{One Skein Infinity Scarf Pattern}

Hi friends! I hope your week is off to a great start! I'm so excited because today, I am sharing with you my very first crochet pattern!!! Just in time for the holidays too because this will be such a beautiful handmade gift!!!

***Purchase this pattern in my Etsy shop.***

I had to make a few to get the pattern just right. For the outtakes, see my Instagram feed :) I just love how the final pattern turned out! I hope you do to!

Materials:

One Skein of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick. {or any other thick yarn, but make sure you have at least 106 yards}

Size M 9mm hook {I use these AWESOME bamboo aluminum hooks}

small scissors

yarn needle

Pattern Available HERE.

**Total project time took just over an hour and one skein of yarn costs about $6. The skeins go on sale all the time though and you can often use your Michael's or JoAnn's coupons on them. So for under $10 and an hour of your time, you can make a lovely handmade gift for someone special!**

 Wrap it around your neck twice for a nice and cozy look.

I hope you enjoy the pattern! If you make one, I'd love to see it! I hope you can easily understand the directions. If you have any questions at all, please ask away!

Have a happy day!

{Tunic...Pattern Review}

Hey there! I hope you are all having a great week! Today I'm sharing a top that I made for Snap!

 This was a really fun and easy pattern to sew! I always hit up JoAnn's when they are having their pattern sale and I scored this pattern at the last one for $1. I chose a vintage inspired eyelet with little orange flowers that I ordered at fabric.com.

I shared an Instagram of the pattern before I sewed it up which was great because a friend that has already made this top told me to gather the top instead of pleat it which worked out great! It came together really quickly! Start to finish was about 3 hours. It's a little loose, so it really needs to be belted. 

Here is how I wore it!

A brown leather belt would have been fabulous! Anyhow, I loved making this tunic and I can't wait to make more! I'm going to try it in a knit next time. I think it would drape nicely.

Happy sewing!

{the handmade shop :: packaging orders}

Hi there! I've been having tons of fun practicing ways to package up my orders! 

Handmade is special. Shopping handmade should make my customers feel all warm and fuzzy. At least that's how I feel when I shop handmade!

Here is how I've been packaging my some of my small item orders.

 I love the idea of a freebie or a "gift with purchase". I came across a bunch of really fun pencils that I've been including in my orders. Just something small, but unexpected and fun!

Have you met Kelsey over at Poofy Cheeks yet??? Well she has a really fun shop and carries super cute packaging supplies. 

I just ordered these goodies from her and I can't wait to start playing around with even more fun packaging ideas!

Have a great day friends!

{let's make your keys cute}

I have a fun and EASY tutorial for you today for an {all fabric} Key Fob! 

Key fobs are FABULOUS. Hands free is the way to be! Yes, I know that there are lots of key fob tutorials but I was not able to find one that I liked that used only fabric NO WEBBING so I made my own and I'm sharing with you because I like you a lot and I want you to have cute things. You're welcome.

Alright here we go!

First lets gather our supplies.

You're going to need:

 1. two coordinating fabrics. Cut 1 12"x2" piece of each one.

2. key fob hardware. I used 1" key fob hardware that I purchased HERE.

3. Peltex. You can find it at the fabric store with all the interfacing. It's the one that's SUPER STIFF like cardboard. You are going to cut your Peltex just a hair shy of 1 inch wide. The length is 12".

4. various other supplies: coordinating thread, mat, rotary cutter, hem gauge, fray check, pliers, kitchen towel

5. optional lobster clasp {so you can clip in onto your bag/jeans when you're out and about}

 Now that your strips are cut press them nicely and put them right sides together. You can pin if you want to. I'm not a pinner. Slows me down!

 Sew RST using a 1/4 seam allowance.

 Press your seam open.

Press on the front side too.

 Now take your hem gauge and press the edges under and 5/8" {that says 1/2", but ignore it and do 5/8}. Do this for both long edges.

 Fold in half and press well. Lots of steam!

 Press it on the front side too.

 Now you're going to shimmy your strip of Peltex into the seam allowance of the "outer" side.

It will look like this when you have it in there.

