Art With Ashley

The Practical Valentine Gift

2012-02-10T14:35:00.000-08:00

My husband is a very practical man. He loves things that are going to be useful as well as inexpensive. I think that is why I have finally come to realize our idea of romance is quite different from each others perspectives. So this year I have tried to put myself in his shoes so that I can be more "practical" with my gift giving.

As I was pondering over the practical gifts I could give him I noticed his bike lock bag was falling apart at the seams... in every literal sense of the word. (You can see from the photo below that it's true.)

I decided that it couldn't be too hard to just make him a new one. So when I was at the dollar store I came across this black and red backpack. Now keep in mind it was made out of a very cheep rain poncho type of plastic and the back of the bag was lined with thin styrofoam and the same material as reusable grocery bags. I knew if I used enough layers of this I could make it work.

Besides what did I have to lose except a dollar and a little bit of time. :)

The poor little thing had so many holes in it I was surprised he hadn't lost his lock already.

I started the process by disassembling the bag piece by piece.

I cut the straps off, unpicked all the seams, salvaged the zippers, and ended up with a big flat piece that would work for most of the bag.

After all of that I realized that I needed an accurate pattern so I unpicked all the seams to the bike bag itself and used it as a pattern. Needless to say it worked out awesomely!! Wahoo for success.

And the hubby said he likes it and I did a very fine job :)

Happy "Practical" Valentines Everyone!

Oh How Charming

2012-01-30T15:29:00.000-08:00

Ever since I was little I have been obsessed with miniature items. I used to love playing with Polly Pockets. I had a fascination with small detail. If you know me you also know that I love sweets!! So when you mix miniatures, sweets and crafting you get... Mini Sweet Charms.

I have to give the credit to Mondo from Project Runway All-stars for getting me started on making these charms. In one of the episodes of All-stars, Mondo is sporting a cute lollypop miniature necklace. So I decided that I would make one. (I forgot to take a photo of the lollypop necklace that I made, I will post one later, sorry) I found a plethora of online tutorials on how to make these cute things. Since I haven't done the clay thing in awhile I got it out and got to work!! You might remember my last clay play time I made a wedding cake topper.

Here are my versions of the sweet creations.

Just so you get an idea of how tiny they actually are :)

Getting hungry yet?

The nice thing is they are interchangeable so depending on what sweet I am feeling that day I can switch them out and put them on a necklace. If I am feeling really sweet I can show them all of on my charm bracelet.

Leather and Lace

2012-01-24T18:07:00.000-08:00

So You Think You Can Sew

Finals: "Contestants Choice"

Well this is it... this is the big one!! I can't believe I have made it to the finals. There has been so much talent shown by all those who have competed. I feel so honored to be in this last round because of all of you who have voted so far! I have felt such love and support from family and friends. Thank you to all the new followers and commenters who have encouraged me along the way. I have gotten wonderful e-mails from other contestants wishing me luck and I appreciate the spirit of friendship and kindness. Also a huge shout out to those who have featured me on

their own blogs. This whole process has been a wonderful experience in helping me push myself.

Thank you to Ashley from Mommy by Day Crafter By Night

for putting this together for all of us!

Voting starts January 25th at 8:00 am EST and

ends January 26th at 8:00 pm EST.

You can vote from your computer, your phone, and your ipad... well anything that lets you cruise around on the internet really. You can only vote once per device.

Click here to vote!!

So here it is, the final project.

Inspired by the many beautiful lace dresses I have

been seeing on pinterest.

Total Cost: Less than $20 which means my husband is happy and so am I.

The side zip makes for a seamless back.

The collar is all stitched in by hand.

I really don't know how to juggle, I think that is why I was laughing the whole time.
I was trying to avoid being hit with the falling oranges. :)

Hope you enjoyed following me on this crazy journey!! Thanks again for your support and your votes.

If you are wondering what we are playing for, here are the prizes.

The 1st Place winner will receive:

The 2nd Place Winner will receive:

The 3rd Place Winner will receive:

How to Make the Dress

Supplies:

2 Yards of Cream Lace

2 Yards of Black Stretch Cotton Poplin Spandex blend

7 inch black Zipper

Hand Sewing Needle and Thread

Step 1: Start with 2 yards of your black cotton poplin. Fold in half.

Step 2: Find a dress that fits well and closely resembles the over all shape you want to achieve. (If you don't have a dress like that, then jump down to step 4.)

Step 3: Trace a chalk line around the skirt. (Remember to leave room for your hem as well as your seams.) I didn't include the top yet, only the bottom portion of the skirt.

Step 4: Find a shirt that resembles the type of basic silhouette you are going for. Trace the outlines of the shirt making sure you account for seam allowances and the zipper. (This is how I began for the shabby apple knock off dress) Follow the basic outline of how a skirt would fall. Shown in the above photos.

Step 5 - 6: Move the sleeve area over and trace the curve that is on the shirt. (I will show you how to do the sleeves in a minute)

Step 7: Taking the same shirt from above you are going to place it on top of a piece of paper.

Step 8: Trace the outline.

Step 9: Add an extra .5 to an inch to the cuff part of your sleeve. (This will help when trimming for your seams) Also add room for your seam allowance on the top and bottom of your sleeve.

Step 10: Cut out the one side of your traced sleeve, stopping at the half way point.

Step 11: Fold over on the halfway line. (Make sure to get the angle right)

Step 12: Trace the other side.

Step 13: Cut out your sleeve pattern

Step 14: You should be able to place your pattern under the original sleeve to make sure you have accounted for your seams.

Step 15: Place sleeve pattern on your fabric and trace with chalk. (You don't have to add extra space to this one because you have already accounted for the seam allowance.)

Step 16: This is what it should look like when you are done chalking.

Step 17: Cut out your dress and sleeves.

Step 18: I separated my pieces and cut out basic neck lines.

Step 19- 24: Line up the bottom of your dress with the shell pattern on your lace fabric. (I messed up and cut my lace before I pinned my hem.) DON'T DO THAT!! Cut your lace after you pin your hem. That way the lace will hang down slightly lower than the hem of your black lining. Make sure your hems are equal and straight.

Step 25: Now place your black fabric overtop your lace.

Step 26: Cut out your lace leaving at least 1.5 inches around all sides. Carefully sandwich your two lace pieces between the two black pieces of dress. (Just like an Oreo)

Step 27: Now that your hem is pinned it is time to pin your sides.

Step 28: Fold back your lace on so that it lays flat to both sides of your black fabric.

Step 29: Pin in place.

Step 30: Continue around the edge of your dress. Don't pin the sleeves or the shoulders of your dress.

Step 31: When you come to the right side of your dress, about an inch below the sleeve line, start pinning for your zipper. Remember you are going to want at least an inch on both sides of your seams to pin your zipper in place later!! Just as a tip I use different colored pins to indicate hem lines, zippers, an straight seams. It helps me remember what I am doing when I get to my sewing machine.

Step 32: Begin sewing your hem. Make sure you don't include your lace in the hem!!

Step 33: Right before you get to your side seams stop your needle, back stitch and fold your lace down and include it in your seam. (This will help everything stay nice)

Step 34: Continue on to the edge of your seam, backstitch and then finish.

Step 35: Now you are ready to continue up the sides.

Step 36: I pressed my seams once I was done sewing them.

Step 37: When you get to the zipper portion of your dress back stitch a few times and then turn your stitch length to 4. Run your basting stitch up the zipper portion of your dress.

Step 38: This is what your dress should look like when you are done.

Step 39: Find your basting stitch portion of your dress and press

your seam open.

Step 40: Place your zipper on top of your seam so that the center of your zipper is aligned with your seam line. Pin in place.

Step 41: Sew in your zipper like it says on your zipper instructions.

Step 42: I used black thread but you could use cream.

Step 43: Once you are done carefully unpick your basting stitch.

Step 44: Make sure you don't catch any of your lace!!

Step 45: This is how your zipper should look when it is done.
Step 46: Now we are moving on the the neck line. I carefully traced out a line about 7.5 inches wide. As seen below.

Step 47: Snip little tabs in the neck line so that you can fold it over more easily. (Don't snip too far or it will show on the other side and fray.

Step 48: Use the same tab method for the outer sleeve part. Press down so they stay flat.

Step 49: Fold over your lace on your shoulder portion of your dress

and sew down.

Step 50: Sew down the tabs on your sleeves as well s the bottom portion of the sleeve.

Step 51: Here is what it looks like when it is right side out.

Step 52: Place your sleeve on top of your folded lace.

Step 53: Cut out your lace, leaving your extra space for overlap.

Step 54: Make your lace tabs and iron down flat.
Step 55: Sew down your lace, around the outer sleeve edge. Try to stay on the line you previously sewed.

Step 56: It should look like this while you are sewing.

Step 57: Remember to leave the other side of the lace alone. It will look like this when you flip it right side out.
Step 58: Fold your sleeve in half and sew the bottom piece together. (I like to go over mine a few times to ensure that it will hold) You don't want to rip a hole in the underarm area of your dress)

Step 59: This is what it should look like when you flip it right side out.

