For Jon.

My husband and I met almost 8 years ago. At the time I was in a first aid class at the University of Utah. I took the class to become certified and hopefully qualify for a job at a kids summer camp. I didn't get the job, but I found a new love: First Aid. I switched my major from English to Health Education and Promotion with an emphasis in Emergency Medical Services. 

The summer that Jake and I were planning our wedding, I was also taking the First Aid Lab Instructor course, so that I could teach my new found love to other students. Jake and I were married in August, and then I got the teaching job for the Fall semester. It was as an instructor that I met Jon Bowers. He was also a Lab Instructor and in the same major as me.

Jon worked as an EMT, saving lives.

Jake took the same courses as I did, one semester behind, and pretty soon we were all teaching together. It was such a fun job to have! I miss it more than any job I've ever had. Jon and I also took classes together, and soon he became a good friend to both of us.

Me, Jake and Jon.
Even  while attending and working at the U, Jon was a big BYU fan!

One week ago, early Sunday morning, Jon was on his way to work as an ambulance worker. While stopped at a red light, a drunk driver plowed into him from behind (news story). His car was crushed between the drunk driver and the car in front of him. After fighting for a week in the ICU, he died yesterday morning. Jon is gone and Jake and I are still dazed by how quickly and abruptly he was taken from his family and friends. 

I know that his family is dealing with many more emotions, but also they are going to have to deal with the finances. I am hoping that, if you are able, you will please donate to a fund for the medical and funeral expenses that this sad event will bring. It doesn't take much to make a difference. Just click the donate button below and follow the directions to donate safely through PayPal. The money will be going into my PayPal account, but I will then be giving it to Jon's mother. 

I know this might be too much for my little craft blog, but I couldn't sit by and do nothing. And the worst thing that can happen is we are in the same place we were before. 

Jon, we miss you. You are a great friend and there needs to be more like you.

*UPDATE: Jon's co-workers set up a donation fund for his family through Zion's Bank, I will be putting the money collected into that account, or you can donate directly through any Zion's location.*

Winner! Winner!

Having recently entered an alarming amount of giveaways, trying to win a Silhouette machine, the numbers of comments can get into the thousands on the first day! Compared to that, 40 might seem small. . . but 40 comments is a record number for this little blog, and I'm thrilled!! I know I'm not giving stuff away on every post, but I'd love to keep getting comments, and it's even better when your email address is linked to your profile, because then I can reply to you personally in email! Now, who wouldn't want that?

Now, without further ado, random.org has chosen!!

 And number 19 is:

Congrats, Talina!! Looks like you get to personalize your little girl's stuff all you want!! Send me an email by Monday night to claim your prize and I'll get you in contact with Sarah! (If she doesn't make the deadline, I'll pick a new winner on Tuesday.)

Happy Memorial Day Weekend, everybody!!


(On a side note, I totally learned how to copy/paste the two pictures just barely using this tutorial. Awesome. I love learning new things!!)

Craftaholics Unite!!

Last week, I said that I had some awesome things coming. Well, first was the labels and the giveaway in conjunction with it (you still have the rest of today to enter!!). The next thing I couldn't tell you about until now!


Today, I was given one of these:

because I'm guest posting over at Craftaholics Anonymous! I'm so excited to share this new tutorial with you and all of Linda's readers. So check out my tutorial for my newest creation:

I still have one more big thing in the works, but I'm sure you've guessed at it. As soon as I get a few more things figured out, I'm going to start selling my one-of-a-kind sock animals! Happy Thursday and check back tomorrow for the winner of the custom stamp giveaway from Sima Designs!!

I made a sock elephant!

Don't forget to enter the Sima Designs giveaway!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Over the weekend, when the girl and the hubby where taking naps, and when I should have been doing some sort of cleaning, I finally took the time to figure out how to make the sock elephant! Here's the result of my Saturday afternoon:

Hero calls it his baby elephant. The orange one is the original I brought back from Taiwan. He calls that one the Mommy elephant, even though the green one is bigger. I think that's funny, but appropriate, since the orange one is mine that I will never let him play with.

I had thoughts of selling this one, but when I was sitting on the couch putting it together, Hero asked with wide eyes, "Is that baby elephant. . . for me?" Can't argue with that, especially when it's the first one I've ever made.

Last week, I also made a new monkey:

and a new cow:

I was super excited to stitch on my first labels!! They look great, don't you think?

Hope your weekend was filled with some fun too!

For Sale, Labels, and a Giveaway! (CLOSED)

I'm going to start with a little story. I do not have a scanner, so my MIL takes my hand drawn patterns to work and scans them in for me. When I needed my monster pattern scanned, I called her up and took the pattern and the kids for a visit. She asked me to bring some of the toys I had made for my kids to show off to her co-workers. I came in with a bag full of crocheted and sewn toys, including my two sock cows pictured in the tutorial. 

