Flashback to the cutest little farm party..
Planning a soiree of your own? All invites are 50% off today only!
Get this deal in my Zazzle shop
Use code FRIDAYTREATZ at checkout
(Friday 1/18/19 – sale ends at midnight)
Share This!






Flashback to the cutest little farm party..
Planning a soiree of your own? All invites are 50% off today only!
Get this deal in my Zazzle shop
Use code FRIDAYTREATZ at checkout
(Friday 1/18/19 – sale ends at midnight)
Share This!I love gifting — it’s really my favorite part of the Holiday season. Finding the perfect gifts, wrapping them with all the cuteness… bring it on! Customized gifts are the best gifts ever because they have that personalized touch. They are fun to create, and nothing beats the reaction of someone who has just been given a gift made especially for them. The thoughtfulness of a customized gift is always appreciated!
This, my friends, is why I love Zazzle so much.
So I’ve picked out a few of my favorites this year to share with you, in hopes that you can find some inspiration for your holiday gift-giving.
I love the stamped jewelry trend, and Zazzle makes it so easy to order. This gorgeous circle pendant I had made for my sister — the initials c & t are for Casey and Trevor, her two kids. I just love the rustic but still chic look of it.
And my goodness, can you say packaging love?! I’m a sucker for natural wrappings. You can find this necklace available to be customized here.
Another favorite of mine are prints on wood. These are soooo cool.ย They come in various sizes, and come with a cool little stand so you can put in on a shelf instead of hanging it.
I chose a picture of my boys walking down the sidewalk and added a lovely brother quote.
These look great in color, sepia tone or black and white. Such a fun and unique gift! You can create your own wood print here.
I wanted to find a good family gift — or a gift for the kids — and I found one that suits both with this custom puzzle! My boys both love doing puzzles and we do them together ALL THE TIME.
I decided to use a brother picture from this year’s school pictures so that it would be fun for the boys to work on it together. Here is Logan trying to figure it out! You can create your own puzzle here.
Last, but certainly not least, a gift for the fur-baby or your favorite fur-lover.
These dog bone ornaments are SO CUTE! You can choose the color of the writing and customize the name — I can’t wait to give this to Akino’s Mommy & Daddy for Christmas!
You can create your own dog name ornament here.
So there you have it – some of my favorites for this season! Be sure to check the coupon page before shopping, as there is ALWAYS a good deal happening at Zazzle!
*I am a Zazzle affiliate and will receive a small compensation for any products purchased via my links. I wouldn’t share it if I didn’t love it!
Share This!If you’ve been following me for a while, you KNOW I can’t pass up pretty fabric… even if it’s not really meant to be sewing fabric. But, pretty colors and patterns and textures are abundant these days in so many basic items that us creatives find inspiration everywhere, right? Yep.
So here we go with another gorgeous Target find!
These napkins have the most gorgeous print ever and I couldn’t pass them up. I recently got around to using ONE of them to make a super cute clutch that I gifted to my son’s awesome teacher, and I’m giddy to think that I still have THREE napkins left to play with — YAY!
Oh and by the way, whilst visiting my store the other day I noticed that they now have the matching placemats too…so you could also make a clutch like this one here!
Supplies:
Affiliate Disclaimer: You know how much I love Target – that’s WHY I am an affiliate, I’m happy to promote their awesome stuff. If you buy anything online using my links, I’ll get a few pennies! ๐
Share This!When you really get into sewing, you start to see fabric everywhere. Seriously. Everywhere. I don’t get rid of clothes anymore if the fabric is sew-worthy, as evidenced by my upcycle/recycle/refashion posts! But now I can’t even go through the grocery store without eyeing the tiny section of kitchen towels that are in the baking aisle.
And Target? FUHGHETTABOUDIT. Towels, kitchen towels, napkins, shower curtains, sheets, placemats, table runners…. there is fabric everywhere, and lots of super cute prints, too!
Guess how this tutorial came about? Yep. Walking by the kitchen linen aisle and spotted this GORGEOUS placemat.
I mean seriously, it is so beautiful and has such great texture.
I ended up buying two – one in this coral color and another in a lovely mustard for a later project!
So anyway, this placemat happens to be lined (bonus!) which made my mind start shouting ideas at me in a tourette-like fashion: BAG! Pillow. Coasters. CLUTCH!ย Ah, yes, I think a clutch is perfect.
I wanted to make a very stiff, structured clutch – not the floppy kind (I feel like stuff would fall out of a floppy clutch, but you can skip this step if you want a floppy one for yourself), so in lieu of interfacing I used stiffened felt.
WHAT, you say? Stiffened felt. I love this stuff and I use it all the time! The placemat is 14×19 and a sheet of the stiffened felt is 12×18 so it fits perfectly inside. You can get it at your local craft store, or by all means, use some interfacing that is stiff if you want more structure to your clutch.
