"Tangled" Hair

Emmers wanted "Tangled" styled hair the other day.  This is what I came up with.  I totally loved it.  The pictures weren't taken until AFTER church, so it is a little fuzzier than it would have been, but still totally cute.

Basically, I made two smaller french braids on the sides of her head and tied them off with rubber bands.  Then I did a bigger one down the center of her head and just braided in the smaller ones when I got down to them.  We hot glued paper flowers to bobby pins and added a little bling for good measure. 

I had one happy princess thanks to the do ;0}

Mom, can you do Cinderella next time???

Bitty Baby Bash

We finally got our party pack from American Girl and House Party!!!  Back in August Emmalee won the chance to host a Bitty Baby House Party from American Girl  and HouseParty.com.   She waited not so patiently for the box to arrive and was dancing on the couch when she witnessed the UPS man carrying it to the door.

The box was full of all sorts of goodies AND...

Emmalee's Bitty Baby!

Not just a Bitty Baby, but also a new outfit, two story books, a Bitty Wishing Star, and an adorable stuffed polar bear featured in one of the story books!

For the next week we planned, prepared, and FINALLY got to host our Bitty Baby Party.

We invited old friends as well as some of our new friends from school and church.  Everyone was asked to bring their favorite baby or stuffed animal to play with.

We started out talking about how to help take care of a baby.  As it turned out, Emmalee was the ONLY girl there without a little brother or sister.  The girls were so cute an already knew just what to do with their babies.  

Kalan was one of the youngest girls there and she was the very fastest to diaper her baby.  She must be a great helper to her mamma ;0} 

 I purchased a bag of no-name newborn diapers for $5 from Walmart and gave each girl 3 or 4 diapers to take home for playtime later.

We also talked about feeding our babies and gave all the girls disappearing milk bottles {purchased at Dollar Tree} and let them take those home too.

Next we talked about bathing and swaddling the babies.  The girls all took turns giving baby a bath, then we practiced swaddling the babies in some nice stretchy knit blankets.

The last thing we did was talk about how babies have to go to the doctor a lot when they are little.  I happened upon a fabulous sale at the thrift store and got this pair of scrubs for just a buck or two.  I cut the legs off so they would be short enough for the little girls, but with the drawstring waist anyone can wear them!

I also happened across an actual doctor's coat at the same sale.  The girls all got a chance to dress up and play doctor.

I found some doctor's kits at Target for $1 and was so excited to hand those out to the girls to take home as well.  The babies were all checked out by their own doctor moms.

Finally, I passed out the goody bags given to us by American Girl so they could pack up all their goodies.  I had them put all their own diapers and such in their bags so nothing was lost or left behind.  We did make sure to keep lots of diapers and other things around for the girls to use to play with. 

Emmalee and I made this mailbox over summer break and brought it up to play with too.  It was a huge hit!  I grabbed a pile of bills {who needs them anyway} and let the kids load and empty the mailbox just like they have seen their mamas do.  

After the girls were all played out, Scott took them into the front room, along with some of the mother's that stayed to help, and read one of the stories American Girl had sent with our Bitty Baby.

Eli helped me clear out the toys and hurry to set up our tea party.  We had all sorts of goodies, crackers and chips, cookies, cupcakes, fruit and cheese.  

Somehow I managed to talk Eli into putting on the old "Man-Up" dress-up {WAAAAAY too short for him now!} and play the waiter for our tea party.

I think the biggest hit of the party was the lemonade.  I made the lemonade with half the powder it calls for, so it was not sweet at all.  Then I put a bowl of sugar cubes on the table and showed the girls how to stir the sugar into their lemonade to make it simply delicious!  They loved it :0}

While the girls ate and chatted, Scott and I filled the goodie bags with all the OTHER fun things American Girl had sent.  There were coloring pages, wishing stars, coupons, stickers, and even a 8x10 puzzle they all got to keep.

Thank you American Girl and HouseParty.com for hosting our fabulous Bitty Baby bash!  The girls all had a total blast and will always remember the fun they had with all the great prizes they got to take home!

Shhhh...Don't Tell!