They asked me if I sold the toys I made. I said I hadn't before, but I wasn't opposed to it. They asked a price, and I picked one; and the next thing I knew, the two cows had been sold and I had money in my hands...

wha? I . . .? I didn't mean those cows. . . I thought you talking theoretically. . .um, okay! I guess I can always make more. . .

It was then that I decided I would start to make a few things and sell them. And that's when I decided to open my Lively Designs shop!

I knew that I wanted labels, but after checking the prices of having woven professional ones made (in the hundreds for a minimum order); I sought an alternative. I settled on having stamps made up for me to make my own labels.

I checked etsy.com and found a great price for a custom stamp from Just Off Normal and within a week of order this showed up:

I was way too excited to open it to remember to take a picture of the cute wrapping, "brown paper packaging, tied up with string" and a cute wooden key.

Working with Sarah was awesome. I knew I liked my logo I had designed for the shop and she was able to work it right in. The price of the large stamp included a graphic. I wasn't sure what I wanted and she suggested the cute little monster because the first thing (and only thing right now) in my shop is my Silly Monster Pattern. I love it! It will forever be a reminder of where I started.

The large stamp is about 2" x 3" and the small stamp is 1.75" x 0.75".

I took my stamps to Robert's and asked the woman there what ink I should get if I wanted to stamp on fabric. Without hesitation, she recommended StazOn. So I bought two colors (only two was so hard!) and headed home to try it out!

I stamped directly onto some muslin fabric with these beautiful results.

I love how each one has a slightly different look with the smudging around the edge.

And to test it's stay power, I washed the fabric. It faded a bit, but is still just as beautiful.

My large stamp is for making tags and business cards. Again, I love the slight variance this stamp gives me.

Now, here comes the cool part. I had such a great transaction with Sarah that I asked if she would want to do a giveaway and she's so great, she said yes right away! To give you a little taste of who she is I asked Sarah to introduce herself:

"I quit my job of ten years as an electrical engineer to continue designing, get creative and be able to stay home with my kids. Right now I spend about half the day playing with my son and getting inspired by his antics- my overflowing idea book at the ready- and then a few hours designing each day before starting homework and projects with number 1 when she gets out of school."

When I ordered my stamps and the turn around for getting them was so fast, I was excited. But knowing that she does this as a side job to raising two kids, now I'm mega impressed! She has a blog here, and has such awesome stuff in her shop! I love everything in her shop, but my favorite is the Tooth Fairy Box. Such a great idea! (I had a nephew lose his tooth, then lose it again before the Tooth Fairy could come... no money for him...).

Sarah has offered one Small Custom Rubber Stamp for a lucky CWC reader!

How to enter:

1. Leave a comment telling me what you would want your custom stamp to be of!
2. Follow CWC (new or current)
3. "Like" CWC on Facebook.
4. "Like" Sima Design Studios on Facebook.

That's four chances to win this awesome prize! Make sure to leave a separate comment for each one you do and to include your email address so I can easily get a hold of you when you win! You have until Thursday May 26th at 11:59pm MST to enter. The winner will be chosen by Random.org and announced on Friday. The winner will get to work with Sarah on their custom small stamp!!

If you don't win, you can still get a great custom stamp of your own, or any of her other great stuff, at Sarah's etsy shop Just Off Normal, and she said it herself, "We are now on Facebook! "Like me, Like me!" and you can get access to special discount codes and coupons". 


Good Luck! And look for my new labels as I start to make things for sale!!

big things coming up!

Just FYI, I'm sewing like crazy because I've got something awesome to show you all. But I need another day to get ready. Awesome stuff, I promise! In the meantime, enjoy this picture as a teaser:

A Crafty Birthday

My birthday was a few weeks ago, and I got a few crafty gifts I wanted to share. First, I've already shared my new sewing machine, the birthday gift from my awesome husband. Next, is this shirt, made by one of my best friends.

If you know what this is about just by reading it, I know you are a big Gilmore Girls fan like me! I love Gilmore Girls. I own all 7 seasons and watch the entire set several times a year. In fact, season 5 is going on in the background as I type... This shirt is from the 3rd season, click this link to get to the scene (around time spot 0:45). Anyway, Lena freezer paper stenciled it onto a super comfy shirt for me. I love it!

Next, my older brother is in school to become a machinist. I don't know exactly what the job description for that is, but he told me that a mechanical engineer designs machines and a machinist makes them. Anywho, he needed an idea for this lasering acrylic assignment, so he made me (and Jake) this great plaque with a picture of us and a beautiful quote about love.

