Giveaway: Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

 ***THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED***

Thank you everyone who left comments for my giveaway! It really blessed me to read all of them! You all have so many lovely memories! Some made me laugh out loud, some made me almost cry, and others made me think back to more of my own memories! 

And now...for the winner! Comment #63 from SewLindaAnn, who said:

'Fave memory was when we were visiting family in New York on Long Island one Christmas. We had just finished our Christmas Eve meal and we got in the car to drive back to my parents house and it was snowing. It was so amazing.'

 Congratulations!! Check your email soon, I'll be emailing you to get your address!

The day is here! Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day! Thank you all who are stopping by for the first time, and welcome back old friends! I participated in Giveaway Day last time and it was so much fun. Good luck to everyone who enters.

I decided since I love Christmas to giveaway two of my Christmas items from my shop!  A Coffee Cozy and a Hanging Kitchen Towel! Just in time for Christmas!

    The Coffee Cozy is made with Riley Blake 'Be Merry Christmas Trees' in cream.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas' is on the inside! I chose to close it with a green sparkly button. How fun!

This Hanging Kitchen Towel could be yours also! I hope you like it. It, too, is made from Riley Blake fabric. 'Mittens on White' from her 'Colorful Christmas' collection. 

The button closure makes it perfect if you have toddlers with little hands that like to pull the towels off of the stove. I've even had one customer buy them to keep her cats from pulling down her towels!!

I would love for you to become a follower of this little blog, but if you decide not to, no worries! All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post telling me your favorite Christmas memory. One of my favorites was when we had a white Christmas in Houston!! It was about 7 years ago, I think. That almost never happens! This giveaway will be open until DEC. 16 at 5 PM CENTRAL TIME.  The winner will be chosen randomly and announced no later than SUNDAY DEC. 18. Please leave me your email address so I can contact the lucky winner!  For this giveaway,  I will not ship internationally this time...sorry!

Good luck everyone! 

If you like what you see here, you are in luck...I just re-stocked my shop full of new coffee cozies! Plus, as an added bonus, all my Christmas items are now $2.00 off!!

Featured: Ann Kelle's Handmade Holidays!

I am so honored to be featured again over on Ann Kelle's blog! She is doing a series called 'HANDMADE HOLIDAYS', showcasing some great easy tutorials for people on your gift list! Today you can find my Anywhere Bag tutorial! Click on over and check it out!

Giveaway Winner: Facebook 200 Fan Giveaway!

 Thank you to all who entered my latest giveaway! It was so great to read what you all are thankful for! 

The winner will receive a matching Snack Sack and Ouch Pouch of their choice! 

Girl Prize:

 Boy prize:

And now...for the winner...comment #10!! Crystal, who is 'thankful to be going home for Thanksgiving after 3yrs of being away!'

For some reason, some of you had difficulty leaving a comment, so you left one on my Facebook page. I decided to do a seperate drawing for you! Lucky!

The lucky Facebook winner is Amy Smith, who is thankful for 'having such dear Laredo friends!'.
She barely got her comment in on time!

Congratulations to you both, Crystal and Amy! I'll contact you both to see which prize you want!

Featured: Ann Kelle!

Lily is stealing hearts over on Ann Kelle's blog! Eeeek! I heart Ann Kelle and her fabric, big time. When she contacted me asking if she could use Lily's picture, to say that I was excited, was a huge understatement. Go and take a peek!

Giveaway: I've reached 200 fans!

I reached 200 fans on Facebook! How fun and exciting. As a big 'thank you', I decided to do a giveaway! Yea for you! 

What could I be giving away, you ask? 

I decided to give away one of my brand new Snack Sacks and a matching Ouch Pouch! 

The Snack Sack is perfect for your diaper bag or purse! It's lined with a food safe vinyl, with a Velcro closure. I squared off the corners so it stands up while open! Now isn't that nifty?  Just hand wash with dish soap and turn inside out to dry.

What is an Ouch Pouch? I've been making these for awhile but haven't ever put them into my shop. It's a little square pouch filled with rice that makes a nice alternative to an ice pack when your little one gets a boo boo. My son, Bobby, loves it. He always asks for it when he gets hurt. I keep two in the freezer at all times! It has also come in handy when Bobby has had a high fever.

The winner will get to choose between the 'girl' prize or the 'boy' prize. Just let me know which you would prefer.

 Girl prize. Crazy Dots!

Boy prize. Stars!