Step 60: Now gently open up the sleeve hole in your dress and slide the sleeve inside like the picture shows.

Step 61: Pin in place while folding over your lace edge.

Step 62: It should look like this.

Step 63-64: Once pinned you can check to make sure it is right by pulling the sleeve out. If it looks like this, then you are good to go and sew it.

Step 65: This is is also the time to sew down the tabs on your neck lines.

Step 66: Don't sew down your lace with your neck lines!! Make sure to leave it out.

Step 67: It should look like this.

Step 68: The back side... see how you don't see any stitch marks.

Step 69: Once everything is sewn down and ironed it is time to cut the extra lace.

Step 70: Trim your lace so that it is close to your neckline. Don't cut it too close because the lace will hang down when your dress is on.

Step 71: Should look something like this.

Step 72: Cut out a scalloped edge from your left over lace. You will want 3 pieces cut. 2 for the front side and one for the back of the neck.

Step 73: Cut them by measuring the length of the neck lines.

Step 74: Place them on top of your dress to see how they will look the best. (I left a small gap between the lace pieces once it hit the bottom point of the neck line.

Step 75: Carefully! Trim your lace so that it slowly gets larger as you move up the neck line. (See how I started really close to the edge on the bottom and got slightly larger as I went up.)

Step 76 - 79: Fold and iron the extra lace that is on your dress. Using a needle and thread begin by whipstitching your lace in place. Make sure you hit as many points on the lace as possible. Don't leave any gaps or it will look funny. Basically you are going to whipstitch your lace pieces together all around your neck line. Once you want to join the scalloped pieces together, try on your dress and safety pin together where it falls the nicest on the neckline. Whipstitch those and trim edges slightly. You don't want to trim too close though or you run the risk of ripping your lace.

Congratulations my friend, you just made a lace dress!!

Thank You!!

2012-01-19T20:38:00.001-08:00

The Alligator Skirt

2012-01-17T15:45:00.000-08:00

Well I can't believe that another week is here!!

It is such a pleasure to be back this week for the

So You Think You Can Sew Competition. Last week was a really close race. Thank you so much for your votes and your support throughout this process. Seriously, without your votes I wouldn't be able to continue on in this awesome contest. It has been a really exciting ride so far and I am ecstatic for this week. There was a tie in the voting last week so that means that 4 people will be cut this round. YIKES!

Just goes to show the saying "every vote counts" is true!!

Head on over to mommybydaycrafterbynight to place your vote.

Remember voting starts Wednesday January 18th, at 8:00am EST and

ends January 19th at 8:00 pm EST.

One vote per computer, phone, or ipad.

This is the last round before the finals. Please vote!

Welcome to Week 3: "Apparel"

Inspiration comes in lots of shapes and sizes.

I have had this 1 yard of beautiful green fabric in my sewing supplies for almost 6 months now. I bought it knowing it would be a skirt but I wasn't sure what it should look like. Finally inspiration struck. Call it a mix of crazy and fun... but part of this skirt came about because of my Cajun Christmas this year. My husband and I were fortunate enough to spend the holidays with family in Texas. Almost all the food we had was Cajun. As we sat around playing cards and visiting, the music that played in the background was Cajun. To my surprise, a song came on that retold the story The Night Before Christmas. It was a very new version to me that related the story of Papa Noél and his team of alligators that brought the presents to the good little boys and girls in the Louisiana bayou.

Apparently when I got home my mind recalled that story and my fabric was transformed into an alligator style skirt. Here is where my imagination landed me. Hope you like it!!

I am putting out my alligator vibe... kind of a tough girl look.

Step 1: Start with 1 yard of semi stretchy fabric. Fold in half.

Step 2: Find a skirt that fits well and closely resembles the over all shape you want to achieve.

Step 3: Trace a chalk line around the skirt. (Remember to leave room for your hem as well as your seams.) I didn't include the waist band, only the bottom portion of the skirt.

Step 4: I added an extra 2 inches to one side of my pattern. This will be useful when sewing the flap over later.

Step 5: Using the skirt, trace the 2 inch extra all the way up.

Step 6: Move the skirt up slightly to include the waist band.

Step 7: Trace a chalk line around the skirt band...

remember to keep the curves.

Step 8: Add an extra 6 inches to one side of the pattern. This will be helpful for the flap portion of the buttons.

Step 9: Cut out one side of the skirt.

Step 10: Cut out the second side of the skirt. This side will include the extra 2 inches.

Step 11: Lay both pieces on top of each other. Wrong sides out.

Step 12: Pin hem and sides together.

Step 13: Press seams flat.

Step 14: Before sewing unpin bottom sides about 2.5 inches up the skirt. (This will be sewn as your slits to help you move in your skirt.) Do this on both sides of your skirt.

Step 15: This photo shows the way the pins should look if pinned correctly.

Step 16: Sew your hem and your side seams, including your slits.

Step 17: This is what the bottom portion should look like. Remember one side of the skirt should be larger than the other.

Step 18: Begin cutting the skirt band.

Step 19 - 21: You will have two pieces, one piece that is 6 inches longer than the other.

Step 22: Lay the two pieces of fabric on top of each other wrong sides facing out. Pin in place.

Step 23: Take your skirt band and iron down the top seam.

Step 24: Skip to step #55 -56 (I messed this up and so this is what you can do to fix it.)

Step 25: Pull extra fabric from the middle of your skirt flatten out to the right side of your skirt.

Step 26: Measure 3 inches in from the edge of your skirt.

Step 27: Looking at this photo you can see the seam of the skirt and the edge of your fabric are two different things. Make sure and measure from the edge of the skirt... not the seam.

Step 28: Mark a line 3 inches in up the skirt.

Step 29: Cut the fabric on the line.

Step 30: Line up the seams and overlap fabric.

Step 31-32: Fold over and press a small seam in both sides of the raw edges of the fabric.

Step 33: Using the left over fabric measure a 4.5 inch strip.

Step 34: Cut strip. Unfold the length of the strip so

it is as long as possible.

Step 35: Fold strip in half width ways.

Step 36: Press the seam down.

Step 37: Fold down the top and bottom edges of your strip.

Step 38: Let the strip close with the edges hidden.

Step 39: Set your stitch length to 4, sew a few stitches then backstitch. Finish down the strip don't backstitch on the end of the strip.

Step 40: Leave your thread tails long.

Step 41: Starting at the bottom end of the strip, gently pull the bottom thread till your fabric begins to ruffle.

Step 42: Create your ruffles so that it fits the length or your skirt.

Step 43: Pin the skirt band to the bottom of the skirt. Make sure that all your seams line up. Sew.

Step 44: Pin the ruffle to the edge of your right side of your skirt. Don't pin the top portion of the ruffle!! This will later be pinned to the left side of the skirt.

Step 45: Sew down the ruffle.

Step 46: Place skirt flat.

Step 47: Flip skirt wrong side out. Take the raw edge of the fabric and place it on top of the ruffle.

Step 48-50: You should see the 3 edges of the fabric. Pin evenly up the edge of the fabrics. When you are sewing this try to sew in the same or over the edge of the preexisting sewing line from the ruffle. (This will be turned inside out so that only the ruffle shows and not the sewing lines.

Step 51: Pin the extra ruffle to the left side of your fabric. Pin so that the ruffle is on the right side of the fabric. (As shown in the photos)

Step 52: Pick out 3 buttons that match.

Step 53: Measure the place you want your buttons and chalk lines.

Step 55: Cut an extra strip piece of fabric to fit the length of the waist band. Fold it over so that it becomes at least doubled up. You should now have 3 layers of fabric. Pin to the top of and bottom of your waist band. Sew this piece of fabric as if it were just like the rest of your skirt band. (I didn't add this in till I realized my button holes needed extra support.) Do This Starting On Step 24.

Step 56: To fix mine I sewed in the extra fabric as best I could and matched up my sewing lines.

Step 57: Using your marked chalk lines of where you would like your buttonholes to go. Sew on your three buttonholes. (Practice on a scrap piece of fabric before hand, unless you are really good at buttonholes)

Step 58: Clip any strings and check out your buttonholes.

Step 59: Using a seam ripper, gently cut the inside fabric of your buttonholes. Remember you should be cutting 3 layers of fabric so it might be a little hard.

Step 60: Mark your placement of your buttons and sew on.

Step 61: Now that everything is finished iron out any wrinkles.

Step 62: Fold over your ruffle so that it is angled back

toward your side seam.

Step 63: Steam press down your ruffle. This will help it look nicer once you try it on.

Wahoo you are all done!! Go show off your new skirt.

This is more a summer look. The skirt paired with a loose fitting lace top.

As my Grandpa used to say : "See ya later alligator..."

Don't forget to vote this week!!

I have something extra special planned for the finals if I am fortunate enough to make it that far.

