Fabric Dye!!

I'm dyeing fabric!! After sewing my pillowcase sundress, I found out that I most likely won't be able to dye it pink, because it's 100% polyester. And apparently, 100% polyester isn't a fabric you can dye at home, without a very complicated process and buying the dye online. So instead I went through all the pillowcases the husband and I aren't using, and found a few that would work. So I went and bought dye! I used Rit Dye - Petal Pink.

Here is everything I was using! I ended up with 4 pillowcases to dye. An off-white one, a pure white one, a LIGHT purple one and I decided to go ahead and dye the polyester one, just to see, which was a creme color. The instructions were super simple and easy to follow.

Here are my pillowcases in the dye bath. I was using old wooden chopsticks to stir, they worked very well!

Here they are, wet and hanging up to dry. The one on the left was the off-white one, middle was purple and right was pure-white. The pure white seems to turn out the best when it was still wet, but they are all drying differently. Once they are completely dry I will have to take another picture to post on here.

And here is what the polyester looks like so far. I read online that when I wash it, all the dye will wash out. But that's okay. It was mostly an experiment to see what would happen if I tried to dye polyester. It's lightly tinted a very pale pink. It's very pretty, so I will be sad if (or when) it washes out. But I look forward to seeing what will happen, learning experience!! Once everything is dry, I'm going to wash them in the bathtub, and let them dry again before I cut and sew them into sundresses. The polyester pillowcase is the only one that is already made into a sundress. The other three are still in pillowcase form. That's my plan for the next few days! =]

Just a few small things..

The newest member of our family, Bazinga! I will have to get a good family picture of all of us, to post on here, but I don't have one yet. But our dog, Fezzik, wears a bandana all the time. He thinks of them as his clothes. So when Fezzik gets in trouble, we take away his bandana. And he gets very sad. So I took some of the fabric scraps that I had, and made a smaller version for Bazinga. So now he matches with his big brother! He really likes it, except for this picture. It was hard to take a good picture, so I finally nudged him in the side until he woke up and walked away. This is the look he gave me. So perfect!

Now, here are some cupcakes and phrases that I cut out of my other fabric scraps. Once I go buy fabric dye and dye the pillowcase sundress I made, I'm going to use these as decorations. I have a second pillowcase to turn into a smaller sundress to match the large one I'm making, but I have to wait until my niece comes over to measure her. But I think they are going to turn out super cute!

I also whipped these up while I was sitting and waiting to cut out the cupcakes. Really simple headbands. I made myself one a while ago, and I really like to wear it. The pink and green flower fits my head really well, but the colorful flower doesn't, so I think I'm going to be giving that one away.
So, I haven't posted in a while. Not for lack of ideas this time! My wonderful husband surprised me with a trip to Colorado Springs! Our anniversary was March 17th, and we went out to dinner. But we want to move up to the Colorado Springs area, so Brian came home last Tuesday, said that since he had a few days off work in a row, we should take a trip to CO Springs to look around and just get away. It was amazing. We stayed in a great hotel, and it was beautiful up there! We are definitely moving up there now! Towards the end of May. It's going to be GREAT!!
So there will be more crafting to come soon, I have to go buy fabric dye tomorrow after I watch my two younger nieces for a few hours. I can't wait! I haven't dyed any clothes yet, so I'm excited to try it!

Alms? Alms for the crafty?

This is what I have made the past few days! Just a simple, mostly circular, pillow. I'm slowly teaching myself to use my sewing machine, and so this pillow is a little wonky. Just like me!!
My mom gave me some extra fabric scraps that she had around the house, and this was a scrap on fabric that I threw into a pillow. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, so for now it's sitting on the ottoman by the window, collecting pet hair.. =]
Onto the next craft I have starting working on... The Pillowcase Sundress!!

I found a tutorial that shows you how to make a child's sundress out of a pillowcase, so I had to try it!! This is what I have so far. It's very simple! Here's the link - http://www.ehow.com/how_7730914_make-pillowcase-sundresses.html I have tweaked a few things, and I haven't been able to finish it yet. I want to go to the craft store and get some fabric dye, to dye this a bright pink or purple. I also need some ribbon for the straps, and then I'm going to make some fabric flowers for decorations on the dress. And since this one is probably going to be for my 7 year old niece, I might need to shorten it up a bit, so she can wear it over jeans, as this pillowcase fabric is SUPER cheap, so a little thin. After I finish this one, I plan on getting a bunch of color-coordinated pillowcases and making 3 matching little sundresses for my 3 nieces. I'm thinking pink and purple, but I'm not sure yet.

Here's the top of it. After I cut the top seam off and the arm parts, I sewed the elastic into the top seam and bunched it to make that effect. Hopefully, I will be able to make it to the craft store this week and get ribbon and dye. Then I will post more pictures!! I'm off to brainstorm on more ideas to work on in the meantime!

My sister's birthday present!

My sister, Madison, is turning 14 on Wednesday. So I pulled together this simple purse and made a cute little headband out of the scraps. It's made from a jersey/t-shirt material. The tutorial that I followed got the measurements mixed-up for how deep the purse should be and how long the purse straps should be, so the purse turned out a little wonky, but I like it. I like how bright and colorful it is, especially for my teenager sister.

I took some leftover scraps and made a simple flower, and then sewed in onto the where the purse straps meet, to hide the stitching and for a little added girly-ness.

I think duplicated the flower and attached it to some extra pink fabric lengths. I tried it on, and it made a super cute little headband. Once I give my sister her gift, I will post a picture of her with it. I hope she loves it! She was pretty excited when I told her I was making her a present, so I bet she'll love it. =]

My niece's birthday present! =]

This is the finished product! I made her some felt food and an apron with a Minnie Mouse pocket. Then I bought this little basket to put it all in. I made her sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, pizza, eggs, pancakes and (her favorite) BACON!!

