(mini-tut) Make-It-Work-Week: Flower Patch Jeans

Welcome to my Make-It-Work-Week mini series.

For the next three days, I am going to show you the "fixing up" projects that I have been working 

on this past week.

Before school started this year, Emily HATED jeans.  But she was converted when we were school shopping, as long as they were SKINNY jeans.  No boot cut, straight leg, etc. So we found a few pairs and she has been wearing them to death.  One of my favorite finds was some Vigoss jegging-style jeans at Costco.  We bought two pairs and they are so comfortable.  Unfortunately, she is really rough on her clothes and shoes, so she recently got a hole in one of the knees.  She then refused to wear them.  

Now I did not want these cute jeans to go to waste, so I had this idea to make-it-work!

It was a super easy, fun project!  I used my Accuquilt Go! Baby Fabric Cutter to cut the flowers out.

Emily, Miss Picky, loved them! Thank Goodness.

{She gets that from me...Growing up, my brother and sister used to call me "Picky Picky Jenny." It was horrible.  And now history is repeating itself...}

To make them, it is super simple:

And that's it!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's Make-It-Work!

(Handmade Laine) And the winner...

of any 2 hair accessories from our newest sponsor, 

is...

#9, Emily

who said:

 I love the leather bow and the hydrangea headband!

Emily, send us an email with your two choices within 24 hours to claim your prize!

Thanks again to Handmade Laine for sponsoring such a fun giveaway!

(tutorial & giveaway) Knock-off North Pole Sign

I was lucky enough to be able to guest post over at i {heart} naptime last week for Jamielyn and her awesome Crazy Christmas Crafters series.  If you weren't fortunate enough to check out her blog and all of the fun Christmas Craziness that went along with it, go back and check it out!  In the meantime, here is my Crazy Christmas Crafters Contribution...

The Pottery Barn Kids Knock-Off Hanging North Pole Sign

If you peruse the Pottery Barn Kids website or catalogue, like I do, for inspiration or simply just to copy, you will have seen something like my sign before...I knocked-it-off.  While it's not exactly the same, I think I got pretty dang close.

here's the PBK original

One of these suckers, though darling, is $34.00...Mine was just the cost of the vinyl!  AND, I do have an extra piece of vinyl all ready for some lucky winner...here's how I did mine:

(tutorial) Urban Outfitters Ecote Dress Knockoff PATTERN

I finally got the pattern for this dress finished and uploaded.  

I usually wear a size 6-8 in dresses, or medium in most clothes.  

This is a pretty roomy dress, contained by a belt, so it would probably work if you were a size larger. 

To change it to be larger or smaller, I would just shave some off/add some to the fold line, adjusting the neckline to be the same.

You can download the printable pattern for free HERE.

Blog Remodel!

Over the next few weeks, we are remodeling the blog!  We are super excited for the new look but it is going to be a work in progress so bear with us!

(eyecandy) gender reveal party

A week or two ago, I had my ultrasound to see what I was having.  My husband couldn't really be there without missing some important things, so we jumped on the opportunity to find out what we're having a little different this time around.  I did a blog post about it on our family blog, so I thought I'd share with you how we did it.

A day or two before we had our little gender-reveal party, the girls at Lolly Jane posted a link similar to what I was thinking...but waaaay cooler!

Go take a look at what they did here

and then keep reading to see what we did!

(iCandy) Three-Part Harmony Skirt...Grown Up a Bit

This past week, we had two extra kids staying with us while their parents got to go to France.  Lucky them...

One of them, who is 12 years old, is taking sewing lessons back home. She was excited to do a couple of projects with me while she was staying with us.

I thought a nice and easy skirt would be just the thing.  She chose some fabric from my stash, 

and we got busy.  

She sewed most of it herself with just a tiny bit of help from me.  

Now she can go home and make herself some more of them!

We did a skirt based on the Three-Part Harmony dress, just didn't attach a shirt to it.  We also made it less full.  I loved the different look.  So nice to know that this skirt looks great as a straighter skirt, and looks good grown up a bit.  I am determined to make myself a few!

The total width of the fabric was 1.5 times her waist measurement, instead of double, and we also added a bit of ric-rac trim at the bottom.

I am so proud of her, she did such a great job!  And she loves how it turned out.  

That's the best.

Happy Thanksgiving #2

We are up in the mountains this Thanksgiving and it is beautiful and cold. (for a wimp like me)  

I am so grateful for family and all the wonderful things I have been blessed with.

Especially these crazy kids.

I am grateful for this blog and all the wonderful people who support us and leave comments.  It means so much to me.  Thank you to all our amazing readers!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are lucky to be visiting family in Arizona for Thanksgiving, and we have so much to be thankful for! 

We just wanted to make sure to wish you all a very happy turkey day!

