Journals from Composition Notebooks

Our church Relief Society is putting together gift baskets for girls graduating from high school. My contributions are theses journals. I like to make journals out of composition notebooks which I get at Walmart for just under a dollar.  I glued pictures from old calendars and used scrapbook paper. As you can see, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Mary Englebreit designs! Some of these are also decorated with stickers and duct tape, etc. A fun thing I learned to do watching an artist on Youtube is color the edges of the pages with crayons in rainbows of colors used in the designs. The journals are covered with plastic folders I found last week at Walmart for 50% off the clearance price of 75 cents each. (The photos would have turned out better if I had taken the covers off first!)

Fronts

Backs

Table of Contents (Just printed on white cardstock.)

Close-Up of Two

 

 

 

Recycled Bath Towel and Washcloths

This is what happened last week when I cut an old, ragged bath towel in four pieces, serged around the edges, and decorated with a calico print, ribbon, and lace from my scrap stash. The pot holders are made from the same fabric stash and interlined with old washcloths. (A family favorite way of making the best pot holders ever passed down from my maternal grandmother.) Yea! New kitchen towels and potholders for moi!

Easter "Bloomers"

For Easter I bought Kammi and Cherish matching dresses. I couldn't find the fabric I wanted to make them myself, and I could buy them for less money than making them. Kammi's was a size 6x and Cherish's was a 24 months. Cherish's didn't come with matching bloomers, and I wanted her to have some to cover her diaper. (She's only 19 months old.) So, I made bloomers out of some pink washable satin I had left over from dance costumes. When Kammi saw them she decided she wanted some too, "in case she wanted to do cartwheels!" So, here's the pair I whipped up for Kammi:

Simplicity #1808 Creations

Here's the jacket, knit shirt, and pants I made from Simplicity Pattern #1808 with a polyester pin-striped fabric and a chocolate brown poly knit that I've been saving. If I use the pattern again I think I'll make it a size smaller. I love the comfort of extra room, but a smaller size might be more flattering. It's always hard to decide what size to make. (Yes, I know, I should always make a muslin first!) In ready-made I wear a size 2 or 4. I cut this pattern in a size 12. Maybe I should have cut a size 10?

 I could have adapted this skirt from the same pattern, but I got Simplicity #1887 on sale.

The pin-stripes don't show up so much in the photo, but they are dark brown and gold.

Looks like this without the jacket.

 Of course I had to accessorize with a posy made form McCall's #6047. I accented it with a bit of burlap and a brown and gold trim button.  The vintage wedged spectator shoes are from Forever 21. Thanks to my super-woman sister-in-law the one-of-a-kind, handmade necklace and earrings!

Thanks for letting me share with you! Happy sewing! :)

 

 

 

"Thoroughly Modern Muzzy"

 

 

 

Here are a couple of photos of moi onstage at the Colonial Theatre in Idaho Falls, Idaho portraying Muzzy VanHossmere in IFYAC's November 2013 production of the Broadway musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. Of course, I designed and made the costume I'm wearing! The fabric I purchased at Hancock's for $4/yard and the fringe is made from some gold lace tablecloth yardage I've been stashing that I found at Wal-Mart several years ago. Note the pantaloons so that I could kick as high as I wanted!

 

The critter that got away...

Grandma (moi!) didn't remember that a spider trap was behind her karaoke/CD player until 18-month-old Cherish made her way behind the setup. I rescued her by just picking her up, but the socks stayed stuck!

Be excited!

"Have faith in God's timing as well as His existence!" - Elder Neal A. Maxwell  (Yes, I have faith not only in God but in His timing!)

"There is no depression in this house; we do not speak of defeat." - Sir Winston Churchill?