The Blue Screen of Death and the Difference That Spray Paint Can Make

Well, I am reporting to you live from Anchorage, Alaska. I am so glad to finally be here and to get into a new schedule with the kiddos and hubby!

My kids and I spotted our first live moose yesterday!

It was on the median in the middle of the road, just nibbling some grass, and not even noticing the cars going 40 mph on each side of it.

My kiddos were so excited but my oldest keeps asking me when he is going to see a bear..... Ummm hopefully never. I am more interested in spotting Ana White.

We have been spending the last few days in an extended stay. Now that is really an adventure with 3 little ones. Hopefully we will get to move into our apartments on Monday. That would be so nice!

Some of you who follow me on facebook or twitter know that when I turned my laptop on after we got here I got the "blue screen of death." Luckily, I have a computer tech on speed dial (my little bro). He walked me through some things I could try .... but nothing worked. Booo!

Anyway, I just left it sitting out and went and ran errands yesterday. I said some serious prayers while I was out. I use my computer to budget, pay bills, keep my fam up to date with a personal blog and of course to blog here. I really don't have or want to spend the money to take it to someone to fix.

When I got home I turned the computer on again and it booted up.

Hooray for answered prayers!

Well here is my first tutorial/before and after in Alaska.

Do you remember when I told you that I must have been obsessed with red?

Well I cleaned out and donated a lot of things over the last few weeks and I can't believe all the red in my house. My kitchen had mostly red accesories, the living room had red in the pillows, chair and curtains, the family room had red pillows and accesories, the boys room had red in the blankets and pillow shams and red bed skirts and red curtains, our master had red pillows and both bathrooms had red towels. Wow.

A lot of this red stuff was in good condition and I decided to try and re-purpose some of it instead of buying all new stuff.

The first thing on my re-purpose list was my paper towel holder and cookbook holder for my kitchen. I really like them but they no longer went with the kitchen. Unless you ask my 4-year-old, he thought the matched perfectly.

I actually got these for my wedding. I just took them outside and primed them with spray paint and then used two coats of a glossy navy spray paint.

Ahhh, much better.

And here they are in use.

I actually got that cookbook for my wedding, too.  It is a cookbook dedicated to nothing but chocolate.

I. Love. It. 

I had to laugh a little when I opened it because the hubby hates chocolate.

So what about you guys? Have you ever gone through a color obsession? Either in your house or your wardrobe? Did you chuck it all or did you try to work with it?

It is great to back and can't wait to blog some more!

Felt Cupcake Pincushion Tutorial: Two Delicious Options

I think I was really lucky because after I got married because my mom gave me ALL of her sewing stuff including her sewing machine. It was so nice to have everything from the get-go and even nicer to not have to pay for it all myself.

One of the things in my hand-me-down pack of treasures was the classic tomato pincushion.

You know the one I am talking about.

I remember playing with this particular pincushion as a child. I don't know why kids get so much enjoyment out of playing with pins but I know I loved it. Now I have kiddos of my own and they surely enjoy playing with them, too. Well I decided to upgrade my pincushion. Mostly because I already had the supplies so it would be FREE for me.

Yeah, I'm cheap like that.

Since I was upgrading I decided it needed to be something cute. Delicious even.

So I made myself a yummy cupcake pincushion and it turned out so cute but as I admired my creation I realized there was an even easier way to do it. So... I am going to show you both ways and you can decide which option works for you.

You will need:
2 sheets of felt in the same or coordinating colors

and

about a 8"x12" rectangle of fabric and about 8"x12" of quilt batting
or
about a 5"x12" rectangle of knit fabric

hot glue gun
sewing machine or needle and thread
and pins of course

Option 1: Fabric and Batting 
Cut strips from your two pieces of felt about 1/2"-3/4" lengthwise

Cut each of your felt pieces in half lengthwise and use your iron to press them in half.

Take two pieces of your felt (I used a dark brown and a light brown) and lay them on top of each other with just a small amount of the bottom fabric showing.

Beginning at one end roll your fabric tightly. Roll it to create a cone shape. You can tap the top or the bottom of the cone to adjust it. Here is how mine looked.

Add your second pieces of felt. Use a small dot of hot glue to secure it.

Continue to wrap until you have your cupcake top.

Turn your "cupcake" over and trim the excess off.

Now you need to create your liner. Using your "cupcake" as a guide, trace a circle about 1/2" bigger then the bottom. Cut the circle out and cut a matching circle from the batting. Use a basting stitch to secure the batting to the fabric.

Take the rest of your fabric and cut a rectangle. You want it to be able to wrap all the way around the cupcake with about 1" overlap. You also want it to be about 1/2" longer.

Match the fabric up with the batting and cut a matching rectangle. Using a sewing machine stitch lines about 1/4"-1/2" apart. This will create that ribbed look of a cupcake liner. Trim off any excess.

Press one long side of your rectangle over about 1/2" and one short side over 1/2". Wrap it around your cupcake. Mark with pins or disappearing ink where the liner needs to be sewn together.

Remove it from the cupcake and pin.

Turn the cuff you made inside-out and match right sides together with your circle piece. Stitch together and turn right side out.