You’ll also need some velcro. There are several kinds of velcro, and truth be told I would have preferred sew-on velcro instead of the kind with the sticky back (gums up the needle!) but you use what you have on hand sometimes… so if you’re going to get supplies, get sew-on velcro instead of sticky! ๐
So now the fun begins. Slice open one of the short ends of the placemat…
Stuff the felt inside…
Push it all the way in, there will be a little room on all sides.
Set your machine to a zigzag stitch…
..and sew that baby back up! Be sure to go back and forth a few times at the top and bottom to seal off the thread. You won’t sew through the felt since it is shorter than the placemat.
Now isn’t that lovely? Hold up the placemat and shake it around a bit so the felt makes it back to the center.
Next you’re going to fold your very stiff placemat into a clutch. Get ready, you’ll need some muscle.
You can fold it to where you want it, what looks good or feels comfortable to you, but if you’re a stickler for measurements (I am NOT), I measured for you and folded up to leave 4.5 inches on the top flap, as you can see pictured here:
I put pins to mark my place and went back to the sewing machine. Using a straight stitch, I started at the pin and went straight down to the bottom. Since the placemat is lined and you have the felt in there, your machine and needle will basically tell you where to sew and give you your seam allowance – it’s about 1/4 -1/2 inch. Be sure to go back and forth a few times at the top and bottom again, to secure your thread.
This fabric hides your thread & seam so nicely!
Now go sew up the other side, too..
..and check your work out — you now have a lovely pocket!
Next step: use your muscles to fold that top down. Press it really well, it’s going to want to pop back up on you. I set my laptop on mine for a while just to tell it who is boss.
This is where the velcro comes in. AGAIN – I want to reiterate that sew-on velcro is much preferred over the sticky-back velcro I am using here. Trust me. I went through 2 needles!
Pick your spot where you want the velcro placed and pin it in place.
I joined the velcro once pinned and folded the top of my clutch over to get my spot for the second piece on the main body of the clutch like this..
… and then secured the second piece of velcro.
Break out your needle and thread and sew those puppies on!
Be sure to go through the placemat and the felt or interfacing if you used it — you’ll want it to be secure and not to pull away from the structure of the clutch. I used a contrasting thread, I thought it would be cute!
Since I used the sticky-back velcro, I had to use all my power to push the needle through. But the end result was worth the sore thumb muscles!
Once you’ve sewn both pieces of velcro on..
Isn’t she pretty? Dramatic, but still so very classy!
ย Makes a great gift, too – and they will be SUPER impressed when you tell them you made it yourself! ๐
Happy Sewing!
Share This!
Bye Bye, May and Hello June! Summer is coming and so is Father’s Day, which means it’s time to start looking for some great gifts for Dad. What better gifts to give YOUR Grill Master than these personalized BBQ accessories I found on Zazzle — which, by the way, are on SALE, RIGHT NOW!
Take advantage and shop now to save 30% on all Father’s Day gifts + 15% off all orders now through June 4th, 2015. Use Code ZFAVORITEGUY at checkout.
My husband, the father of my children, believes himself to be an expert when it comes to the art of grilling, and has therefore dubbed himself The Grill Master. Well, a Grill Master needs an apron like a King needs a crown – it’s a necessity. I love the style of this one, very bold but still classy, and you can put whatever name you want at the top.
It is very well made – a nice thick canvas fabric to hold up to his grilling shenanigans.. which usually involves the dog jumping on him at some point, and at least one shout of, “FIRE IN THE HOLE!”
Does your Grill Master have a secret sauce? Mine does – or so he says! It IS a bit of a mystery, I’ve never actually watched him to see what he puts in it, but it usually tastes pretty darn good. It could very well be just a regular jar of BBQ sauce. But I like it, the kids like it, and that’s all that really matters.
I thought a special bowl just for his top secret sauce would make him smile, so I designed this one with him in mind. This is customizable too, you can change “Dad” to any name! It’s actually a chili bowl, but I thought it would be better than a regular bowl since it has the cool little finger handle. ๐
Every time MY husband gets his grill on he comes running in to the house in a panic at some point, saying “I NEED A PLATE!” and I scramble to find him one that he can’t destroy. Paper plates are too flimsy and I’m terrified he’ll break one of my ceramic plates — not that losing the plate is a big deal, it’s the shards all over the ground for a blind dog and a 1 year old to walk on that scare me..
…well now he can have his very own plate, and a towel to match. A very classy design on both with his initials; the plate is melamine so it can take a beating (no shards!)…
..and the towel is absorbent enough to handle his messes! I like the black towel, it will hide any stains that are sure to come from his secret sauce, and it looks great on the grill.
Our Grill Master just got a new grill, so I think these gifts will be a big hit! Don’t tell him I used it as a prop for my photo shoot.ย ๐
Take advantage and shop now to save 30% on all Father’s Day gifts + 15% off all orders now through June 4th, 2015. Use Code ZFAVORITEGUY at checkout.
*I am a Zazzle Affiliate and will be paid a tiny bit of commission for any products purchased via these links. But hey, I wouldn’t share ’em if I didn’t love ’em!
Share This!