So Excited!

The wait is finally over, and we have had our new baby’s second ultrasound. 20 weeks is a long time when you are as impatient as I am. I am super excited to announce that Ella is getting a little brother!

Ella is really happy and has enjoyed picking out a theme for his nursery. She loves Batman and dinosaurs at the moment. As far as names go, we have a short list of possible but have been having a hard time choosing one that everyone likes. Ian is pretty picky it turns out. Hopefully, we at least have one by the time he gets here. November will be here before we know it.

The family got together last Friday and we did a little reveal. We made the teddy bear cake and tinted the inside blue. It was a pretty big surprise since we have a very long tradition of only having girls on my side. I don’t have any pictures from the actual party but hopefully, someone does. 

I have several little projects planned for him. Ella got a new PJ set with a bit of a pirate theme and he will need some too. I also want to make a cute little outfit for him to come home in. Right now, I’m thinking a cute little Star Wars outfit and a cozy little car seat blanket to snuggle up in since I will be November. Once we settle on a theme, I’m sure I will have at least a few more projects.

Ella's new PJ's

I hope everyone is having a fantastic summer and hopefully I will be back to blogging normally soon. Happy crafting!

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A Very Happy Mother's Day

                I really hope all you fabulous mamas had a wonderful Mother’s Day. If you don’t follow my personal Facebook page, I announced today that we are expecting a new little one and could not be more excited. It has been quite a while since my last post. My first trimester has been a bit of a  nightmare, but I think I’m getting past the first rough part. Yay second trimester!

                Since I do have some energy returning, I have been able to get back into my sewing room and start working on my projects again. This morning, I was able to make a little sign for Ella to hold for the announcement picture. I made her a shirt several weeks ago, but it disappeared after I washed it. My washer may have a taste for more than just socks.  I used my wonderful Cricut Maker for both.

                The shirt I will do a tutorial on later, but I do have a picture of her surprising her daddy. For the sign, I used Oracle 650 vinyl and cut out my designs with the Maker and Cricut Design Space. Once everything was cut, I weeded out the extra vinyl leaving only the letters. This part can take some time and patience, but the weeding tool makes it easier. The “big sister” design is a layered design, so extra care should be taken when placing the layers where they line up just right. The best way that I have to place the vinyl is by using contact paper to transfer the cut vinyl from the backing paper to the project surface. I cut a bit of contact paper to the size I need for the design and stick it to the right side of the vinyl. To make sure it sticks, I run a card over it to work out any air bubbles. Lifting off the contact paper will bring with it the design and you can place it on your project. Contact paper does not have the same strength adhesive and comes off cleanly leaving your design in place.

                The sign came together fairly quickly with the help of my little assistant. She is really excited about the new addition and will talk about her baby often. She has even helped pick out things to make for her new sibling. We will be finding out the gender next month so until then we can work on neutral projects, clothes for Ella, and baby doll clothes. So much fun! I hope everyone has a fantastic week. Happy crafting!

      

Say Hello!

Buddies watching Bubble Guppies together.

It has been a busy few weeks. I have been working on putting together new patterns for the shop and have had a blast digitizing the patterns that I have created for Ella. Check out the shop at Wild Child Designs and see what’s new. For my birthday, I got the Cricut Maker which is amazing. The one I had used working for Michael's was nice but this one is incredible. I have been trying out all of the new features and plan on putting together a few posts with it soon. Making shirts for Ella has been my favorite thing, so far. She gets so excited about everything and I love it.

This past weekend we got an adorable new family member. He is a sweet little goofball lab puppy named blue. Ian has been wanting “a real dog” so badly and by that he just meant a large breed. He had been looking for a while and when he saw these pups, that was it. It has worked out really well and Ella loves him, as long as he isn’t too bouncy. He has about 10 times the energy that she is used to with Roxy. They keep each other company which is just adorable.

I really need to make him his own snuggle bed since he likes Roxy’s so much. He is going to outgrow it soon and Roxy would love to have her bed back. She has really been a good sport and very patient with his puppy shenanigans. It is a little like having another toddler at times. There is never a dull moment around this house.

Well, it’s time for this mama to get back to work. Happy crafting everyone! 

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. We also are affiliated with the companies, Craftsy and Cricut. We post links promoting their products and services. Clicking on these links and making purchases do not cost you any additional fees and help to support this site. 

Making a Wrist Pincushion

                 Over the last few weeks, I have been working on several different things and have been pretty quiet. There are fantastic new things coming to both the blog and the shop and I could not be more excited. Today I have a new project that I created out of necessity. While sewing a few projects, I had to do quite a bit of moving around and kept having to go back to grab my pincushion. My solution was to make my own little wrist pincushion. I dove into my stash and used an old baby food lid to whip one up.

                I started out with a piece of elastic that I had measured to fit my wrist plus an inch. Sewing the ends together, I hot glued the band into the center of the baby food lid and sat that to the side to cool. For the cushion, I cut a 5” circle out of a fat quarter. I used the lid from a peanut tin to trace out a perfect circle. With the circle cut out, I used a running stitch along the edge to gather up the sides of the cushion.

                For the inside of the pincushion, I used my extra fine steel wool. It works great to clean and sharpen your pins. It really is one of my favorite fillings with the other one being the serger scraps. It is a great way to use something that would otherwise be thrown out. With the size, I did need to manipulate the wool a bit to make it fit the shape of my cushion neatly.

                Once I was happy with my filling, I drew up the thread ends and closed up the opening. For a little decoration, I found a few vintage pearl buttons and sewed them into the center. I attached the cushion into the lid with hot glue and dressed up the side of the lid with black ribbon. ¼” was the perfect width to cover the lettering. Once the glue was cool, I was ready to go.

