and so we met...

some of you may remember my trip to california last month.

while i was there, i told my sister i HAD to meet her friend danielle.

you see, my sister had the cutest little handmade shoes on my niece ruby and she had the most awesome baby carrier i had ever seen!

all of these handmade items were made by danielle.

this was my kinda girl and we just had to be friends.

and so we met...


(me on the left, danielle on the right)

here is my sister with her reversible mei tai carrier made by danielle.

i just love it! danielle is a perfectionist and everything she makes is such quality.
these carriers have padding in all the right places for both baby and mom.

when we arrived at her house, she had tons of her sewing stuff out on the kitchen table.
she had stacks of fabric.

and i LOVED every minute of it.

i was way impressed by this girl.

then out of no where she pulls out a bunch of these bibs she had made.

"wait i have never seen a bib quite like this before," i said.

i asked her what she planned to do with them.

"oh nothing really," she said.

well if you know me you know i just couldn't stand to see this happen.

you need to make the pattern and put it in your etsy shop.

we need to be able to make these!

and so she did.

it's only $4 guys!

look how cute!

you can button it on the back sides or just tie it on!

it is so great because it stays on and fits so many sizes.

here is my niece ruby in her's.

ruby i need you like the grass needs the rain.

please come see me!

when it was time to leave danielle's she walked over to her coffee table (it was one of those ones with you could store stuff in), and opened up the top to reveal boxes and boxes of her handmade shoes!

"here pick a pair of these and give them away on your blog," she said.

and so i picked these cute little denim and cream shoes.

if i had a baby girl i would have no shame and be entering this giveaway myself :o)


so leave a comment letting me know you are in!
the winner will be chosen on thursday.

(these shoes are size 12-18 months)

one last thing.

danielle emailed my last night saying she is clearing her etsy shop out of her handmade shoes.

they are only $10!

go check them out!

lovely necklaces

Hey everybody!


I am a guest blogger over at my blogging friend Brittany's blog today.

I am showing you how to make these two lovely necklaces!

So if you don't mind the extra click go over to Brittany's blog to check it out!

that silhouette is of my little lucy!

this script necklace turned out super cute as well!

I will be posting this tutorial on my blog in the next week or so.

But for now you will need to go to Brittany's blog to see it!

Thanks guys!

sometimes we have just played too much...

the other morning we woke up, it was a beautiful oregon spring day.




i took a look around my house.

it wasn't pretty.

i realized that we really just needed to stay home so i could get caught up on all the my mommy chores.




i told the kids they were "on their own" for the day.




(i have come a long way in realizing that my children don't need to play with me every second of the day.)

while cleaning our upstairs bathroom i found a bunch of water balloons.



i filled them up, put them in a plastic sack, and special delivered them out the upstairs window where they were playing outside.

this way they know "mommy still loves you"

but play by yourselves and leave me to my cleaning :o)

(photos taken with my camera phone)

sew proud

some of you know about my sister-in-law emily's blog.

i just have to say how very proud i am of her.

her husband bought her a sewing machine a year ago for christmas.

she had VERY little sewing experience before getting her machine.

just read this reenactment of a phone conversation between her and i last year:

her: "i had to take my sewing machine back because it was broken."

me: "really!? what was wrong with it?"

her: "the thread was all stuck in the bottom and i couldn't get it to come out!"

me: "did you know you can just turn the hand wheel on the side of your machine and the thread will come right out?"

her: "oh crap i already took it back!"




anyway she got a new one, and took that sewing machine like a bull by it's horns and learned to use it!

here are two projects that she has done that i just love!


the first is this "Clutch Diaper Pocket"

It is a changing pad with a pocked for diapers and wipes.
When it gets dirty you just throw it right into the wash!

She gives a great tutorial on how to make it on her blog.

I saw her using one of these on our trip to California.
"What the heck?" I said to her. "Why have you not shared this will all of us?"
We could all use one of those!

Here is another cute project she gives a tutorial for!