(Sponsor Spotlight & giveaway) Handmade Laine

Please welcome iCandy's latest sponsor:

We are so excited to get to work with Lauren and her darling little boutique of handmade accessories, personalized art.  She has such a wide variety of things to offer in her shop, from baby hair bows to wreaths and even hand-painted onesies!  Here are a couple of my favorites from Handmade Laine:

{ribbon bracelet}...i love it's vintage feel!

{leather hairbow}

{hydrangea headband}

{personalized monogrammed onesie}

I'm planning on ordering one of these for my new baby!  i love that they're so unique

After selling to her friends and family, she wanted to share her unique talent with the rest of us!

Please go check out her NEW boutique on etsy {here}

and check out her new button on our sidebar!

AND, I know you saw the word giveaway up there in our post title...

Handmade Laine is first of all offering to giveaway your choice of any 2 hair accessories to 1 lucky winner from her cute shop.  In addition to this, she is also hosting an early cyber-black friday sale that goes from today through black friday and all the way to monday for 10% off anything in her shop!  Simply enter the code: ICANDY1 when you're checking out!

So, here's what you have to do to enter to win those 2 darling hair accessories of your choice:

Please leave your email address in each comment!

-be a follower of iCandy handmade...if you're not, and you win, you won't know, and we'll pick another winner!

-be a fan of Handmade Laine on Facebook

-And favorite an item from her etsy shop.

that's it!

3 ways to enter...the giveaway will end next Wednesday,

(Shabby Apple) And the winner is...

...#44 Leah Rosey

Congrats, Leah! 

You have 48 hours to email autie to claim your prize, or we'll choose another winner!

(guest blogging) i heart naptime

Happy Sunday!

Today, I'm guest blogging over at i heart naptime with my friend Jamielyn's awesome Christmas craft extravaganza.  Her Crazy Christmas Crafters showcase is chock full of awesome ideas to get ready for the holidays, and hopefully, you'll think my little tut over there is a goody!

Go check out i heart naptime to see my PBK knocked-off North Pole sign!

(eyeCandy) Amazing Felt Flowers

Source via Pinterest
(Link Currently Not Working!)

(iCandy) Urban Outfitters Ecote Dress Knockoff

I haven't sewed for myself in a long time.  My goal when we started this blog was to make myself a dress every month, and at least a skirt or two and some stuff for Emily as well.  Ha!  Such lofty goals.  Reality set in and I was lucky to get a few things made over the months.  What I wouldn't do for more time in my life!

Anyway, my new goal is to get back on track and make things that I need in my wardrobe, and make some things that Emily needs.  I love to make dresses, so hopefully you will see more of them here!

This week, I finally got to work on something for me.  After seeing this dress on Pinterest, I decided to create a pattern and knock it off.

I have had a certain blue lightweight cotton fabric in my stash for months, waiting for me to get on the ball.  It was lightweight enough to work in this dress. It has a very subtle print, which makes it unique.

I made it a shorter length than I usually make my dresses so I can either wear it with my extender slip (pictured) or with leggings.  Proportionally, it looked better this way.

The best thing about making this dress was how easy it was. No closures, (goes right over your head) no set-in sleeves...Such a quick project. I already have plans for variations using different types of fabrics, sleeves, and lengths.

I have to make a few adjustments to the pattern I made, but hopefully next week I will be able to share it with you, along with a tutorial.  The pattern, because it is a loose dress, will work for many body types. Just add a belt and you are good to go!

(giveaway) Francine Skirt

Get excited for another awesome giveaway from Shabby Apple.  We've talked about them on here before, but if you haven't yet had the chance to jump on the Shabby Apple bandwagon, it's an online boutique for the classic and trendy women's dresses.  

Jen and I fell head-over-heels for this darling and classic black canvas bow skirt...who doesn't need a staple black skirt with a little 'wow' like a big bow in front?  

seriously, get excited!

The Francine Skirt

So, here's what you have to do to enter to win this giveaway:

Please leave a comment with your email address for each comment!

-first, like shabby apple on facebook

-second, make sure you're a follower of iCandy.  If you are not a follower, you will not know if you're the winner!  that'd be a shame!

-third, like iCandy on facebook or twitter

That's it...

make sure you leave us your email address, and please check back to see if you are the lucky winner!

We will be posting the winner early next week!

(tutorial) thankful banner

Since it's still November, and we're still in Thanksgiving mode, I thought I'd, again, post a project from last year that I did, that...yes, again...was inspired by Pottery Barn Kids.

I've included the pattern {here}if you'd like to break out your felt and 1 long piece of rope and make one really fast.  So, I guess this isn't really a tutorial as much as just the idea with the pattern, but here she is anyway!

 I hand-stitched the veins in each leaf, then hand-stitched the letters to each leaf, and lastly, machine-stitched around each leaf to adhere them to the felt backing.  (the back of each rectangle shows nothing by the machine-stitched leaf shape).  I believe the original  PBK banner was on green felt, but I used what I had! 

and if you really want to see what the original looked like, I scanned the pic I had from the catalogue last year.  

