"Did you cut your hair?"

As many know, I cut my hair recently. Now for most this isn't blog worthy news and I'm not writing this to draw attention to myself and put myself on a pedestal that I'm better than you. My hair simply grows pretty quickly and because I'm "low-maintenance" I choose to cut it once a year or once every other year. Thus, I am able to donate 10+ inches regularly. Which is what I did again this year.
After talking with many people and other information going around the interwebs, I decided to change my usual donation from Locks of Love to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. The reason for this was purely personal. I still love the mission of Locks of Love. However, recently, we have been affected by cancer in our adult friends. Cancer has, unfortunately, been a big part of my life. I remember when my mom was going through treatments and I didn't want her to go anywhere without her wig. This has stuck with me since 4th grade, so I have wanted to do what I can to help other women not have to worry about the expense of wigs. Growing my hair is a free way to help out others and I normally get a free haircut out of it. :)

Pantene partners with the American Cancer Society to provide wigs for women.  Pantene also accepts hair as short as 8 inches, so don't let the 10 inches you normally hear scare you! To find out more information you can check out there site here.

Not my picture: Source

The process is pretty simple. Most salons are familiar with how to cut the hair for donation. It just needs to be in a pony tail and at least 8 inches. You then mail it in, in a padded envelope. Simple!
I definitely encourage you to try to donate.

I wrote this a few years ago when I donated and was getting a lot of comments. It's not about me, it's about helping out someone else.  

I don’t do it for the attention.

I don’t do it for the comments.

The “Wow you cut your hair!” ‘s

Or the “Oh it looks so cute!” ‘s

I don’t do it because I have to.

No, I simply do it for her.

I do it for the little girl who

wants to run around with pig tails and ribbons.

I do it for the teenager who

wants a cute up-do for prom.

For the mother of two

Who once joked about pulling her hair out;

And now cries when she really can…

I do it because I can

For everyone who can’t.

With hopes that some day

If I need it, I’ll have choices.

Granted the comments are enjoyable

And the attention is too

But that’s not why I do it.

I do it because I can.

It’s simply what I do.

DIY: Girly Monster bag

Just a quick post to show you one of my Christmas crafts this year. I love making homemade gifts. My goal for this Christmas is that everyone we gift for will get at least one homemade item.  This was almost successful this year. We had a few tricky brothers to buy for but I'm already looking for ideas for this year! :) So family, if there's anything that you want let me know! I've been itching to get to crafting again but school is priority right now!

So a quick post, mostly of the pictures. You can find my original monster tote tutorial here. I received word that a little girl was borrowing her brothers bag so decided she needed a more appropriate girly bag for her own use. I had all the supplies except the eyes and bag which were found in a local shop. It's a pretty easy bag to make.

I also happened to have some left over pink camo fabric left over from another project for her so I used some glittery iron-on letters I had for her name and stitched it on the back. No stealing this bag from her brother! The bow is just a small rectangle with another small strip wrapped around and hot glued together. For this one, I used a jersey t-shirt so the edges of the bow and monster shouldn't ravel.  

My original idea for this bag came from Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky! 

I'd love to see your creations! 

~Enjoy!~

 ~H~

Sew: A needle pulling thread.

I've been toying with this blog post for a while but wasn't sure I wanted to post it because I'm not an expert sewer. However, I decided that the people that read this blog don't necessarily care.

I know of lots of people that are wanting to get into sewing or become better sewers so lately while I've been working I've been thinking of my tips and tricks of the trade. And because I'm so nice, I'm going to share them with you. :)
History
 So a brief history of my sewing, I started probably late elementary school patching things for my dad because my mom loathes sewing. Home Ec in middle school probably is what peaked my interested the most. I made everything from the basic drawstring bag and shorts to a stuffed penguin. At home I'd use scraps we had to make other little bags or projects. I also was given the job of patching jeans and coveralls and putting in new zippers. When I got married the two things I wanted most were a kitchen aid mixer and a sewing machine. (side note, I got both with gift cards, thanks everyone! :-) ).

My most recent sewing projects include things for my niece and nephews (an apron, monster bag, and hooded monkey towel).
I also made a hoop skirt which you can read about Here.

I've broken a few needles in my day and continue to break them but don't plan on stopping sewing anytime soon. 

Heather's Tips and Tricks of sewing with a machine

• Don't be afraid to mess up! 

                  So many people get upset when they have to use their seam ripper or start over. Making mistakes is perfectly fine and is going to happy. It's OKAY! That's why they make seam rippers. They will become your best friend (more on that later). I've had to completely scrap projects before because they didn't turn out. One other important thing to remember is that whoever you're making whatever for will love it because you spent time to make it by hand. I was worried about this, if I was wasting my time making homemade gifts but everyone loved them. "You MADE this??" "Wow! You should open a shop!" "I thought you bought this!" Every time. :)

• The seam ripper is your best friend! 

                  Told you so. Get a good one and use it. I use mine every time I sew. Getting miscellaneous fabric stuck under the machine happens. Sewing the pocket of the jeans to the leg happens. Sewing too many layers together happens. The seam ripper is your best bet to get them apart. Take out a few stitches at a time and work the fabrics apart.
                   A seam ripper is also useful for other things. I use it when my needle becomes unthreaded so that I don't have to pull the thread all the way out, it is small enough to reach in the slot by the "thread take up" thingy. (I know about sewing but not the pieces of the machine :) this is that little silver lever that goes up and down as you sew, the part you loop through before going through the needle.
                 Any other brilliant uses you have tried?

