Crinkly Taggy Blanket Tutorial

Today I am excited to share my first tutorial.  As I venture into the world of tutorials I thought I would start with one of my favorite baby gifts:  taggy blankets.  Taggy blankets are cuddly and offer sensory benefits for babies.  

As an added bonus taggy blankets can often be made completely from fabric scraps and may not even require a trip to the fabric tore to our chase supplies.

Supply List

Here’s the list of needed supplies:

1. Top fabric 11” x 11” 
2.  Bottom fabric 11” x 11”
3. Crinkly material for inside (I used a plastic diaper package, but you could also use a plastic bag, plastic wipe packaging, empty cereal bag, etc)
4. Ribbon in a variety of widths, textures, colors, and patterns.
5. Coordinating thread

Step 1:  Prepare the Top Fabric

The top and bottom fabrics need to measure 11”x11”.  Either use one solid piece of fabric or piece squares together smaller squares, similar to constructing a quilt top.  This gives the opportunity to encorporate more textures and colors to increase the overall stimulation for the baby.

I pieced together 4x4 squares using a 1/4 inch seam allowance, which resulted in finished dimensions of 11” x 11”.

Step 2: Prepare the Tags

Cut the ribbons into 20 pieces that are each 3 1/2 inch long.

Step 3: Attach Ribbons to Top

Fold each ribbon in half with wrong sides together.  Pin each folded ribbon to the right side of the quilt top.  Aline the raw edges of the ribbon with the raw edge of the fabric.  Arrange the ribbons so there are 5 ribbons evenly spaced along each side of the top.

Sew along each side of the quilt top with a 1/8” seam allowance.  This will attach the ribbons to the top.

Step 4: Attach the Crinkly Plastic

Pin the plastic to the wrong side of the blanket top.  I usually cut the plastic a little bigger so it overhangs the top fabric.  This gives a little extra material in case the plastic shifts while sewing.  

Sew around the entire top with a 1/8” seam allowance to attach the plastic to the top.

Step 5:  Attach the Minky

Lay the backing over the the top with Wright aides together. Secure the top and backing with pins. 

Tip:  If using minky apply lots of pins because minky is slippery and shifts easily while sewing.  

Sew around the blanket with a 1/4” seam allowance, leaving a 2” section open on one side to allow for turning the blanket right sides out.  This opening is shown with the yellow arrrows in the below picture.

Tip:  When sewing with minky, the minky should be on top. The feed dogs tend to cause the minky to slip and shift.

Step 6:  Finish the Taggy Blanket

Trim the corners and turn the blanket right side out by pulling the fabric through the 2” opening.  Lightly iron the quilt top, being careful to not touch the hot iron directly onto the ribbons and minky backing.

Using a ladder stitch, hand sew the opening closed.  (Click 

here for instructions on the ladder stitch)

Sew a top stitch round the entire blanket.

Congradulations!  You have completed a taggy Blanket!

Girls Nautical Nursery

When we were creating the nursery for our little girl I knew we wanted to incorporate pink (my favorite color) into the room while still having a gender neutral theme.  I was unable to find any bedding in what I was looking for in stores so I decided I would need to make my own.

So after looking at virtually every fabric option possible, I settled on a nautical theme from Premiere Prints in bright pink, gray, and navy.  These fabrics are twill and duck cloth, making them both heavy and warm.

I started with a crib quilt using chunky 6” squares of fabric.  I contrast the twill and duck cloth quilt top with a soft minky backing in navy.  Due to the weight of the canvas and twill fabric I opted to not use batting.

Next I worked on a fitted crib sheet using Riley Blake anchor fabric.  Then I created a crib skirt.

I hand painted four 12”x12” canvases to coordinate with the nautical themed quilt.

I painted the dressers gray to match the crib and added a pop of the pink on the drower knobs.  And then finished off the room with a light gray walls plus a navy accent wall.  Overall I am quite pleased with how it turned it.  

There are still a few details that need to be completed before I can call the room complete.  I found some chip board anchors that need to be painted, I want make a bow organizing board using leftover fabric, the shelves need some more decoration, and I would like to add a strong inspiring vinyl decal quotation to the wall.

But that will be for another post.  So stay posted to see what I come up with.  And until next time, have a Sew Scrappy Day!

Yogi Bear Picnic Birthday Party

 We spend our summers RV camping at Jellystone parks.  As a result Austin, my middle son, is a huge fan of Yogi Bear.  So I was not surprised when Austin asked for a Yogi Bear birthday party.  But creating the Yogi Bear party of his dreams would be a challenge, because party supply stores do not carry a stock of Yogi Bear products and probably have not since the ‘70s.

To add to this challenge, my work schedule was crazy busy lately and was busy raising three kids.  Needless to say I did not have a ton of time available to dedicate to party planning.

But thanks to Google, Pinterest, EBay, and Amazon I was able to create the Yogi Bear Picnic Party that Austin had in his dreams.  And it did not even cost me an arm and a leg.

The Cake

I did not want to spend a hundred dollars on a artistic sculptured birthday cake but the local bakeries did not have any Yogi Bear designs.  I was able to find this edible film on Amazon, so I ordered a plain white cake (I may be crafty but I do not bake) and applied the film myself.

 

I added some camping toy cake decorations as well.  My kids get so excited when they get the toys off the birthday cakes.  These toys were extra exciting because the tent lights up to show the silhouette of a camper inside.  My son was convinced it was Yogi Bear hiding inside the tent.

The Shirt

I always make the kids cute t-shirts for their birthday, but I was unable to find embroidery designs to fit the yogi bear theme.  And honestly, I just did not have the time to make one.  Luckily I found this yogi bear t-short on Ebay.  And Austin was very pleased to wear it.

