Collaborating once again this month with a lovely group of Bloggers to bring you some new craft ideas. For the April Craft Destash we are challenged to create a project using only items currently found in our craft stash. We were to make something new with crafty supplies or re-make an item we've been holding on to for a while. For this challenge, hosted by Megan from C'mon Get Crafty,  I decided to make this Toddler Apron From Fat Quarters.

I had all the material I needed for this apron so my additional cost is $0! This is going to be a gift for my granddaughter who will be turning 2 next month. She loves to stand on a chair and "help" with the cooking!

Materials:

2 Fat Quarters (19" x 21" pieces of material)
scrap of fabric for pocket
scrap of fabric for ruffle
pattern from Ordinary Lovely blog

Directions:

Print out pattern and tape an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper to the bottom.

Cutting:

Fold your fat quarters (1 is the front fabric and 1 is the backing fabric) in half. Lay them one on top of the other making sure they are lined up. Place the pattern on the folds and pin in place. Cut out making sure to cut both pieces of fabric.
Cut 2 -  19" x 2" pieces for the top ties and cut 2 -  19" x 2" pieces for the waist ties. I used the extra pieces from the fat quarters to cut these.
Cut a 9" x 12" piece out of the scrap fabric for the pocket.
If you are adding a ruffle to the bottom, cut a piece that is 5" x width of fabric (about 42").

Sewing:

I monogrammed the pocket but that is completely optional. If you choose to monogram it, do that first. Then fold the pocket piece in half  with right sides together so the rectangle is 9" x 6". Sew around the edges using a 1/2" seam, leaving a small opening to turn. Clip corners and turn right side out. Press flat. Center the pocket on the front apron piece and sew down one side, across the bottom and up the other side. Make sure to back stitch at the beginning and end to secure it from coming loose.

To make the ties, fold each piece in half lengthwise, right sides together. Sew across one end and up the side of each using a 1/2" seam. Clip corners and turn each piece right side out. Press flat.

If you are adding a ruffle, fold ruffle piece with right sides together so you have a piece that is 2 1/2" x 42". Stitch along the two 2 1/2" edges. Turn right side out and press. Stitch a gathering (long stitch) along the unfinished edge. Pull up gathering stitches so that the ruffle is the same width as the bottom of the apron.

Pin the raw edge of the ruffle to the raw edge of the bottom of the front piece of the apron.  The ruffle will be in laying on the apron. Baste in place. 

Lay the lining fabric right side up. Place one tie at each top corner, raw edges even with ties laying on fabric. Place one tie at each of the waist corners, raw edges even with ties laying on fabric. I forgot to take a picture so I hope this one helps! The blue lines indicate where the pieces should be laying.

Lay the main fabric right side down on top of lining piece. It will be like a sandwich with the ties and ruffle inside. Pin edges and sew in a 1/2" seam all the way around. Leave a small opening for turning. Clip corners and curves. Turn right side out and press. Edge stitch all the way around and you're finished!

Check out some awesome creations you might be able to make from your own stash! #CraftRoomDestashChallenge

 

If you'd like to join in the Craft Room De-Stash Challenge, you can request to join our Facebook group here!

 

Let's meet this month's bloggers!!

C'mon Get Crafty | Slices of Life

Domestic Deadline | Across the Blvd | Chas' Crazy Creations

Sew Crafty Crochet | Created Homemade | Purple Hues and Me

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Make an Easter Chick Hair Bow as an accessory to your little girl's Easter outfit!

To make this hair bow you will need:

sheets of leather in blue, yellow and easter print

hair bow template

felt in yellow and white

hair clip

hot glue

How to make the hair bow:

Trace the bow template on the back of the leather using a different color leather for each layer. Cut out each piece. The back piece will lay flat, pattern side up.  The other 2 layers need to be folded and glued on the back to secure. Glue the 3 layers together. Then wrap the center strip around all 3 layers and glue along the back to hold it. Use a hair clip or hair band of your choice and glue it to the back of the hair bow.

The Easter chick in the center is an embroidery design from Embroidery Boutique. The chick is an in-the-hoop design to be made on an embroidery machine. If you don't have an embroidery machine you can just cut a chick shape from yellow felt and a cracked egg from white felt. Embroider a beak and eye on the chick then sew the cracked egg to the bottom of the chick. Glue the chick on the front center of the bow and you are finished!

