Spring Top Challenge

Soooo, I've made alot of Clothing! Alot! Mostly for my children. I've never made myself anything expect for this (click it). Even that shirt was actually just a refashion. I made this one all the way from scratch - a big hunk of knit fabric. Well, I've been telling myself for sometime now that I was gonna enter the Made by Rae Spring Top Challenge. In typical Jen fashion the deadline is TODAY & I

got it done last night. Here ya have it. Do I look like I'm ready to go boxing!

Just checkin!

Thanks for dropping in!

Smiles & Big Love,

A Fun Giveaway & A Little Tutorial

Hello & Welcome Tatertots & Jello Fans!

I think I know why your here.

Well your at the right place.

I'm having a giveaway.

Do you see those two little clutches down below. Well, last week I saw the tutorial for these

little darlins over at MADE. Did you know they are doing a celebration of mothers over there. Well, the tutorial was done by the darling & ever so talented Anna (I may or may not have a daughter with that name - so I'm a bit partial). Please check out her blog Noodlehead & all her lovely creations.

Anyhow, I decided that I just had to make these for my giveaway. So, I DID!

Thanks Anna!

The inside has two card pockets.

So, this is how it goes: I will randomly choose one winner & that winner will have their choice of which one of the two is their favorite.
Here's how you enter:

*One entry for leaving a comment here on my blog.

*A second entry for leaving a comment on Jen's blog Tatertots & Jello

*A third entry for becoming a follower of MY BLOG.

Please leave a seperate comment here telling me each entry that you have done so that I can keep track of your entries.

Clear as MUD!

The Giveaway will close on Sunday night 5/2

at midnight!

Thanks again for everything Jen - I really appreciate you and all your bloggy love!

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Here's that flower tutorial I promised.

YOu all probably know how to make these. There are so many darling fabric flowers all over bloggy land. For those few that don't scroll down and I will show you.

First cut four of the same size circles. I use my pinking shears to add some fun texture!

Fold each of them in half - you can iron them if you like - I don't!

AT this point you could also insert circles of netting into the circles. In one of the pictures below you will see one that I did that with. It gives it extra fluff and flair!

Then you just began overlapping them. Round and round!

When you get to the last one you lay it down and then flip the first ones end over it. You know like when you fold a box so that it will stay shut. Sorry the picture is a bit fuzzy.

Then I sew a little X in it to hold it all together. I've glued the pieces together before as well.

Add another one on top of that one to give it a fun layered look!

I didn't have the perfect button to go in the middle so I just took one of my ugly buttons that had a shank on the bottom and I mod podged fabric to the top of the button. How cute is that. You can cute up all your old ugly buttons like this. I'm gonna!

You could also add a rolled flower to the center of one of these or some chipboard buttons. Mix it up and have fun.

Happy to answer any questions!

Smiles,

For ME!

So, did you know that every week & even on the weekend over at Tatertots & Jello there is a giveaway? OH bless that Jen's heart she is amazing.

Did you know that I won said giveaway last week.

Guess what I won?

The most adorable Headband made by a very talented a darling gal named Brittany.

You can find her over at her blog

http://lovestitched.blogspot.com/

Brittany, I love my new headband.

I tried to get pictures of it on me and well it looks as though they were all outakes!

Bless my little Z-man's heart - he was a bit silly.

I love him! OH how I love him.

Enjoy the pics!

Thanks for stopping by!

Smiles & Big Big Love,

Framed

So, I had some old outdated frames. They actually never really matched anything I had and they certainly didn't match each other. No biggie - we can fix that. In fact can't you just about fix anything with Mod Podge. I think so!

So I just painted the edges with some black acrylic paint. Mod Podged some darling scrapbook paper that I had.

Then of course another layer of Mod Podge over the paper to seal it.

Glued some ribbon trim here!

Ruffled some cute fabric to another strip of fabric and then glued it on with some good ole E6000. Added a chipboard button.


Made a cute & crazy flower and added that to this last one.
I know I'm being kind of quick with my description. I had a root canal today --so please forgive. I would be happy to provide a detailed tutorial if anyone is interested.


Did you see what I created last week! Check it out!




Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Smiles & Big Love,

Linkin up as usual.

Who Is Jen?

I thought I would do a post and tell you a bit about Who Jen is. Well, I'm Jen (Jennifer) , my parents and my brother call me Jenny.

These are my parents -You see I was twiced blessed -

I was born of goodly parents who also have a great sense of humor.

My sisters, I have 6 of them well they call me all sorts of things (Jeffer, Jenner, idgit) but mostly just Jen. The hubby calls me things too but I can't repeat that. wink!

I'm the lucky wife of Mr. Holyoak. I simply adore him. He is my Mr. Right. He never holds me down but has always given me wings to fly. Everything that I've ever made that was good was with him by my side. Love you Babe!

I am the blessed momma to these four little darlins. They keep our house lively & full of love & lots of laughter. Being a Mom is a full time job that is more rewarding than anything else.

