Add-on sleeves

Katy picked out this super cute dress for Easter but it didn't have any sleeves. I know it's not a huge deal and most people aren't bothered by a sleeveless dress for their daughters, but it bothers me. We fight whenever I ask her to wear either a shirt underneath or a sweater on top. I don't know why she hates it so much but I'm kinda tired of battling that. So I found this awesome tutorial(https://www.sewcanshe.com/blog/2018/3/23/add-a-diy-sleeve-to-any-dress-free-sewing-tutorial) on how to add sleeves to ANY dress/shirt. Sh's figured out all the sewing math so all you have to do is measure your dress and plug in those numbers. I tried to match the color of the dress with some silky and tulle-y fabric from Joanns. At 40% off it cost me $3 for 1/2 yard of fabric. I think it turned out great! And it wasn't very difficult. Now I need to go through the rest of her dresses!

Minecraft Quilt

Brandon's big gift for Christmas is a Minecraft quilt. I actually started working on it for his birthday but.... never finished. I was planning on just making a pillow but the blocks turned out so awesome that I decided to do a quilt. So many squares.....

It turned out so cool! I used flat sheets for the backing and the front and did a hidden tie (thanks, Mom!) Can't wait to see Brandon's reaction to this quilt!

Dollhouse

At the end of August I started working on this project. I really wanted Katy to have a dollhouse but didn't like most of the ones from the store. My mom offered me part of a dollhouse that I grew up playing with. I was so excited to re-build and modernize a toy I loved playing with. I decided to removed the slanted roof and make it 3 stories.

We had some leftover MDF board from a previous project so that was nice to not have to go out and buy more wood. I took the whole thing apart and measured everything. Sean used his dad's power saw to cut the pieces I needed.

Putting it back together was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I used nails to secure everything and it is so hard to nail two pieces of wood together at a right angle! Eventually I got it rebuilt and painted.

And added new wallpaper and flooring with scrapbook paper and modpodge. The carpet is bathroom rugs.

And Popsicle stick baseboards :)

The furniture was sooo fun to make!

The couch and chair were made with thin pieces of craft wood and wooden spools. I layered thin foam for the cushions and covered with fabric.

 The big beds I painted and made mattresses with the foam.

 I also made blankets and pillows.

The toilet. It was so hard to find a dollhouse toilet!!! And there was no way I could make one that would be sturdy enough for playing. I found this beauty at the gas station for $1!

I cut the bottom of a bottle of Miralax for a tub and glued beads to the bottom for the feet.

Some scrap pieces of the MDF and dowels and Popsicle sticks. I also made mattresses for these.

I love the sinks! I cut and painted an iPhone box and used a condiment container for the bathroom sink. The faucet is a hook painted silver. The pink sink is part of a mini dollhouse Katy had.

 Blood, sweat and tears went into this project. I hope this is something Katy will enjoy for a loooooong time! She has seen the progress of the house but I keep telling her that I'm fixing it up for Grandma. There's not really a space for me to hide it from her! I'm excited to see her reaction on Christmas and to play with it with her! :)

Beadbaord!

I LOVE beadboard. If we ever get to build a house someday it might all be decorated with beadboard. Our TV stand has glass doors and it was bugging me that you could see everything stuffed in there and all the cords. I bought some beadboard wallpaper on Amazon and mixed some dark brown and black paint from Home Depot and covered up the glass. It's taking a while to get used to; it's just a big black box now! But man it's so cute. Yay for cheap upgrades!!

I forgot to take  a before picture with the doors on but this is basically what it looks like all the time.

I removed the doors and cut the wall paper to size. For a project like this that already had a wood frame, I had to cut the paper just a hair bigger than the size of the glass. The paper is hard to trim when it's soaking wet and has so much glue. It has to dry for 24 hours.

After!!! I am so happy with how it turned out! And the paint colors I mixed match perfectly! I'm amazed at how that worked out.

Family Motto

My SIL had this cute idea to make family mottos with gold foil/vinyl. I've never used it before but it is awesome and so pretty! We used my silhouette and each chose a short motto.

Here's mine:

Breanne's and Ashley's

Names of Christ Ornaments

Last year I saw these ornaments at Deseret Book and loved them. This year they were no longer available so I thought I'd try making them myself.

There were a few different ways I thought of doing these. I could have gotten a pack of star gift tags, or stitched on some felt. I chose to do wooden stars because I didn't feel like hand-sewing and the wooden stars were easier to find. I got 2 packs of wooden stars for like $2 each, a small can of metallic silver spray paint ($3), and puffy paint ($1).

I drew where I wanted the little dots to go and then used the puffy paint. Hand cramp!

Then I spray painted them. I learned that the vinyl doesn't stick as well to that metallic paint. I sprayed a coat of clear acrylic spray and then the vinyl stuck better. I made a couple extra ones with a nativity scene on them for a few of my friends. And one more coating of the clear acrylic spray. I hot-glued a loop of jute to the back and hung them on the tree. Yay!

Piped Pillow Cover

Piping can be evil. I tried making my own and that did not go well. So glad I can pay to have someone make it for me :)

Anyway, I made these pillows to go on our new bedspread that I made (pics of that coming soon).  I saw a tip on Pinterest to cut a king-sized pillow in half to make two throw pillows. Pillow inserts can be so expensive! This cost me less than $10 to make two. So cool.

My pillows measured 17x17 inches. So I cut my fabric 18x18. I also used interfacing for the first time. Awesome!! I followed this tutorial from Make It and Love It. I LOVE how they turned out!