Guest Posting @ UCREATE

I am so excited to be guest posting for the first time over at the UCREATE blog!!! 

Check it out!!

"Tied with a Bow" Pouch Tutorial

Ruffled Tote Tutorial

My friend Mallory and I teamed up to put together a tutorial to make this cute tote!  Not only is Mallory great at doing hair, but she is also good at sewing! 

She has a very similar bag to this one that I have been in love with ever since I saw it so I totally copied it but I added the ruffle to the pocket to make mine a little different from hers- so I am not a TOTAL copycat- Ok... I totally am;)

My bag is roughly 15 x17 inches so all the measurements coordinate with this size but could easily be changed to work with any size bag you wanted.

To make this bag you will need:

 -Two coordinating fabrics. 

(I got mine in the home decor fabrics at Joann's. This fabric is pretty thick, but not quite as thick as canvas. I bought a yard of each but have a little leftover of each one so you could probably get away with buying less if you measured everything out exactly and knew how much you needed before going to buy it.)

-Fusible Interfacing (light- meduim depending on how thick your fabric is)

-Thread

Step 1: Cut out 2 pieces of each fabric to measure 15 x 17 inches each. Then cut out 2 pieces of fusible interfacing that are 15 x 17 inches each.

Step 2: Iron the fusible interfacing onto the wrong sides of both of your inside fabrics (striped fabric). Now set these pieces aside.

Step 3: Cut out two pieces of fabric for the pocket measuring 9 x 9 inches. (Initially I had planned on using the striped fabric for my pocket but changed my mind and used the floral fabric for the pocket and the striped for the ruffle. So you can use whatever fabric you would like for this part)

Step 4: Put both of the pieces of fabric you cut out for your pocket so that they are right side together and sew along both the sides and the bottom of your pocket but leave the top unstitched so you can turn it right side out. After you turn it right side out press the seams so they lay flat. 

Lay this part aside for a minute.

Step 5: Cut out a strip of fabric that is 2 x 18 inches. This will be for your ruffle. 

Step 6: Iron your 2x18 inch fabric in half so it is 1x18 inches. Then use a basting stitch along the raw edge of the fabric so you can create a gather.

Step 7: Gather your fabric so that it is 1/2 inch wider than the width of your pocket. Once you have the fabric gathered to the width you would like, roll the raw edges on both sides twice and sew a small seam on both sides so that the raw edges are not exposed.

Step 8: Open the top of your pocket you have sewn and fold all the edges inside the pocket and iron your seam flat so it stays in place. Then insert your bottom edge or unfinished edge of your fabric in between both fabrics and pin in place. Sew a small seam along the top edge of your pocket to close it and hold the ruffles in place.

Step 9: Pin your finished pocket to the front piece of your bag. (Just the floral fabric) And sew it in place around 3 edges- don't sew the top edge obviously;)

Step 10: Now take the front piece that has the pocket sewn to it and line it up with a striped piece so that the right sides of the fabric are facing eachother. Sew along both sides and the bottom- leaving the top un sewn. Then take the other floral piece and striped piece and put them right sides together and do the same. After you sew both, turn them right side out and iron the seams flat.

Step 11: With both side of the bags right side facing out (so the striped fabric sides are facing each other on the inside and the floral fabrics are both facing out), line them up to each other, pin in place and sew along both sides and bottom of the bag. Sew as close to the edge as you can. I went around twice just to make sure that the seam was sturdy.

Step 12: Cut out two straps for the bag. They will need to be 5 inches wide and then whatever length you would like them to be. Fold them in half so they are now 2 1/2 inched wide and iron. Next, open up and fold both edges into the line you just ironed and and iron... After it is all folded back up you should have a strap that is 4 layers thick. Stitch as close as you can to each side of the strap for both straps.

Step 13: Take your bag and push the raw edges of the fabric into the inside of each side so that no raw edges are exposed. Iron and pin your seams down. Insert handles into each side and pin in place. Make sure that the straps and not twisted.

Step 14: Sew all the way around the top of your bag as close to the edge as you can to close your seams and hold the straps in place. (I stay stitched back and forth a few times when I went over each handle just to make sure they don't come off.)

Now you are finished!!!

Linked up here.

Cowboy Salsa Remix

My favorite snacks in the world are chips. The only thing better than a chip- is something to dip a chip in. 

So I am sharing my favorite recipe for a chip dip with you... It's more of a chunky salsa than a dip though...

It is what I called my Cowboy Salsa Remix.

It's basically my own take on cowboy salsa- minus the oil and vingear. I just wanted to come up with something that tasted fresher and not oily at all. So this is what I came up with.

What you need to make it is:

-2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained

-1 can whole corn kernels, drained

-1 small bunch of cilantro

- 4 to 5 green onions chopped finely

-2 large limes

-3 to 4 roma tomatos

- 4 avocados

- 1 cup of your favorite salsa

- salt

This will make a large bowl full, big enough to take to a party to share with lots of salsa loving people! :)

To start, rinse and drain both cans of black beans and put in a bowl. Drain the corn and put in the bowl. Chop tomatoes, green onions, and avocado into bite sized pieces and add to bowl. Remove all the cilantro leaves, chop into small pieces and add to bowl. Juice the limes into the bowl. And add 1 cup of your favorite salsa to the bowl. (I always use leftovers from Chilis or my favorite mexican restaurant, but any salsa will do... The salsa just coats everything and ties it all together:)

Once you have everything in the bowl, add salt to taste and mix just enough to coat all the ingredients with salsa. (Be sure not to over mix of the avocado will turn to mush.)

