My Halloween Crafting

Halloween has come and gone again.

And now onto more exciting things (CHRISTMAS!!!!!!).

I have officially begun listening to Christmas music.

But I thought I would make a post about all of the fun things I made for Halloween:)  Steven and I were Batman and Robin last year and we absolutely loved how those costumes turned out... so we had to think hard about what we were going to be this year.

Conclusion: NERDS.  Not just the people kind, but also the candied kind.  I saw this idea online, so I thought I'd give it a try!

I'm pretty content with how it all turned out.

How I made the boxes:  I drew and painted (with acrylic paint) the front of the Nerd box onto bristol board.  Then I covered it with clear vinyl adhesive book covering (I bought rolls of this stuff at the dollar store!!).  I did the same for the back of the box, although the back of the box isn't painted, it is just drawn on with markers.

To make the boards more stiff, but not so stiff we couldn't move, I used regular cardboard on the top half of the front and back pieces.  I just taped it down.  We were able to sit down (reasonably comfortably) because the bottom half was just the flexible bristol board.

The shoulder straps are packing tape (which I taped on both sides, so it wouldn't stick to our shoulders).  Once the costumes were on we taped the sides with some more packing tape.

That's all!!  I love how they turned out :)

For my mom this year I made her a Minnie Mouse costume (last year I made a poodle skirt, and she went as a girl from the 50's).  I was lucky to find a polka dot dress at the thrift store.  From there I hemmed it, and used the extra fabric to make the bow for her ears.  I sewed on some ruffles and lace to the dress (and on her socks!).  The ears are made from thick adhesive felt glued onto a black hair band.  I added three black lines to a pair of white winter gloves (not shown in the picture).  A black turtle neck, black tights and a pearl necklace topped the look off!

Minnie! 

Since my mom wore her costume to work the day before Halloween for their main event, for the actual day she needed something a bit simpler, as she was playing the piano for a concert.

I made a simple witches had hair band, complete with jeweled spiders (which happened to match my spider web earrings perfectly).

I used felt for the top of the hat (and the brim.... but you can't tell) and black lace under the brim  that came from a dress someone donated to me for crafting! 

Hope everyone had as fun of a Halloween as I did :)

Happy crafting,
~Becca

Pumpkin Spiced Lattes and Sugar Cookies:)

Wow.  

It's been a REALLY long time since I have written a blog post.  I would love to say that I will make a better effort to post more.  But I'm not going to say that..... since it might not happen.

However.... just because I have been EXTREMELY lazy about posting, certainly doesn't mean that I have been lazy about crafting!

I have many things on the go at the moment.  One of those things being ..... my WEDDING!! I am engaged and planning to DIY a lot of the stuff.  However I don't want to post certain things on the blog, since a certain groom-to-be might see them ;)

Also... I have already started MANY of my gifts for my 'Completely Crafted Christmas'  but can't post THOSE either.

On a completely different topic, Thanksgiving just passed and I had fun making these SUPER cute sugar cookie  leaves (thanks Pinterest!).

the sugar cookie dough is food colouring dyed

separated

and smushed together

cut out.  this batch made 12 leaves and one pumpkin (the pumpkin was for test-tasting purposes!)

baked!

and decorated with a mixture of green, yellow, orange and red sugar

And I have been addicted lately to pumpkin spiced lattes.

Steven and I went to get a coffee at Starbucks the other day and I thought I would get a pumpkin spice latte (so that I could try to steal their recipe!).  WELL.... it's a good thing I've discovered how to make my own!  A tall pumpkin spice latte cost $3.95!  Yikes!



Here's how I made mine:

I started off by making a pumpkin spice sugar syrup by straining 3/4 cup of water through a fillable tea bag (you can buy these at bulk tea stores) filled with 1 tbsp of pumpkin spice.

By straining the water through the tea bag this avoids having any gritty spices in your drink!

**You might be able to use a coffee filter.  I haven't tried it... but I don't see why this wouldn't work.

Then I dissolved the flavoured water and 3/4 of a cup of white sugar in a pot on the oven.  Once it is dissolved... remove it from the heat.

Now you have pumpkin spice simple syrup!  (This made about a cup of syrup)

pumpkin spice sugar syrup

To make the Latte:

The coffee:  I used a Rainforest Espresso K-cup in the Keurig machine and brewed 4oz.
*you could use any type of espresso-  they even make instant expresso powder.
*I'm sure you could even try REALLY strong brewed coffee

The milk/cream:
I happen to have a milk frother.  I bought on the sale rack of a kitchen store.  DON'T go out and buy one just for this.  You could just whisk the heated milk!