                I use this pincushion all the time. It is so convenient to have all your pins right there and you can make it in no time. I also used the same process with a slightly smaller circle and a bottle cap to make a little version for my machine. I used a removable sticky tab to adhere it to my Brother. This was a fun little project to make and I hope you enjoy it too. Happy crafting!

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. We also are affiliated with the companies, Craftsy and Cricut. We post links promoting their products and services. Clicking on these links and making purchases do not cost you any additional fees and help to support this site. 

Painting Glass for Valentine's Day

With Valentine’s Day being Wednesday, I have been thinking of fun ideas for gifts and things to do with Ella. She has really started to love helping Mommy cook and thinks stirring is so much fun. We are going to be baking all kinds of delicious treats. I have planned to make cute heart-shaped mini cakes and a ton of cookies to decorate. It’s going to be a fun day for sure.

As far as gifts go, we usually do candy and little things. Decorated wine glasses are really popular right now. Painting a wine glass and filling it with candy would be a cute little gift for your special someone. Anything that comes in my kitchen must be dishwasher safe. That is a non-negotiable and these glasses are no different. It is very easy to make custom painted glassware that is easy to clean.

I used stemless wine glasses but any glass will do. You can let the kids decorate coffee mugs too. The process will be the same. Before you start to paint, make sure that they are clean and all stickers are removed. Rubbing alcohol works best to prep the surface. The paint that I used was Folk Art Enamels which is permanent once it cures. I made two glasses. One was inspired by a few that I had seen on Pinterest and I went with simple hearts for the other. You can decorate your glasses however you like. If you plan on actually using the glass, do not paint the inside or anywhere that will be in direct contact with food or drink.

For the first one, I placed heart stickers on the outside of the glass and used a fine point brush to make small dots. They are more concentrated down at the bottom and spread out toward the top of the glass. I did one color at a time and built up the design. You can always add dots but removing them can get tricky. If you do want to remove any paint, just wipe it off with rubbing alcohol. Once the paint had set I carefully removed the stickers to reveal their outline. To make sure that the outline was clean, I used a small blade to cut the paint around the stickers before removing them. You probably don't want to let the kiddos do that part. The little hearts are pretty subtle and the dots remind me of confetti. 

I placed little Valentine’s window clings in the second one to act as a guide. It worked well since they were completely clear and visible on the outside of the glass. I also liked that I could reposition them until I found the right placement. Painting the little hearts went pretty quickly and again I went color by color to build upon the design. The paint is pretty thick so I decided to play with the texture a bit. I let them dry for an hour and applied a second coat.

Once you are done painting, you will need to let the paint cure completely. If it doesn't cure, the paint can chip. You can let the glass air dry for 21 days or bake them. I like to bake mine but you will have to make sure your glass is safe to go into the oven. I let the glass air dry for an hour then placed them in a cool oven and heated it to 350 degrees, baking them for 30 minutes. Let the glass stay in the oven as it cools completely. Make sure you check the back of your paint bottle. It may have a different method to cure.

After your paint is set and the glasses have cooled, you can fill your glass with all kinds of goodies. The M&M's will be hard to keep from eating until Wednesday. We will see how it goes. I hope everyone has a fantastic Valentine’s Day. Happy crafting!

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. We also are affiliated with the companies, Craftsy and Cricut. We post links promoting their products and services. Clicking on these links and making purchases do not cost you any additional fees and help to support this site. 

Adventures in Quilting

                There are a few quilt tops in need of finishing in my closet. It has been years since I have worked on a quilt and I needed some practice before tackling the big quilts. I figured I would go ahead and knock out the baby quilts that I had planned for Ella. There was no piecing require since the tops are fabric panels which makes these a simple project that can be done fairly quickly. In my collection, I have Bambi and Ariel panels. I chose to start with Bambi.

                 With the fabric prepped, I sandwiched the batting between the top and bottom fabric. Starting in the center, I used large safety pins made for quilting to baste everything together. I tried to place the pins where I would be stitching so the holes would be covered in quilting stitches. The quilting hoop I used was an old 18-inch hoop which worked really well. I started with Bambi’s face and moved outward from there. Bambi, his name, and the gold borders are all hand-quilted. This part did take some time. It took me and my little helper 3 full days to finish this part. Ella was my quality control and snuggle tester. She was so excited about Bambi.

                If you have never quilted by hand, you will want to use hand quilting thread and a running stitch to quilt your design. Gathering the quilt on the needle before pulling the thread through speeds up the process and helps keep your stitches a little more even. I used the lines of the Bambi design as a guide but you can create your own if you like. Drawing them out with chalk works really well since it is easy to remove once you are done.

                Once I was done quilting the design, I was ready to bind the edges. I had already picked out the satin blanket binding. It matches Bambi’s ears and I like how it brings out the little details. I trimmed the edges so they would be even. There were a few issues with stitching the binding on my machine. Bobbin issues can cause a big mess and a massive headache. Once I had switched the bobbin and stopped fussing at it, I stitched the raw side down with my machine. Using binding clips to hold the satin in place, I flipped the folded edge over to the opposite side and used a binding stitch to secure it by hand.

                I think it looks really cute. When I look at it, can see issues with the binding but Ella doesn’t care. She loves it and has been cuddling in it watching Paw Patrol. Now I have to get to work on the Ariel blanket. Happy crafting!

                    

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. We also are affiliated with the companies, Craftsy and Cricut. We post links promoting their products and services. Clicking on these links and making purchases do not cost you any additional fees and help to support this site.