Bella's Halloween/Fall Bandana

I'm a little late on posting this, but I made Bella (my dog) a Halloween/Fall bandana.

I found a couple of different ideas on Pinterest and kind of combined a couple of them and tweaked them to my liking to suit Bella and how I wanted the bandana to work and look.

The bandana is very simple and does not tie around her neck, it actually slides unto her collar.

It is wonderful because she does not pay in any mind at all.

I did do a seam all the way around so that it would be machine-washable.

I didn't want it to just be plain polka dots, so I added a cut out a pumpkin design from felt and hand-stitched it on!

Bella has gotten lots of compliments on her bandana on our walks outside!

The main idea site off of Pinterest that I used for inspiration was: 

http://www.craftycritique.com/2011/06/tutorial-slide-on-dog-collar-bandana.html?m=1

Felt Bookmarks

What goes great with a book club?

How about cute handmade bookmarks?!

I made these for the ladies that are starting a book club with me!

I hand drew a pattern for the lips.

I used a mustache pattern from Scraptastical Kreations' KISS This and That set

(www.scraptasticalkreations.com)

I traced each pattern onto felt.

I then simply cut the felt out.

Using permanent makers, I drew a few accents on each bookmark.

I then cut coordinating ribbon.

Using my sewing machine, I sewed the ribbon into place on the bookmarks.

Can't wait to give these out at book club!

Bag Holders

I have recently begun to learn how to use my sewing machine.

I found a tutorial online of how to make a a plastic bag holder out of a hand towel.

I would link back to the tutorial, but the link that I saved is now saying it is no longer available.

The Dollar Tree near my house usually has cute dish towels.

My kitchen theme is coffee, so I bought a coffee one for me.

My Mom likes coffee, so I also got a coffee one for her.

My boyfriend's parents like wine, so I picked up a wine one for them.

I started by measuring the length of the short end of the towels.

I then took 3/4 of that and cut that amount of elastic twice - one for top and one for bottom.

I then pinned the elastic where I wanted it on the towel, about one inch from the seam.

I pulled the elastic tight while sewing with my machine.

After sewing the elastic on both sides I pinned the towel inside out so that I could sew a seam.

I sewed the seam and turned the towel right side out.

I then found matching ribbon, made a loop, and sewed it to the top.

Ta da, I had a bag holder!

Sock Monkey

My older brother threw a hint at me a couple of months ago.

He mentioned that he had never had a sock monkey before.

Michael loves monkeys.

So I knew right then that I had to make him a sock monkey for Christmas!

This was going to be my first project ever using my sewing machine!

I got the pattern and pair of socks from my boyfriend's mom, 

who is amazing at sewing!

I was so excited to start working on the sock monkey!

After playing around with my sewing machine I felt confident enough to begin the sock monkey!

I was so excited when I got the two legs done!

My first sewing project was coming to life!

I am very pleased with how the sock monkey turned out!

And I must say, I am in love with using my sewing machine!!

Superman Pillow

This year I racked and racked my brain trying to figure out 

what to make for my younger brother for Christmas.

After much browsing on Pinterest and through my craft books,

I still didn't have any idea.

I knew that he liked Superman, Cowboys, Tarheels, and frogs.

I couldn't think of anything to do with Cowboys or Tarheels

and I had already made him several frog items.

Finally, between brainstorming with my boyfriend and Mom,

we came up with the idea of a Superman pillow!

Well, I am new to using my sewing machine and don't have a lot of material.

I have quite a bit of felt so I decided to make his pillow out of felt.

And so the process began..

I cut out the diamond shape on yellow then on red.

I hand drew the Superman emblem with maker onto the felt.

I then cut out the emblem out.

I hand used black permanent marker to go around the edges of the logo and add depth.

I used black embroidery hread to hand sew the logo.

I used yellow to hand sew the logo onto the blue of the pillow.

I then used my sewing machine to sew the pillow together and then stuffed!

I love the way it turned out!!