D.I.Y. Louisville 2nd Annual Ornament Sew-Along

 What do you get when you cross a group of crafty ladies with a stack of felt?

 

A whole family of snowpeople. 

 

And just who are the lovely ladies behind this adorableness?

 

Emily – Em Dash Designs

Karen, Katie, Amanda  – Independent Crafty Ladies

Molly – MoMo’s Creations

Robin – A Sterling Reputation

Patty – All’s Fair in cookies and crafts

Liz – Craft E Magee

Lynn – Good Garbage

Carrie – My Ordinary Fairytale

 

Click on the links to check out what these amazing ladies are doing when they’re not spending the evening with me at the D.I.Y. Louisville meet-ups.  I am so fortunate to be a part of this wonderful group!
 

Have a great weekend DIY’ers!

 

~julee~

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Monday Magazine Challenge: Kids Sunglass Case

This project was in my daughter’s American Girl magazine this month, and was perfectly timed since we are looking for some easy kids crafts to work on during the summer break.  This project was nice and speedy; depending on your child’s ease of sewing, it can be completed in less than 20-minutes.

You’ll need:  Felt, embroidery thread, embroidery needle, embellishment (optional), scissors

~Fold over the felt and cut around your sunglasses leaving approximately 1/2-inch on all sides.  Cut one bottom corner in a rounded shape.

~If using an embellishment, now is the time to stitch or glue it on.  My flower was a precut piece I found in my mountainous crafty stash, but kids can also cut their own shapes from felt.

~Starting at the bottom corner, sew a running stitch along the entire edge.  (You can get fancy and do whatever kind of stich you please, but a running stitch is really easy for small hands.)  Knot off your stitch once you’ve reached the top.  You’re done!

Just for the record, American Girl magazine is a great magazine for young girls ages 7-10 (and maybe even older).  It is full of positive, age appropriate material plus lots of crafts, recipes, games and more.  It doesn’t have any advertising, yay!  My daughter really loves it, and so do I. 

What kinds of crafts are you working on this summer?

~julee~

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Valentine Pouches

I do love Valentine’s Day, I admit.

I’ve been in a Valentine making mood (I blame it on Pinterest), but I haven’t found too much time to make much this week.  (Which I also blame on Pinterest.)

I usually make my daughter a little handmade something to give her along with a small box of chocolates. 

These are two little zippered pouches I made for her last year. I’m trying to get my crafty mojo on so I can get started on her gift this year.

What do you guys do for Valentine gifts?

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D.I.Y. Louisville Meet-Up Recap & Winner

Our meet-up last night was F-U-N!

For starters, two beautiful women ventured out in the cold and rain to join our group for the first time. We absolutely love having new people join our group, and we were so happy to meet Lynn & Justy!

Kim brought her delicious peanut butter and chocolate macarons! 

Oh, my goodness, were they yummy!

 

 

 

 

Our first ever group sew-along was a success.  I love how everyone put their own personalities into their gingerbread house ornaments.  Every one is super cute!

 

 

Group member Angie picked the winner for the felt gingerbread ornament kit. 

Congratulations, ifallsmichelle!

 

 

A great big special thanks to all of our D.I.Y. Louisville group members for coming out and sharing a fun night with us! If you're in Louisville and want to learn more about our group, our Facebook page stays up-to-date with the events and reminders.

~julee~

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Felt Gingerbread House Ornament

That’s right.  I’m hypocritically posting a picture of a Christmas ornament I made today even though I’m usually vehemently yelling One holiday at a time, people! until Thanksgiving is over.  The personal sacrifice here is out of love for the D.I.Y. Louisville group and the wonderful ladies that are meeting this week.

If you’re in Louisville, we would love to have you attend our meet-up this week where I will be bringing kits with all the supplies needed to make your own felt gingerbread house ornament.  Even the least crafty among us can make this simply cute little house, and I’ll be there to show you how to do it.

This is the perfect ornament to make and swap at our 2nd annual D.I.Y. Louisville handmade ornament swap.  We will have plenty of time to complete this project during the evening while enjoying our peppermint mochas and laughing and chatting with each other.

GIVEAWAY!!  **ENDED** If you do not live in Louisville (or even if you do but can’t attend) I am giving away one gingerbread house ornament kit to one reader this week.  The kit will contain all of the pre-cut felt pieces, thread, poly-stuffing and ribbon so you can make this ornament at home.  I’ll include some directions but it’s pretty straightforward.  Even if you’ve never sewn before, you can make this!  As you can see by my own ornament, perfection is not always the name of the game.  What is important is having fun making stuff!

To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment on this post.  We’ll draw the lucky winner from a hat at our meeting Tuesday night.  Be sure your email is available so we can contact you if you win. 

Sorry, we can only ship to U.S. addresses at this time.

Contest closes at 6pm est, Tuesday, November 15.

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Meet Up Recap

Tuesday was our meet up night and as usual it was a night filled with great coffee and conversation.  We were joined by a few members of a knit/crochet group that normally meet that night and it was really nice to meet some new crafters.

Working on a Halloween embroidery project

A closer view.  You can get this pattern for free here.

Our crochet maven hard at work on a blanket.

A stack of colorful doll's feet from Craft E Magee

Julee's cute quilled pumpkins.

A little bit of knitting.

Our favorite silver smith, Robin, who will have a booth at St. James this year.

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Free D.I.Y. Louisville Valentine

For you my loves.  A free Valentine's Day printable.  I drew this cute little V-Day goody just for you guys, you can print it as a card or use it as an embroidery design.  Click here to get it.

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