Handmade Sisters Blog

A Chic Skirt

2009-01-04T17:22:00.003-05:00

So I've been playing around with fabric and trying to make my own designs, I came up with this soooo cute skirt for my daughter. I am very pleased with the outcome and she was trilled to actually have something that looks more like her mama's clothes (I made a skirt like this for me too). She felt like a rock-star princess lol

Crazy Holidays!!!!

2008-12-30T02:47:00.007-05:00

I really hope everyone is having a blast during the Holidays. It's been quite crazy around here, making handmade gifts, keeping the kids entertained during the 2 wk vacation, eating out in other's people houses, visiting the family and all the craziness of the Holidays. I just dream this time could be dedicated to just relaxing at home, but it's never possible! I haven't even been able to blog at all, how terrible! I went into a sewing frenzy and make all my gifts exclusively handmade, what a HUGE task! I wanted to share pictures of a couple of them, I just wished I had the time to take pictures of all of them but my time was so limited that even picture taking was time consuming lol!

Anyways... here I go:

I made several of these sets (Coasters and a big one for a hot pan)

...and tons of these, they were a hit!!!
Eye Pillows filled with rice, lavender and Clary Sage Essential Oil

All the kids received a Crayon Roll and I still need to finish my daughters' toys - I told them Santa gave me lots of wool felt to make new toys for them. *wink*

Edited to Add:

Oh yeah and I forgot that I took pictures of this cute iPod case I made for a friend's daughter, she has the same iPod my husband has so I was able to make the perfect case for it. I used this amazing tutorial, easy and fast! I made 2 of these in different patterns. (sorry I forgot to take pics of the other case!)

WOW! That was a LOT of sewing.... phew!

2008-12-05T01:42:00.005-05:00

Well, they are all up in My Etsy Store, so if you want to take a look... :) I will be adding more in a few days, since I am doing more non-Christmas related baby shoes. Sizes from 0 to 6 months and 6 to 12 months.

wow totally MIA!

2008-11-24T14:07:00.004-05:00

I haven't been around here much eh? Some of you may have noticed that I am also an online activist so I was needed on a mission and fight for the innocent! Mission completed and succeeded :)

I did manage to make a pencil case for my daughter. I bought this plastic pencil case for her and it was not efficient at all. She needs to bring at least 6 crayons to school and all those crayons were breaking and the case was getting dirty and messy all the time because they were loose in the case.

I found a nice corduroy fabric at Joann's on sale, and it has my daughter's favorite animal (she is crazy about horses!). I lined the case with some thick costume fabric (don't ask me what kind it is i don't know lol, it was given to me) and applied dividers for her crayons. I also overclocked the seams, it looks a little raw right beside the zipper but it is not.

TA-DAH! All organized now! :)

I wonder what my teammates are up to lately... I gotta visit their blogs!

It's in my blood! :)

2008-11-15T12:51:00.005-05:00

I am jumping up and down today as I found this gorgeous pair of shoes on Etsy!

You may ask yourself why is this so special?

Because the material used to create this pair of shoes is a Mola! A Mola is a 100% handmade quilt made by the Kunas, natives of my country. PANAMA!

Their technique? They use a reverse appliqué utilizing several layers of fabric (from 2 to 7!) in different colors, and it takes them from one week to 7 months depends on the design. Isn't this out of this world?

Click on the picture to check out the details!

You can take a peek...

2008-11-14T04:21:00.004-05:00

I was finally able to sew another item. I been working on a website so I had to put my crafting away for a while but I decided to find a little time and finish another Christmas apron for Etsy AND for a good cause. This time around, I will be donating 50% of the money toward the Nie Recovery... Please read their story.

Please stay tuned if you want to help out or even better, post the Nie button in your blog and let's help this family out. In the meantime... here are just a few pictures of the Apron. I promise to take a better picture of this as soon as I wake up. I am very exhausted... Good Nights...

