The Crafty Blog Stalker: July 2012

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

How to Add Length to a Skirt

A couple weeks ago there was a big event at work and we were asked to dress up in formal attire. Now I am a huge girly girl so that ment SHOPPING!!! So Saturday morning we got up and went to the mall for some retail therapy. I found a cute dress at JC Pennys for only $15 and I absolutely fell in love. It fit me perfectly and hugged the right curves and hid the bad ones.

The only problem was that it was just a little too short.

Oh how I hate my ugly knees

Well I am a crafty kinda girl so I figured I could solve the problem. At first I was just going to try and find a black fabric that was similar to the dress and create a ruffle on the bottom. But I found this in the trim section at JoAnn's Fabric and it was perfect! The ruffled trim was about 3 inches wide and the edge was already finished. Less work for me! (I also found white trim and made a mental not to remember that for next time.)

I did these alterations sitting in my sons hospital room at Primary Children's so I apoligize that the pictures don't have the best lighting. Yup that same morning I went shopping was the same morning my son crashed on his skate board and landed himself in the hospital for 4 days. You can read more about that here if you would like.

Before I stitched the trim onto the hem of the dress I Pinned it in place because I wanted to make sure it would look alright and match.

Then tried it on and modeled it for my hubby. It was perfect!

I didn't want the stitching to show on outside of the dress so I opted for hand stitching and took extra care to only stitch on the inside layer of the hem and not go all the way through.

I told a couple people about my alteration and they all said they never would have guess and it looked like it should have been bought that way! That is exactly what I was going for.

I wish had taken a better picture, but it was dark at the event and all I had was my iPhone camera so all of the pictures were a little fuzzy.

But I did get this great picture of my team and you can see my dress. I have to say that my absolutely most favorite part of my outfit was my hot pink heels. I love em!

Where I Party!

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Cute Owl Stuffies

I love owls! They have been my favorite animal for quite awhile and I even have several pieces of jewelry that are adorned with these cute little animals. I have seen many versions of the stuffed owl out there and they are all soo cute. I decided that I needed to make my own and stop oogling over everyone else's and this is what I came up with.

I started out by going through ALL of my scrap fabric and found some fabrics that I thought would go well together. This was the hard part for me. I find matching fabrics very stressful and never really sure if they really will work together.

I found a very simple owl pattern on Sew Simple that I used for the outline, and cut the pieces out that I needed to make 2 owls.

I placed the eyes where I wanted them so I could pin and then sew the beak on first.

When I sewed the pieces together, I was lazy and just used the black thread that was still in my machine from my Lace T Shirt Refashion. I wanted to be able to see the stitch lines to give the guy some character. Yes we will call it character not laziness.

Once the beak was sewn I pinned the two layers of the eyes exactly where I wanted them and sewed them to the owl body.

For the black of the eyes I didn't sew around them in a circle but did several zig zag stitches inside.

When the face is all put together put the wrongs sides together of the front and back of the owl and pin in the feet. When sewing make sure to leave an opening so you can put in your stuffing.

The cute owl stuffy is really coming together but he is still missing his stuff.

You could use many different types of stuffing for your new owl friend but I choose to fill him with rice. The rice gives him a good sold stuffing so he can stand all on his own on a shelf but can also double as a rice bag and you can either freeze him or heat him in the microwave.

After he is stuffed sew the gap securely so none of his stuffing will fall out.

Aren't they cute! My two little guys are made the same way but I switched which fabric was on the front and on the back.

I actually made these cute little guys for a Christmas in July Swap. I will be honest, I really wanted to keep them becuase they turned out so cute. But I decided that if they made me happy hopefully they would make someone else happy as well. So I packed them up and shipped them off.

Now I need to make some more!

Where I Party!

My entry into Make the Scene Monday #33 is sponsored by Appliances Online & Bosch Washing Machines.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Pinterest Picks

I love Pinterest and get so many of ideas from there. It also a great place to keep all of the great ideas I find blog stalking in one place.

Don't forget to give the right person credit when pinning from Pinterest! We are all proud of our own creations!

Here are just some of my newest pins and hopefully they will give you some inspiration too!

Versatile Expedit Crafting Table

I WANT THIS TABLE!!!!!

Two of my favorite things Guacamole Salsa

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings - YUMM!

Homemade Shimmer Mist

Layered Lace Skirt

DIY Ruffled Throw

I love browsing Pinterest! What inspires you?

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Blog Stalking Thursday #51

Again, I am so sorry about last week but it is a new day and hopefully one with no mess ups!

So let's try this again!

Welcome to Blog Stalking Thursday!

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src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6018/5983120223_e21d9ce1fc_m.jpg" 
width="221" height="135" alt="button" /></a>

Sorry, there are no features from last week's party because no one could link up!

If you have your own Linky Party and would like to share please visit my Link Parties Page and add your party! I would love to come party with you!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

What Can You Make With an Embroidery Hoop?

Who knew there were so many uses for an Embroidery Hoops! These hoops are generally made of wood but I have seen them made out of plastic and many different colors as well. The embroidery hoop is also pretty inexpensive which makes it great to use in crafts!

When I first really began crafting I think I was about 8 or 9 and my craft of choice was cross stitch. So I have had many embroidery hoops in my day. Time to break them out again!

Check out these Embroidery Hoop Projects!