I put 3/4 cup of milk and 1/4 cup of 5% cream in the frother and heated it for about 2 min in the microwave and then frothed it.

heated milk and cream ready to be frothed

The syrup:
I added 2-3 tbsp of the sugar syrup to the coffee.

I poured the milk into the coffee and stirred and then added whipped cream (a must!) and sprinkled a little more pumpkin spice on top.

mmmmm..... whipped cream

I think it tastes delicious!! You will have to play around with amounts of sugar and the types of coffee.  But here is a starting point!  Definitely worth trying to make your own.  Your piggy bank will thank you :)

Enjoy!

~Becca

Polka dots and bows

I bought this really cute fabric not that long ago that I have been wanting to make into a dress.  I fell in love with the polka dots and the bows.  It's so cute!

I made this dress by making my own pattern.  I traced an existing dress that I had in my closet that I liked the shape of.

(Although I used the same pattern pieces for lining and main fabrics, I made the sheer fabric about 3 inches longer so that it would be slightly longer than the lining.)

Since this has an elastic waistband I thought it would be perfect for this material because it doesn't have much stretch (and the lining has even less).  This style was a little easier to work with because I didn't need to make it an exact fit.

The dress I traced didn't have a lining because the material wasn't sheer.  I added a lining to mine because it was.

I did things a little different than would normally be done, but I liked how simple it made to finish the arm holes and neckline.

I cut out the two lining pieces and the two main pieces.

Next, I hemmed the lining.

I then placed the lining piece (right side up) and the lining piece (hemmed edge down) and sewed around the whole thing EXCEPT for the bottom.

I turned the pieces right side out.  This created a nice edge with no frays.

I did this for both the front and back pieces.  I then sewed the shoulders together.

I finished the arm wholes and neckline by doing topstitching all the way around.

Then I placed the right sides together, sewed up the sides and hemmed the sheer fabric.

For the elastic waist band I sewed some wide bias tape on the inside of the dress through both layers of fabric and then added the elastic cord through and tied it together.

The best part was.... it worked!!

(I'm always shocked when it does!  It's SO exciting)

I will definitely be using this pattern again.  A very simple dress pattern that could be changed so easily.

I wore it out for dinner the next night with some strappy sandals and a long necklace.

Happy sewing!
~Becca

Don't forget to follow me on Pinterest:)

It's what's on the inside that counts......

And what's on the inside of this bag is COLOUR!!

Deceiving from the outside.

I thought I'd make a quick little post about one of the bags I made.  This is one that I made for the craft sale back in June, but nobody purchased it, so I figured I'd post about it here.

It's the bag that's classy on the front (polka dots.... black and white) and then when you open it..... an ExPLoSiON of colour (and another dose of polka dots).

I love it, and I think I'm going to try out another craft sale.  Maybe someone will fall in love with it:)

It's a magnetic closure with 2 pockets.  It's large enough to carry around a book, your wallet, a bottle of water and more.  I machine quilted it and made the handles! It's very similar to this purse.

Here it is:

Cute as a button!

The exciting inside :)

Happy crafting!
~Becca

Watermelon Coasters

I bought the felt colours for this project a little while ago and they have just been sitting there in my cluttered crafting corner.  FINALLY I organized the corner and it's once again an inspiring space to craft in :)

ALSO since its only 5 months until Christmas, I thought that this would be a great idea to share (hello gift idea!).  Who doesn't love coasters?? (Okay, so maybe everyone doesn't LOVE them.. but I do).

The coasters can be put together to use as a pot holder :)


The inspiration:

The final product:

The front.

The back.

A watermelon slice coaster!! :)

How I went about making them:

I made a template for my watermelon coasters by first drawing a circle and then folding it in half, and then in half again.  I made a slightly smaller version of this, and I also used the edge to made the sliver piece for the front.  I made sure to make the pieces the right size so that there would be a tiny piece of white felt showing through between the pink and the green.

The felt selection.

I cut 1 inch strips of dark green felt and 1/2 inch strips of light green felt.  I  put them together and then used fusible webbing (the kind for applique) to iron them together.

I cut out my shapes.

Here are all of the pieces: 4 large stripe wedges, 4 large white wedges, 4 small pink wedges and 4 striped  slivers.

Ironed the slivers to the white piece.
********put a piece of paper between the iron and the felt, and  keep the iron moving or you will have  a  melted piece of felt on the bottom of your iron.... I speak from experience.