Alright, alright... I'll play too lol

2008-11-14T04:10:00.003-05:00

Copy, paste and play along!
1. Where is your cell phone? somewhere in the kitchen or dining area

2. Your significant other? sleeping

3. Your hair? dark brown and dirty

4. Your daughter? which one?

5. Your son? sleeping

6. Your favorite thing? probably the internet

7. Your dream last night? I don't think I had any

8. Your favorite drink? green smoothie heehee

9. Your goal? I just don't want to work for anybody else but for my own

10. The room you’re in? computer/craft room

11. Your church? I go to many... but mainly Catholic

12. Your fear? roaches, YUCK!

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? In a house with a huge backyard

14. Where were you last night? working on a website

15. What you’re not? Patient

16. Muffins? with blueberries yum!

17. One of your wish list items? having my own fabric line... is this too much to ask? lol

18. Where you grew up? Panama

19. The last thing you did? Sew up another Xmas apron and watch a novela through Youtube lol

20. What are you wearing? PJ pants and tank top

21. Your TV? I don't watch TV

22. Your pets? Jade

23. Your computer? Mac

24. Your life? challenging

25. Your mood? sleepy

26. Missing someone? My family from Panama

27. Your car? Grand Caravan

28. Something you’re not wearing? earrings

29. Favorite store? Joann's for fabric - Whole Foods for food - can't pick one lol

30. Your summer? I was pregnant

31. Like(love) someone? my hubby

32. Your favorite color? This one is hard: Lime, Celery, Pink, Hot Pink

33. Last time you laughed? A few moments ago

34. Last time you cried? This morning

35. Who will repost this? who knows...

I got my Xmas Planning figured out!

2008-11-11T12:49:00.006-05:00

It is definitely better to have things written down before you start making your needed projects. I've made a promised to myself to gift exclusively handmade/homemade items this year and so far, I have all my planning done! I wrote down a list of items (with pictures and links!!!) I want/need to make and have these projects going! There are sew many simple ideas, affordable and quick, I am sure they are all will be done in no time. The countdown starts TODAY! :)

...and what about wrapping? I found a few crafty ways to wrap our handmade/homemade Christmas presents!

Here is one idea: Manilla paper and ribbon, raffia, cord or twill

with fabric!

Unwanted scrapbook paper (I have tons!!!), sewing drawstring bags to bag gifts, you can probably visit the dollar store and get dollar plastic crates and cover them with your favorite leftover fabrics!

You can also re-use those flower baskets that came with your last flower arrangement and make a gift basket for your best friend or boss - fill up with all your handmade items!

The ideas are endless!!!! if you have any more ideas that you will like to share please do so, I can't never have so many :)

Great Holiday Gift

2008-11-10T17:47:00.009-05:00

Paper bags scrapbooking albums are always a hit during the Holiday Season! These are so quick and easy to make and the best of all, affordable! Since they don't really require a lot of materials to work with. This book was made for a Holiday gift and my friend loved every piece of it. I will be making probably two for this year's Christmas (I promise to share the pix when they are ready!)

Here is a small list of Bag Scrapbooks tutorials:
Scrapbook-Crazy.com
Scrapmatters.com
ExpertVillage.com (video)

Green Smoothie and guilt free cookies!

2008-11-10T01:30:00.003-05:00

Like I promised my green smoothie recipe!!!! I am going to share two of my own favorite recipes, these are great for those who love sweets but can't afford to feel guilty heehee! One of the ingredients I always keep in my pantry is whole wheat flour. I make all kinds of things with it, replacing the yucky super refined bleached unhealthy flour. I make Corn Bread, Carrot Cake, Cinna-buns and so much more it's unreal... There is so many members from our family suffering from Diabetes that we have eliminated refined starches and white sugar out our lives it's been a couple of years now... btw, we use primarily organic brown sugar or evaporated sugar cane and honey to replace white sugar in bakery items or syrup in our pancakes, and WE LOVE IT! Honey has a low glycemic index.

I am going to start with the Green Smoothie:

Tropical Green Smoothie
I Cup of Almond milk (you could use rice milk or soy, find alternatives to cow's milk if you can!)
2 Bananas
2 handfulls of spinach
1/2 watermelon

Mix all ingredients in your blender:

when done, add a cup of ice and blend some more. If you want some protein in your smoothie you can add a spoon of Hemp Hearts! This stuff is like gold: They are full of essential fatty acids, protein, vitamins and amino acids. Trust me, it tastes like nothing!

And here it is... It tastes like heaven. It's so sweet you won't taste the Spinach at all if that is what you are worrying about I know you!!!!!! haha ...but you need some cookies now right?

