More Love for the Urban Hoodie

Have you purchased an Urban Hoodie pattern yet?  No?

DO IT!!

It has to be my most-used pattern (excluding the Big Butt Baby Pants of course) and is quite easy to make.  And you don't need a serger!

I made four hoodies for Christmas this year; three for my friend's baby girl and her cousins (they were all identical and I forgot to photograph them!  FOR SHAME!) and one for my niece.

I absolutely adore the red with silvery-grey hearts.

This is about as much modeling as I could coax out of Brianna on Christmas Day.  It fit like a glove!  She's also got a cute, new flower head band.

Satin flowers are really fun to make.  For the center of this flower, I put a glob of hot glue in the middle and pressed some teeny glass beads into it.  Yes, you'll burn your fingers a little bit, but it's totally worth it!


While you're visiting Heidi and Finn's Esty page, be sure to check out her other patterns.  They're just too cute!

Homemade Beauty Products

Like most women, I love bath and beauty products.  So this year for Christmas, I decided to make some to give as gifts.

I'll start off with the project that gave me the most amounts of quieted, internal hissy fits.  The bath fizzy.

Martha's directions seemed simple enough.  But heavens-to-Betsy,  I severely underestimated these little fizzies.  You have to be sure not to add too many water spritzes, or else you'll have your fizzies bubbling out of the mold like I did.  I wish I had a photo of my failure.  In hindsight, it was quite humorous.

My third attempt (I made one batch and divided it into thirds to make different colours) turned out pretty well.  They were a little on the dry side, so they crumbled a bit.  Whatever....they still worked!  Give them a go, but just be patient and try small batches until you get the hang of it.

I found a recipe for bath salts at Canadian Living.com.  It was a very easy project, and I'm not sure why I didn't photograph it.

I scented my salts with lemon essential oil and added some lavender buds.  Yummers.

Last but not least...my favourite.  It's SO GOOD.  But only make and use it if you enjoy smelling cookies.  Because you will end up smelling like a cookie.  Which, in my opinion, is friggin' fantastic.

This vanilla brown sugar scrub can be used on your hands or on every last inch of skin.  The ingredients are probably sitting in your cupboard or pantry right now.  So go make it!!

I really like it because it exfoliates AND moisturizes.  And you could eat it.  Bonus.  The only thing I would recommend is to keep it in the fridge and use it quickly.  If you leave it sitting out, you'll have to be very careful not to let water sit in it as it could grow...stuff.  Bacteria kind of stuff.  Yeah.  Ewwww.

This scrub is a close second to the one that I like to buy from a little made-on-location soap boutique in Peterborough called Simple.  Their vanilla bean body scrub smells like candy.  And don't even get me started on how delicious their bath fizzies are....

I should also mention that the ingredients for all of these projects were mostly purchased at a bulk food store.  Citric acid (used for the fizzies) was not available 'in bulk' and thus was a little bit more expensive. 

Have a happy Monday!

The Up-Cycled Necklace

Hey!  Happy 2012!  For my first blog post of the new year, I'll show you how I created a necklace out of pretty much nothing, as inspired by this post at Bromeliad.  You could go out and buy materials, but my challenge to you is to use items that you already have kicking around your crafting collection, jewellery box or sewing stash.

Gather up some pretty things.

My materials include a long, vintage pearl necklace (clasp was missing), a glitzy button and a satin sash from an old bathrobe.  You might also want to use earrings, flower pins, ribbon, etc etc etc.   Be sure to get out your glue gun!

Since my pearl necklace is reeeeeally long, I folded it in half twice.

I tied a tight knot with the sash at one end and secured it with a bit of glue.

At the other end of the pearls, I made a big bow.  I tried my necklace on before I glued this end to make sure it was the length I wanted....just a tip :)

Glue the button onto the plain old knot and...

...wear!

I've gone full-on, knit-crazy the past 2 weeks.  But, I can't show you what I've been up to...mostly because the 3 projects I've been working on aren't finished yet.  I'll buy some time by showing you what I made for Christmas gifts over the next few posts.  Ciao!

Christmas Ornament Wreath

A few years ago, I saw a Christmas ornament wreath in Canadian Living and I firmly decided that I was destined to make one for myself.  So I did!  Good story, yeah? :)

I realize that my colours are not very...conventional...but those of you who know me know that's not my style.  And it goes better with my wall colour! 

And since I made it P.B. (that's 'pre-blog', not the nut butter) I don't have any 'how to' photos to share with you.  Canadian Living has a great tutorial, but if you want a visual, you can find one here.

So...next post.  Maybe I'll get those Christmas cookies out of the freezer and try out Twenty Second Icing.  Mmmmmmm....sweeeeeeet.

Onesie Party Dress

Ever have a fantastic idea, only to learn that someone else thought of it first? 

I came up with the concept (or thought I had) of a onesie dress one morning, only to find it on Pinterest later that day!  On the plus side, I got to follow a tutorial instead of making silly mistakes.  So that was a bonus.

I altered the pattern a little by making a casing for the elastic of the dress skirt and sewing three lines of stitching across the top to make it a little more decorative. 

And the flower pin.  LOVE the flower.  I'll show you how to make one soon!  It's really easy.

I don't have a photo of the recipient in her dress, hopefully her mom will send one soon!

Little Lumberjack Jacket

Every now and then, if you're an avid sewer (and perhaps even if you're not) you'll come across a length of fabric that just begs to be made into a very special project.  I received a bundle of unwanted items from my Grandma's extensive stash.  As soon as I saw this red plaid wool blend, I knew what I had to do.

Rowan needed a lumberjack jacket. 

And it had to have a fuzzy, faux sheepskin hood.

And lined with brown houndstooth flannel.

I used The Urban Hoodie as the base for this project with several modifications.  I'm pretty sure I want to make this jacket again next year, and when I do...the hood will be bigger.  It is, as my friend Jenn would call it, a 'show hood'.  Meaning it looks great, but does not preform its required hood duties.

Even still, it's cute.  I like it. 

Happy December 1st!  Today is Christmas decorating day at our house.  Except, we're kind of busy, so I'm not sure if it will get done.  Perhaps I'll hang a wreath so I don't feel entirely defeated :)

Bow Clutch by Generation Sue

I have multiple posts to hammer out over the course of this week (Christmas crafts must begin!!), so I thought I'd share one last 'grown-up' creation before I pummel you with baby clothes. 

I found this bow clutch tutorial from Generation Sue on Pinterest.  Do you love Pinterest?  I love Pinterest.  I reference Pinterest in real-life conversations.  I also get slightly giddy when I see items from my blog pinned!

The pattern didn't call for pockets, so I decided to add some following the instructions of the gathered clutch tutorial from Noodlehead.  Also opted for a contrast zipper.  Because....it's fun!

Another clutch made, another clutch given away.  One of these days, I WILL keep one for myself.