19 Days of Homemade Gifts ~ Day 2 ~ Silent Night, Holy Night Pillows

 

  I want to share an easy craft project with you this morning.  It is a great way to add a little Christmas cheer to your home or share with a friend as a gift.

 

 
 

I made two pillow covers for pillows that I already have on my sofa.  If you do not sew you can do this same thing to  store bought pillows for friends.

 

Then I used this product

I bought mine from an office supply store.

I printed the words Silent Night and Holy Night onto these transfer pages and  trimmed around the words and ironed them onto my fabric.  The hardest part is you need a mirror image of words (print them backwards).

It is a very easy way to add a festive touch to my sofa and now each time I see them I am reminded of that wonderful night and all that Christmas is really about.

Charity

Day 1 ~ Salt Dough Ornaments
Day 2 ~ Silent Night, Holy Night Pillow
Day 3 ~ Sentimental Penny Keychain
Day 4 ~ Cookie Sheet Chalkboard
Day 5 ~ Duct Tape Composition Notebook
Day 6 ~ Bible Bookmark
Day 7 ~ Bible Notebook

The Heartfelt Home Shop, week 2

Each week I am going to be highlighting an item from my shop and running a sale on that item for my readers, my way of saying

Thank You

for all the suport you give me.

This week item is a

Bible Memory Verse Pillow Cover

It is on sale this week for you ladies for

$15

Our Homeschool Room

Well Lovelies

it is that time of year again,

the time where we are gearing up for another school year.

I thought I would give you a look at our

School Room

so you would know where our days will be spent.

This is our school desk, we built it ourselves.

If you are interested in seeing the process you can go here, here, and here

My favorite school supply to open each year is a new box of crayons

What is you favorite new school supply?

A few of the books the girls will be reading this year.

My supply side

Can you tell I have a love of buttons?

The best part of our mantel this Summer has been the sweet little birds nest we found.

The basket on top has all of our read aloud books and our Bible study and the vintage suitcases (from my childhood) store some of my sewing supplies.

You can tell I get in and out of the the bottom one often, I wish I had closed the latches.

The vintage picnic baskets have the girls sewing supplies in them.

I wish I could show the other wall with a pretty camel back sofa, but the sofa is sitting in the basement....

waiting... waiting.. on me to get the nerve up to either try to recover it myself or pay someone else to do it.

Maybe next year, ha.

Teaching Girls to Sew, Girl's World

My girls have been wanting to learn how to sew, but it seems like life is always far to busy for me to make the time to teach them. 

 This Summer I have decided to make time!!!! 

 A few weeks ago I was lost on a rabbit trail in blog land (do you ever find yourself there?) and came upon a review of a book called Girl's World: Twenty-One Sewing Projects to Make for Little Girls .  Well I was hooked, I became a stalker extraordinaire

I ordered two of the books (more on that at the end of the post)

I followed the author Jennifer Paganelli on twitter @SisBoom

I bookmarked her website Sisboom

I liked her on Facebook

and I drooled over her fabric line

I took my girls and had the books signed 

During all of this stalking I found a kindred spirit, a "girl's girl".  Every item in the book has been bookmarked by my girls as a project they want to do, and I knew I was head over heels for Jennifer when I read this line from the introduction of her book

"These handmade items create opportunities for lasting memories-a tea party with favorite stuffed animals, getting dizzy twirling around in a ballet skirt, picnicking on a pretty handmade quilt.  It's a joy to sew for your little girl knowing that the love you put into that stuffed animal, ballet skirt, or quilt will make those memories even more cherished."

This "girl's girl" gets me and why I do what I do.

You want to know something else?

She nice, like really nice.....

We have chatted back and forth on twitter, she has sent me some fabric to try and she spoiled my girls right up.

Don't you love it when a person is as pretty as there work? 

 I know I do!

On the ride home after the book signing my youngest, Faith, had this to say

"Mommy you know this is going to make you a better Mommy and us better kids"

I asked her how so and she said

" You know because we are going to have extra time together and we will always remember what we made together"

Yes, I melted!

Then both girls talked with great excitement about each item in the book and what they wanted theirs to look like.

We came home and got busy working on our first project.

And today we have our first finished project!

It is our version or the Chloe Paper Doll Overnight Bag

We made ours wide instead of tall because the girls wanted to be able to get their stuff in and out easily. To decorate the front we copied a vintage pattern onto fabric and the embellished it.

The girls are very proud of themselves and in love with their bags.

Here is the fun part, I have an extra book signed just for one of you!  

Here is what you need to do to have your name put into hat:

1. leave a comment

2. follow my blog

3. follow me on twitter

4. like Sit Relax and Read on facebook

5. favorite my etsy shop Cha Cha's Treasure

6. like Cha Cha's Treasure on facebook

Leave a comment for each that you do along with your email address and on July 1st I will draw a winner.

I am linking at The Shabby Chic Cottage

Tatertots and Jello

Fingerprints on the Fridge

Remodelaholic

Between Naps on the Porch

A Year Ago

Today

I have much to do.

Much excitment is stirring in our home.

The girls have dance recital tonight, this is Graceful's 8th recital and Faithful's 5th, they have spent lots of time practicing this week and are ready.  I can't wait to see them up on the stage, I am so proud of how hard they have worked.

Also

 today I am packing, no not for a trip but for the Woodstock Outdoor Market and Show.

