Mother's Day Shopping

If any of you have Mama's like mine (Lucky YOU!), then when you try to figure out what they want for Mother's Day, you come up blank. They have the things they need, lots of the things they want, and if you ask what they want they say "for my family to be together and love me". Easy enough to give. We live down the street, and my Mama is very lovable.

If you have one of these super-sweet-but-impossible-to-shop-for Mamas.... I have a gift idea for you.

 

 Give her the gift of learning a craft! Or enhancing her skills at something she already enjoys!

Look through LOTS and LOTS of classes and find one perfect for the first woman in your life.

These classes are available 24/7 for her to watch and enjoy. My favorite part of the class is the pause and rewind button. When you're learning a new skill it's wonderful to see it over and over again! You can't do that in a live class.

Check out some of these classes that she might enjoy and start gifting!

 

Happy Shopping

*This post contains affiliate links

Toddler Behavior Charts

Whoever named the "Terrible Twos" had not yet had a three year old. Not that mine is terrible, but it seams that my friends and I are having exponentially more trouble keeping our toddlers OUT of trouble once they hit this magical age.

 

It's easy to go from zero-to MAD in a hurry when they're pushing your buttons. In order to try to curb some of this button pushing behavior, and give our toddler a clear visual of consequences and rewards for behavior, I created these two charts:

 

And a reward chart...

 

 

We start every day on "Great Job", and as the day goes on if she has trouble listening or following instructions, the clothespin will move down the chart.

 

She gets a mid-afternoon snack for being good and taking a good nap, and she loves picking it out herself. So one of her consequences is losing that snack for the day. If she continues to misbehave, she will reach "no free play", where she won't get free reign in her playroom to do what she wants. She will still be able to color, do puzzles, etc., but it will have to be done quietly at the table.

 

 

For each day that she ends on the first two blocks, "Great job, or Warning" she gets to put a sticker on her reward chart. Once she gets 7 stickers in a row (or column) she gets a dollar to put in her savings jar. This way she can see how close she's getting to another dollar!

 

 

 

 Both of the BLANK sheets are available for FREE download! You can edit them yourself or print them as-is and write on them. Trim them up and add additional paper underneath for a fun and colorful border.

 

Click the links below to download:

 

FREE behavior chart download

FREE reward chart download



*UPDATE*
I wrote this post before really giving the charts a try. I am happy to say that we HAVE seen improvement in our toddler's overall behavior.

She gets very excited to put her sticker on her chart each day, and gets upset when she doesn't get to. She tells us "I will be good today so I can get a sticker tomorrow", so we know she is grasping the concept. Best of all, her savings jar is getting more dollars in it!

Selling Patterns on Craftsy

(this post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking these links)

If you've been here a while, you know that I am a proud children's pattern designer. I have very much enjoyed working with Craftsy to sell my patterns. They also allow me to offer FREE patterns as well!

Have YOU thought about selling patterns before,

 but didn't know where to start?

Craftsy makes it so easy to open up your very own pattern shop and offer your patterns to the public. Best of all, it's FREE! No fees, no commissions, unlike most other sites. It's a huge community of sewists, knitters, crocheters, and other crafters sharing their love for creating.

Here's all you need to get started selling your very own patterns:

1) A PayPal account...because you want to get PAID. All funds from purchases go directly to your PayPal account (student, business, or premier accounts only)

2) A PDF File. All patterns are instant download, and must be in PDF format to load correctly.

3) A Nice Photo. You want shoppers to see how amazing your finished product can be, so using good photos helps! You must use at least one, but can upload up to 5 to show off the finished product.

4) Pattern Description. There is a super-easy form to fill out for each pattern. It just asks for the basics of the pattern to help shoppers find what they're looking for. I have filled these out LOTS of times, and they are easy and fast.

 Click Here for more information on uploading your own patterns and selling on Craftsy.

Enjoy starting your Indie Pattern adventure!

New Pattern Coming Soon

I've been working on a new pattern for YOU to sew! This one has been stuck in my head for a LONG time. I knew what I wanted to make, but the thought of drafting sleeves has kept me up at night!

 

I finally took the plunge and it worked out great! It won't be long before the Jennifer Sue Ruffled Cardigan will be available for you to sew.

 

It's a long sleeved, open front cardigan with a cascade of girly ruffles down the front and around the neck. The length is long, perfect to wear with your baby girl's favorite tank and leggings.

 

Best of all...it's coming in LOTS of sizes! 12 months to girls 12. Can't beat that!

 

My fabulous testers are working on it now to make it perfect for YOU.

 

More to come later....

The Clemson Quilt

I've had this little baby in the back of my mind for a while, and I'm so happy it's DONE!

 

I took a little break from my scrapbusting crusade, and made a quilt for us to enjoy.

 

A nod to our favorite family tradition: The Clemson Quilt

 

 

 

This quilt actually took a lot of planning, from the math to actually putting the paw together, to the fabrics I wanted to use.

 

I used Riley Blake's Ombre in Orange for the paw. I wanted the paw to have some dimension, so I didn't want just solid orange. The ombre gives it a sweet mosaic look.

 

I had an IMPOSSIBLE time finding orange and white striped fabric for the binding, but finally ran across this 2" stripe by Riley Blake. I was worried it would be too wide, but now I love the dramatic "dashes" of color it adds to the border.

 

The quilting was an overall meandering pattern on the paw and white background.

 

And for a little contrast, I threw some straight lines on the border pieces.

 

The backing is this really cool tree bark pattern in Gray. It's from Hobby Lobby. I wanted the back to be pretty neutral, so this worked out great.