Talk about Leather and Lace!! ;)

From Frumpy To Fabulous

2012-01-10T12:25:00.000-08:00

Hello again everyone. I want to start this week off by saying a big thank you to all those who voted for me last week!! Because of you I was able to create something special to compete in this week's competition. I know we all have a few clothes hiding in the back corners of our closets that are just screaming to be taken out and fixed up. If you know what I am talking about you might want to go scrounging about to find just such an outfit. Here is what I came up with from two of my closet outcasts.

So You Think You Can Sew

Week 2: Repurposed Items

"From Frumpy to Fabulous"

Remember to Vote for me at Mommy By Day - Crafter By Night

Voting will start on Wednesday

Jan 11th at 8am EST and go till Thursday Jan 12th at 8pm EST

This time the voting progress will not be shown...

it's going to be a surprise.

So help me out with all the votes you can!!

Frumpy Fabulous

The Pants:

Step 1: Find a pair of pants that still fit but are a little baggy.

Step 2: Turn them inside out.

Step 3: Get a pair of your skinny jeans and flip them inside out. Lay them on top of the pants you want to fix up.

Step 4: Line your outside seams up. (You will have extra fabric on the inseam... don't count that in your front measurements... we will be adding that to the back leg.)
Step 5: Take out your chalk and mark the edges of where your pant leg begins to increase in size. My pant leg started at 5 inches.
Step 6: Chalk a mark to the side when you hit increments of 1/2 inch.
Step 7: Using your ruler connect your chalk marks moving up the leg of the pant. (All the way up to the crotch)
Step 8: Repeat on other leg.
Step 9: Flip pants over to the back side. Line up your outside seams.

Step 10: Trace the skinny jean lines in white. Add 1.5 inch chalk line in black continuing up the pant leg. (This is the extra fabric that we did not include in the front pant leg)
Step 11: Pin the black chalk line (Aka: the back pant side) to the white line on the front leg.
Step 12: Check pin placement to be sure that your lines match up!!
Step 13: I tried my pants on with the pins in them... I didn't want to have to deal with unpicking it after I sewed them.
Step 14: If you do try the pants on with pins in them just know there is a good possibility of hurting yourself (The bruise is not related to the sewing) Who said sewing isn't a tough sport hu!!
Step 15: Using a straight stitch sew your chalked lines... remove your pins as you go.

Step 16: Once your reach the crotch backstitch a few times

and trim loose threads.

Step 17: Repeat with other pant leg.

Step 18: Try pants on to make sure they fit correctly :)

Then cut off extra material.

The Pink Bow:

Step 1: Lay the extra fabric you cut from your pants flat.

Step 2: Cut off the hem and cut down the seam line.

Step 3: Remove the other side of the scrap.
Step 4: Turn fabric and fold in half. I made it about 4 inches wide.
Step 5: Fold and cut

Step 6: Now you should have two separate pieces

Step 7: Lay pieces on on top of the other...
right side of fabric facing out.
Step 8: Using a needle and thread stitch a line through the middle of both fabric pieces.
Step 9: Continue stitch all the way through the fabric.
Step 10: Pull thread tight to create a bow like look.

Step 11: Wrap your thread around the middle section and tie off.
Snip threads off.
Step 12: Using the hem piece cut earlier, wrap around middle section.
Step 13: Place a small dab of fabric glue on the back side
of your hem piece.
Step 14: Don't put on too much (You don't want it oozing out everywhere)

Step 15: Place a bobby pin on the other non glue side of your hem. Stick both the hem and bobby pin in the glue. Hold until dry.
Step 16: Find a cute place in your hair to place your new bow :)

The Shirt:

Step 1: I used a Men's Small Dri Star shirt. I found a pack of three on sale at Walmart for around $3. I liked this kind because of the white stitching.

Step 2: Turn your shirt inside out and place a well fitting shirt on top.

Step 3: Trace the well fitting shirt with a chalk line.

Step 4: Sew a straight stitch on your chalk line...
all the way around the armpit.
Step 5: Try on your shirt to make sure it fits correctly.
Trim extra fabric off.
Step 6: Turn so the right side is facing out.
Step 7: Switch over to white thread
Step 8: Locate the pressed line on your sleeves.
Step 9: Gather the sleeve in equal increments and pin in place.

Step 10: Sew a line up the sleeve to tack your gathers in place. Backstitch a few time to insure it stays put.
Step 11: Trim any threads and repeat on other sleeve.
Step 12: Using the excess fabric you trimmed from the shirt earlier cut 5 inch pieces out of your scraps.
Step 13: Cut two pieces.
Step 14: Keep in mind these pieces are supposed to be folded in half.

Step 15: Run a straight stitch around the edge of your rectangle.
Step 16: Trim strings and place down on a flat surface.
Step 17-19: Slowly pinch the middle of your fabric
piece to create a bow look

Step 20: Sew down the middle of your bow.
Step 21: Repeat on other rectangle.
Step 22: Find the scrap of fabric with your shirt hem.

Step 23: Trim the hem off your shirt leaving some black on the sides.

Step 24: Fold over black fabric slightly and wrap

around the middle of the bow.

Step 25: Using a needle and thread hand sew your

bow onto the gathered sleeve.

Step 26: Tack down the middle edges of your bow on to the sleeve (this helps prevent them looking like wings)

Step 27-28: Strut your stuff and show off those cute bows!!

Thanks for joining me again this week!!

I hope you have success in rescuing those closet outcasts by turning

them into something fun and stylish.

Craft Hard

Hoooo-Ray for Owl Appliqué

2012-01-03T09:09:00.000-08:00

So You Think You Can Sew

Week #1:

For the Home

I have been wanting to learn how to appliqué for the longest time and thanks to Ashley from mommybydaycrafterbynight by putting on the

So You Think You Can Sew Contest,

I finally got my chance to share my experience with you.

I am so honored to be part of this competition and I am extremely excited to see what everyone else brings to the table!

Here is what I came up with "For the Home"

and I hope you all have a real “Hoot” with it!

What You Will Need:

Ruler

Paper

Pencil

Black Marker

Scissors

Iron

Needle and Thread

3 Frames 11x14 (Or any other size that best fits your space)

1 Package of Fusible Web (I used Steam-A-Seam 2)

1 Bag of Fabric Scraps (I asked some friends if they had

anything they could donate to the cause)

½ Yard of Muslin (I used this for my background but you could use other

fabric, just make sure you have enough to fit your frames)

4 Medium Black Beads (Or buttons depending on your preference for owl eyes)

Step 1: Find an idea for your appliqué project. My inspiration was owls. Make small sketches of your ideas. Once you have your idea down on paper make it large enough to fit your frames and outline it in black marker.

(I didn't outline mine and it made it a lot harder to see where my lines were)

If you are using a pattern skip to step 3.

Step 2: Tape your design into a well lit window. Place another paper over the top of your design and trace out individual shapes. For example the body will be one shape, the wing will be another shape. Make sure to label all parts clearly including where the top of the object should go. Outline in black marker. I kept my designs separate from each other to help minimize confusion.

Step 3: Flip your design so that it is backward. Tape it to a well lit window. Take out a sheet of your fusible webbing. Tape it on top of your design. Trace on top of your paper liner, check to see which liner removes first by peeling apart at the corner. Trace on the liner that remains attached to the web.

(See how everything is backward now)

Step 4: Cut out basic squares around your newly traced pattern. (I cut them out exactly to the line and then placed them on my fabric... I now know that this might not be the correct way to do appliqué. Although everything turned out fine.)

Also make your branches a little longer than outlined... this will be helpful for later when you are putting them in the frames. You don't want them to be too short!!

Step 5: Pick out your fabrics that match with your traced pieces. Peel off one side of your fusible web. Make sure it's just the paper part and not the webbing itself that you remove.

Place your shape on the "wrong side" of your fabric. Rub softly and then cut your shape out of both your fabric as well as your fusible webbing. (I placed all of my cut pieces back on my original drawing in order to see I had all my pieces in the right place)

Step 6: Take out your muslin and cut it into 3 equal pieces at least 2 inches larger on all sides than your frames. So cut your muslin into 3 pieces at measurements of 15x18. (This will give you room to pull your material tight when you frame them. I cut mine too short and almost had problems with it later.)

Step 7: Take one of your muslin pieces out and set it down on your ironing board. Peel off remaining paper liner of your appliqué pieces. Leave the web on the fabric and stick the appliqué to your muslin. Reposition till it looks like it's in the right place. (I started with my branches so that they were all located in line with each other.)

Step 8: Using your iron, press for 10-15 seconds for cotton fabric. (I placed my bottom layer pieces first...

{Labeled as "A" in the pattern}

The first layer is basically branch and a few leaves on Owl 1)

Step 9: Take your fabric over to your sewing machine and select your favorite stitch. I did a zig-zag stitch on the outside of my bigger pieces, and a running stitch on my leaves and inside pieces. (I had to play around with it a bit before I found what looked the best. Use a scrap piece or two to get the hang of how your machine works with the fusible web.)

Step 10: Once your base pieces are sewn down place your next pieces on top and iron down. Sew down and continue until all your pieces are sewn and looking good!! Continue the process with all three owls.

