Featured Gifts From the Heart

Thank you to all who participated in Gifts from the Heart Party. I love looking at all of your creative designs and seeing what you are up too. I am always blown away by people's projects. Today I am going to feature 2 posts, but you can check out all of them because they are all great.

Carolyn from Homework: Today's assignment be creative created these beautiful napkin holders out of paper towel or toilet paper rolls. CUTE!! I am going to do this for Thanksgiving. Love it!

JaQs Studio is doing a 12 weeks of Christmas Series and on Week 2 made a Holiday Pillow. I would love to have 1/8 of her talent. Wow!!

If you have been featured I would love for you to grab my Feature Button on the right hand side and display it proudly!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Complete Cuteness

I love making clothes especially for cute, adorable niece, McKenna. I was unable to sew a lot for my first daughter (I was working full-time) and now that I have another daughter on the way I am warming up my sewing skills on McKenna. Plus, she is the PERFECT model.

Check out McKenna in her Wofford outfit. This outfit was meant to be for McKenna. The pattern is called "McKenna" plus since she has started wearing it on game day, Wofford Football is 2-0. She is a good luck charm!

A close-up. I love this pattern and Baby Girl will have several of these outfits! (BTW- it is possible to sew when you have 3 kids, right? I am not just fooling myself am I???)
Then of course there is the adorable Minnie Mouse Outfit. Does it get any cuter?

I made this Madras top for McKenna out of left over material from the kids' outfits I made them. She is so fashionable at 9 months.

Last, but not least is the Candy Corn outfit!! Not the best picture but you get the point. I love sewing for my favorite niece!
I Love you, McKenna!!

My sister and McKenna were here for a long weekend and we had the BEST TIME!! I am so lucky to have a sister who is my best friend. We just hung out, laughed, ate really well, and just enjoyed each other's company. Sisters are the best. I love you, Lauren!!

2 is Better Then 1- Minnie Mouse Costumes

2 is always better then 1, especially when it comes to two cute Minnie Mouse Costumes!! Last Friday I told you about how I was able to make my daughter's Halloween Costume for free with the gift of bartering. Now I can share with you both of the Minnie Mouse Costumes.

Two is better then one!!

I didn't get the best picture of the two "Minnie Mouse" because they were to busy watching other people at a Halloween Party we went too. But you get the idea! PRECIOUS!!

People who didn't know us at the party thought they were sisters. It makes me super excited that next Halloween maybe Lawson and Baby Girl will dress up the same or be in coordinating outfits.

McKenna making her debut as Minnie Mouse. Isn't she just ADORABLE???


McKenna and her Mommy (my sister).


Thanks again to my sister for the great barter! It worked out beautifully on both sides and how neat that we could get the two girls together.

Giveaway Winner & Thank You!

Thank you to all that participated in my Gifts from the Heart Party and left a comment with their favorite Homemade gifts they received. Such great ideas! Please take a moment to read the comments they are so sweet.

Now the winner of the Bewitched Kitchen Towels is





Denise @ Junk Dog Designs

Congrats! I will be contacting you to get your information for mailing!!

Have a Blessed Day!

Homemade Minnie Mouse Costumes

I am so excited that this is the first year I have ever attempted and successfully made both of my kids costumes. PLUS, one for my precious niece. What a thrill. The best part for me is it cost me nothing for both my kids costumes. Right now I will just focus on the Minnie Mouse costume. It is a custom beautifully made dress with all brand new material. How did I do it for free?

Bartering...

My daughter heard from her Aunt Lauren she was dressing McKenna (Lawson's cousin) as Minnie Mouse. Lawson was convinced from that moment on that she was also going to be Minnie Mouse. Good bye Princesses (thank goodness!) Then my sister, Lauren, asked me if I would make her McKenna's outfit. Our deal we worked out was I make the dresses she bought the material. It was a win-win for both of us. My sister bought the material from fabric.com had it shipped to me. I had a pattern that I could alter for Lawson and my sister purchased a new pattern for McKenna.

My cost...nothing. It cost me time but when I am working on something special for my kids or my niece it is all a labor of love!

Lawson LOVES her Minnie Mouse Costume.

I currently do not have any pictures of McKenna in her costume but I will by Monday. Yippee!! My sister and McKenna are traveling down here as I type. I can't wait to see them and to get the two Minnie Mouse/Mice together. How cute is that going to be???

Moral of my story...bartering is a beautiful thing when you are on a very tight budget!! Thanks, sister!!

Also, don't forget to link up to my linky party and enter in my giveaway!! End Saturday Oct 23rd at Midnight!