"But what binds humans? Love.

Powerful in small spaces, yet with profound effect in distances. Love defies time, outliving both its source, and its object. Love is faster than light, for light requires time in order to travel through space. But love reaches its object instantaneously.

Love journeys forever, into infinity. And it's here, binding together two lives."

Oh, and I thought you would enjoy seeing how I took the picture of the plaque. I had to put something in front because it  kept getting me in my pjs in the reflection!

Happy Birthday to me!!

Wrap Around Bib (and snap) Tutorial

Before Pretty was born, a good friend of mine gave me 2 big bibs for at my shower. Besides being super cute, they were good sized and fastened with a snap. I love it when baby things are done up with snaps, they are so easy!

Anyway, they were perfect, and I always meant to get more, or make some more myself. I just asked my friend where she got them and it turns out she got them at a one time boutique. She found the website for the boutique show, but it hasn't been updated in a year... and the maker of the bibs doesn't seem to sell them anymore. So I went ahead and traced the bib and made this trio for my cousin, whose baby girl should be coming any day now!

They have washcloth backing, so they are cute and functional.

I made a pattern for them that you can download, and put together this tutorial for you to make these too. They sew up super fast. I was only planning on making 2, but still had time and supplies... why have 2 when you can have 3?!

Supplies (per bib):

• Bib Pattern piece
• 1 fat quarter for front (you can get two bibs per fat quarter)
• 12x12 washcloth, or terrycloth, or the like...
• extra wide, double fold biased tape
• pearly snap closure
• snap tool
• hammer
• coordinating thread
• common sewing supplies

First, print off the pattern piece and match up the edges where the stars are. Don't overlap the stars, just the lines, and tape it together.

It doesn't matter which direction you make the neck piece face, my originals go the other way than the ones I made (snapping on the left shoulder instead of the right). Either way, cut out one from the fat quarter and one from your washcloth. My washcloths came in a pack of 18 for $2 at WalMart on sale. If you are using washcloths, you will have to piece it together a bit.

Cut out the body and as high as you can up the neck curve.

Overlap the washcloth by 1/2 and cut out the remaining part of the pattern.

Pin and sew together on a half inch line. Remember to make the seam face toward the inside.

Lay the washcloth with the seam up, trim off the overhangs from the seam. Lay the seam open.

Lay the front of the bib over the washcloth with the right side facing up.

Pin the two together and sew all the way around as close to the edge as you can. There is no turning, so don't leave any opening.

It should look like this:

Next is the biased tape. If you want to know how to put it on properly, Homemade by Jill has a great how-to near the end of this tutorial. I cheated this time and just sandwiched the biased tape around the two layers and pinned it on. Start at the tip of the neck curve and go all the way around. When you get back to the beginning, leave it unpinned and cut it roughly an inch longer than you would need.

Sew the biased tape on, close to the inner edge of the tape. Make sure that you are sewing through the back as well (this is where doing it the "right way" is good for, making sure that back side is secure).

When you get near to the end, fold over the extra amount,

and pin it so it overlaps the starting edge. Sew to the end, backstitch to line up with the starting sew line. Turn piece and backstitch in line with the start.

The finished line should look like this. Basically make it all secure.

The last step is to attach the snap closure. Remember my first time putting a snap in? Rather than repeat that nightmare, I went and bought a snap tool, and also had a person at JoAnn's show me how to use it, just to make sure I knew what I was doing.

Any snap tool or snap pack that you buy will have pictures on the back for you to follow, but I thought, where I had such issues my first time, I'd show you all how I do it now.

First, on the body part, use the spiky circle with the hole. The snap marks on the pattern are a rough estimate spot, so don't stress about being right on.

Poke it through both layers from the back side.

Place the male part of the snap on top of the spikes. See the snap tool in the bottom corner? It has that hole in the center to make sure  you don't smash the snap flat!

Place the snap tool over the snap.

Use a hammer, it only takes 2 good hits, and it's secure!

On the tip of the neck curve, place the pearly top (with the spikes) on the front side of the bib.

Poke the spikes through.

Center the female part of the snap over the spikes. Follow the picture on your packaging carefully to make sure you have the right side up (I , of course, had to do two tries the first time, ruining a pearly top...).

Notice that I have the snap on top of the bib this time, that's because I've also cracked the pearly top before! Use the bib as padding to protect that cute pearly top, use the snap tool and hammer it on.

And the snap is on!!

Which means the bib is completed!!

You can't even see where I pieced together the washcloth!

Pretty was not in the mood for pictures, but this at least shows how big it is.

It was such a quick project, and now that I know how to properly and easily put snaps in, I love using them!! Happy sewing all!!