What Am I Thinking?

I'm braving a trip to the post office AND thrift stores today.....wait for it....with my three youngest children. Yeah, I know, what am I thinking? Have I completely lost my mind? My oldest daughter had a sleepover at Grammy and Poppop's (my mom and dad) last night and is off to dance camp today, so I only have 3 Munchkins at home with me today. I have orders to ship and I'm trying to decorate my house on a tighter-than-shoestring budget. And Hubby is back to work light-duty. Sooooo, I guess I'm going to have to pull on my big-girl panties and take the Munchkins with me. Wish me luck!

Today I'm sending off an order of cute little crayon rolls!

Well, off I go!

Linking up to these fun parties!

Another Canvas Tote Bag

Just wanted to show off another version of my Canvas Tote Bag! I added two pockets to the inner lining on this one, and I'm thinking about trying to add some kind closure to the next one I make. Like maybe a magnetic snap or a zipper. Hmmm, we'll see!

Yeah For Leftover Canvas!

I have discovered the joys of canvas! My Hubby bought the biggest canvas drop cloth he could find for me to make his Surfboard Sock. Which was pretty cool, because now I have a ton of extra canvas fabric for more projects! (He also bought way too much of the fabric for the nose piece, so now I can make some new pillows. Or maybe shorts for the boys. Or maybe....)

So, anyway, I finished Hubby's Surfboard Sock at 10 pm. I was going to call it a night because well, I'm getting old and my kiddos wake me up at 6:30 am. But then I realized it was the night before my oldest daughter's dance recital and I totally forgot to get her dance teacher a gift! I'm a dance teacher also, so I know how nice it feels to get a little appreciation. Guess I'm not going to bed yet! I look at all the leftover canvas at my feet and think, DUH! Grown up dance/tote bag!

Here it is! I really like how it turned out and since I have so much canvas, I put it in my Etsy Shop

 Miss Nicole Creates!



My First Tutorial!

I love, love, love all the awesome tutorials I see in blogland. They are one of the main reasons I know how to do anything at all with my sewing machine. So when my Hubby asked my to make him a cover for his brand new surfboard, I decided to actually take some pictures of the process instead of just the finished product. Hopefully you can forgive the quality of some of the pictures, I did this project after the kiddos went to bed and the pictures were taken with Hubby's Blackberry (apologetic smile).

Hubby's new board!

Here are the materials you will need:

Heavy Duty Canvas Drop Cloth

Home Decor Fabric or Outdoor Fabric for a nose piece

Heavy Duty thread

Jeans needle for your machine

Shoelace or rope for a drawstring

First, fold your canvas drop cloth and lay it out. Place your surfboard on top.

Starting at the nose, cut an outline approximately 3 inches bigger than your board. When you get to the widest part of your board, cut straight down to 4-6 inches past the tail, you will be adding a drawstring casing at the bottom.

Next, use the nose half of the canvas you cut out to trace it's shape onto the Home Decor/Outdoor/Decorative Canvas fabric, mimicing the curve of the nose about halfway down the surfboard and cut out 2 pieces.

(I forgot to take a pic of this, sorry!)

That striped fabric is going to be the nose piece.

Now pin each of your nose pieces to each piece of canvas, making sure you line up the top end. Top stitch your nose pieces to the pieces of canvas. You should now have 2 pieces that look kinda like ginormous fingers with nail polish.

See? Fingernails!

Now put your two pieces right sides together and pin. Did I mention this surfboard is 10 ft long?! I used a ton of pins! Sew around the entire bag, leaving the bottom open.

This last part I totally forgot to take pictures of too, yeah, I know, but it's my first attempt at a tutorial ok? Anyway, I showed the steps on a scrap piece of canvas.

Making the casing for the drawstring.

Make a 2 inch cut in the center of either the front or back bottom open end of your bag. Then cut 1 inch to the right and left perpendicular to the first cut. It should look like a T. Fold the tabs to the sides away from each other, then fold the whole thing up and pin.

Sew your casing, thread your shoelace or rope through, and you're done! I taped my shoelace to a pencil to make it easier to pull through the casing.

The Surfboard Sock

If you don't want to make your own, these are available in my Etsy shop, MissNicoleCreates, as a special order!

Did I mention this board is 10 ft tall? I did? Well, as big as it is, it still only took me about 2 hours to finish, and that's with kids distractions! So I'm thinking it's even easier on a smaller surfboard. I'm planning on making a girly one for my oldest daughter. Hubby surprised her with her first surfboard as a kindergarten graduation present!

Umm....think she was excited?

Good Morning!

Hey there everybody! Nothing crafty planned for today, just Physical Therapy for my Hubby's leg and catching up on the mountain of laundry my family of 6 piles up. Hubby's leg is getting stronger and stronger every day. It was probably the worst thing I will ever hear in my life, the phone call I received telling me my husband has been shot in the line of duty. I was one of the lucky ones, the bullet broke his femur and my husband was able to come home to us after a brief hospital stay. I will forever be thankful for that.

Anywhoo, I made a cute little sundress out of this comfy knit fabric for my 2 year old munchkin.

And maybe she'll let me have a little photo shoot today so I can show you how cute it turned out....if not, I can alway make one for my oldest daughter too. She lives for the camera!

*Update*
I never did get my 2 year old to stand still long enough to take a picture, so I just had to whip up a matching dress for my oldest daughter.

Yup, that's my girl!





I'm BAACCCKKK!

Hey there everyone! Sorry I've been MIA for awhile...LOTS of "real life" stuff going on around here lately. In the past two months my littlest ushered us back into the Terrible Two's, and my Police Officer Hubby was shot in the line of duty. (Don't worry! He's doing great and recovering even faster than expected!).  My brain just hasn't been on the blog track. That doesn't mean I haven't been creating anything though!

Easter Cupcakes!

Minnie Mouse Cake!

Daisy and Rose Cupcake Bouquets!

Pleated Halter Top!

(please excuse the terrible photo!)

Kitchen Valances!

Luau Dress!

I also altered 31 dance costumes for a local middle school and made 9 skirts for my oldest's Girlscout Troop, but of course forgot to take pictures of that stuff. PHEEWWW! Um, I've been busy. So that's where I've been for the last 2 months...I think I've got my brain back on track now so you'll be seeing more of me!