Printable Easter Goodies

These two ladies posted adorable Easter Freebies on their sites.  Check out Lelan over at Hello, Good Gravy to get her printable seed packet tags.  I'm going to whip up some of these for the little ladies in my life for some non-sugar fun for Easter.

Photo from Lelan's Blog

Then head over to Erin's site, Leo on the Loose, for some coloring sheet fun.  Ava is at the age that she could color for hours if I let her, so I know these will come in handy the next few days.

Picture from Erin's Blog

So, so cute and such generous ladies for sharing their talents with us...for free!!

Tutorial: Fabric Flowers

Here is my version of the fabric flower.  I tried to make these directions as easy to follow as possible but ask questions if something doesn't make sense!

1. 
   
   Gather all your supplies.  My fabric strips are 10 inches long and 1 inch wide.  My strips happen to have a pinked edge from a layer cake I used for Ava's quilt.  If you want a finished edge use a piece of fabric that is 10 inches long and 2 inches wide.  Then fold the fabric in half length wise and iron your fold, so now you have a 10 inch x 1 inch piece of fabric like the below picture.

2.  Stitch along the edge of the fabric that will be the center of the flower using a gather stitch.

3.  Gather your embroidery floss tight and tie at least a double knot very securely.  Trim the end of your floss so that you can't see it. 

4.  You will be left with a cute little flower ready to be embellished a zillion different ways.

5.  Hot glue the button of your choice to the center.  You could also do a felt center or really anything to cover the center that tickles your fancy.

6.  Now is where you can make your flower into a clip, a pin, or even a ponytail holder.  I made Ava's into clips.  I bought my clips from Sally's Beauty Supply Store for about $2.50 for 12.  Hot glue your ribbon to the clip.  Glue and wrap the entire outside of the metal clip.  The ribbon also helps the clip stay in her hair.

7.  Hot glue your flower to the clip and you're done!  Super easy right?

Here are 2 of the clips I made.  The flower on the left was made with 10 inches of fabric and the flower on the right was made with 20 inches of fabric.  These are very forgiving flowers so go crazy and experiment with different lengths & widths.  You could make these with a wide ribbon, felt, etc.  The possiblilities really are endless.  Check out Katie's idea of using these to make a spring wreath.

Now go crazy with these fabric flowers and let me know how it goes!!

Frustration

I have been so anxious to start quilting Ava's little throw.  The backing fabric arrived in the mail and I was waiting for the chance to get it all together.  While Ava was napping yesterday, I made my quilt sandwich using my cute little curved basting pins and had everything ready for the quilt-a-thon to begin.  I got my machine equipped with the proper thread, foot, and extended table.  I made my little trial sandwich and practiced my wavy pattern I want to use.  I got the thread tension issue worked out on my sample and was feeling really good about myself.  The key word being was...

I stink!  Working with a larger piece of fabric and manuvering that massive amount through the machine was a joke.  I have read countless tutorials on how to do this.  I would stitch about 10 inches and then check it.  It was horrid.  My little practice piece was so good.  What in the world am I doing wrong???  I tried about 4 different times but sitting and ripping out stitches was making my neck stiff.  Not to mention, I was super frustrated.  For now, I'm walking away for at least a full day. 

To make myself feel better, I made Ava a few yo-yo flower hair clips that are simple, fast, and instant gratification.  I feel better but every time I walk past the quilt I mumble at it.  Maybe I'll just wake up tomorrow and the quilt fairy will have gifted me with her knowledge and skills...I hope.

Easter Banner

I love decorating for the holidays and now that we have a kiddo it makes it even more fun to go all out. 

I wanted to make a banner to hang on our mantel, so I started with my monsterous pile of scrapbook paper in my closet.  I have a weakness for all things with crafty cuteness such as paper, fabric, fonts, etc.  I cut out 12 4x4 squares of various papers that coordinate.  I used my corner round punch to make them a little softer.  I then typed out "Happy Easter" on my computer in Word using this adorable free Kwekel font from Free Scrapbook Fonts.  It's a good block type font with a little pizazz.  The little chick clip art came from Discovery Education which I used a lot as a teacher.  I then cut each letter into a 3x3 square, rounded the corners and used double sided tape to afix the letters to the paper.  Hole punch each corner and pick out a ribbon to tie them together.  Ta-da!  You have a great springy banner to hang from your mantel, across a doorway or even a window.  Super cute, cheap, and adds a little color to the room. 

Meet Simon

Here's the newest addition to our family, Simon.  We adopted him on Saturday from the local Humane Society.  Boy is he a cutie!

Last Friday, Steve surprised me for my birthday saying we would get another rabbit.  I had been dropping hints since Sweet Pea died but Steve did not seem interested.  Little did I know he had been doing research to find out more about a certain breed I had mentioned.  I had seen a few pictures of Lionhead Rabbits and thought they were adorable, so that's what Steve went looking for.  He talked to breeders and found out all about them.  I was thrilled.  I also couldn't wait to find one.  I'm very impatient that way.  I got online and saw that some were being adopted out on Saturday at a local Petsmart.  Needless to say we were there the next day.  Unfortunately, they did not have any but mentioned that the Humane Society got in a litter of Lionheads not long ago.  Off we went to check out the bunnies.  We had a tough decision because all three of the little guys were adorable.  Something about Simon was unique and different...other than his rad hair.  He was super sweet and outgoing.  Perfect for Miss Ava.  We couldn't pick him up until Thursday because he had to have his little boy parts fixed.  He was worth the wait though! 

We've had him for a little over a day now and he and Ava are the best of friends.  Ava keeps trying to give him books and other random toys.  Simon is going with it quite well.  Having a pet makes our house feel more homey.  Thanks for the awesome birthday present, hon!  I'm super glad we were able to adopt, too. 

Happy Anniversary

Four years ago today, I married my best friend.  Happy Anniversary, Steve!  I can't wait to see what the years to come have in store for us. 

Ava's Quilt

Yesterday I finished piecing together the top of Ava's quilt.  I was very disappointed with my results.  All my corners were not meeting up with each other.  I realized my error was in my sewing and not my cutting but I was not about to rip apart the entire quilt to restitch all the squares.  I laid the quilt out on the floor to take a look at it when Ava came rushing over and laid down on it saying, "Ahhhhhh," while rubbing her hands across the fabric.  She laid there for a good 10 minutes pointing to all the different squares and saying something important but what I'm not sure! 

That's when I realized it's ok that it's not perfect.

Ava is going to love it even if the corners of each square don't match up perfectly.  She's going to know that her mom loved her so much she *attempted* to make her something special. 

Now on to the quilt sandwich and the binding.  Both of which I have never done before and I'm sure won't be perfect either...and that's ok.