What do you need to do to win? Simple. Just leave a comment on this post telling me what you are most excited/thankful for this holiday season. Winner will be randomly chosen by a random number generator.  Please leave your email address so I can contact you if you win. Winner will be announced this Friday afternoon. Good luck to everyone who enters!

I'll start: I'm so excited and thankful to spend Thanksgiving with my whole family on my dad's side. I missed the last family reunion because I had just given birth to Bobby, but I will be there for this one! We've been planning this for almost 2 years now and I can't wait!

Craft Show: Holly Jolly Christmas Market 2011

 Whew! This weekend flew by in a blur of fabric and friends, old and new. I had such a great time at my very first craft show, the Holly Jolly Christmas Market. It was a huge success. The planning team and I could not have been happier with how it turned out.

As far as I know, Laredo doesn't have craft shows very often, so I am excited to say that we will do it again! Hopefully in the spring. My table turned out better than I imagined! It was cute and just the right amount of color and clutter. I always love going to booths that are cluttered in an organized way...which was what I had hoped to do with my table. I think I pulled it off! I took a ton of pictures to show you, so sit back and enjoy!

The whole table at a glance. Special thank yous to my father in law for giving me the hat rack that was just sitting in his office unused, my mom who gave me the toddler dress form for my birthday and to my sister, Casey, for the table cloth! It worked out perfectly.

 I found most of my display items at the Round Top Antique fair that I go to almost every year. Just a little cleaning and spay paint was all I needed!

 The hat rack! It worked out great...especially because the top spun around! It was meant to hold my aprons and kitchen towels!

 These babies were my top seller. I even went home after the first night and made some more! Good thing, because I sold all but 2 of them. I will make more and put them in my shop as soon as I can.

 Snack Sacks. New to my shop, these are perfect for the mom on the go! Lined with a food safe nylon, they are great for the diaper bag or your lunch!

 I got this metal display rack at Round Top this past visit. I thought it would work well to hold my headbands and bibs, and it did!

This grandmother and her granddaughter duo used my Simple Craft Show Apron tutorial to make their lovely aprons! I was so excited to know that they used the tutorial. It made my night!

I have already signed up for my next craft show! It's only in a few weeks, which means I have a lot more sewing to do....and I still need to finish my Christmas gifts!

Thank you to all who came out to the Market, I enjoyed meeting you!

Tutorial: Simple Craft Show Apron

I will be participating in my very first craft show next weekend! I am so excited. I have been sewing and creating like a mad woman to get everything finished. Last night I finished the last thing on my 'must do' list, so now I can sit back and relax a little bit. Now I'm moving on to my 'if you have left over time, do this' list. 

At the top of my second list was to make a craft show apron. I've always said that if I ever did a craft fair, I would make a cute functional apron for myself. I thought I would create a little tutorial for you all as well. When I say simple, I mean it was SUPER simple. After I cut out the fabric, it only took me about 30 minutes, and that was with a few interruptions. (Ahem...my sister kept calling me...)

Simple Craft Show Apron Tutorial:

Supplies:

Fabric of your choice (the paisley fabric is a heavier weight, which I thought made the apron a bit more sturdy)

Ribbon ( I chose ribbon in order to save time. I didn't feel like creating a tie to match...call me lazy...)

1 package bias tape (Again, a time saver. This would also be cute if you decided to make your own bias tape.)

Matching thread

Marking pen or pencil

Scissors

 Step 1:

Cut the main back panel: 21"x 22"

Cut the pocket panel: 21"x 12"

Cut the waist band: 22" x 8"

Cut the ribbon: 2 pieces ~46" each (you can play with the length of the ribbon. I wanted it to wrap around, so if you do not want that, cut the ribbon shorter).

  Step 2:

Iron and fold both the main panel and pocket panel in half, wrong sides together. 

Edge stitch across the top folded edge of the pocket panel to give the pocket a nice finished look.

Place the pocket panel on top of the main panel, matching up all the raw edges.

Step 3: 

Pin and sew a basting stitch along the 3 raw edges of the pocket panel to hold the pocket in place (You will be sewing on the bias tape later)

 Step 4:

Draw with a fabric marking pen or pencil lines for your pockets. I chose to have two large pockets, with 2 smaller ones for pens and a pair of scissors. You can see where I drew my lines in the picture above.

Sew directly on top of the lines to create your pockets, backstitching at each end.

Step 5:

Pin your bias tape around all 3 raw edges, including the back panel. For me, the more pins the better. 

