Homemade tea party: DIY Menus (part 3)

You can have pretty table linens and you can have cute food, but if you're the hostess-with-the-mostess, won't you also need menus? Definitely! Especially if you're prone to like to play pretend restaurant as well!

What you'll need:

-Photoshop (Elements works too)
- digital scrapbooking elements
- color printer
- laminating machine (or head to a print shop like I did and have them laminate it for you)

These were a little tricky at first as I tried to figure out the spacing, but they were fun once I got rolling. I basically divided a regular sheet of printer paper into fourths and made a new file in Photoshop (I use Elements) that was the same size as a sheet of paper and went to work. I made front and backs and once they were printed out, we got them cut and laminated.

* She's in her 'big girl' room because her little sister was born just a few days ago and sleeps in LiLi's old nursery. Another little person to craft for!

If you've used digital scrapbooking elements before, you can guess what I did and may even recognize items from Katrina at Pugly Pixel's freebie, Paper Buffet. The pink doilies from this set and velvet ribbons from this post were perfect for my project. If you've never visited Pugly Pixel, check it out; she has amazing digital elements and I definitely think both her free and premium member items are fantastic!

If you're new to the whole digital scrapbooking world, google it and see all the fun you come up with. I don't make scrapbooks, but the digital elements are fun to use for blogging and have been known to spice up more than a few blog posts and the odd printed picture or two. I have to say there are so many great free video tutorials out there on digital scrapbooking that even if you don't want to do that per se, they DO offer a great way to learn how to use Photoshop.

Making the menus was a new-to-me way of using digital elements. Could I have made menus just using MSWord? Yes, but they wouldn't have been as cute, that's for sure!

If you're new to all this, I recommend checking out these sites: Two Peas and Design House Digitals -oh, and Kitschy Digitals is just completely adorable! I will say there is a lot of stuff out there that isn't fitting my aesthetic, but it's worth a sift -also, over time I see more and more things coming out in 'my style', so hooray! All of these sites offer freebies and video tutorials to get you on your feet!

What about you? Have you heard of digital scrapbooking before, or are you already a fan? What are some of your favorite digital element sites?

A Treasury of Joel Dewberry Inspiration

Etsy has been a source of inspiration for my future patchwork aspirations. Since I had so much fun creating my last treasury, I decided to put together another one for my Joel Dewberry Deer Valley inspiration. I need to decide on something to keep my other pillow company!

Long Bi-Fold Clutch Wallet /... cottonpurr $40.00	Terra Cotta Tote AnnieOC $33.00	Joel Dewberry Deer Valley An... sweetpeatotes $47.00	Deer Valley rag quilt throw ... southerncharmq... $195.00
Reversible Diaper Bag - Joel... retrofied $70.00	Deer Valley, Antler Damask p... MintDesign $16.00	Magnetic Board - Deer Valley... notedandquoted $80.00	Fabric Organizer Bin Basket ... baffinbags $18.00
Modern Rustic Chic Custom Cr... LottieDaBaby $330.00	Pleated Bag - Deer Valley An... BagsByColette $49.00	Etsyversary Sale Deer Valley... lmkquilts $31.50	Sale Modern Peasant Dress in... oliveandollie $27.00
Joel Dewberry's Antler D... sassyapron $21.95	NATURAL DEER VALLEY- pleated... purseona $45.00	Tree Swing- Red Columbine De... shivermesplint... $60.00	Inventory Reduction SALE - C... gourmetthreadz $21.00

Treasury tool is sponsored by Lazzia.com.

See anything you like?

* PS- There's still room to join Craft it Forward 2011!

* PPS- did you see that Februrary will be Pillow Month at Sew Mama Sew? Yessss! Hoping for some more ideas...

Simple patchwork pillow DIY

Patchwork anything has always stressed me out. What if my cuts aren't straight enough and the whole thing comes out crooked? Do I really have to iron all those tiny seams? Will I go crazy trying to lay out the pieces and find a pattern I like?

Well, it was time to grab the bull by the horns! Last year I dreamed of patchwork pillows bringing pattern and texture to our living room. I saw Joel Dewberry's Deer Valley fabric and thought it would be perfect. I then sat on this fabric for over a year, people! I wasn't confident enough in my sewing skills to dive in, and I practically have a panic attack before I cut into fancy fabric, not to mention the whole patchwork-freak-out thing.

