Giving What You Can

Like most parents, I am AMAZED by how wonderful my children are. They are so sweet and giving (not always to each other, but we're working on that) and really want to help others! I have been donating to Locks of Love for years now. I basically grow out my hair every 4-5 years and then chop it off and donate. I've been talking about getting ready for my 3rd donation, and my daughter (who's 5 years old) became very interested. I showed her their website and explained why some kiddos don't have hair. Without hesitation, she asked if she could please donate her hair! Now, I was so proud but suprised. My daughter is such a girlie girl and loves being a princess, and in true princess form, she wanted to help others any way that she could. So, I made the appointment and off we went! I think it turned out ADORABLE. And, I'm so proud of the little person that my princess is becoming! Giving what you can doesn't always mean money, sometimes, it just means 10 inches of you hair:)

Getting Ready . . .

Going -

Going -

Gone!

If you're interested in donating to Locks of Love check it out here!

Personalized Tooth Fairy Pillow

So, what do you do when your oldest little baby gets her first loose tooth? Quickly turn out a tooth fairy pillow of course!



Materials:
A 5 year old ready to lose some teeth
sewing machine/thread
Fabric for the front of the pillow
Fabric for the back of pillow
Ruffle trim
Different fabric swatches for each letter in the child's name
fabric glue
needle and embroidery thread (to hand stitch the letters)
white felt/more embroidery thread
small piece of ribbon for bow on tooth's head (if for a girl)
small buttons for the tooth's eyes
thicker ribbon for trim around tooth


Again, no pattern, no fuss, just lots of sparkle and lots of pink. I drew out an idea and then took my daughter to the fabric store to pick out the fabric that she wanted (it is her pillow after all). Here's what she picked . . . pretty darn good if you ask me! She's AMAZING!



I turned to Martha to get some ideas and fell in love with her cute little tooth with a face, and the site has a tooth template that I used as well. The tooth was made from felt and then I hand stitched the face, sewed on a little pink bow and then sewed little black buttons for eyes. Don't forget the eyelashes;)



My FAVORITE part of the pillow has to be the personalization on the back of the pillow! Not only is it my daughter's name, but it's in her own handwritting! I had her write out her name on paper, and I cut the letters out and then traced them to the back side of the fabric. I then cut out each fabric letter.



To make sure the edges of the letters stayed nice and pretty, I glued them down with fabric glue.



Let the glue dry all the way so that it won't be impossible to hand stitch them to the back of the pillow.



While that dries, I finished the front of the pillow. I handstitched the tooth onto a little square fabric (the same sparkle pink fabric that would make up the back of the pillow). And, remember NOT to sew the top of the tooth to allow for a pocket. The tooth fairy needs somewhere to leave the dough, you know! I then sewed the tooth sqare to the front fabric, and this does not have to be perfect because you will cover the edge with trim. I used some black ribbon to outline the tooth square and sewed it down using matching thread.

Now for the long process of hand stitching all the letters onto the back fabric of the pillow. Time to get a movie going (I went with Moulin Rouge - a personal favorite). . . I'm so happy that my daughter only has four letters in her name:)



Once that is done, it's time to sew the two sides of the pillow togther and add the ruffle trim.



Remember when adding the trim to face the ruffles to the inside fo the pillows and to have the pillows inside out. Does that make sense? Hopefully, this picture helps:)



Sew all around the pillow except a little pocket so that you can turn it right side and have a place to put the stuffing in. Here's the front:



Here's the back:



Now stuff that bad boy, and slip stitch the last little sem.

Finally, we have one happy customer ready to get rich quick by losing some teeth!



And, I love that the pillow is not only personalized, but it's also done in my daughter's handwritting! I LOVE that! I know one day when she's off at medical school (haha), I'll be sitting there remembering how happy she was writting out her name to put on her very own Tooth Fairy Pillow fit for a Princess.



This entry partied today with:

Easy Breezy Maxi Dress

My daughter wanted a new long dress, and I had just the idea to make a cute maxi dress in record time. A while back, I had gone to Hobby Lobby and bought some fabric on clearance that already had smocking. I also purchased some gingam purple and white ribbon, and I already had purple fabric that I had used to make a stocking last Christmas.



Next, I took the purple fabric and sewed it to the bottom of the dress fabric. folded little pleats about a half inch apart (I just eye-balled it, it is just a fun little summer dress), and pinned it down with straight pins. I then sewed it down to make a ruffle.



I then pinned and sewed the ribbon along the dress and ruffle seam.



I then used my daughter as a model to decide where the ribbon straps should go. I basicall eye-balled it and double the length of the ribbon, so it would tie into a nice bow. I then pinned and cut the ribbon in half and sewed it down.



I then pinned and hemmed the bottom of the dress so that it went to my daughter's ankles - again, I just eye-balled it. And, finally, Tah-Dah! The finished product. For under $10, in about an hour, with no pattern and a very happy daughter, I was pretty proud of the dress I was able to make.