DIY Sheriff Callie Costume

Sweet Sassafras! Have y'all heard of Sheriff Callie? Well, my 4 year old daughter LOVES her and decided that she just had to be Sheriff Callie for Halloween this year. 

(If you have no idea what I am talking about, Sheriff Callie's Wild West is cute little show on Disney Jr about a kitty cat that's a sheriff.)

The only problem is that Disney hasn't come out with a costume yet. 

So that meant one thing... CRAP! 

I've never made a halloween costume before... and to be honest, I kinda wanted to keep it that way. "Aint' nobody got time for dat!"

It's one thing if you are saving money to make a costume yourself, but in my experience with handmade costumes this year, I spent twice a much as I would have if I had just bought costumes and let's not even talk about the time I put into it.

(my other daughter is being Little Red Riding Hood- new post about that coming soon.) 

My little gal had her mind made up though... No persuading her. So I started brain storming with her help and we decided that we needed to make a mask. I think it turned out so cute... She loves it!

(It's so funny, because I never even thought about painting my daughters face to make her look like Sheriff Callie- That totally would have been so much easier! ha ha)

In case you were wondering- I make it a priority to not show my kids faces on blog... just for safety reasons. I know it is not as "fun" but it's a choice I made when I started my blog, so I am "sticking to my guns" and you will have to take my word for it- the mask looks darling on her! :)

Here are the details for the costume....

Mask: Made by me

I enlarged a coloring sheet found here and used it as my template for making the mask. I used stiff felt (I got mine at Hobby Lobby) for the white of the mask and then just used cheap felt for the rest of the pieces to create the face. I literally just cut out each of the elements from the coloring page and used them to trace onto felt to create the design so it really looked like Sheriff Callie. I used felt glue to glue the pieces onto the stiff base of the mask and then hand stitched them on to secure. Then I used some elastic and sewed it to each side of the mask using a zig zag stitch with a 0 stitch length and bar tacked the elastic to the mask on each side. That's it... Super easy!

Vest: Made by me

I modified the Oliver + S Explorer Vest pattern found in Little Things to Sew book. I used the smallest size of the pattern because my daughter is a tiny 4 year old and I wanted the vest to be fitted. Then I trimmed the pattern piece for the front of the vest so that it didn't come up so high around the neck and had a more "western" shape. I also left off all of the pockets and buttons on the vest. I used tan faux suede (hobby lobby) for the outside of the vest as well as the bias tape and then used some quilting cotton for the lining. 

Sheriff Badge: Made by me 

 I used the deputy badge coloring page found here as a pattern to cut the yellow felt and then stitched it to the vest.

Belt: I used dark brown faux suede (hobby lobby) and created a belt that velcros in the back with a felt oval belt buckle sewn to the middle front. 

Here are links for the elements of the costume that I bought... 

Boots: Target 

Hat: Amazon

(I used a long sleeved white t-shirt and some jean leggings we had already)

 I hope you all have a wonderful and very safe Halloween!

xoxo, Ashley

P.S. I normally never dress up for Halloween, but just for fun... I will share what my hubby and I wore for his work party this year...

Any Buckeye fans out there?? 

Can I get an OH-IO?!?

We were Coach Urban Meyer and his newest recruit! GO BUCKS! ;)

Camera Cozy Tutorial

I originally shared this tutorial over at U Create.

I love my DSLR camera, but sometimes it's nice to  carry something smaller when I am out and about and don't want to add too much weight to my purse or worry about my gear getting snatched if I set it down at a park. So I decided to invest in an inexpensive point and shoot camera that I can throw into a bag when I am running out the door. 

Instead of buying a case for my camera, I decided to make one.

This project is really simple- I made mine in about an hour (but I made my own bias tape so that took up a bit of the time).

What you will need is:

1-2 fat quarters (depending on if you want your interior fabric to be different that your exterior fabric)

1 yard of 1/2 wide double fold bias tape (store bought or homemade)

fusible fleece

1 large snap (velcro could be used as well)

*Optional: 1 button (I used a 1/2 fabric covered button)

Ok... to start you will need to measure your camera. For the purpose of keeping things clear and understandable- here is a picture of how I got the measurements of my camera and calculated for my pattern.

The width of my camera is 3 3/4 inches.

