Halloween Bandanna Skirt Tutorial

So, a few weeks ago I came across these Halloween Bandanna's on an end-cap at Wal-Mart:

Cute Right?!!?
I'm not the Bandanna kinda girl but, I thought these were perfect to try and make a skirt for Allie. And for my first ever Bandanna skirt, I am one happy woman! Especially since it took me maybe a half hour to put it all together!

It's so easy! See:

Step One:
Fold in half and steam iron
Cut in half on the fold
I forgot a picture here but, Trim off and inch off of the sides. Your bandanna will have writing on the side and I didn't like it. So I cut mine off. Then fold the bottom hem under to the wrong side and iron in place. *You do not need to double fold because it's already hemmed at the bottom.

Step Two:*This step is optional. But, I thought it added a lot to the skirt. So, I made some ruffles to stick under the skirt. Pinned it in place on the wrong side.

Flipped it over and sewed a hem straight down...repeat with the other half of your bandanna
Here's what your skirt will look like on the right side:

Now, pin the two pieces together, wrong side out and sew straight down.
Back stitching at each end.
(Sorry the picture is sideways!)

Step Three:

This step happened on accident! ;-) I had realized that once I had sewn both ends together I had forgotten to make a spot for the elastic! Whoops! lol
(And I ended up thinking it turned out really cute anyways, so oh well! ;-) But, if you know what I mean with the elastic go ahead and do it the right way. If not, here's what I did:
Turn the top of your fabric over so the right side is now on top of your wrong side. You'll have to take some measurements with your elastic to make sure you have enough fabric turned over. Now, sew a stitch at the top. (In the picture above it's the only seam you see)

Then I made another seam to create a "pocket" for the elastic.

(Here's a bigger picture for ya...kinda confused? lol)
Making sure to leave an opening so I could run the elastic through...measure your little ones tummy around before you cut your piece of elastic. I cut mine to 19 and 1/2 then I trimmed off about two inches once it was in the "pocket" on the skirt.


And, of course I couldn't get to far with out my little helper to come and help me! :-)

Once your elastic is all the way through snip off a little extra like I mentioned above and sew the two ends together.
And here's what it looks like:

*love*
My "Oops" turned out to be great! ;-) lol

And because I know it's like next to impossible to capture a "still" picture of an almost 2 year old I grabbed one before I put it on her!
Umm? Adorable?
YES!Of course I couldn't stop there! I had to make her a bow! hehe ;-)

I was able to catch one good picture of her this morning...it wasn't easy but I got one! :-)

How much do you think it cost me to make? What? Only $2? I know, it's great! The Bandanna was a dollar. I might have used .25cents worth of my elastic and .75 cents for the 1/4th of a yard of tulle I got.

Enjoy your Thursday!!
Courtney

Happy Harvest and Family Blocks

I think I've become obsessed with wood. LOL

I'm going to end up having Count Down blocks and Block sets for every holiday/occasion you can think of the rate I'm going!! ;-)

Well, while I was a "Deer Hunting Widow" this past week I teamed up with Regan. Who is one crafty lady! ;-) Thanks Regan! I had a blast and I can only speak for myself, but I am super excited about what we came up with this past week!

Take a look:
(Happy Harvest Block Set)

(Cute embellishments...)

("Happy" block...)

I LOVE how the wood turned out! All done with paint...

Now onto our "Family Block" set we came up with:

Sorry for the weird lighting. Put these in Allie's bathroom that is completely white everywhere...still! :( Hopefully, I'll come up with something soon for her. I'm getting tired of it being so boring in there!


(More cute embellishments...)

(love the paper flowers she taught me how to make!!)
One last time since I love this set so much! :-)

SOO much fun to make! Wish I had as much of the neat crafting supplies as Regan has! But, it's okay. I just have a great excuse to go spend some time with her! :D

What do you guys think??

Happy Monday
Courtney

Pumpkin Picking

A few days ago we went out to pick pumpkins out on Carver Farms and we had a blast! Especially Allie. She could not get over how many pumpkins there were. She would pick one up, carry it around with her for a good 10 minutes and then drop it and find another favorite.

