DIY Padded Camera Bag

We recently upgraded our camera from a Canon Powershot to a Canon Rebel T3i.

Make It and Love It shared a tutorial for turning a purse into a padded camera bag, so I gave it a try.

Materials:
Purse or tote bag
1/2" thick foam
Velcro
About 1 yard of fabric

I found a purse with a shoulder strap at a thrift store for $7, and the velcro and foam cost another few dollars. Total cost for this project was around $15.

I went with a solid gray fabric since Zach and I will be sharing this bag, and I didn't want to make it too girly.

Seed Paper Flowers

I wanted to make something special for friends and family who visited us after the baby was born. I decided to make plantable seed paper cards, and came across a tutorial for seed paper flowers when looking for ideas.

I already had a couple packets of wildflower seeds and picked up another on a trip to Wildseed Farms. (We took a baby-moon to Fredericksburg for a weekend in May). To make 14 flowers I used two packets of seeds.

Along with each flower I included a card with a special message and planting instructions.

The front of each card reads "Our little girl has finally sprouted!" and on the back are the planting instructions. The flowers and seeds are glued together with a flour paste, but I used hot glue to attach the flower to the card. The hot glue peels off pretty easily so you can remove the flower and plant it.

She's Here!

Meet Vera Elise.

Being a mom - you wonder how you'll ever do it, then you wonder why you didn't do it sooner. So in love with our little girl.

Tote Bag Sewing Kit

My eldest niece got her first sewing machine for Christmas this past year, so when thinking up ideas for her next birthday gift, I thought it would be fun to make her a sewing kit. 

Along with fabric, I included a spool of thread, pins, chalk, a button, and needle and thread for sewing on the button. All the fabric pieces were precut, and the straps and button hole presewn.

Cute thread card found here

I also made a mason jar pincushion to hold all the supplies, following this tutorial.

Happy sewing birthday girl!

Pleated Zipper Pouch

I like to travel light, but know with baby on the way I'll be toting a lot more around, including a diaper bag.  To keep my personal items (the things I would usually carry in my purse) organized and easy to find, I made a zippered pouch to go inside the diaper bag. It keeps everything in one place and can be easily removed if I need to hand over the diaper bag to Zach.

I followed Skip to my Lou's Pleated Pouch Tutorial, enlarging the pattern to 150% since I needed my bag to be a bit larger (Finished size is approx 11" x 8.5"). I used leftover upholstery fabric from the nursery for the bag exterior and a cotton print for the lining. 

Crib Skirt

I just checked off the last big sewing project on my nursery to do list, with only a few weeks to spare!

No detailed tutorial for this project, but the concept is fairly simple. First, I started by measuring the metal frame that holds the crib mattress, which came out to 51" x 26". The mattress is at the highest position now, but I wanted the skirt to just skim the floor when the mattress was at the lowest setting, a distance of about 10".

I cut out four panels for the sides of the skirt and one large panel for the top, adding a couple extra inches to my original measurements for seam allowances:

Two 53" x 11.5" panels for the long sides

Two 28" x 11.5" panels for the short sides

One 52" x 27" panel for the top

I hemmed the sides and bottom edges of the side panels and serged them onto the top panel. Then I sewed pom pom trim onto the bottom of each side panel.

DIY Sewing Weights

For each weight you will need 4 large washers, ribbon, and a hot glue gun. Glue together four washers and wrap with ribbon, securing the beginning and end of the ribbon to the washers with hot glue.

Credit for this idea goes to SugarTart Crafts. View her sewing weights here.