 Press it well from both sides making sure the edges are matching up nicely.

 Now you are going to top-stitch down both sides. I think a 1/8" top-stitch looks nice.

 Time to trim up the edges to make them nice and neat.

 Grab your fray check and apply to all the raw edges.

While the fray check dries, go find the pliers and maybe eat a piece of chocolate.

 Fold your fob in half right side out matching up the raw edges.

 Place your hardware over the raw edges.

 Wrap your fob in your towel {so you don't scratch the metal} and squeeze hardware into place. Make sure everything is still lined up perfectly after you put the towel over. Squeeze the middle first, then the sides. That's what works best for me. Attach your key ring and optional lobster clasp and your done!

 Thanks for stopping by! Now go make your keys cute!

{InstaFriday...our week in phone pics}

Happy Friday everyone! I am very excited for this weekend!!! Particularly because the weather is going to be beautiful and we have NOTHING to do!!! I see the beach and Disneyland in my future!

Here is a fun little recap our week via pics from my phone! I'm linking up with Jeanette from Life Rearranged!

Funny, I don't remember this rather large piece coming with the game. Hmmm.

I made a gift bag from wrapping paper!!! I saw this on Pinterest. Original pin HERE. Much more cost effective than buying those crazy expensive bags! Next time I will try it with brown wrapping paper and have some fun with my sewing machine. I love sewing on paper :)

Carter made me a bracelet. The best kind of handmade accessory if you ask me!

The view in La Jolla as we were driving home from the blogger meetup. San Diego is lovely.

As promised, this is my "after run" smoothie recipe. It's really more of a method than a recipe I guess, but here you go! Skim milk, a nonfat yogurt, and a banana. Break your banana in half and toss it in the blender. Add your yogurt. Take your milk and fill your yogurt cup up about 2/3 of the the way and pour the milk in the blender. Give it a whirl and VOILA...smoothie!

Today is the 100th day of school! The kids gets to wear hats and bring 100 of something. Carter chose 100 sour jelly beans! He inherited his father's love of the sour candy.

Here is the newest Sew Chatty creation! Pleated Pouches for your sunglasses/glasses {will fit your phone too}. I in the process of finishing the rest today. Aren't they cute!!!

Hope your week was a blast! Enjoy your weekend!

P.S...trying to get a few more new things listed in the shop today so if that happens there will be a shop update later. Stay tuned!

{Handmade Bridal Shower}

Hi friends! I hope you are all having a wonderful week!

I hosted a bridal shower last weekend for my soon to be sister in law. Everything from the décor to the food was simple and handmade. I wanted to share a few photos with you from the day!

{please forgive me…all of the photos are from my phone because my camera is LOST. So until we get a new one, the phone is all I have!}

The sign I made for the front door. You might recognize the frame! I hung it up on our wreath nail, strung some rag garland I made, and some letters I found at Michael’s. I added a ribbon loop to the back of each letter and hung them with an S hook onto the chicken wire. I LOVE how it turned out!

This is our drink/serving table. It’s actually our wine fridge covered with a table cloth my mom and I made a few years ago. I served Trader Joe’s Strawberry Lemonade and ice water.

The food was very simple and required very little effort. I made EVERYTHING the day before. I made this Greek Pasta Salad, but instead of the salad kit, I used bowties and Goddess Dressing because that’s a bit fancier. I also made fruit kebabs and Red Velvet Cupcakes. I used a box mix for the cake, but homemade cream cheese icing {because the stuff in the can is NASTY}.

For the “main dish” I ordered sandwiches from a local Italian Deli. I get them all the time for various events and they are always GREAT. Easy peesy.

As you can tell, décor was simple too. The wedding colors are red and yellow. I threw in the aqua because it’s happy. Don’t tissue balls just SCREAM party? I love them. Thank you Martha Stewart.

Here are a few shots of our patio where we ate outside. We hung more tissue balls from the awning and decorated the tables with plastic table cloths, damask wrapping paper table runners, and fresh flowers.

 

That’s it! After we ate all the tasty food, we came inside to do prezzies and chat. Very simple. But I think simple is best.

Have a great weekend!

Elizabeth