a little of this, a little of that

Here's a mishmash of little projects from the past several days:

A pair of pillowcase dresses for a pair of cute sisters.  :o)

A pair of bracelets for my Etsy shop inventory.

And last but not least, DIY dish detergent packets. I know, random, right?

I got the recipe and instructions from this blog.  I'd been using homemade dish detergent for about a month now, and while I was pretty satisfied with the results, I hated how much it clumped.  No matter what I tried, the citric acid made the mixture so hard it was difficult to scoop out.  But citric acid is a must if you have hard water like I do, so I decided that if the detergent was going to clump, I might as well make a batch and form it into individual packets.  Turns out it's not that much more work...you just spritz the mixture with water until it resembles damp sand, and then mold it into tablespoon-sized portions.  I used cut-up coffee filters to lay the mounds on, and after they dried for an hour or so, they were ready to go in the container.  The ones on top ended up kind of messy, but they still hardened very well.

So how do I feel about homemade dish detergent?  I'm still on the fence.  I feel like in some ways, it cleans better than the store-bought stuff I used to get (adding white vinegar to the rinse aid dispenser has also helped tremendously).  But with my plastic items (especially the valves to my son's sippy cups), I've noticed they don't get as clean.  However, I'm thinking the hot water in the dishwasher should sanitize everything well enough, which is really what I'm concerned about.  So I'll keep using this homemade stuff till it runs out, then I'll make the decision about whether or not to keep at it.  :o)

for the love of turquoise

Recently I bought some blue and turquoise beads in order to make a bracelet for a friend.  I was loving the colors so much I ended up getting extras (good thing they were 50% off that week!).

What do you think?  The bracelet at the top is for my friend, the one in the middle is available for purchase in my Etsy store, and the one on the bottom I might save for a boutique auction on Facebook.  If I don't get tempted to keep them for myself.  :o)

four-leaf clover pillow cover

I'm not a huge St. Patrick's Day person, though I will begrudgingly wear green on that day, if only to avoid the annoying pinching.  However, I've had this design for a pillow cover in my head for awhile now, so today I finally tried it out.

I used canvas fabric for the body of the pillow cover, and then this pretty green floral fabric for the applique.  Then it was just a matter of sewing everything up.  I'm always nervous about making mistakes when measuring, so I tested the cover by stuffing it with a pillow.

Whew.  It works.  :o)  This is a 14 x 14 pillow cover, and it's currently for sale in my Etsy shop (check out the widget to the left for the link).

You know, I'm kind of liking this clover stuff.  And who doesn't love the color green?  Makes me wish for spring that much more.  Maybe I'll make some more stuff like this.  Who knows.  Thanks for reading!  :o)

Linked up to Creations by Kara and A Little Tipsy!

organize it! {bedroom closet}

Let me explain my recent absence from blogland lately....I caught some kind of virus a couple of weeks ago and it's still hanging on.  Basically a scratchy throat with lots of coughing, especially at night.  Not very conducive to creativity, I must say.  However, I'm feeling about 80% better this week, so I've actually gotten started on a few sewing projects.  More on that in a day or two.

One thing I've been doing is cleaning/organizing like crazy.  Not sure why.  I didn't make any New Year's resolutions to do so, it's too early for "spring cleaning," and I'm not pregnant so it can't be nesting.  Maybe I've been on Pinterest too much and have seen too many OCD-inspired closets and pantries.  :o)  Anyway, last week I finally tackled my bedroom closet:

Not the worst mess I've ever had in this house, but it was starting to bug me.  Fortunately our master bedroom has "his" and "hers" closets so I can keep my mess separate from my husband's mess!  I had a tower of jeans about to fall off that top shelf, baskets overflowing with purses and scarves, and a bunch of dresses and skirts I was hoarding "just in case" I can ever squeeze back into a size 5 or 6. 

I also had a bunch of shirts that ended up kind of short on me after I had my son.  Why is that?  Does pregnancy make your torso stretch or something?  So there they all were, along with that humongous garment bag (that had to stay no matter what....it houses my wedding dress and it won't fit in any other closet!).

And my shoe rack was a mess too....I blame my toddler.  That and the fact that half of those flip flops were old and nasty and just needed to be trashed. :o)

So anyway, after a lot of sorting and purging, here's what I have now.

Not bad.  I mean, you can actually see the floor!! 

I filled up a huge bag of clothes and shoes to give to Goodwill, and some of the nicer stuff (like dresses I only wore a few times before I got pregnant) I'm attempting to sell on Craigslist. 

I freed up so much space I was able to hang my scarves and some of my purses up so they're more visible (I found that hanger with all the hooks in my husband's closet.  He didn't appear to be using it so I thought why not?).  The pretty baskets on the shelf now contain that stack of jeans, and some belts and hats I don't wear that often.  One thing that still bugs me is my current storage system for maternity clothes and "wow I'm really fat because I just had a baby and breastfeeding did NOTHING to change that" clothes:

As you can see, those bags are stuffed to capacity, but I don't want to sort or purge anything from these collections just yet.  I might look into under-the-bed storage stuff or maybe those space bags where you use a vacuum to suck all the air out and make it all compact.  Do those actually work?

Hope you weren't bored to tears...maybe this post will inspire you to do some organizing of your own.  :o)

pillowcase dress

One of my friends asked me if I could make pillowcase dresses for her girls, so I decided to make a "practice" one to work out any issues since I had never made one before.

Turns out it's pretty easy...the main "issues" I had were with my machine, like thread getting tangled up and stuff.  That and it takes some practice figuring out the length of the dress when you need to make a certain size; luckily it's easy to lengthen or shorten it when you're piecing it together.

The colors came out dark in these photos since I took them on an overcast day, so the black in these photos is actually more of a dark brown.

I opted to do a fabric tie instead of ribbon, and I'm glad I did since it really pulls everything together.

And I totally sewed one of these beauties in.  Couldn't help myself.

This dress turned out to be a 2T.  Maybe I'll try to sell it in my Etsy shop?  :o)

Linked up to Creations by Kara!

embellished dollar store dishtowel

A long time ago I picked up a couple of yellow dishtowels from the dollar store.  I liked their bright color (as well as their price tag), and today I finally got around to making them a bit more interesting.

I had some cute chicken fabric leftover from some placemats I made for my mom last Mother's Day:

So all I did was cut out a couple of strips, fold down the long ends to make a hem, and then sewed them on the towels.  Simple and quick (but it would have been even quicker if my thread didn't get tangled up in my sewing machine for the umpteenth time...that machine might need a tune-up!).

They add great personality to my kitchen, for just $1 each.

I might add some cute red ric-rac to them as well, haven't decided yet.  For now I really like them the way they are (wrinkles and all....can you tell these towels hung out in my closet for almost a year??).

Depending on how well these do in the wash, I might make a couple more sets!  :o)

Linked up to Creations by Kara and A Little Tipsy!

guest post

Today I'm guest posting over at Hidden Treasures on the subject of miscarriage.  The blog's author, Angela, felt led to do a series on this painful yet faith-strengthening experience, and in turn I felt led to share my story.  Even if you haven't been through a miscarriage, this series would be a helpful read if only to better understand how to help those who have.  Either way you may want to keep the Kleenex handy.  God Bless!  :o)