Step 11: For my owl eyes I wanted to give it a real pop off the page feel. I decided to use black beads to achieve the look. I just hand stitched them down with a needle and some black thread.

When it comes to Owl #3 I did a running stitch to look like eyelashes.

Step 12: Remove the glass and other paper from your frames. Position your muslin so that your branches match up in a line and fit into your frames neatly. Take your glass and carefully place it over the back side of your muslin and secure it into your wooden frame. Next, take your frames' cardboard backing and set it over your glass. Push down one tab on every side of your frame. This will help prevent everything from shifting around too much. Flip your frame over to see your cute little owl. There will be some puckering in your fabric. This can be fixed by pulling on the edges of your muslin so that it is as tight as possible. Once you are happy with the way things look push down the rest of your tabs and tape your extra muslin to the back of the cardboard.

Step 13:Hang in an owl friendly environment in your home. Preferably somewhere that everyone can admire your beautiful work!!

Step 14: Head over to mommybydaycrafterbynight.blogspot.com

and place your vote for your favorite home décor sewing project.

Voting starts Wednesday January 4th at 8:00 am EST and

ends Thursday January 5th at 8:00 pm.

So get on over there and place your votes!!

The bottom 3 contestants get eliminated.

Also good to know: One vote per computer, phone, or ipad.

I know Whooo Owl be voting for!!

Here is the Hooo-Ray Owl Appliqué pattern in PDF form.

This is my first time making a pattern so let me know how it works for you!! Everything should be labeled clearly. Start with the pieces labeled "A" for your first layer of appliqué, sew, and move on to "B" and so on until you are finished sewing all your pieces.

Hooo-Ray Owl Appliqué - Ashley Moore

Thank “Whooo” Very Much For Visiting!!

A Texas Wedding

2011-11-13T14:08:00.000-08:00

Recently my awesome brother-in-law got married.

I have to admit when he asked me to do the wedding photography I was both honored and terrified. It's a very rare occasion when I play both parts of being in front of the camera as well as behind it. Knowing this information I really wanted to do a great job for them but I also wanted to look nice since I would be in the wedding. I needed something that would fit comfortably as well as look

awesome through out the day and into the evening.

I started my search a few months before the wedding and I found the perfect dress... from Shabby Apple!! I love the beautiful clothes they have but I couldn't really afford to spend

$100 + on a dress. (Not in my student friendly budget)

So I decided that I would try and make one for myself.

Here is the absolutely beautiful dress called Black Oak.

Step 1: Ask the about the wedding colors.

My brother-in-law told me the wedding colors were brown, gold, and auburn. So I planned on making my dress dark chocolate brown color. Turns out you should really ask the bride what the wedding colors are because they ended up being bright red, yellow, and cream.

Step 2: Get to work.

I gave myself a budget and a timeline and got right to work. There were a few learning curves with this dress but I was excited to see if I could pull it off. The new things I learned were:

- How to sew in a side zipper

- How to make those cool little ruffle strips

- How to sew in a hidden pocket

- How to make a cute cuff hem

Step 3: Accessorize

I knew I wanted a cute gold chunky belt to go with this but I didn't want to spend a lot on it so I went to Good Will. I found this awesome snakeskin belt and I cut it down to make it a high waisted belt. To do that I just trimmed the end off and used a metal punch to make a new hole for the buckle to fit. I also used black permanent marker on the end of the trim to make it look finished.

I also found this great necklace there for $2.50!! I love a great deal.

Step 4: Put it all together.

For the fabric, thread, zipper, necklace and belt I spent a total of $3o!! It worked out perfectly for the wedding (even though I didn't match the wedding colors) it was comfortable and cute! I can't wait to try out my next project.

Here are a few photos from the wedding!!

Also on a very fun note my amazingly talented friend in Ohio is hosting a sewing contest!! I was so excited about it and I think you will be too. Come support me in my adventure or join in the fun. Click on the button below for more info.

Green is the new Green?

2011-09-28T14:34:00.000-07:00

Well I have been loving this green color lately...

that and brown of all things.

You might find out about why I am liking brown in my next post.

I recently went exploring in my big book of crochet stitches and I came upon a fun and easy stitch I haven't tried out before...

it's called the:

Plain Trellis Stitch I

Starting Chain: multiple of 4 sts + 6

1ST ROW: 1sc into 6th ch from hook,

*5 ch, skip 3ch, 1sc into next ch; rep from * to end, turn.

2ND ROW: *5ch, isc into next 5 ch arch; rep from * to end, turn.

Rep 2nd row.

After learning the stitch I decided it would be

perfect for a cute little shrug.

The green was such a nice color choice too!!

Here is what I came up with.

So one of my other projects is learning how to french braid my hair. Now my mom was awesome at french braiding my hair when I was growing up...

but now I live far away from my mom and she can't show me how to do it.

So I went on to youtube and have been watching countless videos on how to accomplish this impossibly hard task. I tried and tried and eventually ... my hands and arms got tired enough I didn't think I could try any more. About an hour later I thought well I will try starting the braid higher on my head. Well this is what I ended up with.

Kind of cute, kind of strange, but hey I did something

I couldn't do before so I will count that as a success!!

Hope you all are doing well!!

And remember...

Craft Hard

Welcome to the Jungle

2011-09-14T15:08:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the crochet jungle that is...

it's been a wild and crazy adventure creating these new friends.

This elephant was actually the last one of the group to be finished.

These animals are an extra step beyond my crochet monsters.

The monkey was actually my first creation to this group.

I wanted to make him a stuffed animal version

of my watercolor monkey I usually paint.

He even has a removable banana.

The lion was sooo fun to make!! It took awhile to figure out

exactly how I wanted him to look but I think he turned out kinda sweet.

As I was making the giraffe I realized I needed to make the little brown things on the top of its head... by its ears.

As I thought about it, I wondered what they were called? I asked my husband what he thought they were called and he said he didn't know but they should be called

"Dongles"

I'll give you 20 points if you know what they are called ... without looking it up on google!!

Here is the answer : They are called Ossicones

And I love this little piggy my husband lovingly named him

Breakfast :)

What's a pig without a curly tail?

My husband also likes Otters and his old nickname used to be "Scotter"

Nothing like a squishy Penguin!!

I have loved learning how to make all these fun animals and I really wish I had created patterns to go with them. Maybe the next one I make I will do a tutorial on and include a pattern. :)

Anyone interested in that?

Besides these guys love having new friends :)

~ The Contrivance ~

2011-08-03T16:39:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share my new obsession with you guys. I have been making some new jewelry and wanted to share. I am putting some of it up for sale and will possibly be making more depending on the response I get from it.

Hope you enjoy!!!

Welcome to...

~The Contrivance~

~Secrets~

$20

~ Invention ~

$35

~Silver Wink Earrings~

$10

~Silver Wink Necklace~

$28

~Silver Wink Set~

$32

~Ensign~

(Not for Sale)

~Damselfly~

$10

~Torque~

$20

Transmission

$20

If you would like to order or would like more information

e-mail me at

artwithashley at gmail.com

What I Know About...

2011-07-20T10:38:00.001-07:00

I know it has been awhile since I have posted anything crafty...

believe me it's not from lack of projects.

I have about a billion and two things I could post

about but I am really getting excited about this one project.

Recently I have been working on my character development for my illustrations. I have been breaking out some really cool techniques. It's kind of like going back to school again with all the studying and "home work" I have been doing. (I Love it!!)

To put these new skills to the test I pulled out some old project ideas I have been meaning to work on. My wonderfully talented and beautiful sister wrote some concepts for childrens church books. These would be great for Family Home Evening lessons or

to help keep kids quiet while in church.

There will be a series of books called "What I Know About..."

It is our hope to one day get them published, but for now we just want a few copies for our personal use.

Here is the cover art work for the first book!!

Check back in for more sneak peek artwork in a few days :)

Hey there good cook'n

2011-06-30T07:25:00.000-07:00

If you know me... you know that I love soup. I will even eat hot soups in the summer here in AZ because I love them that much!! One of my very favorites to make is a creamy potato basil soup.

I have been making this soup now for a few years and

I think I have finally tweaked it to my liking.

What goes better with hot soup than homemade rolls?

My roll making skills are not so hot. I think I have tried to make rolls

once and they turned out dry and hard.

So about a month ago I plucked up enough courage to try again. There is something to be said for really sitting down and trying again and again if you can't get something right. This time I did some research before hand. I checked my yeast to make sure it was still good. I read and reread my directions a few times to make sure I fully understood what I was doing.

Finally I had some success!!

So I thought I would share some photos with you.

I also made up a big batch of my favorite homemade chocolate chip cookies. When I was young my dad would be in the kitchen mixing up cookies. I would always ask if I could help and he would let me put some of the ingredients in. He taught me a lot about baking, and I look back on those days with a smile. I love biting into a warm chocolate chip cookie that is crunchy on the sides but soft and gooey on the inside.

So it's kind of a funny story...

