First Snow!

It snowed today! And boy, did it SNOW! It didn't stop all day. I had to do some errands, and my little boy did NOT like what he saw when we went outside. Sure, he enjoyed looking at the snowflakes falling when he was in the car...he also liked looking at all the trees covered in snow...but as soon as one of those white fluffy things hit his nose...he started to scream! I felt so bad for the little guy. We hurried real fast so we could get home and be all snuggly warm. :)

All the snow made me feel Christmas-y, so I bought a Christmas tablecloth while we were out! And I also made some more cupcake wrappers with snowflakes on them! I just love these ones:

I think purple is such a unique color for holiday items--it's out of the ordinary and really stands out amongst the crowd! They've also got a really neat tea-dyed look to them--I love the vintage/old style on EVERYTHING..so I was so excited when I found this paper. And aren't the polka dots adorable? Gives them just the right touch. :)

I've also been thinking a lot about decorating--I think this year I just might take all of my year round decor and box it up...and replace it all with everything Christmas! Sounds like quite a challenge, but I think I'm up for it!

Tea-Dyed Purse by Me!

I have gotten really into sewing the past little while---I never really sewed growing up, but I've discovered that it's something that I enjoy and kind of have a knack for. I've done a few sewing projects--the hobby chair I talked about in an older post--I re-upholstered the cushions; I made pillows for our couch; a crib skirt with my mom, a baby quilt with my grandma; and a few other little projects here and there. I think the BIG turning point in my sewing frenzy started in December, when my husband wanted me to make him some Christmas neck ties--so we went to JoAnn's and bought some festive fabric for me to start the project with. I took an old tie and ripped it up to see how it was put together, and then I made my own pattern. I made him 10 ties! I had so much fun, and the more I did, the better and faster I got at it. They looked really nice, and he loved wearing them to work. I decided I wanted to make a purse or bag, but I didn't want to spend the money on a pattern, and I couldn't find one that I really liked enough anyway. So I made my own pattern for this! It took me some time...figuring out the pattern in my head before I could draw it out and all, but once I knew what I wanted, it was no problem putting it down on paper.


I fell in love with the fabric as soon as I saw it. To me, it looked like what a vintage fabric would look like before the aging process. So after I had all my pieces cut out, I wanted to tone it down a bit--just so it wasn't stark white. I thought tea dyeing it would be perfect! All you need to tea dye is:

-A HUGE bowl
-Lots of tea bags (I used chamomile tea--it gave it a nice golden tone)
-A big pot of boiling water
-towels to lay your fabric out on

All I did was boil a ton of water, then I poured it into the big bowl. I put almost all of the tea bags into the water---put more or less in depending on how dark you want it, and then let them soak for a while...until you like the color. I bet if you used black tea, it would turn your fabric much darker. I liked the golden tone the chamomile tea gave me. It would be fun to try different kinds of tea to see the resulting colors. Once the water was the color I liked, I squeezed the water out of the tea bags and took them out. Then I put my fabric in the water. I would be careful about how many pieces of fabric you put in--if you over-crowd them, the color won't be even. I did a test run first, I took a scrap and let it soak to see if I liked the color, then I did the rest. I also stirred the fabric around every once in a while so that the color would take evenly. I ended up letting it soak overnight, and I really liked my end result.

Here is a picture of the inside pocket I did--I needed some help with this, so I read this great tutorial here at Sew, Mama, Sew--it was really helpful and the pictures were great to help along the way.

You can see that I also did a magnetic clasp. I even put a hook thing on the inside--I'm not sure what it's called---and I'll eventually make some kind of zippered pouch to attach to it.

If you're wondering where I got the hardware...I went to the Thrift Store downtown and I found an old purse for $2, then I just cut all the clasps and hooks off. I couldn't find any of this type of hardware in the stores here, and I bet even if I did, it would have been a lot more expensive...and this hardware is REALLY nice and sturdy. I would definitely recommend reusing old purse hardware for a project like this.

So I wore this purse for the first time yesterday...and I LOVED IT! It was really comfy because the strap is nice and wide, and I could hardly feel it on my shoulder. I love the size...and I love how it is soft and slouchy....I think I might even make another one...