I made this pile of scarves for all the ladies in my life back there at our family Christmas party in Minnesota.  Don't tell :0)  They will open the box Christmas Eve and find out there is one for each of them.  I am so excited!

Most were done the same way as the Fashion Scarf I posted a while back, but I also tried a new way that has been rolling around in this empty head of mine.  

Both turned out GREAT!  I knew more what to look for at the fabric store this time.  You want either very thin, light-weight knit, or heavy, drapey knit {for the shirred version}  I bought all my knits at SAS Fabric in Glendale for $2/yd.  You only need about 1 yard of fabric for the ruffled fashion scarf, making it only $2!!!  The shirred scarves I bought 4-5 yards of fabric for length, but was able to get 4-5 scarves out of each piece, again around $2.  I have seen scarves like these for sale at the store for anywhere from $20-$45.  I can't afford those, but I can afford $2 and 20 minutes per scarf.  That makes them a FABULOUS gift for my girls. 

Here is the shirred scarf.  This one was a little long, but gorgeous!  I had a really hard time putting it in the box.  I had a hard time putting any of the scarves in the box {selfish} but this one was probably my favorite!

Here is what it looks like stretched out.  You just "shir" the fabric in three rows.  I shirred the sides, then up the center.  Shirring is SUPER easy if you have never done it before you NEED to check out this tutorial.  The basics, wind elastic thread {by hand} into your bobbin, then set your stitch length to the longest it will go, and sew.  That is it.  It is just regular sewing, on a regular machine, but with elastic thread instead of cotton or whatever.  Love IT!  *BEWARE* shirring is extremely addictive and you will soon be searching your house for more to shir.  You can't say I didn't warn you!!!

LOVE IT! 

Now to make a second batch for the other group awaiting gifts.  There are girls all over the family, innocently sitting in front of their Christmas tree, totally unaware that they are about to get their favorite scarf EVER!

OK, exaggeration, but I can't wait to give these to my girls :0)

Good luck on all of your last minute endeavors, and as always,

Merry Christmas :0)

Tie One On :0)

I made this cute apron for Emmalee's best little friend, for her birthday.  It was such a fun and easy project I may just add a few to my Christmas Gift list this year.  

I used the free little orange aprons from Home Depot as my guide.  My children are abnormally tall for their age and I wanted to make sure the apron would not be too big for our little girlfriend.  I used that orange apron as my cutting guide and cut out the apron shape from a black piece of duck cloth, or canvas, that I had left over from another project.  

I marked the lines for the ruffles, and then used my ruffler foot to sew the ruffles directly to the apron.  For the solid pink bib part, I sewed the fabric, face down over the top ruffle salvage, then flapped it open and ironed it to the top of the canvas with heat-n-bond between the two fabrics.  I sewed bias tape along the top and bottom edges of the canvas to keep it from unraveling, then ran bias tape along the sides so that the canvas side and all fabric edges were encased to prevent any fraying.  It is so simple to do the edge this way, because you can take the bias tape up one side, keep sewing the bias tape for the neck strap, then just slide the tape over the fabric at the top of the other side and travel on down.  When you are finished you have a completely trimmed apron and you already have a neck strap!  Fabulous!  I attached two more lengths of bias tape that had been sewn shut to the sides, to tie the apron on.  The only trim-ish thing I could find in my stash was half a zipper, so that became the decoration between the ruffles and the bib.  

Keeping with typical embellishment, I made some rolled flowers and a bow for the waist line as well.

I was stenciling my Halloween bags at the same time, so I decided to just stencil the monogram on the front as well.  I thought about using heat-n-bond and fabric to make the letter...but let's face it, I was too lazy to sew around the whole monogram.  A much cuter letter can be done by stencil for WAY less effort.  I did give the monogram two coats of black acrylic paint, just the same stuff I use for my woodcrafts, and then added some more flowers when the paint had dried.  

For just a little more frill, I tied a couple strips of scrap fabric to the neck strap and called it good!