The height of my camera is 2 1/4 inches.

The depth of my camera is 3/4 inch.

To create my pattern, for the front panel, I made mine 4 1/2 inches by 3 1/4 inches. So to calculate yours, you will take your width measurement and add 3/4 inch and then take your height measurement and add 1 inch.

For the back panel, I made mine 8 inches by 3 1/4 inches. This accounts for the back and also the flap that wraps over to the front and snaps. So to calculate yours, you will take the width measurement and add 4 1/4 inch to it and then take your height measurement and add 1 inch to it. (it will be the same measurement as the height in your front panel.)

For the side panel, I made mine 1 1/2 inches by 12 inches. So to calculate yours, you will will take your depth measurement and add 3/4 inch to it and then you will take the measurements you used in your front panel and add them together and then subtract 1/2 inch. (ex: width+width+height-1/2 inch).

I hope that makes sense! It kind of helps to draw a picture to keep it straight! :)

If your camera is pretty close to the size of mine you may not need to change any measurements for your camera cozy. My cozy doesn't fit like a glove- there is a bit of extra room- so if you want yours smaller or bigger for your camera, just make the necessary adjustments in your measurements.

Step 1: Once you have your measurements, you will need to cut 2 front panels, 2 side panels, and then 2 back panels. In my case I cut one of each in the blue floral fabric and then one of each in the red polka dot for contrast, but like I said, this project can totally be done with one fat quarter.

When you have your panels cut out, you will need to apply fusible fleece to each panel you have cut (you should have 6 panels total).

I opted for a rounded flap but you could totally keep it square if you would like. If you want it rounded, use a bowl as a guide and cut the top on both back panels so that they are uniformly round.

Step 2: Take your two back panels and put them wrong side together and baste them together with a 1/4 inch seam allowance and your machines longest stitch length. Set aside.

Step 3: Take the interior side panel and front panel and pin them together starting at the top and working the fabric down and around the two bottom corners. Repeat with the exterior side panel and front panel.

When you are finished they should look like this. Sew along the pins on each panel with a generous 1/4 seam allowance.

Step 4: Take your inside panel and put it into your outside panel and line up the raw edges and pin in place. I didn't choose to trim the seam allowances after sewing in step 3- just to give it that extra padding, but I did have to kinda cram the lining in to get them to match up, so do whatever works best for your needs.

Step 5: Set your stitch length to the longest your machine has and baste along the top, sides, and bottom of the case with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Step 6: Apply bias tape to the top of the case by pinning it to the interior and sewing and then folding it over to the exterior and sewing in place. If you need a good tutorial on how to apply bias tape- here is a fabulous one! 

Step 7: Pin the front of the case onto the back panel. Baste with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Step 8: Apply bias tape to the front of the case, joining your ends of tape at the base of the case.

Step 9: Fold bias tape over to the back and stitch. Be sure to be extra tidy when stitching because your stitches will be visible on the front of the case.

Step 10: Sew on your large snap for the closure.

Step 11: Sew your button to the front of the flap.

That's it! Easy peasy right?!?

DIY Dolly Towel Tutorial

Last weekend while we were visiting family in Kansas, we were able to take our girls to the American Girl store.... They have been a couple times and they LOVE it! It is was fun to watch them look at everything and try out all the fun accessories with their babies. 

My oldest had been saving her birthday money for our trip so she could buy something new for her baby. Once we got there, she was torn between a new outfit and a towel. She ended up buying the new outfit but I could tell that she was still thinking about that towel for the rest of the day. Once we got home from our trip, I decided it would be fun to make a towel for her baby.

It was so easy and quick... I made two towels for about $6. Pretty great deal since it would have cost me over $20 to buy at the store!

Supplies:

(you can actually make 2 towels with the supplies listed below... If you make two towels be sure to measure twice and cut once because you will need almost all of the fabric I listed. If you prefer to only make one towel you can just cut one of each piece instead of two like I am instructing)

1/2 yard terry cloth (I got mine at Joann- located in the baby section near the minky fabrics)

1 package double folded bias tape

(I made my own bias tape- I used a fat quarter per towel- I am not sure how much binding comes in the prepackaged binding so you may need 2 packs if you are making two towels-)

Step 1: Cut two pieces that are 18x18. These will be the main part of each towel.

