I made a little booklet today…

Hi there,

One of my granddaughters is having a birthday rather soon - - she will be one year old. Her little cousin is almost three and they both live in the frozen north (Fort McMurray, Alberta). Since I’m making some peek a boo dolls, I decided to make a couple for the one year old for her birthday, but didn’t want to leave the three year old with nothing (since they’re often at my sons place together.)

So - - - 

I made a little book. 

This was made with one piece of 12 x 12 cardstock, and filled with various papers. I included a bunch of stickers I just bought online, and a few other things. 

That’s the front- kind of plain but it’s for a three year old so best not to 

put a bunch of stuff on there she could potentially choke on. 

The stickers went into a ziploc bag and into the front pocket. 

The digital image behind the paper can be traced onto the tracing paper. 

Then she can color the actual image if she wants to. 

Two of the pages flip out. I used washi tape to do that. 

This is the same idea as the tracing paper, except now it’s texture I’m featuring. 

She can take a crayon and color over it to get the grid to show through. 

I didn’t photograph them all, but there are various stickers throughout the journal,

And I’ve included some other papers as well. Plus she can stick her other stickers into the booklet. 

It’s really just a little thing, but hopefully she likes it. I usually add a little snack too. 

I completely forgot to take a photo of the spine, but I got the idea from this YouTube video by Treasure Books. These are mostly journals for adults, but I downsized it for little hands. 

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for the visit!

Blessings,

Carmen

“The blessing of the Lord enriches, and He adds no sorrow with it” Proverbs 10:22

Little Projects for Kids

Hello friends,

September is here and I’m starting to feel like sewing again. I know I’ve been quilting all year in the midst of card making, but I love me some small projects. Especially cute little things for kids. I love making these super cute felt dolls.

What I find so adorable about these little dolls is the removeable hats. 

Absolutely darling!

You can find these at Gingermelon on Etsy.

Another project I made was this little tiger pouch. 

This is another project I love too. I’ve made this one before, then altered it to make 

a unicorn pouch and a lamb pouch. I haven’t made the lamb pouch yet. Maybe soon. 

This one is from Stubbornly Crafty on Etsy. 

You never know what I’ll do next!

Hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Blessings,

Carmen

Wedding Tags, Favors and Bridal Dolls

Good day! 

I was asked to make the tags up for the wedding favors for my youngest son’s wedding. Their theme is flowers, so I used a flower printable. They asked me to make them like some of my cards.

The tags were too small to add brads or gemstones, but the front is raised onto cardstock, and that was the main thing, I think. 

The white cardstock tags were cut on a silhouette by a friend. I did the flowered main piece with the writing on it in Inkscape, but you could easily use Word. I had irridescent cardstock for a backing on the flowered main piece. I taped these with dbl sided tape then put foam tape on the backside as shown. These were then centered on the blank tags. 

I was requested to put the ingredients of the cookies on the back of the tag. I typed these up in Inkscape and ran them off on sticker paper. This was the easiest way to do it. 

I wanted to cover the tag hole so I punched out some hearts to cover it using the irridescent cardstock. 

At first I attached the hearts with the embellishment tape, but realized it was making them too thick, so I used dbl sided tape instead. Prior to placing the hearts, I ran some cord through the hole so I could slip the twist ties through the cord (you’ll notice two knots about a 1/2” apart).

I made the bows with the instructions from a YouTube video using just your fingers. It was actually fairly quick.

They’ll stand up on their own and that’s perfect! So here is a photo of the completed favors.

These cookies are gluten and dairy free and they’re truly delicious! The mother of the bride (Pam) baked up 460 of these right before the wedding. Then bagged them all into 2” gusseted bags. A true feat! They turned out super cute! 

In addition, Pam, who is a fairly new crocheter, also did up these adorable bridal dolls that look exactly like the bride and groom.

Thanks for popping by! I hope your weekend was as amazing as ours was!!

Carmen

Mixed Fabric Works

Good morning, 

I’m enjoying the process of working on some of my mixed fabric projects, but took some time to make this fun little Tea Wallet. I saw this idea on Instagram, but honestly can’t remember where. It seemed like a pretty simple project so I just winged it. 

I decided to use canvas for the outside of the wallet to make it sturdy, but I’m not sure if I like the outcome or not. Maybe next time I’ll use fabric stabilized with a stiff interfacing. 

The teabag was backed with heat n bond, then stitched in place. 

There are 4 pockets…

For 4 teabags. 

The process was super simple, but I don’t have it written out. If you’d like a pattern, let me know and I’ll put it together for you in a different post. 

Meanwhile, here are a few bits of what I’m working on. These will be in a follow up post once they’re done!

Hope you’re all having a wonderful week!

Blessings!

