Free popsicle cozy pattern and gift tag!

My popsicle cozy pattern and gift tag are available today at Sissyprint.

Check it out! 

I think popsicles are a huge part of summer nostalgia.

When my son was a teething baby, I'd wrap a paper towel 

with a rubber band around the ice pop to keep his little fingers from getting cold.

Two kids later and a little experience has helped me make the perfect popsicle cozy.

Believe me, there have been several designs that have been modified and simplified.

There have been pocket cozies, wrap-around cozies, but the sleeve-style cozy is the way to go.

What kid wouldn't love getting a cozied ice pop, topped off with a coordinating gift tag!

Make summer special.

Vintage Flour Sacks... oh the options!

My absolute favorite thrift-type store is Vain & Vintage in Pocatello, Idaho. All things vintage, all things perfect. I really need to do an entirely separate post simply to introduce you to this place. It's truly glorious. I feel right at home whenever I'm there. On my most recent trip down Center Street, I stumbled across a stack of vintage flour sacks. I instantly fell in love with the graphic elements, printed onto the fabric in perfect shades of blue-grey, bright reds, and a rustic navy blue. They ranged in price from $7 to $12. A little pricier than I would have liked. I'm a 50 cent kind of girl. But, I fell so head over heels, I had to splurge a little for these.

Today, I'm going to show you how I like to rock pillows. I'm a germaphobe, so I formulated this "pocket pillow." It's a cinch to whip up and easy to peel off the pillow case when it needs a good washing. You can find vintage flour sack on ebay (although the large canvas ones like this are a bit trickier to hunt down). Or, you can call on the lovely ladies at Vain and Vintage.

Cut your pieces. My pillow form is 16"x16", so my instructions are directed toward those dimensions.

Give the inner edge of back panel 1 and back panel 2 a 1" hem.

Lay the back panels on top of the front panel, right sides together. Be sure to layer back panel 1 under back panel 2. This is the part that will allow the case to removed from the pillow form later on, if need be.

Now for the speedy part! Just sew around all four sides of the square. I tried to make a graphic for you to understand how the pieces need lay. See the "sandwich" to the right? Hope that makes sense.

Clip the corners of your pillowcase without severing your stitching. This will make your corners nice and smooth once you turn it right-side out.

Turn your pillowcase right-side out. Iron that baby, make it look a little more profesh, and insert your form. See the pocket on the back side? I ran out of sack material for this pillow. So, I supplemented a little with some ticking I had in my stash.

Ta-da! Done-zo! I've got flour sacks on the brain lately. Here are some other fun options they can be used for! P.S. I got this rocking chair at a garage sale for $4.  Just sanded it down, primed, painted, and distressed!  Now, it's one of my favorite things.

Shopbellavita.com

sarawakianali.blogspot.com

sarahblucastle.com

Am I crazy if I want to sprinkle my itty bitty apartment with flour sack elements? Covered chairs, pillows, maybe some curtains for my kitchen... I might go a little overboard. Love these little gems.

Just keepin it in the family

As many of you know, Ruffles and Stuff has been hosting quite the exciting contest this month. I've been racking my brains for something ruffly and haven't been able to come up with anything. I think it's fair to say I've been afflicted with non-creativitis lately and it shows.

Sorry guys.

With the deadline being tomorrow, I had almost decided not to participate. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about family. Our families are such a blessing and have such importance in our lives. So, I decided I would make a family tree. I was a little intimidated with the feat of trying to make a tree out of ruffles. But, I think the texture of the ruffles is what makes it looks so whimsical.

Wanna make one? I cut a bunch of elongated triangular shapes out of the brown flannel and ruffled them up. I laid out the branches and trunk onto a sky blue print and sewed them in place. If I were to do this again, I think I would have ruffled the sky blue backdrop.

I ruffled up a ton of flowers out of two different green cotton twills. Initially, the flowers were all the same sizes, but I love the variety of sizes much better. Even throwing on a few yo-yo flowers would be darling!

