Sew Fab Sale...Coming Soon!

Hey friends! Just wanted to really quickly let you know about this e-pattern sale that will be on the blog next week!

Coming next week!

From February 4th- February 11th...

the first ever

For one week only, ten pattern designers will be joining together to combine 18 of their best PDF sewing patterns (valued together at over $139.00) and selling them to you for the incredible price of $24.95! That's over 80% off of the combined retail value! 

That wasn't a typo! For less than $25.00 you will have the chance to purchase a library of resources to get you started on several great projects that you can sew over and over again. The designers that are joining this sale are experts at their craft. They have been sewing for a very long time and are well known in blog land as well as in children's and women's sewing pattern design circles. Each designer has contributed one or two of their favorite sewing patterns to create a bundle that is sure to please! Whether you are sewing for your own family or making gifts for others, these are patterns that you will love to use. 

Figgy's Patterns, Go To Patterns, peek-a-boo pattern shop, Seamingly Smitten, One Girl Circus, Sew Much Ado, luvinthemommyhood, Gingercake, Sew Fearless, Me Sew Crazy... this is the lineup! But you have to wait until Monday to find out exactly which sewing patterns are included in the pattern bundle. I can tell you that you won't be disappointed! 

We are offering an affiliate program for this amazing sale too! If you think your blog readers, Facebook friends, or Twitter pals would be interested in buying this bundle of sewing patterns, why not sign up as an affiliate? As a Sew Fab Sale affiliate you can sell the pattern bundle on your blog and earn 40% of all of your sales! Contact Jenny at thesoutherninstitute@gmail.com for more details.

Oh! And there will be a giveaway! The Sew Fab Giveaway is amazing! One lucky winner will win a bunch of amazing prizes from some of your favorite companies and online shops! I can't wait to reveal the giveaway package next week!

Don't miss the Sew Fab e-Pattern Bundle Sale

starting Monday, February 4th!

Sponsored by

The Southern Institute and Fat Quarter Shop

We'll see you there!

The Sew Fab e-Pattern Bundle is only available from 8 am EST February 4th through 8 am EST February 11th. Due to the nature of the sale there will be no late sales or refunds.
XOXO,

TUTORIAL: Double Layered Gauze Swaddle Blanket

After Oliver was born this summer and we found out he was a boy, I sat down one night and sewed him up some of of his very own stretchy Gauze Swaddle Blankets that Dana shared on her blog a few months prior.  I still don't understand how I never knew about them before especially having Oliver be my 4th little babe, I guess I missed the big craze as I was using Noah's hand-me-down blankies with the girls.  

Well, Dana made them look so easy to make which they totally were and add in the fact that the gauze/muslin is super stretchy made them the perfect new baby wrap.  Plus I loved how lightweight they were for my summer baby which kept him nice and snug but not too hot (again, how did I not know about them before? I mean, hello! Oliver was my 3rd baby born in the summer!) 

Well this past January I had a few lovely friends have their sweet bundles of joy all within a week of one another so I decided what better gift to bring to them then one of these blankies along with a nice warm meal .  This time of year though all those new little babes need to stay extra warm so I thought a Double Layered Cotton Gauze Blanket would do the trick.  Stretchy, Wrappy, Cozy goodness...Perfection! 

Double Layered Cotton Gauze Blanket:

1. Buy 1 yard each of two gauze (also known as muslin) prints. 
2. Layer them on top of each other, right sides facing, and sew around the perimeter using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Leaving a 3-4 inch opening at one side for turning.
3. Turn the blanket right side out and topstitch around the perimeter of the blanket using a 1/8 inch seam allowance.  Make sure to sew the opening you left for turning the blanket right side out closed!
4. Press your seams.
5. Give as a baby gift!

Super stretchy, super sweet. I hope you make a few for the winter babes in your life!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

First Taste.

Somebody finally had their first taste of food this weekend. Yes, it's been long overdue.  All the other kids were already at least a month in to trying out food at this point but since Oliver is our last I will fully admit that I am milking his baby days for all they are worth.  7 1/2 months old? Pshh...that's nothing.  What else can I delay? ;-)

He seemed quite into it at first but I think he was digging the spoon more than the food.  Another toy to chew on perhaps?

