New and Improved Camera Strap

I finally decided to make a pretty strap for my camera--I have been wanting to make one since I started sewing and I finally accomplished it yesterday. I didn't really have a direction with this. I just make a tube with the fabric and eyeballed the rest. And apparently, my eyeballing was crappy because I cut it too short or something so I had to add on a bit at the end.

But I ended up really liking the pink on the ends--breaks up the dark fabric and brings out the pink a little bit more.

I just used the camera strap from my old camera and covered it. I actually sewed my fabric to the strap  unlike other tutorials I have seen.

Wish I could take a picture of it on my camera...it looks so cute! But alas, the junky camera's batteries are deader than a doornail and I haven't a clue where the charger is! I bought some big D rings and, as soon as I can find a small enough clip, I am going to make a longer, wider strap.

Handmade Baby Gift

The sweet guidance counselor at the school where I have worked all school year is having a baby this summer. Some of the teachers and I are throwing her a baby shower next week and I wanted to sew her up some baby gifts.

I used a few tutorials online for my gifts. First, I used this tutorial to make a soft, cozy blanket. I got the brown minky onsale for 50% off and I only ended up using half of the yard. The green and brown dot fabric was on clearance at Joann's. Basically the blanket cost me about $5 in materials and not very much time.

So simple. Cut 2 rectangles, sew right sides together leaving an open to turn. Flip it and topstitch--Finished!

A note: Apparently you can't iron minky. Mine was embossed with dots and when I ironed it (not knowing I wasn't supposed to) the dots disappeared. Grrrr.

Next, I made some burp cloths. I used this tutorial because I couldn't resist the soft fabric on the back. This blue minky (is all the soft material called minky? i don't know...but it's really soft) was on clearance for $4 for a piece that was 30x36--but really it was an inch short which threw my game off, but whatever. The outside fabric was on clearance for 96cents per fat quarter, which made 2 burp cloths and a little bit leftover.

I followed the tutorial exactly and it worked amazing! I love how they turned out. I also made the band for the outside to class it up! :) I didn't really measure to make it...just did what I thought looked the best.

I also made a tag blanket...well, it's not a blanket because it's little. I think I like it. I wish I would have made the ribbons smaller so I need to dwell on how I feel about it some more.

I love the color combo on this gift set! So pretty for a baby boy.

I also made a swaddle blanket from some brown and white checked flannel.It was really hard to take a picture of it without a baby.

I can't wait to give it to her next week! I am sure she will love it!

Boo @ the Zoo

Oh, how we love the zoo! I mean, seriously, we went like 20 times last year--and I have only been once this year so far. Not cool! I am going to remedy that by enjoying a few hours at the zoo by myself on my birthday and I know we will go a bunch this summer.

This is one of two layouts that I am doing for Boo at the Zoo last October. This is one of the best times I have had at the zoo. The niece and neffie were decked out in their costumes and the weather was perfect! Interestingly, I don't have one single picture of an animal from that visit--it wasn't about the animals though. There was so many fun things to do.

Very little Cricut on this one, which is quite unusual for me. I got all of the paper and embellishments at Walmart after Halloween for like no money!

Just had to add "at the" to the title from Makin the Grade. I didn't put a lot of stuff on it because I think the paper is quite busy and I didn't want to make it crazy!

And we all know, I'm a simple scrapper!

Scrapping with my friends on Saturday--hopefully that means I get something done! :)

A Birthday at the Zoo

I spent this past weekend scrapping...both days for most of the day! It was great! However, I just laid out the pages and now I have to embellish and title them--that part takes me forever and I am going to try to get on that this week.

I finished one today of my sweet nephew and a day we spent at the zoo in honor of his birthday. I decided to do a 1 pager just of him since it was his birthday.

It's hard to see the title in the picture, but it says Birthday Boy. I cut it from Birthday Bash. I used the DCWV Celebration stack for the paper and the other embellishments. I like the simplicity of the layout and the silly faces on my nephew!

I wish the title stood out a little better...I wanted to do a solid paper behind them but I deleted the words from Design Studio and didn't know what size to make them. Ugh.

Otherwise, I am happy with it!

2 More Layouts

Well, I tried to finish 4 layouts today but I only got 2 of them done. But they are cute!

First of, I have another adorable layout of Miss Gorgeous--aka Kira! I used Floral Embellished for the cute flowers and Opposites Attract and Birthday Cakes for the title. I love how it turned out! This is my first time using Floral Embellished and I need to use it more.