Sew the pink felt to the white piece, and then iron the big striped wedge to the pink/striped/white wedge.  *** again, use the paper***

I sewed around the sliver and then I made a small stitch at the corner of the wedge just to make sure the back and front  stay together (this stitch will be covered by a seed).

I used black and white polka dotted cotton to make the seeds.  I just ironed on some fusible webbing and cut out my seed shapes.  I then ironed them on (with paper in between!!!)

TA DA :)

I think these coasters are great for the summer, and look good enough to eat!  They were fun to make and they give me other coaster ideas in this shape.... like pizza, oranges and lemons!

Can't wait to test them out on a cool summer drink!


Happy Sewing!!
~Becca

From Frumpy to Fab! (How I made a cute summer dress)

So I finally have gotten around to refashioning one of the many dresses in my "frumpy dress" pile.  It is SO exciting to go to the thrift store and find a frumpy old dress or skirt that you can see has so much potential.  You have to look past the shape, and past the shoulder pads to see the potential...... but it's there.

I even got a discount on this dress because there was a big rip in the side seam!  (ALWAYS ask for a discount if something is ripped...... even at a thrift store... sometimes you can get lucky!)

After trying this dress on, I realized that I wanted to leave the original elastic waist band.  I just wear it a little higher in my revamped version.

I would love to say I'm going to lay out step by step how I made this, and give you measurements, but unfortunately, that's not going to happen.  Since I didn't use a pattern, I cut and sewed and tried on as I went.  I used the extra fabric from the bottom that I cut off to shorten the dress, for the straps, and I used one of the sleeves to make the top ruffle.  I even used the two cute little buttons from the sleeves!

I'm REALLY happy with how this turned out, and I can't wait to dive back into the pile of dresses!

Here it is!!

I cut out the sleeves

Figuring out how to add the ruffle

All done!

Close up of the ruffle

As cute as a button

VERY pleased at how it turned out!

Happy refashioning!!

~Becca

Clutches, Cards and Coffee Sleeves.

Hello again.

I melted my computer cord last week and therefore was unable to get onto my computer!  (and no... it wasn't some crazy glue gun mishap... my cord was old and it finally gave way and sparked/smoked and melted!).  I ordered a new one and it works wonderfully.

A few little updates!

I sold some of my mason jar pincushions at the craft sale!! SO exciting :)

Also, there are still 2 more weekends of the Handmade Market.

I was busily making clutches for the handmade market last weekend with my sister-in-law.  It was so much fun!  I've never actually crafted with someone before, but it was a great time!  I'm just used to being up in my crafting corner by myself sewing up a storm!  Gavy was busy sculpting (and baking a giant cake that was taking FOREVER... but that's another story) and I was busy sewing to the early hours of the morning.

Here they are!  They haven't been sold yet.  I really wish I had taken a picture of the linings!  The one with the bow has a green lining with white polka dots (I LOVE POLKA DOTS), and the one with the swirly-rosey-button has a pretty solid coral lining.

My clutches (with Gavy's painting!)

I ordered some business cards to have at the Handmade Market, and they came in very handy as tags for my first commission!  I made 9 coffee sleeves for a friend's aunt!  They are all identical and they were made red and black (the back is black with white polka dots).  These colours were chosen because they were gifts for a card group.  I love how they turned out :) 

That's all for now :)

Happy crafting!

~Becca

What a fun day!

Well this past weekend was a fun new experience!  I was part of the first weekend for the Lakeshore Mews Handmade Market in Barrie!!  How fun!

What a neat feeling having someone buy something that you made!! I mean, I just LOVE to make things.  It is so much fun for me, that it's just a fun bonus that someone wants to buy it!

This will be a very short blog post.  I just want to display some pictures of how the booth looked.  The booth had myself, my sister-in-law and her two friends.  We all have quite different things to contribute, so it made for a very neat booth.

The Handmade Market is running for the rest of the Saturday's in June.  

I had a lot of fun looking around at the other booths.  I saw so much talent at these booths.  It was just such an inspiring day overall!! AND.... the rain held off! BONUS.

Some last minute button sewing with my sister-in-law's cat Huxley! ....... I was trying to give her a piggy nose.... she wasn't very into the photo shoot.

Handmade cards by Elizabeth ! And reusable paper towels by Catherine.

Here is the other table with Gavy's art and my sewing :)

The dragonfly stopped by to land on the flower of my coffee sleeve :)

Here we are!

My sewing: Pincushions, sleeves and foldable tote bags!

Gavy's art and my clutches

Tote bags and quilted purses:)

~Becca