Very Hungry Caterpillar Cupcake Cake Tutorial

If you checked in yesterday, you know that we had a Very Hungry Caterpillar Theme for Sweet Pea's 1st Birthday. 

Infant Gift Ideas to make you a Favorite Grandma...

...or Grandpa or Aunt/Uncle/Cousin/Whatever

Here are some great ideas.  My mom made Sweet Pea this cute fabric ball.  We had one of these when I was a kid and now we get one too...except the one my mom made is even cute.  I love all these colors and a lot of them are scraps from projects we did together that have special meaning.  And of course even more importantly...Sweet Pea loves it!  With all those hand holds, her sweet little hands can pick it up so easy.  (The only real problem is that the older kids like to play with it too and will occassionally take it for themselves.)  You want to make one?  She's got a tutorial for these awesome fabric balls on her blog.

Another way to score...make some Baby Wallet Cards.  Sweet Pea LOVES wallets.  If she sees me carrying mine in a store, she has a FIT until she gets to hold it.  Her favorite part is pulling out all the cards...which of course is not good if I want to keep track of them.  Hubby was telling his mom about this, and she came up with the idea of making these fun Baby Wallet Cards.  They're the same size as credit cards, so they fit in a wallet.  They have an assortment of cute kid-type pictures as well as photographs, and then she laminated them.  Put them in an old wallet or one you find at a thrift store for a VERY popular toy.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Pea!

Sweet Pea turned 1-year-old this weekend!

She is our Sweetie-Petitie and we are so happy to have her in our family! 

Sending Some Love - Fabric/Cardstock Primary Cards (Printable Included!)

It's taken me a long time to get around to posting the project, but better late then never. :)  I made these for my 9-Year-Old Primary class at church.  I wanted to give them something on Valentine's Day, but keep it church related.  I asked each child the week before what their favorite color was and chose a different fabric from my stash for each child.  Then I wrote personal notes to each one.  One child said his favorite color was black, so his heart is from those cordoroy pants that I turned into these cute skirts for my daughters and some knee patches for Firecracker.  I liked that the cards were all the same because the pattern was the same, but each unique...just the way Heavenly Father loves each of his children...the same, but as individuals.

The kids LOVED that they were each different and had the personal note.

I did a poor job of taking pictures for a tutorial, but for a quick run down, I cut out the hearts.  Then I sewed them to the cards being careful not to stretch the fabric, so they'd lay flat.  You could use a bit of double sided tape if you wanted.  I'd practice on some scraps first.  On several of them, there was a tiny pucker at the tip where the ends met, but it was okay.  This is great for using up scraps!

Even though I made them for Valentine's Day, these would work to give to your class any time of year.

You want to make some?  Here's a PDF for the Text.  I printed it on cardstock.  Then the template for the heart is attached below.

Printable Heavenly Father and Jesus Love ME Card in Word Format

Printable Heavenly Father and Jesus Love ME Card in PDF Format

Printable Heart in Word Format

Printable Heart in PDF Format

Delicious No-Fat Pineapple Cake

Does one of these look good? 

Check out my post with the recipe today on The Skinny.

Hand-Me-Down REHAB Readers' Showcase and Linky Party

We don't have too may link-ups yet, but I thought I'd do a highlights post anyway in hopes we can get some more links.  Link your projects at the bottom of this post.
First, you've got to check out the Tank Top Top, my sister Katie made.  She's got an awesome and super detailed tutorial 2 part tutorial on her blog Notes from a Very Red Kitchen.

I love the fabric she used which came from Cherry Line Textiles, and if you want to get some free fabric from Cherry Lane Textiles, check out the giveaway here.

Then you've got to check out Melissa at Until Wednesday Calls.  She's got several really awesome refashioning projects posted including this skirt and vest made from some pants her daughter had grown out of.

Then I love how she converted a onesie into an adorable girly shirt using a super easy lettuce edge.  Melissa has tutorials up for both these projects, so be sure to click on her links.

If you've got your own Hand-Me-Down REHAB or other project, please link to our Hand-Me-Down Rehab Linky Party.  Even though most of the projects I'm doing involve clothes, feel free to link up other rehab/refinish/reinvent/remodel/re-whatever projects you've been working on.  If you link up, I'd appreciate it if you'd grab a Hand-Me-Down REHAB button or a Helping Little Hands button and put it in your link post or in  your blog sidebar to let others know about the fun.


