Free Tutorial Friday ~ Busy Beaver Lunch Sack

Check in with us every Friday to get your free tutorial/patterns. I thought that Friday was a perfect day to find a great weekend project. And this one can be accomplished in time to send a yummy lunch on Monday for your little back to schooler. Try it out this weekend by packing up a picnic lunch and taking the family to a local park or nature center. This little guy will be right at home!

Busy Beaver Lunch Sack PDF Pattern

With under a yard total of felt you can make this little guy in just a short period of time. New to sewing? Not to worry!!! This pattern comes with a step by step picture tutorial to aid you along the way.  Please feel free to post questions/comments in the comments box below.

We would love to see what you've done! Head on over to the Boutique It on Flickr group to post photos of your finished projects.

Happy Crafting!

Our Favorite Back To School Ideas

Fall is my favorite time of year! School is just getting under way for most of us. The weather is pushing our kids indoors. It's the perfect time to put on our crafting hats and get creative. I tought I'd give you all a head start by compiling this modge podge of some of my personal favorite back to school ideas.

So here we go!!

Family Fun knows back to school!!!



For the best in easy and fun back to school ideas check out Family Fun

Crafts, recipes, party ideas, and so much more. It's a go to site for me!! Check it out and let us know what you think in the comments box!

Leave it to Martha Stewart!!!

Love her ideas always but this one is sure to get a smile from your little ones. She has created this FREE printable for these super cute little lunch labels/stickers. She's got about 18 new back to school ideas to browse through!

My kids use a reusable lunch bag at our house, so I just printed the labels out on card stock and used the back to write a little "I love you".  My oldest daughter loves to find a surprise in her lunch, I think it helps with the home sickness kids can feel during a 7 hour school day! Find another use for this great freebie? Tell us in the comments!!

School Lunches

So my favorite site for back to school lunches is Weelicious. Now this is kids food at it's finest! She even has a recipe for homemade graham crackers.

This site has made it into daily browsing habits by focusing on healthy and homemade alternatives to the processed convenience foods that we find our kids asking for daily.   She makes the recipes easy to find by breaking them up into food groups or just simply by searching her recipe tab at the top of the blog. Like weelicious on facebook for updates on her son's bento box lunch. I love to see what she'll pack next. The use of a bento box really gives your kids a wide variety of things to eat with smaller portion sizes. Love them!!!

Go Green all the way to Back to School

If you have a preschooler at home (or even an elementary aged child) this fun supplies box is simple to make and FREE if you use items that you already have around the house. And best of all it's a GREEN craft!

The holes in the box top are made by poking a hole with a pencil so your child can feel super independent doing this craft. Try using all different containers for this activity. Instead of a shoe box seal up the ends of a cereal/pasta box for a different shape. Give the kids some fun alphabet stickers and let let them spell their name or the contents of the box on the side.

Just follow the link under the picture to head on over to Preschool Rock  to check all of the other awesome preschool crafting ideas they have!

The Long Thread

The peeps over at The Long Thread are forever coming up with wonderful handmade ideas for every occasion. Follow the link below to find a round up of 20 back to school ideas including the ones pictured below.

Apple backpack from Alpha Mom

Reusable Snack Sack from Reprodepot

Free Embroidery Patterns from Sarah Jane Studios

Good luck to all of you back to schoolers!!!

Happy Crafting!

Couture Diaper Covers - Creating the Pattern

I decided to try my hand at rumba ruffled diaper covers.  First, I made mine completely different and EASIER than the other covers I saw.  You can probably make my basic cover in 1/2 the time simple because there is so much less sewing.  Less sewing also equals less trimming and less mess.  I layered up the ruffles instead of putting each ruffle on individually. 

I couldn't stop with just the simple ruffle butt cover, I had to take it to a new level.  First I did to the TUTU cover.  Which is just sew cute.  Then I decided to add some iron on t-shirt transfers to it.  But, I will say, this would also be so cute if you reclaimed an old t-shirt or embroidered top to make the cover. 

Then, I had an epiphany.  Why not combine my love of steampunk/goth/Victorian inspired altered collars and t-shirts into the but of these pants?  My final pair is silk.  The bottom is embellished with 5 layers of silk and tulle ruffle and then I added handcrafted silk flowers, pearls, chains, and charms.  This is so sweet.  I only wish I wasn't out of pearl strands.  I still have two awesome diaper ideas left.  I'm going to do some fleece or jersey covers with faces on them and then I am going to do an homage to altered t-shirts on another.  But, like everything, I have to do it all today.  By the end of the night I will be totally over diaper covers and on to my next pursuit. 

This project really shows how you can take 1 basic pattern and make so many different things.  All three of these covers are totally different.