I am sharing this at



Get Your Craft on Thursday at Life as Lori


Creation Corner


Looking for a Creative High Those Northern Skies


Simply Designing


Katie's Nesting Spot


Make it Fantabulous Momma's Kinda Crafty

Gifts From the Heart Party and Giveaway!

Welcome to October's Gifts From The Heart Party!! I hope you have had a wonderful month so far and are getting your Craft On preparing for Halloween. I have been super busy crafting/sewing/painting/decorating with all of this 2nd trimester energy it has been WONDERFUL!!

Now for the linking party....
This month anything goes. I am always looking for inspiration and would love to see EVERYTHING. Halloween crafts, costumes, gifts, recipes show me what you got. I have come to realize that everything we make is because we each have been given a Gift from God!! CREATIVITY!! We each have the gift of creativity how we express is dependant on our skill. This summer I read a wonderful book and participated in a Bible Study called Creative Call. I will post more about this later but it has opened my eyes!! Wonderful Book and Bible Study.

Now for the give away...

Remember my Bewitched Hand Towels. I want one of you to have a set! I love give-aways!!

Here is how to enter...
1. Link to My Party with a project (1 entry)
2. Follow me leave a comment saying you are a follower (1 entry)
3. Leave a separate comment with the best Homemade Gift you have received from someone else. (1 entry)
4. Post about my give away on your blog. Leave a separate comment. (1 entry)

**Only US entries.

Give-away Ends on Saturday Oct 23rd so I can get these in the mail on Monday Oct 25th. I want you to have this for Halloween!!

Thanks for joining my Gifts From the Heart Party. Please go and visit some other bloggers. We all love comments!! They make our day!




Have a Blessed Day!

Boy's Halloween Shirt

Sure there are plenty of $5.00 halloween shirts out there and it could of been over in 15 minutes, but why take the easy road?

I found this $3.50 long sleeve shirt at Wal-mart and thought "this would make a great halloween t-shirt for little guy."



Inspiration- A Jack-o-latern! I drew my pattern straight onto Freezer Paper.



Then cut out the pattern, and ironed it onto a pre-washed shirt.

Then mix the acrylic paint with textile Medium mixing according to the directions.

Slip a cardboard box underneath and paint with a sponge brush.

Pull off slowly when dried. You can reuse this freezer cut out a couple more times if you so desire.

The best parts of making something that is a one-of-a kind shirt? Is seeing your cute little boy wearing it and knowing you made something special just for him!!

Don't forget tomorrow is my Gifts From the Heart Linking Party and Giveaway!! Hope you will join me and continue to join me this week as I show some of my Halloween Projects on a Budget!!

I am sharing this at

Get Your Craft on Thursday at Life as Lori

Creation Corner

Looking for a Creative High Those Northern Skies

Simply Designing

Katie's Nesting Spot

Make it Fantabulous Momma's Kinda Crafty

Crazy Cute Thursday Between You and Me

Halloween Wreath Using the Junk I Own

Don't forget Wednesday Oct 20th is my Gifts from the Heart Linking Party and I am having a give away. Hope to see you there!

This whole week I am going to share with you Halloween Decorations and Costumes I have done for little to NO costs. I hope you will join me and be inspired. Being a crafter does not mean you have to go to the fabric or craft store to make something beautiful think- outside the box!!

I will be the first one to admit I am a pack-rat and normally do not pass over craft/sewing donations. I can't help myself. I might not have a purpose that day, month, or year but at some point I will find a purpose. This weekend I found a purpose for stuff I didn't even know I had until I went digging looking for something else, and stuff that has been stored away for years.

This is what I made....


Take for instance these 3/4" organza ribbon in 24" length. I received two packages of these from my sister who was purging my mother's stuff (she is a pack-rat too.)

I have NO IDEA what this stuff is used for but it is pretty.

I found a fabric hoop, cut the ribbon in half to make 12" strips and wrapped the ribbon around. (not sure where I got this hoop I do not cross-stitch, but I have 4 of them)




One package did exactly half the hoop.

Finish up all the way around. I used both packages. Nice have no waste (or nothing to store)

Then I remembered I had a wooden cut out that my mom gave the kids for Halloween last year to decorate, painted it black and glitterized it.


I added a ribbon to the top, glued the black cat on the wreath and there you go. A new Halloween wreath for ZERO DOLLARS!!


All these items come from 'junk in my trunks.' Haha!! I crack myself up sometimes.

Seriously, I get a natural high making something cute with stuff I possess. I hope you will come back to see what other stuff I have made for next to nothing!