Join in!  Grab a button.

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Satin Stitched Poodle Shirt Applique - Hand-Me-Down REHAB

After I made Firecracker's skirt, I wanted a shirt to match it, and started with a plain, black turtleneck from the hand-me-down pile.  Sweet Pea's dress had a little poodle appliqued on the bottom, so I thought I'd do a poodle on Firecracker's shirt to match. 

I found a poodle silhouette image online and modified it to bit to make the shape simpler.  (Sorry...for the life of me I can't find the link again.)  One of the keys to easy applique is using a simple enough pattern that still has all the elements you want.  I traced the shape onto some Heat'n Bond Lite...my favorite stuff for appliques.  Then I ironed it on the back of some of the scraps left over from the shirt makeover and cut it out.  Because I was worried about the edges unravelling because of the loose weave, I applied Fray Check to the edges right away, before pealing the paper backing off and was more generous with the Fray Check than usual.  (With most fabric, if you're doing a satin stitch applique, you won't need to use Fray Check at all.)

Then I let it thoroughly dry before ironing it on to the shirt since the solvent in the Fray Check is flammable. 

Again because I was worried about fraying, I decided to use a satin stitch to sew the applique to the shirt.  (Basically it's a zig zag stitch with the stitch length set nearly to 0.  (Normally if you're going to do a satin stitch, Fray Check is not necessary.)

Instead of securing the ends by sewing back and forth (which gives a bunched look when you're zig zagging), I left the ends long, pulled them through to the back, and tied them in a knot to secure the ends.

All of that gave me this.  It still seemed like it was missing something...

...so I pulled out some pink embroidery thread and added a swirly leash that went up and bordered the collar of the shirt.  I used all 6 strands of embroidery thread, so it would stand out.

I liked the look of this much better...

...And so does Firecracker.

Now we just need to put Sweet Pea in her dress and take a matching picture.

Thrift Store Skirt Resize- Hand-Me-Down Rehab

Firecracker was given a really cute little dress made of this same pattern when she was a baby.  Sweet Pea will be growing into it soon, so when I saw this skirt at Goodwill, I knew I had to so something with it for Firecracker even though it was many sizes too big. 

It didn't have a tag inside, but I think it was probably for a teenager.  The skirt had a zipper and flat wide waistband.  My first thought was to take out the zipper and replace it after resizing the skirt.  However, I decided it would be easier to just sew a new seam and put elastic in the back.  (I liked the flat wasteband in the front, so I didn't want elastic there.  I measured it so the new seam would leave the skirt opening wide enough to fit over Firecracker's hips. 

I was somewhat concerned about how the fabric would hold together because the weave was so loose, so I used a french seam.  To do that I sewed the seam down the back WRONG sides together.

I trimmed the seam allowance.  (I didn't want to cut out the excess fabric until the seam had been sewed because I was worried about it fraying.)

Then turned it inside out and sewed the seam again with RIGHT sides together.  This way the raw edges are held inside the french seam.  (Sorry I didn't take a clear picture of the last seam, but if you click on the link, you can see a picture of the french seam.)  Once the new seam was sewn, I sewed two pieces of elastic inside the waistband on the back, to keep the skirt snug around Firecracker's waist (although I wish I'd made this just a bit tighter.)

And with that it's ready to wear.

We've been reading and enjoying a lot of Ramona books lately. We enjoy them particularly because there are many similaries between Ramona and Firecracker. This picture makes me think of Ramona...and of course Firecracker. It makes me smile.

And if you're interested in how I made the shirt, I'll be sharing that soon...

Grab a button from the right sidebar!

Firecracker's Fun with Writing

I went to the dollar store on Friday and found a writing pad where the top half has a place for a picture and the bottom half has a place for writing, so I grabbed it for Firecracker's writing practice.  She is loving it and we were quite impressed with her first piece of work.  Firecracker specializes in drawing people, so this is pretty good for her considering she's branching out a bit.  She used the cover of her writing tablet for her inspiration for the drawing and the darker letters.  We talked about how she would finish the sentence.  I encouraged her to write something about learning to read, but she insisted on writing the part about the mistake.  She said her  mistake was picking the flowers in front of the school without asking (which had happened in the Fancy Nancy book we'd read earlier in the evening.