Step 2: Cut one 9x9 square. Then cut it in half diagonally to create  triangles. These will be the hood for each towel. 

Step 3: Place one triangle on one of the corners of one large square. Be sure the nap of the terrycloth is going in the same direction on each piece. I used a plate as a template to round the edges of my towel, but if you prefer you can leave them straight. (if you are making two towels repeat this step for the second towel)

Step 4: Bias binding... If you are using a pre-made bias binding then you are all set- if you are making your own binding you will make the bias tape at this point. (I am not going to do a step by step on how to do this, but if you need one, Dana at MADE has a great tutorial on how to make bias tape. If you rounded the corners on your towel you will need to make your binding on the bias for stretching around the curves but if you are leaving your corners square you don't have to make your binding on the bias.)

I wanted a really tiny binding so I cut my strips of fabric on the bias to be 1 1/2 start so once I folded them (double fold) they were pretty tiny (just under 1/2 inch). You can use whatever size you would like, but I think the weight of the tiny bias worked well with the thin terrycloth. I used a fat quarter so I had to piece a lot of strips to get the length I needed... I made about 90 inches of bias but didn't use quite that much per towel.

Step 5: Attach the bias binding. (I am not going to do a step by step on how to attach the binding, but here is another great tutorial by Dana at MADE on how to sew on binding. I sew my tape on the "proper way" like she explains and it looks really nice.)

To start, sew your binding to the bottom edge of the triangle. 

Step 6: Once your binding is sewn to the hood of the towel (triangle) place the triangle back on the main part of the towel and pin in place. I basted the hood to the towel so that it stayed in place when I attached the rest of the binding but that step is optional.

Step 7: Apply the rest of the binding to the outside of the towel.

That's it! You are done!! Unless of course you are making two towels- then repeat the steps for the second towel. 

I hope your little one enjoys this new towel as much as my gals do! 

Sewing Storage Ideas

As some of you know, I have very limited space where I live so I don't have a craft room. Up until a couple weeks ago I had all of my sewing supplies/ fabric stored in about 3 different closets/places. It was driving me nuts! I could never find what I was looking for and hated digging through piles and piles of fabric trying to find the right one. 

I got thinking and looking on Pinterest for ideas of how to store sewing supplies and decided to buy a book shelf and display/store my stuff on it. I think sewing supplies are so fun and pretty to display.

I just got an inexpensive white bookshelf from Target that cost me $109. I put about $50 into jars, storage boxes, and knick knacks so my total was under $175. Not to shabby for a cute place to display and catalog my sewing supplies. 

I even dressed up my shelf with some wrapping paper behind the shelves to give it a little subtle pizazz. It is light turquoise and white stripped- you can kinda see it in a couple of the pictures. 

I have the shelf in my bedroom (thank goodness for a loving hubby that lets me do whatever I want with the decor of our room/house). I love waking up each morning and looking at the supplies that I have to work with, and for some reason just seeing my supplies displayed in a pretty way inspires me.

One of the ideas that I decided to implement on my bookshelf was this genius idea by Maggie of Smashed Peas and Carrots to make your own fabric bolts. I used comic book storage boards like she did to wrap my fabric around like a mini fabric bolt. LOVE IT! I think my mini bolts look so darling all lined up like a little rainbow. Plus- having my fabric stored this way I am able to access it so easy and I can "go shopping" in my stash before having to head out to a fabric store for fabric whereas before I was always guessing what I had and didn't have due to my laziness and not wanting to dig through boxes of fabric. 

The next idea of stage came while browsing the isles of Target... I came upon these darling little Ball mason jars. I knew they would be perfect for storing the vintage buttons and thread that I inherited from my grandma.

I picked up some larger Ball Mason Jars at Joanns to store some of my trims like pom poms and rick rack.

Next I headed to one of my favorite stores: Homegoods in search of glass jars with lids to store my pearl cotton balls and other threads. 

One of the fun splurges that I found was at World Market. I fell in love with this darling Stacking Doll Cookie Jar and just had to buy it. I love her! And the fact that she only cost me $12.99 made me love her more. I hid my pairs of scissors and rotary cutters inside here. 

