One Hour Purse Organizer

I had some unexpected time at home alone tonight.  Bliss!  So I got busy on a project I was dying to make, and bingo!  It just took about an hour to make this fun, cute purse organizer.  I want to be sure to give the credit for this inspiration to the blogger at The Giving Flower.  She has a very nice tutorial here, so be sure to visit her blog in order to get all the instructions.

I went through my fabric stash and found these cute coordinating prints that would work.  I'm in love with all things vintage so that's why I chose this.  Yvonne, do you recognize this fabric?!  Thanks to you, I had it here...ready to use!!!

After measuring, ironing on interfacing, sewing, and ironing, it was ready to use.  You lay out your organizer before you sew the pockets and determine what items you want to go in it.  Then using a disappearing ink fabric pen, you mark off the size of pockets to fit your needs.

I left the last pocket on the right for kind of 'general' use.  Right now it is housing my lip balm and change purse.

Here's the reason I needed a purse organizer...I bought this bag recently at Hobby Lobby.  It's supposed to be a combo purse/tote bag for my 'must haves' and my new birthday present...more on that in a minute.

After fitting all my must haves in the organizer, I worked with it, to kind of roll it or fold it into a workable bundle.

This is designed so that when I want to change purses, for something smaller and nicer, I can just grab this organizer and plop it right into the purse of my choice.

My birthday gift.  That needed housing for going out and about. Yes, my husband spoiled me rotten.  He's so good to me!!

And here is my new bigger purse, all outfitted, organized, and ready for shopping, going to church, or any place.  I still have room in there for my Bible on Sundays.  Peachy!!

Miss Gracie Anne found it fascinating.  She's a girl.  Girls love purses.  

Yes, that might be a Dove Chocolate Easter Egg in there.  I try to have a small stash of dark chocolate on hand for come-what-may.  :)

So...if you need a purse organizer or wish to make one for a gift, check out the tutorial at The Giving Flower and go for it.  I'm sooo happy to get mine done.  Now...back to addressing thank you notes and Christmas cards.  :)

Blessings!
Donna
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Turning Fifty is Fabulous!!

December 11, 1961...the Lord brought me into this world.  Unbelievably, that was 50 years ago!  How can I be a half century old?!  Oh well, might as well enjoy it!

It was such a fun celebratory weekend.  The night before my birthday, my sweet husband John and I had a night on the town.  Dinner at a Spanish Tapas Restaurant.

Yum!!

Theeeeennnnn...an evening at the Jim Brickman Christmas Concert!!  Love, love, love!!

Dad and Mom gave me a dozen red roses for my birthday.  Awwww.

Then Sunday, my actual birthday, we met my folks at The Lonestar Steakhouse for lunch after church.

French Fried Green Beans.  A-maaaa-zing!!

Then home for my gifties.  One from my daughter was Baker's Twine...yippeee!

Scotty McCreery can now croon to me while I cook dinner, thanks to my childhood bestie, Sandy!!

I was spoiled.  Rotten.  But I'm enjoying every bit of it!!  Yes, that is my amazing new iPad!!

Thank you Jesus for 50 full, healthy, happy years.  I'm so blessed with family, friends, and living my dream as a stay at home mom, wife, homeschool teacher, crafter, and soon to be Mimi to 2 little grandbabies in 2012!!

Blessings,
Donna

That's A Wrap!

Hello my friends!  It's been a couple of weeks since I've blogged.  Because of Thanksgiving (we had ALL of our birdies back in the nest for two nights...bliss!) and because my etsy shop has kept me humming away on my sewing machine!  That's been a fun and happy thing.

Dear daughter brought our Christmas gifts and my December b-day gifts to leave with us.  She did SUCH a cute job wrapping mine, that I had to show-n-tell them with you.

Isn't my Christmas gift festive and sweet?!  She used Dollar Tree kraft paper, baker's twine, a printable sheet of Silent Night (pinterest), and a button.  I.  Just.  Love.  It!!
It will go in the front under the tree.  :)

I like the way she put the sheet music on at an angle, and has the twine strings spread apart.  Kraft paper, black, white, and red just go together.

And THESE are my b-day gifties!!  Again, so cute and interesting.  I can hardly wait to see what they contain!

She used Dollar Tree kraft paper that has printed pink and brown polka dots on them...such cute paper!  And the raffia, buttons, and string are the perfect touch.  

Have you ever tried sewing on kraft paper?  You should!  It's easy, fun, and makes such a cute presentation.  Isn't the pouch on the left, with the flap lid, cute?

And a paper cut out flower adds a sweet splash of color on the box on the right.  

See the middle sized one in the back?  It is completely sewn all the way around.  She put the gift in between 2 piece of kraft paper and sewed the package together!  How fun is that!  :)

Know what that pink string is wrapped willy-nilly around the two little boxes?  Pink crochet thread!!  Much less expensive than baker's twine, and just as cute!!  After seeing her idea on this, I purchased some red crochet thread to use on some Christmas gifts, and wrapping my etsy orders for December.

Here's a secret...I REALLY don't like to wrap gifts.  Ugh.  But these ideas, are going to make it alittle more fun to be creative this Christmas. 
So thank you, dear Lindsey, for making my gifts soooo
pretty this year!  She says it might be the last time for a few years...she's expecting our first granchild in about 6 weeks.  :)

Blessings and Christmas Cheer,
Donna

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Semi-Homemade Kitchen Towel Gift

Glory be and Hallelujah!  One Christmas sewing project was completed this morning.  :)  My mom in law has an old kitchen towel that fastens to the stove with a potholder, and she showed it to me and wished for a new one.  I was just winging it, as I tried to make one, but it came out quite nicely.  Hurray!