2011-06-09T16:05:00.000-07:00

A few Saturdays ago I went to pick up some produce from one of my neighbors... I drove by a garage sale and glanced at the items they had. I saw the usual type of things (but then I saw it) a small sofa with a great look to it. (I have been wanting to do some reupholstering but it had to be the right piece of furniture.)

I didn't stop because I knew I had no where to put it in my house and I was guessing that they were asking too much for it anyway.

I drove home and got a few things done around the house. I was headed to a birthday party but the sofa just kept nagging at me. I just had to drive by again and see if they still had the sofa out. When I drove by I noticed they did... so I stopped. I got out and noticed the price first $20, things just got more interesting. BUT there were a few problems...

#1. The thing was covered in cat hair... and I think I may have spotted a toenail clipping YUCK!!

#2. I didn't have anywhere to put it in the house

#3. I didn't have a truck so how was I going to get it home

The guy selling the sofa came up and saw me looking at it... I asked him if he would take $10 for it. (I had called my husband to see if he would let me get it... his stipulation was that I talk the people down to $10) The guy called his wife and said we had a deal!!! I payed him and said I would be right back. I called my husband again and told him he was going to need to come help me carry this sofa home.

(It was only a few blocks from where we live)

But then I had a great idea... we had a little red wagon we could use to pull the sofa home.

So I drove the car home and met up with my husband who just happened to have popped a whole bowl of popcorn and didn't want to let it go cold so he had to bring it along. So here we are loading up this sofa onto this tiny wagon. We started walking down the middle of the street looking like some crazies... me pulling the wagon along and my husband eating his popcorn as we went. It was one for the record books.

Here it is... in all it's denim glory

Now you can see the cat hair I was talking about

Let the staple removing marathon begin

You have to take the fabric off carefully so that you can use it as your patterns for later.

I took all my measurements so I could price out my fabric

Then I made a sketch of how it would all be cut to maximize my fabric use.

After spending hours and hours debating on what fabric to buy I found an inexpensive non upholstery fabric. (I didn't want to spend $30 a yard, since I needed 8 yards of fabric)

I did all my cuts and measurements... learned how to make pipping as well. Then I pinned, sewed, and did a test fit. Turned out well!!

More test fitting.

My hands got a good beating... lots of blisters and tender spots.

But I finally got myself a staple gun :)

The tack strips were hard to use... maybe because I tried to reuse mine. (I am all about recycling and not spending lots of money) But if I were to do this again I would go and buy new ones.

It really started to come together nicely

Finishing off the back side

More tacking strips.

I had some trouble with the left side... but it turned out fine in the end.

The finished bottom... just before I put on the other legs

ohhh now for the fun part... pillows.

I used 2 shirts my wonderful sister-in-law gave me.

(Thank you Annie, hope you aren't mad I cut them up)

I also used the old pillow form from the old pillows

A little cut here a little cut there...

A little sewing here and a little sewing there... and

TA DAAAAA!! You have some really cute pillows.

We even found a good place for it.

Before and After!

The best part about the whole thing... the total price was $75

$10 for the sofa

$35 for the fabric

$30 for the tools

The funny thing is I had gift cards for the tools and for the

fabric as well so

I actually spent $10 for the whole thing!!

- Craft Hard

Nachtessen kochen

2011-05-26T13:41:00.000-07:00

Yum dinner time...

So this year my husband and I celebrated 4 years of marriage. When we first got married I was just learning how to cook. I knew how to bake but I didn't really know how to COOK.

For instance I don't think I ever cooked with

raw chicken before I was married.

(Or any other raw meat)

Jump 4 years ahead and I am cooking up a German feast...

Scott loves German food!!

(He spent two years in Germany on his mission for

the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints)

So to celebrate our anniversary I cooked up a list of German goodies.

Jäger-Schnitzel

Spätzle

Sauerkraut

Gurkensalat

And For Dessert:

Apfelkuchen

Translation for all of those who don't know what all that is:

Jäger-Schnitzel: Typically a veal or pork schnitzel topped with a creamy-mushroom sauce.

(I used chicken for mine, we aren't big pork fans)

Spätzle: are very small German egg noodles made from flour,

eggs, salt and either water or milk.

Sauerkraut: Chopped cabbage that has been pickled in brine

Gurkensalat: Cucumber Salad soaked in a vinegar dill dressing

Apfelkuchen: Apple Cake

This was by far my very very favorite...

Normally I am not a huge fan of German deserts

(normally they don't use a lot of sugar)

But this cake was sooo yummy.

Scott said it might be his all time favorite cake!! It's supper soft on the inside and has a wonderful crispy-sugary shell on the outside. The apples are a perfect complement to the texture.

I crave this cake almost every day... yeah it's that good!!

Happy Cooking :)

-Craft Hard

Take me Out to the Symphony

2011-04-04T08:13:00.001-07:00

My sweet husband is one very busy guy. He is in his second year of medical school and has many tests each week. He has many leadership callings in school as well as church. He loves to run, bike, and play soccer. He searches for opportunities to give service and do good things in the community. (When he runs or bikes to school he picks up trash a long the way, isn't that cute) So with all of those things going on we don't get to see each other very often. But he is always trying to make time for me when he gets any...

Scott donates blood as often as he can, sometimes he gets little perks when he is done. Last year after donating he got a ticket to the Phoenix Symphony. We were very excited to go have a date night. This year when he got his ticket again I decided that we should get a little more dressed up and make it a really fun and different evening.

So I sat down and sketched out a little dress for the evening (feeling more confident after having made the prom dress) For some reason I have been into 40's and 50's fashion lately. So I decided to make a dress that resembled that time frame.

After finishing the dress I watched a few videos on Youtube on how to do some awesome hair from that time. I finished the look off with some nice red lipstick.

I was worried that I would look out of place next to my husband so

I made him a matching bow tie with extra fabric left over from my dress.

It was such a fun and enjoyable evening.

A big thanks to my husband for putting up with me and

being willing to go out in public with me :) You are the best!!

Check out that red lipstick and crazy hair...

Dressing for Success

2011-03-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

For the last few months I have been encouraging the girls at church to come learn how to sew with me. They are usually the ones that get to see the skirts I make and they have shown some interest in making their own.

Finally Sabrina took me up on my offer...

this beautiful girl asked if I would help her sew her dress for prom.

Sabrina brought me a photo of what type of dress she wanted and we started planning.

Going off of a photo and the limited sewing knowledge that I have we decided to get started.

I guess you could say I am kind of a crazy person because:

1. I didn't have a pattern

2. I have never sewn anything larger than a skirt

3. I have never sewn in a zipper

4. I have never sewn with silk, satin, or tulle

5. I have never taken measurements for myself or anyone else

6. I have never sewn any clothing for anyone other than myself

7. I have never actually taught anyone how to sew

8. Oh and did I mention we had about a week and a half to sew it all!!

So there was a lot going against us... but we accepted the adventure and we got started!!

Here is the photo inspiration for our dress... Totally Modest has some really awesome dresses. You should check them out.

Sabrina wanted a rounded neckline, floor length gown, and a red sash instead of pink.

Here is the beautiful Sabrina holding up the

top of the dress and pressing some of the seams.

Lots of sewing, planing and prep...

a few mistakes and some good lessons learned.

thumbs up = so far so good :)

Our little work space... lots of pinning, gathering and more planning

And here is the final product!!

Total cost of the dress $35

Lessons learned ... about a million and two. :)

Doesn't she look beautiful!! Such a cute girl.

We made a little hair accessory and a flower instead of a bow for the sash.

I really like this addition.

The back of the dress

Thank goodness for youtube videos to help us get the zipper right!!!

Well done Sabrina!! Hope you had a fun time and learned a lot.

Thanks for trusting me with such an important project.

Just remember

Craft Hard

Cooking up some Lucky Verde

2011-03-15T18:49:00.000-07:00

Since St.Patrick's day is this week my hubby and I decided

to try our hands at a new recipe for Chili Verde.

(Yeah I know it's not an Irish dish but it's green right)

But before we could make our kitchen concoction

I finally got around to making myself an apron. :)

I wanted something a little flirty and fun. I looked around

for different styles of aprons and this is what I came up with.

Here is my paper crafting blocks for the holiday...

Now on to the Chili Verde

This recipe was found in the Cuisine at home Splendid Soups & Sides

(I am giving you our modified version)

Makes 7 cups Total time: 1 1/2 hours

Roast:

6 Anaheim Chiles

Sear in 2T. Vegetable Oil:

1 1/2 Ib. Chicken Breast cut into 1" pieces

Deglaze with; Add and Sweat:

3 cups white onion, diced

2 cups tomatillo, diced

3 T. garlic, minced

1 T. ground cumin

2 t. dried oregano

1 t. ground coriander

Stir in:

3 cups chicken broth

Roasted chilies

Finish with:

1 T.fresh lime juice

Pico De Gallo

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Roast chilies in the oven for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through.

Transfer to a bag to steam for 10 minutes, then peel, remove the stems and seeds, and chop.