My husbands sweet Grandma Jean gave these vintage stacking dolls to my daughters a couple years ago and I have just never had the perfect place to display them until now. I love them. Love that they were hers, love that they are from my husbands birthplace- Germany (no he isn't German- he's an army brat- minus the brat part:) and I love looking at them everyday.

Another thing I love about the bookshelf idea is that I can line up my sewing books and patterns for easy access too.

(can't wait to sew using these vintage patterns I got from my grandma's sewing stash- man... can you imagine being able to buy sewing patterns for 35 cents these days??)

For storage of my fat quarters and smaller cuts of fabric that wouldn't fit on it's own fabric bolt, I folded them up and stacked them on the shelf. Love how pretty they look- plus they are so easy to access as well.

I am loving being organized!! But I am loving even more being able to SEE my supplies displayed everyday. It is my new favorite place in my house. I find myself just standing in front of my shelf daydreaming of projects... I know... I am weird! ha ha

Stay tuned for next week... I am going to share my Master Bedroom Makeover. I went from bland neutral colors to bold and colorful... I think I have just about every color you see on this shelf incorporated into my room somewhere!! It is so fun and cheery... I can't wait to show you all! :)

Have a great week!

xoxo, Ashley

20 Minute DIY Christmas Wreath

If I had a nickel for every time someone said "I am not crafty" or "I am just not creative enough to craft" I would have A LOT more crafting supplies at my house! I hear it a lot!

Crafting doesn't always necessarily take "creativeness" to do {in my opinion}! These days we have all kinds of places to get creative ideas to copy cat... Pinterest  has about every idea you could think of- just waiting to be "pinned" and recreated!!

So for those who claim they can't craft because they "aren't creative enough"- here is the project for you! ANYONE can make this wreath- crafty or non-crafty!

I know some of you are probably thinking "We haven't even gotten to Thanksgiving yet- What in the heck is Ashley posting a Christmas wreath for??!?!?!"

Well let me tell you... In my house, Christmas time starts November 1st. Thanksgiving decor doesn't stand a chance in my house because I love Christmas WAY too much to ONLY have my Christmas decor up for one month! I love everything about Christmas! Honestly, if I had it my way- I would create a radio station that played Christmas music year round. Yep- I admit it... I am one of THOSE weird people. You can blame my dad- it was practically drilled into my head growing up. Bing Crosby's White Christmas can still frequently be heard at my family's house in the summer heat of June. LOVE IT!

Well- know that you all know my dark secret, that I am an "All Things Christmas- Especially Christmas Music Junkie"- 

Here is how I created this Semi Homemade Christmas Wreath in 20 minutes flat!

 Supplies:
Grapevine Wreath (mine is 24 inches)

Ribbon (I got mine at Hobby Lobby for 50% off)

Florist Wire

Christmas Sign (got mine for 50% off at Hobby Lobby)

A Floral Swag (got mine for 40% off at Joann- you can find these in the wreath section)

That's it- No glue gun involved even!

To start- Lay your floral swag on top of the bottom of the wreath. Cut 4-5 long pieces of the wire and wiggle the wire in between the branches and flowers of the swag and around the wreath in 4-5 places evenly spaced along the swag. Once you have gotten it snug against the wreath, twist the wire a handful of times to secure it.

 After it is twisted, clip the excess wire off and bend the twisted part up into the wreath.

Once the floral part of the wreath is secured, do the same to secure the sign to the top of the wreath. Make sure it is centered. 

{Tip: I think it is easiest to do this part if you hang the wreath up and eyeball the center while it is hanging}

Once you twist the wires to secure it, clip the excess and bend the twisted part up into the wreath to hide it.

 I fell in love with this sign when I saw it at Hobby Lobby since the bird is kinda 3D- it pokes up off the sign.. Super cute! The fact that is was 50% off sealed the deal!

After everything is secured with wire, you can add the ribbon. There is no rhyme of reason to this part. Just make it look how you want it to. Add a bow on top, wrap it around the wreath, whatever your heart desires! 

Since my ribbon had wire in it and was pretty bendy, I just kinda weaved it around the top of the wreath and used the grapevines to secure it.

That's it! Super easy and super fast!

AND- since it is all just wired to the wreath, if I get sick of it and want to rearrange it next year, I can do it very easily!

I think it looks absolutely gorgeous on my front door! LOVE IT! :)

Have I got you in the Christmas Spirit yet?? ;)