I will admit it was a little hard to give this project up {totally Loved it} but it was sure fun to see our best little friend tie it on :0)

It also made me wish I could Tie One On.  Guess I better make an apron for myself, with all that fashionable holiday baking soon to be had.  I need to feel a little more like June Cleaver and I'm pretty sure a ruffle apron would be the key :0)

Happy Halloween 2011

It's time for the Sew*CakeMaker's big Halloween Costume Reveal!

Yep, finally finished.  I worked and worked and somehow managed to finish all the costumes in time for the Halloween Trunk-or-Treat at the church Saturday night.  

Eli was a Sack Boy from the website Little Big Planet

This is the picture I used to go off of...

The picture is way cuter, but at least I can say I tried  :0}

Madison's fairy costume I showed you on Friday. 

Emmalee I mean Hello Kitty Star dressed as herself for Halloween this year.

She asked me what I was going to be....I said, "Your mom, of course."

Yep, we even roped Dad into the party.  He really didn't have a choice.  So we have Hello Kitty Star, Mrs. Kitty, and Mr. Kitty.  

I just had to throw a picture of Emmalee with her cute little friend Kylee in the line-up too.  Isn't Kylee the yummiest chocolate bar you ever did see?!?

So glad to have those costumes finished.  Now we are finally ready for Halloween.  I will be back in the morning to show you our trick-or-treat bags.  Have a great night!

Fairy Wings

Madison wanted to be a fairy for Halloween this year.  In keeping with tradition, we decided to make the costume.  We Googled "Fairy Wing Tutorial" and came up with a couple good ideas.  The tutorial we finally decided to follow was by RioDancerCO.  I always seem to change a few things so here is an overview of what we did to make Madison's fairy wings.

The basic ingredients are wire coat hanger, regular cellophane wrap {you find in the gift wrap isle at your local store}, a little glue, ribbon to make some make-shift sleeves, and an iron.

I sketched out a wing on a piece of paper until I got the final thumbs-up approval from the princess herself.  We cut 4 wings from iridescent cellophane, then two more from a cellophane bag that had swirlies on it for a little bit of dazzle. 

 I took two wire coat hangers and cut them here with my wire cutters.  Did I mention that I had to borrow the hangers from a friend. Ever since working at a dry-cleaners in college {spent hours untangling wire hangers} I don't allow them in my house.  Anyway, snip, then work the hanger with the needle nose pliers, bending the hanger where ever necessary until you have the same shape as the wing.  I actually had the hanger about 1/2" inside of the edge of the wing so that the hanger would be totally enclosed in the wing.

Fabritac was the glue we used to glue the hanger to the first layer of cellophane.  

Once the wire was in place, we laid the swirly layer on top, and then finished our hanger/swirl sandwich off with a top piece of iridescent cellophane.  

Next, I laid down a towel {since my ironing board isn't big enough for the size of wings we made} and lined it with parchment paper.  

A second piece of parchment paper was used on top, then we ironed.  I seem to remember the tutorial saying to use the lowest setting on your iron to melt the cellophane layers together.  That didn't work.  We turned it up...then a little higher...passed the middle mark...Ooops!  Too high.  You can tell it is too high when it turns your cellophane white.  I think they will wrinkle no matter what, but try to apply the iron in quicker, long strokes at first so that the plastic melts evenly.  If you hold the iron in one place for a while you will get huge wrinkles that are very hard to correct.

Here you go!  Success.  First try :0)

We found these fun sprigs of glittery loops at Hobby Lobby today.  They had to come home with us because they fit the wings so perfectly.  

The part of the hanger that is the hook, we straightened that out, then used it to wrap the two wings together.  The wire from the loopy thing was added to the hanger hooks, then that whole part was wrapped with ribbon to hide the mess.  Two long strands of ribbon were tied to that center piece, then tied around the arms.  I ended up hot gluing small wedges of Styrofoam to the bottom of the wings, right there in the center, so that the wings don't droop when they are worn.  

My fairy, chips and dip in hand, headed to her party tonight.  I wasn't sure if we would get everything done in time, but WHEW!  Done!

And I have to say, it all turned out beautiful!

Madison added some rhinestone circles to the wings to make them her own.  They were so easy to make and so very amazing once finished, I may just have to make another pair!

Now, one last costume to make.  Wish me luck!!!