Easter

The Scrappy Bee Pattern Now Available For Free

April 5, 2020 by Jessica 3 Comments

I have noticed that there has been quite a bit more activity over here on the blog than normal due to everyone doing their part and staying at home during this time. I decided I would release The Scrappy Bee Pattern for free to download and print to add to your sewing possibilities right now. I created it about ten years ago (crazy, right?), but I still think it’s really cute. In fact, my girls still have the bees I made them. They don’t get played with anymore but you can tell how they are worn a bit with all the loving they received over the years.

I also thought that these cute bees would be adorable in an Easter basket (and Easter is next Sunday!). They are a fairly simple sewing project and you can be so creative them. You can use different materials in so many ways to create a one of a kind whimsical bee. If you go all the way back to this original post, you can see some of the original bees in action along with pattern testers bees. All the information you need is in the two links below. The first includes the instructions and the second is the pattern pieces. If you have any problems with these, send me a message with your email and I can email it to you.

You can click here to view/save/print The Scrappy Bee Instructions.

You can click here to view/save/print The Scrappy Bee Pattern Pieces.

As always, I would love to see what you make! Tag me on social media or use #happytogetherbyjess to share your scrappy bee with me and others. Happy sewing! -jess

Mardi Gras Easter Egg DIY

March 21, 2018 by Jessica 4 Comments

Mardi Gras Easter Egg DIY
This month’s issue of Food Network Magazine is showcasing fifty different eggs from fifty different bloggers (you can now see them all online here: Easter Eggs Across America). Each state is represented! I am honored to represent Louisiana as this is the state I have lived in for the past six years. I have grown to love it here as it is a state full of it’s own unique culture and such wonderful people. I had to share a few ideas on what type of egg I could create that would showcase a bit of the state. I secretly really wanted to make a crawfish egg, but Mardi Gras beat it out hahaha. That is one thing this state is known for and we have enjoyed all the family events that come along during that time of the year. I now get to share the Mardi Gras Easter Egg DIY for anyone who might want to make one or create their own spin of this type of egg. Or, as i like to call it, a Masquer-Egg…..get it? 😉

Mardi Gras Easter Egg DIY | happy together
Materials needed:

Boiled Egg or Fake Egg (I used an Eggnot)
Mardi Gras colors of acrylic paint (purple and green)
2 Paint Brushes
Gold Leaf Flakes
Gold Leaf Adhesive (my local craft stores were all out, so I used Mod Podge and it worked great)
Optional: One Step Crackle Finish (I used this to try to create more texture, but it didn’t make enough of a noticeable difference in my opinion)
Mask: black card stock, toothpick, small feathers, small rhinestones, glue, and small scissors or exacto knife)
Optional: Egg Carton

Mardi Gras Easter Egg DIY
Begin by painting the top of the egg purple. Allow to fully dry. I found that using an old egg carton upside down was a great way to set the egg in place during drying times (see picture further down of this).

Mardi Gras Easter Egg DIY
Once the purple is dry, paint the rest green. Allow it to fully dry. If you like, this is when you can add the one step crackle finish to one side at a time. Allow to dry.

Mardi Gras Easter Egg DIY
Now for the fun part. I had never used gold leaf flakes before and was excited to try it out. It was fun! It made me want to gold leaf all the things. I painted on a layer of Mod Podge to one end of the egg. Then I took a dry brush and placed it in the gold leaf flakes and applied them. I just added the flakes until I was happy with it. Then I took the brush I had applied the Mod Podge with and added a top coating of Mod Podge to the flakes to seal them in place.

Mardi Gras Easter Egg DIY
Once that half is dry, flip the egg over and repeat on the other end.

Mardi Gras Easter Egg DIY
For the mask, I found a simple outline on the internet. I printed it to the size I wanted and used that as a template to cut out the black card stock. I had no small scissors, so I used an exacto knife to make the small intricate cuts.

Mardi Gras Easter Egg DIY
You can decorate your mask how you like, but I glued on small feathers and two small rhinestones for a simple look. Then I painted a toothpick black to be the holder. Glue the mask in a place you like and let it dry. Now you have a fancy Mardi Gras Easter Egg. Don’t forget to check out the Food Network Magazine to see all the other state Easter Eggs. -jess

Mardi Gras Easter Egg DIY

Easter Outfits

March 28, 2016 by Jessica Leave a Comment

This past weekend was Easter and we had a fabulously packed weekend at that. We did the thing many Louisianan’s do and attended a crawfish boil, had Easter egg hunts, and enjoyed a wonderful Resurrection Sunday at church. I haven’t sewn Easter outfits for my girls in a while so I made it a goal this year. I went searching online for some cute sewing patterns that would suit each of their personalities and I’m very happy with the patterns I found.

