Jay Hess 3/14/12 Jay Hess 3/14/12

a very hungry craft round up...part 3

I have seen many different types of bunting floating around blog land and pinterest for months now. Bunting and banners are by no means new to the craft world, but they are new to me! I thought I would share the banners that were made for the party this past week and how I put my version of this classic party decor together. I made two different banners. One that followed the hungry caterpillar theme to display her month pictures. For the other I wanted to make something a little more nostalgic that can be used year after year. First, the hungry caterpillar bunting. (sorry for the SUPER crummy picture!)

I made two different banners out of the supplies I had below. I used the butterfly and the fabric to make a banner that draped in front of her cake. I used everything but the butterfly to make a monthly banner to display all those month pictures we have been taking. (sniff, sniff, only one more month picture left!)

To begin I took all of the dot scrap fabric that I had left over from her dress. There was a ton of pieces that were all short and I needed to create one long, thin piece. To do this I used my homemade quilt binding skills. This is the same technique that I use to create binding for quilts. I lay one piece facing up and another piece perpendicular facing down and sew horizontally. When unfolded and pressed it will create a discreet connection between the two fabrics.

Once I had all the pieces sewn together to form one very long strand of fabric, I attached them to a piece of rope. To attach the fabric to the rope I wrapped the fabric around the rope and then sewed right down the middle, permanently attaching all pieces together.

I then sewed on fabric triangles and attached her pictures with miniature clothes pins. This project took roughly one hour to complete and I think it displayed her pictures in a fun way!

The banner that I made for the front porch is one that I hope to have at Charlotte's birthday year after year. This year it was hanging on our front porch, in future years it might take up residence in many different spots. I enjoyed making this project. The level of sewing needed is very minimal. You only have to be able to sew a straight line. This was more of a fun cutting project. This is how I made it.

The supplies you need for this project include: scissors, two thick fabrics (I used outdoor fabric) and of course, my best friend, heat n' bond.

Trace all the triangles you will need (letters and spaces) onto the top fabric that has been covered with the heat n' bond.

Cut out all of the triangles and trace each needed letter backwards onto the triangles.

Cut out the letter, remove the paper backing of the heat n' bond and then pin to the solid color backing. Next, sew all the fronts to the backs.

To create the long strand I attached all the letters. I used the same binding technique that I referred to previously.

I hope to use this banner for many years to come! Isn't that one of the benefits of crafting- making family heirlooms that will be cherished for years to come! Hope you are enjoying our craft round up. Tomorrow we are pushing the pause button on the crafting to celebrate our little girls true first birthday. We have a fun and relaxing day planned. I am sure the camera will be in tow and if we still have any energy left at the end of the day we may post some pics of our fabulous spring day!

-melissa

Jay Hess 3/13/12 Jay Hess 3/13/12

a very hungry craft round up...part 2

I have said several times in the past week, "I sew, I do not bake and decorate cakes." So please take that into account when you read the following post. If you are a baker or cake decorator stop reading now, go no further, this will bore you, it will make you pity my simple mindedness! I knew exactly what I wanted to serve for Charlotte's birthday party months ahead of time. Of course, I would serve everything short of the green leaf to our party guests. I also knew that I wanted Jay to create placard type things that labeled each one of the foods.

Everything was fairly simple and went together pretty quickly. I did cheat on the ice cream cones and made cupcake ice cream cones and instead of one large cherry pie we had mini cherry pies made in a mini muffin tin. It went together so nicely and took less time than I anticipated. The cakes took longer, but was way easier than I thought they would be.

The week before the party I spent one evening playing and experimenting with store bought fondant and gel coloring. These are the tips and tricks that I have found to be helpful:

After you pull the fondant off of the block and before adding color, work the fondant in your hands and it easily softens.

Only make small amounts of color if you are doing small detailed work. Dipping a toothpick in the gels is a simple way to color the fondant. It was highly suggested to use rubber gloves while coloring the icing, but I found it washed off easily and I did not mind getting a little messy.

To create the exact shape that I needed for every piece of food that needed, I traced shapes that I downloaded off the web that was intended to be a coloring page. The broad shapes and thick lines worked perfectly. Before laying the paper on the fondant I covered the back with powdered sugar to avoid sticking.

Cutting the shapes was easy with a very small and sharp paring knife.

The process was fun and easy. It reminded me of the days of long ago that my sister and I made "food" with play dough for hours at a time. My kitchen might feel a little differently, it was a very messy process. I was able to make the fondant pieces 36 hours in advance to the party and the pieces held up nicely. I simply sealed them in a gallon size baggie, laid flat on a cookie sheet and kept them OUT of the refrigerator to avoid drying or them sweating.

Tomorrow, a very hungry craft round up...banners and bunting! -melissa

Jay Hess 3/12/12 Jay Hess 3/12/12

a very hungry craft round up...part 1

As soon as I knew C's theme for her first birthday party, fabric, patterns and textiles went flying around in my head. When I think of most holidays, I think of what type of fabric I could use. I think most sewers have that chronic condition, you may too! Of course pinterst inspired me in many ways. Jay and I both had shirts that I saw straight from pinterest and the party girl's dress was inspired from a dress I saw on pinterest. Both outfits were a cinch to make, here is what I did and some pics of the final projects. First our "congrats we made it one year" shirts. All you need is two cotton tshirts, your desired logo printed on iron on transfer paper, plain white cotton fabric, heat n' bond lite, and letters with the font you like best (remember a chunky font will work best). You will notice that the font that is shown here was not the font that I ended up using. I noticed that I was not happy with how small the letters were with the lowered case letter and I simply changed the font and it helped with the final look.

First, iron the heat n' bond to the back of the white fabric, then iron on the logo to the other side of the fabric. On the heat n' bonded side trace your letters upside down onto the fabric, cut out, sew around edges onto the shirt and you have yourself a personalized theme party shirt! Much needed for two doting parents!

Next, on to the party girl's dress! I used this McCalls pattern that I got from a closing JoAnns for 99 cents! I spliced together several different dresses. My requirements were a fitted bodice (dress d) with cap sleeves (dress e) and a full bodied skirt that I could add accent to (dress d).

I bought solid white kona cotton and a panel of the very hungry caterpillar fabric for the outside of the dress. I used this fabric for the bottom portion of the dress, the two ties in the back and I attached the caterpillar to the dress the same way I do my fabric letters.

Tomorrow, a very hungry craft round up...food and cake!

-melissa

Jay Hess 3/11/12 Jay Hess 3/11/12

best.day.ever.

Yesterday was Charlotte's 1st birthday celebration. Family came in from Ohio and friends from near and far gathered to celebrate. More pictures to follow, but here are a couple of the highlights. Enjoy! Here's a shot of the dress that Melissa made special for Charlotte for her party.