I didn’t get around to laser cutting the bracelets before my first gift exchange, so I cut 5 of them by hand. I did 5 in under 2 hours (while watching TV). So you can tell that these things are easy to make! There are only 4 days left until Christmas, but that’s more than enough time to head to your local leather shop & make matching leather bracelets for all of your girlfriends (and their pets).

• S U P P L I E S •

• 2-4oz leather or industrial felt
• pattern piece
• 1/2 inch buckle
• scissors
• hole punch
• hammer
• needle
• coarse thread or sinew
• packing tape

• I N S T R U C T I O N S •

If you’re a pet owner or have a friend who is, these bracelets could double as a cat/dog collar. Just add a D-ring & a doggie tag! Also, if you’d like to win one of the lasered bracelets, click here.

Wasn’t that easy? Click the download button below to download a printable version of the instructions, supplies & the pattern.

This tutorial/freebie is free for personal use and should not be distributed/republished without my consent. Altering the file NOT ALLOWED. If you would like to use this tutorial for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!

Hello ISLY readers! This is Katie from hello truelove. A big thank you to Melissa for having me on her blog today! A friend of mine is having a baby soon and I am very sad that I won’t be able to have a baby shower for her here in NYC. You see, she used to live on the East Coast but she is a West Coast girl these days. One of our mutual friends is headed out to see her in a couple of weeks and I thought it’d be fun to send her a mini-baby shower in a box. Now, in my opinion, a party in a box must contain:

a) Something frivolous and decorative

b) Something sweet (or at least something to munch on!)

c) Gifts, of course!

So, I broke out some trusty tools and went to work.

My first idea was for a little safety pin banner. I printed and cut out the letters and used double-sided tape to stick them on my punched hearts.

Then I punched two holes in each heart and used the safety pins to connect the hearts.

Last, I tied some ribbon on either side so it’ll be easy to hang when she starts the party;)

As for the gifts, I wanted to get her some practical stuff…

and some things that were too cute to resist.

You didn’t think I was going to send something without proper NYC love, did you?

I managed to find an old map and punch some hearts out of that too:) Since my friend was kind enough to volunteer to carry the gift on the plane I kept the wrapping simple.

Have you ever sent a party in a box? Since I’m not from New York there are lots of people I love who are far away. I only wish I had started the tradition sooner! A party in a box seems like the perfect way to send cheer to family and friends if you can’t be with them during the holidays!

I love this idea, Katie!  Thanks for sharing! Be sure to check out Katie’s blog Hello True Love & shop Hello True Love Paper Goods.

This was meant to be a little girl’s dress. A few nights ago I was a bit bored & craving a little sewing project so I got it out & started looking at it. Originally I thought about doing a little scoop neck sheath for Penelope, but thought the finishing might look a bit shoddy if I try to take off the polo collar. Penelope was in the room, so I had her try on the untailored shirt & discovered that the neck was perfect as-is. If I buttoned it all the way to the top, it looked like a normal, meant-to-be-worn-by-a-toddler neckline. I used the same process as Penelope’s little black dress from two years ago, but made a few minor changes that ended up making a huge difference.

Here’s how I did it:

• cut off the arms
• cut off the skirt (the trunk, just below the arm pits)
• laid one of Penelope’s shirts (that still fits) and cut out the silhouette of the arms & bodice, leaving about an inch of seam allowance all the way around
• turned the bodice inside out & sewed up the sides
• fitted the bodice to Penelope & made markings for the sleeves (you want them at a slight angle)
• sewed a baste stitch with elastic thread in the bobbin at the loosest tension all the way around the skirt for the skirt to gather. *
• turned skirt inside-out & bodice right-side-in
• pinned the skirt to the bodice, lining up the side seams then finding centers all the way around
• sewed a zig-zag stitch (3mm wide 3mm long) with the elastic bobbin with the original skirt baste stitch in the middle of either side of the zag
• turned right side out
• hemmed the sleeves using a slip stitch (or blind hem)

*I can’t remember where I saw this little tip for gathering, so if you know it, please send the link to me! This tip was SO incredibly helpful! I’ll never gather without an elastic thread ever again.

It was sort of a happy accident that I sewed the two pieces together with the elastic bobbin. I usually just do zig zag stitch (my machine doesn’t have a stretch stitch), but it’s never as stretchy as I want it & often times looks pretty wonky. Using the elastic thread in the bobbin not only gave me more stretch, but it also pulled the stitches straighter, so when I turned the garment right side out, it looked nicely finished. I’m DEFINITELY going to use this technique in the future. Maybe for a project for me?

I’m so proud of this project. It’s such a sweet little girl’s dress! Penelope has refused to take it off since I finished it = job well done!

It’s getting harder & harder to get her to sit still these days. I wish I could steal all of her energy & use it as my own.

