Ruffle Tie Pillow!

Ruffles are in.
Ties are in.
Pillows too.
So-- I combined all three!

I recently acquired a surplus of TIES and thought about what I should do with them. Aside from selling a bunch on Etsy.. I still have some to craft with.
I probably chose a tie that was too thick for its own good.. and maybe the idea sounded better in my head. Oh well. It's done. and may show up in my shop in the next few days.

Started out with a tie. A pretty tie, actually a VERY pretty tie. (and thick). Anyhow and 2 pieces of fabric.. probably 10x8.. or so.

Then i went to town pinning down the ruffles ..

Pinning some more..

then sewed..
in a spiral shape of sorts..

And for extra support (or to hold the tie to the fabric.. ) I went all around and sewed a few stiches. back stiched.. and repeated.. (then snipped all of the excess string

Next, I sewed  the backing on. It looks fat, right? Because the ruffled tie is inside!
So flip. when you're done, but leave plenty of space for flipping, remember there is a bunched up tie inside!

Then for accessories, I chose 3 buttons. Gold buttons. :) of faux gold anyhow.

Hand stitched by yours truly.

Stuffed it with some left over stuffing.

Stitch it together, oh, so carefully (try to make it look invisible!)

And. Viola! It's done :)

See, it's pretty small. but next to some brown pillows.. or white. or gold. It makes a fun accent pillow.


and. when I finished the mail man arrived. In it was my "Disney" --not the channel-- jewelry kit.. and ring!!!

(I got the dark brown wire.. and LOVE it!!)

:). If you want anything from her site she's got a 50% off sale now!! So go check out joymadejewelry.etsy.com/ and snatch up some awesome deals!!!

enjoy.


Joji

Graduation: Party planning -- Making the favors!

So graduation is coming. In 5 weeks I'll be crossing the stage, receiving my diploma. It's been a long road, but at the age of 19, getting a bachelors degree is quite an amazing testimony to God's grace and provision.

- We wanna celebrate. Along with 3 friends, we're gonna paint the park red.. or vintage, or something and celebrate with loved ones-- friends and family from across the states!

Our theme is Brown paper/ and summer/spring colors.

--if anyone has sweet ideas, please let me know! We have some things in store :) Pendants galore. Fun memories from school. Pictures. Life. And sharing what God's done in our lives through these years!!

For the favors, we took scrapbooking paper. and LOTS of it-- to make envelop packets.. I think we made the pieces something like 4x6? maybe larger, maybe smaller. depends on what you wanna do!
Folded them all in half
and made little card stock cards with a grad cap -- saying Thanks :)

Then we combined the two! by Sewing :)-- we sewed around the perimeter and left about 1-1.5 inches open so we can fill them with sweets!

Finished they look like:

(we're not putting in the sweets til closer to the party but when they're full we'll clothes pin them to a metal grid :)

multiply that by like 150 and you've got our project! 

It's done. It took an evening and a morning.. not too bad for some personalized favors.. (unfortunately they'll probably be ripped up in no time by hungry little ones..)

Oh well! They're super cute :)

Next: working on the invites!!

**thanks to Linz for helping with this project!! you rock.

-Joji

Repurposed: Mens dress shirt to an Apron!

I saw an idea for this in a magazine and fell in love. Yet I don't really have a reason to make yet ANOTHER apron for our home.. so when I saw the idea, i thought of a blogger friend. So, late one Saturday I found myself making this rather than getting the college homework done.. this is way more fun!
I decided to make it a tutorial after I started. and it was late. so forgive me :).

Start off with a button-up shirt. The ideal size would be large so that you have enough space to work with
flatten both front and back and use pins to keep the two layers stationary when cutting.
Then cut up the sides to make the apron shape, angling the top and then cutting the neck area.

I took the long-cut and cut twice.. so i've simplified it to cutting once...  You might just like cutting straight across the top without including the neck because that got a little complicated later on the game.

Then get embelishments! Well, these are actually the ties for the waist and neck.. 

I "eyeballed" two strips of grosgrain that would be long enough to tie in the back..

Then another for the neck, with a small 3in for the other side to sew on 2 mini "D" rings.

Next, Pin the two pieces of the shirt to face inward because you'll be sewing the two layers together..

Also, take the waist straps and mark the apron so that they'll be equal for a waist-tie.

Now, stuff the ribbon into the shirt.. because you're sewing the "inside" of the shirt now and if you don't stuff the ribbon inside, you won't have straps! 

See below? Does that make sense..?

Now sew! sew only around the edge til you get to the neck because you need to leave space to flip it right side out.

And you see how the strap comes out the side!? yep!

Now press the apron.

I added embellishments like eyelet fringe for the bottom.. I pinned it on the underside so that the fringe would just pop out the bottom :)

To be even more resourceful.. snip off a sleeve! (this was a long sleeve shirt) eventually making it large pocket.

Then cut it in half

And add any embellishments you want to it...

I added pink ruffles of sorts..
And I wanted lace beneath the pocket.. so as I pinned down the pocket-- pleating it as I went.. I also pinned the lace down. Now when pinning down the pocket right now, you want the inside of the pocket to be facing you-- so that your seams are clean :).  Then sew it.. Once you have the bottom sewn down, flip it up and start sewing the sides..

I got too excited to take plenty of pictures, sorry!

But once the pocket is added.. now to work on the neck. 

Take your strip of ribbon (2-3 inches)  and put one side between the two facing neck layers.. then thread the D' rings.. and bring the other side of the ribbon down to meet between the fabric layers..

Sew it.. 

Then on the other side of the neck, sew the long strap between the two fabric layers

And add all you want, til your heart's content :)

Finished product?

Viola!

Suggestions: 

Sew the  large pocket a bit lower..

right now its fun because its a double-layer pocket.. small and large stuff can be stowed away.. while working in the kitchen. Cell and ... towel? 

Anyhow. Have fun with this!!

--I don't think my purpose in life is to make tutorials because i'm not very concise..

Oh, it is cold!

But I just saw an adorable picture of a couple eating Gelato and it made me want some. I guess sore throats do that to you? All in a week I've gone from worst sore-throat to no voice to a raspy voice and now........ well raspy voice. It's so exciting! Not really, but the no voice for a day was kinda cool, kinda not. I really am not a big fan of having to do sign language when I only know the alphabet and other people... don't.

So Gelato. The only time I've ever had it, wasn't even when I was in Rome last year. I'm frugal and can't bring myself to spending so much on such stuff. Call me ridiculous but it really wasn't in the budget. I mean, Rome wasn't in the budget! I had taken just a little spending money with me --this time last year when I embarked on a journey to Israel. However, our dear flight was delayed, leaving us with a 12 hour layover in Rome. I got to see Rome. I never had a particular interest to see Rome, but now that I saw it my opinion is: its pretty cool. One thing I'm kickin' myself on is that I did not go into Mamertium prison where Paul's final imprisonment took place. I stood at the door, but at that time didn't know how important that place was. Oh well!
So in Rome all I bought was an ice cream from the McDonalds there. Lame. If i were to do it over again.. i would probably shell out the 5 Euros for a taste of the gelato, just to say I did. But I didn't.

Actually the first time I had it was when I was touring Philly with my awesome cousin and middle school friend.. back in 2008. Oh it was fun! The stuff was really good too. I need to find a place in the area that has stuff like Philly.

So yes. It is cold outside. And i am wishing there were a local Gelato place that serves it like they do in Philly.