It is a 'Kid Approved Recipe'

You are going to looooove these! They came out fluffy, chewy and d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s! :)
(C= Cup T= Teaspoon)

Honey-Oat Cookies
1 C whole wheat flour
1/4 T salt
1/4 T cinnamon
1/2 T baking powder
1/4 T baking soda
1/2 C melted light butter (I used Smart Balance made with flax oil)
1 egg
1/2 C honey
1 T brown sugar
3 T milk
1 1/2 C oats
1 T raw cacao (optional)

Mix all dry ingredients, mix well. Then mix in the honey, butter and milk together and place mixture into small portions over a cookie sheet. Bake in 325 degrees for 15 - 25 minutes.

Ta-dah! can't get healthier than that!

You can also add walnuts to the mix if you like... yum!

To make an Asian Green Smoothie, instead of the watermelon, add a Thai Young coconut (water and flesh) and voila! hmmmmmmmmmmm! Buen Provecho!

Lots of things done :)

2008-11-10T00:05:00.001-05:00

I spent the weekend all my myself with the baby and I had a lot of things done! wow! (thinking that blogger REALLY needs to put some smiley faces in this editor) okay, there... better!

My hubby took the girls with him to spend the night at his sister's house where the grandmother is staying. She is ill so his sister needed him to watch for her. Anyways, I was able to finish another set of wipes this time they are girly themed. I am very happy with the little coordinating drawstring bag I made. Oh and can't you tell I changed my header? Well, I noticed my previous header was barely visible in some PC's, everything looks nice and sharp in my Mac but I know the majority of the people uses PC so I needed to make the appropriate change.

I started sewing all my Holidays Gifts and for sale items. I have a pretty decent list of the people I need to gift, specially the kids. I thought about crayon rolls, felt toys for sale and for gifting (made out of eco-spun felt only), Christmas theme aprons for sale, probably some fancy looking place mats with coordinating napkins for my friends and family... anyways, the list goes on. Last night I was able to finish a Christmas themed kind of a chic apron :) ...and it's REVERSIBLE!

And here are the other set of wipes w/ drawstring bag:

Soon I'll show pix of some other items I am working on: Two other Xmas aprons and a some baby items for my best friend that just had a beautiful baby boy! Happy Birthing Mari!

oh gosh I almost forgot!!!! I got a new addition:

It's from my husband's grandmother, since she no longer sew anymore this was given to her by her granddaughter (my husband's sister) but she never got to use it. Look at it, it's brand new! Still has the blue sticker thingy on! yay!!!! ...now I need a serger ;)

A bit of progress. Little by little...

2008-11-07T01:01:00.011-05:00

First I want to say: Hi Mary thanks for stopping by! How funny but I stumbled across your blog a few days ago and was drooling over your sewing space! heehee! Too much of a coincidence?!? I love all your machines :) My next purchase will be a serger!

Today was very hard... probably the most difficult day of Motherhood! The little Robertico wasn't feeling well and was clingy all day. I was literally in tears, I really want to get my work going so I can add it to my etsy store but can't seem to get it together. How WAHMs do it? It's darn hard and very exhausting! Between my youngest daughter, housework, sicky kiddie and trying to get some work going, I feel like I am running a marathon every day. My back is killing me and I feel so tired throughout the day. Oh well, gotta love my java cups and green smoothies (recipes will be shared later)! < /vent >

Believe it or not I was able to finish a set of wipes, nothing big but at least I can list them on etsy - I seriously need some income! I also made a coordinated clutch for mama pads or even an iPod :)

Wednesday night I was able to wash and iron a ton of fabric and they are ready to work with! woohoo! I can't wait to start creating and I am planning to come up with my own patterns so it should be fun.

Some of you know I just started building up my sewing room, sooooo look what I got? :D

IT'S PINK! Well, I fell in love with the lime green one but I had my youngest daughter decide for me and she chose the pink board of course!!! lol She is such a princess :) At least I know some of the money will go towards a good cause ;)

Changing my set up

2008-11-05T13:42:00.006-05:00

I still think I need a cutting table, in the meantime, I've re-arranged my craft/office room for the third time in a lapse of a month *rolling eyes*. Sometimes I wish I had more room, but oh well... I got my own space and that's all it matters :)

This is the view from my computer, I got the SM facing the only window:

And this is the view from my SM:

Sew Craft Blog!