I haven’t been on an actual search to find those specific earrings, but when I saw Nikki post about Yozo Craft & their adorable charms, I thought I’d see what they had. Sure enough, they had a really cool fern charm & thought it’d be adorable paired with a little rose. I don’t typically wear dangle earrings, so I glued a regular post back to the rose & joined the rose & fern leaf together with a jump ring. Altogether costing about $3.50 for the pair of earrings. Now that I’m looking around, these wing charms would’ve worked nicely, too.

Here’s how I wore the earrings on Wednesday. Reader Tamara found some earrings similar to Anya’s at Forever 21, They’re probably the closest I’ve seen to what she wears.

I was so looking forward to a quiet winter without the stress of a newborn or a new place, but apparently that wasn’t in the cards for us. I’m both excited & stressed about our relocation, but I’m convinced it’ll be for the best.

Before the madness of boxing & packing happens, I thought I’d clean up & take some pictures (and video) of my studio. I’m mostly doing this so that when I’m packing & going crazy with the stress of moving, I can look at these pictures & remember how clean things once were. I’ll do my best to cite sources, but if there’s something I’ve left out, let me know. I’ll do my best to respond in the comments.

We’ll start with the studio-side of the room. This is my craft desk where I take my table top shots.

• chair, $7
• table legs & top, $30 from Ikea
• bookshelf, $3 thrifted
• bookcase & boxes purchased at Ikea by my mom for last year’s b-day gift
• dachshund, won from a giveaway
• cork boards, $3 thrifted
• clipboard, $5 Urban Outfitters
• posters, c/o A Vintage Poster
• wreath, $30 knock knocking
• globe, hand-me-down from parents
• elephant, $12 Urban Outfitters
• yellow & white vases, $1 thrifted

I attached paper to the wall with bulldog clips for my photography backdrop & added plexiglass atop the lower paper. It’s the perfect permanent backdrop. I can always wipe up my spills & messes off the plexi & snap away. Also I like the Apple-esque reflective effect it gives to my photos.

Lunch box stores my calligraphy supplies.

• lamp, Ikea ages ago
• calligraphy box, part of swag at Alt
• painting, gift from sis-in-law from France
• line drawing, $5 from Colt Bowden

I love that this globe has markers indicating how old it is. The USSR & other colonies are on here. I believe this globe is circa 1979-ish.

Here’s my sewing space. I just bought the thread rack right before we found out we were moving, so that’s just hanging out there. I plan on wall-mounting it at our new place (wherever that new place may be!).

• shelf, $5 Ikea
• frame & print, $50 Paul Ferney + Michaels
• bucket, $4 Michaels
• tins, dunno
• scissor bucket, $.50
• machine, 1970s BERNINA record from Mother-in-Law
• chair, $7
• thread rack, $9 Walmart

• dress form, $119 Amazon
• cutting board & stash storage, $44 Ikea
• cutting board, $15 JoAnn’s

I love having my fabric stash organized by color palette. Each basket is as follows: warms, cools, greyscale, browns. The other side is separated out by large cuts & projects needing to get done.

Here’s my desk. I’ve got the 27″ solid state iMac (SO FAST!), Wacom tablet stacking robots & a stash basket on the actual desk. I mounted two shelves with a break between them right behind the computer. This allows us to store & have easy access to all of our hard drives & for me to easily move the Silhouette cutter onto the desk when it’s in use.

I’ve got a few treasures on the shelves themselves.

• vintage clock, $10 etsy
• book: It Must Be Hard To Be A Mother, gift from a friend
• pencil holder, formula can covered with wallpaper
• ceramic bucket for misc cords, $2 thrifted

This might be my favorite corner of the whole room. It’s my Christopher shrine. On the left is a painting done of him when he was a baby. The middle two paintings are mine and the right is a stenciled self-portrait on a suitcase. He used this suitcase in college & made it long before we ever met. I love this stencil of him.

• ironing board, $12 Ikea
• ironing board cover, Cath Kidston from Sewing summit

Like the goiter on the side of the ironing board? Yeah, turns out our ironing board is not a full-sized ironing board. Maybe one day I’ll upgrade to a full-sized ironing board.

I love baby Chris’s striped shirt & chubby cheeks. The yellow border is adorable, too.

This explains Chris perfectly when we met. This is a stencil of him rocking out to music. I love everything about what this suitcase says. Perhaps we could collect more suitcases & stencil the entire family!

Here’s a little video tour of the room. Please excuse my awkward pauses. I can’t seem to operate a video camera & talk at the same time.

So, of course the natural remedy is to cover it up in glitter. I like this remedy. It’s messy, it involves lots & lots of glitter & it reminds me of wizard of oz or something like that.