 

This quilt is pretty large, perfect for snuggling with BOTH babies on the couch (if I can get them to sit together).

 

I love love love it and can't wait to take it tailgating this year. It will keep us warm, and be a great picnic blanket for the kids to eat on too!

Mattie Sewing

Ya'll are really loving the Mattie Diaper Pattern !! It has been downloaded over 500 times since it was published late last year. I hope that means lots of super cute and fluffy bums out there.

 

If you haven't tried it yet... the pattern includes FOUR sizes: Newborn, small, medium, and large. Enough sizes to fit your baby until potty training!

 

Best of all...it's FREE. No reason not to try it out right?

 

Download it for FREE HERE at Craftsy

{Tutorial} Workout Tank from Oversized Shirt

Does anyone else think it's unfair to get all psyched up for a good race, go to pick up your race packet, and find an unflattering, oversized shirt in your bag? Sure, they look great on the guys, and if they're just t-shirts, they fit okay. But a lot of races are going to tech shirts (yay!) and they are unisex fit. Translation.... good work out shirt that you can't wear because you're a small-framed girl and it fits like a potato sack.

 

Here's what these shirts usually look like on me...

(Yes...it's my tiniest human, so it's a little exaggerated. But you get the point.)

                                                

 

So I took it upon myself to turn this unwearable reminder of my super-fun race into something I COULD wear!

 

The phrase "been there, done that, got the t-shirt" doesn't mean much if you never wear the shirt. So I'm adding to my workout wardrobe with my race shirts... and making them fit.

 

 

 

Materials:

-Basic sewing skills

-Oversized t-shirt

-Racerback tank top for measurement

 

To begin, lay your good tank top over your shirt to see just how much you'll be removing. Yikes.

 

Using scissors, cut the arms off the shirt. No need to use a seam ripper, just cut them off.

 

Carefully cut, angling the armholes towards the neck. This will make a narrower shoulder.

 

Flip the shirt over to the back. Cut a semicircle from the shoulder to the bottom of the armhole. This will give you a racerback cut to your shirt. Try to preserve the sponsors if you can. It makes the shirt look like it came that way!

 

Turn your shirt inside out and pin down the sides, marking how much you should be taking off the width. If you like a loose fitting shirt you can skip this, but I like mine fitted.

 

Sew a seam up the line of your pins to take the shirt in. Try the shirt on before cutting off excess fabric.

 

To finish the armholes, simply roll the raw edge under and sew it down. These tech fabrics don't usually fray, so you can skip doing a complete rolled hem.

 

Throw on your NEW, nicely fitting workout shirt and hit the road!

 

I can finally show off my half-marathon shirt. It was an accomplishment...I want to wear it!

HUGE Craftsy Sale

 

 

There is so much more hopping your way this weekend! Craftsy is giving up to 75% off of all fabric, yarn and project kits!

This sale is only during Easter weekend (Friday 4/18 - Monday 4/21 at 11:59pm MDT), so be sure to jump on it quick or you will miss it.

 

 

Craftsy has a HUGE selection of the craft supplies you need to make some adorable things this Spring. Don't miss out on this sale!!

 

The American Girl Collection

As I've been sewing for my babies, and seeing what patterns ya'll are loving in The Pattern Shop, I've noticed that 4 of my favorite patterns could really make a year-round wardrobe for a little girl.

 

So I created the American Girl Collection!

 

This pattern bundle contains

 

The Aprile Knot Dress and Top

The Laura Jane Dress

The Abigail Tunic

The Meghan Ruffle Pants

 

With pants, dresses, sleeveless, 3/4 sleeves and long sleeves, you can truly go from season to season with these darling patterns.

 

Best of all, the pattern bundle saves you $8 rather than buying them separately. Now that's a deal! And with sizes ranging from 6 months to girls 12 (individual patterns vary) you can use these for years to come.

 

Buy your American Girl Bundle HERE

Quilting for the Wall

Hubby and I, as well as the rest of our family are members of the United Methodist Church. I have been my whole life, and Hubby joined our church family before we got married (which his family has declared will send us both to Hell)....but I digress. I love our church and have enjoyed being a member for 28 years.

While doing my ever-growing pile of scrapbusting projects, I decided I wanted to make something "church related". I wasn't quite sure what that meant, but after some sketching, I had an idea.

I wanted to make a mini-quilt, or wall hanging of our United Methodist symbol. 

I love love love how it turned out. Quilt math can be tricky, but a couple of nights with some graph paper and a calculator and I had a reasonable plan.

The piecing was easy, and I quilted it with an all over meandering line. It has great texture. I didn't want the quilting to show up as a contrast to the colored blocks, so I quilted each color separately, red, black, and white.

The backing of the quilt is a fabric that I have been wanting to use for years! I just never had the project for it. Both of my parents, as well as my uncle are the musicians at our church, so I thought it was very fitting for the backing to be this sweet sheet music print. 

I love seeing it hang in our house, but I think I have other plans for it. It may end up living elsewhere soon.

{FREE} Pattern- The Carolina Breeze Bag

Just because sharing is caring....

 

I've decided to make the Carolina Breeze Bag pattern a

FREE download!

 

 

This was my very FIRST pattern I created, and I still love it.

 

I haven't made one in a while, but it's probably because my closet is full of them already.

 

The Carolina Breeze bag is a slouchy, purse sized bag, with a pleated top. The PDF pattern includes options for adding a sweet and girly bow to the outside and functional pockets to the inside.

The bag is also fully lined.

 

This is an easy-to-sew pattern for a person with beginner to intermediate sewing skills.

 

Click Here to go to the pattern shop for the instant download.