Sewing Goodness–Free Pattern Websites

Every since the Singer Sewing Party (which, by the way I still have to share pictures from), I have been on a sewing kick. Not so much having time to sew, but finding patterns that I want to do in the near future.

I wanted to share some of my favorite sites and free patterns with you.

Here are some of my must-try patterns. Click on the picture to be taken to the website with the instructions to create the cool project.

These are all from the Martha Stewart Website Sewing Section. Gotta love Martha!

Smocked Sundress:

Elegant and Easy Dress

Reversible Purse

Baby Kimonos

DIY Shift Dress

And here are some of my favorite sewing websites to ogle over.

Grosgrain Fabulous – There is a Free Pattern Month section with awesome ideas.
Burda Style – they have a few free patterns in their download section
Pink Chalk Studio – CUTE CUTE patterns! Check out her One Yard Wonders Sew Along Section
Brassy Apple – There is a tutorial and free patterns section with TONS of ideas for every occasion
Smashed Peas and Carrots – This addictive blog has ideas for anything craft!

I am sure there are TONS of other great sewing blogs out here and if you know of any, please leave a comment with your favorite one!

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My New Cricut Station and Scrapbook Desk

I think I spend more time planning on scrapbooking and making room for it that I never really ever get around to doing it! This weekend, I was just mentioning to my husband that I wanted to find a new workspace for scrapbooking.

The issue was finding something that was space saving yet provided enough room to craft.

On Saturday, my neighbor across the street was having a garage sale. I never much pay attention to garage sales, but while driving by their house, I glanced through the window to find something that might work. We parked the car and strolled on over to the garage sale and found this secretary desk:

It was perfect! My scrapbook cabinets and shelves are all white and I wanted something white to match everything else and VOILA it was right across the street…and for only $25! :)

That cute desk now serves as my cricut station/crafting area.

I Christened it right away by getting started on my Easter scrapbook pages!

WOOT WOOT mama has a new crafting-only desk!

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Thank You Card

I am trying to get back into the swing of crafting more frequently. One of my favorite things to make is cards!

Though the picture is not the best, below is a recent Thank You card.

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Teacher Appreciation Week –Teacher Survival Kits

I know this post is a *few* days late. Last week was a hectic week of planning for both my House Party Singer Sewing Machine Party and Cody’s 5th Birthday Party. Pictures from both events to come soon! :)

This project was probably the easiest one out of the bunch.

Here are the supplies:

• One cardboard pencil box (purchased at Michael’s)
• Starbursts
• Decorative nail file (purchased at Bath and Body Works)
• Antibacterial gel (purchased at Bath and Body Works)
• Colorful paper clips
• Band-Aids
• Advil (travel size)
• Decorative scrapbook paper

Since the boxes had colored lids, I selected scrapbook paper that coordinated with the colors. The above sets are old sets from Close to My Heart.

Arrange the products neatly inside the box. If you want to ensure that they don’t move around in the box during delivery, then use the Zot dots to glue the items down.

Cut the paper just slightly smaller than the box lid. For these specific boxes, the paper was cut down to 6” x 4”. Attach the paper to the box.

I then created a tag for each of the boxes. You can download a PDF of the tags here.

Once the tags were printed, they were matted onto solid color cardstock. A flower-shaped eyelet was attached to the corner of the card. Coordinating ribbon was then looped through the card and wrapped around the entire box.

The completed Teacher Survival Kits….

Get creative and think of any items that might be helpful to a teacher.

You can even modify the box contents and make it a survival guide for pregnant women, new moms, new dads, babysitters, etc.

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Teacher Appreciation Week–Wednesday–Sweet Treats - Cake Pop Style!

My name is Michelle….and I have an addiction….

TO CAKE POPS!

I’m not even a sweets person (except for one week out of the month heehee), but I have yet to meet a cake pop that I didn’t like.

The first few times I made them, I melted the chocolate in the microwave. Then I met this bad boy and my life was changed….

The chocolate pro is now my cake-pop-makin’ best friend!!

You just add the morsels and in a few minutes, it is melted to a smooth, even consistency. No more racing time to get everything dipped. OH THANK YOU WILTON!

Okay…enough of my gushing…and let’s get on with the project.

Here is what you need to create this project:

Refrigerated cake pieces

Edible decorative embellishments

Dip the cake into the chocolate (sorry, I wasn’t coordinated enough to take a picture of the actual process). :)  I only did a partial dip, but a typical cake pop is completely covered in chocolate.

These are technically called “cake balls”, but I have an issue with calling it that. ;)

Sprinkle the decorative topping onto the cake pop.

You can put them in mini cupcake liners for added presentation.

Speaking of presentation – packing is an important factor in cuteness. For this project, I chose mini Chinese takeout boxes.

For the label, I printed the phrase “A Sweet Treat for Someone Sweet” on regular white printer paper then punched it out with a 1” circle punch. The decorative background paper was punched using a 3” circle punch.

I found these cute stickers in the dollar section at Michael’s and added them to the tags.

With the handy dandy Paper Tagger, the labels were attached to the boxes.

The finished product…

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Teacher Appreciation Gift–Tuesday–Sticky Note Pads with Pen Set

Another cute project I have been wanting to try is a sticky note pad holder thing - at least that’s what I call it :).

Here are the goods for creating this project.

3x3 Sticky Note Pads

Decorative 12x12 cardstock paper - I suggest using cardstock so it is not so flimsy.

Colorful Buttons…

Ribbon

After you have cut the decorative cardstock into 3 1/4” x 7 3/4” strips (you can get 4 from a 12x12 cardstock), turn the paper around and score it at the following measurements:

3 1/8”
3 1/2”
6 5/8”
7”

Fold the paper on the score lines then attach the sticky pad to the center square on the paper. I used snot dots (aka Glue Dots for those that want the official name).

Though you can choose from a variety of tools (fasteners, eyelets, brads, etc) to fasten the covers together, but I opted for buttons because I have an over-abundance of buttons in my craft room from a Christmas ornament project that never came to be.

Attach one button to the the smaller flap. Then attach another button to the larger flap.

I glue dotted the ribbon to the button then wrapped it in a figure 8 between the two buttons.

Voila…you now have sticky pad holder things.

Presentation is everything so these little guys were paired up with a colorful pen and packaged in a spring cello bag and sealed with curling ribbon. You can never go wrong with curling ribbon! 

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Teacher Appreciation Week–Monday

This week is Teacher Appreciation week. I have to admit that I was last minute on even planning the gifts, but with a little brainstorming, Monday’s teacher’s gift is popcorn with a custom wrap. I have always wanted to make these and never had the chance so it was a fun excuse to make these easy to make gifts.

The card says “Just popping in to say Thank You for all you do”.

Do you have any ideas to share for Teacher’s Appreciation gifts? I have a 4 more days of creativity to come up with! :)

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Welcome to my new blog!

I am a big fan of all things crafty, cooking-y and new so I decided to dedicate a blog to those topics.

Here, you will find a smorgasborg of my crafts, cooking (trials and errors, too!), and anything cool and fun to share!

Please feel free to leave a comment anytime! I would love to hear from you!

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