Upcoming for October

October is my favorite month of the year. I love fall more than any other time, I love the weather, the colors and the smells. I love Halloween (not scary Halloween, but cute Halloween) and I love the preparation for the rest of the "holidays" of the year. With that said let me give you a little preview of what will be upcoming on Small Fry during October.

1st. Stay tuned for the preparations for little pumpkins Teeny Halloweeny 1st Birthday Party

2. For my Elmers Craft Challenge project I am doing a tutorial on how to make one of these (a candy can)

from one of these (a #10 tin can)

3. I will attempt to create a Cinderella costume for Small fry using this material and this pattern (this might be a a bigger challenge than I can manage-we will see. The actual pattern was like $9.00 and we can't afford that right now.)

4. Pumpkins are my most favorite thing. If I could have a yard full of them I would. If I could live in a pumpkin patch that would be my dream. A man in church who owns pumpkin patches around town announced that anyone could go out and pick pumpkins. I was thinking, "who has a semi truck that I can borrow ASAP cause I need to get some pumpkins." Well in order to satisfy my pumpkin addiction I have come up with a tutorial for these:

I got the inspiration from Craftaholics Anonymous . I have both a sewn and a no-sew (okay well a very little sewing) version. They are made from a sweater (so start hitting the thrift stores.) You are going to love these.

So stay tuned this month. Lots of fun stuff coming.

Small Fry's Skirt

Here are the pic's of Small Fry in her new skirt. She loved it by the way. I am excited to make some more. I want to try a full length one but will have to do some shopping before I do that.

Little Girl Jean Skirt Tutorial

As promised I am back with a tutorial on how to turn a pair of little girl jeans into a cute skirt. This is a great repurpose for jeans with holes in the knees or that are too short. I am excited to try one using a pair of overalls next. I will let you know how that goes. So basically what you will need is:
-1 pair of jeans
-1 piece of fabric (can be 45 inches wide or 60. The first one I made was 45 inches wide and this one I made using 60 inch wide fabric and it is much fuller and fluffier so if you can go with 60 inches that is great but not necessary).
1. Start by laying out your jeans. (NOTE: if they have an adjustable waist make sure you undo that before beginning. I realized that made a big difference AFTER I cut mine-oops)
Lay your jeans with one leg on top of the other-lining up the top and bottom of the jeans and pulling out the crotch seam. Determine where you will want to cut. You don't have a lot of options since you will want to cut right above the crotch seam (the piece that comes out to a point in the picture below) and below the pockets of the jeans. Draw a line with a pencil on one leg and then open your jeans back up.

I thought I had a picture of the line part but it looks like my camera must have eaten it. Next cut on the line of one leg right to the center seam, then fold that leg over on top of the other leg and use it as a guide to cut the second leg. MAKE SURE YOU KEEP THE TOP OF THE JEANS LINED UP.

Open up and you should have something like this. Don't worry if you have jagged edges. Those can be straightened at this point. I had to do some straightening myself.

Now on to your skirt fabric. If you want to make a 2 teired skirt you will need to cut 3 strips of fabric. You could totally just use 1 strip of fabric and just make it a bit wider. The width of your strips is not that important. If you are making a skirt for a taller girl you could get away with wider strips or even use more than 2 strips. Wouldn't it be cute to make a floor length skirt with coordinating materials??? For this skirt (that comes to about my 2 year olds knees) I made my strips 4 inches wide.

Take one strip and sew the ends together to form a circle. (Remember right sides together. This fabric didn't have a right or wrong side-but don't you forget that step). Oh ya, I did this tutorial for my non-serger readers. If you had a serger you could totally whip this skirt out in no time, but if you don't have a serger it takes a bit longer with a few more details. My seam was 1/2 inch. I heard Martha Stewart say that sewing patterns are going to 1/2 inch seams now rather than 5/8" to help save fabric. INTERESTING!! Okay back to business. So sew the seam and then pink off your excess.