Susan has a tutorial on how to do it. I used PVA glue instead. I don’t have modge podge (gasp!), but PVA is pretty much the same, if not better. PVA is what I use for bookbinding & pretty much everything else. It’s my favorite kind of glue. Possibly ever.

Susan recommends doing multiple layers, which I think I might do. It would be good to make sure that glitter stays on. Ashlee also glitterfies some old shoes of hers, I love how she kept the bow the same. Hope you have a great weekend! I’ll be colorizing Penelope’s Dino brunch suite in a more masculine color palette! Check back on Monday for the download.

Well, hello there, hand-me-down dollhouse that I’ve been meaning to refurb for 3 years! Maybe you’ll actually get your time to shine now.

This challenge is the perfect opportunity for me to finally check this off my to-do list. I’m going to refurbish this darling little mushroom house, but I’m going to take the challenge one step further, though. I’ve not spent any money on this dollhouse (it was a hand-me-down) and I’m going to keep it that way. That’s going to be tough, but I think I have enough supplies on-hand to do something really fun.

• Emily Henderson, of Secrets from a Stylist
• Orlando, Hommemaker
• Morgan, The Brick House
• Corbett, Girl Domestic
• Jenny, Little Green Notebook
• Kirsten, Simply Grove
• Erin, Design for Mankind
• Nicole, of Making it Lovely

Anyone going to tag-along with me?! Also, I’m so incredibly excited to see what the above uber-talented ladies come up with. They’re sure to be show-stoppers, for sure.

Click here to see the full outfit

Jill & I spent an afternoon working out the pattern & shooting this tutorial a few weeks ago & it’s high time I share the how-to with you. This project is a perfect handmade man gift that looks super cool, is super functional & easy to make. I’m sure I’m going to find myself making a bunch of these for the men in my family for Christmas.

This tutorial includes patterns for both men’s & women’s sizing. I’m loving my cuff, by the way. It’s perfect for going to shows or out dancing when all you need is some cash and an ID. ALSO, I fully plan on sporting one of these at the Sewing Summit in a few weeks. It’s the perfect place to stash business cards.

• S U P P L I E S • 

• 1-3 ounce leather
• snaps & setter
• tape
• pattern
• hole punch
• hammer
• paint brush & water
• bulldog clips
• scissors

Print out your pattern pieces (provided in download below) & tape them onto your leather. Punch holes.

Cut out your pattern pieces. Remove tape & pattern pieces.

With your paintbrush, wet the leather thoroughly along the fold.

Fold leather over & match up holes. Secure leather in place with bulldog clamps.

Sandwich tabs between folded pieces of leather & attach your top snaps.

Attach your bottom snaps & let the leather dry for 2-4 hours before removing bulldog clips.

Remove bulldog clips & insert money, cards, etc inside the flaps.

Snap in place!

So, would you like a tour of Penelope & Felix’s shared space? I’ll do my best to cite all of the sources for everything, but if you find I’ve missed something, please feel free to ask in the comments.

Here’s Penelope reviewing her shot of Felix’s crib. So cute.

Here’s what her bedroom looked like before Felix moved in with her. GROSS & unfinished. We were playing around with different bedding options for Penelope before we decided a toddler bed was best.

Let’s start on Penelope’s side.

• Pillowcase: vintage, gift from Dani
• Small bolster & teal blanket: Little Giraffe, from BlogHer ’09
• Park City Teddy Bear: gift from my grandparents when I was 2
• Quilt: handmade by my mom, gift
• Bedframe: Ikea, $90

• Rocking chair: from Caitlin, $90
• Watercolor: mine
• Growth chart: Petite Lemon*
• Mirror: Thrifted + spraypainted, $2

• Knit wool blanket: handmade by my cousin
• Teddy bear: gift
• Pillows handmade by me (left, right)

• Hand-cut F: made by me to match the P made by Annie
• White frame: Michaels, $6

• Peacock print: A Vintage Poster*
• Frame: Michaels + spraypainted, $10
• Trash can: Ikea, $25 - this is where her toys hide
• Night stand: hand-me-down from mom & repainted
• Dinos: Walmart + spraypainted, $2
• Book basket: thrifted, $1
• Dachshund lamp: won from a Clever Tomato giveaway
• Rug: Urban Outfitters, $50
• Curtains: Ikea, $15

I really need to get a pic of Felix up there. Stat.

• Frames: thrifted + spraypainted, $1.50
• Painting: mine
• Shelf: Ikea, $6

• Chairs: Ikea, $30
• Trash can: Ikea, $25
• Wooden bead roller coaster: Ikea, $8
• Charley Harper Blocks: gift from mother-in-law
• Puzzle & piano: gift from mom
• Ball vacuum toy: thrifted, $1
• Love Poster: won on Made By Girl giveaway
• Frames: Ikea, Michaels + thrifted, $26

• Felix’s crib: hand-me-down
• Elephant print: A Vintage Poster*
• Frame: Michaels, $10
• Bear: gift
• Yellow bed sheet: vintage, gift from Dani
• Blanket: Chris’s old baby blanket
• Mobile: handmade by me

 So, there you have it: Felix & Penelope’s room is COMPLETE and for just under $400 total. This total includes everything we’ve ever spent on this room. NOT BAD, eh? Penelope does a fantastic job of making big messes in here, but now that it’s all decorated it’s somehow easier to clean. Do you find that way about finished rooms?