Sear chicken in oil in a large pot over high heat until cooked.

Deglaze with 4 T. chicken broth, scraping up bits from the bottom of the pot. Add onion, tomatillo, garlic, and seasonings. Sweat over medium heat, stirring often, for about 10 minutes, or until onion softens.

Stir in the remaining chicken broth and chilies. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 30 minutes.

Finish with lime juice. Top servings of chili with Pico de Gallo

Look at those Anaheim chilies what a beautiful green color.

The peeled tomatillos... don't mistake these for Granny Smith's

Chop chop, cook, season, smells good

What a lovely mix of colors, Yea for fresh veggies!!

The final product, just enough spice to make it interesting.

The hubby loves it

Don't get pinched this year and wear some green...

or at least eat some green food :)

Side note: this was a sewing project a few weeks ago... yeah you could say I have been loving the ruffles.

It reminds me of an upside down flower. :)

Craft Hard

The Monsters in my Closet...

2011-02-23T08:43:00.000-08:00

As some of you may have guessed by now,

I don't have skeletons in my closet...

I have monsters.

Yes it is true... I am not some 5 year old who is scared to go to bed at night with the closet door shut. (I actually prefer it shut) No, I guess I am not afraid because I am the one who put them there. In fact I am the one who created them.

Yes 7 adorable squishy monsters now live in my closet.

Here is the original sketch that brought these little guys into existence.

And here they are alive and well

Have you ever heard of The Sock Monster?

Well now you finally get a chance to meet him. This guy lives in my dryer.

He likes to steal random socks every now and then.

(Notice the colored socks on his legs... not one of them is the same as the other)

He loves a good mystery and he likes to share the love by keeping you guessing too.

I had so much fun making these little guys I couldn't just keep them all to myself... so I decided to share. My beautiful sister is going to have a little boy in April and I knew he needed one of these monsters to watch over him when he finally gets here. So I sent a monster along with this cute hand made car seat cover. The cover was actually easy and really fun to make thanks to an online tutorial I found. :)

There are a lot of people around me that are pregnant right now

(I guess it's that stage of life hu)

One of my friends is about to have her little girl (any day now)

and so I made this layette for her.

It was my first time making a full jacket...

it was a lot of work but I think it turned out beautifully.

Craft Hard

A Change of Heart

2011-02-12T16:26:00.000-08:00

This year I realized that I had nothing to put up for Valentine's Day. (It is not one of my favorite holidays) Part of that reason is the fact that my husband is not a big romantic, holiday, gift giver. Don't get me wrong he is an amazing guy and I love him for the man he is. I knew I was in trouble after our first Valentines Day together when he announced that he meant to get me something really special but all he found was brown argyle socks.

So that should have tipped me off right there. Last year was a real doozy of a year... I won't even bring up what took place. (lets just say it was way way worse than brown socks) So needless to say I warned him this year... get me some flowers and Dove chocolate and you will get a big gold star in my book. :)

You can imagine how amazed and shocked I was when he came home from school with a bunch of flowers a full week before the big Feb 14th. He said he wanted to make sure I knew he was thinking of me and that he didn't forget this year.

I thought it was so sweet. What a great guy.

I guess you could say he had a change of heart... and so did I.

So off I went to make some Valentines Day crafts

I have never been the person that is really into paper crafts... scrapbooks and card making are fun but they aren't my first choice. Then I met my mother-in-law. She seriously has the most amazing stash (if you can even call her craft room a stash) of paper and beads and other fun crafty stuff. This last weekend I went up to visit family and do a photo shoot. My sweet mother-in-law must have been reading my mind because she gave me a box of paper and other fun paper supplies to go with it. I was so excited to get home and start crafting :)

I guess I went a little nuts with all the fun goodies I got but really

those big 12x12 sheets make a lot of fun stuff.

I used 3 sheets for this project and still had some left over for some cute cards.

I had some left over wood from a project awhile ago and I saved it knowing that one day I might just need it for something like this :)

I made up this card for my husband with some of the left over scraps.

(I had enough to make 4 other cards too)

I am not sure if you remember this post...

Fall Craft Projects

but that was my initial idea for the candle/ribbon decorations.

Here is the ribbon for V-day.

Here are the candles next to the beautiful flowers my husband brought me. :)

First time he has ever bought me roses...

and he couldn't have picked a more beautiful bunch.

They look soo good in the space too.

So then I got to thinking that I needed something else to add to my collection.

(I was having way too much fun to stop there)

So I did this fun little quilted paper frame.

I used 4 sheets of paper... and had enough to make a total of 4 of these adorable projects.

I also had some scraps left so I made this...

I love giving things some dimension

(don't mind my crochet project basket... the next post will be about what lives in there)

Here is what I made with the extra

Who doesn't love a cute little dangly heart mobile thing... :)

I wasn't going to toss the scraps when they could be made into something fun.

It's so fun with the red accent wall too.

And best of all my sweet husband gave me the rest of my Valentine's Day surprise today...

he informed me that he is taking me on a trip to

DISNEYLAND!!!

It is his last Spring Break... well probably forever, so we are going to live life and have some fun. We are also going to count it as our anniversary celebration too

(that's not till May though)

He said he is trying to make up for the past 4 years

and I think he may have done just that.

I am one lucky girl!!

I hope you guys have a very happy Valentines Day this year.

Lots of Love!!

Just Sew Sew

2011-01-28T07:36:00.000-08:00

I realized recently that I have only done one post about my sewing adventures. I would hate for you to think I haven't touched my machine since then. So to prove that I didn't build up a bunch of hype about wanting a sewing machine, I took a few photos of my new sewing projects.

I have not yet delved into using patterns, so for now I just find the fabric, get inspired, and use other objects in my wardrobe to be my guide.

Hope you enjoy the new creations :)

I bought 3 of these tops on sale ... 3 for $10.

When I was looking at them I noticed they didn't fit right. I believe the designers intent was to have the sides scoop in and make baggy pockets. When I tried them on it just looked all wrong. I decided to buy the tops anyway and cut them down to size and

use the extra fabric to make cute details.

Here is the process

I used the extra fabric to make ruffled flowers.

After the flowers were made I hand sewed

them on so they would be secure and not flop around.

Here is the finished project up close.

Here is the second top I redid. It was fall time when I did this

one so I decided it would be fun to do a leaf pattern.

Here is what I came up with.

When I was at the craft store I found this supper cute plaid fabric.

I don't think I own anything plaid so I decided to give it a shot.

I spent some time researching images of plaid skirts and other

regular skirt styles until I decided on this one.

This skirt was inspired by a Fashion Week designer.

The skirt I saw was a mini skirt but had looser

ruffles and more layers. I took the concept and made it my own...

I think it turned out really fun and flirty.

I have also been wanting to make a vintage looking necklace out of old keys... After some searching and cleaning and scrubbing I came out with this little gem. I really love the look of it.

I have a few other projects in line that I should be posting soon!!

As my husband would say... "Craft Hard"

The Battle

2011-01-10T08:33:00.001-08:00

The pain of an inward battle, the fight of an unsung struggle.

There is a great quote that says...

"Be kind, for every one you meet is fighting a hard battle"

How true the statement is and how the world would change if we were all a little kinder.

I bet if you are reading this right now you could think of at least 10 people within a few minutes who are going through a "hard battle" I know I can.

Go ahead and take a minute to think of those 10 people.

It has almost been 4 years since I have had a TV on in my home. Yes we have a TV but it is not connected to any station or box. We also have not received the newspaper in those 4 years... that is until this week. A young man was starting a program to raise money for his college education and part of the program deals with the newspaper.

My husband found that this was a worthy cause for a young mans education.

Starting last Monday the newspaper showed up on our door. Every time I glanced at it another sad story splashed across the headlines. Then Saturday came...

"Tucson Massacre" 6 dead, 14 wounded.

It makes me cry just thinking about it... not to mention the man that did the shooting.

22 years old, only a year younger than I am.

Not all of us have a head line that screams to those around us the battle we are going through...

This 22 year old man decided to share his pain by forcing a torrent of sadness and pain on others. Now we read of those families that lost loved ones, those that were willing to help and save others, and those who will spend a life time in recovery from that single event. My heart goes out to all of those involved in the Tucson tragedy.

This is my hope and thought for today...

It is often easy to look at our battle, our struggle, and say ours is indeed the harder.

But with this statement we spurn our neighbors battle in the process.

Remember those 10 people that came to mind when first reading this...

Write down their names.

Make them a card, give them a call, stop by for a visit,

send them a text, let them know you are thinking of them and you care about them.

Because after all...

"Be kind, for every one you meet is fighting a hard battle"

Warning!! May cause hunger pains

2010-12-04T09:19:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about the holidays is the fact that sweets are abundant. I have a major sweet tooth and a love for baking, dangerous combo I know. So for all of those are in the same boat as I am I thought I would do a post of all my recent baking adventures. The good, the bad and the ugly.