For the first time ever I am going to stand in a booth and let the world see my products (heart).  I am nervous and excited.  This dream all started one night about a year ago.  I was laying in bed and suddenly a thought came into my head, completely different from what I had been thinking about.  I remember raising my head up and saying, "God if this is for real I want to remember this moment.  I tried to sear the the moment into my head.  The thought was about making pillows with a pocket to keep Bible verses in, thus the begining of

Bible Memory Verse Pillows

In the begining I only told a few trusted friends, friends who would not steal my idea (fear is not good, God is teaching all kinds of lessons on this topic) and would be honest and tell me if they thought it was a good idea.  I had about 6 people telling me I should go for it when I started sewing.  The first "models" were not a go, so I scrapped them and started over.  I came with an idea the was cute and easy to reproduce.  I had about 20 made before I got the nerve to take pictures and put them in Cha Cha's Treasure (my Etsy shop). Today I have close to 100 made and I am ready to shout from the roof tops about them.  God has been so good during this process, He has encouraged me, let me feel rested when I have not slept, taught me to trust Him, helped me learn to turn my fear over to Him, but most of all He has given me back the ablity to DREAM.

I had lost this somewhere along the way in life, day to day life had stolen some of if, fear the rest. 

Today

my dream (His really)

is a reality.

I stand in awe.

I can't wait to check back in on Monday and tell you sweet friends how every thing went.  Thank you for alway encouraging me.

Horse Tee Shirt Tutorial

Hi

Sweet friends!

Today I thought I would share how I made my daughter a horse tee shirt for her "Fancy Country Birthday Party".  She was determined to wear a horse shirt (we had about 10 already, but with this girl you can NOT have too many).  I could not find one in the stores that had the look she wanted for the party.  So what's a Momma to do????????

Get busy making it of course, so that is what I did.

1. I found an outline of a horse that I liked and sized to fit the shirt.

2. Ironed my fabric onto Thermoweb Heat'n Bond Ultra Hold Iron-On Adhesive-17"X10 Yards

3. Traced the horse onto the backside of the Heat n Bond

4. Cut out horse

5.Took picture of my girlie holding the cut out horse

(you can skip this step)

6. Figured out the placement of the horse

7. Peeled off the paper backing left from ironing on the Heat n Bond

8.  Ironed on the horseonto the shirt

9. Stitched around the horse with my new sewing machine

10. Then we were ready to party!!!!

I love this project because it is super easy and you can make something personal for the people you love,

hope you enjoyed.

I am Linking to these great parties

This Blessed Nest - Spring Fling

The Shabby Chic Cottage - Transformation Thursday

Tatertots and Jello - Weekend Wrapup Party

Do forget to enter the giveaway for a Bible Memory Verse Pillow Cover

*I have turned off comments on this post for Lent, if you have any questions you can email me at jjones523@gmail.com or we can chat on Facebook

Happy Birthday To Me

I am so excited,

Look what I got today.

I can't wait to show you what I am working on

                                 Brother CE5500 Computerized Sewing Machine Refurbished

                                                                       

I hope to have some exciting news to share with you late next week, finger crossed that all goes well.

**For Lent I have turned my comments off for 40 days,  If you have any questions feel free to email me at jjones523@gmail.com or we can chat on Facebook if you need more information**

Spring Tablecloth

Here we are at week two of my kitchen nook update.  Do you remember what it looked like before last week?

You can read about the first step:  My Kitchen Plate Wall here.

For this week I wanted to add a fun tablecloth.  As luck would have it I found the perfect fabric in Walmart last week.  I grabbed it up before anyone else could get their hands on in.  I came home and got busy sewing and this is what I came up with

I hope to have time to write a tutorial about how I made it next week.

I am linking this post at Kellie's Spring Fling,

Gina's Transformation Thursday and

Jen's Weekend-Wrap-Up-Party

Hope to see you back here for next weeks update

** I have turned off my comments for 40 days to prepare for Lent, you can read about it here.  If you have any questions you can email me a jjones523@gmail.com**

Granny Sweater Makeover

Okay, lovelies this will be long and rambling but stick with me.

I found a new favorite blog last month Grosgrain Fabulous.  It is a fabulous blog written by an amazing woman,

Kathleen

I have spent hours going through page after page of her blog.
I love it and it has reminded me how much I once loved sewing clothing.

There was a time,

a time.......

when I enjoyed sewing so much that I had offered to make my friends wedding dress.

I didn't make it but that is a story for another day.

But just know I loved it.

Last Summer I tried a few shirt makeovers (here and here), they were lots of fun to do.
But after reading Grosgrain and looking at all the beautiful thing she has made,
I am sold.
I can't wait to do more.

Okay enough of my rambling,

on with the good stuff.

1. go to thrift store and find a sweater to make over and another 100% wool sweater to felt.

this is my boxy granny sweater

2. put sweater on inside out and pin to fit

3. mark sweater where you pinned to get a smoother line

4. re pin neatly to sew

5. sew along line, remove pins

6. this was the first time I got nervous while doing this, cut on the outside of were you have sewn

checkout the difference already

See the difference between the sides

7. Fold the sweater in half and mark the other side to match the side you have done

pin and repeat all the steps above

Much better fit, you could stop here.  But where is the fun in that

8. use a shirt you like the neckline of and mark the sweater

9. Pin front and back together, hold your breath, say a prayer and cut

Oh Thank Goodness it worked

10. Pin a ribbon onto where you cut the neckline, leaving enough room to fold over half to the other side when it is time

(I would use a wider ribbon, this is all I had and we were snowed in. So I made do)

Here is what it will look like pinned

11. Sew ribbon on

12. fold ribbon over to other side and sew

 this neckline much better, and yes I know there is a button missing

13. Turn a 100% wool sweater into felt by washing in hot water and drying,

This was a woman's sweater before felting

14. Make a template for you design

and cut and cut and cut and then cut more

15. Pin "leaves" were you want them sew them on.

Sorry I lost the photo of me sewing them on

There you have it my made over Granny Sweater

My favorite part is the back.

So.....

Do you like my Granny Sweater?

Have you ever done anything like this?

See you later,