I decided to make a cover for my Bible to match my new purse. Thanks Tracy for the idea and the link!

http://www.fiber-images.com/Free_Things/Projects_Patterns/free_patterns_sewing.html#BookCover

These instructions were pretty easy to follow and I made it in less than 2 hours. The next one will probably take a lot less time, but I had to take the handles out and put them on again because I incorrectly put them in when stacking the pieces for sewing.

I made the handles from strips of fabric that I sewed into a tube, turned inside out and pressed flat. I think the cover looks great, if I may say so myself!

New Die Cuts and Stickers

For Valentine's Day my mom gave me some fun new things that inspired me on these four cards. I decided to post them all together, since they're all kinda similar and I didn't think they needed a whole lot of explaination. She gave me some of those glossy, raised stickers in different shapes with different words on them, and she gave me a set of die cuts that cut these great little shapes for you to put a ribbon through. I put the two of them together and made these great cards! Aren't they fun?! The last two, I used a piece or two of cardstock instead of ribbon because I didn't have the right color ribbon.

Second Hobo and Skirt

This is the purse I ended up making. The fabric wasn't my favorite, but I wanted something that would work with brown or black - because I am not the type to be changing my purse with every outfit - but do think it's important not to wear black shoes with and a brown purse. I put a couple pockets into this one and added a middle layer of some black-out fabric I had left over from the sunroom curtains for stability (only because I didn't have interfacing, and refused to wait to go to the store another day). I made the straps a lot longer so I can wear it across my chest because my purses tend to fall off my shoulder when holding the toddler hands and walking across the parking lot! Now, I think it needs a snap in the center to hold all the stuff in that I'll be stuffing into this large bag!

I also have reconstructed a skirt - another result of playing "What Not To Wear" in my closet. I had this jumper/mini-dress from at least 10-15 years ago and have always loved the feel of the material. Since I was just not totally willing to give the thing up, I decided it might work as a skirt. So I cut off the top of the jumper and folded down and sewed a waistband. Easy as that.

Here I am wearing both!

Galloping Horse

I needed a fun and special card for my niece's 5th birthday, and also wanted to play with some of my new toys, so I got out my Big Shot and set to it. I stamped the purple cardstock (her fav color) with 5's in VersaMark ink. She is very into horses, so I decided to use this fun little kids sticker on the die cut and put it on a piece of ribbon. That way she can 'gallop' across the card with the little horse! I used the star shaped dies in a teal color to match the horse and placed them randomly on the front. The inside says something like "Happy Birthday - from our herd." I hope she has fun with it!