First up is Miss E’s outfit. I used the Violette Fields Threads Clara Top and Shorts pattern to create her shirt. I really wanted to make the bloomers to go with it but ran out of time. So I just let her wear some jeans. I found her shoes at Old Navy and her hair clip is mine from Anthropologie a few years ago. It’s such a cute top and I was surprised at how fast it came together. I was expecting it to take longer than it did due to some of the more intricate sewing things like those ruffles and the back plackets/buttons and such. The fabric came from Hobby Lobby and I love the little pineapples on it! This outfit is so her. I say she’s my Southern Belle.

Now for Miss J’s outfit. She’s my country girl and she tells me she just wants “country girl dresses.” haha. I saw this dress and knew it would be perfect. It’s also a Violette Field Threads Pattern, the Maisie Dress and Top. I also found this fabric at Hobby Lobby. I wanted to find a fabric with small printed flowers but was short on time and this ended up working out perfect. This was another very nice pattern and I can’t wait to make more. I like the length and the little details like the sleeves. I also learned some new techniques from this pattern which is always a good thing. She paired her dress with her cowgirl boots (of course) and those we got from Kohls a few months back.

It made my mama heart proud to see them happy and wearing these outfits that I made them. And even happier that they were super excited to do pictures too 🙂 -jess

Bunny Bags DIY

March 16, 2016 by Jessica 2 Comments

Spring time brings to mind all the cute adorable animals that are being born. You know, bunnies, lambs, etc. We are getting ready to add some little bunnies to our family soon so my girls are all about the little furry guys right now. With their love for rabbits and it being spring time and Easter soon, I whipped up some cute bunny bags and want to share them with you. They are really easy to make and would make a cute little way to share small gifts. Enjoy this bunny bags diy!

You will need:

Small burlap or fabric bags (I found these in the dollar section at Target)
Felt or leather for the ears
Optional: Fabric to go on ears
Scissors
Hot glue gun and glue
Yarn
Optional: Sewing machine/supplies

Start by making ears from your felt or leather. Since each bag will be different, make the ears the size you like. I suggest making a pattern with paper and using that as a template.

If you like, cut out a smaller piece of fabric and put it on the middle of the ears. You can glue this part on if you like or sew it on like I did.

Then take your hot glue gun and glue the ears on the inside of one side of the bag.

Create little fuzz ball tails by making yarn pom poms. Simply start by wrapping the yarn around a few fingers.

Keep wrapping until you have a pretty good amount. The more yarn you use the tighter the tail will look.

Cut a piece of yarn about 12″ long. Gently take the yarn bundle off of your fingers being careful to keep it intact. Wrap the extra piece of yarn around the center and tie together.

Next, take your scissors and cut through each loop of yarn on the sides. Then trim around the yarn ends until it is all even and fluffy looking.

Glue the little tails on and you are done.

Can’t wait to share with you the real bunnies we will get soon! Happy crafting! -jess

Peeps Chapstick Holder DIY

April 20, 2014 by Jessica 2 Comments

Happy Easter! Today was a full day for us and it began bright and early when my youngest discovered her Easter basket in my room. I had totally meant to hide it and give it to them later in the day, but that didn’t happen. They quickly went through their baskets to see what they had gotten. I like to keep their gifts simple, but I did make a special little chapstick holder to go in miss J’s basket.

I found these cute peeps chapsticks in the dollar bin at Target and got to thinking of making a holder for them to go in. I decided to use this as an opportunity to try cutting felt and iron on vinyl with my Cricut Explore. It went very well.

To make this you don’t need the Cricut Explore to cut the felt, but I would suggest it for cutting out the teeny tiny words. Here are the supplies you need:

Yellow Felt
Iron on vinyl
10″ of Ribbon
Key chain of some sort (you could even use just a simple round one)
Scissors
Sewing machine or hot glue gun
Chapstick

Start by cutting out two peep shapes from felt. I did a search in the Design Space and found this shape. I enlarged it until is was a width of 3.49″ and height of 3.4″. I could have simply cut this out myself, but I really wanted to see how the machine would do. I didn’t see the specific settings for felt, so I did a quick look at some of the ready to make projects in Design Space. I found one that used felt and changed my settings. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the proper mat (the strong grip), but it worked on my standard grip one. The felt did pop off the mat a little bit at one point, but the machine stopped for a bit as if to correct itself. I quickly pushed down the part that popped up and it kept cutting fine. I did read a tip that suggests if the felt does pop off like that to then tape the edges down.

Then you will need to cut the words out of the iron on vinyl. I used the font Nate’s ABC’s and it was size 39.68. Look at how tiny the letters the are! They cut out perfectly.

Iron on your words according to the instructions.

Fold a piece of ribbon through the key chain. I made mine a little on the longer side to be able to trim it. Sew (or glue) the ribbon together a little below the key chain.

See where you want to put the ribbon inside the peep and trim the ribbon accordingly. Pin the felt pieces with the ribbon in the middle. Sew (or glue) around the edges and leave an opening at the top of the body for the chapstick to go into.

And that is it. You could do this with all kinds of shapes and wordings. It would be a good older kid project too and could be personalized to their taste. My little favorite peep (miss J) likes hers and wants to make one herself now. I will let you know how that goes (if it goes at all lol).

Happy crafting! -Jess