Patriotic Peeps Decorated Bag

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Patriotic Peeps Decorated Bag

Another addition to my I Love the USA Blog Hop projects is a Patriotic Peeps Decorated Bag!

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Materials used:

Canvas Bag

Laura Kelly’s Patriotic Peeps Fabric, available at JoAnns Stores

Heat’n Bond Ultrahold 

Iron

Fiskars Scissors

First, I ironed the Heat’n Bond Ultrahold to the back of the fabric.  I then cut out the Peeps and a few of the stars and pompoms and wands!  I also cut out strips from the fabric.

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Once everything was cut out, I then lined it up on the canvas back, removed the backing of the Heat’n Bond and then ironed it to the bag!

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This was a super simple project, but it turned out really really cute and I am currently using it to carry around some books and other things!  Oh, and I also attached my personalized bag tag that was made for me by Laura Kelly!

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Click here to go back to my original I Love the USA Blog Hop page.

Peeps Hair Clips

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Peeps Hair Clips

To go with my Patriotic Peeps Pillow Case Dress, I decided to make Peeps Hair Clips!  How stinkin’ cute are these?!?!

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Materials need:

Laura Kelly’s Patriotic Fabric, available at JoAnn Stores

Coats & Clark Phoomph for Fabric

Hair Clips

Red Ribbon

Ad-Tech glue gun and glue stick

Fiskars Scissors

Until I received my box of goodies for the I Love the USA Blog Hop, I had never heard of Phoomph.  But this is some awesome stuff!

So, Phoomph is a double sided, fabric bonding sheet that creates a brand new way to craft with fabric.  There is no ironing needed.  I love this stuff!!!!

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On one of my many trips to JoAnn’s, I picked up these hair clips.

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I took the Phoomph and covered both sides with Laura Kelly’s Patriotic Peeps fabric and then cut out some of the Patriotic Peeps.

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Next I covered the hair clips with ribbons, using hot glue.  Just make sure not to glue the clip sides together!!

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Then, I hot glued the Phoomph’ed Peeps to the ribbon covered clips!

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These were super easy and they turned out super cute!  The would look adorable with the matching Patriotic Peeps Pillow Case Dress!!

Click here to return to my original I Love the USA Blog Hop page!

A Patriotic Peep Pillow Case Dress

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Patriotic Peep Pillow Case Dress

I absolutely love Laura Kelly’s Patriotic Peeps Fabric, available at JoAnn Stores.

I made a child’s size 4 Pillow Case Dress.  Since I don’t have girls, I was able to get my super cute little neighbor to be my model,

with a little bribery of not one, but two pieces of candy!!!!

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Materials used:

Laura Kelly’s Patriotic Peeps Fabric, available at JoAnn Stores

Coats & Clark thread

Simplicity pillow case dress pattern (I only used this for the measurements.)

Fiskars Rotary cutter, mat, and ruler

Pure Color Red Grosgrain Ribbon

Crochet Thread

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When I started this project, I used the Simplicity pattern to basically get the measurements for the dress.   I needed two squares, so I doubled the fabric and cut two at one time.    I then cut a quarter of a circle out of the top corner of the folded material.  This was for the arms.  I then unfolded the fabric, placed the two right sides together and sewed up the sides.

This is the first project where I used gathered fabric.  I found a simple tutorial on Pinterest by The Family Homestead on how to gather fabric.

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After I was done with the gathering, I sewed a line right below my crochet/zigzag, so that my gathering stayed in place.

I then sewed it to the bottom of my dress.

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Click here to go back to my original I Love the USA Blog Hop page.

4th of July Garden Flag

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In addition to my 4th of July Banner for the I Love The USA Blog Hop using Laura Kelly’s Patriotic Fabric, I made addition projects.   This project was a simple 4th of July Garden Flag!  I love it and it will proudly hang in my front lawn for the 4th!!!

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Materials used:

Laura Kelly’s Patriotic Fabric, available at JoAnns Stores

Burlap, also available at JoAnns Stores

Laura Kelly’s Patriotic Mix of Buttons from Buttons Galore & More

Coats & Clark Thread

Apple Barrel Acrylic Paints

Coats and Clark Embroidery Floss

For the sizing of the flag that I wanted, I basically just took the measurement from a garden flag that I have.

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Next, I folded over the edges and sewed them just to keep it from fraying.

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On the burlap, I used a pen to write out Happy 4th of July.

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Then, I painted the letters with Apple Barrel Acrylic Paints.