She actually made this owl for Trey. He loves it!

you can do the same!

if you don't have a machine...find one!

someone you know has one that doesn't use it anymore.

if you don't know where to start, find someone that know how to sew.

trade them babysitting or teach them something you know how to do in exchange.

YOU CAN DO IT!

happy sewing!

button earrings oh baby!

have you ever heard of a button shank remover?

it has been on my list of crafting supplies i have been wishin' for.

these were just $4 at Joann's with my 40% off coupon.

when i go to the craft store, my little lucy loves to go to the button isle.

we were there a few months ago looking at all the buttons and a thought came to my mind...

why not make button earrings!?

they make really cute buttons nowadays.

i picked up all of these buttons at Joann's as well.

i love these vintage broach looking buttons,
and these rosette buttons that have just a tint of coral to them.

buttons are pretty inexpensive, these sets run from about $1-$3.

because these kind of buttons don't have have the holes for sewing, they have what are called button shanks on the backs.

this is where my button shank remover comes in!

it snapped the shank right off!

i did this to all of the buttons.

these little guys are called post pads.

they are perfect for gluing to the backs of buttons.
they come in sets with the butterfly nuts.

butterfly nuts are the part of the earring that hold your earring in place on the back of your ear.

i know i giggle every time i hear the name.
seriously who in the world would name those things butterfly nuts!?


the post pads can be hard to find in jewelry and craft stores, so i play it safe and order them on etsy.

here is a link to a great shop that sells them.

put a dab of hot glue on the pad of your post pad.

stick it right to the back of your button.

i just love how these turned out!

i can't decide which are my favorite.

i wore these babies today :o)

what do you guys think?
why not give them a try!?

it would give you an excuse to say butterfly nuts.

you made it!

so two nights ago i get this email from one of my good friend amy:



"Tanya,

Okay...I'm blamming you that I am still awake at 12:30 a.m. This is what happens when I get great ideas from you! Oh well...it's totally worth it!

I had a BLAST making that Bubble Dress tonight. Your tutorials are so easy to understand....it makes me feel like I can actually sew!"

of course i loved this email because i really want people to know that they can sew!

look how cute!
this is the bubble bandanna dress

her sweet tia is adorable in it!

it's reversible so here is the other side!

amy amazing job!

she also made this bandanna dress from bandanna dress tutorial

i recieved an email the same day from a sweet girl named abby.

she sent me pictures of all the things she had made using tutorials from our blog!

she made the bubble skirt for her daughter!

she couldn't figure out what fabric to use on the other side of the bubble skirt so she said:

"my daughter wanted polka dots...I remembered I had an old crib sheet with pink and chocolate polka dots..."

she used fabric from a sheet for the other side!

nice job abby!

abby also made this tutu from the tutu tutorial...

these from the word blocks tutorial. the ones she made are amazing....

i think this apron that she made from the potholder apron tutorial is way too cute!

she got both potholder and hand towel by the dollar bins at target.

K send me a link to her blog with these cute dish towel dresses from the dish towel tutorial...

and this tie onesie that i just love from the tie onesie tutorial!

you can made one too using either the tie onesie template or the skinny tie template.

becky's blog is private but she sent me these pictures of the bubble skirt she made.

i just love the vibrant colors!

here is the reverse.

a girl named ashley sent this to me but she doesn't have a blog.
this photo was too cute of her daughter in a tutu she made from the tutu tutorial!


ashely start a blog for pete's sake!

my blogging friend brittany sent me this picture of the bunny she made last year from the bunny tutorial. it's a pirate bunny! too cute brittany!

i have to tell you all that brittany was one of the first to order my rosette tutorial and she has taken it to a whole new level! she has an etsy shop where she sells all things rosettes and she does a fantastic job!

ladies nice sewing and crafting!

keep up the good work!

if you are up until the wee hours of the morning you can blame it on me.

bubble bandanna dress winner

The winner of the Bubble Bandanna Dress is....


#43-Crystal from Crystal's Craft Spot

Crystal has a really great blog!

Check out this dresser that the redid.

She is my kinda girl!

Too cute!



Crystal email me and I will send you that dress!

For those of you who didn't win the tutorial is in my etsy shop.