THE BAD & THE UGLY:

For those of you who are familiar with making Pumpkin Pies you will recall that one of the important ingredients in the recipe is evaporated milk. Well I decided to try out a new recipe this year... it can be found here------->Maple Walnut Pumpkin Pie

This recipe surprised me by changing it up and replacing the evaporated milk with sweet and condensed milk. I rummaged through my pantry to find a can of it. I found one way way way in the back corner along with a few other ingredients like fish oil... oyster sauce... wheat flour... I think you get the picture. I pulled out the can and searched it for an expired date. Some little red flag was going off in the back of my mind saying... "the last time you used this batch of sweet and condensed milk it was bad!!" I tried hard not to listen to myself and reasoned that the last time I used must have been when I first got married about 3 years ago so I must have replaced them by now, plus it was the day before Thanksgiving and I really didn't want to go out and battle the grocery store crowds.

I opened the can and looked inside... it didn't look terrible, but it had been so long I couldn't remember what it was supposed to look like. Just then my husband walked in... I told him I thought that the sweet and condensed milk was bad. He said no it looked fine and we both did the "smell test" and he even volunteered for a taste test. He stuck one of his fingers on the lid and I knew right then it was bad. It just glopped down the side and looked oily and bad. He still stuck it right in his mouth. He said it tasted fine... I protested and said it was bad. Suddenly it was a battle of who was right... he continued eating it and I began calling my mom to determine who was going to win the fight. She said... "when in doubt throw it out."

Unfortunately our internet was down so I couldn't skype her to show her. I decided to call a friend, she had an extra can and was more than willing to let us have it. (Thanks Jenn) I took off down the street with my open can of grossness and my husband came running after. When my friend opened the door she gasped and said, "YEAH that is BAD!!!" I laughed and we opened up a new can so my sweet husband could see what it was supposed to look like.

Thankfully he didn't get sick from it and we didn't actually put it in our pie :)

The can in dispute...

The good and bad side by side

Glad it all worked out...

PS I actually tried some of the bad can too and it wasn't horrible... it just tasted a little off.

THE GOOD:

Here is the Maple Walnut Pumpkin Pie

made with the good sweet and condensed.

YUMMY

Traditional Apple Pie

*It was my first time doing the Lattice top :)

Christmas Bunt Cake

Devils Food Cake topped with Chocolate and Candy Cane pieces

Hope everyone has a great time baking treats and sweets for family, friends, and neighbors!!

Happy Baking Everyone!!

Craft for a Cause 2010

2010-10-26T16:22:00.000-07:00

I am going to share with you something I haven't really talked about on here before. I have been so blessed in my life to be a part of many wonderful experiences and organizations. For the past 3 summers I have packed my bags and headed out to the beautiful state of Colorado. There I spend 2 weeks in August with a wonderful group of people. The program I have been working with is called:

The Children's Hospital Burn Camp Program

For the past 3 years I have come to love the Children's Hospital Burn Camp Program. This program is designed for children who have suffered a burn injury and are learning to cope with the aftermath of the injury. These children are given the opportunity to come to the beautiful mountains in Estes Park Colorado. During this week long camp the children learn life skills that help them to be successful during the program as well as when they go home.

This organization has opened the doors for these children to meet others who have been in similar experiences and see that just because they have gone through something terrible they can grown into something wonderful. The past 3 years I have donated my time by working at this camp in the arts and crafts cabin as well as working with the 8-12 year old girls. To see these kids express themselves in art and find new talents in the process is both rewarding and humbling.

When I came home from camp this year I told myself that I would try and be more involved in the program outside of those 2 weeks a year I spend with them. I was given an opportunity to do this by helping to design the invitations and the save the date reminders that went out this year for the 3rd Annual Children's Hospital Burn Camps Program Dinner and Auction!!

After I helped with that I found out that Joann Craft Store was holding another contest.

(Last time I entered a Joann's craft contest I was disappointed)

This time I am donating my contest entry to be auctioned off to help raise money to send kids to camp for next year!! So any way you look at it, it is a positive thing.

Joann is hosting a Craft for a Cause contest for 2010.

Here is the scoop:

Crafters — Enter to Win $1,500 Gift Card
· Using materials purchased from Jo-Ann make and donate useful crafted items to your favorite charitable organization. Experience the satisfaction of giving!
· Submit photo of each donation — crafted items will be judged for prizes!
· The makers of the top five crafted items will each win a $1,500 Jo-Ann gift card.
*Judged on creativity, quality & functionality for the charitable organization receiving item.

Here is what I came up with...

I decided to crochet a lap blanket of the Children's Hospital Burn Camps Program's Logo!! I think I put in over 50 hours on this project. I hope it goes for big money, lets send lots of kids to camp this next year :)

If you are interested in finding out more about The Children's Hospital Burn Camps Program or how you can donate

visit this link noordinarycamps.org

Burn Camp 2009 - This photo was taken right after play day with one of my favorite buddies from camp. (just imagine a field day that ends with a massive shaving cream fight)

Melvin's Magic Act - The Finished Product

2010-09-28T10:16:00.000-07:00

Well after a year long process, Melvin's Magic Act is finished.

I thought you might be interested to see how it turned out. Here are some photos of the finished book and some of the processes I use in making the book. Hope you all enjoy!

Here is a pencil sketch of Melvin and then topped off with water color. There is actually a few other steps in between these two photos. (I do an old school pen and ink outline, the kind of ink that requires a nib and the user to dip the nib in the ink bottle.) After the ink is dry I erase any pencil marks and dust off any eraser shavings. Then it is off to work on the water color step.

After the art work is all finished I scan the images onto my computer and do some cleaning and adjusting. Then I place my text and images on a page to get them ready for print. The pages actually don't print out how you see them in a finished book. Often the pages are all mixed around so when they are folded they line up with the right back page and right front page. This photo below shows one of my print pages along with some of my crop marks. Putting books together is a long process!

Here is the really fun part... the actual printed book. I will have to tell you all about printing the book and binding it all together another time. For now just enjoy the final product.

Remembering 9/11

2010-09-11T13:00:00.001-07:00

I think we all remember where we were when we first heard the news... I know I do.

Thinking back on that day and all the time that has passed in between, I remember seeing all the flags flown and the respect toward God and Country. I remember the unity and love our nation had. Now I wonder where that has gone.

In April of this year my husband and I traveled to Boston. My husband was there to run in the Boston Marathon. Since we both love to learn and explore we took an extra day to tour old Boston. It was a wet misty kind of day, cold but not miserable. We walked The Freedom Trail and looked upon historical landmarks all day. Toward the end of the trail we stopped upon this monument set up outside an old church.

As I was taking photos of these tags I though of a soldier,

PFC Dan Dolan,

I went to Jr High and High school with him, he lost his life serving our Country.

He was only 19 years old.

I zoomed in on one tag and thought of him. I thought of his sacrifice, I thought of that day on 9/11 and what it felt like, I thought of taking drivers ed and hearing over the car radio that our Country was going to war.

Then I looked to my right and thought of the man now standing next to me... My husband who just joined the Air Force. I thought of the commitment he had made, I thought of the years of service ahead of us. I thought of all the good he would provide in the medical field to those soldiers in their time of need.

2001 -2010 All of the things that have happened in between in my life... all of the things that have happened to our Country as well. I wonder where the unity is now... where the Faith in God has gone.

Ether 2: 12

12 Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written.

Fall Craft Projects

2010-09-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

I am really starting to enjoy the Fall. Usually Summer has been my favorite but I guess that has changed. Maybe it has something to do with living in Arizona now and Fall means we are one step closer to weather that is less than 95 degrees. I also think I am loving the colors that Fall brings. I decided that it would be fun to makes some crafts that bring those colors into my home. Here are the projects I came up with... all of these supplies were bought at a Dollar Store. (With the exception of the sticks on the right... those came from my backyard)

By taking apart the straw broom and cutting the pieces into

equal lengths I created a stacking pattern my hot gluing them to the glass vase.

Next I added the wheat pieces slightly higher

than the straw pieces...

this gave the piece a dimensional look.

Next I cut my sticks to equal lengths and

then glued them down to the base...

making sure that the natural

curves of the sticks faced outward.

These little candle votives were also at the Dollar Store and made for awesome side pieces to compliment my centerpiece. By simply taking the ribbon and wrapping it loosely around the votive I was able to cut, fold the cut edge, and glue the ribbon down without having it stick to my votive... this way you can change out the ribbon for different holidays.

Ta Da!!! Tie a quick bow around the sticks of your center piece,

Add a cute Fall place mat under it and it looks supper cute.

Here is another quick Dollar Store project...

this awesome addition only cost me $6 and

only took about 30 minutes to make it in.

(I love the Dollar Store if you haven't guessed)

Pigeon Fashion Show...

2010-07-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

If you happened to read my post about my little black jacket you might remember reading something about the pigeons watching my fashion show... Well I think they are fed up with my fashion. One tried to let me know that they think my idea of fashion is, well... CRAP. It seriously tried to take a dump on me. Stinking bird. Well I didn't let that stop me from taking a few pictures of my most recent adventure in clothes making.