Edge stitch along the bias tape, backstitching at each end, making sure to keep the fabric in between the bias tape. Go slowly around the corners, this can be tricky!

This will enclose and finish off all the raw edges. 

Set aside.

 Step 6:

Fold the waistband in half wrong sides together and press. 

Open waistband, fold each short raw edge about a 1/2" toward the wrong side and press.

Now fold each long raw edge about 1" toward the wrong side and press. It should look similar to the picture above.

Step 7:

Place one of the ends of your ribbon close to the ironed crease in your waistband. Fold the waistband over and pin in place. Do this to the other side with the other piece of ribbon also.

Step 8:

Slide the top of the main panel in between the folded waistband about an inch. Re-fold waistband and pin through all 3 layers (waistband, main panel, waistband). 

Sew around all 3 open edges, attaching the ribbon and main panel to the waistband.

Step 9:

I don't have this pictured, but run a flame along the raw edges of the ribbon to seal the ribbon to prevent fraying. 

That's it! You now have yourself a super cute, super simple craft show apron!!

Best Friend Bear

 When it comes to making costumes, the easier, the better. Especially when the kids are too young to really understand why they are dressing up. I bought Lily the 'Best Friend Bear' Care Bear at the flea market for $.50, and she fell in love with it! It is the first stuffed animal that she has grown attached to. Don't you dare give it a hug! That's her bear and she knows it! It's hilarious. I thought it would be so cute to dress her up like her beloved bear. 

This costume cost me....hmmm...let me add it up....$.33! Really. I already had a purple onesie, the felt (except the purple felt....hence the $.33), elastic for the ears and stuffing for the belly/ears. Super quick and easy to make! I sewed the rainbow on the white felt, then placed some batting under it and sewed it on the onesie. I even sewed a little heart on the booty. So adorable! It turned out so cute.  For the ears, I cut out four pieces of felt, sewed on some pink for the inside of the ears, stuffed them with a little stuffing and then sewed the ears onto the elastic. To my surprise she actually kept the ears on!

This costume is easily customizable to any Care Bear of your choice! Easy for an adult costume too. Just draw a heart on your nose and some freckles and you are all set! 

Simple Ruffle Dress

 Like I said, I've been making lots of little outfits for my Lily-pie. This past weekend I took her one year pictures, so I made her a ruffly dress for the occasion!

 I found this hot pink ruffle fabric at Hobby Lobby. I was super excited to find it, since I had only seen it online. I used this tutorial as inspiration and to help me along. I used a onesie instead of a t-shirt.

 I used some funky polka dot fabric (also from Hobby Lobby) for the tie and I found a matching bow on Etsy. Lily looked so adorable in her pink and ruffles!

Weeeeee!!!

Superhero Birthday Party!!

If you know my son, you know he is a superhero in training. Naturally, I decided to give him a superhero party for his 3rd birthday! And because little sister's birthday is 3 days before his, she got a superhero party too.

First...is it Superhero, or Super Hero?? Can it be both ways?? I've seen it both ways but I've been wondering, and I don't want to spell it wrong!

  I got these adorable invitations from Etsy, from a little shop called Kottage on 5th.  During a last minute trip to Wal-Mart, I found the plates, cups and napkins. Score! I had been looking for the comic-book type decorations but hadn't found any I liked. 

 My sister in law, Becky, surprised me with these cupcake toppers. How perfect are they?? I loved them! You can't see them very well in the picture, but I also found these cupcake wrappers on Etsy from this shop.

Fun Straws!

I loved this pinata. I found a picture of what I wanted and had it made in Mexico. $20 people! It was HUGE!  

I made both Lily and Bobby's costumes for the party. I've been making Lily a bunch of things for upcoming events. I made her a dress for her 1st birthday photo shoot, her Halloween costume, and another Halloween dress. Can't wait to show y'all, but those will be in some other posts!

 There has been some confusion on Bobby's costume...is he Nacho Libre? A wrestler? A superhero? I'll let you use your imagination on this one. Ha! Maybe it's the mo-hawk or perhaps the wrestler looking belt? Either way, he loved his costume!

 My sweet superhero. Her super power is the power of stealing your heart!! I sewed a belt on the onesie, and made her a girl-y cape. A mask, arm bands, leg warmers and hair glitter topped off the look. To my surprise, she kept the mask on her head the entire party!

She steals my heart everyday!

Happy 1st and 3rd birthday to my little superheroes!! I love you!