Ruched Camera Strap Cover

A little beauty for a friend to use for her camera. I used the tutorial over at The Cottage Home~which is Adorable!! I knew when I saw it I had to use this one for the strap. I love how it turned out and a BIG Thanks to The Cottage Mama!!

It has padding on the inside for some extra comfort. This tutorial was really easy to follow with wonderful pictures~you should definitely give it a try.

Here is her little Camera shirt that I made

Hope you enjoy and Happy Sewing!!



Long to Short Sleeve TShirt Makeover

I can't take full credit for this idea, for one it seems as everyone is making tshirt makeover blog posts. All I have done is take two ideas and combined them to make my rendition of this upcycled Tshirt. I had two Walmart Garanimals brand shirts leftover from the winter, however I saw several on clearance the other day for $1. You will also need a sewing machine, 1/4" elastic, 2 buttons, and coordinating thread.

First you want to cut the sleeves off and make them a little longer than you want them.

I then took my sleeves and cut them open and cut the hemming off , and then cut each in half. You will have 4 rectangles but you can toss one to the side.

We will work on the sleeves first~Turn the shirt inside out and press the sleeve so you will have a "guide" to sew the elastic to Measure out your elastic which you want to be about 1/2 of the length of your sleeve it was a little more than 1 1/2 inches for mine. Sew the top of the elastic to the sleeve to hold into place and with your needle down, stretch your elastic to the end of the sleeve. This will gather your shirt sleeve~you might want to move the gathering around to how you like it before you sew the elastic into place. After you have it like you want, sew the rest of the way down the elastic and don't forget to backstitch at the beginning and end. Repeat this to the other sleeve.

You can now turn your shirt right side out. Lay two rectangles together and run a gathering stitch down the center and gather your rectangles to the desired length and sew to the center of your shirt. {For gathering tutorials you can reference these~there are several ways to do this but this will help you if you haven't ever tried-- with crochet thread and sewing machine,  or with a straight stitch.

Then you will want to cover up that middle, so I took the last rectangle and turned the tow ends under and edgestitched both sides.

Next I took two buttons to sew into my center. You can sew the buttons by hand or machine. If your machine does not have a button setting then you can adjust a zigzag stitch to fit into your button holes (just make sure that that the needle will fall in your holes). My machine has a button setting so I taped my buttons where I wanted them and sewed them right to the front. (you can sew over the tape)

This is a very easy project that I finished both shirts in less than 45 minutes~could have been sooner if Gabie wasn't sitting next to me.



Tshirt Makeover with Crochet Flowers

If you have ever wanted a simple way to make that plain shirt cute, then this is for you. It's a plus if you can crochet~but if your like me and can't then just head on over to The Crochet Elephant and she can Hook you up {no pun intended}!! Just contact her with your color choices and she can make you a little flower sample pack. I needed something to match an outfit so she made me red, navy, and white.

There are many tutorials on crochet flowers if you want to try your hand at them like this one from Little Birdie Secrets-though you might have to adapt it a little to allow for a larger hole in the center for your button.

Next take your plain shirt and figure out your placement for the flower and sew on a button but leave a little room in between the shirt and button to allow you to place your flower. {if you need help with button sewing~google button sewing tutorial}.

After your button is placed just slide your flowers on to match your shirt. I would recommend removing the flower prior to washing the shirt.

Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial and Happy Sewing!!

Quick Sand Removal for Beach Babies

We recently took a quick trip to the beach to visit my sister in Florida. To say my daughters love the beach is an understatement~Gabie can play all day in the sand and run from the waves. Reese just loved to dig and eat it {yes, I know it's gross}. From our first visit I learned that diaper changes on the beach can present a little problem with reddness. I learned this little trick that I wanted to share with you all because I am sure I am not the only one that has come across this. When you change your little ones diaper dust baby powder all over the skin and it makes all the sand fall off to help you with nice clean skin. This also works for older children that you want to dust all the sand off before you hop in the car. Just dust with baby powder and it absorbs all the moisture so the sand won't stick!! It is really amazing~plus it makes their skin so soft.

Hope you enjoy my little trick and don't forget to pack baby powder on your next beach vacation!!