A Messenger Bag for a Reverse Walker

So my oldest boy uses a reverse walker, he had a nasty bag zip tied to it from the school P.T.(physical therapist). It was ugly,could hold all his stuff, so all it did was lighten his back pack but he still had to use one. I decided to make him one. Since I'm not clever enough to actually design a pattern I used See and Sew B4583 and left off the strap. instead I did 3 straps that button, those I did come up with on my own.

inside

I am super happy with it and now he doesn't have to carry a heavy backpack!

Dress For E

This Dress took me 2 days total. Over all it wasn't the easiest but it wasn't the hardest either. It was my first time doing pockets and working with bias tape. I love the finished product!

Notice the fabric Flowers. You can find that tutorial here.

Here is the finished dress

She is planning on wearing it to the Daddy Daughter Dance at school next week!

Penguin Purse or Softy

We had a little friend turning six this week. She loves penguins but is also very girly and loves dress up and accessories. I needed a gift she would love that was simple, inexpensive, cute, and versatile. And could be made in the time left before the baby woke up and the kids came home from school (about 30 minutes). I gathered up some felt scraps, did a google search for a template, and plugged in my sewing machine. A fast and free birthday gift was soon hatched! If you don't have a sewing machine, you could even hot glue the whole thing together! And it is simple enough your kids could make it themselves with a little supervision.

Presenting the 15 minute pink penguin purse!

For the body shape I used a template that I found HERE.
You can enlarge or shrink it if you want, left original size it is about 6 inches long.

Cut out the pieces, trace onto some felt, and cut out the felt. I also grabbed a ribbon for making a handle. Make two bodies, two feet, two eyes, and one each of the beak and tummy.

Place the front embellishments on the top body piece. Pin in place and sew!

Arrange the feet and handle on the bottom body piece and pin in place.

Put the top body piece on, pin the two together, and sew around the outside edge from one end of the handle to the other leaving the top open. Unless you are making a softy, not a purse, then stuff in some filling and sew all the way around!

Ta-da! Now put something cool inside and give to your favorite little person. This penguin is going to hold a pair of glamorous sunglasses, but she can do double duty as a candy bar keeper, door hanger, or tiny accessory bag.

Monograms and a Hair Bow Holder

ok so let me just say it was hard to let my kids take control and do what they wanted. But I did, I sat back and watched as they painted and decorated these letters!

I hot glued ribbon from the E to create the bow holder.

Fishing Picture Frame

My Boys love fishing so I decided to make them a frame for their fish photos.


So I took an unfinished frame from our local craft store and painted it blue.



modge podged alphabet letters





Added vinyl lettering and rubbed a little ink to age it a bit, make it look a little dirty.



used a spray sealer



added their photos, and hot glued a plant hanger frog to the top.

There you go, I put this on my boys dresser and can switch out the pics. as they grow!

Flutter Paper Mobile

Have you seen this picture?
An easy to follow tutorial for the project can be found here.

I thought they looked gorgeous, and decided to make my own. The originals were made with rainbow colored vellum and weighted with tiny fishing line sinkers.

I had to make some modifications to make these work in my house. First, vellum is expensive and I didn't want to spend a dollar a sheet at the craft store or buy a case of 100 sheets. Also, it will curl and warp when exposed to humidity for a long period of time and I live in the south. It didn't stand a chance! So I used card stock instead. It loses a little of the translucent light effect but the colors and fluttering and movement are still there! And I didn't have tiny little fishing line weights so I used these feather butterflies I picked up in the bargain bin at the craft store. It fit great with the theme of my daughter's room.

So after you get a stack of pretty paper and something to tie to the bottom, here's a three step tutorial for you:

1. Cut paper into strips. How small depends on how much work you want to do. I went with about 1.5"

2. Set the stitch length on your sewing machine to the longest you have then sew your strips together down the middle. Make sure you sew a few stitches between each piece so that they don't overlap. You want each piece to be able to turn independently. I used ten strips for each mobile. If you have a really high ceiling or are hanging them over a table and no one will be walking under them, you could make them longer. I wanted mine out of reach of little hands jumping on the bed, so I kept them short. Pull a length of thread out before you start and at the end of each set for hanging and to tie on your weight.

3. Tie on a weight. Go with something tiny and small like a fishing weight or a bead, or big and colorful like a butterfly, fabric flower, tiny car, or whatever works with the theme you are using in the room.

Now hang, turn on the ceiling fan, and admire! 

(OK, that was four, but an easy four!)

Fabric Flowers

To make these beauties click here.Fabric Flower Tutorial. Enjoy!

These are fabric flowers that me and a friend made.



you can do so many things with them.
I plan on attaching them to hair clips for my daughter.