Operation Christmas Child

This is crazy to say but I'm afraid I've turned into my mother. O no! ;) (She'd be glad though) I have a thing with putting Bible verses everywhere. It's a little weird I know but it's "my thing" I guess.

Every year our church is a part of Operation Christmas Child. They fill shoeboxes with toys and send them all over the world. My mom used to do them when we were little and we got to fill the boxes with things that we would want. This year it came up again and I wanted to do it. The other night my hubby and I went out and got shoe boxes and stuffed them full to ship across the world. We each found these perfectly little notebooks. The fronts were pretty plain jane and I don't really do plain jane.

I spruced them up with a little scrapbook paper, some glue, and of course a Bible verse. I'm happy with how they turned out and they looked so cute in their boxes all ready to be shipped out. 

I Hate Coming Up with Blog Titles

I love how some of you can come up with the most creative titles and then it leads to an amazing post with perfect pictures....I totally fail in that area. But on the plus side I do love to share a little insight with you on the crazy things that I come up with.

Last week I picked up a Better Homes & Garden Special Interest Magazine. I'm so not ready for it to be Christmas yet but decided that I want to do all homemade gifts this year. If you haven't seen this magazine yet, go buy it right now! It's a spendy little guy but SOO worth it with all the amazing ideas and yummy recipes that I'm going to try. Well the whole magazine got me thinking and now I want to make gifts for everyone for every reason!

I have a small addiction to vintage or old tins. I've had this one that I only paid 25 cents for just laying around. The inside was a little icky and I couldn't use it to give any sweets. So...I came up with a brilliant idea to hide the inside and make it even more adorable!

I wanted to create a "slipcover" for the inside and found a little scrap of fabric that matched and made my pattern. First trace around the base of the tin to get the pattern size for the inside bottom. Be sure to add the seam allowance.

To create the sides of the "slipcover" measure around the diameter of the tin and the height. Using a ruler transfer these measurements to paper. Be sure to add seam allowances for sewing the sides together.

With your large rectangle that will create the sides of the "slipcover" sew the short ends together to create a tube (using the seam allowance that you left).

Press the seam open and pin the tube to the bottom circle that you cut out using your traced pattern of the base. Sew around the bottom using the seam allowance that you left.

Using a pinking shears, trim the seam allowance to create a smoother inside. If you don't have a shears, just cut some little triangles so the fabric can turn inside out smoothly.

Put the "slipcover inside the tin. Using a low temp glue gun, glue it to the tin. Try to make sure there are no strings hanging all over to keep it neat and tidy.

If there are any gathers or extra fabric, disperse them evenly throughout or take in the side seam accordingly at the top. I wasn't quite satisfied with the top finish so I also added some ribbon to the top to finish it off.

Then fill it with a favorite cookie or other sweet and seal it up cute. I just ripped a piece of gingham and added some scrapbook paper to a clothes pin to dress it up. Add a chipboard heart and the recipe for the cookies inside and it's the perfect little "Thank You" "I'm Sorry" "I Love You" "Merry Christmas" or "Just Because" gift!

P.s. This cookie recipe really is delicious! It's one of my hubby's favorites that his grandma always made and she gave me the recipe at one of my bridal showers this spring. It's a classic! :)

Artsy Fartsy

So I've had a huge blank wall in our living room that seems to be screaming at me that it's ugly. SO....I designed and made my first quilt. Tonight, it was picked up to be quilted by this amazing quilter (http://www.lizardcreekquilting.com/LizardCreekQuilting/AboutUs.htm) a.k.a my mom. She said she has some fun ideas and is excited to try a more contemporary quilt than she's used to. I thought I'd try take some pictures through this process in case any of you are interested in creating a similar one for your blank wall that is screaming at you. :) I've never made a tutorial or even documented a process (cuz I usually make it up) so bear with me!

First I found my "base color" and 6 coordinates. I plan to change this quilt out seasonally so this one is all fall colors.

I cut all my fabrics into 2" strips. My final quilt is going to be in a vintage 24" x 30" frame so I cut 16 strips of my base color to start. I'm using 1/2" seam allowances.

I also cut 2 2" strips of each of my coordinates. I sewed them all together with 1/2" seam allowances and pressed them open.

When all of my base pieces were sewn to a color, I laid them out "inside the frame" and moved them around to what I liked. I found that it was a little too narrow to figure inside the frame. I trimmed the long edges that were too long and used them to make more rows. I used a 1/2" seam allowance and sewed them together. It was super simple and only took an afternoon. Now I'm super anxious to see the quilting and it all hung when it's done! I'd LOVE to see if you try this out.

Click HERE to see it finished and on the wall!