Matching summer skirts for THREE girls!

I love to have my girls wear matching clothes. But with more kids, it is definitely not easier, since I have to get their clothes in different departments of the store. So am slowly giving up on the idea of have them wear matching clothes all the time...

I decided for a happy medium, and have this one matching set for my 3 girls by making my own.

(And no, I am NOT going to make them a lot of matching sets, making something times 3 takes a lot of time ;) )

But I am happy with the way these turned out!

Baby sister:

Big sister 1:

Big sister 2:

 (The oldest, somehow this skirt appears smaller in this picture, but it is not.)

Love the patterns and colors!

I linked up to Tea Rose Home.

It's a party - Party invites

Although we have celebrated a lot of birthdays at our house, this one is a first for me and my 6-year old:

a birthday party with only Kindergarteners. 

They are all girls, and my daughter and I decided to go for a flower-theme again.

I kept the invites pretty simple, by printing the text on the front and the inside, and then used a stamp for the stem and punches to make the flowers.

Simple but sweet...

Hooded Towel

 I really like to use hooded towels for babies, and even for toddlers.

Often, store-bought ones are thin and not very large.

I bought a large, soft towel, and squared it off to make a hooded towel for our new baby.

I used an old hooded towel to see how large I wanted to make the hood, and cut off a triangle slightly larger than that, to give some room for the seam allowance.

Since I didn't have bias tape on hand, and was anxious to finish the project, I just zigzagged the raw edge, and then seamed that edge. I have put it in the washer and drier since, and it seems to hold up pretty good.

For the hood I just zigzagged the one edge that was raw.

Also, to make it a little cuter, I added some pretty knit fabric on the outside, and some large ric rac. 

This is my favorite (and cheapest!) hooded towel we have had so far :)

Pretty Pansies

Simple Scarf Tutorial

When I saw this pretty fabric at the store, I was trying to figure out what I could use it for. It has a linen-like texture, and is fairly light weight. It would be pretty for a summer skirt, but I didn't feel like lining it and I was worried that it would wrinkle a lot.

Then I thought I could make a pretty scarf.

It is very simple, and perfect if you want to add a little extra to an outfit. 

SUPPLIES

Light weight fabric (twice the desired width of the scarf plus 1 inch for seam allowance, I bought a half yard and had a little extra, since my scarf is about 8 inches wide)

Matching thread

 Cut the fabric to the right width (=twice final width plus 1 inch).

 Fold the fabric lengthwise, right sides together, and pin.

Stitch the fabric lengthwise with a straight stitch.

I also zigzagged outside the line I just stitched.

Turn the scarf inside out, and iron flat as pictured, with the seam in the center of the back.

I was going to cut off the selvage, so I stitched along the bottom, and was planning on fraying the fabric up to that line. Then I decided that the selvage looked already good the way it was, and never cut it off. 

So that is up to you.

The finished product...

I really like FAST and EASY projects, and this one definitely qualifies. 

It's also fun to have a quick and easy way to add some pretty prints to a plain outfit.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.


If you like something a little different,
consider buying this pattern I created:

It's very pretty, and patterns for 2 different kind of flowers are included.
You can use fleece or knit fabric, and there is no need to finish edges!

You can buy the pattern HERE 

Guess what this is...

Sometimes I find things like this around the house:

Can you guess what this is?

 Hint:

This is underneath the cup.

Well, of course, 

it is ...

an easter bunny trap!!

And the pieces of paper are easter eggs.

So far no easter bunny has been trapped...

Our 'new' guest room: turquoise and red

With our new little one on the way, we have moved around a lot of furniture in the house.

One thing we needed to 'redo' was our guest/workout/craft room.

It's a pretty small room, and you wouldn't believe what we all managed to fit in there. (Daybed, large corner desk, treadmill, bookshelf and 2 filing cabinets...)

I decided to decorate this room with one of my favorite new color combinations: turquoise and red. I thought it wouldn't be too hard to find some pretty bedding in these colors. I was wrong. 

Fortunately, I happened to find some plain turquoise comforters and sheets. So I decided to get them, and get some fabric in red/turquoise and make some pillows to make it more interesting.

I love the flowered duck fabric I found at Hobby Lobby. I made the covers for the 2 big pillows with that fabric.

 Then, I thought it would be too boring if the smaller pillows would be covered with the same fabric. I used some plain fabric in the same colors to make the following 2 pillows:

 They were a lot of fun to make, and just add a little extra to that room!

 The bed in the picture is a daybed, with another bed underneath, so that room could actually be used by 2 guests. For now, this is the only part of the room I am sharing, because the rest is taken over by all kind of half-finished projects! But I am really happy with these bright, cheerful colors in that room!

And speaking about turquoise and red: I recently got these cute bowls and plates for eating outdoors this summer. I love everything about them: the colors (surprise), the scalloped edges, the pattern, the material (melamine), and the price!

They are from Better Homes and Gardens and I got them at Walmart...

(They have them in 2 more colors, but I just got these.)

I linked up to Todays Creative Blog.