I would look behind me every once and awhile and notice she would just walk like this with her hands in her pockets. I don't think she has her hands in her pockets in this picture but it was still way cute. Sometimes she would get to carried away if she didn't watch where she was going and trip over her toes. But, she was tough and would get right back up to carry more pumpkins!

She was dead serious about making sure she got the right one! :-)

She finally the one she liked the most and ended up carting it around the most (we ended up getting her a different one) but, she found another little pumpkin as well and would not go anywhere without both of them. Way cut. She kept dropping them and going "Uh!" Bend back over for the 4th time and pick them up again...

Tim and I did really good too! (BTW, it was Tim's idea to hold the pumpkin in the picture! haha)

We had quite the packed car on the ride home! Carver Farms has much more than just Pumpkins! So needless to say, we picked WAY more than we had originally thought! ;-)
Here's everything we picked after I got it home and cleaned it:


Carrots, Strawberries, Gourds (for decorations), Tiny Pumpkins, Zucchini (the biggest I've ever seen!), tomatoes, and the yummiest corn ever!

And here's everything we got for our front porch:


I had no idea that this is what Popcorn looked like:

Tim reached down at one point and picked this gourd up and said " Hey, this one's kinda cool!" I was like "Tim! It looks like a ghost! We have to get it!" LOL So I brought him home, cleaned him up, and drew eyes and a mouth on him...Anyone know if you can preserve gourds?? haha
The best part about how much fun we had and everything we got was the cost! We paid a grand total of $24 dollars for everything! Carver Farms is very friendly and welcoming. I can't wait for their Christmas sales! Now off to chop tons of Zucchini! lol

Courtney

Marker Anyone??

So the other day Allie came into the office while I was checking my e-mails and I noticed she had marker all over her. I don't really see the point in getting mad over it. I simply just repeat to her that we don't color on our self.

Until I left the office to make her lunch did I see the following:

Oh man was I heated. Our couches aren't the best anyways and I'm always feeling like I have to clean them. And just the other day she did this (not so extreme) in black pen. So to add blue marker onto the frustration of trying to keep a clean house just really didn't made my day! LOL Poor Allie. I think for the first time ever she knew Mom was mad.

But, I did succeed in cleaning them! Thanks to my two favorite cleaning products:
Shout and Woolite OXY Deep

Here's a picture before I cleaned the couch:And here is one after I cleaned the same spot:

Whew! Thank goodness it came out. So, all is good again in the Adkins house. And we once again have freshly shampooed couches! (for the 4th time in 3 1/2 months) lol

...Happy Fall...

Courtney

Fall is my Favorite season

I seriously cannot believe it's 20 days until Halloween! Wasn't it Spring break yesterday? ;-) Well, to me these past few months have gone by SO fast. We've had a lot going on in our family. Husband came home from Korea, Bought a house, landscaped a backyard, re-opened my Etsy shop, and everything else that has happened in between. I also did a Super Saturday at our church this past weekend. I taught a class on how to make these adorable count down blocks. (see picture above) I did this one as an example for everyone, but we actually made Christmas ones. Okay sorry, back to the topic. I love fall. It's my favorite season! And even though I can't believe it's already here, I'm really excited!

Some of my favorite things I love about fall are:

...Pumpkin and Ginger scented candles...

...Pumpkins everywhere...

...Fall Inspired candy dishes...
(that are supposed to be full of Candy Corn)

...Again, Pumpkins...

What do you love most about Fall?

Oh, we've also finally decided that Allie will be "Blue" from Blue's Clue's this year for Halloween. Now, if I can talk Tim into being Steve! Isn't that so cute!?!? I love the idea. His response was "Really Courtney? Not happenin'...well, what are you going to be from Blue's Clue's??" lol But, I'm still hoping I can get him to go for it!! I really wouldn't mind being Magenta...but, I'm not sure how I'd look in all on color! Maybe Mrs. Pepper??? Who knows. We'll see.

...Happy Fall...