With school starting it’s always good to have a variety of quick and easy meals.  Teriyaki Chicken is one of those recipes. Just mix up the marinade the night before. Then place the chicken in the marinade first thing in the morning. By the time everyone gets home in the evening all you have to do is take the chicken out of the marinade and cook it! This recipe served together with rice and a salad will put supper on the table in under 30 minutes.

Teriyaki Chicken

Serves 4

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Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

15 min

Ingredients

1. ½ teaspoon liquid stevia or ½ cup sweetener
2. ½ cup balsamic vinegar
3. ½ cup gluten free low sodium soy sauce
4. 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
5. 2 tablespoons sesame oil
6. 4 teaspoons minced garlic
7. ½ teaspoon black pepper
8. 3 large boneless chicken breasts
9. 1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

1. First, mix stevia through black pepper together in large ziploc bag.
2. Slice the chicken breasts thin.
3. Place the chicken breasts in marinade then place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
4. Heat olive oil in pan over medium high heat.
5. Add chicken breasts and cook over medium high heat about 4 minutes on each side or until browned and cooked through.
6. Pour some of the marinade in the pan and then cook until slightly thickened.
7. Finally, enjoy over rice!

Notes

1. I usually put chicken in marinade before work in the morning and then let it marinate all day.
2. This chicken is also great cooked on the grill.

By Roseann Hampton

Minnie Mouse Birthday Dress

A dress for that special girl who is about to have a birthday! This Minnie Mouse birthday dress is perfect to wear anytime or to a celebration!

The Minnie Mouse "Two" embroidery applique file is a purchase from the Sweet Stitch Design store on Etsy.

Other materials needed:

white t-shirt

black ribbon - about 2 yards

1/4 yd red fabric with large white dots

1/4 yd black fabric with large white dots

scraps of fabric for applique

matching thread 

Directions:

First stitch your design on the t-shirt. I have a Brother SE600 which only does a 4" x 4" design so the applique came out a little smaller than I would have liked. The purchased design comes with larger sizes as well.

I wanted the dress to be about 19" long so I laid out the t-shirt on the floor and put a measuring tape on the shoulder and measured down 19". I put a pencil at the 19" mark (just to mark the spot). Then I moved the top of the measuring tape to the point on the t-shirt where I wanted the skirt to start and measured down to the pencil. This measurement is how long the fabric needs to be. Split this amount between the black and red fabric. Then add an inch to each measurement for the seam and hem. For the dress in the picture the red fabric is 7" and the black fabric is 5" long. Both fabrics were cut across the width of the fabric (42").

If you are making a size other than a 2T, the length of the dress will differ. A 3T should be about 20", a 4T is 21" and a size 5 is 24". For other sizes you can do a search on Pinterest!

With right sides together, sew the red and black fabric together along the 42" side using a 1/2" seam. Iron under 1/4" on the 42" side of the red fabric then iron that down another 1/4" to create a 1/2" hem. Repeat with the black fabric. 

Run a gathering stitch along the hemmed edge of the red fabric. Then sew the back seam of the skirt using a 1/2" seam. 

Using a ruler, measure down about 2" under the underarms of the shirt and mark with pencil or water soluble ink. This is about where you will place the upper edge of the skirt. Pull the gathering stitches on the skirt so that it fits around the t-shirt. Pin in place. Use a stretch stitch to sew the skirt in place. 

Cut a piece of black ribbon long enough to go around the top of the skirt, making sure to fold under ends of ribbon where the ends meet. Pin along the top edge of the skirt. Use a stretch stitch to sew the top and bottom edge of the ribbon. Cut another piece to make a bow. Sew it on the front slightly off-center on top of the black ribbon.

Feel free to add other embellishments to your liking! 

Happy Easter! With things a little crazy right now, I thought I'd offer a free Cricut cut file for the upcoming holiday. Get your free Happy Easter Peeps Cricut Design Space file by clicking on the link. Upload it to your projects in Design Space where you can resize it or even change the colors if you'd like! Enjoy!

Easter is almost here! And although it may look a little different this year, your little one can still enjoy the day. To help make it special, you can create this super cute bunny bum hair bow!

