Yard Work

We had a gorgeous weekend filled with sunshine and yard work. Spending hours raking the yard really wasn't bad, since we had extra helpers. Now the yard has been raked and fertilized so we should see green grass soon. Nature Girl happily played around the yard as the grown ups raked away. She discovered a perfectly round rock, three dandelions, a blue jay feather, wild violets in bloom and a small grasshopper named "Grassy."
We took a break from yard work and painted the round rock with red spray paint. Yes I even let her help with the spray paint. Once it dried Nature Girl added black dots to create a ladybug. We put the rocks in her garden. She was thrilled to see her lambs ear plants from last year are already growing and she has three purple hyacinths that are preparing to bloom.


We still haven't started our marigold seeds but once they're ready we plan to add those to her garden too. Marigolds are hardy and should do fine is a 4 year olds garden. Really we need hardy plants to make up for my lack of gardening ability. I'd like to extend her garden all the way around the tree this year so we better get planting. I saw a neat video where you can use old newspapers for planting seedlings instead of buying peat pots. You can check out the simple how to video from Dave's Garden. It's a great way to recycle and garden at the same time. Perfect for Earth Day!

I Won!

I received a comment yesterday from Barb at So How Was Your Day? She sewed up a bunch of goodies and had a give way. I won and I'm very excited! I've entered but have never won any bloggy give aways before. So thank you Barb!!! She gave me a little hit saying it had pink animals on it. Barb is a flamingo lover so I'm guessing it has flamingos on it. Nature Girl is also a lover of flamingos and her favorite colors are orange and pink. Needless to say I have a feeling I might be losing my new prize to Nature Girl. We can always share it.
So now it's your turn for a chance to win. Tracy at Itching 2 B Stitching is having a contest to name her new dress form. Leave a comment suggesting a name from now till April 25th to enter. You could win a crafty apron. I know I could use one, I'm always walking around with pins and needles stuck into my shirt or pant leg and I can never find my scissors when I'm crafting. So go enter, I did.

Sling Bag Tutorial

I created a tutorial for my sling bag. I hope you'll enjoy creating one for yourself. If you make one please post pictures in the Flickr group Sling bag from Life With Nature Girl. I look forward to seeing what you create. If you have any questions e-mail me. Happy sewing!

Click to download a pdf of the Sling Bag Tutorial

Spring, Beautiful Spring!

Nature Girl has been asking to go to the park all winter. Well now that spring has finally arrived her wish came true. The park opened this week. The last two days the weather has been beautiful so we packed a lunch and trekked off to the park. Everyone else had the same idea so there were hoards of kids and a good time was had by all.
I got to field test my new summer sling bag. It works pretty well. I need to downsize my wallet a bit since the current one is bulging. I wish it was bulging with wads of money but in reality it's filled with old receipts, and store discount/reward cards. Honestly, it's stuffed so full I can't close it. So I plan to clean that out today. The weatherman is calling for another beautiful day. We have a friend coming for a play date today and will be spending lots of time outside again. Yeah for spring!
I'm working on a tutorial for the sling bag and hope to have it up later today. Special thanks goes out to Susan at chickenfoot. She has been a great help checking and editing my pouch, napkin and sling bag tutorials. So check out her blog then check back here later for the sling bag tutorial.
Happy spring everyone!

Making Something for Me

I like to craft and create things but I often end up creating things for other people. I've been wanting to make myself a purse but haven't taken the time. I've been sewing but the three Jenny Purses I made were given away as gifts. Today I decided to make something for myself. I want a bag that I can take to the park this summer. It has to hold the essentials like my wallet, keys, cell phone, sunglasses but be light weight. So I created this. I don't know if you call it a sling bag or pouch bag but can be worn across the chest or over the shoulder. I plan on field testing it tomorrow. Our local park just opened today and Nature Girl is dying to go.
I stuffed quite a bit into the purse for the photo. It fit a cell phone, cordless phone, tennis ball, measuring tape and sunglasses with a little room to spare. Why would I stuff those items into my purse . . . because they were on my counter! Why else?

Here's a shot of the inside. It has a pocket for my cell phone and a ring to attach my keys to, since I hate it when my keys fall to the bottom of my purse and I have to dig for them. It's hard to see in the photos but there is also a deep pocket on the front of the purse. I think it could use a little embellishing on the front pocket but otherwise I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Not bad considering I made the pattern myself. This is just the kind of bag I envisioned for the owl on the yellow fabric. Nature Girl has already asked me to make it for her. Maybe tomorrow, because today was about making something for me!

Sew Along

I recently joined the Sparkle Power Sew Along. The projects for April & May include clothing and accessories. I've been wanting to make some skirts and bags so it seemed like a good idea to join. A few months ago I purchased a few pillowcases at my favorite thrift store so I could try the pillowcase dress tutorial at Red Instead. I thought that Sparkle Power Sew Along would get me motivated so I'd get the dresses done. Well it worked here is Nature Girl modeling a pillowcase dress with a matching headband I finished today. I'm sure this should have been finished in 30 minutes or less but the sewing powers in the universe were working against me today. Two hours later it's finished and she's happily wearing it as a nightgown. Have you ever had one of those days when you want to craft but the craftiness just isn't there? That was me today. Seriously how hard can a pillowcase dress be! Not very . . . but today it was a struggle. I think I'll try it again on a day when the crafty powers are working in my favor.


The owl is a work in progress. Do you recognize the fabric? It's the yellow fabric I found at the thrift store last weekend. It reminded me of the 70's and justed called out for a brown embroidered owl. The owl is from a doodle I made while waiting for Nature Girl to finish dance class this week. Now I think I'll turn it into either a zippered pouch or a simple little purse. I don't need an owl purse but Nature Girl loves owls and will claim it as hers once it's finished. Really after the struggle I had with the pillowcase dress I think I should wait for another day. I'd hate to ruin it. I also need to work on my softie for the Plush Swap 3 but I'll wait till the craftiness returns.

Reusable Snack Bag & Napkin Tutorials

I suffer from plastic use guilt. What is this you ask. It's the sense of guilt that overcomes me every time I open the drawer to pull out a plastic bag. We all know that plastic is bad for the environment but it's very hard to give up it's convenience and go "green." In an effort to be a little more "green" and alleviate some of my plastic use guilt I created tutorials for a reusable snack bag and reusable napkin. It's quick and easy, taking less than 30 minutes(less time if you're not interrupted by a child) to create both the pouch and a matching napkin. I made several snack pouches and matching napkins for my daughter's preschool snack. These are my first tutorials. I hope you'll make some and help alleviate plastic use guilt all around the world! Feel free to contact me with questions.

Click to download a pdf of the Reusable Snack Bag Tutorial


Click to download a pdf of Reusable Napkin Tutorial

Edited:
This reusable snack bag tutorial was revised. The link should take you to the revised tutorial. Snack size pouch measurement = 7.5 inches by 11 inches.
Sandwich size pouch measurement = 7.5 inches by 19 inches.

The construction is the same for either a snack pouch or a sandwich bag. So the tutorial instructions would be exactly the same for either. The difference in measurements will just change the final size. So really this is a two for one tutorial by changing the largest measurement you can have either a snack pouch or sandwich bag.
The 7.5 x 19 inch size for sandwich bags should accommodate bigger pieces of bread. If you're a Wonder Bread sandwich eater you may want to cut that down to 7.5 X 15.