Is it REALLY this EASY

What have I been doing for 2 weeks? Searching for an easy pillowcase pattern to make to cover the pillows on my bed. ( For some reason, I have seemed to loose pillowcases like others loose socks, and now I find myself with 4 pillows in desperate need of some cases.) So, I have been busy searching my local stores trying to find some that will match my curtains and bedspread, but no luck.

{Back Story}

When we moved into the house I painted my room a light blue and wanted a brown quilt/throw to go over the bed, blue sheets, and I was going to make the curtians out of the City Girl Blue/Brown fabric. Guess how much fabric I bought, somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 yards. ***GASP*** Okay, I know what you are thinking, I have no idea why I thought I needed that much fabric, it is not like the entire wall is covered in windows. So, needless to say, because I ended up finding this awsome bedspread at Overstock.com and then matching curtains, I still have ALL that fabric left. Lucky for me, it is in 4 different coordinating patterns.

{Back to the original thought process}

So, anyway, I have all this fabric, no pillowcases, and since I am also currently working on 3 different bedding sets, not alot of time, I needed something easy.

I FOUND IT!!!

Here, at Make It and Love It, Ashley shows us how to make pillowcases. It is sooooooo easy. (Why I didn't just think to do this is beyond me but I am going to blame it on all the snow days we have had out of school). And since tomorrow is a snow day also, I am making me some of these.

~Amanda~

*on a side note, I think Blogger took away Spell Check so if you see any spelling errors, don't blame me, blame Blogger.

Am I a Bad American?

I vote, regularly. I truly believe if you don't vote, you don't get to complain. Because lets face it. We all love to complain about politics. Even if we voted for the party in office, we complain. It is just what we do. Everyone has that "I can do it better" feeling, even if we admit it to no one but ourselves. Just take a moment right now and admit it, I'll wait. ............(this is me waiting)...........

Ok. Now that that is done and we all feel a little better, let me just say that I did not watch the State of the Union tonight. I did not watch his speach on the health care a few months ago either. I do not listen to the talk radio station DJ's (are they even called that anymore?) that think they know EVERYTHING there is about politics and they know all the solutions, nor do I turn on CNN or any other all news broadcast stations.

I read the paper, when I get one. However, we live in a very small southern town so we only get the local paper on Sunday and Wednesday. This small paper maybe has 10 pages and it covers local and state news, church news (usually a full page for this) classified adds, half a page for yard sales, and school athletics (usually 3 pages). We don't discuss much national news. I guess we figure we should take care of our own back yards???

I donate to all the disaster relief efforts when something bad happens, and I donate to the local Good Will. I volunteer when I can. I try to help others. I do not ask for anything in return. I was taught that you should work hard for what you have. You don't get handed things in life, and NOTHING is free. This is how it should be. Remember, I'm not saying don't help someone that is down on their luck. I'm just saying, maybe we should go back to learning our neighbors names and a little about them. Saying "hi" to someone or even "excuse me" when you walk by them in the grocery isle. Lets not try to compete with the other PTO mom's on whose kid is dressed the best or who has the newest minivan or SUV.

With that said. I am sure "we are better off now with THE BAILOUT than we would have been with out it." I'm sorry, Mr. President, but did you get where you are with someone bailing you out of every problem? My father worked for the steel industry several, several years ago. Do you guys remember when that industry went under. It was a huge industry. Unemployment rates started raising and prices started going up, but no one got a government "bail out" and the people of the US do not "own" the steel industry. It's just not around. Now, I know it sounds like I am anti "bail out money" but I am really not. There are places that really do deserve it, but just like everything else, the deserving are being way overshadowed by the selfish.

Welcome to "Generation Bail Out"

That's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it.

What I want to do this year

This year, I have many, many, many plans, that all revolve around my little ones rooms. I have neglected their rooms LONG ENOUGH!! (We moved into the new house on Jan. 9, 2009 and all the rooms are still so bare!!!). I can not wait to transform my girls room into a very girly, flowery room. My youngest will rocket into outer space in his room, and my oldest will be......OK, so have not gotten that planned yet, but will do so quickly. Now, to quit blogging, get some sleep, and get to work in the morning.

Happy New Year Everyone.

A Great Gift For Mom

Wow. I wish I had seen these when I had babies. I guess I still do, but my youngest is now 3! I am still putting these on my wish-list for Santa.

These great Mothers Bracelets would make an awesome shower gift, new baby gift (Dad's, YES! You are expected to get the mother of your child something), or even a great Christmas Gift for those more experienced mom's (hint hint). But, don't forget Grandma either. She would love to show off all her little angel's with one of these great bracelets.

I personally love this Two-Toned bracelet with 2 names. I would need two of these, but I am sure Santa won't mind when he sees how reasonable the prices are.

Head on over to Nanny Deprived and order your today. I think there are only about 50 days left till Christmas.

My Latest Product Line

So, I seem to only have stuff to say about once a month. Not really, if you ask my husband or kids (or parents or friends or parents of kids friends or the girl scout parents, ok. you get the picture), I talk ALL the TIME! But just look at how infrequent my blog post are. Then all of a sudden , BAM! 2 or 3 in a 2 day period. I understand I am very scatter brained so I just write all my idea's on little pieces of notebook paper so that I can blog about them later that night. Problem is, I ALWAYS seem to loose those little pieces of paper. Hence, all the blogging gets done at one time because that is when I remember all the things I was wanting to do.

