Monthly Project Challenge ~ June

June's Monthly Project Challenge will be the "BFF Bag".

The goal of this project is to create a one of a kind purse, bag or tote to give as a gift to someone you know, but whom you'd like to get to know better. My hope is that you will increase your sewing skills and also gain a new friend when you give the bag away. 

For this project you will need:

A pattern for a bag, purse or tote & all required fabric, notions & embellishments, 

and most important, a not yet "BFF ( best friend forever )".

Please start your project no earlier than June 1st & post a link to the challenge on your blog, so that we can get more folks involved in the challenge. Also leave me a comment to let me know you are participating.

Monthly Project Challenge

I've decided to host a Monthly Project Challenge here in my little corner of blogland. There are a few things I want to accomplish through this challenge and I hope you'll join me. For myself, I am excited to learn new skills as I work through projects & I am so excited to see all the beautiful items each of you will produce. For just a moment I want to talk about the title of my blog & how I hope to apply it to these challenges. SEW . create . CHANGE in its simplest form represents my love of sewing, creating & changing items to meet my needs. On a different level the title represents my genuine desire to change the world around me; knowing that change comes through action. I often fall short of the lofty end result I was seeking, but because there was a goal, there is tangible success in what I was able to accomplish. I recently heard this statement "we are grateful that much is required" & I am grateful that I know in my heart what I am to accomplish, even though, it will require a lot of work. I don't always work as hard as I can toward that end, but I am going to keep moving forward one simple goal at a time. I want this blog to be about sewing, creating & changing, but really I want it to change me, challenge me & open me up to bringing that change to those around me. Starting with June's Project Challenge you will find out that I intend these challenges to be about so much more than sewing or creating a beautiful piece, but about creating a beautiful life for me, for you, for our families, communities and our world.

Pair of CUTIES

It is so nice to have my own model now, however, 

I may "$$ pay $$" for all of the "dress up" once she is a teenager. 

Until then enjoy my Jae Bird wearing a headband and flower made from one knee high sock (& not even the whole tube of the sock). One would only need the whole sock if planning to make an adult headband. I got my socks at Gap for 70 cents a pair, so for less than 35 cents & 1 hour of cutting, sewing, gluing & picture taking I had a completed headband and flower.  

I've got a few projects that MUST get done, so watch for the tutorial in the coming week.

Jae Bird's Flower Garden

Here is the flower garden I made to hold all of Jae Bird's hair clips & bows.

Find yourself a cute pot or planter & cut some green flower foam to fit the opening (I stuffed the bottom of the planter with grocery bags, so that I would not need as much foam). I've used moss in the past to cover the foam & I've also made a quilted piece with buttonholes for the stems to come through. I opted for gathered fabric this time to bring in more of the raspberry color to her nursery. Glue or pin the chosen medium to the foam & start clipping on your favorite hair accessories to the stems (aka dyed flower marking skewers from the flower foam/wreath isle at Michael's).

New Soul for these Soles

For my first post in this new corner of blogland I thought I would show you the fix-me-up I gave to one of my favorite things. These shoes are my "go to" favorites & that is evident by their condition in the following photo...

The first step of the makeover involved buying these GEMS

 and these too... just in case my plan went horribly wrong.  

 Here they are, my new & improved Steve Madden favorites. 

It's amazing what a little black paint & 2 dollars worth of black pleated ribbon can do. I tested them out on Mother's Day & would have shown you how great they looked, but I was & still am in desperate need of a pedicure first.