Craftyminx

Wedding Wednesday - It can't wait

So this didn't fit into today's earlier post, but I have to share it with you so ta da:

We finished Bri's dress this weekend! I love love love it! I wish I had remembered to take a picture of her in it. Oh well. It fit her perfectly and we didn't have to adjust the yoke at all!

It is Amy Butler's Anna Tunic made out of her Ivory Fresh Poppies fabric.

Wedding Wednesday - Location, Location, Location

Picking a location for our wedding was not a small task. Yes, I've wanted to have my wedding where we're having it since the first time I saw the pond on my parents' property. But sheldon really didn't want to have the wedding outside in the middle of nowhere. Seriously, my parents don't even have an address. So after we got engaged, I went searching for a different place to have the ceremony and reception.

If you've made this kind of search before, you know how awful it is. Every location has hidden fees and tons of rules (especailly where alcohol is concerned). That just wasn't something that I wanted. And the places that we both liked were the worst rules-wise and had the hefty price tags to keep us in debt for  a couple of years after the wedding. I haven't talked a lot about budget here, but I refuse to have debt associated with this one day.

So it all came back to my parents' house. They have room, we are getting a free tent and tables, my dad is building us a gazebo for the ceremony, we can drink as much as we want and have loud music and be raucous if we desire. It's just the perfect place for us. Sheldon is still a bit leery of having an outdoor wedding in the middle of nowhere. There's always the worry that people won't want to drive 2 hours out of town or we'll have rain, or a heat wave, but I know it will still be the best day of our lives no matter what happens.

*I used poladroid for the pictures. You can see the real pictures on my flickr. The font is from Fonts for Peas.

Vintage Flair

There are so many awesome things at my parents' ranch that I could share with you, but it would take a lifetime. I told you about my dad's love for antiques and keeping everything he's ever owned, but it's pretty extreme. Their ranch is full of odd bits and baubles and crazy awesome antiques that I want to ahem "borrow" every time I go visit them. These are a few of my favorite things I found in the garage from this visit...

This hook is one of three on these cabinets my dad removed from a horse trailer before he sold it.

My great grandparents' rocking patio chair. Part of my inheritance... he refuses to give it up before then.

I don't even know where this one came from. My dad might have cut it from the metal himself, but who knows. I still love it. :)

My weekend

Sheldon has been out of town for the American Library Association Conference in DC since last Wednesday. I knew I would have to find some way to pass the time since we haven't been away from each other for more than 24 hours since we started dating. So I made plans for my bridesmaid, Bri, to meet me at my parents' ranch for some wedding prep and to make her dress. I had a great time and I hope Bri did too! I'll share the wedding stuff on Wednesday, but here are some other pictures from the ranch that I got to take. I'm so glad I'm finally getting used to my DSLR camera and can finally get some pictures that give the place justice. It is sooo beautiful there.

I arrived just in time for this glorious sunset! This is the only pond (out of the 5 on the ranch) that you can see from my parents' house.

This was moments before Dewey rolled in a huge pile of cow poo. Sometimes I don't love the ranch so much...


I think he decided the poop fest wasn't worth it after the bath he had to have.

Moxie is the ranch dog. She loves to look at birds and squirrels through the big windows in the living room.

Bella is always tuckered out from ranching.

More to come...

Appliqued Onesies

The onesie tutorial aired yesterday. I had some technical difficulties getting this posted last night, but typepad seems to be working ok today so here you go...

What you'll need:

 

• Onesie applique templates -  Download Onesie_template
• A cotton onesie in any size or a bib
• small amount of cotton fabric
• Fusible Webbing - Heat -N- Bond or Wonder Under
• Embroidery Floss
• Needle
• Iron
• Pencil
• Scissors

Print out the onesie template and trace the design on the paper side of the fusible webbing. If the Onesie is bigger than 12 months you may want to scale the templates up a little, but you don't have to.

Cut around the design, leaving about half of an inch of a border around the design. 

 Place the template pieces shiny side down (paper side up) on the back side of your fabric.

 
Iron these down according to the directions of your fusible webbing. Let everything cool down after you have ironed them down. Then, cut out the pieces using the lines that you traced as a guide.

 
Peel the paper backing off the fabric. The shiny glue should now be adhered to the fabric pieces.

Now, Iron the pieces onto the onesie. I usually put a 4 inch wide piece of paper inside the onesie just in case any glue sinks into the fabric. Also this covers up the gerber "tag" image on the neck that you don't want to melt with your iron.

Now that your appliques are adhered to the onesie, you must sew around the fabric so they don't come off. You can use a sewing machine on a tight zig-zag stitch  and sew around the fabric. Or use embroidery floss like I did and do a backstitch along the edge of the fabric applique.

If you don't know how to do the backstitch, you can check out my friend Amy's, awesome tutorial! 

And there you have it a great inexpensive present for the new babe in your life. Sorry there's not a pic of the finished elephant. I already gave it to my new niece, Olive :)

 

Welcome to the family, Olive!

I have a new niece!! Well technically she's only Sheldon's niece right now, but it's close enough to the wedding so I'm claiming her too. ;)

Isn't she a beauty?

Sheldon thinks she's an Unkie's girl.

But I have to disagree.

But we both agree that she has the greatest big sister ever!

 

*Frames are from the Kitschy Digitals by Danielle Thompson - Fabric Covered Buttons Digital Kit*

The Big News!

A week or so ago I hinted at some big news that I couldn't share yet. Well the time is here!

A few weeks ago a local newswoman, Liz Dueweke contacted me about doing something crafty for the local Fox morning show. Apparently people told her I was the crafty queen of OKC or something. A BIG thanks to whomever did!!!

Anyways, Last Wednesday I filmed a couple of craft segments for the morning show with the wonderful Liz. It was soo much fun!! One segment was on appliqued onesies and the other on DIY wedding invitations (because I have loved making mine so much, haha).

The first of the segments aired today, still trying to find out which one. The second one will air sometime this week or next I'm guessing. They were filmed in like 2 minutes so everything is pretty rushed and crazy, but I'll be posting tutorials for both of the segments here so everyone can enjoy in the fun!

As soon as I find out which segment aired today I'll post the tutorial so hop back over here later today.

Blog Facelift

You may be noticing the different look going on over here at Craftyminx.com. Remember a long time ago when I said the blog makeover was the first thing to happen after I graduated? Well, it wasn't the first thing... but it has finally happened!!

 
I'm not done yet. You'll find some of the navigation not working right yet and my sidebars aren't finished, but the overall design is done so I decided to just go with it and post it. So bear with me for a couple of days until it is 100%. I'm really happy with it! It has taken over my life for the last 5 days so I'm really excited to finally show off my hard work :)