Bow Belt Tutorial

I found this tutorial after my sister told me about Stumble Upon. It's this great website that randomly brings up websites based on the interests that you select. SO much fun when I'm bored at work, and definitely worth checking out!

So this tutorial comes from Momtastic. You can click on the link to the blog for the full tutorial. A couple things that I did or wish I had done differently:

1. I added two snaps on the end of the band. One snap seemed to make the belt not line up in the back (but that's partially because I did a not-so-great job of getting it in the middle!). I think next time I am going to mark the center of the width of the belt to make sure that the snap is centered.
2. When sewing the "middle band" on the belt, the way it's done makes the back unfinished. While this doesn't show, I would suggest measuring where you would sew, then making the seam on the inside of the fabric. Then, slide the middle band down the belt before pinching the bow and pulling through. Or use Fray Check to stop fraying.

Overall, though, I love this belt and am excited to make more! Thanks, Momtastic!

"I Love..." Friday

This week has flown by for me! We heard back on our house and, thankfully, the cost to regrade the backyard is well within our price range. I know everyone always says that buying a house is stressful, but I didn't know it would be like this. 

I'm slowly trying to get back my motivation from my lazy month so there should be some new goodies in my Etsy shop soon! It's been a struggle recently with working full time, then going home to create for the shop. I'm always reading the articles on Etsy titled "Quit Your Day Job" and think that I could do it if I put in a little more work on the side. A lot of the women that are interviewed say that it was like they were working two jobs before they branched off to focus solely on their business. I would LOVE to do that! I already love creating and being able to do it as a job would be fantastic. I'll keep you posted on how this venture goes!


Today is Friday! So here are some Etsy items that caught my eye for this "I Love ...":

Viking Mug by CircaCeramics

Frida Earrings by tamar

Light Blue Alarm Clock from TheBig8s

Three Nesting Lotus Blossom Bowls by whitneysmith

Weekly Posting: "I Love.." Fridays and a Life Update

It's been a while since I last blogged .. mostly because my husband and I are trying to buy a house in my hometown! I'm really excited about it. Of course there have been a couple issues, namely that we had an inspection this Wednesday and the inspector found that there is a lot of water pressure on the foundation wall of the house because the backyard slants towards the house .. Yikes! We have to get it fixed before we close because of the type of loan we're getting, so hopefully it doesn't cost us too much. We should get the estimate before Monday. 


Another excuse for the lack of blogging falls into a real lack of motivation. It seems that when things get busy at work (I work at a Community Education office for a school district), I lose the desire to work on my Etsy shop or other crafty things. But when I'm at work all day with nothing to do, there's nothing I would rather be doing than creating. Plus, I really want a new sewing machine as mine was obtained by my mom at a garage sale. This is my newest desire: Brother PC-210. 


So I feel the need to start a routine. Enter "I Love ..." Fridays. I'll be perusing Etsy shops for things I love, just as I get into the weekend. This Friday, while I've been seeing all kinds of treasuries anticipating spring, I'm going to do one last hurrah for winter. I love sweaters, warm and cozy things, and all of the white. 

Multibubble Scarf from Clariceonline

Primitive Miniature Wood Town from saysthetree

Felted Wool Slippers from Grazim

Tealight Holders from wapa

The idea for starting the weekly collection comes from Hump Day Finds by What. No Mints?  Definitely a favorite blog of mine!