Most of the flowers are embellished with vintage buttons or pearls so you can hang miniature "name tags" from them. I just cut a few small rectangles from cream card stock, hand-wrote a few family names onto them, poked a piece of thread directly through the "tag", tied a knot, and looped it around a button.

What fun it will be to continue adding to it over the years! I realize the construction details of this piece are vague, so if you'd like to make one, feel free to email me questions and I'd be happy to help you as much as I can.

Happy Easter everyone and happy weekend!

Reader Tip Tuesday - Shirt Refashion

Refashions are huge on the crafty blog circuit these days. So, when clever Lyric from Crafty Chic sent this project for Tip Tuesday, I knew it would be a hit. And, doesn't this come in time for an easy little Easter dress? Perfection for summertime. Get the how-to here and be sure to check out more refashions and cleverness at Crafty Chic a la Lyric!

Go ahead and grab her button!

<a href="http://craftychiclyric.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac360/lyricpoulson/button.gif" border="0" alt="Crafty Chic" /></a>

St. Patty's Day { Patch Pin }

Hey all! I am now contributing to Executive Homemaker! If you're NOT familiar with EH, it's a great location to find free printable goodies. There's also some excellent ideas, like how to throw a successful St. Patty's Day bash.

I have a tutorial up today on how to make this patch pin for St. Patty's Day. Use it for a headband, bag charm, or simply pin it onto your shirt to avoid the pinch.

Go here to get the full how-to and free pattern!

Tooth Fairy Pouch

My niece, Kaily, lost her first tooth today. My dad pulled it out. It was quite exciting. It's been loose for weeks now, and she finally let Grandpa string it up and jerk it out.

Since the tooth fairy is visiting her pillow tonight, I wanted to maker her something special to house her first tooth.


1. Cut a piece of wool felt to approximately 2" x 5" and a tooth shape out of white wool felt for the front. I freehanded mine, but you can trace the outline of a shape like this. You can search google images for one you like.

2. Sew the tooth to the 2" x 5" strip. Stick close to the edge of the tooth as you stitch it on.

3. I put a "K" on the tooth with pink embroiddery floss using a basic back stitch.

4. Fold the 2" x 5" strip in half, right sides together. Sew down the sides and turn right-side out.


Very easy. Sorry I didn't take step-by-step pictures of this one. It was a spur-of-the-moment job. If you want to make this and have questions, please don't hesitate to email me. I'd be happy to help you! I hope you guys aren't getting sick of wool felt. I can't help it, I have a craft crush on the stuff.

Kids Tee Applique

My friend, Claire, is expecting a baby girl in the coming months and spotted some appliqued onesies she kinda loved. Well, they were $30! Can you believe that? Thirty bucks! Well, here's a tutorial that can help you get a $30 onesie for $2. By the way, if you don't know what to make for dinner, Claire has a stellar recipe blog. You've GOT to check her out here. I ate her cookin' every day for an entire summer... it was heaven.

First, iron double-sided fusible webbing onto your choice of fabric(s) according to the manufacturer's instructions. Fusible webbing really is the trick to doing a successful applique, especially onto jersey.

Browse google images or some clip art software for an image you like. Print it out, cut it out.

Trace the outline of that image onto the paper backing of the fusible webbing.

Cut out the traced image. Peel the paper backing away from the webbing/fabric and lay the pieces onto your onesie or shirt. Iron in place, adhering the fabric images to the jersey.

CAREFULLY and slowly stitch around the very edge of the images. Take your time on this step and I promise it will be perfection.

Now for the legs... To add a little extra texture, I used brown embroidery floss and did a back stitch to create skinny little bird legs.

Ta-da! A little love bird onesie. Easy, right? I kind of want to design dozens of these for summer shirts for littly lady "P." Applique away, folks! Hope you all had a happy Valentine's Day!

Growing Like A Weed Heat Pack

My son is going through a growth spurt. I remember when I would get growing pains as a child and how awful it was. Hot baths late at night, mentholatum lotion, but my favorite remedy was a nice warm heating pad. So, I needed to make some up for little J. But, I thought I would try to make them a bit more fun than a regular heating pad. So, I found these great prints in snug fleece and designed some "growing like a weed" tags. This way, it seems like a gift and hopefully my kiddo will be excited to give them a try.