Now sew 2 rows of basting (your longest stitch length possible) stitches around one side of the circle. My mom always taught me to use 2 rows of basting and in the long run it is much easier. I sewed these at 5/8 inch and 3/8 inch. (I'm assuming you know all about basting to do this. If anyone has questions let me know.)

Pull on your strings to gather your skirt piece. I always gather more than necessary because I find it easier to let out gathers then add them back in.

Now pin this piece to your jean top right sides together, matching up your seam. Because your fabric is a loop it will only have one seam so it might be helpful to fold it in half and find the direct opposite side of your seam. I eye balled mine. Pin all the way around, letting out or gathering the fabric piece more as needed so that it lays flat with the jeans. (LOTS OF PINS).

Here is the underneath side reminding you to put right sides together and match your seams.

See, lots of pins.

Now stitch around this at 1/2 inch seam. Remember to return your stitch length to normal after having done the basting.

It will look like this when you are done. It is a good idea to look at it from the right side to make sure you haven't folded anything over while sewing.

Now use your pinking shears again and trim that edge. (THIS IS A VERY STRINGY PROJECT).

Next you will take the remaining 2 strips of fabric and sew an end of one to the end of the other to make one long strip, and then the remaining 2 ends together to form on large circle. Let me just stop and explain what it has taken me multiple attempts at these ruffle skirts to figure out. Each tier you add on to the skirt you will need to double the amount of fabric you used from the previous. So for example if you were to add on another teir after this one you would use 4 strips (inorder for it to be big enough to go all the way around and still be ruffly.) At least that is what I have concluded. Correct me if I am wrong. Once you have your large circle, trim all your seams with pinking shears and then sew your 2 rows of basting stitches as you did to the previous piece. Make sure you have enough thread before you start sewing or you will be one mad cookie if you run out half way through. Pull on your strings to gather this piece as well only it will not have to be gathered nearly as much as the first so save yourself some of the hastle. Now pin it to the bottom edge of the piece you have already sewn to the jeans. Remember to put right sides together. It takes me a minute every time I do this to figure out if I have things the right direction, but just put the jeans part that you have already made inside the circle piece you are wanting to attach with the bottom down and have the gathered edge of the circle facing down as well. Match your side seams and use lots and lots of pins.

Now sew all around at 1/2 inch. Remember normal stitch length.

Turn it right side out and check for folds and tucks. You will also need to take out any basting stitches that are showing.

Pink off your seam again. Now for the bottom. You will need to hem it. I hate hemming p.s.. Start by folding up a 1/4 inch all around and pressing with an iron. Then repeat and fold another 1/4 of an inch. Pin in place. Sew all around the bottom edge and pat yourself on the back because you are done!!!!!!!!

I love this one. It turned out so ruffly and poofy. Small fry loves it. She said, "look I'm a princess." I will take a picture of her in it when she wears it to church.

You could add ribbon or flowers. Alternating colors would be cute. Endless possiblities. Thanks again Heather M for the inspiration. Have fun ladies!!

Allergies

RANDOM POST-BARE WITH ME. As of late my nose has be runnier (is that a word) than it has ever been. My brother is saying right now, "is that even possible?" Yes it is possible and it is true. I have thought it might be a cold or something but the other day I noticed that when I went outside it got even worse and I started sneezing uncontrollably. When your two year old has to tell you "bless you" 10 times you know it's bad. I looked up and saw that I was standing next to a patch of these gigantic weeds and realized that what I have thought was a cold is just terrible allergies. Then the other day when I went out of town and I was in smog city-my nose- didn't sniffle a bit but as soon as I started getting closer and closer to home my nose started to run, my throat started to itch and I started sneezing. It is these dang weeds I tell ya. Do you know how many people I have heard this summer talk about their allergies acting up, or having to get allergy shots? Tons. People it is because we live in a town that has vacant lot after vacant lot of this:

This is not grass or shrubs-these are weeds-tall enough to reach my husbands shoulders in places. This is directly across the street from my house. The neighbors children used to walk to school across this field. They would get lost now.
Another view

Down the street.