Carmen

Early Christmas Makings

Autumn is an active season for me. With the change from summer to Fall, my focus changes too. This time of year is my favorite. The weather is better, although it's been unusually windy here lately. No matter. There has been a bit of a shift this year though. For one thing almost all my Christmas shopping and making is done. That's extremely unusual. Everything is almost all packed too. It's weird. Not that I'm complaining. Now I can focus on making shortbread, butter tarts, gingerbread, my amazing antipasto, and for the first time ever, bacon jam. Yes, you read that right. It's for on top of crackers and boursin cheese. I can't wait to make it, and I'll let you know if it was a winner or a bust.

So, it's been almost 2 months since I last posted. That's some kind of record for me. I actually thought about shutting the blog down because I was so tardy. I thought better of it because there's still some good ideas on here for people, especially the Christmas Sleigh Ride posts, which are still popularly frequented every year. Plus, I share things I've made and also include the location of the free patterns that I've used. Yes, I'll just keep this little blog up and running for a while longer.

Let me show you what I've been making lately. If you're on my Facebook page, you've probably seen some of these, but please bear with me if you have. 

Most of these hats were donated.

I've also been making peek a boo pals from Gingermelon again this year. I have a 2 year old granddaughter that I think needs them. Plus once my other granddaughters realized I was making more (they each got 3 last year), they put in their orders for 2 or 3 more.  

Here they all are - - I have another lamb to make, and if I have time, I'll make the monkey (not shown) for my sister in law, who still sleeps with her monkeys everywhere she goes. No word of a lie. One of the many reasons I love her so !

They are too adorable, aren't they? Toys that will create memories, I hope.

I also had some custom hats to make, two of which I am still working on so won't show you just yet.

This one I made for an elderly lady using wool she picked out. It was that awful kinky wool. You couldn't tell where the stitches were in it. Terrible stuff, but she was happy with it. 

It originally came from this pattern, which is a free pattern but is no longer available as she's removed her blog, unfortunately. I do have the pattern on my harddrive still, thankfully.

Next, I made these, but I'm not sure who they're for yet. 

These two hats are a bit slouchy and the red one isn't finished yet. I'm thinking of putting one of these white fur pom poms on the top.  I still have to put a leather tag on the red one too. 

One more thing. I like to print off my own tags for Christmas. This year I was looking for something more plain. White or black. I find the other tags interfere with the wrapping paper. Anyway, here's what I found. They're "honest gift tags" from Bunny Peculiar (check her out) and can also be found on my Pinterest Christmas board along with some other tags and ideas too. 

Well, I think that's it, but really, that's enough anyway.

You all have a nice weekend, maybe I'll do a Bacon Jam Post soon - - 

Blessings,

Carmen

Autumn DIY Ideas

It's safe to say that Autumn is here. The hot summer weather has died off and in it's place the cooler mornings and cloudy afternoons are settling in. I love the Fall for many reasons. Yes, it's cold sometimes and it's going to get colder as winter follows, but it's a much more reasonable season (than our blazing hot summers!) that somehow leaves me feeling warm and secure.

Perhaps it was the trip to Davison Farms the other day, or the flyer I received by email featuring some lovely Fall centerpieces, that got me thinking about Autumn DIY's. This is an area where I truly fall short. I love it when someone takes the time to make their tables and homes look inviting. This year I am going to do that. I've been scouring the web looking for easy ideas that tie in with the Fall.

So here's some fun and easy ideas I've found to share with you!

This Fall Craft must smell Amazing! You can do one, or stack them and you'd have a nice looking, wonderful smelling table basket! Get the instructions to make your own at Better Homes and Gardens. 

                  
I love this one, found on Shanty2Chic. A spray painted pumpkin with letters and some burlap roses. Plus a cute little glass vase with pumpkins and cones, etc. So adorable and kind of Chic.

Look at this creative idea! Mini Pumpkin Centerpieces. Some mini pumpkins, ribbon, spray paint, clothes pins, flowers, florist foam, skewers and you're done! 

For you knitting and crochet enthusiasts, check out these Yarn Pumpkins I found on DIY Show Off. So adorable and would look great on a side table - maybe in a leaf bowl!

These autumn leaf bowls are simple to make and functional, from Design Rulz The instructions to make your own are on her website, just follow the link!

Now I'm not much of a drinker, but I do enjoy a little nip now and then, so while you're making something lovely, wouldn't it be nice to sip on some Spiced Pear Vodka, or perhaps a Spiced Pear Hot Tody? YUMMMM!! Last year I made coffee liquer, maybe this recipe will be good enough to make for Christmas?

          

To make your own, go to Boulder Locavore for the recipe! Look around that site as she has some really good sounding recipes and some gluten free ones as well.

I love me a caramel apple! Not the red candy ones, the actual caramel ones, and they're  much better made at home. Then I saw these! Why not? Looks wonderful and there's a recipe and some suggestions on how to decorate them. Go to Kayley's Blog Just Between Friends for the recipe.

I may do another post with some more Autumn ideas in the near future, but for now I'm on to something with tulle and satin for my granddaughters. A gramma's work is never done! 

Have a good weekend,

Carmen