free plus quilt pattern & tutorial

I've been meaning to share these photos of this "plus" baby quilt I made for an old friend months ago. This couple has very clean, modern taste, so I was afraid to pick fabrics with any sort of pattern, fearing it would be too baby or too busy for them. Instead I went with all solids, mostly Kona cottons (all fabrics are from JoAnn Fabrics). The plus quilt is a perfect way to show off solids. And it makes a great baby boy quilt (my big boys even requested I make them one--they said it looks like Tetris!).

I'd love to say I figured this out on my own, but I really didn't have time to do that if I wanted the quilt to be done before the kid was 10. I found an awesome tutorial and pattern from For the Love of George. What I love about her version of the plus quilt is that the middle of the plus is a long rectangle rather than three squares that you have to cut and then sew back together. More cutting? More piecing? No thank you!

 If you use a straight line quilting on either side of the seams, no one will ever notice that the middle of the plus isn't pieced. And it saves loads of time.

I quilted with gray thread to match the plain gray backing and binding. It didn't stand out too much on the colors--it's a nice neutral. I chose two shades of orange and three shades of blue, plus green, brown, white, and gray. Look for colors that will make the other colors pop when using all solids, like my white and turquoise do.

The plus quilt tutorial shows you how to make a "cot" or queen size quilt (the cot size was perfect for a crib size quilt). Once I figured out the pattern needed to make the plus signs, I didn't need to use her diagram to lay the whole thing out. But it was so nice to have to get started. And how awesome is it that she offers the pattern for free? Be sure to go give For the Love of George some love from me!

Now to make a quilt for this little guy. He's almost 18 months and still doesn't have a real quilt from his mama. Seriously tragic. But I finally painted his room last week, so now I have no excuses to get going on his bedding. If you follow me on Instagram, you already saw a sneak peak of the color (Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore). I'm so happy with the way it turned out! Watch for my nursery before and after pics soon. . .

haybug designs giveaway

***THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED***

The winner is...

jennymartin116

Congrats! We have passed your email address onto the sponsor, so they should be contacting you!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am so excited to tell you about a fabulous etsy shop, called HayBugDesigns. The shop offers all sorts of beautiful creations, like camera bags, camera straps, adorable pouches and home decor items!

I recently got the chance to try one of the camera bags and straps and I am in love! Look at these...

I love the chevron. You know I am addicted to it. I also love that I can put my lens cap into a pocket in the camera strap! Something else that I really love about the camera bag is that the inside dividers come out so if you need some extra space or just want to use the bag for something other than your camera, you can!

These bags are perfect for everyday use, and lucky for you....HayBugDesigns is giving one of our readers the chance to win a camera bag and strap of their choice! So, here's what you need to do--
Visit the HayBugDesigns Shop and pick out which camera bag and strap you would want if you are the winner. Then come back and leave a comment with what those items are. For a second entry, you can share this giveaway on Facebook or Twitter (leave us a link in a comment!). This giveaway will end Friday, May 31st at 11:59pm PT.

HayBugDesigns is also offering a special discount to our readers for the duration of the giveaway! You can save $10 on a camera bag if you use the above code. Sweet deal!

kidzmet and a parent's playbook for learning

Are you ever helping your child with homework and feel like you just aren't getting through to them? Or maybe you are a teacher and feel like certain students aren't getting the material you are teaching.

I recently heard about Kidzmet which is an online tool for teachers and parents that is all about helping parents and teachers determine their childrens’ learning style(s) and  learn to speak their students’ preferred learning language.There are 8 types of learners. Knowing which types your kids are can help them excel and develop confidence in their learning and study strengths. You can complete a personality profile for each child and determine exactly how they learn and what you can best do to help them!

I love that you can choose to have a snapshot of these results sent to a teacher or to yourself and keep it as a reference for your lesson preparation!

If you want to continue further in honing your skills for which type of learner your kids are, you can pick up a copy of the book--A Parent's Playbook for Learning.

The book offers insight on:
--how to create a learning environment that allows their kids to excel and develop confidence in their abilities 
--how to support and encourage their kids' education in ways that are best for him or her
--how to teach kids the strategies that help them each play to their individual learning strengths

 These are great resources for parents and teachers so we can be sure we are helping our kids learn in the best possible, individualized way!

glitter elastic suspenders {tutorial}

We have a fun tutorial to share with you today from our wonderful sponsor, Fleuriste Craft Supply!

Glitter Elastic Suspenders

You'll need:
1) Two pair of mitten clips

2) One pair of vest buckles
(Both of these items can be found at Hobby Lobby/JoAnn/Michaels for a few bucks).

3) 60″ of glitter elastic. I prefer the 5/8″ width as it fits the vest buckles better. You can find our 5/8″ glitter elastic here. We carry a couple different types that would all be great for suspenders.

4) Scissor, glue gun, little bit of glue

We used the 5/8″ polka dot elastic for this one, I just love it! I’m telling you guys, once you try these you won’t believe how simple they are! Dress up any outfit with a pair of glitter suspenders.

First, cut your elastic into two (2) 30″ pieces.