To string the letters together, I simple folded the top of each felt rectangle over about an inch or so, machine-stitched the casing, and threaded my piece of rope through each casing.  easy...

Jackpot!

I just wanted to share one of the funnest days I have had in a long time. Yesterday, I got to go to the LA Fabric District with my mother in law. We had the best time!

One of the first places we went to was the Michael Levine Loft. This is a huge room filled with giant boxes full of piles of fabric, and some bolts along all the walls. It can be very overwhelming, trying to dig through even one of the boxes. The reason why we even try is because of the price- $2.50 a pound. Yes, a pound. This place is hit or miss, depending on what you are looking for, or what is at the top of the bins. (Almost impossible to dig to the bottom of these...)

So yesterday, I was on the hunt for striped knit. I know, stripes again. But I have been wanting some good striped jersey for various projects for so long, and I rarely get to go to LA. The loft was a jackpot. I came away with so many fun colors, working out to $1.25 a yard. I also found a few other cool fabrics that I can't wait to sew with!

Then we went to this random place on San Julian Street, right off 9th. I found about 6 different striped jersey fabrics, and they were $1 a yard! I even found navy and white, which I have been looking for forever.

Finally, we stopped by Angel Fabrics, on Maple Street. They also have a great selection of jersey fabrics and there they are $2 a yard. I found two wide stripe fabrics there, which I think are my favorites of the bunch.

I have to admit that I went a bit stripe crazy, but I have plans for dresses, maxi skirts, tops, and many gifts! And after all, the most I paid for any of it was $2 a yard!

Total Rush.

NEW WINNER of the Go! Baby Fabric Cutter and 3 Dies

Our first winner never contacted us, so we picked another winner!  

Just know, you must contact us within 48 hours in order to claim your prize.  If we don't hear from you, we will pick another winner.

So here is the new winner:

Nicole said...

I never win anything...but it's worth a shot! I follow you! nrrobbins(at)gmail(dot)com

October 31, 2011 10:09 AM

**Well, Nicole- you have now won something 

and we look forward to hearing from you!**

(eyecandy) Chalkboard cookie tins

I love this idea that I found via Infarrantly Creative from Serenity Now

and I happened to be at the Dollar Tree perusing the aisles for the perfect little treat containers for this holiday season...my neighbors should be getting excited!

check out the tutorial here!  cheap, cheap neighbor gift!

Go Baby Fabric Cutter Winner

And the winner of the fabulous Go! Baby Fabric Cutter and 3 Dies is...

Angie said...

I am following this blog!

October 31, 2011 11:58 AM

Angie, contact us within 48 hours to claim your prize!

(guest blogging)...and then there were stripes...

Guest Posting over at

I am Momma Hear Me Roar

today for her Refashionista Series!

Hop over there to see my After!

(tutorial) felt mayflower centerpieces

We did it!

We have successfully moved!  whew...but because of all the crazy that's been going on over here, our traditional Halloween festivities were not as awesome as they usually are, and unfortunately, My Thanksgiving festivities have sort of been put on hold as well.  

So, that being said, I thought I'd share today the pattern for something I made last year with my friend Brooke.  Here it is, complete with a pattern in case anyone wants a cute, and easy Thanksgiving craft to whip up!

I was (as always) inspired by Pottery Barn Kid's holiday decorations.

While the HUGE Mayflower centerpiece is still on my list of things to do {maybe next year}, I did jump right on those little place setting boats on the bottom-right

{see below}

I didn't ever actually see this in person...so I just guessed as far as their composition, and I think they turned out super cute.  

Here is my version: 

I used a sturdy brown felt, and cut out the pieces {pattern found here}

I blanket-stitched the two sides and the bottom together with orange embroidery floss...

if you don't know how to blanket-stitch, it's a cinch, maybe check out this tut {here}

Next I cut a small piece of that green floral foam to fit inside the boat (this makes it sturdy enough to hold up my sail....and hold the candy-corn!

I simply laid the last piece of felt on top of that green foam to hide it, and snipped a little hold in the middle where I wanted the sail to stick up.  

Finally, I grabbed a dowel from Michaels and cut it at the desired length (mine are 10 inches)

The sail was made from tea-dyed Duck Fabric (sort of a stiff-canvasy type fabric).
I'm pretty sure the PBK version is made with some sort of cardstock...but I wanted mine to be able to stand the test of a roughneck in the garage year after year.  So, that's why I went the fabric route.
 I cut it into a 5 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch rectangle.  I stamped my kids names on the center with Stayz-On Ink and snipped the tiniest holes in the top section and bottom section and then yanked my dowel through.  

That's it!  Mine are ready for their candy corn treats!  num!