Country Living Christmas Books!!!

County Living has two fantasy books that will put you into the holiday spirit! 'Tis the season to be jolly, Fa, la, la, la, la! The first is Deck The Halls written by Katy McColl, former Executive Editor of O at Home and Country Living.

What a cute idea for the chapters in this book, icons!!

Deck the Halls is filled with recipes, note cards, stickers, to/from's and tips on how decorate your home.

I love the sticker pages and punch out gift boxes. This book says, "Use ME!", it is not a pretty picture book to put on the self. Deck the Halls is a Santa's little helper book, filled with fantastic ideas you can't find online. If you are looking for holiday inspiration, maybe you need an extra spring in your step, pick up this book. It will stay by your side all winter season.

***********************************************

As if that was not enough, here is the second Country Living Christmas Book called, The Farm Chicks Christmas by Serena Thompson. She has tons of great tips and tricks. Most of which are helpful if you are on a budget.

Decorate you home using recycled items, vintage toys (ok, toys we played with;) or

the large light bulbs.

Take extra care in wrapping your gifts. Make felt gift card holders or name tags.

Use holiday candies in glass jars to give color to your home.

I LOVE this idea! Even though it is not really that cold here in the Carolinas. Keep a wire basket filled with mittens close to the door or fireplace.

Best wishes!

Comments

Sweet Coin Purse Tutorial for Teacher Gifts

This time of year is so special to me because I get to show my gratitude for all of the hard work that goes into teaching my daughters. I love to make handmade gifts and this year is no exception. Since money does not grow on trees around here, I looked at my stash (I keep my scraps in hat boxes ) and tried to see what I had a lot of; small zippers, trims, Peltex strips ( from making iPad cases ), fabric scraps and some hardware for key fobs. So I set to work. Materials: Plastic multipurpose 5" Zipper Fabric Scraps Lightweight interfacing 808 Pellon Trims (We clipped key fobs with 1.5" swivel hooks onto our coin purses . There are tons of tutorials on making key fobs .) Step 1: Print out the Coin Purse Template PDF. Cut 2 main fabric, cut 2 lining and 2 interfacing using the template. Optional: Cut a 2"X2" square of your choice main fabric or lining. This strip of fabric is used to clip a key fob to your coin purse later....

Veruca Salt Dress

Every year we perform a musical and one of the highlights for me as a theater mom and seamstress is I get to make costumes! I love sewing and when I can sew for a show or for a music reason it is awesome! This year was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and I was able to recreate Veruca's red dress. The first step is to find a sewing pattern that I can manipulate to look like what the character needs. I wanted to make the dress out of Pont de Roma fabric so it moved with the actress. Then I remembered the Marianne Dress by Christine Haynes , it is perfect because it also had a peter pan collar. The peter pan collar did have some issues. I did not want a t-shirt binding. Also, the back of the collar did not have a collar. I drafted a back collar piece and since the opening was not stretchy, I created a keyhole with a button and loop closure. I lengthened the sleeves and used the cuffs from the pattern for long sleeves. Next, we added the buttons! We al...

May 2011 Giveaway!

Thank you Sew Mama Sew for making today, May 23, 2011 Giveaway Day! Sew Love Fabrics will be sponsoring this month’s giveaway with eight fat quarters (18”X 22”) of Prince Charming prints in olive green, equaling 2 yards of gorgeous fabrics! If you would like to read more about Ruth, founder of Sew Love Fabrics , read her interview . Thank you so much for sharing your love of fabric with us! These are the fat quarters ready to ship to the lucky winner!! Giveaway Rules! +Our Giveaway will run May 23-27, 2011, with the winner being announced May 28, 2011! +The winner will be selected by Random.org +The package will be shipped to the winner by May 30, 2011. + To enter to win post a comment on this blog post! +Only one comment please per person. +This giveaway is open to everyone. +Leave your EMAIL ADDRESS, you can leave it as: leah(dot)sewspoiled(at)gamil(dot)com +This giveaway ends May 27, 2011 at 8PM Eastern Standard Time Thank you Ruth for sponsoring our May giveaway from Sew Love ...

Sew Spoiled

Search This Blog