1. First "marinate" your uncooked rice. Fill a bowl with an airtight lid (or ziplock bag) with uncooked rice and your choice of scent. You could drop in some scented oils, such as lavender, or use what's in your spice cupboard such as ground cloves and cinnamon. It's up to you. I like to let my rice sit for about a day so it's nice and smelly... in a good way.

If you wanna get real fancy, you could even make different rice packs for different stuff. My bestie from high school, Melissa, knows all about these things and told me certain oils can be remedies for different ailments. For example:

Lavender: good for leg cramps, anxiety, great for calming and can help with sleep.
Wild Orange: good for colds, anxiety, flu, and to calm.
Breathe: respiratory system problems, coughs, colds, asthma.
DigestZen: Can help balance the digestive system, flu, stomach aches, gas, and colic.

If you want to check out some of these oils, visit Melissa here. She's super.

2. There are two options. There's a SUPER easy version and a little more complicated version. For the super easy version (pictured above), just cut out the fabric to the dimensions of your choice. Simply sew around the edges (kind of in a "U" shape), leaving the top open. Fill it with your rice, fold the rough edges under, and stitch it up. SUPER EASY, right?

3. If you prefer your bag to have sections, it's not much more difficult. I did multiple bags in hope to achieve this look and think I found the quickest way to do it. Sew around the edges of your bag, right sides together, leaving one side open. Be sure the side you leave open is the longest side. See here?

4. Divvy up your bag into sections, the measurements are up to your liking, and sew ALMOST to the top, toward the rough edges. Don't forget to backstitch.

5. Fill the sections up with rice, stopping just about 1/2" short of where your stitching ends.

6. Fold the rough edges under about 1/2" and pin in place. Sew it up. I put a folded ribbon at the corner so little hands can carry the hot bag around without touching the hot part. But, that's really it. SO simple, right? Done.

Now, pop it in the microwave for 1-2 minutes and sooth those aches and pains. Although the tag says 1-2 minutes, big boys and girls (aka us adults) can heat it up to 3 minutes. Want to download a pdf of these "because you are growing like a weed" tags and print them out? Go here.

I love comments... wink, wink.

Owl Softie Ribbon Teether

My baby girl is teething right now. Although you can never have too many receiving blankets, I really didn't want to go to all the work of making a teething blanket. So, I formulated this cute little owl softie. My daughter loves it. It's small enough for her little hands to grab onto, soft enough to cuddle with, and a total cinch. And how cute would this be for a baby shower gift?

1. Cut out your pieces. Owl body, owl wings, facial pieces, and ribbons. I just freehanded the body and the wings. But if you guys want me to post this as a pdf pattern, just let me know.

2. Fold the inside curve of the wings under about 1/4" and iron flat. You know how I feel about starch when it comes to making these creases. USE IT!

3. Sew the wings to the body. Get creative with your top thread color. I thing it adds a little whimsy when the stitches don't fade into the background.

See how close I stuck to the edge?

4. Place the facial features onto the face and sew on. I used wool felt for the eyes and the beak... it's a true obsession, me and wool felt.

5. Next fold a strip of ribbon in half. I prefer grosgrain ribbon so the texture can massage baby's gums when she's munching away on them. Pin the ribbon to the body with the rough edges at the edge and the folded end pointing inward. Arrange the ribbons around the wings like feathers, and two at the base like feet. Sew them on.

6. Now put the back to your owl against the front, right sides together, and sew it up. Be sure to leave a little opening to turn it right side out.

7. Go ahead and stuff it up with some batting.

Don't overstuff this little cutie. It's meant to be kind of flat so little fingers can hold onto it easily. Whip stitch that opening shut.

8. And there ya go! A nice little owl softie ribbon teether.

*** Due to multiple requests, you can now download the pieces to this owl for free by going here.