Upgraded {NO SEW} Library Tote!

I have had 'library tote' on my To Do list FOREVER!! I finally got around to it last week. John John was at Nana's and Matty B was asleep for his morning nap so I figured I might as well be productive. Sure, I could have cleaned the house for those precious 30 minutes, but that is SO BORING! Plus my mom had just bought me (and my sisters) a cricut at a garage sale so I really wanted to put it to good use. I bought Sure Cuts A Lot and I am so glad I did! It made this project SUPER easy!

So, let's get to it! I took this ugly bag I got when I was preggo with John (baby AND a free bag?!? AWESOME!).



And I transformed it to this.



(and in real life, the straps coordinate much better with the applique. I promise!)

Here is how I did it just a couple easy steps; no sewing involved!
1. Cut rectangular piece of background material. (I cut two pieces because I put the monogram on both sides of the bag since the cord bank logo was on both sides.) Add fusing to back and then iron onto bag. I used Heat N Bond. (follow directions on package for fusing!)





2. Cut a rectangle of the monogram material and iron fusing material to back. Use your fabulous new cricut and SCAL to cut out the letters of the monogram.





3. Iron the letters onto your bag.




4. Use bag in public proudly instead of keeping it hidden in your stroller storage basket at all times.



See, wasn't that easy? I hardly ever do projects for myself so I am extremely excited to have my own little personalized bag!

...and big thanks to my mom for buying us this cricut! Isn't she the sweetest???



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Burp Cloth Tutorial

My friend needed a little gift for a baby shower. The mom-to-be is having TRIPLETS!! Yowzas! Their names are Addison, Lillian, and Dylan. So cute! So I made a couple burp cloths for her. While I was at it, I figured I would take some pics and make a little tutorial for you!

I used some cute material and tried out using hand towels for the backing.



I usually use chenille (or faux cheapy chenille!) for burp cloths so I wanted to see what using terry cloth would be like. Well, let me just say I wasn't too impressed! I got some cheaper towels at Walmart and they were suprisingly too fluffy. I personally like the burp cloths a little flatter so they fit in my diaper bag, but maybe I am just weird!

So, back to the instructions!

Cut the 'pattern' ends of the hand towel so that you just have the terry cloth piece left over.






Then cut the terry cloth piece in half. (yes, I realize I didn't cut this in half! But I had extras so I was able to scrap the smaller piece!)



Cut your cute material pieces to size.



If you want to put an initial (or a full name), iron fusing material onto the back of your material. I used Heat and Bond. Then use a stencil (I print letters off my computer!) to trace the letter BACKWARDS on the Heat and Bond. Cut out the letters, peel off the backing, and then iron to your burp cloth. I ironed the letter on a couple inches above the edge.





I knew my material might start to pull and gather up as I sewed around the letters, so I also ironed on some light interfacing behind the letter. This help give a little backing and heft to the material.



Setting my stitch length short, I used a wide zig zag to sew around the edges of the letter.




Now pin cute material to a piece of terry cloth with right sides together. Sew around the edges, leaving an opening to turn the burp cloth inside out.



After trimming material as needed and clipping corners, turn burp cloth inside out, iron, pin opening, and top stitch around.

Here is the final product!






Pretty easy and a great way to give a special personalized gift. I think this is a wonderful project even for a beginner sewer. If I can do it, anyone can!

Here are all the burp cloths all done. I only added initials to three and left three plain.





This one is my favorite pattern! I have tons of this material left over and already have an idea for a project. So check back to see what I have in store for ya!





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Valentine's Day Shirts {with a tutorial!}

I finally got around to making Valentine's shirts for the boys. I hate making anything TOO holiday-ish because then they only wear it once or twice. I tried to make it a little more versatile (and not so Valentine's-y) so they can be my cute little love bugs all month long! :)

John will be in this heart breaker shirt because he is just so dang handsome that I KNOW he will be a heart breaker when he is older!



Matthew will look dapper and handsome in this sweet little heart tie shirt.




Want to make the heart breaker shirt for your little one? Here are the directions!

1. Using freezer paper waxy side down, cut out the letters for 'BREAKER' and iron onto your shirt. I used an xacto knife to do the cutting, but I am so horrible using that thing! Why is it so hard to do curves with it?! :( If you have a cricut or sillouette (and I am super jealous if you do!), you can cut the freezer paper on your machine which makes it tons easier to do.




2. Paint over your letters. I needed three coats of red since I was painting on a dark shirt.



Once the paint is dry, peel off the freezer paper!

3. Iron on fusing to the back of your heart material. I used Heat n Bond lite because I want to sew around the edges of the heart. Follow the directions on the package for using the fusing! Draw your shape and then cut out. I found a heart I liked online and used that as a template.




4. Iron on the heart to your shirt and you are done! (...unless you want to sew around the edges of your heart for a little extra pizazz, which I will do one day!)







Matthew's tie is super easy too so I didn't add directions. :) If you have questions, let me know!

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