I have two tired pillows on our sofa that have held their own since, oh, 2008. I made them with a friend using her scrap fabric and her sewing machine back when I was still dreaming of getting my own sewing machine. We've been wanting something fluffier and with a washable cover, so I used one of these guys for a trial run patchwork slipcover makeover. The other one will be slipcovered in something cute and end up in my office.

Enter this tutorial for a 'disappearing nine' patchwork pillow for beginners. Never one to settle for a set pattern, I of course had to mix it with this tutorial for an envelope pillow (@5min mark) so I could make the cover removable and avoid completing New Year's goal #1. (Have you ever watched/read The DIY Dish? Those twins crack me up. Nice clear ideas though!)

Right, so I measured my pillow and decide to make a cover exactly the same size as the pillow itself because my old pillows are f.l.a.t., but I think when I do the mega-fluffy new ones I'll add an extra half inch to compensate for the poof. There really wasn't any wiggle room left with my flat pillow's cover in the end.

I have a few of the Deer Valley fabrics, but I can't decide on how to organize squares of multiple fabrics, so I settled on using just the wide stripe pattern for my pillow. It turns out that I'm completely obsessive-compulsive with matching the stripes up both on the back opening and getting them to be "correct" on the front panels. I need to start using more non-directional fabric...I should add that to my 2011 goals.

So I started with nine square cuts (1) to be my front. Then I spun some around (2). I started trying to envision how they would look as 4 large pieces, spun around...and I rotated them some more before running off to sew it all together and then returning and using my rotary cutter to slice through the middles (3). Now you see my four panels (4). I spun these around for a few minutes and then committed to a final layout and sewed the sections together. This process took me forever because of my aforementioned obsessive behavior with the stripes. Jiminy cricket, somebody get me some solid fabric!!

I then hemmed the ends of my envelope backing, lined up those stripes, and stitched my back pieces together. I put the wrong sides together, did a 1/4" seam, trimmed the corners and flipped it out (!). Presto!

I'm all sorts of proud about how the lines and seams came out straight. Finally! Sewing slow plays off! I plan to leave this little guy for the chairs and the big ones will go on the sofa....when I get to them. I have four other patterns from the Deer Valley line to integrate into a real patchwork of patterns. Part of me is all sorts of stressed about how to patchwork them symmetrically enough to satiate the perfectionist in me! I have a few ideas, though!

PS- I probably won't send you a patchwork pillow cover, but you can still sign up for Craft it Forward 2011!

Homemade tea party: DIY Felt food (part 2)

In addition to the table linens, I also made a stack of cookies and a cake. The cookies were easy: one sheet of thick beige felt cut into rectangles with my pinking shears. Then I took a sheet of dark brown felt and cut slightly smaller rectangles. Then I just hot glued my 'chocolate' top to my cookie base. They remind me of the Leibnitz cookies that are so common here in Germany. Apparently even the felt ones taste good!

For the cake, a friend had sent me a link to this tutorial, so that was the foundation of my creation. I used to LOVE the flannel storyboards from my childhood Sunday School days, so I knew flannel cake decorating would probably go over well with my niece! I didn't have freezer paper, and making the flowers and candle base proved to be tricky for some reason, so after a few failures, I found a few solutions and want to share a few tips.

DO use thin felt to cover the outside of the boxes and make flowers.

DO NOT use thin felt for the candles or they will flop over. Either find thicker felt or glue together a few pieces of thin felt for stability.

I used a hot glue gun, which worked, but a sponge brush application of tacky glue would probably be less finger-burny (gotta smooth out those glue globs!).

DO use pom-pom trim on the cake (I glued mine on permanently) - this was awesome and more 3-d/tactile. Just make sure if you need to pack your cake tiers inside each other that they still fit with the trim on.

DO go all out on the crazy girl colors; even though they make me cringe, you know the kids love it.

DO NOT worry if your candles are tippy! I couldn't hack the tutorial's directions for candle bases, so I just ended up winding strips of felt cinnamon roll-style for a less-glamorous, but less-tippy candle - and they are still pretty tippy! However, as soon as my niece unwrapped the felt cake and it's decorations, her dad set up the candles on top and told her to make a wish. When she blew that too-soft 2yr old blow, they all toppled over and she was thrilled! So much for me worrying about them falling over...she loves that they fall over!

