Honor and Remember

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

"On December 29, 2005, George Anthony Lutz II (Tony) was killed by a sniper’s bullet while he was on patrol in Fallujah, Iraq. His family and friends endured the shock, emotional agony and overwhelming loss that accompanied the news of Tony’s death, just like the many families who have suffered the same tragedy.

In the months that followed Tony’s funeral, his father, George, visited other families who had lost loved ones in the Iraq war. He began to sense that he had joined the ranks of a unique fellowship. These families were only the latest additions to a group that originated with the American Revolution, when the first soldiers to shed their blood for our freedom gave their lives.

George found another commonality among the families of fallen soldiers. After their grief had transitioned to numbness and finally to acceptance, many families wanted to know two things: their sacrifice was not in vain and the nation would never forget. These concerns led George on a quest to discover if there was a universally recognized symbol that specifically acknowledges the American service men and women who never made it home. To his surprise, he found nothing. Thus the Honor and Remember Flag was conceived."
excerpt from the Honor and Remember Origins page

Both my husband and I are were honored to know Tony Lutz and his family. Please take a moment to visit the Honor and Remember website and sign the petition to establish this flag as a national emblem to remind of everyone of the daily sacrifice made by the members of the military and the lives lost.

Today I honor and remember all who have served in the military and all who have given their lives for this country. Thank you. Thank you to all the family members and loved ones who supported them and sacrificed as well. I appreciate you. From our military family to yours.

God Bless America.

In The Spotlight

It's about time I did a spotlight post, don't you think? Let's see some of the pretty things you all have been making using Happy Together Tutorials.

Remember the Rag Bag? Look how cute this one is by Terri at Felting Lessons. Have you all seen the new purse on the Anthropologie website that has the fabric scraps but they are shorter? That would be cute to do as well.

Sunshine Mama created these bracelets using the hoop earring tutorial. She also did a bracelet with pleated fabric which is super cute! She shares her tutorial on how to do that here.

A super cute t-shirt dress by Lille Mor. I just adore stripes. Tutorial used here.

Katherine at Classic Campbell made an adorable Congratulations bunting using the Rag Quilt Letters Tutorial. Perfect for a party!

Did you make something using a Happy Together Tutorial? Share your creation in the Flickr group. Please make sure it is sharable if you want a chance for it to be In the Spotlight.

If you have been featured on my blog or In the Spotlight, feel free to grab a button from the side if you like :)

Anthro Refashion Tutorial: The Esplanade Halter Top

I am just adoring all the things that Anthropologie has out right now. I went to their store this morning to look around and I saw so much I would buy if I could! But, I was inspired to make some refashions that mimic the look which makes me happy :)

Here is the first tutorial for an Anthro Refashion that I was inspired to do. It is based on the Esplanade Halter Top. Oh, and this is another goal for the summer: Make more clothing for myself!

What you need:
-A knit shirt or tank top to use
-Fabric for neck and bow
-Scissors and stuff needed to sew with


Grab yourself a knit shirt or tank top you want to use (A). A tank top would be the easiest to cut, but I found this top at Kohl's on clearance for two dollars and knew it was perfect for this.

Next you want to cut it into a tank top if you have a shirt (B). Leave some extra around the sides to be folded over to create finished edges. Also, I had to cut the front two sides shorter than I originally did in picture B. See in picture E how much shorter I cut them?

Fold the side edges inward over a little bit and sew (C). Then fold over inward one more time and sew again (D).

Measure across the front strap and right down measurement (E). Try the shirt on and measure how far from top of one strap, around your neck, and all the way to the other top strap. Write measurement down as well. This is how you will determine what size to make the fabric neck piece. The width of the strap on mine was 3 inches, so I doubled the size and added a 1/4" seam allowance to each side. Then the length from the tops of the straps and around my neck was 19.5". So I added 1/2" to allow a seam allowance on both end. My fabric piece I cut was 6.5" wide by 20" long. (The fabric I used was this silky like stuff I had in my stash)

Now take your piece of fabric and fold it in half short ways right sides together. Sew down the long side creating a tube (F). Then turn right side out and iron.

Find the center of the fabric piece and line it up to the center back of the shirt. Pin right sides facing (G). Then sew it in place.

I turned the shirt inside out for the next part. Then match the ends of the fabric to the front straps, right sides facing. Pin and sew in place (H).

Scrunch down the back of the neck and sew over (I).

To create the bow I just cut a piece of fabric 32"x6". Then I folded in half short ways, right sides facing, and sewed down the long side. I then turned right side out and ironed. I turned the the ends in at each end of the tube and sewed the openings shut. Then I tied a bow from it and hand sewed it in place. I suggest trying the shirt on and determining where you want the bow to go. It might look funny if not in the right place.

*If you want to do the front with the buttons, I would suggest shirring down the middle and sewing a strip of fabric over it. Then sew on buttons. You could also shirr down the middle of the back to create the back look of the halter top. If the shirring doesn't work, just baste down the middle, scrunch the fabric by pulling the thread that came from the bobbin, and then sewing over it to secure the fabric in place.

Summer Goals-Listed-2 Down

This week has been an interesting one. We had people here putting a new roof on and it has been super loud! They would promptly arrive at 8:30 and work until 7:30 at night. Needless to say, the little one and I tried to escape the house as much as possible so we could avoid all the banging. This left little time to craft, but I did use my nights of quiet to began to work towards some of my summer goals.

One of the first things I did was wrap all of my yarn into balls. I have wanted to do this for a long time and I love how they look! My hubby bought me some new "craft" furniture from a store that was going out of business, so I've been trying to organize things before it's arrival. I'm trying to go for a new look.

My list of things to do this summer is going to take a lot, but I'm determined to finish up all these things I've had sitting around or planning to do. I just need to do it and be smart with the time I have when my daughter naps, etc.