It seems like a life-time ago but I used to design for a Boutique Childrens Clothing group on Ebay- Ivylane - It was fun but as we added to our family I just had to let that part of my business go. Here are a couple of my designs. Making my children clothing is still my favorite thing to do.

It's a tradition around this house to have themed Halloween costumes. Making my kiddos costumes is something I completely love to do. They usually arent' done till Oct 30th at midnight but hey, we make it work.

For the last couple of years now I have been making and selling designer scrub caps to nurses all over the U.S. but mostly right here in the Idaho -Utah area. My darling sister-in-law is my wonderful sidekick.

So, basically, I'm just a crazy momma who loves to sew, spend time with my family & friends, listen to music super duper loud, dance like nobodys watching kinda gal.

Feel free to introduce yourself! I love to meet new people.

Big Smiles & Love

Pear-Shape Book Tutorial

Last Spring I needed something fun to sell at my family auction. My family holds an auction every year at our family reunion where we sell our handmade or purchased goods to other members of our family and then the money is used to pay for next years family reunion. Anyhow, blah , blah, blah, I came up with this version of a pear which was inspired by my good friend Jessica's pear. She's a clever gal! Thanks lady! It was a big hit at the family reunion and I have made it several times since for gifts (hello -wouldn't this be the cutest gift for the ladies in your book club) . Wanna make one - it's super easy and I bet you have nearly everything you need already.

Alright, so gather your supplies:
*scissors or an exacto knife
*old book
*black & white craft paint
*sponge brush
*sanding paper
*pattern (half a pear shape drawn out)
*green ink pad
*wooden block
*quick drying glue (I used hot glue & zip dry glue)
*twig from your yard
*green felt

Ok, first off I have to say that I didn't capture every step with my camera because truth be told I just recreated this scene after I had made it - you know since I made it last Spring! Sorry - I can answer any question and I will try my best to spell it out for you. You can Do THIS!


So, You just draw out your pear shape or half a pear shape as seen below. Make sure the bottom of your pattern is flat so that your pear will stand up nicely. After you have ripped the cover off your book and most of the goo off the side of your book (use a razor to scrape it off if its being difficult). Make sure to leave a bit so that your book doesn't fall apart. Then lay your pattern with the flat side to the bound edge. This is when you can either trace it with a pencil or just use your exacto knife and cut around your pattern. You won't be able to go thru all the layers of course you will just work your way down. I traced it and then used scissors to cut mine out - just because my exacto blade was a bit dull. Don't worry about perfection -rough edges give it character. I used about 100 pages to make mine as full as it was. After you get that task done you can go thru and ink the edges of the pear and even a bit towards the center every now and then. This picture here is showing a different ink then my original pears and I don't like it as well. This was a chalk ink and the original one I used that is my favorite and the ink on the finished pear pictured is a Versa Color Ink in bamboo. Love it. Ran OUT! darn. Use what you have -it will be cute.

I had the hubby cut me out a circle that was about an inch bigger than the widest part of your pear. He routered the edge for a cute finish. I know that you can pick up something similar at Micheals or probably even JoAnns. After you get that done paint your wooden base. I just used craft paint. First I painted mine white and then when that was good and dry I painted black over that - a couple of coats . Now get out that sandpaper and rough it up a bit. Sand the top in a few places and the edges. I even banged mine up a bit with my keys.



Now get out your favorite quick drying glue and glue the front page to the back page - hold it or use some pinch clips to do so. I used Zip dry glue - it really does dry super fast. love that. Usually! I wanted my pear to be shapely , as shapely as a pear shape can be - You know! That's a whole nother topic for girls nite out - Right! Back to the tute . I randomly went thru and glued different pages together to make it pleasing to the eye. Just start - you will see what I mean. Next I put a big ole dob of hot glue on the bottom of the pear and glued it smack dab in the middle of the painted base.


Now go out to your yard or sneak into your neighbors yard and clip a bit of a branch off of one of the trees. I like a branch with a bit of a jaunty little curve to it. I just clipped that off to a nice stem size and I used E6000 to glue mine to the top of the pear. You have to hold it for quite a bit if you use E6000 though. You could use hot glue but be so careful because it tends to ooze out and it won't look that great with a gob of hot glue up top.




Again, not a great picture of my leaf but this is easy. I just cut a leaf shape out of a great green felt and then I ran mine through my sewing machine to add veins but you could also use some floss and stitch it on by hand. No veins at all would work as well. Then I just wrapped the bottom of the leaf to the bottom part of the stem and VOILA!!!



There you have it! Make two and use them as book ends (you'd have to weight them to be very effective book ends) Make some for those darling gals in your book club. Just keep it for yourself - you worked hard! Good luck and don't forget to share if you do make one. I would love to see yours.


I'm linking up as usual to Jen over at Tatertots and Jello!

Hey if you wanna find out what shape your talent is check out my bro-in-laws blog - you might be a pear shape. Actually, that's not one of the shapes but go have a look . His link is over there on my side bar - BE MUSED! neat inspirational blog!
Smiles & Big Big Love