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Next, I used Coats & Clark Embroidery Floss and Laura Kelly’s Patriotic Mix buttons to attach the burlap to the flag.

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I made sure to tie them so close to the edge of the burlap so that if the burlap decided to lose a few strands, it wouldn’t fall off.

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I hope you like my little 4th of July Garden Flag!

Click here to go back to my original I Love the USA Blog Hop Page!

An awesome surprise from Expressionery.com

So, today the UPS truck arrived at my house. I didn’t remember ordering anything and Bruce usually lets me know when he does. But when I opened the package, it was a gift for me from Laura Kelly and Jen Goode, the host for the upcoming I Love the USA Blog Hop that I am participating in! It was personalized stationary from Expressionery.com, designed by Laura Kelly!

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Polka Dotted Monogram Folded Notes

I have always loved Laura’s whimsical designs and this gift definitely made my day! I know exactly who is going to get the very first note!

The I Love the USA Blog Hop takes place from June 10-14!

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Kindergarten days

I am all about creating memories. I am not a great scrapbooker, but I love to take picture! Any kind of props that you can add to the picture to help remember the day helps, especially if its not in a specific place. Almost a year ago, I wanted to do something for Landon’s first day of Kindergarten, so I decided to create a frame, adding the letters to say. “My 1st day of Kindergarten”. At the time, I just added a little clipboard with the school name and the date.

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For the end of the school year, I decided to spruce the frame up a little bit. I changed the wording to “My last day of Kindergarten” and then I added Laura Kelly’s buttons collection from Buttons Galore & More

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Supplies used:
Sign stakes
DecoArt Americana paint – Calypso Blue
Laura Kelly’s Mix Buttons from Buttons Galore & More
Glue Dots
Lime Rickey Scrapbook paper (purchased at ACMoore)

Instructions for the letters:
I enlarged the letters in Microsoft Word to about 350pt. I printed the letters, cut them out and then traced them backwards on the back of the scrapbook paper. I then cut those out. Make sure to trace them backwards or else your cut out letters will be backwards. I attached them to the stakes with glue dots, that way when it comes time for the first and last days of 1st grade, they can be easily removed!!

After school on Friday, we started the summer off right with a Strawberry milkshake from Chick-fil-a!!

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We are excited for summer, even though it is only 6 weeks for us, but we have lots planned!

Until next time…..

Turning Six…..

This year Landon and I got to share a special day together.  His birthday is May 12th and this year it just happened to fall on Mother’s Day!!   But, so that everyone could spend the day with their moms, we had his birthday party the day before!

When it comes time for birthday parties, I usually let the boys pick their themes.  Well, for Landon’s sixth birthday, he wanted to take all of his friends fishing.  Now I love to fish but I am not sure that I wanted to go fishing with a bunch of little kids.  Could you imagine what that would be like?  I can only imagine kids getting hooked by the hook, the lines becoming a big tangled mess and maybe even some boredom!!

So, I brought the fishing to him with some cute little fishing themed goodies!

For the party favors, I made a can of worms for bait and tied a bag of Swedish Fish to the can for the Catch!

I found these cute little clear plastic paint cans at ACMoore, used blue grosgrain ribbon, cut out some little green circles, and used glue dots to attach everything to the bucket.

IMG_6596IMG_6598IMG_6601IMG_6609I then filled the cans with Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers!   I used some curly ribbons to attach the bag of fish to the can handles and attached a little Thank You Note from Landon!  So, I debated on what to use as a fishing pole for my cupcake toppers.  So I stuck with stuff I had at home…wire for jewelry making, skewers that I cut the sharp ends off of and some embroidery floss for the fishing line.

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Using some jewelry making tools, I cut the wire into small pieces and curled them to create a hook.

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I put the fishing pole together and then added either a Swedish Fish or a Sour Brite Crawler.  The hooks weren’t too sharp and I did the warn the parents before the cupcakes were given to the kids!  The kids really liked eating the worms and fish off of the fake hooks though!

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My cupcakes were decorated to look like the edge of a pond or lake.  I even added some fish to the water on some of them.

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I think the kids really enjoyed all of the fishing goodies!  I had a lot of fun making them, but I always enjoy making the kids birthday cakes or cupcakes.  And I really liked how the party favors turned out!

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The Six Year Old had a great birthday this year!  He got lots of great gifts including a skate board with all of the protective gear, lots more Legos and a new set of golf clubs!!!  He’s such a wonderful kid (and so is Benjamin)!!!  It’s just really hard to believe that he is already six.  I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday!

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Until next time, have a great day!!!