Hello has no one that works for the city ever heard of weed spray? Here we are paying our hard earned money to control our allergies when really I am thinking a huge portion of it could be eliminated if our city would take care of it's weed problem. If we are not trying to achieve a world record for tallest weed then lets do something about these awful things. Not to mention they look terrible. Maybe next year we should have Melon Days and Allergy Days- all you can eat watermelon with a complimentary tissue pack and box of Claratin. Everyone complained about our roads and they are finally getting a face lift. So I am just thinkin maybe this should be our next campaign because I am sick and tired of sneezing.

Melon Days

To all the big city folks out there, our little Melon Days celebration would be a big joke but it is a huge deal around here. The the days leading up to it I even saw the city repaint all the lines on the streets, everyone cuts their grass and you wouldn't believe the amount of over grown weeds that were removed from vacant lots. So it is a pretty big celebration for our standards. My booth did really well this year. I had a lot of business and actually sold more than I ever thought I would. I had return customers from last year and tons of compliments. I have lots of ideas for next year starting already. I didn't know if I would do it again but pregnant women and women with newborn babies are such a fun group to please-it is very rewarding.

Even my little pumpkin enjoyed the day. I love this picture.
I forgot to take a picture until the afternoon so many things were sold but you can at least get an idea.

Burp cloth cupcakes were a big hit. I sold them in pans of 6, boxes of 3 or individually.

It was really fun. Thanks to everyone who came and bought and complimented.

Look what came for me in the mail

I got an e-mail a few weeks ago from Elmers glue asking if I wanted to participate in their crafters challenge project. It said something about doing a craft and a donation to a charity and a giveaway and I was reading the e-mail quickly while holding a crying baby and thought it was nothing that I would have time for and basically ignored it. Then I got another e-mail from them asking again if I was interested in participating in their craft challenge and if so to please send them my address so they could send me my free crafters kit...um excuse me did they say FREE!!! HELLO. I whipped out an e-mail as fast as I could type back saying that I use Elmers glue all the time and would love a free crafters kit. I re-read the original e-mail which stated that they wanted bloggers to participate in the challenge and post their projects on their blogs and the winning blogger would have a $1000.00 donation made to a charity of their choice and Elmers would send each blogger a craft kit to use to make their project plus send 3 prize packs to the bloggers readers as giveaways. So low and behold I finally got my box in the mail. I was expecting a couple of glue sticks and some tape. (they said they had launched a new line of crafting products that will be in Walmart stores everywhere). Instead I got this:
and inside it was all of this:

and this:

for me to use to make a craft project by Oct 8th. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I mean there are bloggers out there that get free samples all the time but this has never happened to me before. The excitement from this will last until Christmas I am sure. So I am milling over a million craft ideas in my head trying to decide just what I want to use all this fun stuff on. Did I mention I got a circle cutter. I have wanted one for like 7 years. Anyway I can't start on the project yet because of this:

and this:

the aftermath of Melon Days. It is war zone in my craft room right now so I have some major cleaning to do before I can start using all my fun stuff. So stay tuned for the craft project and the giveaways from Elmers. I have always loved glue and tape and I think I love it even more now.

Baby Sale

Okay so here is the rest of my stuff from Melon Days. It is up for sale. It is sold on a first come first serve basis. If you see something that you want then leave a comment or send me an e-mail include the item number of what you want and a description (make sure it includes some way for me to contact you). There will be an additional charge for shipping on top of the sale price. The shipping depends on what it is that you order. U.S. orders only. If you saw something at my booth or that I previously posted but it is not here then let me know, I am more than willing to do custom orders. I specialize in one of a kind items so I can not guarantee that I can reproduce anything exactly but I can do my best to come as close as possible. These items are up for sale until they are gone. Thanks. Item #1 Brag Board-to display photographs. It sits on a shelf but can also be mounted so it can hang on a wall (5 pin, pink flowers, girl) $10.00

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Item #2 Brag Board (4 pin, tiny pink polka dots, girl) $10.00
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Item #3 Brag Board (4 pin, large polka dot, girl) $10.00
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Item #4 "Sweet" Banner (Black and Turquoise) 10.00