2008-11-05T03:06:00.002-05:00

Yay! I am in the second group of a community blog for crafters! I listed the group in the side bar so if you want to get crafty ideas you can go ahead and browse around... there is so much talent around here ;)

Whole Wheat Croutons... YUM!

2008-11-05T02:11:00.006-05:00

These are some healthy croutons that I HAD to make last night! I made a yummy Turkey Soup but it needed a companion... Whole Wheat Croutons!

Preheat oven at 240 degrees, cut about 5 slices of whole wheat bread. In another bowl mix 1/4 of olive oil, sprinkle some dried herbs like basil and/or oregano and a tiny bit of iodized sea salt. I would skip the salt if I am using this for soup since I am sure the soup is already salted. Sprinkle mix to the cut bread just make sure you don't put too much, as long as the pieces are moist...

Bake for 10 minutes over a cookie sheet, toss around with spatula and bake for another 10 minutes! VOILA!

My Halloween Project!

2008-10-31T13:21:00.005-04:00

Boy this was fun! My youngest daughter is going to be a flower princess-fairy and this is what I came up with!

I am still battling to make her a tiara or just a flower band for her head, but I did make her the wings but haven't attached them yet to the dress, still thinking if should I attach them to the dress or just put some strings of clear elastic and have her wear the wings through her arms... Anyways... Here is a tutorial of how I made her wings since I didn't have panty hose or tights, I only had a lot of tulle...

Tie 2 wire hangers with some yarn:

Shape the wires to make fairy or angel wings, then tie strips of tulle to it all around. Mine were about 9" long.

Ta-dah!

Very simple and fun to make :)

I will come back later to post pictures of the whole costume together... stay tuned and have a wonderful Halloween!

Update: It was hit and the most important... My daughter loved it! :)

Yummy!

2008-10-30T15:35:00.004-04:00

Making this was so therapeutic! A delicious doughnut, 0 calories, fun included! My daughter asked me to make her one so I finally did - this is my second try at doughnut felt making! :)

Swaping

2008-10-29T15:25:00.001-04:00

I met a nice lady through Craigslist.org when I posted about selling some scrapbook materials I had from back when I had the e-store and we ended up swaping goodies! It was the most fun I ever had, better than shopping! She offered some funky fabrics and some notions... WOW! Isn't this cool? Thanks Sylvia for your generosity! :)

My new baby :)

2008-10-26T02:23:00.001-04:00

I have created (my own design) a camera purse! It's perfect, compact, practical and easy to carry :) Cotton fabric in the outside and fleece in the inside for cushion. Isn't it cute?

I made this case for my mom (I surprised her with it!) who should be leaving the country as of now, she is going back to Panama :( I am going to miss her so much... It will be selling these at my Etsy store and will be available in any size, just send the measurements of your digi camera and I will custom make it for you! :)

Crayon Rolls

2008-10-26T02:07:00.001-04:00

These are so much fun-on the go items that I had to try out for my own kids! I also made a promise to give out handmade items this year for the Holidays, so I started with felt crayon rolls for my daughter's friends. There are many tutorials out there, but I also wanted to try my own one of the kind crayon roll...

BTW, I have only used Eco-fi Felt - An environmentally friendly alternative to traditional craft felt! Eco-fi (also known as Ecospun) felt is made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles. On average, 10 plastic bottles will produce 1 pound of fiber, about 2 yards of felt. It feels so good crafting with this material! ;)

Organizing my Craft/Office Room

2008-10-25T01:56:00.001-04:00

This is the 4th time I re-arrange and organize my Craft/Office room. I have to admit that I really enjoy doing it - probably more than crafting lol it is just weird... Before my last organizing party, I took pictures of the room because I thought I like the way it looked and wanted to share it in my blog but then after seeing the pictures I realized that I wasn't satisfied with the look of my room so I decided to start all over again...

Before

After

I don't have a lot of fabric but I am in the process of building up my stash of it, I loveeee all the designer fabric that are out there just as much I love all the yummy scrapbook paper that probably exists! lol

I still have a lot more work to do in this room, I am definitely more efficient working in a room like this :) I do want to hang up a few shelves, ribbon holders or probably a peg board with my collection of thread and other supplies...

My attempt at fabric food!

