Pinterest Made Me Do It: Valentine's Day

If you are like me, you're addicted to Pinterest. It is seriously the coolest thing ever. There are so many crafty and creative people out there! I am just amazed by all the fun projects I find. I am always thinking: 'Why didn't I think of that??'. 

Yesterday morning, the kids woke up to a HEART ATTACK...no, not chest pains....I attacked their bedroom doors with paper heart cut outs telling them how much I love them and all the things they are great at! For example: Bobby is great at being a big brother, and Lily is great at walking!  Sorry I don't have a picture to show you, but it was so fun surprising them! I think this will be a new tradition!

After finding so many great ideas for Valentine's Day, I thought it would be fun to start a series called 'Pinterest Made Me Do It'. Where I show you all my latest projects inspired by Pinterest. I thought later I would turn the series into a Link Party, but for now, it's just a fun post to show you stuff I have done. This one is the Valentine's Day edition. After searching and searching...

I vow I will NEVER buy store-bought Valentines again! 

I found so many fun printables and ideas to last me at least through grade school! 

I am just now learning my way around Photoshop, and haven't even tried to learn Illustrator. With my twinsie accross the pond now, I've lost my graphics go-to gal. So when I found some FREE printables, I was thrilled! 

For Bobby, I found some adorable pencils in the $1 Spot at Target ( always gotta stop there...my weakness). Ten pencils for $1! Score. I didn't even know what I would do with them, I just thought they were cute so I threw them in the cart. Good thing I did, because I stumbled upon this free printable  (check out this blog for more cute printables) and wha-la! Instant Valentines for Bobby's class. Total spent: $2.00. Actually, less than that since I didn't use all 20 pencils. 

Bobby's Valentines

For Lily, I wasn't sure what to do. She is only 16 mos. But I saw this printable and knew I had a winner! The best part? I didn't have to buy anything! We had this playdoh left over from the party bags from the kids' birthday party. Perfect! I thought these were adorable! 

Lily's Valentines

Another good thing?? These are SUGAR FREE Valentines! I like to limit the kiddos' sugar intake...plus, I am a dental hygienist, ya know! 

What has Pinterest inspired you to do, lately?

Crush: HEARTS

It's no secret I have a little (ok...big) crush on hearts. I can't help it. They make me happy! With Valentine's Day just around the corner, that's what  this post is dedicated to...hearts!  

A little heart eye candy for ya:

My sister, Casey, got me these cool shades as a present! I know they will get a lot of use this summer in this Laredo sun!

I would love to have this chalkboard, but I waited too long and now it's sold out!! Hoping it comes back in stock soon.

These lovely photos I found here. 

Check out this fun tutorial here. How sweet would these be for a V-day photo shoot?

I am drooling over this sweater, but again...it's sold out! 

 I think this idea is one of the sweetest ever! I might have to try it. 

Too much?? I'll stop there. Don't want to over do it! What have you been crushing on lately? 

I hope these hearts have inspired you to be a little creative this Valentine's Day.  Have a fabulous V-Day, filled with the ones you love!

Tutorial re-visited: Simple Heart Garland

I just love Valentine's Day!! It's right around the corner folks....yep, 2012 is flying by isn't it? I took this fun picture of some buttons while I was working on new towels for my shop. Stop by and take a look! I'll be adding more items soon.

If you are looking for a quick and easy project to do for Valentine's Day, why don't you try my Simple Heart Garland? It's a great way to use up those tiny fabric scraps. You can drape this anywhere or even hang it in your doorways to spread a little love this Valentine's Day!

I hung it in my daughter's room on her shelf. Looks so festive! Did  I mention I love V-Day??

Handmade Christmas: Pattern Review and a Tutorial Too!

 Happy New Year! 

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and the Happiest New Year yet! I had a wonderful time with family and friends. My son is 3 this year, so it was so fun experiencing the holidays through his eyes. 

