Merry & Bright

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

The Children were Nestled...

Well, ok....just the one child and visions of tools and trucks and super heros are dancing in his head!

Cholula Cap Decorating Contest

What the...Christmas is only 5 Days away!  That also means that the Cholula Cap Contest is drawing to an end.  The great folks at Cholula are giving away some great prizes like Sur La Table Tri-Ply Stainless Steel 9-piece cookware set valued at $279.96 and 12 Sur La Table Gift Cards!

It's simple to enter - just give your Cholula hot sauce cap a little holiday makeover and submit the picture of the decorated cap to girlichef at girlichef dot com. (Please include your name and email address for notification purposes.)  To read more about the contest, check out the Cholula Facebook Page or pop over to the Girlichef blog.  The contest ends at 11:59 PM on Dec 23rd.  Good Luck!

The Pirate's Life for Me

Last week I shared this Pirate Kit over at Darling Doodles for her 12 Days of Gift-mas.  Here it is...just in case you missed it :)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have a just-turned-four-year old boy.  And like lots of little boys I know, he loves to pretend!  We recently discovered the new Jake and the Pirates cartoon on the Disney channel, and my little guy is hooked (heh heh).  This Christmas, my little first mate will be finding this Pirate Kit under the tree:

I just so happened to score this perfect treasure chest at JoAnns.  With my 40% off coupon, it was cheaper than one of the unfinished chests!  And so my kit began...

Every pirate worth his jolly roger has found some treasure, so I made a few stenciled booty bags and filled them with Queen's Gold (Dollar Store) and some Crown Jewels (vase filler from Walmart).

I added in a pirate vest (modeled after the one Jake wears in Jake and the Pirates)

And a foam cutlass (from amazon), eye patch and pirate hat (local party store)

And of course - I had to add in a DVD of Jake and the Pirates!

This was such a fun theme kit to put together for my little Muchkin!  I can't wait to see him open it on Christmas morning!

I participate in the following link parties: Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Skip to My Lou, The Girl Creative, Making the World Cuter, Miss Crafty Pants, Super Stinky Boys, Mad In Crafts, Embellishing Life Everyday, Keeping It Simple, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, Chocolate Drool & Kisses, Simply Cadence, Polly Wanna Crafter, Sew Can Do, Tip Junkie, My Frugal Family, Coastal Charm, New Nostagalia, Blessed with Grace, The Creative Itch, Funky Polka Dot Giraffe, Home Stories A to Z, The Lettered Cottage, A Bowl Full of Lemons, At Home with K, All Thingz Related, Today's Creative Blog, Not Just a Housewife, Sew Much Ado, Blue Cricket Design, My Backyard Eden, Gluesticks, Extreme Personal Measures, The Thrifty Home, The Trendy Treehouse, Someday Crafts, All Things Heart and Home, Elements Interiors, My Girlish Whims, DIY by Design, Somewhat Simple, House of Hepworths, Seven Thirty Three, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Beyond the Picket Fence, Black Kat Design, Thrifty 101, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Finding Fabulous, Poppies at Play, The Inspired Room, KoJo Designs, Whipperberry, Inspiring Creations, Romantic Home, The Speckled Dog, At the Picket Fence, Little Brick Ranch, Designer Garden, Simply Sweet Home, Simply Designing, Tatertots & Jello, Funky Junk Interiors, Be Different Act Normal, Saturday Morning Blog, It's a Crafty Life, I Heart Naptime, Under the Table and Dreaming, Creative Jewish Mom, Flamingo Toes, The DIY Showoff, Marvelously Messy, Nifty Thrifty Things, Thrifty Decor Chick, The Cottage Chick, Running with Glitter, One Artsy Mama, Dittle Dattle, Southern Lovely, Naptime Creations, Ladybird Ln, Sew Many Ways,

Yo Ho Ho

For the last piece in my little Pirate series, I have the basics of the pirate vest.  I modeled the vest after the one worn by Jake in the Disney cartoon Jake and the Pirates.