• Get a pair of scissors devoted to sewing and fabric.

                     When I say devoted, I mean it. Fabric and thread is strictly what you use the scissors for. I bought one of these fancy boxes ~~~~~~~~> and use the scissors that came with it. They look like a regular pair of scissors you can pick up anywhere. The key is to keep them for fabric! Once you begin to use them for paper or plastic, whatever, it dulls the blades and you start to get choppy cuts.  

• Get one of these ~~~~~~~~~~~~>

         Okay, this one isn't a necessity but it's supper nice to have. I bought one with my machine so it's the singer brand but I'm sure there are other options out there. What I love about it, is you have just about any color thread you will need. Granted, some of them are smaller spools but it's helpful if you don't use specific colors very often (like pink or yellow) and start a project, you don't necessarily have to buy the thread to match. I also have found it very very helpful to have multiple colored bobbins.(see next point!) There's a bunch of other really nice things in the kit, plus it's nice to have the extra storage, especially if you don't have a room devoted for sewing.

• Make multiple bobbins of 'neutral'/'normal' colors. 

           This would be colors like blue(navy), black, white maybe grey or tan. You have to decide what colors you use most frequently. With having a bobbin ready you just saved your self a few minutes.  Also, if you have a couple of the same colors made already, if you get halfway through a project and your bobbin runs out you can just throw a new one in, rather than taking the time to make one and start over.

I keep coming up with new points but I will add just one more for this post. 

• Shut the door and walk away. 

         I won't lie, sewing can be stressful. You have to be able to leave the project and go do something else. We have my machine in our office where we keep the door closed most of the time unless we're working in there. But it has been the best thing ever. I can get partway through, get frustrated, shut the door and walk away before I get too frustrated.  At my parents, this wasn't the case. The machine was in the main room we used to watch tv or sit at night, I had to have the stuff cleaned up and put away at night.  Which was fine, but it's so nice to leave something where you are.

Alright folks. I have a few more points. I'll add them and maybe get enough free time to write about them later. :)

• A lint roller is fabulous for cleaning up those short/loose threads. 
• The inside of a project might not show, so it doesn't matter what it looks like
• Sometimes it's the bobbin side that shows, if this is the case match your bobbin thread but it might not always matter 
• You made it with love, that's what matters. :)

~Enjoy!~  and let me know if you have questions or comments!

DIY: Monster bag

I am a huge fan of homemade gifts, I also try to avoid giving only toys to the nieces and nephews. So when I found this cute monster bag on pinterest I thought it would be a perfect gift for my nephew Kyle. I used the basic concept from Marigold's blog Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky! But modified it a little because I had the fabric laying around and used a pre-made bag instead of making the bag also.  It cut down on some time and maybe cost. 

You can check out the link above to get actual numbers for the pattern she used but I just winged it. 

I found a plain canvas bag at a local crafty type store. I had contemplated using one from the Dollar store that had something printed on it because it would be covered up anyway but wasn't sure how well the material would work. Not sure how to describe it but it had that 'plastic-y, waxy' type on the inside, which might have been nice for cleaning but I was afraid it wouldn't work well to sew on.  

These Crayons from Walmart

Anywho, on to the project. Like I said I had the green fabric laying around. I think I bought it as a small piece from Wal*mart. It was less than a yard that I had.    I used a piece of paper to get somewhat of an idea of how big I wanted the monster to be.  Because my Crayola Twist-up crayons were the long ones, I had to make it bigger than what the original was. So I laid the crayons on and marked where I wanted the "teeth" to stick out. I almost wish I would have made it so less sticks out but I think this will make them easier to get out and put back in. 

Once I had both the bottom pocket and the monster cut out, I sewed around the edges to make a nice hem. (This would be one benefit of using felt, you could omit this step.) Then I worked on sewing the crayon pockets.  Marigold had a great idea to use a piece of tape to measure how big the pocket would be. 

I had a 8 pack of crayons so I laid them out towards the middle to see how much room I would need and then made sure there was about the same amount on both sides. Then I stuck down my tape. Sewing as close to the tape as I could get I sewed on both sides of it. I worked from the outsides in because I had an even number of crayons. If you have an odd number it would probably be best to start from the center and work outwards so that it's centered. Once you sew on both sides of the tape, move it over to the other side of the seam you just finished and repeat the process till you are finished, making sure you have enough spots for all your crayons.  I ended up having wider pockets on the edges, but I thought these would be nice to stick in pencils or markers or something. 

When I had the pockets done, I sewed on the nose. For mine, I just used an oval I cut from an old green t-shirt.  I used a zig-zag stitch on it to give it some more character.   The hard part was sewing it on the pre-made bag, making sure I didn't accidentally sew it to the other side of the bag too. My sewing isn't perfectly straight but I thought that gave it more character too. I was okay with the bottom seam not being straight because it made the teeth different lengths. 

 I just used hot glue to attach the googly eyes I'm hoping they stay. But I wasn't sure what else to use. 

I think he's adorable. I'm hoping Kyle likes it and they'll actually use it. That's my biggest worry with making homemade gifts, that they won't get used but I have fun making them. I tell people I spoil other people's kids because I don't have any. :) 

Make sure you check out Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky! She has a lot of really great other projects.

I have one other homemade gift up my sleeve for my other nephew. I'm excited about it too. You can bet that I'll post it when I'm finished with it!

~Enjoy!~