Easy Shirt Applique Tutorial: Hand-Me-Down REHAB

Okay, I really should be studying for my WEST-E Math exam that I have to take next month.  (I got my results back this week for my WEST-E Chemistry test I took last month which I passed with flying colors.  Yeah!)

But instead I thought I'd get this tutorial up real quick.  This is simlar to other appliques I've done in the past.  I started with a plain long sleeve shirt.  Since the sleeves were too long, I cut them shorter and did a super easy ruffled hem (click to see my tutorial for that.)

Then I cut my shape out of the fabric with a little extra along the sides.  In this case, it matched the appliques I put on Firecracker's pants.  I cut out a piece of Heat 'n Bond Lite approximately the same size and ironed it to the back of the fabric.  (Make sure to put a piece of scratch paper underneath in case your Heat'n Bond goes beyond the edges of your fabric.  You don't want a gluey iron or ironing board.)

Once it cools, trim your applique fabric to exactly how you want it to look.  Peel off the paper, and place it where you want it on the shirt, and iron it on well.

Then sew around the edge with a straight stitch.  Then put a touch of Fray Check along the edges.  (Sorry, this is a picture from doing it to the pants.

And you're done!  Go be a free spirited Firecracker.

You'll have to excuse the mess...

...while I remodel my blog.

Have any of you checked out my sister Katie's blog lately?  It's looking oh, so sleek...

It got me to thinking that my blog could use an update.

I saw a link on Camp Slop a while ago to a tutorial for making a three column blog that I've been wanting to try.  It was a rough day substitute teaching, so I decided to have some fun tinkering with my blog code, but as you can see, there is some tinkering to do.

Let me know if you have trouble seeing anything on the blog or if it is too wide for your screen.  Also let me know if you think it's too busy...I could also go back to one sidebar, but a much wider main writing area.

Super Easy 5-Minute Ruffled Hem - TUTORIAL - Hand-Me-Down REHAB

Most of my sewing experience is with woven cotton fabrics, so I've always been a little wary of knits.  I especially don't like hemming them because it always seems to stretch funny or not lay the same way.  Then I had an breakthrough...and now I'm going to share it with you...

If it's going to stretch funny...then stretch it on purpose and get the Ruffled Hem! 

I don't know why it took me so long to think of it because quite a few of Firecracker's store bought shirts have them.  I just did it with the sleeves because I wanted the shirt to stay long, but you could also do it with the bottom hem.

Once I fixed up Firecracker's Hand-Me-Down Jeans, she needed a cute shirt to match.  Okay, she didn't need it, but there's a weird part of me that likes it when the laundry has a particular match.

I went back to our bag of hand-me-downs and found this shirt. 

It's a size 8, so the sleeves were too long.  I liked that the shirt part was long though, so it's less likely to show tummy, and although the green is not the same color as the green in the appliques, it complemented it more than I would have thought.

I wanted to try the ruffled hem.  I figured I'd go for a longer sleeve and that way if it didn't work out, I could cut them off again and just go for a shorter sleeve.  You can see Sweet Pea is trying to help me here.  You start by cutting off the sleeve to shorten it.  If you don't really want a shorter sleeve, you can just trim off the existing hem.

Then set your sewing machine at the largest zigzag possible...

And with as short a stitch as possible...

Then use your zigzag stitch to zigzag the edge of your sleeve WHILE stretching the fabric as it goes in.

And once you make it all the way around, you get this...

And your daughter is ready to go out and play...

And the tutorial for adding the applique will be coming soon is up if you're interested.  If you don't want to wait...it's not all that different from the directions for her pants. 

For another really cute variation on an easy ruffled hem, check out the tutorial on Until Wednesday calls for turnng a onesie into a girly ruffle shirt.
Have your own hand-me-downs, thrift store finds, or old clothes that need a REHAB?  Join in!  There are links for my other Hand-Me-Down REHAB's in the top right side of my blog and come back later this week for tutorials to make this cute 1st birthday Very Hungry Caterpillar Outfit.

Grab a button.  Share your own projects at our linky party here:




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