Lace Embellished Dress for a Baby Girl

I have a granddaughter due in a few months too. This project is for her.  I wanted to make this outfit as girly as possible, so I used lace. I absolutely love lace!  When I pinned THIS idea about using a variety of lace to change the look of fabric, I got a little excited thinking about the possibilities for those pieces of lace I've saved.  To test out this idea, I wanted to try a simple pattern, so I chose the Little Geranium dress and diaper cover, which is a free pattern at Made by Rae.  It's designed for a child 0-3 months.  Lucky me, one of my granddaughters who was visiting fits perfectly into a 3 months size. So while she was here, I finished the details on this outfit and tried it on her but she wasn't in the mood to have her photo taken - imagine a 3 month old feeling that way!  

I started with this white swimsuit cover-up that my youngest daughter gave to me to refashion. 

I cut out the pattern pieces making use of the hem on the bottom of the skirt - because I love when I don't have to hem something, don't you?  Then I pinned the lace onto the bodice.

Once I liked how the lace looked, I sewed all the lace directly onto the bodice trying to keep the stitches close to the edges of the lace.  Then I preceded to sew the dress as instructed.

Here's a close-up of the finished bodice:

I used clear buttons so the lace remained the focal point of the dress.

The diaper cover was cut out of the sheared top part of the cover-up.  I love how the sheared fabric made the diaper cover so cute!

Once this next granddaughter is born, I'm guessing this outfit will fit her right around August.  
To see this on my granddaughter, go to THIS post!  xoxo Grandma

Shared at these linky parties: The Dedicated House: Before and After,  Nap-time Creations, Bacon Time, The Life of Jennifer Dawn, Oh My Heartsie Girl, Creating My Way to Success, Diana Rambles

Felt Carrots for Easter

Looking for a cute Easter decoration? Below is a tutorial for making super easy and versatile felt carrots.  To start this project, you'll need one piece of orange felt.  (FYI: one piece of felt creates 7 carrots of various sizes). You'll also need a scrap of green felt or green ribbon no wider than 1/4".  These carrots make super cute accents to any Easter project.  And, children also like to play with felt food, so this is fun for kids too. If you want a felt carrot, download this pattern and let's get started making your carrots:

Add to the top of your carrot a little greenery cut from felt.  Roll the felt into a circle and stitch the end to hold it in place.  Now add it to the middle of the opening.  Stitch the opening of the carrot closed making sure you stitch through the greenery several times.

This is how your carrot should look with the felt greenery. 

Pattern variation: you can also add ribbon for the greenery by folding ribbon into thirds and stitching it in place, as seen in the first photo on this post. 

*I'd like to publicly announce the winner of the American Girl Doll outfit.  The winner is Cheryl Bush of Michigan.  Once again, thank you to all of your who entered and left such sweet comments. xoxo Grandma

It's Time for a "Pet Party"

All of my grandchildren (you read that right, ALL of them!) will be in town just in time to help celebrate my second granddaughter's birthday.  We'll actually be celebrating her birthday a tad early but I'm positive she won't complain because this grandmother is planning a party with all her cousins.

I choose the theme for the party to be "pets." I purchased a stuffed puppy or kitten for each child that they can take home. I found all the little stuffed animals for under $1 each. I do love a bargain!  I also designed this Pet Adoption Certificate that I'll give to each of the older grandchildren. You know, you've got to make the pet adoption a done deal! 

Then, my little party goers will need a snack to feed to their pets, so take a look at the treat headers I designed for this party.  You can download the bone accent HERE.  I cut out the bone shape and added them to a 4 1/4" x 5" cardstock, which I folded in half to create a 2 1/8" x 5" header. I also adhered some pet scrapbook paper onto the header.  Then I stapled the header onto a baggie of coco puffs - extremely edible for human consumption.

I also decided that their stuffed animals needed a pet blanket. So using flannel, here's what I made.  If you'd like to make a pet blanket too, follow these simple steps:

• Cut out two 13 1/2" squares of flannel per blanket.
• Sew the squares together, turned them right side out.
• Iron the squares and voila, a soft pet blanket. 
• An optional step would be to top stitch the blankets at 1/4" from the edge.

And of course we needed a costume component to really make this party shine. So, the last element for this party is a cat mask. I found kits for these masks at Target after Halloween on sale for $1 each.  Why waste my time cutting out all the elements to make a mask when these were all ready to assemble?  I had two of my grandchildren who are here already visiting try on the masks for size.  They fit purr-fecty, don't you think?

I think it'll be pretty wild when all six grandchildren arrive, so I'll post this right now so you can share in the fun.

xoxo Grandma
Shared: Creating my way to Success, The Life of Jennifer Dawn, Nap-time Creations, Diana Rambles, 2 Crochet Hooks, Smart Party Planning

Downloadable Easter Tags - Free

First, I get to announce the winner of the child's book called, "My Far Away Grandma"  
Thanks for all those who entered!  Congratulations to Corinn Cattermole.  Please e-mail me with your address.  Remember, if you didn't win, the book can be purchased at this site.

Now onto today's creation...

Here's an Easter tag that I've created and is all you have to do is download and print in full color onto heavyweight cardstock (un-check the "fit to page" before you print).  Say it with me, "Easy, easy, easy!" 

