Appliquéd Onesies

My friend Nicole who was our neighbor in EA, is getting ready to have a baby girl in about a month & a half. This is one miracle baby & we are all so excited for them. I wanted to make something for the baby before we left... something creative. Nic is super cute & creative so I had high aspirations for what I wanted to make for her little one. 

So I made these 3 onesies! 

For the first one I made this "Love" appliqué. I used heat & bond to fuse the fabric to all of the onesies before I sewed around the edges. I drew the letters on light cardboard, cut them out & traced them on the heat & bond. I cut the fabric, ironed it on, and then appliquéd around the edges with different color thread for each one.  

Then I made this simple birdie. 

Nice & girly. 

And finally an elephant. 

I used a template that I found here for this little guy. 

This was definitely my best stab at appliquéing without an appliqué machine. It wasn't too terribly nerve racking this time around either. 

This was the 3rd set of onesies I've made for a friend's babies- Jamie & I made these for our friend Brooke's baby Finn, and I made this one for Langdon last summer. This time I had fun using lots of scraps of fabric & different colors of thread to make them. It was a fun last use of my sewing machine that i LOVED.  

I hope baby girl will love them :) I'm sure she will look darling in anything she wears. Can't wait to see this little one that was prayed for for SO long!

I do miss that sewing machine. It was amazing. I gave it to Nicole when we came back to the states for her to enjoy. You may be thinking, "Aw how sweet of you to just give it to her..." well let me tell you, it was my pleasure to give it to them since I hurled a Wii remote into their flatscreen TV last year playing bowling- breaking it beyond repair. I killed their TV. So giving her my sewing machine was the least I could do after they wouldn't let me replace their TV. 

{still mortified}

Joyfully Appliquéing,

Linking up over at: {Whipperberry}{A Little Knick Knack}{Lizmarie Blog}{Somewhat Simple}

Guest Bed Makeover

I started this post a year and a half ago, when I actually started this project. Now that we're moving in a week, I thought it would be the appropriate time to share :) 

This is the bed that our landlord provided for the extra room in our apartment here. 

Lovely, huh? Blue pleather headboard and gold balls. Clearly we weren't having that. My original plan was to paint the balls black, take the blue headboard off, recover it, and then put it back on. But the screws were so rusted & stripped that taking the blue pleather off was impossible. 

So instead, we took the bar & balls off, and just recovered the whole thing, metal frame included. 

Thanks to Hannah's sweet staple gun skills, it worked really well

I saw this fabric at a bedding store, and absolutely loved it. Any fabric in a bedding store here is really, really tacky, so it really caught my eye. 

I had a euro & 2 standard shams made. I love them so much, that I am taking them back to America with me. 

The bedding is from Ikea (of course). 

I made the bed skirt myself with grey fabric I bought at the fabric market. Since the bed is against the wall, I only made 2 sides, and stapled them to the ply-wood bed slats. 

And that is how we transformed our guest bed from this: 

To this: 

Joyfully Transformed,

Hannah's Tote Bag

For Christmas {yes... Christmas, and just sharing...} 

I wanted to make Hannah a fun tote bag.

I bought this fun pink & purple flower fabric last year knowing I wanted to make her something, and finally got around to it in December. 

 I've made lots of simple bags before, but I wanted this one to be lined and to have a zipper. 

the zipper...

and the green polka dot lining.

I came up with a general size {i wanted it to be big enough for a computer} and cut everything out...

And got to work. 

I used this strange stiff webbing stuff I found at the fabric market in place of interfusing. I sewed all of three layers of each panel together, and then began attaching everything. 

I tried my hardest to sew the zipper as best I could and I did an okay-ish job....

Unfortunately I didn't quite get the zipper lined up with this seam. 

But it works! 

I wanted to make a little pocket on the outside with the green polka dot fabric it is lined with. 

So I made the pocket & the top flap, and put a magnet inside of both to keep the flap closed. 

I like to think I'm pretty innovative.

And that's my first complicated-ish bag I made. 

Doesn't Hannah look cute with it? 

It's definitely not perfect and I made plenty of mistakes that I hopefully won't make next time. Here's to overcoming my fear of not sewing perfectly. 

Joyfully sewing,

Fabric Vases {and other spring decor}

As I shared when I posted about my spring mantle last month, I made these fabric covered "vases" to put my fabric flowers that I made last year into. I saw this idea linked up on pinterest:

Source: flickr.com via Haley on Pinterest

 and decided I'd try something similar. I don't have access to lots of good vases, so I went to the supermarket and bought cheap glasses. They didn't have any tall round ones, so I went with what they did have- an octagon and a round squarish shape.  

I used the yellow fabric I used to make my fabric panels for the first one. I covered the glass with mod podge and slowly wrapped the fabric on. 

I cut out different little squares & rectangles from my scrap stash, and mod podged them around the sides.

 

I did the same thing with this blue flower pattern. 

They are quite eclectic, but I think they're fun & fit my multi-fabric theme I've got going on with my spring mantle. 

I bought a round low ball glass to make a little votive with. I wrapped & hot glued this green polka dot pattern trimmed with grosgrain ribbon on both ends. 

I thought I'd also share more decor from around the house. 

The walls in our office are a lovely spring green, making all of the decor in there quite springy. 

On my little desk I have this Ikea lamp with a little embroidered lamp shade. I actually have the big one in my office in America. I also have a few fun frames like the little birdie that Eve sent me. 

I also have these old jars that I filled with little colored rocks, and silk flowers sitting in the window sill. 

I bought these cute animal prints at IKEA last year and really love them. 

You kinda can't see them here because of the glare, but you get the idea of what it looks like. 

On the bookshelf I have my little flower bunny that Eve sent me last year.... 

and my "Friend" frame that I brought with me from America. It's a picture of me & all of my bridesmaids at my bridesmaid's luncheon. 

Over Adam's desk is this Ikea boat print. 

And hanging on the door is the beautiful wreath that Jamie made & sent to me last year. 

Isn't it so pretty? She's so talented. 

In the living room I have lots of other colorful things. 

On the plant stand I put the mosaic orbs that I made last year. 

Next to it I put this little beaded votive I made. I hot glued little colorful beads around the edge and filled it with the rest. 

On the bottom of the plant stand I put this white Ikea vase with silk orchids. 

We have trunks for side tables, that I have decorated them with lots of decor from.... you guessed it, Ikea. 

I bought these cute embroidered coasters here in EA 4 years ago on our first trip here. I brought them with me last year. I love them. 

Finally, I hung this Happy Easter banner that Marissa brought for me when she came to visit in March. 

Lots of colors with which to enjoy spring :) 

Joyfully Springy,