Recipe Binder

I've been meaning to organize my recipes for a long time and just got around to it this week. I'm hoping this will make meal- planning way easier and save me some time. For the cover I used this free template and just printed it out on our color printer.

In the front I have a blank calendar where I can write in our menu for the week with a wet erase marker. I included breakfast and lunch because we work from home I have to plan for those meals as well.

On the next page I included a shopping list to go with my menu. I can just grab this binder before we go to the store to make it easy. I might even be able to plan on the way to the store.

On the next page I included a page for recipes to try. Sometimes when I'm blog surfing or searching through my cookbooks I find something I want to try so I can jot down where the source is and have a list available when I'm planning my menus. I'll can also write on this sheet which recipes I've tried, makes the cut, and needs to be typed out to be added to the binder.

Here is a look at the Dividers I designed in PowerPoint. I have it divided into Breakfast, Entrees, Sides, Breads, Dessert, Drinks, and Party Foods.

I dug through all my cookbooks and compiled all the recipes that have ever made it into our rotation. Now I don't have to eat the same old things and have some variety to choose from. I found so many things we love to eat, but forgot about because we were stuck eating the same things because they came to my mind faster. Also all the recipes are tried, tested, and taste good; no gross recipes included. Every recipe I would ever need is in this notebook in one place.

I know it didn't take much crafty ability to make this, but I spent 8 hours on this baby so it deserves an honorable mention on my craft blog. I love it and I feel like it's going to make my life so much easier.

Reversible Car seat Canopy

This is car seat canopy I made for my friend this week for her baby shower on Saturday. I used this tutorial and it couldn't be easier. However my friend had a crazy car seat handle so I had a really hard time placing the straps. It doesn't look perfect, but it was the best I could do with the wacky handle. I'll have to keep that in mind when I end up buying a car seat eventually hehe. I still need to add bows onto the straps so maybe it will look better after that. I'm planning on using this bow tutorial. I also made one for my sister in law Kelsey in boy fabrics, but I don't have a car seat to model it anymore. It's really cute though!

Felt Diner Food

Last week I checked my email and Jessi from Sweetie Pie Bakery said she had another pattern for us to test. I was really excited once I saw the adorable pattern. It's called "The Blue Plate Special" and it includes instructions on how to make felt diner food. I tested the spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread, burger with steak fries, and tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich. I only tested half of the pattern, but her pattern also includes how to make meatloaf with mashed potatoes, milk, a strawberry milkshake, a blue plate, a little menu, and an ice cream sundae. Can you say good value for your money? Her patterns are always fun to make and the instructions were very easy to follow even to a pattern challenged person like myself. Her pattern is now for sale and you can buy it here if you're interested. I highly recommend it and I love how most of it was hand sewn so I could make it while I was watching our favorite TV shows. It makes me feel less like a bum. Now I'm off to eat because looking at my fake food made me hungry! Mmmm tomato soup!

Charlotte Dress Sew along

One of my all time favorite craft blogs is Craftiness is not optional. She is amazing and makes the most adorable kids clothes. Once I saw she was throwing a sew-along for a dress she made her adorable 9 month old daughter, I had to join and make one for Jenna's new baby girl on the way. Here is a link to her tutorial and she even emailed me a free pattern for the dress. How cool is she? I was keeping up with the sew-along until day 4. I was serging a seam and my thread snapped. I wanted to cry! It took me 2 hours to figure out how to thread my serger when I first got it and I hadn't touched it since praying that I never had to re-thread the beast again. After another hour looking at the manual and the poorly made video I got the thing working again. So I didn't finish the sew-along on time, but I did finish the dress eventually. It really only takes 30 minutes a day. It was shockingly easy and the final product looks professional. I even installed my first zipper thanks to Jessica's easy directions. I want to make more now!

With the scraps and I mean scraps, I made Sara Jane a matching skirt. I followed the directions for a skirt from this book I bought with an Amazon gift card I got for Christmas from Matt's parents. More baby presents coming soon.

Baby dress from an old skirt

The other day I went through my closet and threw out all the old clothes that I didn't wear, were ugly, or didn't fit anymore. It wasn't a pretty sight. I had stuff from 7th grade that was way out of style. Yikes! Did I really wear that? I was about to donate them to DI then I thought to myself that it would be a shame to waste so much fabric that could be used to make something else like doll clothes, baby clothes, purses, baby bibs, etc. However I don't want to have a pile of old clothes laying around so I made a goal to make something weekly from my old clothes. This little baby dress came from an old skirt I had that was too short for me. I used this tutorial and free pattern. It took a little longer to cut out because I had to make all the pattern pieces fit onto the fabric which wasn't easy, but after that it was a breeze to sew together. I'm proud that I recycled and saved money. It will make a cute baby present to give to someone. Plus I'm learning how to construct clothes which isn't my strong point right now. What better way to learn than on fabric you don't care about right?

Blairs Dress

This is a dress I made for my niece.You can find the free pattern here. It was really easy to put together and only took me 2 hours including cutting time. Just as a warning this dress ran big. I originally made it for Sara Jane who is 2, but it didn't fit. It fit Blair who is 5. Maybe I didn't use the right seam allowance? Not sure since this wasn't included in the tutorial. Oh well it looks adorable on Blair and I'm sure if you had a child's measurements you could figure out how to make it fit right.Originally the bow was supposed to tie in the front, but it looked better tied in the back. Maybe I'll make a flower to go on the waistband and send it to them. She wore it to church today and she said she loved her new outfit. What a cute model! It's fun sewing for kids and how excited they get. Blair was so happy when she saw the dress. Also I got this fabric on sale for $1.00 a yard on fabric.com so this dress only cost $1.00! Not bad eh?

Believe Blocks

While I was at my in-laws for Thanksgiving I made these cute blocks while we had a craft party. It's been awhile since I've used mod podge. It was fun! I might just have to make some more for Valentines Day.