The Twelve Days of Christmas

Just stopping in for a special Sunday post to tell you to head on over to Simply Homemade magazine's blog, where I'm guest posting a simple gift tutorial today.

Simply Homemade asked me to participate in a 12 day long guest posting event; one post for each of the twelve days of Christmas. I picked seven swans-a-swimming, and decided to make a simple swan gift set: a wine bag with six wine charms. Head on over to Simply Homemade for the instructions and pattern download! Make sure to also check out days 1-6, including Lex Smith's hunger-inducing post for six geese-a-laying. Day 8 will continue tomorrow with a post from Kendall, Kate and Emily of Trends with Benefits.  

Quick Handmade Gift: Infinity Scarf

I sometimes peruse the red tag aisle at JoAnn in hopes that I'll find a gem of a fabric that will spark an idea. Last week during such a perusal (I swear that's the last time I'll use that word in this post) I found a handful of those gems that were begging to be taken to the cut counter. What were they begging me to make them into, you ask? Scarves, of course! So I'm here today to share how I made one of the fabrics I found into an infinity scarf.

You've probably seen a few tutorials here and there on how to make an infinity scarf. I think I even pinned a pretty lace one myself at one point. But never having looked at any of tutorials, I just decided that I was going to figure it out on my own. I have a couple of infinity scarves, and since I'm sewing instead of knitting, I figured it'd be a pretty simple project. If I hadn't been taking photos as I went, I'd estimate that this scarf took about 10 minutes to make, tops. So those last few holiday gifts you need? Done. Right here. Quick and easy. Check it out:

What you'll need:
• 1 yard of fabric. This fabric should be something with a bit of drape to it: voile, (what I used) jersey, silk, you get the idea. Heck even flannel would probably do. It's up to you- I just wouldn't go for anything stiff, like canvas, or really even quilting cotton. Save fleece for a regular old scarf. Think soft and flowy. And a slightly wider width- mine was 58". Anything between 50-60" wide should be perfect.
• Scissors
• Sewing machine
• Coordinating thread
• Pins

So first, lay out your fabric and cut the long side in half. So I started with a 58" x 36" rectangle, and when I cut it, I ended up with two 29" x 36" rectangles.

Next, lay your two rectangles on top of one another with right sides facing together. Pin the edges of one 29" side and then sew a straight line with up to a 1/2" seam allowance. I spent a lot of time pinning on this step since my fabric has a very fine, gold stripe, and I wanted to make sure it matched up as best as possible. (Note: if you want to skip this step and NOT have a seam in the middle of your scarf, get 2 yards of fabric, cut in half length wise, and you can make two scarves!)

Then press your seam open. Now you should have a really long rectangle, about 29" x 71". Folding your fabric in half longwise, pin the two raw edges of the longest sides together. I chose to cut of the selvedge of my fabric at this point since it's so sheer, I didn't want to add to much bulk inside. (Pardon my cheesy paisley ironing board cover... that's another project in process to be shared here at a later date.)

Next you're going to sew a straight line, again with about a 1/2" seam, all the way down the two 71" sides. Basically you'll be making one big tube of fabric.

Once you've finished that, you'll need to fold over the hem on one of the short ends 1/2". I used a seam gauge and the end of my ironing board to press my hem- wrong side of the fabric still facing out, wrong sides together.

Now you can flip your fabric right side out so all your seams are inside the tube. Lay the fabric flat and press. Bring the two unfinished ends together in the middle (one with a pressed hem, one without)

I chose to add a little twist (literally) by flipping one side of the fabric so that the seam of the long ends didn't match up when I put the two short ends together. This is optional, but I think it adds a nice touch to an infinity scarf.

Fit the raw hem inside the pressed hem 1/2" and pin. Then sew a straight line down the middle of where the two edges meet. I lined my pressed hem up with the left edge of my presser foot to make sure I picked up all of the layers.

Next.... wrap it up and gift it, or wear it! That's it. Easy-peasy. I loved the fabric I found because it seemed like a weight that could be worn year-round with a variety of outfits. That and the little bit of sparkle in the gold stripe reminded me of the friend I'm going to give it to tonight! Who do you plan on making an infinity scarf for?

