Handheld Friends, Part 1 {Clutch Tutorials}

One of my all-time favorite things to sew are clutches, purses and wallets. They allow so much creativity and provide practicality. They make awesome accessories to an outfit as well as awesome gifts. You can NEVER have enough purses!! :)

First up...meet the Pleated Pouch!! 

 I got the pattern and directions for this cute guy from Skip To My Lou!

 

 For the bride-to-be...I chose to use a "Bride" printed white and pink bandana 

with some coordinating polka-dot pink fabric!

I added some stranded crystals for a zipper pull and it turned out adorable!

Next up is a mini wristlet...I used Anna's Lil Cutie Pouches Tutorial for the basic pattern and layout. I'm not going to lie--this is one of my FAVORITE "pouch" tutorials. It is a great "layout" in creating any style of clutch. I just added a strap and pocket,  a ruffle/ribbon accent to the front, a cute ziper pull and enlarged the dimensions.

 It is so stinkin cute I can hardly stand it--the fabric is adorable. I made this for Leslie at work who bakes yummy creations on the side from home. She wanted something to take on her deliveries to hold her cash, phone and some business cards. 

 

 

Stay tuned for other clutch/wristlet/purse/wallet tutorials that I may come across!!

Spooktacular Brunch and Dessert Party

This year for Halloween we had a Spooktacular Brunch and Dessert Party for the office. With the help of a co-worker, we got to planning and shopping! Our manager let us have free reign and he really wanted us to get into it! He even went as far as telling us to cut down the budget by getting real-life spiders and cobwebs from outside…but we weren’t going THAT route! Many people signed up for the lunch and dessert party and we were excited to see what concoctions people would come up with! 

Along with carving pumpkins, I spent the night before 

making chocolates for the admin's goodie bags!

 The girls goodie bags consisted of a "creepy critter" some chocolate eyeballs, 

gummy body parts and my chocolate.

 

Since we weren't aloud to dress in costume, I had made a hair clip especially for Halloween :)

 

One of our "friends" greeting you at the door when you walked into the party.

 Pumpkin shaped baked brie!

Bloody cream cheese dip--yummy!

 

My pumpkin that I carved with the company logo.

 

 Some of the food...and yes that is a vulture by the chicken :)

Our other door greeter :)

 

Time for dessert!

We had mummy cupcakes, dirt pudding and chocolate-peanut butter eyeballs!

Leslie's creations :)

 

The day of was a little hectic with setting up and prepping but it turned out to be a great success! The food was yummy, the décor was creepy and the dessert was delish! The room was even complete with scary music, dim lights and the life-sized talking mannequins, which was the PERFECT touch!

Right around the corner…a Thanksgiving lunch!! We’re looking forward to some turkey and yummy sides!

 

 

Pumpkin Carving

One of my favorite things to do for Halloween is to carve pumpkins! This year, Larry took interest in carving one himself. It would be his FIRST pumpkin that he's ever carved (without the help of his parents from when he was younger!) and I KNEW it would be entertaining. We went and picked out THE perfect pumpkins and got to carving!

The part that I dislike THE most is taking out the inside goop of the pumpkin! It's so stringy, and goopy and slimey--ew! I cut the "lids" off from my two pumpkins while Larry scraped his out. I then started de-gooping mine...thankfully, Larry was able to finish my two off. :) We were each carving a pumpkin to put on the porch, while I was going to carve an additional one to bring to work for our Halloween lunch. 

After going back and forth between two designs, Larry decided on a howling wolf. He used a stencil...Time to tape it on nice and flat, and start poking his holes along the lines!

 This is what the final carving is SUPPOSED to look like!! Mind you--he picked out a level 3 difficulty for his first carving ever! (with 4 being the hardest!)

I started off with my pumpkin that I was going to carve for work. I pulled up the company logo on my phone and started drawing it on the pumpkin. I carved over the lines and it turned out just perfectly!

For my pumpkin that I was going to keep at home, I also chose to free-hand the design because I never really like the patterns they sell at the stores! With the help of Larry, we FINALLY figured out a design. The HARDEST part was figuring out what pieces needed to be cut out and what pieces would stay attached to the pumpkin. This was probably the longest and most difficult part of the evening! But, once we figured it out--I carved until I couldn't carve anymore! I may not use the same technique Larry does, but nonetheless, I get it done. :)

 Aaaand, the final products!!!

Larry's wolf turned out AMAZING to say the least! :)

 My skull & crossbones with a bow was JUST the design I wanted. Halloween mixed with feminine flair :)

 

My pumpkin for work with our company logo was a hit at the party!