OK, and he loved gnawing on the bowl too.  We thought he was trying to slurp up the food but come to find out he just wanted to suck on the bowl.

We gave him his first taste of water in his very own sippy cup too, what a big boy! He raised his hand in excitement when he sucked up his first sip.

And then he gave us this face, hah! Maybe it'll grow on him ;-)

Here's to more days of this.  

Mealtime just got a little bit messier around here!

XOXO,

RECIPE: Gluten Free Almond Butter Kisses

How about ending my infamous "Heart Art" week with a recipe for your sweet tooth that even includes hearts...made of chocolate.  Some may say those are the best kind of hearts out there :-)

These cookies are so good! You may have had a version of them with Peanut Butter aka Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies. But I think this recipe is even better and some Paleo peeps might say a tad bit healthier minus the pb.  There is something about almond butter...yum!  Ok, are you ready?  At only 3 ingredients (ok, 4 if you include the chocolate kiss on top!) you just have to make them!

Gluten-Free Almond Butter Kisses (makes about 20 cookies)

1 cup creamy Almond Butter
1 cup evaporated cane juice (or granulated sugar)
1 egg
Chocolate pieces (ie. Hershey Kisses, Dove Dark Chocolate (they are heart shaped for Valentine's day right now!) or Enjoy Life! GF, dairy free, soy free chocolate chunks!)

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the almond butter, evaporated cane juice and egg until well combined.  Scoop about a tablespoon of dough, roll balls, and slightly flatten onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

3 ingredients.  Yes, they seriously make a cookie!

Mix all three ingredients above together until well combined, then roll into 1 inch balls.  Press flat onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes or until slightly golden brown.

Grab a few of these babies and start unwrapping them while the cookies bake. Once the cookies are out and cooling, lightly press a chocolate on top.  The chocolate will turn very gooey so either eat right away and enjoy the mess or wait until completely cooled for a more pretty version to serve! You can always omit the chocolate too...I think they are great without them!

Thanks for stopping by today!

 XOXO,

TUTORIAL: Valentine's Advent Calendar

Yup, Yup. I did it. I made another Advent Calendar...Valentine's Style! I don't know about you but I've seen a few of these floating around the internet over the last couple of years and always thought they were a cute idea.  Many of them are done as bunting but we just don't have a whole lot of wall space for that so I finally sat down and figured out a way to put it together that worked best for our home.

This is another "Heart Art" project that is easy to put together and has such a high cute factor that I can't believe I waited so long to get one done! 

Each envelope has a cute little heart inside where I wrote a little somethin' somethin'.  Each one varies from an "experience" to do to a sweet love note to my kids.

Valentine's Advent Calendar

Large piece of foam board 

Small paper envelopes (mine were 3.25"x3.25" squares)

Mini clothespins

Twine or yarn

Glue Dots or Hot Glue or Double Stick Tape

Fiskars paper heart punch

Scrapbook paper

Number stamps and ink pad

Heart Shapes PDF printable (here)

The first thing I did when making my board was to measure out how to evenly space the yarn for each of the 14 envelopes to hang.  I decided I liked them about 6 inches apart. Cut a small slit on both the right and left sides of board for each piece of yarn (making sure they are the same distances from the top of the board!) so the yarn has a place to "hook in to" otherwise the yarn will slowly start to slide down the board with the weight of the envelopes and clothespins. 

Then cut a long enough piece of yarn or twine so that you can lay it across the foam board and hook it into each side slit and still be able to tie it together at the back of the board.

 {the back of the board}

Yay! The board is done!
Now onto the envelopes.  I bought these cute square Kraft paper envelopes and Number stamps at Michael's. They also sell small rectangular envelopes and a plain white style too but the square Kraft paper ones stole my heart! :-)

Punch 14 hearts using your heart punch and scrapbook paper.  I used Glue Dots to attach one to the front side of each envelope, like so.

