This post contains affiliate Links. I will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. All views expressed are my own. Thank you for your support. Fancy journals that make you want to crack them open and write your inner most thoughts can be pricey. If you are a prolific writer of journals, crafting your own journal might be a fun option.
My creative granddaughter is always on board when it comes to doing a new craft or activity. I had been toying with the idea of creating journals using inexpensive composition books for awhile and when I mentioned the idea to Jayda, she was all in!
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This post contains affiliate links. We will be compensated for purchases you make at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support! Christmas isn't Christmas for me unless some of the gifts and décor are handmade my me! Even though I have so many tubs of Christmas decorations that my husband drags out of the shed for me every year, I always find and make items to add to my collection. I usually remember and look forward to some of my special items that hold the best memories for me year after year. (Which reminds me that I'm pretty sure that one of the tubs is missing! I need to find it!)
This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking them, we will be compensated, but there is no additional cost to you. All opinions expressed are our own. Thank you for your support. I like to check out Dollar Tree when their new seasonal items come out. I recently went in to see their new Fall items and found some cute stuff! One of my favorite little items were these little pie shaped clips that I think would make great bookmarks for a cookbook. Back in the 80s, I used to do a lot of Tole Painting. I still get the bug to pull out my paints and do some decorative painting. This little project was perfect because it was small, quick and still let me practice my comma strokes and side-loading! Here are the paint colors I used:
If you don't own a million bottles of acrylic paint already, like I do, Dollar Tree has a selection of paints as well. Or, you can order some on Amazon here. Why I Love These Little Clips When I use a recipe from a cookbook, I find myself always having to weigh the page open with something so I don't lose the page if the cookbook isn't spiral bound. A little clip like this can really help with that issue. Even if it isn't heavy enough to keep the book open constantly, you can clip the page so it is easy to open again. This picture shows the clip holding open the printed copy of our new eBook, Jam in 3 Winks! It would be even cuter with our eBook called For the Love of Pie! Combine it with a little pie, the cookbook and the bookmark. Or for the jam book, with a jar of jam and the cookbook! There you go! Christmas gifts complete. Except, you need to paint the bookmark clips. The handmade touch is always great when giving a gift. Besides the pies, Dollar Tree also has trucks full of pumpkins, leaves and pumpkin clips. All of them would be so much fun to paint. For a group activity, you can order them online in bulk, or go find them at your local Dollar Tree.
This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. All views expressed are my own. Thank you for your support!
Last week I gave you some ideas for Mother's Day gifts. One of the items was a harvest apron that you can order from Amazon. But, I knew that I could easily make one and it would look a lot cuter! So, I dug into my fabric stash and found some fabric that I thought would be perfect for my apron. Then, I figured out what I needed to do to make it and now I am passing it on to you!
If you look at the picture above, the blue floral print and the pink with the tiny bees are the fabrics I chose. You can be matchy-matchy if you would like, but I thought for working out in my garden, these two fabrics would be perfect and it was going to be fun to break the rules. One fun thing about this apron is that it is reversible so you can switch it up when you want to, plus, of course, it is washable!
The yellow apron above is the one I made for Alicia after I figured out what I was doing on my first one. There were a few minor changes, and as I continue telling you how I did things, you may see pictures of my apron or hers.
I purchased her yellow fabric at Walmart! I stayed with the bee theme and then decided on the coordinating fabric that reminded me of honeycomb. I couldn't find it on the website, but it is $4.44 per yard in the store. I bought 3/4 of a yard of the honeycomb fabric and the bee fabric came precut as a yard. I have enough left to make another apron, maybe just slightly shorter to give me enough fabric for the ties.
Begin by cutting both of your fabrics in half down the crease. Put one half of the fabric away for a future apron or other use. The length of the fabric should be about 27 inches if you bought 3/4ths of a yard. If you have a longer length of fabric, cut it to that length. The width at this point should be about 22 inches, especially if you cut away the salvage edge.
There are multiple ways that you can attach the ties. On my apron, I made the front a little wider and gathered it slightly to add the ties. Then, I used leftover fabric that I had cut away and pieced together the ties and waistband. On Alicia's apron, I decided that it was nicer to have a flat front apron, so I didn't gather it. I also simply cut three 3 inch pieces of fabric and put them together to form the waistband and ties. You could also just cut one long piece to form the waistband and ties all in one piece. I'm always trying to conserve fabric and use the last bits, that is why I cut the three pieces. You could also make your waistband wider that I did. It is all up to you, there are no rules.
Now that your pieces are all cut and the main body of the apron is pinned together, begin stitching it around. Start at the top side, taking a 1/2 inch seam and sew down until 1-1/4 inches from the bottom. Stop and then turn the apron and sew the seam along the bottom. Turn, skip 3/4 of an inch and then sew all of the way back to the top. Do not stitch across the top. Trim your seam to 1/4 inch wide
The reason you left a gap at the bottom is because you will be making a casing down there for your elastic to go through.
Flip the apron right side out. Press the seams all around to make the apron flat.
Find the holes that you left when you were sewing. Make sure that the seam is tucked in and that the opening is 3/4 of an inch. From the top of the first opening, sew straight across the apron, 3/4 of an inch from the bottom. This forms the casing.
Before we put in the elastic, let's put on the waistband. If you have cut your waistband in sections, first sew them together into a long piece. Next, iron down your seam. Now, whether you pieced your waistband or not, iron down 1/4 of an inch on one of the long sides and on the 2 ends.
After you stitch on the waistband, fold it up and press it, the fold it over to cover the raw edges. This will also fold the tie ends over, hiding all raw edges. Stitch close to the edge of the fold from one end of a tie end, along the waistband to the other end of the tie end. This will work best if you press it all over first, pin and then stitch.
Cut a piece of 1/2 inch elastic about 20 inches long. Use a safety pin to thread the elastic through the casing. Leave a 1 inch tail sticking out at both ends and stitch the casing ends closed, sewing the elastic into the seam. Trim the elastic even with the apron fabric.
Fold up the fabric 10 inches to form the pocket. Pin it in place, stretching the elastic a bit if needed. Stitch in place close to the edge.
Other Really Cute Fabric Choices!
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Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
Author
Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
April 2024
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