No Sew Tutu!

I adore little girls in tutus.  For my daughter's birthday, I wanted her to wear a tutu but didn't want to spend a fortune buying one.  I'm so glad I didn't, because once I looked at this tutorial, because a no sew tutus  are incredibly easy to make. I bought the tulle at Joanns, so all I had to do was cut the fabric into 6" thick pieces.

After posting a picture of my tutu on Facebook, I got a lot of interest from others about making tutus, which lead to me being approached by a bride to be about making a tutu dress for her flower girls.  Using the basic idea as the tutu I made for my daughter, I came up with this: 

However, this time I bought the tulle on spools, so I had to cut required length instead of width.  Then I added ribbon to help keep the dress up, and a removable flower clip.

I apologize for the poor photo quality. I tend to finish projects late at night and am too tired to snap a good photo! 

Father's Day Gift Ideas

If your husband is anything like mine, trying to figure out the perfect father's day gift is a nearly impossible task.  There is nothing he needs.  The things he wants are far out of my price range nor my ability to shop for (new tuba, new computer, new nook... you get the idea).  So I am opting for all kid participation gifts this year.  Cute, and frugal!

My favorite idea, and you probably saw these around mother's day are the printables where you ask kids questions about their parent, and they fill in the blanks.  I found this one and printed it out for my kiddos, but there are plenty out there to choose from.

My 3 year old son's answers

  My 5 year old daughter's answers

My daughter also insisted on drawing a picture for daddy.  This is our family, watching madagascar 3 at the movie theater... Doesn't get much cuter than that! 

 

I also really liked the road shirt idea.  The image I had re-pinned from another user does not take you for a link.  Simple idea - get a plain shirt, buy colored sharpies. Draw pictures and a road.  If you child is more of a train enthusiast, no reason you couldn't draw train tracks instead of a road. 



 There are many other ideas that are inexpensive and easy for children to help with.  Most involving candy, so if your husband is a health nut or allergic to chocolate, you may want to avoid any of those ideas.  My personal favorite is the candy bar letter. I bought poster board today and will hunt down the necessary candy bars tomorrow! 


Whatever you decide... crafts, a nice dinner out, or a fun family outing, I wish all the fathers out there a fantastic Father's Day 2012!!

Baby Photo Prop Sac

I have been asked by local pregnant friends and photographers about baby sacs for newborn photography and searched online for a pattern.  I found this pattern over at Knit Together Designs. 

As with any pattern I find for free online, I try to change it up a bit so that when I sell a product, it isn't the exact replica of someone else's pattern.  Do not ask me what I did... I have forgotten.  I wrote down what I possibly did, but since I wrote it AFTER finishing the product (fail!) it is not exact. 

This pattern was great... to begin with. Loved having a guideline as to how many stitches to cast on, size of needle.  I was not, however, a fan of the bottom part of the original pattern.  I wanted something a bit more solid and not as curly, so I did something similar to the top of a beanie. 

Striped Baby Blankets

I was asked to make a baby blanket for a customer and for the life of me could not find my favored pattern.  So after searching patterns online, I found this one from Red Heart.  Simple and adorable!

Seriously, this pattern is perfect for beginners, or for someone who wants an easy project.  The only challenging part of this pattern was I didn't want to do a knitted border, so I learned how to crochet from a good friend so that the edges looked nice.