I got a sewing machine for my birthday (I have been wanting one for about a million years)

Thanks to my wonderful family they all donated to the Ashley's Sewing Machine Fund... which opens up another sector of creative freedom. (I had a joke going with my husband that it was probably a good thing I didn't have a sewing machine because that would mean the a whole other side of the craft store would now be open to me)

I have done a little bit of sewing here and there, mostly in Home Ec. class. I sewed an

awesome patch work pillow that year. I have also given my Mom's machine a try but most of the time it had tension issues. So I was thrilled to play on my new machine and try out some of these great projects I have been seeing on blogs everywhere.

I decided that a skirt would be a great place to start. It's not always easy to find a good skirt that fits the way it should and is knee length. So I got an idea in my head and started to go for it. I learned a lot as I went along. Lucky for me I thought ahead and bought 2 yards of fabric just in case I messed up :) Oh and did I mess up. I learned a lot about measuring out extra fabric for elastic waist skirts.

But here is the final product.

A few months ago I also made these little goodies. Crochet is too hot to sport in the AZ heat so I tried something a little different with these two.

-Operation- Cake Topper

2010-07-09T08:13:00.001-07:00

One of my very good friends, named Jenn, has a brother who is getting married next month. One day while I was hanging out with Jenn she got a phone call from her soon to be sister-in-law, I could tell something was wrong just by the look on Jenn's face.

It turned out that her sister-in-law had her heart set on an awesome handmade snowboarding character cake topper for their wedding cake. The bid had just come back and it was going to cost them around $400 for it. It was way out of the price range they wanted to pay. Jenn and I were talking about it and she just happened to ask if I did anything with clay.

Suddenly I was taken back to my childhood days, the first time I really got to play with clay...

It was a thing of Crayola Model Magic. Just the fantastic white stuff that dries when you leave it out. I begged my mom to buy me some and she did. She left me at the kitchen table to work on my new project. I think I was around 7 or 8 years old. When she came back I had made 2 little characters... she asked if Crayola had put little figures in the kit for kids to try and duplicate. I told her that I had made them out of my imagination. She couldn't believe it.

After that I started to work on clay pins and sold them to teachers at school and other women in the area. I even had my own booth at a craft show. (By that time I was 12 years old I think) But after awhile I stopped working with clay. So much of it was fragile and would break very easily. I got sick of super gluing my hard work back together. I hadn't touched my clay stuff in about 7 years when Jenn asked me if I worked with clay.

I decided it was time to pull it out again and help a friend in need.

(Besides this was going to make someone very happy for their wedding!!)

Here is the supper cute couple!!

Starting the form and making sure they have something sturdy to hold them up.

They look kinda scary without eyes... Yikes

That's better.

The final product!!!

After 3 very long days of working on these guys...

two very tired, bruised, oven burned, and sore hands later.

What do ya think?

Melvin's Magic Act

2010-06-21T09:56:00.001-07:00

COMING SOOON!!!!!!!!!

For those of you who may not know...

I have been working on a new book. Updates to come shortly.

Under Water Basket Weaving?

2010-06-14T06:48:00.000-07:00

I started this project quite awhile ago. I was tired of the same old same old straight flat stitch and I wanted something that had depth and personality to it. I did some poking around and found this great stitch called the Basket Weave stitch. It looks just like a woven basket. After I started to get the hang of it I decided to make use of it and I designed this blanket.

I think I undid this blanket about 3 times before I got it right. See the wider and looser basket weaves mess with my number count and can really play tricks with the tension of the row. It was quite a challenge to get it right. I think the end product was well worth it. This will be another great blanket to add to the collection.

Just a little Charm

2010-05-25T08:22:00.000-07:00

I have never been the type to wear a lot of jewelry or think about accessorizing. My sister always had to help me out in that department. But that all changed after I met my mother in law. She introduced me to the world of jewelry making. I have loved spending time with her in her craft room chatting and creating. She basically created a monster.

The last couple of projects have been really fun for me so I thought I might share them with all of you.

The clasps allow you to change out charms and colors easily. It makes it fun as well because you can use a multiple charms or a single one.

See, it is easy to change it up and decide what items you want to put on or take off.

A little heart charm

I got this awesome arrowhead at a rock and gem show in Utah. (My sister teaches 2nd grade and I was able to go with them on the field trip to check out the rocks. So now every time I put this on I think of my sister and her cute little class.) I knew I wanted to use this as a charm for my necklace. I was glad I was able to pull it off successfully.

{Husband in the Kitchen}

2010-05-13T10:01:00.000-07:00

I am not sure about the rest of you but I was lucky enough to fall in love with a man that can cook. It is one of our favorite things to do together. I always say... cooking is one of the only things that is referred to as an art... and a science. So it is our happy medium of interests.

On Sunday we had a major cooking day because we were both home and both hungry. Well for some reason or another my husband got the craving for German Bread. (He spent two years living in Germany and developed quite the taste for German food.)

He looked at me and said... "I want to make some German bread today." I myself don't cook bread very often, I don't know why. (I wasn't even sure if we had yeast in the house or not) So he got on the computer and found a recipe for one of his favorite German breads called Zopf. It is a sweet bread and is usually braided. Funny enough we didn't have any yeast so we called a few friends to see if they would let us use some of theirs. Lucky for Scott they were kind enough to give us some and he was on his way.

The whole time he was making the bread I kept laughing because he was just like a little kid in the kitchen... so excited to do everything that he would forget to read the instructions and end up add something in too early or forget to do it at a certain time. But sure enough he was determined to get this right and to have that Zopf for later. After it had risen enough (4 hours, aka the time we were at church) we came home to a huge pan of dough. We hurried and put it in the oven. After it came out Scott tried some and said it wasn't as sweet as he remembered it to be so I brushed a little butter and sugar combo on the top to glaze it over. It was really, really, good. I was quite impressed with his skills, not to mention the fabulous braiding job he did. (I didn't even touch it once)

Nice work Scott!!

Ummmm Yummy!!

2010-05-08T20:26:00.001-07:00

My neighborhood held a dinner to put up money for the Cub Scouts in the area. They also had a silent dessert auction, so I decided to help out. I made a family favorite and put a new twist on it. Butterscotch Blondies. I wasn't sure if I should make a whole pan and cut them up... or make them individual servings. I decided that individual servings would be more fun. I topped most of them with cashews and carmel. I left two out just incase someone didn't like nuts (or had a food alergie, like my brother does) So I swirled chocolate into the batter on the last two, to make a marbled look. I topped those ones with powdered sugar and chocolate shavings. They ended up going home with a family for $7. The dessert of the night went to a huge apple pie for $40. The next runner up was a carrot cake for $35. Wow!! All in all it was fun. I think I will have to stay away from these pictures because I may just want to make some of these every time I see them!! YIKES. They are the best when heated up and served with vanilla icecream. Ummmmm Yummy.

Enjoy ...

looking at them.

Since we can't eat them. :)

-Little Black Jacket-

2010-04-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

Well friends I must tell you, crochet has been my medium of choice now for the last few months. Because this is another crochet post.

My friends down here in Arizona decided to have a favorite things party. (It was a blast by the way, thanks Pam!) So basically what you do is bring your favorite item from different categories such as, favorite kitchen item or favorite hobby. You set a price limit so that all of the items don't go over X- amount of money. Then you have a fun girls night and everyone tells about their items and then you switch and swap. It makes for a very fun evening.

Well back to the black jacket. I was going to crochet a small purse for my favorite hobby... to be given away at the party. I started with an awesome shell bottom so it would have a very feminine look to it. I got the bottom part done and began making the sides when I realize this was looking more like a bag... :( I would have to take something else to the party to represent my hobby. So before I undid all of this project I stopped at the bottom part and decided maybe I could use it for something else. I put it up to my neck and it looked really cute, but in AZ a cute little neck warmer, (or neck cozy as some people call them) just wouldn't be practical.
I got to thinking maybe I could use it for a high necked jacket!!! I started designing right away.

There were a few problems...
1. I have never made clothing in my life. sewed, crocheted, or any other form
2. I had no pattern to go off of
3. I don't own a measuring tape. I only have straight flat rulers (that's the drawer in me I guess)

So you think that would be logic enough not to jump into something like this... HAAA. You should know me better by now.

I started with the neck piece since that is what inspired me in the first place. I ran up to my closet and grabbed a few different articles of clothing that hinted at the design I was going for. Then I did a little sketching and thinking.

After much trial and error, a trip to Utah, and a few snowy days there... I had completed the jacket. I have to admit it was a lot of work, and I learned a lot from it. I would have to say I had my doubts about it actually working out but how glad I am that it did work!!!!

So today I had to do a fashion show in my backyard for all the pigeons, (if any of you have been to my house you know what I am talking about. And Heaven help me if the neighbors were watching!!)

I had to share what I have been working on with all of you!! Hope you enjoyed hearing about this little project. Thanks for reading!!!