I think everyone should carve at least ONE pumpkin for Halloween in their lifetime! It is a fun and challenging expereince. I am hoping that this will become a tradition for Larry and I :)

$5 (Mini) Poodle Skirt {Tutorial}

I've searched up and down google, picked the brain of Larry's grandmother and with the help of Ashley, I created the perfect (& easiest!) way to make a mini poodle skirt!

Supplies: 

Felt (I purcahsed a full yard, but only needed a half of felt that was 38' wide)

Measuring Tape

Chalk (or anything that will show up on your felt)

Scissors

Sewing Machine/Thread

Zipper

Poodle Iron-on & Iron (optional)
Total cost out of pocket--$5! The felt was on sale from $4.99/yd to $2.99/yd and the poodle was $1.99!

Step 1. Cut your felt into a sqaure; mine was about 38 inches, the exact width of my felt. Now, fold it in half twice, making a smaller square. Each edge was about 19 inches at this point. Make sure the entire thing is flat and lined up nicely.

Step 2. Cut out your circles for the waist and length. My first attempt, I actually free-hand cut the circle...bad idea! Be very precise! I don't recommend trying this route! For the skirt to fall and open perfectly, the circle needs to be cut perfectly. I ended up doing this by holding my measuring tape at the folded corner of the sqaure and pulling the tape around the skirt, marking at the measurement I was going to cut along the way. I did my furthest circle (the length of the skirt) first. For this, I just barely trimmed the endge, since it was at the length that I wanted it--a mini skirt! If you want a longer skirt, start with a larger piece of square felt and cut at the length that you'd like. For your waist measurement, take your inches and divide it by 3.14, then divide that number by 2 (mine is about 34, so it ended up being 5.41 inches). Round it. This is where you will mark your smaller circle cut for the waist opening. I suggest making it a little smaller, as the felt will stretch over time (also, so you don't cut too LARGE of a waist!)

You can see where my 5.41 mark is, and how much smaller I cut it...about half of an inch.

 This is what the skirt will look like once it's all cut and opened. Since I barely cut any edge off from my length, it is 18 inches across, only an inch short from what I started with.

 

Step 3. Cut out your band. Determine how wide you want your band, and cut a strip twice the width of your desired band, by the length of your waist. I cut mine around 36 inches long to make sure I had enough! I did my width at about 3 inches, so I would have a finished band about 1.5 inches wide.

Step 4. Cut a slit from the top of your skirt for where you will put your zipper. I would recommend doing at least a 4 inch zipper. Better for it to be too long than too short and not be able to get it on! Pin in your zipper. Pin on your band by simply folding it in half, encasing the top edge.

 This picture shows how the band "encases" the top edge of the skirt.

Step 5. SEW! Sew in your zipper, as well as stitch all the way around the bottom of your band. Add your poodle iron-on and you're done! Try her on!! :)

So simple and super adorable! :) 

Just add a cute top, ruffle socks and heels, a neck scarf, sassy hair, 

and you've got a SUPER cute 50's outfit for cheap! :)

One Happy Customer :)

This week was very exciting for lots of reasons but one of the main ones is that a good friend from work was eagerly waiting for a creation of mine to take with her to use on a cruise that she leaves for this weekend. A hipster purse and coin purse in a fabric that she picked out! After two long nights of pinning and sewing without a pattern, I was so happy with how it came out & it's safe to say that she was too!

 

Meet Leslie!!

 

She LOVED her purse and preceded to model it around the office and pose for the camera :) Multiple times! I am pretty quiet when it comes to broadcasting my creations, but she definitely told people about it and I thankfully heard nothing but AMAZING comments on my purse...I couldn't ask for more.

 

I was so excited for how excited she was about her new purse and coin wallet! I love making things for people who truly appreciate them and I know there will be many more creations for her to come...as she already has a long list planned for me!

  

With Leslie's project I wanted to try something that I've been dying to add onto my sewing projects, especially my purses and wallets...an "Anngela's Pretty Little Things" label!!

A little bit of printable iron-on transfer sheets, heat-n-bond, and an old cotton t-shirt...

 

...and they turned out beautifully!! 

I am very happy with how the first run turned out!

I stitched one inside of the coin wallet...

 

And used heat-n-bond for the one on the pocket inside of the purse.

 

I am so excited for Leslie's new accessories and especially for my new labels! I feel like it really puts the finishing touch on my creations. It's the small things in life. :)