Balloons
I found a set of 21 Yogi Bear balloons on Amazon.  We took them to our local florist the morning of the party to fill with helium.  

The Picnic
For the picnic we threw a blanket down on the kitchen floor and served a traditional camping meal: hot dogs and potatoe chips with the kids sitting around the blanket. 

To add to the festivities we put a campfire (purchased from Amazon) in the center of the picnic blanket.

The kids really seems to love the picnic, especially the fire in the middle.  Their imaginations took over and they warmed they hands over the fire and talked camping talk while sitting around the blanket.  I underestimated how much fun the kids would have pretending to be at a picnic.

We even put the cake right in the middle of the blanket when it was time to sing happy birthday.  

The Entertainment

Entertainment for the yogi bear picnic consisted of two things:  Yogi Bear books and Yogi Bear cartoon episodes.

There is an entire series of Yogi Bear Guide books.  I surprised Austin with two of these books at his party.  The kids passed these around and the big kids read to the little kids.  

During the picnic dinner we had Yogi Bear cartoons playing.  I purchased these for $1 an episode off Amazon.  These were the original cartoons from the ‘70’s.  For most of the kids it was the first time seeing these cartoons and they were a hit.

The Snack: S’mores

For the snacks I made individually wrapped s’mores with a marshmallow, chocolate bar, and graham crackers.  They could be eaten as is or popped in the microwave for 10 seconds to melt the chocolate and the marshmallow.  These went over big with both the parents and the adults.

The Party Favors

I had to get a little creative with the party favors.  I bought mini gift bags from Hobby Lobby and attached Yogi Bear cut outs that I printed off myself.  Each party favor bag had a mini coloring book, Yogi Bear stickers, and a s’more.  The birthday boy got a few extra Yogi Bear toys in his that I found on EBay.

I made the mini coloring book using half sheets of paper with craft paper for the cover.  I googled “Yogi Bear coloring pages” to print the images.  I was even lucky enough to find a coloring image with Yogi holding the number 5.

Yogi Bear Wrapping Paper

The one thing I could not find was Yogi bear wrapping paper.  So I improvised by using this yogi bear fabric.  I used the fabric to make pillows for our camper after the party was over.

Austin’s Approval

All in all, the party went great and earned Austin’s seal of approval as “the best birthday party ever”.  So I guess that means it lived up to the Yogi Bear picnic party that he had in his dreams.  

And that’s a wrap on Austin’s 5th birthday.  

Color My World Quilt — More Progress

I have been busy making progress on the Color My World quilt.  It’s come quite a way from the box of fat quarter fabric rolls.  Here’s some pictures of my progress:

 Fabric all cut and ready to start:

First set of crayons constructed:

These crayons were a little more labor some than I anticipated, but it was manageable for my novice quilting skills — 10 pieces of fabric per crayon, 7 seams, and 2 appliqués.  

Here the 40 crayons completed and ready for piecing to begin:  

The crayon construction was time consuming, but piecing the crayons into the quilt went quickly.

I have now added the border and am in progress of working on the quilting. 

 

That is all the progress for now.  Stay tuned for pictures of my completed quilt.

If feel inclined to make your own Color My World quilt you can find the free download here.  

Color My World Quilt

I have been busy working on my first quilt project of 2018.  It was actually a quilt kit that I received as a Christmas gift from my one year old daughter, Alexis.  It comes in this cute little box and is bundled to look like a big box of crayons, which is probably why Alexis refused to leave the door until Daddy bought it.

It’s Crayola Fabric Colors by Riley Blake.  It comes with 10 solid colored fat quarters in tight little rolls so it looks just like a no of crayons.  And on the back is a picture of Riley Blake’s Color My World quilt pattern, which you can download for free here.

The kit only came with the solid colors shows above.  I had to purchase separately the black background and binding fabric as well as the backing fabric.  I choose to go with this cute coordinating Riley Blake Crayola Crayon in pink for the backing.

As soon as the fabric came in ore washed it and got right to the cutting.  And there was lot of cutting — 39 crayons each made up of a tip, a serpentine, and 5 rectangles. 

Check back in a few days and check up on my progress.  And until next time, have a Sew Scrappy Day!

Simple Red Burlap Bubble Christmas Wreath

I just love that simple and natural look of burlap wreaths, and I saw some on Easy that have tight, packed bubbles instead of full swooping loops.   I knew a tight, red burlap wreath would look perfect for Christmas on our stone fireplace.  So I studied up on several tutorials, and gave it a try.  Here is what I came up with:

This took a little longer then the other wreaths that I have made, but so far it is my favorite one.  I used a styrofoam wreath for the base and about 2 yards of red burlap that I cut into 5"x5" squares.  In order to make it look nice a full I really packed the burlap bubbles onto the wreath.  I wanted to keep it simple so I added just a white burlap bow.

Here are a couple of the tutorials that I used to learn how to make this style of wreath:

• Burlap Poinsettia Wreath from See Vanessa Craft
• Burlap Bubble Wreath Tutorial from The DIY Playbook
• Burlap Bubble Wreath Tutorial from A Glimpse Inside

It really was not hard at all to make, it just took patience to cut the squares of burlap.  And then each square of burlap had to be folded into burlap and pinned in place.

Jingle All the Way Shadow Box -- Take 2

A few years ago I made these inexpensive and awesome gifts for my boys' daycare teachers.  Remember these?  (Click here to see the original post with instructions).

Well I needed to make a few more as teacher gifts again this year, but when I meant to Michael's they were out of the black shadow boxes but I came across some awesome white ones.  This time I used multiple sizes of bells, and added an extra sparkly red bow with silver trim.