Next string the underside of one end of glitter elastic through one vest buckle. I glued mine to keep it from moving at all. This creates the adjustable portion of your suspenders.

 

See where the elastic is looped over and covers part of the “underside” of the elastic here? I put a dab of hot glue under there just to hold it really tight. Next you want to loop the elastic through one mitten clip to create the other mechanism for your adjustable suspenders. I had to do this a few times to make sure the mitten clip was facing the right direction. 

Now you’re ready for the last little piece of your suspenders. We’re going to take the loose end here and thread it up through the vest clip.

Now that this is done all you need to do is attach the mitten clip at the opposite end and you’ve finished one of your two suspenders.

Do this whole process one more time and you’ve got two darling suspenders! Now you can work on additions to your suspenders, such as a flower or brooch. So many cute possibilities!

$100 target gift card giveaway from pick your plum

We love Pick Your Plum! They offer such fabulous deals each day. Like today...they have a sweet deal for ruffle ribbon and thread! Be sure to snag some, you know their deals sell out fast!

We are excited to tell you that Pick Your Plum has also partnered with us to offer a fabulous giveaway! Who wants to win a $100 Target gift card for you AND a friend?! Yep, thought so. Here's what you need to do:

--Go HERE to enter the giveaway!

Share this giveaway with all your friends because if one of you wins, the other one will also get a Target gift card!!

The giveaway will end Sunday, May 19, 2013 at Midnight! Good Luck!

easy washi tape kids scrapbook journal {make every moment count}

Happy National Scrapbook Month! With a challenge from Michaels to make every moment count, I decided to get my kids involved in my endeavor. Having all boys, I knew they wouldn't be into creating a typical scrapbook and it would definitely be too time intensive for them. So I set out to make an easy scrapbook with more of a journal feel so they could get excited about preserving their favorite memories!

I created an easy washi tape scrapbook journal that my boys loved creating! All you need is a few simple supplies. I picked up a few natural composition notebooks, washi tape, craft markers, and embellishments.

I let my boys decide how they wanted to cover their notebooks with washi tape. My oldest wanted a diagonal design so he chose a couple washi tape designs that he wanted and we got taping! We just taped all the way across the book in diagonal lines and alternated between two different washi tapes.

After we got the notebook completely covered, we added a wood letter and burlap sticker that my son picked out. The letter was just plain wood, so my son wanted to color it with a gold craft marker.

After the outside of the book was finished, we started adding pictures inside and then let my son write about what was happening in the picture and his favorite memories of those moments. It is a great way for kids to relate the experiences to go back and read later and it is a fun way to get them involved in simple scrapbooking and journaling!

Here is the book I helped my other son design. He wanted his washi tape in horizontal lines and he wanted spaces left between each row of tape. I love how it turned out!

The great thing about these easy kids scrapbooks is that they can customize them any way they want. The possibilities are endless! Celebrate National Scrapbook Month by getting your kids involved and making a simple easy scrapbook or journal and make every moment count!

make every moment count {michaels scrapbook challenge}

May is National Scrapbook Month! Scrapbooks--in any form--are such a great way to preserve memories and capture moments that we want to remember forever! Unfortunately our minds might not recall those special moments accurately throughout time so it is great to be able to store those moments in scrapbook form and look back on them whenever we want. It is great to pass onto the next generations as well!

Michaels has issued a challenge to make every moment count during May and seeing as I have three boys with zero interest in anything crafty, scrapbooking is definitely a challenge!

I wanted to come up with a project that would be a simple, kid friendly "scrapbook" for them to record and enjoy their favorite memories. 

Here is a sneak peak....full tutorial coming in a few days! In the meantime, visit the Michaels Lookbook for plenty of project ideas to inspire you to make every moment count.

HGTV fabric from JoAnn {and some awesome coupons}

If you follow me on Instagram, you know I've been busy working on my new craft room, quilting for new babies, and getting crafts ready for our church's girls camp. School is out in one month--I have so much to finish before my crafting time turns to full-time mama time! But I do have another project in the works that I haven't shared. JoAnn Fabric and Crafts sent me some of their new HGTV home decor fabric to try. Here's a peek--do you love? It is really gorgeous fabric; heavy and soft and a beautiful texture. And that gray trim is one of their new trims. Love! My project is 95% done--just need to pick up some filler so I can show you the finished project!

I do have to confess something, though. Have you ever noticed that craft bloggers rarely talk about their crafting fails? I know I don't. I'd rather spend my time crafting and blogging about the good stuff than showing the projects that don't turn out (which there are plenty of). But I did have pretty lofty plans for this fabric that included tufting and piping. We're talking professional sewing skills, people, which apparently I do not have. FAIL! Luckily I played around with some scrap fabric and didn't cut into this beautiful stuff and ruin it! Anyway, the super-simple version of my project is coming soon. But until then, here are some AWESOME JoAnn coupons you can use this weekend to get some of their new HGTV line of fabrics at an amazing discount! It's already on sale for 50% off through Saturday, May 4, but here's a coupon to get you an additional 10% off! I'm also including another 15% off your total purchase coupon good through May 4, 2013 as well. Score. Stay tuned for my project tutorial, coming soon!