Christmas Jammies for the Boys

I have wanted to make Christmas jammies for my boys since last year.  I don't know how but I came across a link to Melly Sews and she had posted about how to use her blazer pattern and make it into pjs... I was in!  I had bookmarked the free pattern over at Sewing in No Man's Land but it is only in one size and my brain is pretty fried right now... I didn't want to deal with trying to resize.  I purchased the pattern right away and within hours was making jammies #1 for my 3 year old.  (I had purchased fabric already....I told you this was on my to do list for a while!)

Ok, I don't know how many of you are like me- the first attempt at a pattern or project is always slewn with mistakes!  First of all I probably should have gone a size smaller because my kid is a string bean... but tall so I made him a size 4... it kinda hangs off him.  Oh well!  The major mistake that really bugs me is that I cut the pants wrong!  The pattern is going the opposite direction as the top.  More importantly than the look is that the stretch is wrong!  Luckily I made them big enough that they still work! 

I often have to tell myself to

LET GO OF PERFECTION!

All this boy has asked for from Santa is a "long, long choo choo train"! 

I'm not sure what he calls the gazillion of tracks and trains on his train table! 

He got this really nice wooden train on Saturday at a family Christmas party...see the little wooden logs!  He calls them Jobi wood (all of you that are familiar with Thomas the Train will know what that is!)

...and the train is off! 

This train was handmade locally and my mother in law found out about him and hunted him down to get this train!  I've seen similar ones on Etsy.

I added the ric-rac at the bottom and am torn whether it looks 'gingerbread boy-ish' or just plain girly! 

Ok, so the 2nd pair for my husky 17 month old turned out pretty well!  Remembering how big the first pair was I did slim down the pattern a bit (not too much since he is still a little husky).

I decided not to do the trim and just the ric-rac along the collar and really like it! 

I added a cuff at the bottom with some more ric-rac.  I had about 2" left otherwise I would have liked to put it around the wrists. 

He is following in his brother's footsteps and also loves his choo choos!

I just want to squeeze those cheeks!

Even though 99% of the time they are both annoying each other, deep down I know they love each other!

I just finished their major gift yesterday and will try to take some pictures during naptime today to put up here!  It turned out amazing!

Haul out the Holly Tutorial {Santa Pennant Garland}

Hello there & welcome if you're visiting from Gwenny Penny! 
I was so honored when Gwen asked me to participate in Haul out the Holly this year! 

It honestly didn't take me very long to come up with this idea. I was preparing for my first craft fair around the time she asked me to participate and I had pennants on my mind.... thus:

Santa Pennant Garland!

Let's get started!

Materials:
1/4 yd red flannel
1/4 yd white or cream flannel
desired length of 1" black satin ribbon (3-4 yds)
coordinating thread
spring loaded scissors (not required but recommended)
cardstock and marker

Let's make our triangle pattern:

1. draw a 5" line which will be the top of the triangle

2. draw a 5" line perpendicular to the first line (creating a T)

3. connect the lines to form your triangle

Cut out your pattern and grab your rotary cutter and we'll cut out our fabric.

I folded my fabric and cut 4 layers at a time.  You need 2 triangles of each color for each finished pennant.  The number depends on how long you are making your garland.

Now lets layer our pennants. 

Bottom layer- red

2 middle layers- white

Top layer- red

Pin your layers together. You should have a stack ready to head to your machine.

 

Sew along the 2 sides using a 3/4" seam allowance (mine fluctuated between 1/2"-3/4" but in the end you won't notice if they aren't perfect).

Grab those spring loaded scissors (great if you do rag quilting... which is why I bought them... still haven't made a rag quilt yet though! haha)

Start snipping 1/4" segments along both sides of each triangle.  Leave the top uncut & do not cross the line you sewed.

I went ahead and sprayed it down with water and threw it in the dryer to shrink it.

Now we'll add the ribbon along the top.  Leave a tail of 6" before your first triangle.  I just folded the ribbon over the top of the triangle and pinned it in place. I did not leave any space between each triangle.

