Macy Goes to the Fair Pennant Dress

I am so glad I made it through to Week 3 of One Month To Win It!  I love, love LOVE this dress and am SO glad to know many others did, too.

Let me tell you, I have been most excited about this week since we got the list of themes.  When I saw "Bunting and Banner Week", this idea immediately popped into my head!  

Start with a simple white dress and add a tiny pennant-style banner and you have:

The Macy Goes to the Fair Dress!

I am beyond excited with how this turned out!  If you're anything like me, you know that ideas in your head don't always translate well into real-life items, so when it does, it's like hitting the jackpot!

I started out with a pillowcase dress and altered the pattern to work for my idea.  I added box pleats to the neckline which make me think of a Big Top at the fair.  Then I made a mini pennant banner and trimmed the neckline with it.  I finished off the neckline and arms with bias tape I handmade.  

But of course I couldn't stop there!  I cut out approximately 1 MILLION little bitty triangles (really, about 250) and stitched on 5 rows of the tiny pennant banner to the hem of the dress.  I love it so much!

This dress is a great stash-buster project!  All the little triangles were made from my scrap bag.  The bias tape was made from fabric left over from another project.  I love using things I have on hand!

Sidenote: The whole time I was working on this dress, "Macy" kept popping up in my head.  This dress really did name itself!

You might have also noticed The Macy Bow in these pics.  I had fun with this one!  I added a few more elements than I usually do and love how it turned out. 

Next time your favorite little girl needs a dress, don't run to the store!  Go grab a pillowcase and a handful of scraps and see what you can come up with! :)

I want to add a very big thank you to my friend Cheryl from

  NC Life Photography 

for taking beautiful photos of the dress for me!  If you live in Florida and need some photography done, check her out!  She does family shoots, engagements, weddings, you name it!  We've had family photos and baby pics done with her and they have all turned out amazing!

Linking up to these lovely parties!

Travel Play Case

The holidays are upon us and with that means lots of travelling.  It also means you're probably on a tighter budget with all the travel costs and gifts to buy.  This is a great project to make for your own kids or to give as a gift!  It's less than $5 and takes almost no time at all!  Now let's get to it!


Travel Play Case

Now, if you're feeling a little ambitious, you can make your own little play scene with bits of scrapbook paper, like so:

I've added in some Littlest Pet Shop figurines, but you could use any you like.  This is easily adjustable for different genders and ages!

Wrap it up in a bow and you're finished!

This was originally posted as part of the Homemade Christmas series at The Scrap Shoppe.

Book Page Pom Wreath

Now that we've got Halloween over with, it's time to get Christmas decorating, am I right?  I've got a stash of books just begging to become awesome.  So I obliged.  Just in case you, too, have a sad little book hanging around that wants to become a wreath, here's how:

You will need eleventy billion glue sticks. That's not an exact number, just a ballpark figure.

 

Updated Tip:  I put 2 or 3 sheets together to cut them and then separated them back out for the next step.

When I was done filling in gaps, I smacked a bow on that puppy and called it done!  

  

Here it is hanging on a straight pin I stuck in the wall (um, don't tell my husband). 

And here it is on my door. :)

Come see where I party HERE!

I was featured!

 

I'd Pin That! #2

I have seen the cutest, most awesome stuff on Pinterest this week! 

I want to go out an buy some boots and socks RIGHTNOW.  And an outfit to go with them.  That fits.

Source: ravelry.com via Jessica on Pinterest

How fun is this little photo album?  This would be so fun to make for Halloween, too.

Source: positivelysplendid.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Speaking of Halloween, this costume (!!!).  My child WILL wear this one day!

Source: etsy.com via Jessica on Pinterest

And these pumpkins.  Hilarious in their simplicity.

Source: annilygreen.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Since I've taken up crafting with scrap wood, these would be a perfect project:

Source: etsy.com via Jessica on Pinterest

I seriously love Pinterest. And hate it - I've found myself too many times this week thinking I'll just stop by real quick and then time just gets completely away from me.  Oh well.  :)  If you're not on Pinterest yet, shoot me an email and I'll send you an invite!

Hair Band Tutorial

I am not one to throw out scraps, so I've been whipping up some hairbands out of my leftover headband material (aka FOE, aka fold over elastic).  In my extensive research* I learned that these hairbands are better for your hair than your basic ponytail holder.

*By "extensive research" I mean I heard it somewhere a couple of times. 

My friend Kenya saw one on my wrist recently and she was all "WHERE did you get that? I've been looking everywhere".  And I was all "Girl, I MADE this!"  Then, like many of the things I make, I insisted it was so easy and you could totally make this!  Now, sometimes "easy" in my mind turns out not to be easy in reality, but I stand by my judgement on this. EASY. So easy it doesn't need a tutorial, but I made one anyway.  So here ya go!

You will need: 

Fold Over Elastic (I love this place and this place)

Scissors

Lighter

BAM!  Done!  See, that only took like a minute.  Less if you're better at operating a lighter than I am.  Plus it only cost pennies to make and they retail for $1-2 each.  EACH!  Highway robbery, I tell ya!

And if you're anything like me, your hair only sees a styling product once a week.  The other 6 days, I can feel a teensy bit more chic with my didn't-take-a-shower-today-because-I-have-a-needy-baby ponytail.  Yeah.

Linking up: