A little sewing project....a summer bag for a cute little girl!

I am definitely getting faster at making things. Getting my mojo on. Remembering what needs to be done first, before the next step can happen.

I had bought this cute kitty cat fabric (which is perfect for a 1.5 year granddaughter) a while ago with intention to make a different bag that I had a pattern for.  That bag turned out to large for such a short little person! Lol.

So I fashioned this one myself. I did make a few mistakes, but somehow I doubt they will matter to her!!!! Hehe.

Here it is:

Close up of kitty cat fabric:

Mistakes I made:

1. Did not box the corners correctly. Too late to do differently once I made that error!

2. The straps I tried to sew in at angles where they would nearly touch, she she could pick the bag up easily in her little hands.  One of them slipped our of position as I was sewing them in. Too late to fix once I had sewn the handles and lining into place all around the top.  Her Mom told me she likes to slip the handles over her forearm to carry, so again, no biggie. (Phew)!!!

3. I cut the long sash part too short, which was intended to be tied into a bow, so I ended up just tying it around one handle.

I got the idea afterwards that what this bag really needed was her first and last name embroidered in a lovely script on each side of the tie hanging down, but....once again I ran out of time, so that did not happen either!

She was a cutie with her new summer bag!

Hoping to keep learning and hopefully make fewer and fewer mistakes! They sure are frustrating!!!!!

Hope everyone had a nice Saturday!

Xoxo-Julie

My tire garden views on Fri., May 30

Lavender roses and periwinkles:

All leafed out Kalanchoes (see all the babies along leaf edges). I just snipped two of the large leaves off and scattered all the baby leaflettes around in a sandy area in the yard I hope to fill in with this!

A few close ups of the E. Lactea:

A tire full of Elephants Foot (miniature Jade, Portulacaria afra):

Some long lasting snapdragons, that seem to be on their last legs, but are hanging in there still producing flowers!

A coral rose (grocery store mini):

Red PENTAS:

The mandevilla is so beautiful as it unfurls:

Dianthus:

Sweet little mums! 

I realize as I look out the kitchen window that I only have minimal red color in this garden. I plan on replacing the snapdragons with red miniature roses, maybe 2 in a tire along with a pure white periwinkle for contrast to really show them off!!!!!

As luck would have it, I just finished watering, and now it has mysteriously begun to rain (heavily)! The sky has turned dark. Should make a quick trip to the Walmart garden center fun! Hey, I just found out they are selling BLUE VINCA (periwinkles, that are so water thrifty and abundant in blooms year round) in some of their stores! This will make for an easy red/white/and blue display for summer!!!! I plan on planting them around my blue plumbago out front. Yes!!!!!!!

A little old bouquet, and my Doozey!

Good morning!  

I let Doozey out in the back yard with me to water the tire garden, and I see she is covered in those sticky seed pods from grass! Oh goodie!

The miniature roses are just covered in blooms right now, and looking out the kitchen window makes me so happy! 

I cut some of the older blooms, to put in the kitchen window (but included a sweet little yellow bud). I can never bare to cut them when they are so gorgeous out there collectively.

The stems are so short I had to put them in a wider, but short vessel, so this little measuring cup works out well.

The weather is getting very warm here in south Florida, and all I can think of are waterparks/pools/beach/ and being inside in the a/c working on sewing projects.  I have been having a little hankering to start an embroidery soon. 

I can feel what most northerners call "winter weight" about to come on, as we gravitate indoors more during the hot time of year.  I can't stand it, and usually just put everything out there on auto-pilot for June thru Sept.  Early morning waterings is all I'm good for! I know I am just a big baby!!!!!

I am all into Fresh Pet now for Doozey. Yes, I did get tired of cooking all fresh food for her, but this food she actually likes!!!!! Available easily at Target too!!!! Here are her latest acquisitions (toy and chicken treats). 

Of course she needed a reward after all that treachery at Petsmart for a nail cut. 

She actually likes (or seems to) it there!!!!!