DO use this tutorial to get ideas on making the decorative felt flowers. The ones in the original tutorial are lame-o no matter what you do. I initially had trouble making flowers because my felt was too thick, or I had too many layers of thin felt glued together, making them too heavy to actually stay on the cake. Using the printable pdf template from the Purl Bee tute, I discovered the 'large and small asters' are great for this cake. I also used the 'small fringe center' to make the yellow centers for the flowers so they didn't look too generic. Cutting the flowers out with both pinking shears and regular sheers gave them a little texture and variance. (that pdf is pretty awesome btw! I can see making felt flowers from this template in lots of colors for all sorts of occasions!)

DO make sure you make enough candles for how old the recipient currently is! I made four candles, but all the pictures my sister sent show how LiLi set her cake up with two because she's two, ha!

Covering the boxes was the most time consuming part of this project (and figuring out the flower dilemma, but I just saved you that trouble!). I'd say if you have everything lined up, you could pull this off in an hour or two.

I'll be posting on the menus soon!

Homemade tea party: DIY Table linens (part 1)

I made several gifts for my niece last year, so I wanted to try handmade again for my adorable niece. I knew she loved playing tea party, and I also knew she had recently graduated to a 'big girl' room (little sibling will arrive tomorrow!!) and would be getting a certain table and chair set for her new room. So I thought I could help her throw a tea party in style: I made table linens, some felt food, and a set of menus.

I have to say I was thrilled to bits when I heard it was her favorite Christmas present! She played with the entire set all day and even between opening other presents. She also cried for the first time ever when it was time for her to leave it and take her afternoon nap (this child never cries at nap time) -she even insisted on sleeping with the tablecloth! I don't know if I'll ever be this successful again in the gift-giving realm, but I'll enjoy this feeling while it lasts! =)

Today I'll be posting the how-to on the linens (the other 2 tutes are coming up!). You may have noticed I'm not a fan of patterns and like to create my own thing (yet I rarely stray from a recipe when I cook, go figure), so here's another example. Since I knew she would get this table/chair set from Ikea for her room, I made the tablecloth with those measurements in mind. I wasn't sure what size to make for the placemats, so based on the table measurements, a regular sheet of printer paper and a kleenex ended up being my templates for the placemats and napkins, respectively -use what you have, right?

I made these reversible to increase the fun and dug into my stash of fabric and pom-pom trim to make it happen. The funny thing is, my mom sent me this fabric ages ago, and I've essentially sent it back to a location 20 minutes from her, ha. You could definitely make these without the trim, but I think the special trim 'makes' the set! By the way, this is an awesome beginner sewing project because it's just a bunch of straight lines. I will say sandwiching in the pom-pom trim and sewing it evenly kind of made me mental, but I'm pretty impatient, so it could just be me!

Napkins: 4x 9" x 9" from fabric A, 4x from fabric B (4 napkins total, each 8" x 8" finished size)

Placemats: 2x 8.5" x 13" from fabric A, 2x from fabric B (2 placemats total, each 7.5" x 12" -more won't fit on this particular table) + 4x 8" lengths of pom-pom trim for the ends

Tablecloth: 1x 28.5" x 28.5" from fabric A, 1x from fabric B (1 tablecloth, 27.5" x 27.5") + 114"/3.5yds length of pom-pom trim for the edges

Coordinating thread for the topstiching: Remember the thread on top of your machine shows on top and the bobbin shows on the bottom.

* I did not use interfacing on any of these pieces and I don't regret it; I checked my finished pieces and nothing was feeling dinky or 'sliding around-ish'. If you're not sure, try a napkin first and see how you feel about it. (Although I would probably add interfacing in a formal placemat for adults!)

For the napkins: put the right sides of the fabric together and stitch around the edges leaving a tiny opening for you to flip the napkin right-side out. Don't forget to cut the extra off on the corners to eliminate bumps. Then turn it right-side out; I like to use a chopstick to do this, especially to push out the corners. Then topstitch all around the edge of the napkin to (a) close that little hole and (b) give the napkin a little more shape and polish.

For the placemats: same idea as the napkins, but sandwich the pom-pom trim in along the ends before you sew. Be careful because those little poms are going to want to mess with you and pop out on the corners, so pin them down well!

For the tablecloth: same as the placemats, except the pom-pom trim goes all the way around, so you'll need lots of pins!