Another thing I did was finally put all of our books in order by color. This is only two of the shelves, but I just adore this look! I have seen so many others do it and I knew it was something I wanted to try. Do you have plans for reaching your summer goals?

*The Scrappy Bee Pattern Winners*

The two randomly picked numbers are.....

#33 Bree
&
#101 Alex Cale

Please send me your emails so I can get your pattern to you :)

For everyone else, the pattern is up in the shop if you would like to purchase one.

The Scrappy Bee Pattern Giveaway!!!! -CLOSED-

I did it! I made my lazy self finish this one up (now to finish the other ones....). This is a pattern for a softie I created a few years ago actually. I made them for a craft show. The pink one found a home, but the blue one did not and was sitting in my closet. A few weeks ago, while in the closet I found him and my daughter was drawn to him like a magnet to the fridge. He became her new cuddly.

After seeing her intense love for the bee, I knew I had to create a pattern so I could make her more (the original ones were free styled). Thus The Scrappy Bee Pattern came into existence. Now you can make one too!

These are the three I made with the pattern and guess what? My daughter immediately fell in love with them also! They sleep in her bed every nap and bed time. She takes them to the store. She takes them to the zoo. Everywhere!

They are really cute though and each has their own personality.

This one is our little honey bee. He has a sweet tooth just like my daughter.

This one likes to buzz around outside and enjoy the sun.

This one is the smart one. She's a spelling bee.

And lastly, this little pretty bee likes to find her way into my makeup.

Wonder what type of personality the ones you might make will have? Check out the ones my pattern testers did:

From Corey of "Living and Loving Every Minute of It"
From Melissa of "Overwhelmed by His Blessings" & Etsy Shop: Jonah Bonah

About the pattern:
It comes in a PDF format that is emailed. It is full of pictures to go along with the instructions for those who are visual learners :). The pattern and instructions print out on regular sized printer paper scaled and ready to go. It includes a few different ways to make the antennae (crocheted, felt, etc.). The idea is to use scraps of your fabric to create the body and the arms, legs, wings, and head use small pieces of fabric as well. When finished the bee is 19 inches from top of it's head to the bottom of the legs.

Now for the GIVEAWAY.......... CLOSED NOW

Just leave ONE comment before midnight May 23, 2010 EST for your chance to win!

Pattern will be for sale in the shop as soon as I post a winner on May 24.

Knotted, Trimmed, Crocheted, and Wrapped Earrings Tutorial

Have some of these?

Well, did you know that you can totally customize them for yourself?

It's so much better to have things that make you stand out in a good way because no one else has them.

You get to put your own personality into it. Your favorite colors. Your favorite yarn. And the list goes on and on.

It's really easy to do and looks cute too. See?

I have totally been rockin' these since I made them. I go through a love/hate relationship with hoop earrings, but right now I'm in the love phase.

Here is how to cover them in thread by knotting. You will need thread (or you could use yarn) and a hot glue gun.

a. Cut a long piece of embroidery thread place the middle of the strand underneath the earring. Make a knot.

b. You can hook the earring onto something like your shoe to help hold it in place if you like. I also stuck it in between my knees to help.

c. After the first knot is made, one strand will be to the right and one to the left.
d. Take the piece on the left side and slip it under the earring to the right side. Then take the original piece on the right and slip it under the earring to the left side.
e. Now the strands look like they are coming from underneath.
f. Tie a knot.

Continue repeating d-f a few more times. Then, dab some hot glue on the end of the hoop where you started knotting. Slip the first few knots over it to help secure it. Then continue on with knotting until you completely cover the hoop. End by dabbing a small amount of hot glue on the end and putting the knots over it. Cut the ends off and dab a bit of glue over that spot where you cut them.

*You can change the color as well to create a striped look. Just simply take a new color and knot it where you did the last knot, but making sure to knot over the previous colors strands. Knot over the other color a few time them trim them. You can also do this if you run out of thread and need to add more.

For these, just grab a crochet hook and yarn of your choice. The size of your hook and yarn will determine the final look.

a. Yarn over hook.

b. Place hoop over yarn by hook.
c. Yarn over hook (I grabbed the little strand as well to cover it up)
d. Pull top loop (or in my case, two loops) under bottom loop.
e. Place crochet hook under hoop.
f. Yarn over hook and pull back under hoop. Now you should have two loops (in my case three because I was still using the small beginning strand too, but it ran out soon and I clipped it off). Pull the top loop under the bottom loop.

Repeat e-f until covered.

*After crocheting over the hoop a few times, I dabbed some hot glue at the end of the hoop where I began and put the yarn over it to secure it. Do this again at the end. If the yarn ends are sticking out (like below), glue them down too. I kind of wrapped mine a bit then glued them.

You can easily add a trim to the earrings as well. Here I just hot glued on a mini pom-pom trim. You could glue some pretty ribbon on or whatever you might have in your stash.

And, how easy to use up some leftover fabric than this? Just cut some skinny strips of fabric to begin with. Then hot glue the end of it at one end and start wrapping the fabric around. Continue placing hot glue on hoop to help hold the fabric in place.

Have fun! Feel free to share you creations you make using this tutorial in the flickr group.

Fun with Family

While I'm getting myself back into the swing of things, I wanted to share a few pictures from our trip.

The first thing we did was attend a graduation party for one of my husband's younger brothers (in pic above).

He's headed to med school this fall! We didn't tell anyone but my husband's mom we were coming, so it was a fun surprise!

Then of course we celebrated Mother's Day with both sides of the family.

Took the little one to the aquarium.

And played some golf in grandpa's back yard.

It was fun and I'm glad we were able to make it up there. I look forward to going back again this summer.