Teacher Gifts

Merry 'almost' Christmas! Today I am sharing with you my super cute zippered pouches that my kids gave their teachers. I have to say I am hooked on making these. They are so quick and easy and turn out great!!

This cute polka dot one I was a little bit frustrated with. I accidentally sewed the fabric I wanted to use on the outside as the lining. But it is still cute and gives the lining a nice surprise. I think because I was using an invisible zipper it threw me off.

Next is my Freshly Squeezed bag. I loved this fabric from the day it came out, and when I was going through my scraps I thought it would be perfect. And I even had a green zipper that went so well with it!

And for the inside I have this fun dot print.

And lastly is this super cute red and turquoise pouch. I really wanted to keep this one, but I told myself no. I might be making one for me in the near future. There is just something about those two colors that I love. Well really I just love anything turquoise!

I used a simple turquoise for the lining. And I used some of the labels I made on the inside!

I even got a little bit fancy on the wrapping. I shared this picture on Instagram. I used simple gold tissue paper and some ribbon and then a monogram letter I cut with the cricut. It added just the perfect touch!

And the pouches were a hit! My kids teachers could not believe that I made these. One of my boys even told his teacher that he thought I bought it! hahaha!

Now we are on the countdown, my kids are going through the house singing "there is only 2 days till Christmas" I think they might get sent outside here soon.

Enjoy!

DIY Fabric Labels

This past week things were crazy at my house. But Friday we found a new car, so hopefully things can be a little bit less crazy here. But with it being so close to Christmas, I am not sure! The other day while I was making up my zippered pouches for my kids teachers I had a great idea that I should put some labels in them! I even had this idea while there was still time to put them in without unpicking anything! That is pretty good right there!

But I browsed Pinterest looking for some good tutorials. I read a bunch, but just ended up kind of making up my own!

I took some freezer paper and ironed it to my fabric. Then I trimmed it down to 8.5x11, so that I could fit it in the printer. I wasn't terribly worried about how fancy it looked because I knew that I could iron it out later.

Then I designed my labels in photoshop and ran it through the printer. One worked beautifully and I was so excited that I ran another one through.

It was not as good - the wrinkles did prove to give me a little bit extra ink and I had to kind of feed it through the printer. But it still worked, I think that I will worry about the wrinkles next time and try to get a nice smooth one.

Then I ironed over the printing to help set the ink. I have not washed any of this yet so I do not know if they are washable or not.

I then cut apart the ones that I needed and sewed them with a zig zag stitch to the inside of my pouches and voila! They look great! And so much more professional now!

I've got these all finished up now, I shared a picture on Instagram the other day. Maybe I'll get a post written about them before I wrap them up!

One more thing I was able to cross off my list! I hope that you are all enjoying this wonderful time of year!

Enjoy!

Easy Zippered Pouch

I am in love with this pouch!! This has literally been sitting on my counter since this past weekend so that I could look at it! For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you saw my picture of it this weekend. Today I have some more pictures for you.

First off I have to say how easy this was! I got the tutorial from V&CO she is so talented and I love her simplistic style.

I picked up a fat quarter of this awesome keep calm fabric a month or so ago from my local quilt shop, and I pulled the turquoise out of my stash. I went and bought a specific zipper for this! I just love the way that the turquoise just pops off the black and white fabric!

Here is the inside - nothing fancy. I sewed the bottom seam with my machine because I am not a huge fan of hand sewing!

I have already cut out three more of these in various colors for my kids to give their teachers for Christmas this year! They are just a perfect size for almost anything. I am thinking I should make a bunch and clean off my sewing table!

I am hoping to get some more sewn on the other ones today, but I have cleaning to do and unfortunately car shopping!

Enjoy!

Bias Tape Bag

As some of you know I live in the middle of nowhere. So middle of no where that the closest Walmart is around 100 miles away. This assignment is called 'remote', and boy is it ever! Which is why I have this project to share with you today.

About a month ago my daughter got invited to a birthday party. She was super excited because this does not happen all the time out here. I was too, until I realized that the party was next week, and we had already made our monthly trip to the big city! What were we going to do for a present?!

Sure there was a small little shop, but I have been in there and my budget does not always agree with them. It was then that I decided that I would have my daughter give a 'homemade' gift.

We picked a bag, because was pre-teen girl does not want a bag? After browsing through Pinterest I decided on the classic bias tape bag. I followed the instructions here, but I made it bigger because I did not like how long and narrow it looked.

