Feature and a Giveaway

I'm just a little excited. Today I'm being featured on a new sewing blog: Sew It To Me. Thank you Vanessa for feauturing me as your Sunday Spotlight. I'm very flattered. It's funny. All of those nice things she said about me . . . I was going to say about her! She's awesome. Check out their new blog. So, welcome Sew It To Me readers! I hope you enjoy your stay.

Well for those who have been following my blog, the other day I posted about this pillowcase I found for $1.

I made it into a pillowcase dress and decided to do a giveaway for all of my followers. So . . . if you aren't a follower, just go to the side and sign up!

Rules:

This giveaway starts Sunday, February 28 @ 2:00pm (PST)

and will end on Tuesday, March 9 @ 2:00pm (PST)

the winner will be announced on Wednesday, March 10 on this blog.

One entry per person. One winner will be chosen randomly. (The winner will need to leave their e-mail address in the comment section so that I can contact that person. If not, a new winner will be chosen.)

All you have to do is:

1. become a follower ( just sign up on the side; if you already are, just let me know)

Easy, right?

This can be a dress for a 2T-3T and probably a cute top for the older kiddos.

Cooking Obsession: Orange Chicken

Besides spray painting and sewing, I do like to dabble in the kitchen a bit. I will admit though, that my hubby is probably a better cook than I. Lucky for me!

We decided to try a new recipe which ended up being fantastic. If you like orange chicken, you will love this recipe! Two great things about it. 1. this orange chicken isn't fried (so you can spend those fried food calories that aren't there . . . on cookies instead) and 2. not a lot of prep time for these babies.

We found it in the Kraft Foods Magazine Fall 2007 (can be found at www.kraftfoods.com)

Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

8 small boneless skinless chicken thighs (1 lb)

3 Tbsp flour

1/3 c. orange marmalade

1/3 c. barbecue sauce

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp grated fresh gingerroot

Toss chicken with flour in slow cooker.

Stir in all remaining ingredients; cover with lid.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours (or high for 3-4 hours). Although if you cut the chicken in smaller pieces at the beginning, I recommend that you leave it just on high for 1-2 hours.

Serve with rice. Makes 4 servings. Enjoy!

Home Decor Obsession: orange chair

The other day I was walking through one of my hometown thrift stores when I found this beautiful, orange chair. I hesitated at first cause I really don't like buying used couches or chairs (my slipcover couches were a different story cause they can be taken off and washed). What can I say. I'm a nurse and can't stand germs. Who knows what has been on that chair. But it was $22 and I couldn't pass it up. Well, when my sweet hubby graciously brought it home (he actually likes it, although I'm sure he was rolling his eyes - - in a good way, of course - - cause he has an amazing wife that finds so many wonderful deals and saves him so much dinero at all of those awesome thrift stores. Really, I think that's what he was thinking.), my little girl jumped all over it. Instead of taking her off, I got out my camera and snapped a few pics. I was maybe going to re-upholster it (something I have yet to attempt) but then remembered we have orange accents in our master bedroom. It might look pretty stunning in there once I make my headboard (someday) and once we don't have sheets covering our sliding glass door (yes - - we've lived here for almost 6 months and still have a sheet up).

It might also be nice as a photography prop. Look how adorable she is on it!

Sewing Obsession: pillowcase dresses

The other day I was at a thrift store and found this adorable pillowcase. I love hand sewn, vintage items like this. I have a few emotions: happy cause I found something awesome to use and then I feel a little sad cause this hand-made item that should be passed down from generation to generation . . . is in a thrift store . . . and family pictures in picture frames at thrift stores? That really pulls at my heart strings. Anyway. Enough about my emotions.

So I found this pillowcase and I'm dying to make a cute little pillowcase dress for my little girl out of it. Won't that be cute? And for$1? Come on Spring! Can't you speed it up a little?

A few easy pillowcase tutorials can be found at Freshly Picked by Susan (elastic used) and at A Room Somewhere by Leslie (ribbon used).

**Psst. You don't even have to use a pillowcase. If you have fabric you love use that! I once even made some out of kitchen drapes. (see the pic below)

What else have you made out of a pillowcase?

Home Decor Obsession: frame within a frame

I love the idea of a frame within a frame (very sorry - don't know to who I should credit this photo - I'd saved it awhile ago when I didn't keep track).

I decided to do my own version of a frame within a frame. We have a large wall in our living room that needed some spicing up. We had a few picture frames, but it was just blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I have a friend that did something similar to this, to one of her photos and it looks very classy.

