It's a girl!

My cousin found out today that she's having a baby girl! Now I have to get the dust off of my sewing machine because I have some serious baby-gift-making to do! So stick with me and I swear that I'll post some things, for real this time!

Mallory ♥

Birthday Goodies!

My birthday was on Sunday and I got some sewing goodies from the ladies I work with!

Here's the whole lot:

Everything laid out:
The three different fabrics (we have an inside frog joke):

My cousin is having a baby early next year and she finds out the sex at the end of the month, I'm so excited to make some baby gifts out of these froggy prints!


Mallory ♥

Tumblr has taken over my life!

My crafting time has been drastically cut because of the hours and hours I sit glued to my computer blogging on Tumblr. I'm trying to cut down on that so I can get back into the crafting groove. I swear I haven't forgotten about you!

Mal ♥

Sorry I haven't been around!

I'm in a little bit of a crafting slump right now. Don't worry though, I have birthdays coming up that I need to craft for so stay tuned!

Mallory ♥

My Little Ghosbusters Guy!

I found this site via Howaboutorange on paper crafting. So I needed to make this little Ghostbuster's character (he's not really a cannon character, but whatever.) Here he is!

Mallory ♥

Homemade Mac and Cheese!

I decided I needed to make some homemade macaroni and cheese today. Since I'm still pretty much a kitchen novice I needed an easy recipe. I found a recipe on Rachael Ray's website for Stove top Cheddar Mac and Cheese here. I halved the recipe since it was only going to be me eating it I also used mild cheddar instead of the listed extra-sharp (I've made this one other time and the extra-sharp was a little too 'sharp' for me). Here are some pictures of my adventure:

All of the ingredients:

The cheese sauce:Ta-Da! Finished Mac:
For a newbie cooker I would recommend having someone around to act as an extra pair of hands since noodles have a way of flying everywhere when you're stirring them in one-handed (trust me.) Other than that this is a really easy and great recipe. I would definitely recommend this to a friend.


Mallory ♥

Harry Potter = All Sorts Of Awesome!

Well, I just got back from the movie and overall I loved it! They left some things out that I would have loved to see but it was really funny! Much more than the book. I totally recommend this movie. Just keep an open mind and you have to realize that the movie and book are two separate things, so don't freak out because not everything that happens in the book is in the movie.

Dumbledore is one BAMF in this movie and there are some super special effects too!

Mallory ♥

Harry Potter Crafting!

So, it's that time again...Harry Potter time! If I haven't mentioned this before I'm a huge HP nerd. I'm totally addicted to all things Potter. So I decided that I needed to make a shirt to wear when I go see the movie this week.

Just a warning: this post is very picture chunky! Enjoy!

The stencil I started with: (I'm totally proud of the lightening bolt, I free-handed it!)

The stencil cut out:

On the shirt after I applied the paint:

After taking the stencil off, before removing the bridged pieces:
All finished:
Me, wearing it to show placement of the words:
All finished!! HP here I come!

I was planning on using a navy blue shirt but the JerZee brand shirts I buy never fit the same way. So I used a Hanes undershirt with grey fabric paint that I mixed. I wanted it to be simple and to the point. If you aren't a HP fan or you don't know what a horcrux is (shame on you! Go out and buy the books right now!) check out the Wiki page here.

If you're interested in learning how to stencil check out these awesome online tutorials:

Stencilry
Stencil Punks

Zippers Are Alright With Me!

So, I've calmed down from the meltdown I had over the pleated bag and I tried the whole zipper thing again. I've decided that I love pleats and zippers separately but together they will never be my friend! So I made this larger version of the coin purse, I guess it's a quasi-cosmetic bag. Here it is:

Note to self: Make a light box! Obviously the whole paper thing isn't working for me. I have no idea why each of these pictures are a different color.

My sewing frustration has peaked!

Well, I decided that I truly, truly HATE pleats (and zippers!!!)

And here's why: after finally attaching the zipper on my 'work in progress' zipper pouch the darn pleats didn't match up causing me to want to rip out my hair (and the stupid zipper) And when my not-so-trusty seam ripper failed to help me out of my situation I gave up on that bag for the moment.

And seeing how I need a gift for my co-worker today I decided to try something a little easier. A lined coin purse! I still had to work with a zipper, but this one didn't hate me so much!

[Here's a tutorial for making lined zipper pouches]

I used left-over fabric from the fat quarter and my black linen-look stash. I sadly had to use a white zipper but I think it turned out rather well. I just guesstimated the size, it was big enough to hold a necklace (still on the cardboard) and a gift card with extra room, we'll say it's on the large end of coin purse sizes.

I think it turned out pretty well. This is the first thing I've made that was lined with a zipper. So now that I kind of know what I'm doing I might think about finishing the pleated bag...or maybe not.

