Thursday, May 31, 2012

{Beach Bag Tutorial}

Hi friends! I have a super fun summer project to share with you today! With summer approaching quickly I knew we needed a beach bag, but I'm super cheap and can't find one I like to fit my tiny budget so...diy time! 

I wanted to make a bag out of a towel so I did a little Googling and what do you know, our good friend Martha Stewart had a great towel beach bag! However, I found the directions majorly lacked details so if you are a visual person like me I hope you'll appreciate a few more pictures, descriptions and easy tweeks! Here we go!



Supplies:
1 hand towel in the same color {Target $3.49 for a 2-pack...at the bottom of this post I'll show you what I made with the extra towel!}
webbing, twill, tape, ribbon, or fabric to make your handles, each cut to 25"
2 buttons (optional)
basic sewing supplies


I chose to make my own handles out of fabric as opposed to using webbing, but you can do whatever you want! Just make sure you have 2 25" lengths of whatever you chose to use.

 Pin your handles to the long side of your hand-towel 7.5 inches in from each side. You are also pinning them 3" down from the top. Make sure not to twist the handle. It should look like a "U".  Also make sure you pin the handle to the "right side" of the towel. I left the tags on the towels so it would be easy for me to tell which side was which. 

Stitch each side of the handle down in a rectangle to reinforce the straps and make sure they are nice and strong. It will look like this...

 Now you are going to lay your hand towel on top of the short side of your bath towel and mark where you need to put the other handle. Martha's directions tell you to get a hand towel that is the same width as your bath towel. Mine was like an inch and a half shorter, but I made it work. Center your hand towel onto your bath towel (if they aren't the same length) and pin as a marker where you need your other handle to go.
 All pinned and ready to stitch down the same way you stitched the other handle. In a rectangle to reinforce the straps.
 Ok, now the straps are attached so lay them right sides together matching the handles and the top edges. See how my hand towel is a little shorter? Irritating, but it really doesn't matter too much. If I was super fancy and had a serger, I would have trimmed the bath towel to the length of the hand towel and serged the raw edge, but I'm not fancy.
 Once everything is lined up, pin the bottom edge of the hand towel to the bath towel.
 Stitch down with a 3/8" allowance. *Note: I used my walking foot because terry cloth is cushy. Worked well, but if you don't have a walking foot, just use lots of pins and go slow.
 Now you are going to pin the sides and stitch them down also using a 3/8 allowance.

All stitched!!! This is how you lay on it at the beach. You can put your cover up or something in the pocket as a pillow. Awesome but here is the fun part...flip the bag part inside out...
 See how the towel is hanging out? Roll it up and tuck it inside. It will look like this...
 Love it! Except for those little flappies that the excess bath towel made, but never fear...buttons to the rescue!
I just hand sewed a button to each flap and it's holding it down and out of the way just fine. 

Want to see what I made with the extra towel???
A fun little pouch to hold my wallet, phone, sunscreen and anything else on the small side that I don't want floating around in the big bag!

I hope this tutorial makes sense! It's really not hard at all and you end up with a really good sized bag to take with you to the beach! I can't wait for summer!!!

Check out Martha's bag which was my inspiration and guidelines for this bag.



Elizabeth
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Sunday, May 27, 2012

{Made With Love Link Up}

Thanks so much to everyone who came and linked up last week! Another great party as always!

The most viewed link was...

This BEAUTIFUL Orange Ombre Cake linked up by Ashlee from Topsy Turvy! How fun is that??? Ashlee is AMAZING!!!

Alright party people...are you ready for this week's link up??? 
 
Let’s get to it! I'll be featuring my favorite links on the Facebook Fan Page throughout the week! Are you a fan? I also try to Pin my favorites to Pinterest. The top clicked link will be featured during next weeks party! 
{Just a few party guidelines}
  • Link up your crafts, recipes, home decor....anything that has been made by you! {Multiple links to different posts are fine}
  • Link back here by grabbing the super cute button on my sidebar and posting it either in your post or somewhere on your blog to let others know you've joined the party!
  • If you see something you like, click on it and go leave them a comment. Everyone loves comments!
  • Lastly, feel free to help me spread the word about Made with Love Monday! Follow me on Twitter {just click on my little Twitter button} and tweet about the party. Make sure to @ tag me so I can RT you!
Thanks for stopping by! Now go link up something crafty!
Elizabeth
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Friday, May 25, 2012

{InstaFriday}

Hey there! I'm linking up with Jeannette for InstaFriday today! Let's share our little life moments :) Follow along @sewchatty.

life rearranged

 I discovered another fabulous use of washi tape!!! A seam marker. Brillz. The dress I made had very nice seams. Thank you washi!!!
 Ok, this kid LOVES Dancing With The Stars! Check out that hip action! Too cute.
 Jury duty notice. Right as summer is approaching. This is my luck people!
 Loved the note in my Bible for this verse that said "enough time for what must be done, but no time for waste." Perfect motivation for a productive day!
This is me waiting for Zumba! I just started taking the class this week and I LOVE it! So fun it almost doesn't feel like hard work...but then I leave all kinds of sweaty and tired so it must be doing something! I'm running 3 days a week and doing Zumba 3 days a week. I feel good :)

Well that's a peek at my week! Carter is off from school today so we're enjoying a four day weekend! Woot. Have a happy day!


