I'm moving to a new blog...

Hey everyone, I'm moving my crafting creations to a new blog, called
Simple Stitches by Rachelle
click on this link (above) to go to the new blog.  It will be up & running in the next few days.

Head on over there & "follow me" to continue seeing my posts. 

{spencer's froggy}

One more stuffed animal...This one I made for Spencer for Christmas.  I got the pattern here @ Coloured Buttons.  This pattern makes a pretty small frog, so I enlarged the pattern by probably about 25% (I'm not sure exactly).  I stuffed it with poly-fil, but plan to open it back up & add some beans to make it more flexible.

Once again I used some vintage buttons from my mom for the eyes.  I used cotton fabric for the top of the frog & some white minky fabric for the belly.  It was very difficult putting these two different kinds of fabric together because the minky stretches & the cotton doesn't.

{spencer's silly snake}

I love this snake!  I made this one for my son, Spencer's birthday, using the Silly Scrap Snake from www.funkyfriendsfactory.com.  I did make this snake a little longer than the pattern called for because I knew my son would like it that way.  This was a very simple pattern, with great instructions.  The one thing I changed was that I stitched the mouth shut more after I finished it, because I didn't like how wide open the mouth was.

When Spencer first opened the snake & was checking it out, the first thing he said was "I love his eyes".  I loved that because I used some more vintage buttons that I got from my mom on this one too.

To order your custom Silly Snake visit my Etsy shop!

{Kyla's teddy bear}

Here's another teddy bear that I made with the Honey Teddy pattern from www.funkyfriendsfactory.com.  She makes some really cute patterns for lots of different stuffed animals.  I also made the Silly Scrap Snake that you'll see soon.  This Honey Teddy pattern is free when you sign up for her newsletter. 

The eyes on this cute little guy are vintage buttons from my mother's collection that she let me have.  I got the minky fabric in the remnant section at Scrapbooks Etc., a local scrapbook store.  I love minky fabric, but it is not so fun to sew with.  It sheds like you wouldn't believe (unless you have sewn with it before)!

Even though Kyla is almost 12, she still loves her soft, teddy bear. You can never be too old for a teddy bear, right?

{caden's teddy bear}

This last Christmas I decided to try something new, making stuffed animals for my younger kids. This first teddy bear I made was somewhat difficult because the pattern did not offer good instructions at all. I used this How Joyful pattern, which is free.  I have sewn for a long time, and I have made lots of different things and followed lots of different patterns, but this was the first time making a stuffed animal & I could not for the life of me figure out what I did wrong with the feet.  They are funky looking and usually this would drive me so crazy that I would take it apart & fix it, but for now it's staying with some weird feet.

Despite his imperfections Caden loved his new teddy bear when he opened it on Christmas morning.

Edited to add photos of the back of the bear. 

{MarQuette's bag}

I made this bag for my mom to give to my sister for her birthday. I let her choose which of my patterns she wanted me to use & the colors, but I didn't let her see what fabric I picked out until I was done.

She wanted a large bag to fit all of the things she likes to carry & she wanted it to be made of denim.  I added lots of pockets to it, so she can be very organized.  She loved how it turned out!

I made this bag from my "Carol Tote" pattern.

{camera & lens cozies}

This is a "special" hobo bag. I used the same pattern that I've made my other "hobo" bags from, but I added padding in this one. I made it specifically so I could put this bag in a larger purse when my husband & I took a trip to Chicago back in September. I didn't want to lug around my purse & a camera bag, so I made a purse large enough to hold all of my necessities plus my camera & lens.

I made the lens cozy for the same purpost, but I made the pattern for this one from scratch.

If you would like one of these custom made, please email me at: chelscraps @ yahoo.com.  Indicate colors/prints that you would like.

The camera cozy is $10 & the lens cozy is $6. Both will include padding & a lining of waterproof material.

This lens cozy shown is a large size, for a longer lens (up to 6.5" long). You can also order  a small cozy (for lenses up to 4" long). Please indicate if you need a regular size or a wide size (for full-framed cameras/lenses).

{Trisha's apron}

Trisha is a friend of mine from church. Actually, I first met her when she was a student teacher for my oldest daughter's choir class a few years ago. Then when we moved back in March we ended up in the same ward and I got to know Trisha while we were both in Primary together.  She just moved down to St. Maarten last week for her husband to go to medical school.  I already miss her!

She asked me to make her a ruffly apron. She gave me a picture to base it on, so this is what I came up with. It's defintaely not perfect (shh, don't look too close), but it was my first time making an apron and I did make my own pattern for it. I loved the prints she picked out, so fun!

{B&W Patchwork Purse}

This bag is for sale in my Etsy Shop. It is 11" wide at the bottom and 9" wide at the top x 11" high x 5.5" deep (front to back).  The strap is 32" long.  There is 1 zipper pocket and 1 slip pocket.

{A fun, birthday bag}

I made this bag at the beginning of September for this beautiful girl's birthday. Her mother emailed me expressing the need for a bag for her daughter for school. They had looked around and hadn't found one that she liked until she saw my "K and C bags" that I had made for my girls for school bags. 

The pictures that I took of this bag didn't turn out so Cindy was kind enough to take some of her daugther with the bag.  Thank you so much Cindy!  I hope your daughter loves the bag and will get a lot of use out of it.  

{Patchwork pincushions}

Here's some fun patchwork pincushions that I made. I love how they turned out, and the greatest thing is that I just used scraps left over from other projects.

These first 3 pincushions are for sale...$5 each.  If you are interested in purchasing one of these please contact me at: chelscraps@yahoo.com.

And this last one is mine. I love having a smaller pincushion to carry with me when I take my projects with me somewhere.

onesie dress & a burp cloth

I made this little dress for my good friend, Marissa's new little one that will be coming soon, as well as a burp cloth and a little headband and hair clip.

birthday bags

As you can see from many past posts I am addicted to bags. So here are some new ones. These two bags I made for some little neighbor boys. We got them some matchbox cars for their birthdays, but I wanted to make bags for them to carry the cars in also.  We also used them for gift bags so they serve a dual purpose. 

I thought they turned out pretty cute, but wish I would have made the plaid one a little wider.  I also wish I would have appliqued thier initials on the bags as well.  Now I know for future reference.