Anna's Attempts

Pencil Wrap

2012-02-22T12:29:00.001-06:00

This is a super easy, super fast, and super cute gift for any child, would maybe make a cute addition to an Easter basket! Alright, enough chatter, let's get to the tutorial shall we??

Make yourself a 12" x9" rectangle for your pattern piece. Take that pattern piece and cut out 4 rectangles of your desired fabric, and 1 rectangle of fleece...

Guilty secret...I actually used the Band Pattern Piece for my Reversible Hat folded down to the 9" size!

Next, pin fleece to WRONG side of one of your 4 fabric pieces and stitch in place using 1/4" seam allowance..

Now take another of your Fabric rectangles and fold it in half longways with wrong sides together, pin this to the fabric side of your fleece/fabric rectangle, raw edges on the bottom...

And stitch along sides, using a 1/4" seam allowance...

Now grab a ruler and a marking pen/pencil and mark lines on the folded over piece(pocket) where you want your pockets divided, I just used the width of my ruler as a guide (i think it's close to 1" spacing)...

Now stitch where your lines are...

and trim your threads of course!

Now take your third fabric rectangle and fold in half lengthwise, RIGHT sides together, stitch short sides together using a 1/2" seam allowance. Turn right sides out....

Now take the piece(this is your pencil keeper flap) and align it to the top of your pocket piece, raw edges along the top...

And take your last rectangle and place it over everything, right side down and pin...

Now take a piece of ribbon(I used grosgrain) about 12-18" long, fold it in half, stuff it under your top piece right now and place the fold on one side of your pocket section, halfway up or so and pin...

Now stitch around the whole thing with a 1/2" being careful not to catch the flap on the sides while sewing, and leaving a space at the bottom for turning. Turn right side out....

And you're done!!!!!!

Happy Crafting!!

Bottle Cozy

2012-02-17T18:15:00.001-06:00

Here's a fun new project that actually started as can and bottle cozies(which you can still use it for!). I was making some as presents for my BIL and it hit me...I am always fighting to keep Mr. Man's bottle's warm when we go out and this would help! So they went from can cozies to bottle cozies...enough chatter let's get to the tut shall we?

First make yourself a pattern piece- which is just a 4.5" x 9.5" rectangle. Then cut out two pieces of fleece using your pattern...

Perfect for using up old scraps!

Next put your pieces right sides together and sew along both the long edges but NOT the short edges...

Turn right sides out and top stitch along the long edges 1/4" from the edge...

Turn right side out...

And topstitch

Now determine which side you want on the outside, that is now the 'right side' of the fabric. Fold your piece in half 'hamburger style' right sides together and sew together on the short edges...

Trim and turn right side out, and you have a cozy!!!

These guys don't have to be for bottles only, they fit soda cans and glass bottles too. If you like, you can add an embellishment like the flower on the cozy in the first picture. The flower is a variation of the Box Fold Flower from the ladies at I Candy Handmade. Well I hope you like these! Let me know what you think!

Happy Crafting!

Cute and Easy Skirt

2012-02-17T17:01:00.001-06:00

Is anyone else following the awesome 'Nesting' posts over at Delia Creates??? There are a lot of great tutorials on there!!! I saw THIS cute post and wanted to make the skirt, but for my toddler SOOO I used her awesome instructions to make a big one and it worked great!

I will definitely be making more!

And it came out nice and long on Pumpkin to cover those knees!

There are so many awesome posts going on over there right now! Be sure and check them out!

Happy Crafting!

Reversible Hat tutorial

2012-02-12T22:05:00.001-06:00

As promised here is a tutorial for an easy and reversible winter hat!(Anastasia's hat in Lil Fur Cape is a variation on this one) Sorry it's been so long since any posts, it's been crazy around here!

To make your pattern pieces measure around your head (for me it was 22") now if you like your hats loose add 1" (23") or if you like them tight just use the initial measurement, this will be the length of the side piece and the circumference of the top.

To make the top piece divide your measurement by 3.14 (for me 7") OK now I might get kinda confusing here... so I took lots of pictures...

Measure 7" apart

Rotate on the axis (3.5")

Measure 7" apart again and rotate again...

and measure 7" apart again and rotate one more time

and measure 7" apart again

And connect the dots...viola! a circle :)

Now determine how long you want the side of your hat( to do this, measure the side of your head to where you like your hat to stop and add 4-5" so you can fold up the bottom) add 1" for seam allowances ( I chose 12" for this one that way after I folded up the bottom it would kinda hang in the back- my hubby loves the long hats) Cut out your rectangle (12x22), then you have your pattern pieces.

Now cut out two of each pattern piece, one set in one color and the other in another...

Now pin and sew your side seams together on the side pieces...

Now pin the side piece to the top, right sides together and sew...