Summer Showers, Part 3

I was lucky enough to be the guest of honor for two bridal showers last summer. In August, my maid of honor Emily and mother-in-law Karen threw a 50's housewife themed shower that was out of this world. They sent out a recipe card with the invitations, and guests arrived with the recipe card filled out with one of their favorites to add to my new Rifle Paper Co. recipe box. I can't tell you how thrilled I was to open that gift- it's one of my favorite things we received for our wedding.

My mom and dad came to town to help with the shower. The guys stayed outside to deal with parking (after Sean took all these wonderful photos, of course!) and my mom helped with cooking and setting up the party. They greeted me at the door in pearls and aprons and ushered me in to open my own polka dot apron and a set of pearl jewelry.

Emily and Karen know I'm not one that likes being the center of attention, so they made the shower open house style. There were so many gifts, however, that I ended up spending the first half of the shower opening everything in front of everyone anyway, as all the guests decided to come at almost the same time! There's about a million photos of me doing the exact same thing as I'm doing in the pic below with all of the awesome gifts we received. I loved this one though- it's an egg tray that looks like a paint palette from Anthropologie, gifted by my lovely bridesmaids. I love deviled eggs, so we get a lot of use out of this tray.

My bridesmaids Anna, Crista, Emily and Becky below.

 One photo with the groom and the shower decor before we kicked him out to hang out with the other guys outside :)

Speaking of the decor, it was absolutely perfect! Karen noticed all of these vintage framed bridal ads at the local shop where she purchased her dress for the wedding. They were more than willing to let her borrow them for the day to decorate the shower. Gotta love small towns! There were also plenty of photos of Sean and I from our engagement shoot, and lots of other details to tie in the whole 50's housewife theme. They definitely know me well... there were Pyrex bowls, pies as game prizes, cookbooks, an old fashioned mixer, a rolling pin, more recipe cards, and pretty flowers.

There were two games- one was a scratcher ticket, and the other was a fill in the blank housewife game, both of which Emily found on Etsy. The guests had a really fun time filling in the ridiculous statements of what a housewife should be. They were all statements that used to appear in ads like this one that we all thought were hilarious when compared to today's standards.

 I had such a fun time at this shower, and again was thrilled to be the guest of honor. It's a good feeling when people want to celebrate you, and I couldn't be any more grateful for the memories of such a fun celebration leading up to our wedding day.

One last thing that I know I'll never forget about this day... just a few hours after Mary left the shower to go to another get together with some of her friends at a bowling alley, her water broke (yes... at the bowling alley, poor girl!) and baby Elliot was born the very next day. I'm really glad we have photos of her full-term belly just hours before she went into labor!

Summer Showers, Part 2

I'm switching gears a bit for this post to talk about a baby shower I co-hosted, instead of being the guest (bride) of honor, with my mother-in-law Karen for my sister-in-law Mary in July.

Karen came up with the wonderful idea of a "cute as a button" theme and we built everything around that idea from invitations, to food, to decor, to activities. Below you can see the invitation I designed and crafted. The blue polka dot is scrapbook paper, the brown is fabric cut with pinking shears, and the "E" button at the top is polymer clay sewn with embroidery thread. The frame next to the invite is how Derek and Mary announced to the family at Christmas that they were expecting- Grandma and Grandpa each got a frame picturing the same message.

The guest of honor arrived with her husband, who stuck around to hang out with the boys, handle parking outside, and of course pack the gifts for the ride home!

Mary, Karen and I. I was having a horrible hair day, unfortunately... which I'll always blame on Missouri weather. Mary, of course, looked gorgeous!

Our first task was a fun activity for the guests to participate in. We had onesies, fabric, cutout shapes to trace, and permanent iron on glue sheets so each guest could create a custom onesie for the new baby. After they finished, we took an instant photo of the guest with their onesie and pasted it to a page of fill in the blank wishes for the baby. The blue album in the photo below was where we compiled all of the wish pages and photos. Mary says she loves having such a detailed memory of who created which onesie, and of course all of the thoughtful hopes and dreams for the baby boy the guests left on their wish pages.

Derek and I even got in on the fun!

Karen decorated with lines of clothes-pinned onesies, bibs and socks, and even made the adorable arrangement of flowers accented with button centers and wrapped in receiving blankets seen below. We provided snack foods: chicken salad, fruit, cucumber sandwiches, and button cookies, for guests to refuel after making them get crafty. Mary opened tons of wonderful gifts, and we gave out button frames as favors to thank the guests.