I love that there’s a lot of sentimental furniture, decorations & toys in this room. It certainly adds a lot to the personality & feeling of love that I want in my home. What do you think? How do you decorate with love?

For comparison, this is what Penelope’s bedroom looked like at our old place.

*Peacock & Elephant posters provided by A Vintage Poster. Growth Chart provided by Petite Lemon.

Yesterday, Penelope & I had fun cutting out shapes with felt. She just massacred her felt (had a good time doing it, too) and I cut out fish silhouettes & circles (bubbles). I’ve been so close to sharing Felix & Penelope’s shared room with you, but it was missing something. A mobile. I made a little mobile to go over Felix’s bed.

I wanted to keep with the orange & yellow theme, so I grabbed a  bunch of felt in that same color family & went to town cutting shapes. I sewed the circles all in a line to make the bubbles and draped them over the embroidery hoop (much like Susan’s chandelier). I cut two of each fish & sewed the two together in skewed lines to add weight and interest. I assembled it all together using a million and a half square knots, industrial embroidery floss and embroidery hoops. Let me know if you’re interested in a tutorial.

Overall I’m really happy how this turned out. Also, it cost nothing to make. If I were to itemize it out, it’d be under 50¢ and that would be between the embroidery floss & the embroidery hoops. The felt was free from my mom, the hoops were 6 for $1 and the floss was $3 for a million yards.

It’s masculine, and fits within the theme of the room. That has been my biggest challenge with decorating Penelope & Felix’s room – being gender neutral. Thankfully I started out with a mostly yellow/orange theme with Penelope’s room to begin with. All pink would’ve been much harder to make masculine.

Before I chucked the lamp, I had bought a new shade for it from DI for $2 in hopes that it would fit. Alas, it did not! It was too short & wide for the lamp’s tall & skinny profile. Once the lamp was gone, though, I still had a great shade, but no lamp. I thought about buying a table lamp, but it just seemed that the room would be lacking some height in the corner. It was then I realized that I wanted to do a ceiling lamp. I still wanted to incorporate some orange in there somehow, so when we got to dyeing a few weeks ago, it only seemed natural that I dye my tan shade orange.

I opted for an ombre because it’s gorgeous & takes very little effort & dye bath in order to make it work. See, you need a bath as wide in diameter as your shade, & as tall as your shade. Since I didn’t need it to go all the way up, that saved me a lot of time & boiled water.

Finding the  right fixture for making this shade a ceiling lamp was tricky. At least I thought. I planned on going to Lowe’s & following an expert around while they imparted their complicated electrical knowledge. That didn’t happen, or need to happen. I was able to find all the right stuff on one aisle & in about 3 minutes. I made Chris put it all together, though. I’m becoming DIY lazy in my old age.

As soon as we hung the lamp, my problem was fixed! I feel so much more resolved about our living room decor! I have a couple more things to do before it’s finished, finished, but I’ll be sharing the rest of the details with you soon. What do you think? Would you have dyed your lamp shade? I’ll surely be doing it again!!

• • •

This is pam. Pam shares her transformed outfits here. She also shares pictures from the party here.

This project was one of the few things I finished during our Rit Dye party. We had so much fun! It was only a couple of us that ended up able to do it, but we had a great time chatting & mixing colors. What creative gal wouldn’t want to spend her saturday afternoon talking about everything under the sun while doing crafty things & eating delicious cupcakes?!?

I loved working with Rit Dye. It was a lot easier working with it than I previously thought! We didn’t need giant tubs for dyeing like I thought we did. The only toughie was transporting hot water down the stairs to our garage – next time I dye I’m doing it on our back porch, just outside the kitchen. Having hot water near would be a lot better. The colors turned out fantastic & the dye ended up giving new life to SO many garments! Here are a few things I’ve learned:

• no matter how annoying gloves are, I need to wear them when dyeing
• make sure I have plenty of plastic bags around to separate colors – I accidentally stained a few shirts with one project
• keep hot water near
• buy more salt
• dyeing with friends is awesome
• liquid dye is king

I’m going to do more dyeing projects in the future & try some new techniques. It’s fun how similar dyeing clothes is to watercolor. Batik – you’re up next!!

Dye provided by Rit Dye.

I’ll be back tomorrow sharing the invitations I designed for Scott & Rebecca.

Click here for outfit details.