It's a super basic patern that I downloaded here from the fabulously talented Dana at MADE. I did make a slight adjustment to the collar. Instead of cutting a V shaped necline, I cut the neckline straight across from shoulder to shoulder. This allowed for the turned back collar of the vest.  (sadly, I accidentally deleted that picture)


For the embellishments, I added a band of gold felt, sewn on bias-tape style

And then topped the seam with a bit of black trim - hot glued into place

For the finishing touch, I added 4 oversized yellow buttons - just like Jake has on his

I can't wait to see Munchkin singing along to Jake and the Pirates wearing his own pirate vest!
 I participate in the following link parties: Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Skip to My Lou, The Girl Creative, Making the World Cuter, Miss Crafty Pants, Super Stinky Boys, Mad In Crafts, Embellishing Life Everyday, Keeping It Simple, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, Chocolate Drool & Kisses, Simply Cadence, Polly Wanna Crafter, Sew Can Do, Tip Junkie, My Frugal Family, Coastal Charm, New Nostagalia, Blessed with Grace, The Creative Itch, Funky Polka Dot Giraffe, Home Stories A to Z, The Lettered Cottage, A Bowl Full of Lemons, At Home with K, All Thingz Related, Today's Creative Blog, Not Just a Housewife, Sew Much Ado, Blue Cricket Design, My Backyard Eden, Gluesticks, Extreme Personal Measures, The Thrifty Home, The Trendy Treehouse, Someday Crafts, All Things Heart and Home, Elements Interiors, My Girlish Whims, DIY by Design, Somewhat Simple, House of Hepworths, Seven Thirty Three, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Beyond the Picket Fence, Black Kat Design, Thrifty 101, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Finding Fabulous, Poppies at Play, The Inspired Room, KoJo Designs, Whipperberry, Inspiring Creations, Romantic Home, The Speckled Dog, At the Picket Fence, Little Brick Ranch, Designer Garden, Simply Sweet Home, Simply Designing, Tatertots & Jello, Funky Junk Interiors, Be Different Act Normal, Saturday Morning Blog, It's a Crafty Life, I Heart Naptime, Under the Table and Dreaming, Creative Jewish Mom, Flamingo Toes, The DIY Showoff, Marvelously Messy, Nifty Thrifty Things, Thrifty Decor Chick, The Cottage Chick, Running with Glitter, One Artsy Mama, Dittle Dattle, Southern Lovely, Naptime Creations, Ladybird Ln,

Eye Eye Captain

After finishing the pirate booty bags, the last thing the pirate kit needed were a pirate vest and eye patch. 

Today we're making the eye patch.  It's just two small pieces of black felt and a piece of black jersey for the 'string'.  I used jersey because I wanted something nice a soft with a little stretch.

Start by cutting a piece of jersey 1/2 inch wide and the desired length.  To determine the length, I measured Munchkin's head and subtracted an inch to account for the give in the jersey.  To give the string a little added stability, fold in the width in half and zig zag the edge

For the patch, cut two rounded triangles out of black felt

To assemble, sandwich the two edges of the jersey string in between the two felt pieces

And sew around the perimeter of the felt pieces.  I also sewed a small circle in the in the center of the patch for added stability

For the finishing touch, I added a skull n bones button that I found at JoAnn's

Yay for simple costume pieces :)


I participate in the following link parties: Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Skip to My Lou, The Girl Creative, Making the World Cuter, Miss Crafty Pants, Super Stinky Boys, Mad In Crafts, Embellishing Life Everyday, Keeping It Simple, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, Chocolate Drool & Kisses, Simply Cadence, Polly Wanna Crafter, Sew Can Do, Tip Junkie, My Frugal Family, Coastal Charm, New Nostagalia, Blessed with Grace, The Creative Itch, Funky Polka Dot Giraffe, Home Stories A to Z, The Lettered Cottage, A Bowl Full of Lemons, At Home with K, All Thingz Related, Today's Creative Blog, Not Just a Housewife, Sew Much Ado, Blue Cricket Design, My Backyard Eden, Gluesticks, Extreme Personal Measures, The Thrifty Home, The Trendy Treehouse, Someday Crafts, All Things Heart and Home, Elements Interiors, My Girlish Whims, DIY by Design, Somewhat Simple, House of Hepworths, Seven Thirty Three, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Beyond the Picket Fence, Black Kat Design, Thrifty 101, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Finding Fabulous, Poppies at Play, The Inspired Room, KoJo Designs, Whipperberry, Inspiring Creations, Romantic Home, The Speckled Dog, At the Picket Fence, Little Brick Ranch, Designer Garden, Simply Sweet Home, Simply Designing, Tatertots & Jello, Funky Junk Interiors, Be Different Act Normal, Saturday Morning Blog, It's a Crafty Life, I Heart Naptime, Under the Table and Dreaming, Creative Jewish Mom, Flamingo Toes, The DIY Showoff, Marvelously Messy, Nifty Thrifty Things, Thrifty Decor Chick, The Cottage Chick, Running with Glitter, One Artsy Mama, Dittle Dattle, Southern Lovely, Naptime Creations, Ladybird Ln,