My Work in Progress!

I found a tutorial for a pleated zipper pouch here and decided that I needed to make one, pronto! This one is for a co-worker's birthday. I've been trying to make all of my co-workers something homemade for their birthdays since I got my sewing machine last Christmas, but I digress. I cut out my pieces (which I measured out as 10" x 6") and I interfaced and marked my pleats. Tomorrow is the big sewing day. Since I have a love/hate relationship with zippers I like to do all of my cutting and other preparations before I even think about sewing. Here are some prep-pictures for your viewing pleasure:

I found this purple fabric in the fat quarter section at Hancock Fabrics. The black is a linen-look fabric that I bought at Joann Fabrics.

Rest in Peace, Michael Jackson.

Sad, sad news in the entertainment world today. Michael Jackson passed away this afternoon. I know that this isn't a craft-related post but MJ was one of my favorite entertainers ever so I feel like I need to post a topic about the awesomeness that was Michael Jackson.

More Videos

Rest in Peace Michael!

T-shirt Shrug!

Well, this isn't a really big project or anything but I thought I'd post it anyway. I was going out for my best friend's birthday and I needed something to wear over a tank top so I made a shrug! I got the idea for a t-shirt shrug from EVEnl's tutorial at Cut Out + Keep. I just used an old shirt from Old Navy that was too short for me and some ribbon that I got at work. It was a super-easy project. I think it only took me about 20 minutes.

Please excuse the craptastic pictures and my hair. I took these after I came home from the night out!

Book gift card holder!

My co-worker's birthday was the first of June, so myself and my other co-workers went in on a Border's gift card for her. I decided that we needed a fun holder to put it in, and it came to me...A BOOK! a book gift card holder to hold a bookstore gift card! So here it is...

The cover:
Inside with a gift card pocket and a book plate slot:

Showing the 'pages' (sorry it's a tad blurry!):
Ta-Da!!:


I just made it with the cheapo felt sheets and embroidery floss. It ended up with 4 'pages' which is 2 white rectangles folded in the middle. I ended up putting the spine on to hide my shotty stitch work. Overall, I loved it- it was hard to give up, that's been happening a lot lately! =]

Hip/Sling Bag!

So I made a purse last weekend. It was originally meant for my cousin for her birthday but when I finished the style was way more me than her...so I kept it [yes, I'm evil-I know!] So here it is:

Laying flat on the table:

The inside snap and pocket:

Sorry for the not so clear pictures, the polka dots were getting a little trippy when I was taking the pictures!

Oh, and don't worry about my cousin, I made her a cosmetic bag and gave her a gift card-so she's covered!

New Moon! [Nothing at all to do with crafting but I couldn't resist!]

Well, like every other female in the world I'm hooked on the Twilight Saga, so I feel obligated to post the trailer for New Moon (the second installment of the series) that premiered on the MTV Movie Awards tonight. Once again, this has nothing to do with crafting or my crafty blog but I just had to do it! Enjoy! =]

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON trailer

Vinyl Lined Cosmetic Bag!

So, my little sister is going to be moving to the east coast to live with my older sister for the summer. She's leaving next week and she totally guilted me into making her a cosmetic bag before she goes, as a going-away present. I used the same pattern that I used for my older sister's Easter cosmetic bag. But for this one I used Therm-O-Web iron-on vinyl (I found at Joann's) for the lining so if anything spills it won't ruin the inside. That stuff is pretty much incredible! It's super easy to use! Onward to the pictures!

The finished bag:

The top (This was my first time really sewing with striped fabric and the stripes matched up! Even with the zipper- I was totally stoked!):

Side with zipper pull:

Other side:

Full of all of her junk:

I just realized that I didn't get a picture of the lining itself, I'll get one in the morning and post it so you can see it =]

My foray into screen printing!

So, I've been seeing screen printing a lot online lately and I thought, "what the heck, I can do that too!" So I checked out WhiMSylove's mini tute and I got shopping to make my own print!

I stopped at Michael's to pick up some Yudo screen printing ink (I'm too impatient to order the Speedball brand online- luckily Michael's is now carrying a screen printing machine and the ink for it) The ink:

Then, I prepared my "screen" (I used an old pair of pantyhose- It's what I had on hand) I got my little robot man from the Kittybuttons stencil website.

The finished product: (I just used an old men's undershirt--you know, the packs of like 6 Hanes shirts). I didn't get very good cover on his one little waving hand, but I think it gives him character!

Here's my screen with the finished shirt:

And here's me with my new creation, I just love my little robot man!

Here are other cheap screen printing instructions that were found online- check them out!

Threadbanger

Craftgrrl

Happy Printing!! =]