The supplies needed were easy.
*one kitchen towel...mine actually came from the Dollar Tree!
*one potholder with a loop at the top in the middle
*2 coordinating fabrics in her kitchen colors
*thread
*large button
*rick rack.

I cut strips of the coordinating fabrics from my stash at home. They were about 1 3/4 inches wide and about and inch longer than the width of the towel.  Iron a narrow hem on each long side, and top stitch them to the lower section of one end of the towel.  This will be the front.

On the back side, I folded that extra length into a nice hem and stitched it down.

Then I gathered the middle of the towel across its width.  I did it alitle bit higher than the very middle so that the front of the towel would definitely hang down without the back of the towel peaking out from under it.  Then pin the right side of the gathered towel to the ride side of the middle of the potholder and sew.  Make SURE that you have it so that the loop will come over the front to fasten around the button.  I suggest you pin it together, make sure it works, then sew it...to avoid frustrating mistakes.

Here is the inside (wrong side) of the potholder after the gathered towel has been sewn on.  This part will not show.

Sew a large button onto the front of the potholder so that the loop fastens over it.  I used embroidery thread and left little ends to tie, for cuteness.

Press the whole thing with an iron.  Oh, and sew on the rick rack if desired.  I decided my towel "needed" something and I had the green rick rack so it was the perfect way to tie it all together.
I'm pleased with how it came out, and I think my mom in law will love it.  Not too hard.  Can be done in small steps 15 minutes here and 15 minutes there.  And it only cost me about $3 total. :)  I don't think it will be the only one I make either.
Mom in law has been told not to read this post...so please keep this gift a secret, K?  ;)

Blessings!
Donna
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Porch Chalkboard

Recently I read about the benefits of having a little chalkboard on your front porch...you can greet guests with a little message, and people who stop by when you aren't home can leave a message for you.  Brilliant!  Then I so enjoyed the cute chalkboard at Ellen's home HERE, and that clinched it for me.  Time to use that can of spray chalkboard paint that I bought 9 months ago!

The steps were very simple.  And since this is going outside, I didn't spend money on a nicer frame, nor go for perfection.  I 'shopped' the house for an old 10x13 cheap wooden frame that I hadn't used in years.  Took out the glass, cleaned the glass, then put both the frame and glass on newspaper out in the grass.  I sanded the wooden frame just a bit so the paint would stick, then wiped it clean.

My supplies

It took about 3 light coats of spray paint for both the frame and glass.  So cool how the paint worked GREAT on the glass!  I let them 'cure' overnight, and put them together this morning.  Then made a quick no-sew bow out of green polkadot fabric and stuck it onto the frame with sticky tack.

Used my best First Grade Teacher handwriting to print Autumn Greetings with a big stick of chalk and she was done!  (Hi Gracie Pup!)

Fun, easy, free...my kind of project!! Give it a try...I'm sure I'll enjoy adding different embellishments to the frame for each season.  Christmas will be fun for that!
Thank you so much for stopping by!

Blessings!
Donna


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Woodland Theme Baby Shower

My beautiful daughter Lindsey and husband Rich are expecting their first baby in January.  Which means I will be a Mimi for the first time.  :  Excited...ok, ecstatic!! :)  It was a joy and blessing to travel 6 hours north to be at her church baby shower this weekend, given by these two lovely ladies, Kelly and Ellen.

The baby's nursery theme is a Woodland one...it's a darling, fun theme with which to work!  Ellen's beautiful home was the perfect backdrop for all the adorable decorations she and Kelly made.  Here's the chalkboard sign welcoming us by the door.  Rich and Lindsey are keeping their baby son's name a secret, so Ellen likes to call him 'Lil Nut' for now.  :)

A darling skinny pine tree greeted us inside the entry, decorated with paper mushrooms, pinecones, and a garland of acorns.

Darling!  Lindsey loves owls.

The food table was the cutest ever, and held many yummy brunch treats! 

Here we are...the radiant new mommy in the middle with the first time great-grammy on the left (my mom) and the first time Mimi on the right (yep, that's me!)

Mason jars filled with woodland pretties were placed around the table along with mushroom place cards telling what food dishes were displayed.  Isn't it super clever how they used large marshmallows with a slit cut in the top for placecard holders?!

These darling little 'toadstools' were the star of the food show in my opinion!  String cheese stumps topped with cherry tomato halves caps and dusted with parmesan cheese.  I loved them!!

Beautiful home baked and decorated Toadstool cookies were the take home favor.

So clever...a mason jar filled with little red styrofoam beads held the forks.

Adorable name tag for Lil Nut's Mommy...and...

Lil Nut's Mimi..one for Great Grammy too!

Beautiful Woodland Bunting

Such a cute activity...newborn diapers in an antique metal basket along with Sharpies, so the ladies could write a note of encouragement on them to brighten those middle of the night feedings.  :)

Adorable wall art made by a friend from vintage game cards!!!

I love this girl.  God so blessed us with an amazing only daughter.  She will be an incredible Mommy.

Lil Nut's nursery is coming along!!  Lindsey and I had a ball starting to arrange baby's room, putting up the darling vinyl cling tree from Amazon, and unpacking her lovely gifts from the shower.  See little mallard duckie and little hedgehog on the shelf?  Precious!  And that playmat was my gift to her...a Woodland themed one that daughter couldn't do without!

Hope you enjoyed this darling baby shower.  I know I did!!!

Blessings,
Donna
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