The end of the shower was commenced with a belly contest... between Mary, and Darryl... our father in law! It was all in good fun of course- I just love their smiles in this photo. The winner of said contest is still up for debate :)

I had such a fun time planning this shower for Mary, and collaborating with Karen to do so. It was really neat to see the guests create the onesies and think about what they wished for his future before even meeting him. Derek and Mary walked away with so many thoughtful and much needed gifts. I can't help but look back at these photos and remember how much love filled Karen and Darryl's home that day in anticipation of meeting the newest member of our family. Obviously I have much updating to do on the little guy since last July... but up next, there's still one more shower to recap!

Summer Showers Part 1

You already saw the virtual shower I created for Jackie last year. June included a shower for me thrown by my Aunt in Chicago, July was a baby shower for my sister-in-law, and August, another shower for me thrown by my Maid of Honor Emily and my mother-in-law. Talk about a lot of showers!

So my Aunt Marilyn graciously offered to throw me a shower in Chicago, where a good majority of my extended family lives. It was so convenient to have a shower there so most of my family members didn't have to travel for a shower and the wedding, and we got to take a trip to IKEA on our drive back to St. Louis! My Aunt and Uncle have a gorgeous house with the perfect space for entertaining in their backyard. In fact she also threw a shower in September in the backyard for my cousin who got married in November as well! Marilyn is quite the entertainer. Here's what we walked into when we got to the backyard:


She knew one of my wedding colors was purple :)

Guests piled their gifts up on the table and we ate delicious food, opened gifts, and played wedding bingo at the decorated tables in the yard. The shower happened to fall on the weekend of the one year anniversary of Sean's proposal.

My Maid of Honor Emily and Bridesmaid Becky made the trip up with my mom, Sean's mom and I for the shower.

Family on my Dad's side: my mom, me, Grandma, Aunt Vicki, cousin Greg's girlfriend Cami and cousin Jason's wife Colleen.

Family on my mom's side: cousin Jen, cousin Hailey, Aunt Lori, me, mom and host Aunt Marilyn.

My mother-in-law (to be at the time!) Karen and Becky.

This shower was such a fun time, and it was a beautiful day to enjoy my Aunt's backyard while catching up with family I don't see very often. It was nice to get out of St. Louis for a while, and I can't say I've ever had quite the soiree thrown in my honor!

Happy Birthday To Me

Last Sunday was my 25th birthday. We celebrated by heading to Maifest in Hermann, MO, which I've talked about before in reference to Oktoberfest, but have somehow never actually posted a recap about it. I'm sure you can imagine why... Anyway, it's been a tradition to go to Oktoberfest and Maifest since I've been of legal age to do so. That really hasn't been that long in the grand scheme of things, but I can definitely say that Hermann is one of my favorite places to visit.

 Near Hermanhoff winery on our way to Tin Mill Brewery

Grape vines at Stone Hill

This is what Sean would look like if he actually drank that giant glass of wine and wore liederhosen

First of all, I must say that I can't believe the amount of time we were there. Hermann is a little over an hour away from where we live in St. Louis. We left at 10:30 am. We got back right around 11:30 PM. 11:30 PM! Second, I have to thank all of the people who were there, and especially those who stuck it out for the entire day to celebrate. It was such a fun time, and though I tend to not like being the center of attention, everyone made me feel quite loved on my 25th.

Most of the gang that came... somebody was looking ready to go home (that's our best man, Brett)

Me, Emily and Crista (maid of honor and bridesmaid) at Tin Mill Brewery

We went to a few wineries, ate a ton of cheese, crackers and cookies, hit up one brewery, had our fill of bratwurst and German potato salad, as if that wasn't enough, headed to the bier deck in Washington, MO on our way back for a little more celebrating and a ton of appetizers. (Sean's cousin's own John G's!)

Crista and I both decided to wear yellow dresses for the day. I have no idea what's going on in this photo but I thought it was funny.

I finally got a photo of Mary's baby bump! Me with my (soon to be) sister in law and cousin in law Monica.

What a perfect way to celebrate a quarter of a century :)