And the other one that I finished is of my nephew on our first trip to the zoo on our new zoo pass! It was last June and I have been to the zoo countless times since then. I love the bright colors on this one. The stars didn't photograph very well but they look pretty good on the layout. I used Birthday Cakes for the title.

Back to work tomorrow...counting the days til the weekend! :)

More layouts...

Well, it's true. Today is my very last day of glorious spring break. I have enjoyed my 11 days of of work. I have completed a few sewing projects and some scrappy layouts. Most of all, I have enjoyed my time off enough that I am not dreading going back. I miss spending time with the kids and I miss hearing "Hi Mrs. Smith!" or "I can't wait to see you tomorrow!" I only have about a month left in this job and after that I only have about a month left of school. Hopefully I can secure a job for next year and have something to look forward to next school year!

But anyway, I finished 4 more 2 page layouts yesterday and I hope that I can whip out a few more tomorrow between going to the grocery store and doing a few things for my college classes.

The first layout is from Christmas that we had with my husband's family in January 2011. I just Winter Frolic for the title and kept everything pretty simple. My sister pointed out that I missed a word in my journaling so I need to fix that.

Next up is one from a weekend that we spend in Pittsburgh, PA with my hubby's cousin and his family. I used Nate's ABCs for the title and again--kept it simple. That seems to be my motto these days! I just feel like the bright papers make a big enough impact and I wouldn't even know what to add to it.



I also have a layout that I finished of a memorial football game that my husband, parts of our families and I went to in May 2011. It was a year to the day since his best friend was buried and it was a hard game for us to go to. He played on this semi-pro team and they dedicated a game to his honor and retired his number. Such a bittersweet moment.

I used All Sports, Lyrical Letters and Varsity Letter on this one. (Ignore the glare!)

And the last one is a cute layout of my niece! But I kind of feel like I messed it up. I cut the wrong letters on Pooh Font Set to go with the white backing, so then I figured I would just make them a little wonky and let them be more free. Then after I realized the 'a' and 'y' didn't match at all so I cut the other ones--some are thicker than others and it's kinda making me crazy! So now I have to decide if I want to redo them and just quit looking at them!

Regardless, I love the flow of the letters and the great colors on the page! I walked around Archiver's like 4 times looking for the perfect purple to match my niece's shirt--didn't find anything and the lady who worked there didn't see anything either. Well, it was driving my friend crazy so she went out and--bam--came back 2 minutes later with the perfect paper that was on the back of blue and orange puzzle pieces! Awesome!

Goal for my last day of freedom: 4 more layouts finished and in the book! Go me!

Some Scrappy Layouts!

I have finished 1 scrapbook page since I started sewing in January-ish. I get obsessed with things and only want to focus on them so I have set scrapbooking aside for a few months. However, a few friends and I had planned on getting together at Archiver's yesterday to scrapbook so I put the machine and fabric away and got out my Cricut and paper!

I finished two layouts before I went to Archiver's.

Another t-ball layout of my nephew. You will be seeing lots of them as I went to all of this games and plan on making a one pager for each. I used Boys Will Be Boys for the baseball bat and All Sports for the title.

I also finished one from a Zoo Date that I had with my husband last fall. I adore the zoo so we went and left our cell phones in the car and greatly enjoyed our day together! My mom and sister picked out this really cute paper for Christmas and I love it! It even matches my pink hoody! I used Zoo Day for the title and Create a Critter for the lion's head.

While I was at Archiver's I worked on laying out pictures and papers and knew I would embellish and Cricut cut things when I got home so I didn't have to lug my machine with me. I finished 8 pages while we were there--we were there for 6 hours--that is not a very good record! I did walk around the store several times looking for the perfect shade of purple for a layout so that took up lots of my time!

Anyway, here are two that I finished titling and such when I got home last night.

The first one is of my niece playing with her bubble machine in the yard. It's a simple layout without a lot of embellishing (as most of mine are!). I used Makin' the Grade for the title and I also embossed the words with a Sizzix bubbles folder.

And finally, another one of my silly niece rolling down the little hill outside of our door. That hill has provided so much fun for her! I used Martha Stewart Birthday Cake Art for the title and kept it simple. I flipped a sketch from a book and realized that I should have centered that background paper but I didn't! Oh, well!

I have several other layouts that I need to embellish and it is my goal to get them done today and tomorrow, but I have to go back to work on Tuesday.