Then stamp numbers 1-14 in the middle of each heart for each day in February leading up to Valentine's Day.

Using your mini clothespins, hook each envelope to your twine/yarn and you have yourself a sweet little Valentine's Advent Calendar!

You can just use small slips of paper to write your love notes or experiences but of course I had to go one step further.  I made a Heart Shape Printable (found here) and cut 14 out to write on and tuck inside each envelope.

If you are needing ideas of what to write here are the 14 ideas I came up with in no particular order:

1.   Let's make cupcakes!
2.   Daddy date with Penny
3.   Mommy date with Noah
4.   Daddy date with Ellie
5.   You are my sunshine!
6.   We love you all so much! To the moon and back again :-)
7.   Kids choice for dinner tonight!
8.   Here's a kiss for you, my sweeties! (they each get a little bag of Hershey's kisses)
9.   Ice Cream Sundaes for dessert (with pink and red sprinkles)
10. Let's make fingerprint heart art
11. Roses are red, Violets are blue, you are all so loved, you make us cuckoo!
12. This heart is good for one movie of your choice tonight
13. 'Donut' make you happy to know you are loved? (I'll make or buy donuts for breakfast that day)
14. It's Valentine's Day (Heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast!)

Thanks for stopping by today!

 XOXO,

TUTORIAL: "I Choose You" Heart Art

Here is Day 2 of my "Heart Art" Valentine's decor ideas that the kids and I made using my super fun heart punch I found at Joann's last year (I knew that it would be a worthwhile purchase!) This one I like to call, "I Choose You" because of the little itty bitty heart that just happens to be a different color.  Out of all those hearts, that little heart stole mine, haha! I'm so cheesy...but hey, I'm cool with that.

Again, this project could not be simpler to make.  Which is part of the fun, right?  It's nice to be able to make some fun and colorful decor for Valentine's Day without spending too much time and money...me likey that A LOT :-)

"I Choose You" Heart Art

1 Elmer's Foam board or plain canvas

2 pieces of 8.5 x 11" scrapbook paper in red (or color of your choice!)

1 piece of pink scrapbook paper (or color of your choice!)

Heart punch

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

First I cut my scrapbook paper into strips since it's easier to punch them that way.  Then...of course...punch the hearts out of them (and save them for later...you can never have too many hearts!)

I lined up each strip in the middle of my foam board and oh-so-carefully hot glued the edges down.

Soon enough you will have rows and rows of pretty hearts on your foam board or canvas.

Then, take your other color of scrapbook paper and punch out a single heart.  Hot glue it down into one of the empty hearts...whichever spot you choose.

And there you have it, "I Choose You" Heart Art!

Hope you enjoyed this easy Valentine's Craft, more to come later in the week!

And once again, thanks for stopping by today!

 XOXO,

TUTORIAL: Layered Heart Art

Less than one month to Valentine's Day and I think I've got a good start on decorating our home in a pretty large dose of red, pink and all things hearts!  There is just something cheery about those colors in the cold winter months, don't you agree?

I bought a heart punch from Joann's a while back and pulled it out so the kids and I could get our Valentine's craft on last week. This punch is so easy to use, all you need is pretty paper and your home can be decked out in cute little hearts in no time flat. :-) The craft ideas are endless!  The kids and I came up with so many cute craft projects with this punch and I'll show you more ideas later this week!

Layered Heart Art

Fiskars Heart Punch

Colored scrap book paper

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Elmer's foam board or a plain canvas

 I used foam board from Elmer's but a canvas would look super cute too!

Take your punch and make a whole pile of pretty hearts...the more the merrier in my eyes.

Then lay out your hearts on the foam board.  I glued as I went but in hindsight you may want to outline your heart on the foam or canvas first. My first foray at doing the heart and it was looking pretty weak as you can see above.  I ended up fattening it up and filling it as I went!

Then layer, layer, layer until it's completely covered. I love the layered 3-D effect!

I heart Valentine's decor...yeah, I had to say it! But your with me, right?  It's just pretty!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,