And that's it! The most time-consuming part of this project was figuring out how big to make each piece and then deciding the most efficient way of cutting everything out, but if you're creating for a similarly-sized table, my measurements should work for you. This is definitely a great beginner project and a must if you know somebody who likes tea parties!

Stay tuned for posts on felt food and menus!

Craft it Forward 2011 Buttons

Craft it Forward started out with Allison's blog post, to which I responded and wrote my own post here. She received a request for a 'blog button' and emailed me, so I pulled a little something together. However, I wasn't sure what to call it...Pay it forward craft-style? or??? "Craft it forward" seemed a little more natural, but when I googled it I found the facebook page from where it all began. So I'll give credit where credit is due in terms of the idea's origin, but I have to say I love how Allison took it off Facebook and into the blogosphere. I like how this is a fun way to creatively share with other readers and bloggers and a way to learn about some new blogs!

What is Craft it Forward?

Craft it Forward is where one person sends 5 others something they've made in exchange for the 5 recipients promising to do the same. In theory, this becomes a giant web of people sending each other stuff, while not being overwhelming (since the limit is 5). You also commit to doing this by the end of the calendar year.

How does Craft it Forward work on a blog?

The rules: Craft it Forward 2011: I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment here... They must in turn post this on their blog and send something they make to the first 5 people who comment. The rules are that it must be handmade by you (sewing, painting, pottery, photography, whatever!), and it must be sent to your 5 people sometime in 2011.

First, write a post on your blog with a link back to wherever you heard about the idea first (I think this is a fun way to see who else is taking part and you may find some fun new blogs while you're at it!)

Then come back and comment here and include a link to your post (this way others get a chance to check out some new blogs, too!)

Make sense?

If you'd like to connect to other bloggers who are "Crafting it Forward", you can either comment on my post here (in which case I will mail the first 5 commenters something), or you can grab a badge/button and start it up on your own blog.

* You don't need a blog to 'craft forward'. Check out the facebook page if you want to do it that way.

Here are four Craft it Forward badges for your blog. Just right click and save the image:

If you'd like a Craft it Forward button, I made one with this image. Just copy and paste the HTML text below into a widget for your blog's sidebar. The embedded link will send people back to this post so they can know what Craft it Forward is.

<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://zuhauseingermany.blogspot.com/2011/01/craft-it-forward-2011-buttons.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p208/julietteh44/gray-white.gif" /></a></p>

Happy Craft it Forward-ing!

Pay it Forward Crafting 2011: I'll send you something!

The other day I received a postcard in the mail from a friend who went to the Henri Matisse museum in Nice, France and thought of me. "A little something colorful to put up in your creative space," it says. This must've been about the same time Allison received a letter from her friend and felt compelled to write a "pay it forward craft-style" post on her blog. I jumped in and signed up; I confess to attempting this via a Facebook post last year and I failed miserably, so I'm depending on the accountability of the blog to shame me into following through should I find myself empty-handed in October. Still, I feel more prepared for it this year and already have a few ideas up my sleeve. In fact, I felt so inspired that I created a treasury over on Etsy entitled "I'm Sew Inspired"!

akalis $15.00	SometimesCraft... $12.00	InspireLovely $30.00	raemj $12.00
madelinebea $15.00	Joeysdreamgard... $3.00	TheCamerasEye $10.00	chasingelephan... $15.00
winterpeach $4.50	madelinebea $15.00	stbthreadworks $30.00	urbandesign $28.00
honeytree $28.00	CityChicCountr... $24.00	kimiko611 $8.00	futurowoman $35.00

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

There are so many inspiring things on Etsy, aren't there? If these folks can create enough to run a shop, then surely we can send five things over the course of a year, right?

Curious to see what I'll send? I promise it won't be anything with a really curved seam, ha! I'll send something handmade to the first five people who comment on this post....but the stipulation is that you have to post about it on your blog, too!

How to enter:

- Pay it Forward 2011: I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment here... They must in turn post this on their blog and send something they make to the first 5 people who comment. The rules are that it must be handmade by you, and it must be sent to your 5 people sometime in 2011.

I've added 2 tiny amendments in order to comment:

- First, write a post on your blog with a link back to wherever you heard about the idea first (I think this is a fun way to see who else is taking part and you may find some fun new blogs while you're at it!)

- Then come back and comment here and include a link to your post (this way others get a chance to check out some new blogs, too!)

Are you in?