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Item #5 "Miracle" Banner (Brown, yellow and blue plaid on blue) $15.00

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Item #5 "Angel" Banner (Brown on Brown and Turquoise polka dots) $15.00

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Item #6 "Precious" Banner (Blue on Brown and White Plaid) $15.00

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Lil' "Guy"ser Visors Item #7 (red top left),#8(top center camo),#9(top right green frogs),#10(bottom left blue plaid and blue),#11((bottom center cows),#12(bottom right blue and black polka dots) $2.00 each

Item #13 "I'm 1" onesie (12 months) $8.00

Item #14 "I'm 1" T-shirt (size 2t/3t) Green Frogs $6.00

Item #15 Strawberry Onesie w/ matching burp cloth (size 3-6 months) $6.00 ITEM SOLD

Item #16 "I'm 1" T-shirt (size 2t/3t) Blue puppy dogs $6.00

Item #17 "Lil' Buck Club" Onesie (size 3-6 months) Brown letters $6.00

Item #18 Rocket ship Onesie (size 3-6 months) $6.00

Baby Booties Size 0-6 Months Item #19 (turquoise and pink), #20 (Red melon seeds), #21 (blue w/ white polka dots)$4.00 each

Baby Booties size 0-6 months Item #22 (white w/ red melons) #23 (purple with pastel polka dots) #24 (blue with red/yellow polka dots)$4.00 each

Baby Booties Size 0-6 months Item #25 (Purple w/ ric rac), #26 Turquoise flowers, #27 Cream with large polka dots $4.00 each

Baby Booties Size 0-6 Months Item #28 Black and white flowers $4.00 ITEM SOLD

Item #29 Folding change pad (Flowers yellow inside) $10.00

Item #30 Folding Change Pad (Green Farm Animals white inside) $10.00

Item #31 Carry All Change Pad (Blue with colored polka dots) $12.00 ITEM

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Item #32 Folding Change Pad w/ pocket (blue with colored polka dots) $12.00 SOLD

Binkie Clips Item #33 (top left-pink w/ white polka dots), #34 (top right-pink and brown stripes), #35 (bottom left-white with flowers), #36 (bottom right-pink with white polka dots) $2.00 each

Diapers and Wipes Holders Item #37 (white with baby words), #38 (blue puppy dogs) $4.00 each

Diapers and Wipes Holders Item #39 (Basketballs), #40 (blue with colored polka dots) $4.00 each

Diapers and Wipes Holders Item #41 (blue trains), #42 (colorful farm) $4.00 each

Diapers and Wipes Holders Item #43 (Black polka dots), #44 (yellow and brown flowers)$4.00 each

Diapers and Wipes Holders Item #45 (Winnie the pooh), #46 (brown and yellow diamonds) $4.00 each

Item #46 "Sweet Baby Boy" Banner (made out of scrapbook paper) $10.00

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Item #47 "Welcome Home Baby Boy" Banner (Made out of scrapbook paper) $10.00

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Item #48 "Sweet Baby Girl" Banner (made out of scrapbook paper) $10.00

Close Up Burp Cloth Cupcakes Item #49 (left pink), #50 (inner left pink), #51(inner right green and purple animals) #52 (right blue) $1.00 each
Item #53 Compact Change Pad (pink and brown) $10.00
Item #54 Compact Change Pad (brown, yellow and blue plaid on white) $10.00

Item #55 Compact Change Pad (turquoise hounds tooth) $10.00

Item #56 Compact Change Pad (blue trains) $10.00

Item #57 "Baby Boy" box. I had this left over from my burp cloth cupcakes but it would make a cute gift box for some of the other items if anyone is interested $2.00

Photo Cubes Item # 58 (back left corner blue boy), #59 (back middle boy plaid), #60 (back right corner grey and pink), #61 (Bottom left corner (white with pink flowers girl), #62 (bottom middle cupcakes), #63 (SOLD) $1.00 each