to come up with a face, wings, and legs. So, I did manage that quite well. I made the body with black suede and the ears, wings and legs from black cotton that has a gray swirl pattern. I think it came out rather cute!Tyler's sister Kayden's birthday is next week. I asked if she'd like a girl doll with a couple of skirts. Nope. Not at all. But what she WOULD like was a robot doll. Yellow. A big doll. A girl one. Here we go again! This time I used my robot blankie as a template for the head. I made it a bit smaller because the blankie pattern was a bit big. That was the easy part. Then I had to figure out how to do the arms and legs. I looked around on etsy to see how people were doing their robot hands (I already had an idea for the legs/feet)and saw that most were doing claw-like hands. I'm not very good at drawing (can't even draw stick people) so even something so simple as claws were a challenge for me, but I managed. And so here is Kayden's big girl robot doll in yellow.

Can hardly wait for their next birthdays to roll around.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Make Your Own Bubble Mailers


I have decided to make Tuesdays "Tutorial Tuesdays" on my blog! Every Tuesday I will post a craft tutorial. These will be sewing, crafting, crocheting, etc. The first tutorial will show you how to make your own bubble mailers. Imagine the smile on the recipient's face when they receive something in a mailer that you made yourself with fun patterned paper! They are easy to do and you do not need a lot of materials.

Here is the link:
http://blog.shoplet.com/office-supplies/diy-custom-bubble-mailers/
Would love to see pics of your handmade mailers!