Do this with both sets...and then stuff one right side out into the other right side in...

Sew the pieces together leaving a gap for turning...

Turn and topstitch...

Fold up about 4" and viola! you have a hat!

And it's reversible!

You can play around with lengths for the side, giving you different looks...

This kind is my hubby's fave, he says that way on not so cold days he folds it up once...

And on really cold days he folds it up twice, keeping his ears extra toasty!

This kind is my fav...the side piece would be 8.5-9" long

Happy Sewing!!

Lil Fur Cape

2012-01-31T20:38:00.000-06:00

So I bought some faux fur fabric last year with the intention of making Miss Stasia a cape. One winter come and gone and halfway through another and I finally did it, and she LOVES it! It's almost impossible to get it off her!!

Miss Stasia and her favorite kitty Peaches

I used the basic idea from THIS awesome tutorial from the ladies at Project Run and Play. I didn't do the collar cause the fur seemed too bulky to do so, also I can't draft a pattern to save my life and I couldn't print out her collar pattern since we still don't have a printer around here (Stasia danced on our old one!). I also did a loop and stuffed button instead of a buttonhole and covered button.

Then I made her a matching hat...

Stay tuned for the tutorial on the hat....

Shopping Bags out of T-shirts

2012-01-27T08:03:00.001-06:00

Sorry for the pucker in this pic! I didn't stuff the bag with anything before I hung it up, I just snuck out as quick as i could without the kiddos noticing!!

So my original inspiration came from the wonderful folks at Martha Stewart. Find her tutorial HERE.

But of course, some moderations were made!

Mainly i just changed the bottom of the bag, I wanted to have somewhat of a 'base'.

So that's just an elaborate way of saying I sewed the corners....

And this is what it looks like!

And you can add embellishments!

The flowers are kinda heavy, but not too bad :)

And you can make these from the scraps! I found this cool tutorial at Lil Blue Boo. Find it Here.

Or, if you used long sleeved shirts to make your bag, you can make these from the sleeves... This tutorial can be found at Homemade by Jill, HERE

Happy Crafting!!

Washing Day...

2012-01-23T13:39:00.001-06:00

I have been thinking about making my own laundry detergent for some time. Several of my friends make theirs with excellent results, and my mother-in law has made her own for over 20 years. Her's was liquid though, and I just couldn't see storing a 5gal bucket of detergent in my household (recipe for disaster I say!). So when I ran across THIS recipe the other day, it looked easy enough for me to manage and it was powder! Like with most of my attempts, I ran into a few hitches, but it was still really easy and it works GREAT! I decided to chronicle this attempt to share with ya'll!

First I gathered my supplies, Borax, Washing Soda, and a Fels Naptha soap bar... I used two bars because I wanted to double the recipe...

Notice the grater in the picture above??? The recipe said I could use one instead of a food processor if i wanted to, and i didn't want to get my processor all junky so I figured that was what I would do....Let me say, I had no where near the patience it would have taken to hand grind that bar of soap!!!!! So then I decided to use the food processor method...

Take the Fels Naptha and chunk it up...

I love the way these bars look! So old-timey!

Then put the chunks in the processor and grind....

Or in my case, stall your cheapo $20 processor and have to find an alternate route to get the soap to a size the processor thinks it can manage.....

This thing has been lying around in my cabinet for ages....it worked like a charm though!

So after the hand grinder it looked like this....

THEN i was able to put it back in the processor to grind to a powdery texture....

OK so not so fine a texture...I was late making dinner, so I needed to speed things up!

Then you add 1 cup each of Borax and Washing Soda to each bar of soap used (so in my case i used 2 cups Borax and 2 cups Washing Soda)

Mix together and VIOLA! laundry detergent!

The stuff work great! I was a little worried about how chunky I had left the Naptha, but it dissolves just fine. In fact it works much better than the detergent i have been buying! Hello to eco and budget friendly laundering!!!!

Sorta Stir-Fry?

2012-01-19T22:13:00.000-06:00

So my awesome hubby brought home these healthy spinach noodles the other day....

And we tried making a regular meatball/marinara sauce dinner with them. It was OK, but the noodles were a little chewy so I got to thinking that they would hold up perfectly in a stir fry-type meal....SOOOOOOO

I gave it a shot, and it was a huge success! (at least according to the family). Now i don't know how a real stir fry is made up, I just kinda threw everything together...(i'm a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants type cook) therefore the name 'sorta stir-fry'.

So basically i just sliced up my meat, (or you could use tofu) and browned it in a pan with a chopped up onion (i like to add ginger, onion salt, parsley and pepper at this point), then I added a chopped bell pepper, and a bag of frozen veggies(we like either green beans or a California medly) and the drained noodles. Cook and stir till thoroughly cooked.

