Sew What?

Since I'm the new blogger on the block, I thought I'd share just a little bit about me. My name's Steph and my husband Skyler and I have been married for just about 5 years. We have a little girl who just turned the big 2 and another on the way due in May. Confession: I love to sew, but I love to sew even more when I have someone to do it for, like a new baby!

With my first, I sewed a few things that I will be recreating as soon as we find out what we're having (can December 30th come any sooner?!) Here are a few of my favorites:

A carseat canopy

A nursing cover

And saving the best for last, the carseat cover. I turned a carseat that I liked into something I loved.

As soon as we find out what we're having I will be hitting the sewing machine and cranking out my first ever tutorials for my creations. Stay tuned for my regular Sew What? ideas and tell me, what's your favorite thing to sew?

100 seems like a good number for a giveaway...

Since we are almost at 100 followers, we decided that 100 followers should warrant some attention. Once we hit 100, we will have a giveaway!! Tis' the season for giving right? I am super excited about this giveaway, it is going to be great. So spread the word, and tell your friends to follow, and a big THANK YOU to all of you who already do. We really appreciate each and every one of you who reads our blog.

One Dollar Wednesday....Christmas Countdown

Have you been counting down the days until Christmas? Or have you been enjoying your advent calendar? My One Dollar Wednesday craft today is a Christmas Countdown.

This is where I started: baking sheet, garage sale stickers~ Dollar tree; gingerbread cookie stickers~ Joann's; number stickers~Honk's dollar store. I pulled the spray paint from my ENORMOUS spray paint collection.


Because the number stickers weren't the color I wanted, I simply colored them with a permanent marker...


After a "metal primer" coat on the baking sheet, I knew it was ready to get "dotty"...


Polka~dotty!


I added a couple coats of green spray paint and a coat of polyurethane, and we were good to go!


Then I added all my colored number stickers to my baking sheet.


My little gingerbread "cookies" just needed a quick addition...


and then they were ready to join the "Countdown".


I added a fancy bow to finish it off. Just TEN days left!

Around the Town Tuesday...featuring The Basket Loft

My babies and I happened upon a DARLING store just this week. It's The Basket Loft, and this little place is filled to the brim with ADORABLE Christmas decor. I was able to snap a couple pictures, but they don't do justice to this fun little store.

Upon entering, my baby that isn't restrained in a stroller, headed straight for this bright collection of sock monkeys. They were so cute.

(This was the only thing that this baby was allowed to touch~~many breakables about.)


I absolutely LOVE Jim Shore, and there were plenty of his beautiful pieces to gaze at.


A good sized collection of FUN watches for kids. These aren't digital, and only $9.99 a piece. What a great "Learning Gift" this would make for my kiddos.


Simply beautiful Christmas place settings...


and lots of ideas for my entryway!




I've seen these charming measuring spoons at a few different places. What a way to make cooking a bit more enjoyable.


I'd love to get organized enough, that I switched out my bed linens during the holidays. If I had this pretty set, I'm afraid I'd leave it all year.


And last but not least, we spied this little fellow. Isn't he the cutest thing?!?



Be sure to visit:

The Basket Loft
1400 Foothill Drive
Salt Lake City, UT

What do you do with your Christmas cards?

I know for some people Christmas cards are a chore, and now in the digital age, many have found it easier to send e-card, rather than spending the time and money to print, stamp, and address cards. I know it is cheaper and easier to go digital, but I LOVE getting Christmas cards. The real ones, in the mailbox are THE BEST! So think twice about sending me a digital one, and please send a real one, let's not completely lose that personal touch. This year I really wanted to do a fun craft to display my Christmas cards, but I just couldn't find the time. I am not a fan of being a working Mom, it means those 25+ hours I spend at work, I don't get to spend playing with my baby and doing fun crafts that I would like. I decided to just survey what supplies I had, so I didn't have to make a trip to the store and go from there. I ended up using my leftover scrapbook paper from my paper chain, and beautifying some normal clothes pins I had. I have seen this project many places, I have also seen people paint their clothes pins, which is also super cute.
After my beautifying efforts, I just ran some baker's twine over existing nails in the wall. We live in a small place, which means my options are limited, so over the window it went.
I love being able to pin up new cards as they come, and I think it worked, for a simple solution. How do you display your cards? Have you seen any cute craft ideas for displaying cards? Have you sent out your cards yet? I got mine done last week, it took me FOREVER to decide which card from Shutterfly to get, but since I had a million pictures, I decided on this one. I love it. I wish I could figure out how to show you my actual card, but since I can't right click and save, you get to see the generic one. I love this season of remembering Christ's birth, sharing, and getting together with family. Keep the cards coming my way! :)

A little more gingerbread: Weekend Website

It is no secret that we LOVE gingerbread houses here. Houses, cookies, you name it, we love it. When I stumbled upon these wonderful gingerbread houses I couldn't help but post them. Not Martha, might be the name of her blog, but Megan could definitely give Martha Stewart a run for her money. She has made some amazing creations, I especially love the meatloaf hand, amazing and gross! Hop on over and check out how to make these lovely little houses that perch perfectly on your hot chocolate mug for your holiday party! Have a great weekend!!

Faux gingerbread cookies

This was a quick and easy project that I did over the past weekend. You know my obsession with all things sweet and tasty...Well, for some strange reason, my children have inherited this trait from me. Thus, I thought it would be better to keep the gingerbread in our home inedible, so none of us would be tempted to sample.

I mixed up a batch of dough and got to work.

I knew I only wanted stars, and ended up with a rather large collection.


They baked away the afternoon in a 200 degree oven (about 2 1/2 hours). And when they were sufficiently dried out, I added details with a Deco Art Dimensional Writer.

I started adding glitter, and loved the results...



I think I'll use these for my tree...


and bake up another batch for a "gingerbread" wreath.


Be sure to try this no-fail recipe~

Salt dough recipe
- 1 cup of salt
- 2 cups of flour
- 1T. vegetable oil
3/4 to 1 cup of lukewarm water (the amount of water depends on relative humidity).

The dough should be colored before baking... I just used food coloring.

Mix the salt and flour together in a salad bowl, using a wooden spatula. Then add the water until a large ball has formed. Knead at length on a lightly floured work surface (somewhere smooth and easy to clean). The quality of dough you finish with will depend on the time spent on kneading.