Doll bed and bedding

So the last of my three girls is getting an American Girl doll bed for her birthday. I will NOT buy stuff from the catalog (except for the doll) so I get to figure out how to make everything for the girls. I made the first two beds a few years ago and this time I used a boy scout merit badge (wood working) to get my son to help me. We used scrap wood from the garage and followed a plan from www.ana-white.com (love her site!). We had a few mishaps along the way of course but overall it turned out pretty sturdy and cute. I found some scrap fabric and threw together a quilt and pillow and now we have a birthday present for FREE! (and a wood working merit badge)

American Girl Clothes

I can not pay $30 for a doll outfit and I admit that I don't even pay that much for a new outfit for my own daughters. So, when they drool over the outfits in the American Girl catalog, they know they aren't getting any! I do wish I could buy them one of each outfit, but that won't happen in this lifetime. SOOOOO... I break out my creativity and my pattern making up skills (didn't know I had them until now) and try to copy cat the outfits in the catalog. This was my first attempt to copy something from a picture and I have some room for improvement, but overall they turned out pretty good. I saved about $25 on each outfit, minus about 5 hours of my time. Hopefully it'll feel like a "priceless" moment on Christmas morning.

American girl outfit- $30

My outfit- $2.50, plus 2.5 hours of my time. I can see that the shawl needs to be shorter- I've shortened it twice already! Back to the sewing machine. Those boots were HARD to figure out. Don't know that I'll attempt any more of those.




American Girl outfit- $28

My outfit- $5 plus about 2.5 hours of my time. I still want to find or make the little white socks. The ribbons on the shoes kinda bug me too but they'll have to do for now!

I have one more outfit in the works but it's proving to be a little tricky. Hopefully it'll be done by Christmas....

Keeping Track of the crafts

I thought I'd start this blog as an off-shoot of our family blog to keep track of some of my crafts and sewing projects I'm working on or have completed through the years. I don't claim to be a super seamstress or crafter, but it's something I enjoy when I have time. Looking at some of my past projects, I feel rather inadequate compared to a lot of crafters and seamstress out there but I stopped comparing myself long ago! I do it for the fun and often the necessity of saving money on store bought expensive items! I guess I'll post past projects and then I'll add additional projects that I finish or am working on.

Basket Liners for Dani's baby bedroom.

Hanging baby supplies organizer for Dani's baby bedroom.

Crib skirt for Dani's baby room. Also has some valances for the windows.

American Girl Doll skirt.

American Girl Doll bed (I tried to make it look like one in the catalog that cost $80!) My mom made the little pillow.

Denim BYU blanket. It will have a pair once I get more fabric to finish the back. These will be on the boys beds in their new bedroom.

Baby boy blessing outfit. This was made for my first son 10 years ago out of left over fabric from my wedding dress.

My friend Chrissy helped teach me how to attempt decorating my first real cake. Okay, she did most of it! This is a hobby/craft I'd love to learn more of when I have time someday.

This is a cross stitch I made when my oldest was a baby- 12 years ago. I entered in the county fair this year and got a 2nd place ribbon (I think I won $6.00- more money for my next craft project!)

Christmas Eve pj's 2009. It's a lot of work to make 4 pairs of pj's! I bought Carter's for $3 so I didn't make his. Kids love getting homemade pj's rather than store bought though. THis was a tradition started in my family as a kid.

Caterpillar cupcakes for 1st grader birthday. I think I've made this particular treat for 3 different birthdays because the kids love it.

This is the one and only quilled thing I've made. I took an intro to quilling class and it's another craft/art that I would love to learn, when I have the time.

I think I've made over 30 Halloween costumes over the years. This was for my first son about 7 years ago. Go Cougs.

Coloring wallet. It has pockets inside for paper and crayons.

This is a horrible picture of a table my dad and I made one Thanksgiving holiday. It's my favorite piece of furniture in the house. It is no longer being used to store toilet paper (as seen in the picture) but is in it's rightful place in our entryway of our new house. I would love to build furniture sometime too and I've checked out the website called www.knock-offwood.com and I'm determined to make some stuff from there someday.

Cleopatra Halloween costume. I had a bunch of scrap stretchy fabric that I don't think I would've ever used for anything else so this worked perfectly.

Probably my favorite project is making matching girl and doll outfits. This was a Christmas dress for Haley and her doll several years ago.

This is a dress that I bought the fabric for off of the internet. I hate shopping for fabric on the internet because you can't touch it and see it while choosing. This turned out alright though.

Matching girl and doll dress for Erica.

I didn't make anything in this picture but I did put the leg work into finding the bedding Haley liked, choosing paint and accessories and putting it all together. I even "got" to paint the walls these bright colors. Her room is fun and energetic. My sister Alicia made the wall hanging of Haley's name.

Family Home Evening Chart. I ended up not liking the color I chose and the lettering on top could've been smaller. The empty place was reserved for our last baby who didn't have a name at the time because he wasn' t born yet! (Of course I still haven't made the name and he's almost 6 months old.)

This blurry picture shows one of the 13 pairs of shiny egyptian pants I made for a dance recital a few years ago. Yes- THIRTEEN!!! Nothing compared to the 8 Minnie Mouse costumes or 10 "Purple People Eater" shirts a few years earlier. Not the easiest fabric to sew with.

Easy Easter dress.

Another easy Easter dress.