I found this cool frame at a thrift store for about $3. The color theme of our living room is tan with white and turqoise accents. I thought this would be perfect. So I taped the turqoise trim off and then spray painted away (first using a few coats of spray paint prime and then a few coats of white spray paint).

And here is the after picture:

Have you done anything cool with a frame, lately?

Refashion Obsession: resizing pajama bottoms

Growing up, my family had matching christmas pjs. I decided when we had children that we'd do the same. Although, this past December was a little busy and I didn't get to making them. I was going to forget about it, but then had an idea. I was walking through Old Navy one day when I saw some cute christmas pajama bottoms. Loved them. The only problem is that they were all in XL. Does this happen to just me? Before my refashion craze, I would have walked right past them. But hey. I do have a sewing machine and now I'm obsessed with refashioning - - why not just resize them down? And so I did just that. My little girl and I have matching pj bottoms and they were originally both XL.

That same day, I was looking through the clearance rack and saw these adorable pj bottoms that had some retro cakes on them. $3.99? Who could pass that up? I decided to make birthday pjs for my little girl. Today is her big day. And she looks adorable in them.

Re-sizing PJ bottoms Tutorial

I first got the pj bottoms and placed the right top side on top of the left top side. I found a pair of pants that fit my daughter well and placed them on top of the pj bottoms the same way. I placed the waist of my daughters pants as high as I could and as far near the crouch as I could, like so.

I then cut about 1 inch around her pants. Although, at the bottom I did cut it a little longer so that she'll be able to grow into them. It's up to you.

After you cut, you'll have two separate pieces - - the front and the back. So . . . you just need to sew them together. Easy, right? Place the printed sides together and start pinning.


You just need to sew the left side of the pjs together, the right side of the pjs together, and then sew the inside of the pjs (just one continuous stitch). Sewn at 3/8 in. Make sense?

Then to make it look somewhat professional, use a serger, or if you don't have one, like me, just use a zig-zag stitch. (one day I'll have a serger - i wish, i wish, i wish)

You're almost done! You just need to finish the leg bottoms. I just folded (still inside out) the leg bottoms up twice, about 1/2 inch each, and then pinned.

Go ahead and sew those and you're finished!

Look at this little girl. She's as happy as can be. (Okay . . . she's really happy cause it's her birthday and I bribed her with candy.)

* side note: the waists of all of the pj bottoms I've resized are elastic waists (the drawstrings on them are just for looks). drawstring waists might be a little more complicated to resize down.

** antoher side note: I was just at Old Navy today and they had all of their Valentine PJ bottoms on clearance for $3.99. I stocked up for next year. Hurry. They go fast!


linking to:

Giveaway results: Birthday Postcard

Thanks to all who entered! I loved reading your comments. Now the moment you've all been waiting for. Drumroll please.

And the winner is:

lezanac, who said:

"The last time I sent out a birthday card was at least 5 years ago but it is something I would love to start doing again."

Now. If you really don't want to make your own and you really like these postcards I made . . . I listed them in my etsy store so go check them out (come in a 10 pack) here.

Card Obsession: Valentine's Day Card tutorial

So, I was able to complete 6 Valentine's Day cards for a few special grandparents of my little girl. And it didn't take long. (did it while watching a full episode of Martha and a quarter of Oprah) They were super easy to do. It might take a little prep on your part though.

Valentine's Day Tri-fold Card

supplies:
3 pictures of your little one/ones (edited with text on them or not - - 4x6)
scrapbook paper/cardstock
glue
ribbon

So, I first took a few snapshots of my little one. They didn't turn out how I had planned. Does anything goes as planned with a 2 year old? Nonetheless, they were cute. I really wanted a picture of her just holding a candy heart that said "I love you" (with the heart in focus). But I tried, and tried. And I couldn't get her cute, chubby, little fingers to hold it how I wanted. This is what I ended up getting:

I went on http://www.picnik.com/ (because I don't have photoshop) and was able to write a little message and even placed the candy heart in her fingers. Then I printed them out.

For the center of the trifold, I used a solid color scrapbook paper sized 8.5"x4.75". I then folded 0.5" on the top and bottom of that paper (like the pink paper below).

You then want to cut 4 of the patterned papers: 7.5"x 4.75".

Then glue each of the patterned papers to the tabs of the center of the tri-fold. It should now look like this below.

Now it's time to glue on the pictures. You figure out where you want them and glue them on. (I'm also going to leave a spot where she can personalize her own little message - - ok . . scribble it, that is.)

Now you're almost finished! You just need to tie it up with a cute little ribbon. How easy was that!

This will definitely help you get that favorite special grandchild status.