Well, let me go find something fun to do now. Does anyone have any good dinner ideas? Lol. 

Xoxo-Julie

We went on a neat trip to Lion Country Safari way out west in Palm Beach County on Saturday.  My husbands work party was there and what a party!  The place is amazing! Had the best time ever.  I am in the rear in a rhino baseball hat. Grandkids, Donovan (the long haired fella dressed in black), Emily (in purple pants). and Audrey with her sunhat on. We were lucky to have them all there that day!

If you think you might want to visit this gorgeous amusement and animal park, here is a link:

Lion Country Safari

xoxo- Julie

Graduation card made.

I made a card for my husbands oldest grandson yesterday. He is graduating from High School this weekend!

I used a combination of parts of the invitation which was sent to us, Mariposa card stock for the front background, and a package of embellishments by Life's Little Occasions (sold at JoAnn Fabrics).

It may be hard to see (I'm posting this from my camera so tiny screen), but I placed his name (I covered his last name for privacy) that I cut out that little name card that is stuck in the invitation, and  added the graduation cap, stars, and CONGRATULATIONS embellishments. 

Then the inside left:

I took the vellum sheet that says Class of 2004 from the invitation, taped it in using double sided sticky tape, then added the embellishments. 

(I covered the inside right since we had already written our messages to the graduate).

The card cost was way less than a store bought one. The embellishments were under 2 dollars, and the stuff I took from the invitation, which personalized it beautifully, were free. The card itself and card stock were just pennies!

Making beautiful cards, are so economical, and really fun, and much more thoughtful.  I think this one turned out gorgeous!

Handmade butterfly cards!

My friend, Bobbie Lynn, over at Why I Love To Garden sent me a tutorial on how to make these really neat paper butterflies to decorate anything with!  It immediately set me into action this evening!
I made two cards.  One for my step-son's birthday, and one for my cousin who I still exchange snail mail with!  Here they are!  Basic, but cute, I think!  I really appreciate the butterfly link, Bobbie Lynn!!!

The link to learn how to make the paper butterflies is HERE

It's hard to make a card for a man, I think.  Keeping the butterfly dark kept the feel more masculine.

I attached them to the card by using a half inch 3-D glue dot.  It feels pretty secure.

The beautiful cardstock I used came from:

The floral card:  Citrus stack by DCWV.

The black and yellow card: Mariposa stack by DCWV

both found at JoAnn Fabrics on sale.  The basic box of plain colored cards was also found there on sale!

Oh, and I found a ball of green twine I have had since in my 20's (it's 30 years old), and I used it to tie up the butterfly and make the antennae.  Pretty cool.  I believe I will be making more of these cute butterflies!

A sewed a bucket hat today!!!!!

It's so cute. The pattern was free from 

http://www.kitschbitsch.com.au/subscribe/free-pattern-denim-reversible-bucket-hat/.

I made the size medium, after measuring my head, and sadly, it came our too small! I had the two fabrics in my stash, which worked out perfectly because one needed to be the heaviness of denim, and the yellow fabric was! 

I found a little girl that it fits perfectly! Wow, she's a doll!!!!!

My garden this morning!

I've been waiting for these buds to open for a week! The first one finally did, this morning!  Is it a mandevilla? I can't remember! 

The Bougainville! 

A close up!  Love the little white flowers inside!!!

Some snapdragon magic:

Roses

Periwinkles

Zinnias (I have 32 new zinnia plants coming up all around in the tires! Can't wait to see them they will be multi-colored Lilliput ones.

And last, but not least, a shot of my beautiful euphorbia lactea. It looks prettier with the color from the Bougainville showing over top in background!!!  I need to get out here and replant this in the middle of the tire...it shifts, I believe, due to the lizards living in here.  Ignore that other nasty euphorbia growing out at the side!!!  LOL.  I can't keep them out...they are reproducing faster than rabbits!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Xoxo-Julie

I deleted Facebook!

