Birthday Postcards

I am so excited. I just got my Happy Birthday postcards in the mail. One of my New Year's Resolutions was to be better about birthdays. I found this post about getting FREE postcards. I chose from their designs...typed up my message...& paid $6.00 {& some change} for shipping. It came with 100 postcards. They came today & I can't wait to start addressing them. If you get one...act surprised! All I have to do is put a stamp on them & write the address...& I am GOOD TO GO!!!

I am going to make them up for the month before & then they will be ready to be mailed. Wahoo!! I feel like I am getting things together! :)

Confession...{& how to make a valance}

I have lived in my house for over a year & a half. Only ONE window has curtains/valance. {GASP!!!} They are just never that high on my list, but they should be.

When we moved here...I bought new bedding for the kiddos room. It came in a set with a bed skirt. Well, we don't need a bed skirt with the boys having bunk beds. For the last year & a half I have had every intention of turning their bed skirts into a valance, but I never found the time or the means.

Yesterday we cleaned & organized their room & I rediscovered their bed skirts. I decided to tackle that project. I am going to attempt to show {& tell} you how I made them, but keep in mind this is my 3rd sewing project. I am a novice, but this worked for me!

I measured my windows. They were both 44 inches wide. I then wanted to give myself some room to let it bunch so I multiplied 44 by 1.5. That came to 66 inches. I added a few extra inches just to be safe, I didn't want my valance too bunchy. I have read other places where you double or triple your window width according to what you want.

For the height...measure your window height. Mine was 42 inches. I divided that by 3. So...my height for the curtain ended up being 14 inches.

Because I was using a bed skirt...I had to sew 2 parts of the bed skirt together that were 14 inches. If I had just one piece of fabric...it will need 28 inches x 66 inches.

I pinned the right sides of the two pieces together where I unpicked the stitches from the bed skirt. {The only unfinished sides.} This is an extra step if you have one whole piece of fabric.



Here is my "whole" piece of fabric.



Pin right sides together & sew leaving a 1/2 inch seam allowance. {You want your fabric to form a tube.} Turn right sides out. {This is the top!}



Iron the seam to form a crease. Then sew 3 inches down from the crease. This is for your header.

Sew another 3 inches down from the header seam. This is where your rod goes in. If you have a thick or thin rod...you many need to change the measurement.



Slide your rod into the rod hole & there you have it!!!!




The most time consuming part was picking the seams. I think I spent a few hours unpicking the seams.

With hubby gone, I decided to be self-reliant & use the drill. Wahoo! There is something about power tools & a finished project to make you feel good!

Now I am on the lookout for fabric to make some fun curtains for my kitchen. I also wanted to show you these really cute signs that I also rediscovered when we were organizing. My brother in law sent Kaden his sign while he was on a mission to Germany. Then, my mother in law made one for Preston {his nickname is P bo}. I love these signs. The boys asked to put them right over their beds...so we did. I love the 3M hanging strips. They work so well!!!

No Sew Fleece Blankets

My boys love their fleece blankets. The blankets are almost 6 years old & they are starting to look really worn out. I decided that the boys needed some new fun blankets. We went to Joann's & I let them pick out whatever fleece they wanted. Preston picked a John Deer/Camo print fleece {not my fav} & Kaden picked a really cute blue Diego fleece. We did a two layer..so we picked out a coordinating fleece for the bottom.

I have made the no sew fleece blankets before, but it has been a while. I used THIS TUTORIAL as a little refresher. We wanted our blankets a little bigger...so I bought 2 yards of each fabric.

It took me a few days to find the time to actually make the blankets, but once I started...the boys had brand new blankets. I didn't get them finished until after they went to bed, but they will wake up with their new blankets on their beds. I think that I will have two VERY happy boys in the morning!

Crayon Roll

My hubby officially flew out yesterday. I am trying to stay busy & my new sewing machine is helping me with that! I have been working on a few things, but today I made crayon rolls for my boys. I wanted to make something "boyish"...monster trucks, robots, cars, something along those lines. Kaden {my oldest} asked for it to look like a flag. I try to fulfill reasonable requests & this one was doable. I finally found the perfect fabric this morning.

I used THIS tutorial from Skip To My Lou. This was the best tutorial that I looked at. Very simple to follow. I didn't have any ric rac...so I skipped that part.

Here is the finished product:

Another Slipcover...

I made one more slipcover on Saturday night, but didn't get it posted. Here it is...I LOVE this material too.



I have one more to make, but I am not sure when I will work on it. I will post it when I finish! I am also working on making a quiet book for the boys. I have one page almost finished, but I lost the Velcro that I bought...so I am off to the store.

If you don't have any idea what this is for...just look at the previous post. ;)

Camera Strap Slipcover

I got MY very own sewing machine this week! I have been borrowing my mom's antique singer {METAL}, but the tension was REALLY off & it only had a straight stitch. I was so frustrated that I haven't used it for a year.

I have a few projects that I want to do, but when I found THIS tutorial for a camera strap cover...I knew that this would be project #1. I will not be posting ANY tutorials on sewing & don't look TOO close at the seams, but I am so happy with how it turned out! I also love that her tutorial uses a light padding on the cover. Ahhh!

So, here are the pictures. I had NO intention of being in the pictures, but I was so excited to put my camera back together that I forgot to take the picture.

This is a good picture of the top of my camera strap.



And this one shows the bottom. LOVE!!!



Well, I am off to sew two more so that I can change my slipcover to my mood. How fun is that! Go visit Tidy Mom...even if you don't want to make a slipcover. Her blog is amazing!

I will post the other 2 tomorrow!

My Valenitine's Card for Hubby

I just had to show you this fun card that I made for KC. I saw it a while back {here}, but procrastinated until last night to make it. It went together really fast & we both got a good laugh this morning.

This is the front:



and here it the back:



I just made a heart template & used only the top of the heart for one side & then flipped it & traced the top again for the back. Then, I took my pattern paper & made the bra & the thong. A little ribbon for embellishment & a heart "tattoo" & it was done. I love this card. It is hilarious!