Serve with chips and enjoy!! :)

Linked here.

Year One Cake

Although I have many hobbies- baking and cake decorating are not among them. 

But when duty calls as a mom, I try my best to live up to the challenge. 

Today that meant making my daughter's first birthday cake. 

These days with all the blogs, Pintrest, and social networking- I see a lot of really cute cakes, parties, and all the trimmings that go along with birthdays, but sometimes even when I see cute ideas it doesn't necessarily mean I can recreate them or even afford them for that matter. 

So for my daughter's birthday we just kept things simple. It was her first birthday so she definitely had no expectations! ;)

I wanted to keep with the Red, Yellow, and Blue color theme to match her birthday shirt. Pretty much the only decorations were the cake and some balloons. That meant that the birthday girl was the star attraction- which is how it should be. Right? :)

For her cake I used the Wilton Big Cupcake Pan which made the job a lot easier.

 Cake mix from a box.

Some store bought frosting.

Yellow food coloring.

Yellow sugar sprinkles.

Candy pearl sprinkles.

Leftover fabric for the bunting banner.

And skewer sticks to hold the banner up.

And then topped it off with a candle to finish it.

As for the cake stand, I tipped a baking dish upside down and used that to display the cake. Sometimes you just gotta work with what you have when you are on budget. :)

That's it! Pretty much the simplest cake you can make in my judgement.

Linked here.

1st Birthday Shirt

My little girl turns one this week. Wow... times goes by way too quickly!!

I couldn't find a birthday shirt that I liked for her to wear on her birthday so I decided that I would make her one. 

For her party I decided to do something different than pink. I know... I am probably breaking the #1 rule of thumb with a little girl's first birthday party, but I did pink for my oldest girl's 1st birthday party and I wanted to mix it up a little the next time around. 

So I choose primary colors!

Red, Yellow, & Blue.

 As I was walking through Walmart the other day my eye catch this darling yellow and white polka dot onsie. As I got closer I realized just how cute it was... It has tulip sleeves. DARLING. Plus it was $3.88. I mean- how can you go wrong there! So I bought one.

Once I got home I came up with this idea... Not quite sure how I wanted to do it, but I got brainstorming and last night after the kiddos went to sleep I came up with this.

To make it I used scraps of fabric leftover from previous projects and I ironed them to fusible interfacing (light/medium). Then I cut out a triangle pattern for the pendants of the banner and I got cutting. Once I had enough I decided that it would be a fun touch to have the #1 on the shirt so it looked more like a birthday shirt. So I got on the computer and found a font that I liked and typed the #1 and had it sized to be about 5x7 inches. Then I cut out some freezer paper (you can find it by the wax paper in the grocery store) to fit in my printer and printed the #1 on the freezer paper. 

*Freezer paper is thicker than wax paper and has wax on one side of it and the other side just feels like paper. So make sure when you are printing  that you feed the freezer paper in the right way so that it will be printing on the paper side- not the waxy side. *

Once it was printed I cut it out and ironed it (wax side down) to the fabric (with interfacing on it). Once the paper was fused to the fabric I carefully cut around the #1. After it was all cut out, I pulled the wax paper off.

After you have all your fabric pieces cut out, you can arrange them onto your shirt and then start sewing them on. Easy Peasy!

I love this Bunting Birthday Onsie! It's a one of a kind shirt for my one of a kind birthday girl!! :)

Linked here.

a is for apple dress

This was my first attempt to make a dress that was fitted to my exact measurements and didn't rely on gathers to fit. It went pretty good all things considered. 

It started out as a shirt from Downeast Basics. I cut the bottom of the shirt off and used it to make ruffles along the neckline of the dress. Used some awesome elastic I found on Etsy- some sweet fabric from Joann's- and some buttons I found on clearance at Joann's as well.

It's kind of a combination of the Anthro Inspired Ruffle Shirt and the Polka Dot Dress, except I tried to mix things up by adding buttons to each side of the ruffle and made the skirt more fitted. 

I loved this apple fabric so much because of the feel of it- it's a knit, but its kinda nubby in texture and I thought it looked vintagey- like something my grandma would have used to sew with. 

But then I looked at the price tag and it was 12.99 per yard. Ouch! So I put it on my wish list and watched for it to go on sale for a few months. One day as I was browsing Joann's, I walked past this fabric and it was 60% off but there was barely any left of it. (Guess everyone loved it like I do too) So I snatched up the bolt and ran to the cutting counter to see if there was a full yard left. Luckily there was exactly a yard and so I took it!!!! Combined with my extra 20% coupon it cost roughly less than $4 per yard. Steal!

Linked here.

Mustard Yellow Goodness

In addition to my love of navy blue, I also love Mustard Yellow. It's just one of those colors that looks great in decor plus it's wearable- It's just a classic.

This weekend I saw some pillows that I added to my Pintrest that I have plans of sewing to go on my couch. Once I saw them, they also gave me the idea to make a little zipper pouch version.

This is how it turned out....

The outside is mustard yellow linen, and the lining is gray and white polka dot fabric. You can never go wrong with polka dots mixed with yellow and gray!

Here is a great tutorial to learn how to make a zipper pouch.

This Mustard Yellow Goodness is up for grabs for my Giveaway #2!

Linked up here.