Happy Birthday Banner

When I was growing up we had a happy birthday banner. It was made out of metallic cardstock-ish paper with metal connectors. The colors were: red, gold, green, and blue. They shimmered the way a flashlight does when it is running low on batteries. It didn't hang alone there were also Garfield coloring book pages that were specifically birthday themed

Whenever it was someone's birthday I would pop out of bed and head to the china cabinet. We kept our sign and coloring pages in the drawers below (you know right under the fancy china). I'm telling you birthdays have always been special. I would rush out to the mantle and hang the banner and pages from the nails left from Christmas.  I was always very careful to beat the birthday honoree up so they would be totally surprised even though I did this every year. I loved it and I hope to pass that excitement on to Vivi and any other friends or family I have the privilege to celebrate with.

Viola will turn one tomorrow, Frank (my father in law) has a birthday on Saturday and Will turns 30 the following week. Needless to say we have need for a birthday banner. Don't worry I took care of it. You may remember this fabric from this previous project. I used the left overs to make the banner.

Sewing-ish Project

This year for Christmas we drew names. Foz got my name and he gave me a fabric cutter and some material {which I suspect was his wife Kristen}. Well only a few weeks earlier I spotted some chairs at Will's parents house and asked if they were getting rid of them. They didn't have any place for them so they gave them to us. I was so excited because they had a fun retro feel to them. The only thing they needed was a little TLC. There were four of them and four pieces of material it was all so perfect.

I love these patterns!

The old foam was pretty rotten and by the time I finished scrapping it off my hands were black.

Lindsay and I played around to figure out how to get the material tight.

There was lots of hot glue involved.

Lots of rusty screws.

The finished product.

A little coffee nook.

Handkerchief

On my wedding day only moments before I walked down the aisle I remembered I didn't have my something borrowed. Will's sister Mimi immediately offered her ring. I thought it was so sweet. Now it is my turn to give her something for her wedding day. I stitched this handkerchief with her wedding date so she would have something blue. I was really pleased with how it turned out and she seemed to like it too. 

Picked a font.

Traced the letters

Stitched over the stencil

Birthday Craft

Georgie, one of my dearest friends, had a birthday this past week and so I made her a towel for her kitchen. She and her husband have moved here all the way from New Zealand to go to seminary in Orlando. I am very excited to see what these next 3 years brings...I'm hoping a baby. Happy Birthday George!

I had a little helper.

Baby Gift

I saw this idea on Etsy and decided to make it for my friend Lindsay. I wasn't able to stay for her shower but did manage to make her a few onesies.

Summer Sewing

I bought this dress several years ago and loved it on the rack. It is one of those dresses that you can cinch up or down. Well as all you other short people know, either way makes us look stubby. So I decided to separate the pieces and see what I could do. This is what I came up with.

Summer Sewing

Here is my latest sewing switch up.

                 

Art Project-IPOD case

I was making my regular rounds in the blog world and I came across this tutorial. I had been keeping my IPOD in a sock and while this was functional it wasn't always the cutest thing. I had all the material to do this project so I decided to give it a go. Here were my results. Do you think the design looks more like two birds or a mustache? I have had differing reviews.

Summer Sewing

Summer is approaching and I have gone through my wardrobe. I am itching to get some new clothes while trying to maintain a budget. I have decided to tweak a few of my dresses and skirts to better fit my body type.Here is my first experiment.