I get to have three of my grandchildren here for Easter & am so excited!  What kind of Easter plans do you have? xoxo Grandma

Long-Legged Rabbit - Free Pattern & Tutorial

After I made my long-legged Santa, I started thinking that this same pattern could be tweaked a little to make a long-legged rabbit.  It turned out pretty cute!  If you think so too, here's what you'll need: go to this post to download the free pattern for the long-legged Santa.  Now, download and print this free pattern for your long-legged rabbit's ears HERE.  Make sure you print these patterns full size - do not print "to fit."  

Easter is about a month away-- just the right amount of time to make one or more of these long-legged rabbits. In reality, this project should take a few hours using the instructions below:

• Cut out the pattern pieces omitting the gloves from this project. I used white fleece for the body and a thin pink cotton for the ear lining.
• Embroider the rabbit's face onto one body pattern.
• Sew the long ears together with a 1/4" seam.   
  
• Turn the ears right side out and iron them.  
• Top stitch at 1/4" around the edge of the ears.  
• Pinch the ears together and make a 1/2" tuck in them.  
• Baste the ears in place along the top of the head.  
  
• Stitch around your rabbit making sure you tuck those ears in so they are not caught in the seams.  
• Stuff the body except the head.  
• Pin the large cotton ball so the cotton ball is at the bottom of his bum & between his legs. 
• Once you like where the cotton ball is located, hand sew that tail in place.
  
   
• Make his coat.  (I made two hoods and used one to line the other since my coat was made out of a cotton fabric.  If you use fleece, you do not need to do this step.) 
• Once the coat is sewn, try it on your rabbit.  
• On the back of the jacket, mark the tail buttonhole about 2 1/2" up from center of the bottom hem.  This button hole needs to be 2" long.
• About 3/4" from the edge of the hood and 1/2" from the center, mark both sides for the buttonholes for the ears to go through.  These buttonholes need to be 1 1/4" long.
• Take the jacket off your rabbit and sew all three of these buttonholes.  I hand stitched mine with two strands of embroidery floss.
  
• Now add the jacket back onto your rabbit and stuff it's head.
• Sew the side opening on your rabbit closed.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Lastly, give this rabbit to a child and see how much fun they have with it.  
Apparently, this rabbit is fun to nibble on.

xoxo Grandma

See this link: All Free Sewing  Shared at these parties:  The Dedicated House, Threading My Way, The Life of Jennifer Dawn, Sparkles and a Stoves, I Gotta Create!, Diana Rambles

American Girl Doll Outfit Giveaway

Welcome to an American Girl Doll Blog Giveaway Hop! Here's how it works: there are 13 blogs that you can "hop" to and each are giving away a prize. That means you have 13 chances to win something special for your American Girl doll. Once you've entered my giveaway hop on over to The Graceful Rose.  Let's start with my giveaway: I've created three outfits for this "hop". If you are the winner, you get to choose your favorite one as your prize. Here are the outfits: 

Outfit includes: shirt, skirt, hair band and a belt.

Outfit includes: shirt, pants and a purse.

Outfit includes: shirt, skirt, clipboard and headband.

To win one of these outfits, all you have to do is:

• Leave me a comment below and tell me which outfit you want to win. 

Pretty simple right? 
Now the fun begins, don't forget to hop on over to The Graceful Rose and enter their giveaway too!


I've got one other giveaway going on that ends on Wednesday, March 5th.  So while you're here, check out this post too. 

*Terms of the giveaway: 
 Open to 18 years and above and resident of U.S. Giveaway ends at 11 p.m. EST on March 10th.

Update, March 11th, the winner was Cheryl Bush of Michigan. 
Thank you to all of your kind comments and for entering!

xoxo Grandma

Butterfly Tunic for a Toddler

While shuffling through my stash of fabric, I came across a light grey fleece.  I thought my granddaughter who is visiting us from a much warmer climate for a few months would like something made out of this cozy fabric. I thought the fabric would feel like a warm blanket snuggling her.  She's a little snuggly girl anyway, which I'm loving especially after she told her mother on Sunday that she wanted Grandma to snuggle her after her nap!  Yea, for grandma time!

After I started sewing the tunic together, I decided just plain grey was kind of boring for a vibrant little girl.  So, I asked her what animal or creature she liked best, so I could add it to the tunic. She instantly declared, "a butterfly!"  So, as any good grandmother would do, I fulfilled her request and added a little butterfly to the front, which gave that boring grey just the right splash of color.  

To complete this warm outfit, I made fuschia and white stripped leggings.  I was given this fuschia and white fabric from one of my favorite coworkers.  It was originally an old t-shirt.  I realized this t-shirt was the perfect combination to go with the tunic. After cutting the t-shirt apart, I was able to make leggings but I had to make the waistband by turning the stripe in the opposite direction from the legs so they would be long enough for her growing legs.

I copied the butterfly pattern so I could share it with you, just in case you want to add one to an outfit for your little one.  You can download the pattern here.

I personally love a tunic with leggings. Do you?  xoxo Grandma
Shared at: Creating My Way to Success, 2 Crochet Hooks