Craft/Sewing: alphabet bean bags

I've been wanting to make Ava some alphabet bean bags for a while now. And after seeing this tutorial here, I decided that I needed to do it. These were going to be christmas presents, but I procrastinated and December became a little too hectic. So I decided to make them for Ava's birthday. I already had all of the fabric, freezer paper, and paint. Awesome.

Thanks to this friend who let me use her cricut, I was able to cut the letters out that way instead of using an exacto knife (way too time consuming - - I learned my lesson after making these). Painted them using brown fabric paint and then putting the beans in and sewing them together.

I think they turned out so cute! And the little missy liked them too (although, for awhile she's just been using them as her "babies", puts them in a bucket, and goes on her way - - silly girl)!

And come back soon! Cause I think I might be doing a giveaway involving a few numbers on bean bags.

Crafts: freezer paper stenciling

This little girl can't wait to meet her little sis. 2 more weeks left . . . and counting. She's ready. And so am I!

One of the projects I wanted to finish before having this little one, was to make big sister/little sister shirts. I'd always wanted to try out the freezer paper stenciling and thought this was the perfect opportunity.

Made has a great tutorial on freezer paper stenciling. Go here to check it out.

-I don't have a fancy program and just made my design off of Microsoft Word. The owls were part of the clipart.

-I was able to print it off right onto the freezer paper (you want the ink on the dull side and not on the shiny side).

- Then you have the really fun part (definite sarcasm coming through - - if you couldn't tell). You get to cut it out with an exacto knife. This is the longest process (if you have words - - tiny words).

- Iron on the freezer paper (shiny side down) to the shirt.

-Use fabric paint (I used the Tulip brand) to blot the paint on the shirt and let dry for 3-4 hours.

-When you're done, you'll get something cute like the shirts above. (this was my first time and I did have some bleeding through - - especially with the name Reese. Need to figure out what to do next time.)

Ava absolutely loved her shirt. She couldn't stop looking at the finished product on herself. I can't wait to get a picture with the girls in them together.

I'll be linking to some of the parties below.