Elf on the Shelf returns

Our little elf Owen has joined us again this year. We love his crazy antics. For fun, I made him a foppish little capelet to wear when he has tea. Enjoy the free pattern!

Materials: fabric (no-fray fleece or felt), 12" of holiday ribbon

If you use felt, you'll need no seam allowances. Just cut as shown on the fold. Stitch or hot glue on the ribbon. Fasten with a scrapbooking brad or spot of double-sided tape and you're ready to pen sublime fiction and enjoy a bit of tea and cake.

Tomorrow, I will post a pattern for a superhero cape -- just as easy as this one.

Messenger Bag for Collecting

We have been killing Summer this year. Seriously. And soon it will get even better because we're going on vacation. The beaches there are loaded with coral and a few have lots of sea glass. As we're big collectors in this family, I searched for a cool mesh bag for our loot.

As a class A cheapskate, I refused to spend a ton of money on any of the ones I had seen online so I scoured the Dollar Store for inspiration. I spotted a lingerie bag in the washing aisle and knew I had found "the one." And then I bought two.

Z wanted a messenger style and I made myself one with a wrist strap to match. Look for us on "The Island." (We're pretending the whole place belongs to us).

It took about 15 minutes. I just stitched over the two edges 4 or 5 times to make sure the seam would be secure. Less than $2.

More posts to come. You know you've been busy when the photos from your brother's Easter Egg Hunt are still on the camera...

Christmas Elf 2011

I know it's crazy late to be posting Christmas pictures but I do have a full-time job, people. I had photoshop hidden and forgot to save these.

So this is my bean as a Christmas elf. We have been doing this every year since she was born. Check them out here.

I wanted to start a tradition of buying a hat on Etsy for each year but I bit the bullet and made one myself. I found a quick tutorial online and lined it with fleece. I made the pattern a bit smaller after making a test and I shouldn't have. With the lining, it was too small. It would have been perfect.