This is after I cut out all the felt shapes. I free-handed everything except all the circles, which I traced using 2 bowls, a cup, a penny and a shot glass. At this point, my hand was almost completely numb from holding the scissors and I hadn't even starting sewing yet!! I saw another blog where a woman had used the chocolate chips on the cookies as counting tools. My niece is turning two, so I thought that her idea would be perfect!

And this is after I was finished sewing everything. Everything is hand-sewn, no sewing machine used for this project! I ended up gluing the bacon together (the sewing just didn't look right) and the sprinkles on the sugar cookies. The sauce, cheese and pepperonis on the pizza are all glued together too, but then I sewed them together when the glue dried.

This is her finished apron! I love this apron. The fabric is a little more heavy duty cotton, bought at Hobby Lobby. The ribbon is a generic pink ribbon and the Minnie Mouse shape is black felt. I made a basic pattern using leftover wrapping paper, and cut the fabric out. I used fabric glue is apply the ribbons to all the edges, and put a long piece along the front for the waist tie. I sewed velcro onto the neck strap, so she can grow into as she gets older. I cut the three circles out of black felt and glued them together. I then put a few markers under the head for a little pit of a gap, and glued it to the front of the apron. Once the glue was dry, a put a simple stitch around the Minnie Mouse, for a bit of reinforcement.

It was her favorite birthday present! Her party was yesterday, and she didn't play with anything else after she put on her apron and recognized all the food. Her mom told me today that she has been playing with it all day today and didn't want to take it off when it was time to get into the bath.

Besides the apron, her favorite thing is the BACON!! She has been carrying the bacon around in the pocket of her apron since she put it on. And if she starts to get cranky, or take a toy away from her sisters, or get whiney, all you have to do is ask her "where's the bacon?" She will look at you, say "bacon?" and then run off to go find it. It's pretty hilarious. And, having never made felt food or an apron before, I'm pretty freaking proud of this! Her mom has already asked about felt food for Christmas presents, and I'm making a list of foods I'm going to make soon. Strawberries, carrots, grapes, bread and sandwich fixings are all already on the list. I'm excited to get started!

Making presents!!

I went to the craft store!! I had about $30 leftover from a Hobby Lobby Christmas giftcard, so I decided to make my niece's birthday present for her party this weekend, and make a handbag for my sister's birthday next week. Felt for the food is on the left, the middle fabric is for an apron with a felt mickey mouse pocket on it, and the right is the fabric for my sister's handbag.
For my niece, I'm going to make her some very simple felt food, and then an apron. For the felt food, I want to make her cookies, pizza, eggs, pancakes, bacon; then I'm going to make a very simple apron, with a felt mickey mouse shape as the pocket on the front of it. My niece is turning 2 next month, but her birthday party is in a few days. I know that I'm cutting it a little close, but her mom completely forgot that they were having her party this weekend, so I only found out a couple days ago. I think it will turn out great and super adorable. As soon as I'm finished with this entry, I'm going to clear off the coffee table and start working on the food.
Then for my sister, I want to make a cute purse. She's turning 14, and into bright colors and shapes. A typical early teenager, so I got some bright t-shirt type material with flowers and piece signs on it. She'll love it. Her birthday is in about a week, so after I finish all the felt food and apron, I will start working on her bag.

Here is a close-up for the fabric. My niece's apron fabric is on the left, my sister's purse fabric is on the right. =] I'll post more later, as I make some progress with all of this.

Hello All!!

Hiya!
My name is Kayla, and I'm a crafter. I am in my early twenties, married to the love of my life, with one dog. I currently live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For now, that is. Hopefully, we will be moving towards the end of May to Colorado Springs, Colorado. I have always been a crafty person, art was my favorite subject in school. I'm not the best artist, but I think that my pure love and joy of it definitely usually makes up for the lack of talent. I hope to post pictures and everything I'm working on as I travel through life and my crafting journey. We'll see how this goes! =]
I love crafting! I'm not the best at it yet, but I work on some sort of craft almost every day. Currently I am a knitter and hand-sewer. I also have started working on sanding and redoing some furniture. Hopefully soon, I will be able to learn to work my new sewing machine and branch out into painting as well. 
A little over a year ago, I taught myself to knit. I learned how to cast on and bind off, and with the one stitch I know, I took off. After a ton of scarves and a few baby blankets, I also started making hats. I just started trying to teach myself a very basic slipper pattern too. I plan on taking a knitting class this summer or fall, but for now, I like what I do.
I also sew things by hand. I started with fixing hems and holes in clothes, and this weekend I'm going to branch out into making some felt food and an apron for my awesome niece's birthday. I recently got a new sewing machine, and since I'm not quite too sure on how to work everything just yet, I've only played around with it so far. I made myself a very simple little bag, but that's all for now.
I also just took apart my dining room table, to sand down so I can paint it. This table is almost as old as I am, and so it's so worn in some parts, it's down to bare wood. It's taking me a fair bit of time, but once it's finished, I know it will look glorious! I plan on doing a Starry Night themed dining room, so black, blue and yellows are definitely colors I'm thinking about, paint-wise, for the table and chairs.
I really want to be able to make a bunch of different things. I'm excited to finish some projects I am currently working on, and then I'm going to bust out my sewing machine and figure out what everything is for. I have in my mind, being able to make clothes, blankets, bags, hats, toys, stuffed animals and a TON of other things. My husband and I joke all the time, that once I am as crafty as I see in my head, I will be a great asset in the Zombie Apocalypse. Why would you kill off the woman who makes all the things we need to use everyday? =]