Pirate Booty Bags

Hello me hearties!  On Tuesday, I guest posted over at Darling Doodles about one of Munchkin's Christmas gifts - a Pirate Kit assembled by your truly.  One of my favorite elements of the kit are these cute pirate booty bags filled with loot:

These were super simple to make.  They're just stenciled muslin sewn into little drawstring bags.  I used the oh-so-awesome freezer paper stenciling technique.  Here's a great tutorial on freezer paper stenciling if you haven't seen it before.


To start, I cut two strips of muslin to size.  I used one long strip, folded in half, to make the bags.  Once I knew my bag size, I found a royalty free crown image and cut it out of freezer paper (shiny side down) using my Silhouette (you could also easily cut an image out of freezer paper using a craft knife)

To stencil the crown, I ironed the freezer paper (shiny side down) onto the muslin (in the center of what will be the bag front)

Then applied craft paint by dabbing it on lightly with a foam brush

After the crown is dried, just peel the freezer paper off to reveal your image

For the typography, I used the same technique and painted right over the dried crown image

Thy Queen's Gold font is Carrington and the Crown Jewels font is Dumbledore 1 Outline.


Once all the paint is dry, it's time to sew up the quick bags.  Start by hemming each side (I hemmed them a 1/2 inch, but a 1/4 would have been just as good)

For the drawstring channel, fold the tops down 1 1/2 inches (cut off any excess - I ended up making my bags a little smaller than my original measurement, which is why you see so much excess in the picture below)

And then pin the two sides (wrong sides) together.  Sew a straight line from the bottom to 3/4 inch from the top seam, sewing right over top of your existing side hems

For the draw string, I used two pieces of simple twine, knotted at ends.  You will be threading your drawstring in the channel created by folding the top of the fabric over.  For easy threading, pin a safety pin onto the end of your string and use the pin to help guide the string through the channel.

Once you pull the string through the front, simply pull the string out the side and then through the channel on the back side of the bag.


Now you're all ready to fill the bags up with some loot...in our case, gold coins found at the Dollar Store and precious gems aka vase filler found at Walmart.  Arrrgh - time to set sail to find more treasure!


I participate in the following link parties: Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Skip to My Lou, The Girl Creative, Making the World Cuter, Miss Crafty Pants, Super Stinky Boys, Mad In Crafts, Embellishing Life Everyday, Keeping It Simple, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, Chocolate Drool & Kisses, Simply Cadence, Polly Wanna Crafter, Sew Can Do, Tip Junkie, My Frugal Family, Coastal Charm, New Nostagalia, Blessed with Grace, The Creative Itch, Funky Polka Dot Giraffe, Home Stories A to Z, The Lettered Cottage, A Bowl Full of Lemons, At Home with K, All Thingz Related, Today's Creative Blog, Not Just a Housewife, Sew Much Ado, Blue Cricket Design, My Backyard Eden, Gluesticks, Extreme Personal Measures, The Thrifty Home, The Trendy Treehouse, Someday Crafts, All Things Heart and Home, Elements Interiors, My Girlish Whims, DIY by Design, Somewhat Simple, House of Hepworths, Seven Thirty Three, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Beyond the Picket Fence, Black Kat Design, Thrifty 101, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Finding Fabulous, Poppies at Play, The Inspired Room, KoJo Designs, Whipperberry, Inspiring Creations, Romantic Home, The Speckled Dog, At the Picket Fence, Little Brick Ranch, Designer Garden, Simply Sweet Home, Simply Designing, Tatertots & Jello, Funky Junk Interiors, Be Different Act Normal, Saturday Morning Blog, It's a Crafty Life, I Heart Naptime, Under the Table and Dreaming, Creative Jewish Mom, Flamingo Toes, The DIY Showoff, Marvelously Messy, Nifty Thrifty Things, Thrifty Decor Chick, The Cottage Chick, Running with Glitter, One Artsy Mama, Dittle Dattle, Southern Lovely, Naptime Creations, Ladybird Ln,