I started sewing at the first triangle making sure to backstitch (at the end too) so it wouldn't come unraveled. 

Now I threw it in the washing machine to really get it to fluff up.  You might want to do this a couple times... the more the merrier!

Isn't it lovely on my banister?

I thought I'd try it on our large front window... tried taking a picture of the whole window but the light outside was playing tricks on my camera! 

Oh, and you might be wondering where the bow came from.  When I went to unwind my ribbon off the spool it was in 2 pieces so this is how I remedied it... I really like the bow!

Thanks Gwen for allowing me to participate in your 2nd annual Haul Out the Holly series! 

Christmas Wedding Present

So last weekend my hubby and I got a much needed little get away (from the boys) for a family wedding.  We had a fantastic time.  I thought I'd share the gift I made for the couple.  I was inspired by all the awesome Mr. & Mrs. gifts I've seen on different blogs & Etsy... just do a search for Mr. & Mrs. wedding gifts and you will see so many amazing wedding gifts! 

His and Her stockings! 

 I thought how perfect for them to hang up on their first Christmas!

I went for a very classic red, white, and black color scheme.. wanted them to feel formal.

The lipstick kiss is embroidered by my machine.  I was torn whether or not to also go with an embroidered applique like the mustache but I really like how you can see all the ridges with the embroidered kiss. 

The mustache pattern I purchased from Etsy for my embroidery machine.  I am slowly getting the hang of the embroidery possibilities. The key was realizing that I could transfer the designs... myself!  I was under the impression that I had to go back to the shop to get them transfered to my sewing machine. That just wasn't going to happen with 2 little boys tagging along!

 I wish I had my Christmas decorations up... so I'd have better pictures. 

I am not a pre-Thanksgiving decorator.  Now that I've created the pattern I might be churning out some more stockings... I've always wanted matching Christmas stockings for our family! 

Santa Candy Bar Wrap & Gift Card Holder Tutorial

This is a little project I've had in my mind for a little while.  I have been a busy lady getting all my Christmas projects finished so I haven't had time to post anything lately.  I hope to post pictures of all of them soon (but I don't want to spoil any surprises so we'll see)... on to the tutorial.

Supplies:

1 piece red craft felt

1 scrap black craft felt (or 2.5” black ribbon)

1 square scrap golden craft felt

White Fur trim

Candy bar (I used Hershey’s Cookies’n’crème…seemed appropriate!)

Gift card

Glue gun

First measure the length & width of your candy bar.  Mine is a little less than 6” long and 2 ¼” wide.  Now cut a piece of red felt that measures the length of your candy bar and twice the width + one inch.  So, I cut mine 6”x 5.5”.

Now cut a piece of the fur trim the length of the candy bar (in my case 6”). Hot glue the fur trim down the length of the piece of red felt letting the fur trim hang off the felt a bit.  

Cut a 2”x2” square from the golden felt and a piece of ribbon 9” long or black felt 2.5”x9”. 

Fold the Gold felt square in half and cut 2 slits each a ½ “ deep.  

Glue the black ribbon or felt to the back of the gold square in between the two slits (glue the ribbon shiny side down to the back so when you turn it over the shiny side faces out). Use a lighter or match to seal the end of the ribbon so it doesn’t fray. 

Now it’s time to dress your candy bar up.  Wrap the red ‘coat’ around the candy and fasten with the ‘belt’.  You may want to secure with a small dab of glue to keep the belt from coming loose (especially if there’s a gift card in there!).  I slipped the gift card under the ribbon. Voilla, this took me all of MAYBE 15 minutes and that included taking pictures.  This would make a perfect coworker gift or in my case gift for my sister’s boyfriend.  I hate just handing someone a gift card (even if that’s what they want!).

One week left!  Next Saturday we'll be waking up to find stockings stuffed, and Santa's presents under the tree! Yay!

~Erica