Baby Sling Pouch

Many of my sweet friends are either currently pregnant or just had a baby. One girlfriend, Jen, asked me to help her make a sling pouch to carry her little guy {and future babies} in. I used the video tutorial found here -- so easy to follow!

Seeing as we do not have a baby yet, I rolled up a towel for the picture above. :) This would make a great baby shower gift! You just need 2 yds of both outer and lining fabric (regular cotton prints will work just fine). In all, it probably only took 30 minutes to complete.

Goodwill re-fashion part 2

The aforementioned trip to Goodwill also yielded this skirt. At a size 24, it was obvi too big for me, but I really liked the bold print of the fabric, so I decided to make a sundress out of it. (channeling warm weather here!)

In a couple of hours, I made this dress -- it's cute and comfy!

I was able to maintain the integrity of the original zipper and added the tie closure for the new bodice.

I put this slightly awkward shot up to show the 'scrunched' detail on the front. To do this, I zig-zag stiched a stretched piece of elastic to the inside -- when it releases, it puckers the fabric.

I'm pretty proud of my first dress re-fashion...especially because it only cost me $3.00!

Goodwill re-fashion part 1

I made a quick trip through our local Goodwill store the other day in search of a new sewing project. I ran across this less-than-flattering skirt -- loved the Houndtooth print on the fabric!

I took in the sides, hemmed it up a little higher and added some darts to the front to take away from of the bulk. Here's what 30 minutes and a sewing machine gave me:

Much better, right?!

Chameleon wreath

Remember the super cool white wreath I made before Christmas?? If not, check out the post here. The great thing about choosing to make it in white is that it's versatile for season/holiday changes! Leading up to Valentines Day I had a cute red and pink polka dot ribbon....and now that I'm desperately ready for spring I added these cute butterflies!

This is a really quick project {and a rather satisfying one also!}. All you have to do is google a picture of a butterfly outline, then print it out in various sizes. My biggest ones are about 4 in. and the smallest ones are about 1in. There are 3-4 of each size.

After I cut the butterflies out of cardstock, I gently folded them in half to give more dimension, then pinned them to the wreath with straight pins.

If only Spring could take a hint and get here quicker!!!

Such a great weekend!

Here are some reasons why this weekend was so wonderful:
1. We got to visit family in Branson.
2. Sean drove the whole way there and back.
3. I won a giveaway from the sew mama sew blog! ($15 gift card)
4. I didn't do any homework.
5. Sean helped me to do some pretty great organization around the apartment.

This was a solid weekend. I updated our door wreath to align with the impending spring season...will post about that this week.

Coveting

This post is just so I don't forget about this awesome PB table. Wouldn't it be perfect for a craft room??

yo-yo necklace

I decided to make a necklace that was loosely inspired by this anthro beauty:

I picked up various fabrics/buttons from JoAnns that were on sale and wanted to use the yo-yo technique to make the flowers. It's super easy! Just cut a circle approx 2X the desired width of the yo-yo and stitch around the edges.
The closer the stitches, the wider the center opening will be. Gently pull the threat through (needle still attached) and it will start to curl up like this:
Once closed, put a couple of stitches through the layers to secure.

I repeated this step with coordinating fabrics, then sewed them onto a ribbon to make this necklace...only took about 30 minutes total! You could add whatever buttons/beads you want for the center of the yo-yos!

The yo-yos were really fun to make....I think I'll use the same technique to embellish a t-shirt soon.

Valentines at our house

The annual valentines package mom sends us:

Yummy heart-shaped cinnamon rolls:
"heart attack": I wrote reasons why I love Sean on a lot of hearts and put them all over the apartment.

Just one example of the many:

We blew up one of these in our living room and caught up on all the TV we've been missing lately...so fun!

Sean gave me a new Coach bag that looks similar to this one:

I gave him a couple of things to help him fit in when he starts school in the south -- some croakies and a new polo like this southern boy pictured below:

Sean is so good at knowing and speaking my love languages! I'm so blessed to be loved by so many and hope that I'm able to love others well!

On this slide I want to highlight....

I'm back from a health administration case competition at the University of Alabama-Birmingham and so thankful I'm sleeping in my own bed tonight! Although at times I felt like the guy presenting in the picture here, we actually did really well! 26 of the top graduate programs in health administration were present at the competition -- and we placed in the top 5! It was a lot of work {in case you're interested, our case was about a specialty hospital who was considering various physician-hospital alignment strategies} so it was nice to be recognized a bit for that hard work. It was great presentation practice, as our judges for the final round had over 200 years of health care experience combined {which was enough to make even me a little nervous!} Glad it's behind me now so I can focus on other more important things...

Be Mine - Valentine Crafting

Today I had friends over for a little valentine crafting session. I so value the time I spent with these friends and had a lot of fun catching glimpses of their creativity!

mmmm.....

Some of the group...

A few of my creations....

These are some of my favorite...inspired by this one. I found paint chips with colors like 'scented valentine' or 'luscious lips.' :)

I wonder who will be a recipient of these lovley valentines....

Calling the Hogs

Sean got official word yesterday of his acceptance into grad school at U of A! We were were confident he would be accepted and have been planning accordingly, but it's great to be all official and stuff. I know Sean's going to enjoy learning more about athletic training and he's pretty excited to be a student again.

Turns out no place in Columbia, MO carries U of A gear {understandably}, so here's the best I could do to celebrate the occasion:

I tried to convey a little sarcasm in icing....Go Hogs?

Now...I can only hope Sean doesn't turn into one of these:
{sorry if you read this blog and know this man...I'm sure he's a very nice guy}
Some things we're thinking of to maintain our MU roots: Making at least one FB and BB game in Columbia a year, flying a Mizzou flag in front of our house, having MU watch parties in our F-ville residence, and joining a local MU alumni group. MIZ...

Also -- I'm super excited to be hosting a Valentines craft session on Saturday...I'll post some of the cute crafty-ness after the event!