Every year for the past nine years or so, I have made Christmas gifts for the ladies in my family. Each year is better than the last (pressure I put on myself...). This year, I decided to take on the task of making bath robes for everyone. I made EIGHT of them! Yikes! I was cutting it close, but I finished before Christmas. Barely.

The pattern I used was the Kimono-Style Bath Robe from Amy Butler's book, In Stitches. The pattern was pretty easy to follow, and the robes all turned out really good!  I didn't have any major problems, except for the neckline. I had trouble getting the fabric to lay flat and not bunch in certain places. Other than that, I would definitely recommend this pattern to y'all. After cutting the fabric (which I think for a size medium, you don't need all 3.75 yards recommended, maybe only 3.5 yards, if you are looking to save money) it only took about 2 hours to make one robe. All the ladies in my family absolutely loved their gifts! I really want to make myself one, but I can't decide on what fabric to use. Right now I think I am leaning towards this zig zag print from Ann Kelle, or perhaps one of these chevron prints from Riley Blake?

 In addition to the robes, I also made these adorable Easy-Peasy PJ Pants (that's what I'm calling them) for my nephew, Noah. It is not my pattern, I found this one through Pinterest, but I had to share because of how easy they were to make! From start to finish, they probably took me only 40 minutes or so. I want to make more! I will definitely make some for my kiddos...

Sadly, I decided that this year was my last to go handmade-crazy with Christmas gifts. I want to be able to relax and enjoy the holiday season next year, instead of being stressed and rushed making gifts for everyone. 

Did any of you make your gifts? I would love to hear from you! 

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!!

Tutorial: Simple Heart Garland

Simple and Sweet.

I love Valentine's Day. I love hearts. I decided to make some heart garland for Lily's room today. It turned out so cute! I was really pleased with how it turned out, so I thought I would share with y'all how I did it. Good idea? Good. Just in time for Valentine's Day!!

My first tutorial!

Gather your supplies.

The great thing about this project, is that you probably already have everything on hand. I dug through my fabric stash and grabbed any pink or red fabric that I could find. What makes this even more special, is that some of the fabric I used is from Lily's great grandmother.

You'll also need a stencil (or you can free hand it), pinking shears and a fabric marker.

Fold the fabric so the wrong sides are facing. Trace a heart and cut with the pinking shears. Using the pinking shears helps to prevent the fabric from fraying. (Plus it looks cool.)

Keep the right sides facing each other.

After all your hearts are cut out, sew along the edge of the 2 hearts (wrong sides facing). This way the hearts will stay together and are reversible. I cut about 30 hearts, but you can do however many you prefer.

Finished hearts!

After you finish sewing the hearts, lay them out into a pattern that you like.

Almost done! Sew down the center (from top to bottom) of each heart. Don't stop the sewing machine, just keep feeding the hearts through the machine. One right after the other. I kept my foot on the pedal and let the machine sew a few stitches in between each heart.

Ta Da!! The finished project. I love how it turned out!

Hanging pretty in Lily's room.

I hope this helps you to make something pretty for your house this Valentine's. You could even alter this project for any holiday or party. Please let me know what you think, and I would love to know if you made this!

&hearts s

Valentine's Day is just around the corner! I love V-day, probably one of my favorite holidays, next to Christmas (of course!). I have a thing for hearts...a big thing. Ever since I was little, it has been a favorite of mine, but having a girl of my own has made me love them even more. So when I find heart fabric and get to sew with it, I am extra excited.

I fell in love with this fabric so much, that I keep coming up with new ways to use it! I thought it would be perfect to use for my Valentine's Day hanging kitchen towels! They are in the shop right now, along with other prints that will sweeten up your kitchen.

Red Heart Hanging Kitchen Towels

Bright Hearts Hanging Kitchen Towels

I can't decide which one I like the most!

These towels are one of my favorite things to make. I came up with this pattern thanks to my sister-in-law, Becky, who mentioned that she wanted some. Now they are some of my most popular items! I should have some 'every day' patterns in the shop within the next two weeks or so. Don't you worry! Until then, I hope you enjoy all the hearts!