Elizabeth
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{Tiny Pleated Pouches}

Happy Friday to you! I got to make some fun little pouches as swag giveaway for the Fairly Fabulous craft weekend and now that the recipients have theirs, I can share them with you!

So cute right?!? These are a perfect little pouch to contain all the little odds and ends that fall to the bottom of your bag! Like...
  • your business cards {that's what I use mine for!}
  • chapstick or lip gloss
  • gum
  • mints
  • a DS game or two for your little
...anything really! 

 {lovely little pleats}

 velcro closure
These little pouches are so fun to make and come together really quickly! Want to make your own??? This is the Pleated Pouch Pattern from Michelle Patterns {formerly Keyka Lou}. You can order the pattern by clicking the Keyka Lou button on my sidebar! 

*NOTE: This is the same pattern that I use for my Kindle Pouches and I also enlarged the Tall Pouch to use as a sunglasses case. Such a fun and versatile pattern!

Happy sewing friends!


Elizabeth
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Thursday, May 24, 2012

{Beauty Box 5}

Hi friends! I get to introduce you to an awesome new company called Beauty Box 5! Beauty Box 5 sends you samples of top quality beauty products through an affordable monthly membership! Want to see what was in my box this month???

 Even the color of the box made me happy!

My box was filled with all kinds of girly goodness! A hair mask and serum by It's a 10. A delicious shea body butter by Tree Hut that smells SO good! A fun little tanning towelette by Comodynes that my pasty white legs are pretty excited about! A few night cream samples by Merlot that left my face soft and fresh feeling! And lastly a face mask by Evie Evan that I'm dying to play with. Being a girl is so fun.

See, all kinds of fun goodies to pamper yourself with! Go check out Beauty Box 5 and start getting a fun sample box like this delivered to you every month!

What is your favorite beauty product to pamper yourself with???


Elizabeth
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Sunday, May 20, 2012

{Made With Love Link Up}

Alright party people...are you ready for this week's link up??? 
 
Let’s get to it! I'll be featuring my favorite links on the Facebook Fan Page throughout the week! Are you a fan? I also try to Pin my favorites to Pinterest. The top clicked link will be featured during next weeks party! 
{Just a few party guidelines}
  • Link up your crafts, recipes, home decor....anything that has been made by you! {Multiple links to different posts are fine}
  • Link back here by grabbing the super cute button on my sidebar and posting it either in your post or somewhere on your blog to let others know you've joined the party!
  • If you see something you like, click on it and go leave them a comment. Everyone loves comments!
  • Lastly, feel free to help me spread the word about Made with Love Monday! Follow me on Twitter {just click on my little Twitter button} and tweet about the party. Make sure to @ tag me so I can RT you!
Thanks for stopping by! Now go link up something crafty!
 


Elizabeth
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Friday, May 18, 2012

{InstaFriday...my week in phone pics}

Happy Friday to you all! I hope you had a lovely week!  

Here is a recap of the little happenings around here via cell phone pics I posted to Instagram. Are you on IG? You can follow me @sewchatty. I'm linking up with Jeannette for InstaFriday. Come on over and join the fun!

life rearranged

 I had a perfectly lovely Mother's Day. Mom came down to visit and we enjoyed a simple weekend with yummy dinners on our freshly cleaned patio.
 and we fired up the fire pit! S'more time!!!
 These were my Mother's Day prezzie! Aren't they fabulous?! Handpainted TOM's are quite possibly the world's most perfect Mother's Day gift.
 A few crocheted washcloths I made for my mom. Happy colors for her kitchen!
 My mom and I at church on Mother's Day. I love her oodles.
I ran at the park this week. I am so close to being done with C25K! 28 minute runs this week which for me is just over 2 miles. Next week is my last week! Upon finishing, I'll be running for 30 minutes. Theoretically that's supposed to be 3 miles, but since I rock a 13 minute mile, I'll have more training to do to get me there. I have NEVER in my life been a runner so this is a big fat huge deal for me! I'm pretty pumped! Between the running and the super clean eating, I should be back to my Weight Watchers goal weight soon-ish! 11 lbs to go...
Yummy strawberry and goat cheese salad I made for the Strawberry Social on Tuesday! Our ladies bible study takes a break over summer so we always end with a big potluck we call the Strawberry Social. Everyone brings something strawberry and it's so fun! Some people bring chicken so we have a little protein...!
 Our first tomato of the season! Tiny, but yay for homegrown food!
Have you tried these yet? SO GOOD people. Fabulous little treat! 2pts each if you do WW. Go to Target and get them!

Happy weekend friends! Enjoy!


Elizabeth
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