Win This!

Would you like to win this beautiful set that I made? If you do, Head over to My Crafty Crap and be part of the Amy Butler Style Stitches Sew Along! You can see all the projects that have been completed from January to now and all the beautiful prizes that have been given away.

This bag is the Sweetheart Shopper by Keyka Lou. (It is my very favorite purse pattern outside of her Envelope Clutches.)  I used Anna Maria Horner, Innocent Crush, First Impression in Potpourri for the exterior of the bag as well as for the key fob. And, I used Anna Maria Horner, Innocent Crush, Shattered in Punch for the interior of the bag. There is one slip pocket inside and closes with a button and elastic loop on the exterior of the bag. The button was handmade by Katie from Notes From A Very Red Kitchen, I purchased it from her etsy shop.

Simple Skirt for Me (yay!)

I finally got around to making myself a Simple Skirt and I LOVE it! I like it because it's super comfortable, fast and easy to put together and very versatile. Here are a few pictures of my finished product. :) yay!

Dress it up a little...

Wear it with a t-shirt and flip flops...

Or do a cute pair of flats and a light sweater for something in the middle...

He Has Risen

"He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By His wounds, we are healed." 1 Peter 2:24

This weekend I am thankful for His great sacrifice, that we may spend eternity with Him. Believing, loving, growing everyday.

May God bless you all this weekend!

Bracelets and Orphans

I decided to try my hand at making bracelets today. I tried three different styles and I love them all!!

Here are the pretties I made today.

One braided from jersey knit, one made with cute buttons and an elastic band and two crocheted with cotton fabric scraps. I love them! And how easy to make!

I wanted some practice with bracelet making for a few reasons, one of them being the current Craft Hope project. If you haven't heard of Craft Hope, go check them out, it's a really cool website/cause. I am so excited to be involved with them. This current project is making bracelets for orphans in Russia. I am really looking forward to making a bunch of fun bracelets for some kids. Knowing I can brighten a child's day with something so simple and sweet is so priceless.

Thank you, God, for providing me this gifting that I may use it to provide joy to others.


"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might."
Ecclesiastes 9:10

Crayon Rolls

My new favorite quick project! I love these rolls and my kids can't wait to get some! I am making them each one for their Easter Basket. :)

Skirts! Part Two

Well, I managed to get all three skirts done today! I am super happy with the results of each skirt. My skirt turned out really cute, I am pleased. The zipper was still tricky and it's not really a hidden zipper, but it looks decent. For that being my first time with a zipper, it's pretty good. I got the skirt done and tried it on and hated it. It was longer than in the pictures here, so I shortened the hem. I also had to realize that this is a full skirt, which I am not used to wearing. Normally I wear denim skirts that hug your body some. So seeing this was a tad different. I felt like a large cupcake at first. Now I like the flow of it and the movement. I do wish I had done more gather though. That was my fault, I didn't buy a ton of fabric. My thinking was it would look better less full. But I think in this case, a little fullness would be better. I am happy with it overall, though. And I intend on wearing it to church on Easter Sunday with a very pale grey, short sleeved sweater, white lace cami and my grey ruffled ballet flats. :)

I am also very happy with the two skirts for Claire bear. She is happy with them also. :) Not much explaining to do about these. They are incredibly easy and so cute. I love them! She wore her striped skirt all day long, it was cute to see her liking it so much.

And for those who are keeping track or care, I am up to 83 items for my project 365 this year. I did not count all 87 Java Sleeves...I counted them as one giant item. I guess if I counted them all, I would be double what I am at now...but I'm ok with that. :)

Skirts!

Tomorrow is a day for skirts! I am making three skirts tomorrow. This makes me so happy! I am making my daughter two Simple Skirts, which I have made before. I have two prints cut out for her skirts. One is a really cute striped fabric with pinks, oranges and blues. The other is leftover fabric from my skirt, a beautiful floral print. (pictured below. The picture is a little dark. I assure you, it's a very bright, cheery print) She saw the fabric and I told her it was for a skirt I was making. Her reply, "me?" so I decided to make her a matching skirt. Matching mommy and me skirts will be so much fun!

The skirt I am making for myself is the Party Skirt I blogged about awhile back. I am really excited to give this skirt a go. I have my fabric cut out and ready for tomorrow. Not only will this be my first skirt for myself (first article of clothing for me period) but it is the first time I will use a zipper. Ok, not really the first time. The first time was a disaster. It was for a little bag/pouch type thing and it was hideous. So my really truly first time can just be tomorrow. I feel confident enough after going over the zipper instructions she included with the tutorial. I know I can! :)

Spring!

Can you believe I haven't sewn at all since I posted last? I haven't. Weird but good. This little break has been good. I do want to try some skirts next and a messenger bag. We'll see how those go. :) I had high hopes of sewing some crayon rolls for my kids' Easter baskets, but I will have to see how this week goes. Those don't take long so it isn't a big deal, I just need to carve out some sewing time and just commit to them. I wanted to make some cool crayons for them also, but I need to check at JoAnn's first to see if they have any fun shaped candy molds.
In other, non sewing news...spring is here! (more or less) The kids and I spent an afternoon outside in the sun and it was wonderful!

Oh Hi, Again.

I never blog anymore. I need to get better about it I guess. It's not like I haven't been doing anything blog worthy...