Sunny Skies bring….

….Beautiful bits of Nature!!!

I love this time of year, when baby animals are born and flowers start to bloom!

This morning, I happened to walk by the window upstairs and caught a glimpse of a doe laying in the grass. It wasn’t until I got my camera, did I see a buck laying in the grass not far behind her.  And then while taking some pictures, another guy walked up!

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This afternoon, the kids and I were outside enjoying the sunshine when I saw Maggie sniffing around a tree near the house and then I heard a little scurrying underneath the limbs of the tree. It was the little bunny rabbit that has been torturing the dogs for the last week or so. Unfortunately, his brother or sister did not make it. He was found under one of our bushes this past weekend.

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I became quite the photographer after these pictures of the bunny!   Which, I am still afraid that he may not survive.  I did indeed contact the town to see if they had any suggestions for maybe relocating this little guy.  Unfortunately, their response did not offer any suggestions because it’s a wild animal and will either survive or not.  But anyways, I went on to photograph some other things throughout my backyard.

In the boys outdoor toy box, I discovered this big pile of leaves and sticks and such, so I picked it up hoping that something wasn’t living in it.  But guess what?  It was a birds nest, with eggs inside.  So, as soon as I realized what it was, it went back into it’s place and I am hoping that Mommy bird will come back to her lovely little pink and white eggs.

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For some reason, this little guy likes to hang out in or around the sand box.  I know this is good because he keeps the spiders and other pesky insects away, but then to think he’s probably peeing all over the sand.  But oh well, he is a helpful little guy.  I have had to strongly encourage my children not to bother him, because if they were to get a hold of him, he may have bulging eyes and his life will probably be over.  Of course, I don’t tell them that, but I do tell that he likes to eat the bugs.   In the past, we used to put them in a bucket and guide them towards the shrubs in the natural area, but last year we discovered a snake living in the shrubs and we assumed it was because we were supplying him with the frogs that we were putting there.

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We absolutely love our backyard.  If we never move, the backyard will be the reason we stay.  That and the cul-da-sac that we live in!  But our backyard is our favorite part of owning this house!  With the help of a landscape design friend, Victor did an awesome job, minus one plant that we can’t stand, the Nandina shrub.  It’s apparently in the bamboo family and it spreads and shoots up, everywhere and quickly.

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We do have some very lovely plants though, especially the ones that bloom with pretty flowers.  I did discover today that our first day lily bloomed and there are many many more to come!   We have a very nice ice plant that has beautiful purple flowers and a few other plants that are in bloom.  Oh, and our hostas are full and will probably get much bigger!

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I am so happy for the sunshine!   The weather has been a little blah lately, but I am hoping that warm weather and sunny skies are on the way!Hope everyone is having a very happy May.  My oldest will be turning 6 this Sunday and will be finished with Kindergarten at the end of May.  Until next time…….

I Love the USA Blog Hop

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I am super excited to have been chosen to participate in a really fun Blog Hop! This Blog Hop is in celebration of the USA! And who doesn’t love the USA?! As a new blogger, this is my first ever blog hop and I have some really cute ideas brewing in my head!

Now that classes have finished up for the semester, I have a little extra time to get to creating.

I met up with Laura Kelly the other day to retrieve my awesome blog hop box filled with goodies! When I got home, I opened it to find a bunch of awesome goodies!

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My box included:
Laura Kelly’s Patriotic fabric
Button’s Galore & More Buttons
Fiskars Sewing scissors set and pinking shears
Coates and Clark thread
J&P Coats Embroidery floss
Mod Podge
Apple Barrel Acrylic Paints and Gloss
Coats Phoomp for Fabric
A custom Laura Kelly Sharpie marker

Now, to get my creative juices flowing and get started.  Check back soon!  The actual blog hop event takes place June 10-14!

And until next time……….

Buttons Galore

I have just recently become obsessed with buttons. As you can see from the last two projects that I have done, I have added buttons to them. My obsession of buttons came from someone I would call a new friend and someone I admire, Laura Kelly. And through Buttons Galore & More, she has created her own line of buttons. Unfortunately, the ones used on the door sign are not from Buttons Galore, but the ones on the Happy Easter banner are Laura’s and they coordinate with her fabric used on the banner.

Anyways, through FaveCrafts.com, Laura is giving away a whole lot of buttons! 🙂 The site is: http://www.favecrafts.com/sweeps/Buttons-Galore-Giveaway#

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Everyone should go to the site and register, but do it quickly, because the giveaway ends on April 19th.