Get it right, Mom!

Last week I posted about my Candy Corn Crafts and how I needed to go out and buy some candy. Well, my pregnant self pretty much went out immediately and bought some. Of course, my kids saw me chowing down on the candy corns and I had to give them some (sometimes I am not the best at sharing my candy.)

As my daughter was eating the candy corns in the den she made the immediate observation that the candy corns go -

YELLOW, ORANGE, WHITE


My cute candy corn pillow goes ORANGE- YELLOW- WHITE. I based this off my BOO Pillow Material but that was not satisfactory for my daughter. What are we going to do???
My daughter (5yrs old) told me "Get it right, mom!" Thanks, kid. See if I am going to share my candy with you next time....

To oblige my daughter's observation I made another Candy Corn Project...in the "right" order.

I first sewed the material together, made a Candy Corn Template and cut out 4 candy corns.

Then I placed it on some batting (this is from Christmas and has glitter on it) You don't see it.

I then sewed the fleece to the candy corn and used my ric-rack scissors to cut around.

Then I hot glued them to some burlap. Now I have a new festive table runner. IN THE RIGHT ORDER.

Kindly placed right in front of her at dinner time so she can see the Candy Corns in the 'right' order.

I am here to please!! Especially, if it doesn't cost me any money!!

Now I think she will leave my incorrect color ordered pillow alone!

4 Projects from 1 Queen Duvet for Toddler Boy's Room

My son's room has been a work-in-progress for over 6 months. When I got started on this project I didn't know I was pregnant. Then when I found out we thought Wesley was going to move rooms and everything stopped. Finally, we decided he was going to stay in his room and it was time to do some MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS!

Unfortunately, most project designs are based on costs. There isn't a whole lot of money these days to splurge on home decor so I had to get REALLY creative. No, this does not make me feel defeated it makes me feel challenged!

How the design started: My mom gave me a queen size duvet that was in her attic. She thought it was my brother-in-law's, but he has never seen it before. Then we thought it was my brother's but he takes no claim to it. So I am not sure how she got it but she was ready to get rid of it. "Just call me Jimmy and I will take what you gimme." Is my motto. It was the perfect start to Wesley's new room.

Wesley's new bedding today...

Project # 1 Downsize Queen Duvet to Twin Size

First I ripped out all of the trim on one size of the duvet a little past where I thought the twin comforter would lay.

Then I laid out an existing twin size comforter on the duvet and cut leaving a 1/2" seam allowance. Sewed back together with trim removing any extra and turning under at the top. (Really technical stuff here!!)

Once all sewed up, stuff with an existing twin comforter and you have a resized duvet. Perfect for my little guy.

Resized Queen Duvet to Twin Duvet = $0.00

That left me 2 strips of material (front and back of duvet.) At this point I thought I was going to make a sham but I decided 2 Valances would be best.

Project # 2 Valance
To get the most of the pattern I put the stripes in the middle and the solids on the sides. I was able to make 2 of these (Only one shown). I really like this design. Simple, straight and to the point. I used old sheets for the lining.

Valance cost $0.00

Project #3 Appliqued Pillow Sham

There wasn't enough material for a pillow sham but I was lucky enough to have navy twin sheet, Martha Stewart sheet still in the package (does Martha Stewart still have home goods at Kmart?), from a project I never got to approximately 7 years ago.

I washed the sheet, made a pillow sham (based on another pillow sham) and then for decoration I used the stripe material and appliqued a 'W' on it.

Pillow Sham- $0.00

Project #4 Bed Skirt

I am not sure where this twin bed skirt came from but it was in my linen closet and it was perfect for my intentions. (Have you picked up that I don't throw out much and collect a lot of stuff?? My husband loves this trait of mine, haha!!) I thought about leaving it plain but I am just not like that. I had just enough denim stripes (pieced together) to wrap 1/2 of the skirt.

Truth- if we have to move Wesley's bed for any reason the stripe is NOT on the other side so we would have to find another bed skirt. Oh well, that is a problem when we move the bed, not for today (just call me Scarlet O'Hara)

Decorated Bed skirt- $0.00

That leaves me with only these scraps. No, I will not throw these away- who knows what marvelous fabulous idea I will come up with next.

Recap: I got a twin duvet, 2 valances, appliqued a pillow sham and decorated a bed skirt all for $0.00 from recycling a Queen Duvet. I would say that is pretty good for my VERY TIGHT BUDGET.

More on decorating Wesley's Toddler room on a budget coming soon.