Now it's time to add the seasoning...i LOVE this stuff

Mix it up according to the package instructions and add to stir fry, i like to cook it down a bit...

And Viola! A sorta stir-fry...!

It's always a huge hit around here...

See? Nothing left! Always a good sign!

Hope you like it as much as we do! Let me know what you think!

Headwrap Tutorial

2012-01-15T21:33:00.000-06:00

Headwrap

Ok, so here goes my first tutorial!!! I've been seeing all these awesome knitted headwraps around these days and since i am no good at knitting(my mother, however, is AWESOME!) i decided to try sewing some. So for this winter i figured fleece would be nice and cozy

CRAZY HAIR!!

So first you cut out your pattern pieces....to make the pattern, I measured around Anastasia's head where i wanted the headwrap to sit (21"). Then I decided how wide I wanted it (3" for her). To draft the pattern i added 2" to the length (1" for seam allowances and another 1" for overlap) and added 1" to the width (for seam allowances) Then I drew out the pattern in the shape i wanted (kinda like a rectangle with tapered,rounded ends), I made a half pattern and cut out the wrap on a fold.... Cut two pieces.

I made a half pattern and cut on the fold to make sure my ends matched

With right sides together, sew pattern pieces together, leaving a gap for turning...

Stitching the pieces together...

Turn right side out, fold in edges of gap, and topstitch....

topstitching....

Then add whatever type of closure you want, I used snaps because I hate buttonholes, and love my kamsnap pliers!

I love my KAMsnap pliers!

So far it will look like this....

Almost Done!

Now I added an embellishment...I used an altered version of Icandy Handmade's super cute Box Fold Flower ...

I made a fabric covered button for the center-they are so much fun to do!!!

Sew the flower on off-center on the band....

Viola! The Box Fold Flower is so easy and cute!!!

And now you have a headwrap!!!

You can make them any size you want, for little people or big people!!!

Please forgive the lousy picture of me! I didn't have any other big person models available (other than Kenneth, and I don't think he wants to wear pink!)

And there you have it! An easy and cute headwrap!

Metropolitan Hat

2012-01-14T19:18:00.000-06:00

This is a beautiful pattern from Folkwear. Since it's winter and COLD i thought I'd make it from fleece....

And Miss Anastasia wanted to model it.....please ignore the chocolate yogurt stain.....:P

But I decided i didn't like the rose I made, so i switched it out for a 'Box Fold Flower' I used the awesome tutorial from the ladies at icandy homemade. I liked the final look better....

Here are some pics from the Folkwear site of the hat on an adult...

You can find the pattern Here. It runs on the small side, so I recommend cutting a size larger than it says.

Chocolaty Goodness...!

2012-01-14T00:35:00.000-06:00

Well today I had a Scentsy/Girls Night party! It is always fun making desserts and I had a bunch of new recipes I wanted to try out. There was this awesome post on Pinterest HERE but i had to add chocolate of course.

yummy and almost completely healthy!

hungry yet?

I finally tried making cake mix cookies, with more chocolate.... using THIS recipe...

So easy and so yummy!

My girlfriend Cathie made these yummy fudge frosted brownies....YUM!!

You can never have too much chocolate!

And I HAD to make these 'Schotcheroos'! My mother in law sent us these in our annual Christmas cookie tin and I begged for the Recipe...and got it! And now I will share with you!

1C Light Corn Syrup

1C Sugar

1C Peanut Butter

6C Rice Crispie Treats

1C Chocolate Chips

1C Butterscotch Chips

Put corn syrup and sugar into saucepan, cook over med. heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved and mixture begins to boil. Remove from heat, add peanut butter and stir well. Add cereal and mix well. Press mixture

into a 13x9" pan, set aside. Melt chocolate chips and butterscotch (together) either in microwave or saucepan. Spread over cereal mixture and let cool before cutting. Enjoy!!!

Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Rice Crispies=YUM!

Mr. Paul wanted some too!!!

And to top things off, chocolate dipped Nutter Butters! Can you tell i was jonesing for chocolate?? But what is a girls night without it?!

What can i say-chocolate and peanut butter!

It is always so much fun making desserts! I hope you enjoy the recipes! Happy Baking!

Pillows!!!

2012-01-10T18:23:00.000-06:00

So here was my inspiration......

Visit Martha Stewart's site here for the instructions.

But instead of Silk Scarves i used some upholstery sample squares i had lying around.....

The First Pillow

Then i went pillow crazy! This is less than half of them!

And Lil Mr. likes them too!!!!

I am now officially addicted to making pillows! There are so many fun easy styles out there, i know i will be making many many more! What's even better is that you can customize them to your decor for a fraction of the cost of buying pillows.

2012-01-10T17:59:00.000-06:00

Welcome to my budding blog!!! I am so excited to be starting one! Let's see how it goes....