Back to my original reason for posting this blog (see, I really am scatter brained.)

I am launching a new line of children's Aprons. They come in 3 sizes, Small (size 3-4), Medium, shown in pictures, (size 5-6) and Large (size 7-8). The strap is one piece and is threaded through the arms allowing it to be adjustable and grow with the child. I would love to make an adult line to match if the demand is there. These will make super cute gifts for birthdays or the holiday's coming up.

Are these not the best pictures. Rachel Williamson from Mammagoose Photography did these for me. Thank you Rachel and her beautiful little girl. Rachel has loved photography for as long as I have known her (which is over 20 years. Wow, I feel old now.) She does any type of photography you need from family portraits to wedding to children's. Please head on over to her Blog and check out her latest works. http://www.mammagoosephotography.blogspot.com/. Once you are done there, all you local people, head on over to her website http://www.mammagoosephotography.ifp3.com/ and get your pictures scheduled. She will definitely give you a timeless treasure for your family to enjoy.

Weekend Fun

If you are like me, You are always trying to come up with something to do during the weekend.

Ok, now back to reality. Between cleaning up after my 4 kids and my loving husband, IF I find free time, here is what I will be doing this weekend.

Frozen Cookie Dough Rolls from Design Dazzle

No Sew Flutter Cape From Ruffles & Stuff

Make my own Wooden Block toys from matsutake

Please, if you get this done, send me your pics. Can't wait to see what all my talented readers do with their weekend.

Trick Or Treat Bag Tutorial

I made these adorable Trick-or-Treat bags for my kids. These were so easy, I decided to make a tutorial so you could make them for your kids too.

(Oh yah, no commenting on the extremely neat sewing table in the background)

Please keep in mind this is my first tutorial so lets all hope I remember everything. Please read through the entire post and take a look at the pics before starting on this project, just to make sure it all makes since to you.

What you will need

2 different fabrics at least 1/2 yard each.

Cut each fabric into 2 13.5"x14" squares. You will end up with 4 squares total.

And a strap made out of your remaining fabric. (I forgot to take a picture of the fabric cut out before I started sewing so just pretend this has all 4 squares and the strap).

The length and width of your strap will depend on how much fabric you have left over. Mine was 26" Long and 6" wide (before folding). To make your strap take your fabric and fold in half lengthwise and iron to make a crease. Now, fold your raw edges towards the middle(crease) and iron down again. This should leave you with a piece of material 26" long and only 1.5" wide. Sew close to the edge down both sides of your strap (lengthwise). This will close your strap and leave you with 2 visible sew lines. (Personal preference on that. I like to have the contrasting thread showing on my straps.)

So sorry about the strap instructions. I will do better next time.

Okay, now to the bag.

I am using Star fabric and Skeleton Fabric. Remember, 2 squares each fabric design.

Take your first fabric (mine was stars) and pin them right sides together. I only pinned 3 sides together and left the top un-pinned so I would know where NOT to sew. I chose to have the 14" on the top and bottom and the 13.5" as the sides. You can make this either way, depending on how tall or how wide you would like your bag.

Sew 3 sides together using 1/5" seam allowance. Leave top open.

Do this for both fabrics. Now you should have 2 'bags' made. One will be your lining the other will be your outer shell.

Next you are going to take one bag and open it up so that the seam from the bottom and the seam from the side are lined up together forming this triangle. Mark at least 1.5" from the point of the triangle with a fabric pen. Remember, your bag is still inside out at this point.

Now you will sew along the mark you just made on each corner of the bag. Once your line is sewn, you will cut of the top of your triangle. This will give you those 'mitered' corners and allow the bottom of the bag to open up wider and sit a little flatter.

This is what the bottom of your bag (lining and outer shell each) will look like after you have finished your corners.


Next you will take your inner lining and turn it right side out. (My lining is my star fabric). Leave the outer bag inside out for right now.
I find it easier at this step to pin your straps in place. To do this, open up your outer shell (remember it is still turned inside out -fabric on the inside of the bag- at this point.) Then just drop your strap in, making sure it is not twisted, lay it out along the sides of the bag. I just kinda eyeball the middle of the bag on either side and pin in place.

Now you will lay your lining inside your shell. It should layer like this: Inner lining (fabric on outside of bag), Strap, Outer lining (fabric on inside of bag). You fabrics will be facing each other with the strap in the middle.

Sew the lining and outer shell together using a 1/4" seam allowance. Remember to leave a small opening in the bag so that you can turn it right side out. (My photo shows a pair of scissors in the opening that I left in the bag. )

Now, turn bag right side out thru that opening you just left yourself. Your bag should look like this at this point. I know it looks funny, but this is what it should be.

As you can see, your lining and shell are sewn together with your strap in the middle.

You take your lining and just push it into your shell.

To close this hole,

you will need to topstich around the entire top of the bag.

And then you end up with

I hope that was easy to understand.

The "C" on the front of the bag was just sewn on using a straight stich before I sewed the two pieces togeather. I have 4 little ones, so I added the initial to make sure they don't fight over whose bag is whose.

Thank you.