Pull your liner onto your cupcake (this is when it occurred to me that using a stretchy fabric for the liner would be way easier)

Now find those two skinny strips of felt you cut earlier. Glue the ends on top of one another and glue it to the "cupcake" right above the liner.

Twist them and wrap it around your cupcake. Use hot glue in a few places to secure it in place. Trim off any extra and glue the end down. Place your sprinkle pins in it. DO NOT EAT :)

While I was taking pictures my 4-year-old came in and said, "Mom, that looks like a yummy cupcake." He picked it up and pulled the pins out. "COOL! The pins look like big sprinkles!"

pause pause pause

"Can I eat it?"

Nothing like a little guys comments to make you feel like you did your job.

Option 2: Stretchy Knit Fabric

I created my cupcake top the same way.

This time I used a piece of brown ribbed stretch knit. I rolled it to see how long I needed it. I also cut it to be about an inch wider than the cupcake.

I sewed the two short sides together to create a cuff. I then used a gathering stitch to gather one long side. After I had it gathered as tight as I wanted I ran a tighter stitch over my gathers to hold it tightly together.

Trim and turn right side out. Pull it onto your "cupcake".

Use the same technique to create the frosting edge by taking two skinny pieces and twisting them. This one was much easier. It took maybe 10 minutes.

I think it turned out so cute!

You can see that they are two different sizes. It just depended on how tight I wrapped them and how tall I made the cone shape.

 Yummy and oh-so-cute.

These would also be darling for a cupcake themed room or for play food.

What about you guys? Did you have to buy all your sewing supplies or do you not sew because of how expensive it would be to start up?

I am really grateful for all my mom's stuff. Having it in my home is actually the reason I became interested in sewing. Thanks mom!

Oh and Happy St. Patrick's Day. Yes, I know my post has nothing to do with it but myself and all my kiddos are currently in green but more importantly today is the first day of March Madness! Yep, we are one of "those" families. 

DIY Carseat Cover Tutorial

So, still no luck in my charger search. I am in deep clean mode on my house today so hopefully I will get lucky!

I love the idea of a carseat canopy. I remember with my boys I would try to slip a blanket over the carseat but it would constantly slip off. Whoever it was that decided to put straps on a blanket You. Are. A. Genius! and why didn't I think of that earlier?

This cover will keep the hot sun and cold wind away from your precious bundle. Not to mention those pesky germ covered hands.

I decided to give this a try for one of my Hubby's cousins. She is having a little boy and I thought this might make a great shower gift.

You will need the following:

1 yard for the top fabric
1 yard for the bottom fabric
an extra 1/8 yard for your straps
Velcro (make sure it does not have an adhesive back)
thread
scissors
embellishments

Step 1: Cut out four 8 inch by 3 1/2 inch strips of fabric for your straps.

Step 2: On the right side of the fabric mark 3/4 of an inch from the top and side (I just used pins.)

Step 3: Cut your Velcro to 2 inches by 1 1/2 inches. Pin your Velcro in place on the right side of the fabric. You will need to pin two straps with the soft side of the Velcro and two straps with the rough side. I used white super soft Velcro in size small so two of my pieces put together made the 2 inch by 1 1/2 inch size.

Step 4: Sew in place. I made a box around the Velcro and than also sewed an x through the middle. I went around the sides twice to make sure it was held tight. Sew close to the edge of your Velcro so it doesn't pull up.


Step 5: Pin right sides of the fabric together so you the Velcro is opposite each other (i.e. the soft Velcro on top of one piece and the rough on the bottom of the other.) Sew together using a 1/2 inch seam. Make sure you don't sew around the entire thing, you need to leave a space to turn it right side out.


Step 6: Clip the corners and turn your straps right side out. Use a crochet hook, knitting needle or anything long and pointy to push the corners out. Press with an iron.


Step 7: If you have done everything right you should be able to Velcro your strap into a circle like so.

Step 8: Use a finishing stitch (just a small stitch really close to the edge) to finish your straps and close the gaps.

Step 9: Pin the right sides of your two large pieces of fabric to together and join with a 1/2 inch hem. I put rounded corners on mine. An easy way to do this is to mark the fabric 4-6 inches from each corner and use them as guides while you slowly turn your fabric. Make sure you leave a gap so you can turn your fabric right side out. Once you have finished turn it right side out and press with an iron. Use a finishing stitch to finish it off and close the gap.
Step 10: Pin your straps so their centers are 18 inches from the top and 13 inches from the outsides of your finished canopy. This fit my car seat perfectly but you might want to pin yours and then try in on your car seat. If this is a gift I think these measurements should work fine for most car seats.

Mark your straps with a box that is in the center, about 2 3/4 inches from each short edge.


Step 11: You will want to sew another box and x like you did with the Velcro. The top and bottom of your box should line up with the marks you made and the sides will line up with your finishing stitch on your strap. It should look like this when you are done.

Step 12: Add you embellishments. Because this was for a boy I just went with coordinating button but you could add bows, fabric flowers etc to the top of your straps. I threaded the button first and then glued it on using craft glue.
Here is the finished product laid out.Here it is on a car seat.


It seriously is so easy and a great beginner project.