2008-10-23T04:02:00.000-04:00

I made this batch of fabric food for a swap at mothering.com. I had a lot of fun making them. Not the best quality but I tried to come up with my own designs and not copying other's people patterns or anything...

The cucumber was the easiest one! I just draw a shape of a cucumber in 2 pieces of fabric, stitched the 2 pieces wrong sides out and left a short area open and turn it right side out then fill up with stuffing.

Hand sew opening and voila! You have a fabric cucumber :) I also made a few stitches here and there around the body of the cucumber to make it look 'real'.

You can try these with felt as well.

My first try at felt food!

2008-10-15T03:57:00.000-04:00

Not bad... I have decided to use it as a pin cushion for my big pins. I think it is adorable and my daughters are asking me now to make doughnuts for them, well at least the fake ones because they know how much I don't like them eating the real ones LOL

My healthy version of Fried Plantains!

2008-05-02T23:48:00.001-04:00

Patacones, like we call them in my country, or Tostones a lo Cubano chico! They are all the same... Green/Mashed Plantains are taken into a wok filled with hot oil and deep fried. They have a 2 process step, cut and smash how I call it and they are soooooo yummy! BUT, not so healthy! You are right...

I decided to bake-oven my plantains today, just because I have been craving so much this side dish, let's see how they come out...

I cut them up in pieces (1" ea.) and moist them with organic olive oil and ionized sea salt.
Put them in the pre-heated oven at 410 degrees over non-stick pan for 10 minutes.
I later took them out and smash each of them with the bottom of a narrow cup, then put them back in the oven for another 10 more minutes or until they are brown/crispy!

YUM!!!!

Eat them with your favorite dipping sauce, I love using just plain organic Ketchup or a mixture of Ketchup, hot sauce and Smart Balance Mayo!!!! Buen Apetito :)

Gerber Pre-Folds, not so great!

2008-05-02T02:37:00.000-04:00

I was so disappointed when I bought these pre-folds in the first place! Yes they were cheap but they were not absorbent at all and my babies kept leaking every time they were using them. So I decided to take them apart and see what they have inside... They have a layer of Poly batting material in the middle, this material is NOT absorbent at all...

After I took them apart, I have doubled (in 2) and folded them up and made a straight stitch around them, then a 3 step zig zag stitch right against the edge since I don't have a serger. Now I have a nice stash of fluffy birdseye pre-fold, ready to be worn by my baby :)

Here you can see the pre-fold as a single layer (folded as a pre-fold)

This picture shows the stitches (straight then 3 step zig zag all around)

See how 'fluffy' they look now with 2 layers?!?!

Diapers Covers out of a recycled sweater!

2008-04-20T01:51:00.000-04:00

So I found this really neat guide on how to make covers from recycled sweaters: http://www.borntolove.com/frugal-column2.html

look at my final product:

I have to be honest, I am very new to sewing and it was somewhat difficult to make sure the seams were straight enough lol!

My first blog! Pre-Folds to Fitted!

2008-04-20T00:04:00.000-04:00

I purchased tons of Gerber prefolds about 4 to 5 years ago, my two daughters used them but I honestly hated them! They were not absorbent at all and they were always soaked in pee no matter the cover they used! The double prefold used to do the trick but they were extremely bulky. I am having my third baby (IT'S A BOY!!!) and decided to turn my prefolds around and give them a little 'punch'.

I took the idea from these 2 sites:
http://www.mama2mama.org/contours.html
http://www.diapersewing.com/prefold_to_fitted.htm

...then made my own version of Pre-Fold to Fitted!

Take TWO prefolds and cut out a pattern with your favorite fitted diaper.

Trace wings with remaining pieces,

Cut and Stitch (you can hide stitching but I personally like the revealing zig zag on my wings and I am lazy lol)

I don't have a serger so I zig zag stitched around the 2 prefolds.

I stitched the elastic on the leg area then straight stitched a favorite flannel right side up (against prefolds), turn and zig zag stitched the wings, back, front straight stitched around the elastic creating a casing.

Now I got a nice fitted prefold for my newborn!

You can add a terry soaker for extra absorbency! You can also extend the front by adding more fabric like I did on the wings, it will create a small to medium fitted prefold. You can also add aplix, velcro or snaps. I decided to use pins on this one because I am not sure how big or small my baby is going to be, but I can't hardly wait to have him wearing these cuties!!!! :)