It was so easy and I loved that!! I think it took me about an hour from start to finish! I just went through my stash of fabric and picked fabrics that I liked and would work well. The pink is a heavier fabric, so that worked out great, and you cannot see it, but I lined it with yellow satin. That just adds to the greatness of this bag!

This is the bag before we added a little 'more'. It just was kind of boring as my daughter said.

What better then some classic rosettes to make this a little nicer and more girly?! Add a few buttons and they are beautiful!

And doesn't that just do the trick nicely? I loved how it turned out!

My daughter loved it so much she requested one for herself!

The best part of this story is that my daughters friend just about died when she got it. Her mom later came over and told me that she loved the bag so much, and her older sister was jealous! Win for mom!

Enjoy!

linking up to the parties listed in my tab at the top.

Elephant Bag- Fabric Review

Kim over at Poppy Seed Fabrics sent me this great elephant fabric to review. I just loved it. I knew that a bag would be perfect for it.

The fabric is nylon, not something I regularly work with, but it sewed up so easily. It was very easy to work with, and I love the lightness, yet durability it gives this bag.

I just wanted to make a simple bag - somewhat the size of those re-usable grocery ones. I just took some measurements off one of my larger one and I got started. It went together very fast. The nylon does not hold it's shape which is good for this bag because I did not want to look like I was carrying on of those re-usable grocery bags around. But it is very durable and can hold weight.

Once I had the main part of the bag done it really just needed something extra. I asked Conan and he told me to put a elephant one the front of it. I had a little bit of lining fabric left - a simple white cotton - and free handed an elephant.

That was a huge step for me, I've said it before I am not the artist in the family.

I am working on another bag - it is not going well - and it has fabric handles, so for this I wanted to steer clear of the fabric handles.

I saw some rope ones on a different bag and thought they would be perfect to make for this bag! I added those to the bag and now I don't just love it - I really L.O.V.E. it! I used two different sizes of rope. for the wrap around the bottom, I actually unwound the smaller size and them just used fabric glue to get it to stay where I wanted.

 I used large curtain grommets as well for the rope handles. I think they really look great!

This bag is roomy enough for everything, yet super cute and fun. I used it the other day when we had an event to go to, and I was able to put all of the crap that my kids got in it, as well as the other stuff I already had in it. Now that is the perfect bag.

And on the plus side, after a full day of walking around with it, I can either wipe it clean or throw it in the washer to get any stains off of it. This is a great fabric and was a lot of fun to work with.

If you want to get some of this fabric, go here. Poppy Seed Fabrics has lot of different colors, and even some in cotton! Perfect for making everything! Here is just a sample of some of the colors that she has:

Stay tuned for later this week when I have another fabric that Poppy Seed Fabrics sent me to review!

*all of these opinions are completely mine.

Olivia Bag

 I just love bags - don't we all?! There is just something about them that completes a look. I especially love getting a good deal on them. This one here I just got the other day for $6! I just love it! It is a little bit bigger than what I normally use, but I still love it just the same. And it would be no fun if I had bags that were all the same kind!

Anyway, I work with the youth in my church and the other night one of them had this bag that I just fell in love with. It was the perfect size for notebooks or school books. It was no too big - but just right! Well I liked it so much I took some rough measurements and went home and made a pattern for it. This is the end result here:

I then got to sewing . . . a couple of interruptions, one sewing machine needle, and a few days later I was done. I was going to leave it plain, but when I laid it out after cutting it, I thought that it looked too plain. So I cut a flower out with my cricut onto contact paper and placed it where I wanted it onto the front part of the bag.

 I then painted it the same color as the inside of the bag.

I then had to very carefully pull the contact paper off and viola! I had a custom stenciled bag. Another cheap and easy stencil. 

 Now that I am looking at it I think that it needs a little something. I am thinking of adding some yellow flowers to the stencil. Those puffy ones that are made out of circles. I am not sure yet though. What do you think, should I leave it as is, or add that little bit extra?

 Here is the inside of the bag, I added a pocket with a zipper - I am not a huge fan of sewing zippers so that was a big step for me. I do like that feature though. And there is a simple magnetic clasp to close it.

I am working out the kinks on the pattern, but if you want one I am going to list it in my Etsy shop when I have it all done.

Linking to the parties in the tab at the top.