I tried it, and now....I'm no longer there!  I found it to be (for me), a big time waster!  I realize now that the blog is a place I can post what I've gardened, made, done, etc., with like-minded folks popping by to say hello. Not so much with Facebook.  Maybe it was just too interactive for me.  Too much in my News Feed....whatever.  I don't feel I needed to see (or share) most of what is on there.  So, don't look there for me...you will find me right here....communication mainly with myself and those who choose to come here. Hey, that's how the ball bounces!

Well, I will show you a picture of the lizard (a big fat feller) that I saw who was about to get sexy with a female, before I interrupted (sadly) by opening the window to take a pic!  She slipped over to the other side of him.

He's right on the front lip of the tire!  Sorry...a really bad photo from the kitchen window!  The lizards seem to be romantic this spring season!  LOL.  The snapdragons look bad as I did not water them yesterday.  I bet by now they are looking royal!  

See ya around!

xoxo- Julie

A new Hello Kitty bag for daughter!

Today was an exceptional day! I had no laundry to do, no appointments, did not get the grands after school. What was I to do???

Sew at tote bag for my daughter! She wants it for college which starts in a few days! I found the pattern at Walmart, but did not use anything in the pack but the one piece that when turned makes a bag (handles and all)!!!!!   I saw a gal at her blog called "A Very Purple Person" use the one piece pattern (her own) and how to work the magic to make a tote!  So I used her instructions ! 

Here it is in a very "Lolita" fashion!

With a quilted pocket inside. Large enough to hold her cell and 3DS. 

A few more shots in poor lighting, but shows lace on front.

I used stabilizer in the outer fabric to give it more strength, and body.

As soon as my DIL saw it, she exclaimed "I want one"!!!!! LOL. I hope I get faster at it, ....... I'm sure I will. ;)

xoxo-Julie

A new desk caddy !

I finished sewing a fabric cover thing with pockets that I sort of came up with in my mind. I had an empty plastic container, and some spare fabric, so I measured the container, just kind of thinking through what I wanted to do as I went along. I put pencils and pens in the pockets, and a low light requirement plant in the top. I filled the cylinder with rocks about half way up for weight. I think it turned out cute! Any ideas for improvements?????

Here was the early stage:

Mid way:

Finished:

I really like this cute plant called Nephthytis, or "Butterfly". I found it at Walmart in a 3 inch pot. When I got it home it was, of course, all root bound. I took it out, cut 1/3 of the roots off, and replanted. Gave it a nice watering in fresh airy soil. I just hope the lighting isn't too low in this area of my house. I may need to move to a window on occasion.

Thanks for reading. Hope everyone is having a great week!

xoxo-Julie

Newest zentangle!

I  call it "Zenny With Tiny Coffee Spill"!!!!!

Lol. Yes I managed to mess it up, using it for a bookmark around all my coffees! Oh well, it's getting use, which is more than I can say for most of the Zens around here!

Woke up this morning to a cool, sunny, and dry 62 degrees which is just perfect. Barely a cloud in the blue skies! It is heavenly here this time of year! Thank God for it!

Have a wonderful week!

Xoxo-Julie

Bougainville splendor!

This was taken through my screen in kitchen window, as I was too lazy to go back out there. I had forgotten to take out my cell phone to get a photo! I was fertilizing everything as I have very exciting news about the Lilliput Zinnia seeds I planted all around in my tire garden. Some are in the 5 gallon buckets as well. The exciting news is that just about every seed has come up and I counted 31 seedlings that are about 1.5 inches high now. They are all looking pretty hearty too!  I am very excited!!!  I'm praying the delicious fertilizer will help them along! This is a mixed color of seeds, so it will be a lot of fun to see what opens up!  I will have pictures as soon as it starts to happen!!!

My blogging friend, Bobbie Lynn from www.whyilovetogarden.blogspot.com has mentioned some zinnias called California Giants! I am keeping my eye out for those!!!!  The flowers are 4-6 inches in diameter! Now that's what I'm talkin about!