All you need is some felt or leather, a hair clip, hot glue and the template. The pompom is optional because the template includes a center for the bow. 
I purchased my template at Design Bundles. They have it as a single file or you can buy it in a bundle with other templates. Then just download the file - they offer multiple file types. You can cut the file by hand or upload it to your Cricut or Silhouette and have your machine cut the file.
The leather I used is available on Etsy. It is sold in individual sheets or as sets. I used chunky white glitter and chunky pink glitter. You could also use felt as long as it isn't too thin.
Once you have the pieces cut, use your hot glue to put them together. The back part of the bow has the feet attached. You will glue the pink pieces to the feet. For the top part of the bow, fold it so that the cut edges are touching. Glue those ends down to the back of the skinny part. Then glue that bow on top of the piece with the feet. Glue your hair clip to the back of the bunny feet part. Take the skinny strip and wrap it around the center and around the hair clip. Open the hair clip then glue the ends of the leather down onto the inside of the clip. Add the pompom or the center piece that was cut from the template to the center front.
You can also glue this onto a hairband if your little one does not have any hair. And you might need to resize the design if your little one is really small.
I hope you enjoy and have a happy Easter! Stay safe!

Are you planning a vacation to Disney for spring or summer break? If so, be sure to make these cute Mickey Mouse Disney Earrings using your Cricut or Silhouette cutting machine. Here is a link to the free SVG cut file as well as a link to the Cricut file. Just load the file and use either faux black leather or black suede for your material.

Then poke a hole towards the top of each with an awe or other sharp object. Put a jump ring in each hole then add an earring finding. Make a small red bow and glue it to the top near the ear of one Mickey face if you want one to be a Minnie.

Enjoy wearing your earrings on your next trip to Disney!





If you would like other earring cut files, click here.

Every month a group of bloggers are challenged by C'mon Get Crafty to create a new craft or project from their own stash of goodies! Everyone is allowed a $10 allowance for necessities to complete their project (i.e. paint brushes, glue, etc), but the bulk of it must be created from their own stash of goodies. This month I decided to make a Pillowcase Dress from Fat Quarters. 

Pillowcase Dress From Fat Quarters

I made this for my granddaughter who will be 1 in May. I am estimating that she will be between a 12 month and 18 month size this summer.

Materials:

2 Print Fat Quarters (same print)
1 Solid Color Fat Quarter to coordinate with print
1 ½ - 2 yards coordinating 7/8" ribbon
Thread to match
Optional: bias tape to match print fabric

Directions:

You can use this chart to make your measurements. I got this chart from The Polka Dot Chair but if you search on Pinterest you can find others. I looked at several and averaged it out to estimate my measurements.

Step 1:

Put the 2 pattern pieces of fabric together. If your fabric has a pattern, put them right sides together making sure the pattern is going the same direction. Otherwise it doesn't matter. Fold them in half so that your fabric is 9" wide. Cut desired length off bottom. I cut mine so that it was 15" inches long. Draw your armhole using the above dimensions then cut it out. Cut the solid piece of fabric for your band. Since my opened print fabric is 18" wide, I cut mine 18" wide and 5 " wide. You will need 2 of these.

Step 2:

Pin the solid bands, right sides together on the bottom of each piece of the dress. Sew using a 5/8" seam. Trim seam and iron open. Pin the 2 dress pieces with right sides together. Sew from under arm hole to the bottom of the dress in a 5/8" seam. Trim seam and iron open. For the arm holes, either sew bias tape along the arm hole or iron and sew a small 1/2" seam. I had to cut the arm hole a little after I had sewn the front to back to make it curve a little more at the bottom.

Step 3:

Fold under and iron 1/2" along the top on both the front and back. Fold under and iron another 1". Sew along the bottom edge to make a casing for the ribbon. Using a safety pin, thread ribbon through the front casing and around through back casing. Tie a bow from the ribbon and trim as needed. To keep the ribbon from unraveling you can use some clear nail polish or some fray check.



I had all the fabric (purchased from Hobby Lobby) and thread so the only thing I had to purchase was the ribbon. It is grosgrain that was on sale at Joann. The roll was $2.50 and I only used part of the roll.

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