Here are a few pictures of what I have been up to:

Yeah, that last picture of the Java Sleeves...I made 87 of them. What a great order and great business but oh my. 87 is 87 no matter what you are making. :) The customer was very happy with her items when they arrived, so I am super happy for that.

Everything else I posted pictures of, are new designs I have tried recently. Minus the baby travel changing set at the top. That's not a new design, but one I haven't done in more than a year. I have been having a lot of fun trying new stuff though! I have so many ideas circling around in my head right now!

Joy

These two give me so much joy. I am so blessed!

Love

Happy Valentine's Day from me and my cuties! We didn't take any fun Valentines themed pictures, so a picture from before church yesterday. And yes, that is the skirt I made for Claire.

My beautiful kiddos each made me a card today, which totally made my day. Another positive aspect of my day was three purchases from my etsy shop. Thank you to those spiffy customers who keep me in my fun business. :) I hope you each enjoy your purchases that made me smile today!

"We love each other because He loved us first" 1 John 4:19

What I Did Today

I did some sewing today! I had an agenda. Skirts! Skirts for baby girls to be more specific. I love making stuff to give to other people and skirts are so fun and easy! Here is what I made today! (I also made my son a book bag for his Tag Reader and Library books, but forgot to get a picture).

A bunch of cute little skirts!

I am most proud of these two though...

This first one is the most adorable denim skirt ever! And it is so so so easy! I made two of these today. I have plans for another for my daughter, I just need to tweak the measurements. I found this skirt at kojodesigns

in a guest tutorial by Jill from homemadebyjill.

And this one was one I just made up from a few different skirt designs I have worked on. This is for my daughter and i love how it turned out. This was my first time working with a knit material and it was interesting. Easy enough but a little frustrating at times. I bought ball point needles to use with it and i really didn't care for them. I ended up switching to my regular needle towards the end of it. The waistband can fold down or not depending on how you like it. It works well both ways for her. It fits her great (she wouldn't let me take her picture when she tried it on, so just trust me) and it matches one of my favorite shirts on her. :)

I just found this picture of my daughter posing for the camera (of course not in her new skirt) with her brother's new book bag. You can't see the bag super well, but it's pretty cute, if I do say so myself. Fast, fun and functional. All things I love.

And, as a side note before I go, I challenged myself to make 365 things this year. So far I am up to 59 items since January 1st. Not too shabby. Now, keep in mind some of those are key fobs and lanyards. But it's still an item I hand made. :)

Skirt!

I have been wanting to make a skirt for myself for awhile but didn't know where to start or what style I wanted. Problem solved!
Thanks to Jill at Homemade By Jill, I found what I wanted to make- The Party Skirt from Creative Spaces. It's super cute and I think I can do it fairly easily. I have done a ruffling stitch before so that's easy. I haven't done an invisible zipper, but the tutorial she has linked in this post for the zippers looks SO easy. I am feeling brave!
So in the next couple of weeks I will be trying this. I am excited to make something for myself that isn't a purse or clutch. : )

New! Netbook/iPad/Kindle Sleeve

I am so excited to share this with you all! I made a pattern today and I love love love it! I wanted to try making a netbook sleeve for myself since I don't like my boring black case I have for it. Now I can make as many of these as I want, to go with my outfit or mood. LOL You know me well enough by now to know I am not really joking...

I started by tracing around my netbook and then adding an inch to each side. I wanted to make it easy to charge while in the sleeve, so I made it open on one end instead of on top. This was mainly because my two year old daughter likes to sneak up and turn it on when it is charging. Now she can't get into it! I basically made two sacks and joined them together with a little tab at the opening to close with a button. It was super easy and fun. I just used cotton, fusible fleece for the padding and a button. How easy is that?!

I will be making some of these for my shop as well as some that are smaller for the iPad and the Kindle. I cannot wait to get going on these over the next few days!!

I Heart Denim

It's true. I have been using denim a lot lately. I don't know why the sudden fascination, but it's been fun. Did ya notice I even changed my layout to a denim layout? Nerd alert. Here are pictures of the denim love floating around B Sew Crafty lately.

An iPod/Camera case

A Buttercup Bag

Those are my two favorites I have made recently. I want to make a clutch with denim also. Go figure. Coincidentally, both those items are for sale in my shop. :)

In other news, I have been busy with orders and working on building up my stock in my shop. It's been great! I have had so much fun trying new things, fabric shopping and brainstorming future projects. I need to get some sewing done for my daughter though! I have the cutest tulip fabric I bought last summer and haven't used it yet. I want to make her something cute to wear for spring. I also have some ideas to re-purpose some of her jeans and mine too. I am excited to try some clothing projects finally.

I am still planning on working on the Amy butler Style Stitches Sew Along...which means I should order my book soon. hahahaha I opted to not make this months bag because it is ginormous, so I have a little wiggle room to get the book here before the next bag. Maybe this week I will order it...

That's all I got for now. Stay tuned for some pictures of my new projects/first time projects!

Amy Butler Style Stitches Sew Along

Say that 5 times fast....I dare ya. Anywho. I am going to try and join this sew along with my friend and fellow crafty blog gal, Bree, from My Crafty Crap. I don't have this book yet but I looked through some of the flickr pages about it and the bags are super cute!

I have never done a sew along before so this will be all new to me, but I am excited to see what everyone makes and how we each come along. It will be good to have support and help for tricky things if we need it, too! Wish me luck and patience. ;)