Archives for January 2013

8
Jan

Creating With Kids: Painted Fabric

My kids are little. Savannah and Matilda are still in preschool and Caspian is 16 months. But despite their young ages, I like to try to involve them in creativity as much as possible. Would I love to plunk them down in front of a sewing machine and get them sewing? Yes. But I just don’t feel like they are old enough yet. You betcha, that when the time is right, Miss Savannah will be getting her first sewing machine, but until then, I’ve been trying to come up with other ways to involve the kids in creative projects.

For Christmas the girls wanted to make some handmade gifts. I thought about some different things they could make or that we could make together. So I decided that I would have the girls paint some different designs onto a large piece of fabric and I would use that fabric and create some sewn gifts for our family and friends. A little creative collaboration, if you will.

The project was a big success! The girls had a great time painting on the fabric and I had a lot of fun turning their fabric into sewn gifts.

Do you want to do some fabric painting with your kids? Here are some tips that worked for us……..

Gather up a bunch of acrylic paints in different fun colors. I had quite a few Martha Stewart craft paints on hand, so we used those. My favorite was probably the glitter paint because it gave the fabric some pretty sparkle. Use whatever paint you would like and make sure to get out your paint brushes as well.

To make it easier for the girls to paint, I taped the fabric onto a large piece of cardboard. This way the fabric didn’t slip and slide around their table.

I just cut up a plate we had, poured the paints on and let them go to town. There were no rules, except that they could not paint on the walls. And I made sure they were wearing clothes that it didn’t matter if they ended up with paint on them (because they did……they definitely ended up with paint on them).

Guess who this is in the picture above? Notice the orange paint, the orange shirt……..remember her orange birthday party? Yes, that’s Miss Savannah. She still loves orange.

And Miss Matilda still loves blue.

I had the girls paint on Osnaburg fabric. It’s one of my very favorite natural fabrics. It’s really inexpensive and I just love the look and feel of it.

After the girls were done painting, we let the fabric dry for 24 hours on the board. Then I peeled the tape off of the fabric and cut it into some sewn gifts.

Here is what we made………

I used the Rick Rack Tissue Paper Holder Tutorial to make these gifts. I added in a cotton fabric for the lining and used pink rick rack as an accent.

We also made some rustic heart shaped ornaments. For these I just cut two hearts and sewed around them with a 1/4″ seam allowance. I stopped before I reached the beginning of the first part of the stitching, stuffed them with fiberfill, inserted the twine and finished sewing around the heart.

The girls were really excited to see their hand painted fabric turned into sewn creations. I love giving handmade gifts during the holidays and it’s especially fun when we can create together!

7
Jan

Survey Prize Winners

Wow, over 1200 of you filled out The Cottage Mama 2013 survey!

I am blown away that so many of you would take the time to share your thoughts and opinions with me. Thank you. Some of you left comments and shared things that brought tears to my eyes. You all really and truly mean so much to me and this has been a great exercise in helping get to know you even better. As much as you might think I do and share here on the blog, just know that what I receive from you is so great that it is beyond words.

I have just started to analyze the survey results. I have quite a lot of data to go through, organize and process. So you are just going to have to wait and see what changes (if any) will occur here on The Cottage Home (wink, wink).

Onto the fun stuff. How about some prize winners? As much as I wish I could give all of you one of these prizes, I only have three. And the winners are………..

Sewing Bundle:

Cooking Bundle:

Crafting Bundle:

Congratulations to all three winners! Your boxes are already packed, so I just need you to send me a mailing address at thecottagemama[at]gmail[dot]com and I will get these in the mail to you ASAP.

Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway and to all of you that filled out the survey. If you didn’t win one of these prizes, not to worry………we have another fabric giveaway coming up this Wednesday from our lovely blog sponsor, Southern Fabric.

Happy Monday!
3
Jan

Studio Sale on Friday

It’s time to make some room in The Cottage Mama Studio. We’ve got new things coming in, so we need to move some inventory out. This Friday (tomorrow) at 10:00AM (CST), we will be having a studio sale over at www.thecottagemama.com. Usually I announce these things over on The Cottage Mama Facebook page, but since this is such a big one, I thought I would share it here on the blog as well.

What is a studio sale? Well, it’s where we bundle up a bunch of different items (mostly fabrics, trims and crafting supplies) that we no longer need, or simply can no longer store, and sell them. There are all sorts of bundles that have been put together. This time we are offering some crafting bundles as well with different papers, stickers, tags, labels and more. Some are surprise packages, some are scrap packages and some are pre-bundled boxes. Here are some of the bundles and fun things you will find during the studio sale tomorrow.

So that is a sampling of some of the items you will find at the Studio Sale tomorrow. And you if you love surprises, you are going to love the………..

There will be a bunch of scrap bundles available that include mostly 1/3 to 1/2 yard cuts of some of the fabrics shown above. Most are not actually scraps but rather the ends of bolts. A few bundles do have some scrap pieces and each package has 6 – 10 different designer cotton prints.

So that’s what will be happening over at The Cottage Mama tomorrow (Friday, January 4, 2013) at 10:00AM (CST). If this is something you are interested in, then we hope to see you tomorrow! And if you would like to be notified of future studio sales, please join us over on The Cottage Mama Facebook Page.
Visit www.thecottagemama.com and check out the Studio Sale tab on Friday.
2
Jan

The Cottage Mama 2013 Survey and a Big Giveaway from Me to You!

Well, it’s here……2013! This is going to be a great year. I can feel it, can you? I love the beginning of a new year. It causes me to reflect, set new goals and refocus for the 12 months ahead.

With that being said, I need your help. I have never done this before, but I have a survey that I would really like all of you to fill out for me. I want to know more about you. I want to know your interests, likes and dislikes, why you visit The Cottage Home, how we can make the website more user friendly, how long you have been sewing, cooking, crafting, ect.

So would you please take 10 – 15 minutes out of your day and fill out this survey for me?
It is not a short survey, I will tell you that upfront (but it’s not super-long either). So because of this, I would like to offer you guys a personal giveaway from me to you. This is not a sponsored giveaway. I have put together each of these prize bundles all on my own. I decided to do three different bundles which include sewing, cooking and crafting (since that’s what The Cottage Home is all about). The only thing I need you do do is take the survey and then come back and leave a comment letting me know that you did so and then you will be entered to win.

Want to see the three prizes I came up with for you? I hope you like them…….

The Sewing Bundle includes three really fun sewing books (yes, you win all three). All of them have upcycling projects with either Pillowcases, Tea Towels or Scarves. If you don’t have these, you’re going to love them.

The Sewing Bundle also includes my most favorite fabric organizers. I exclusively store all of my fabric on these organizers (you can read more about them here). There are a dozen in the bundle and they are in the shorty size (10″ x 7″) and are perfect for storing 1 to 2 yards of fabric as well as different trims or smaller cuts of fabric such as fat quarters.

The Sewing Bundle also includes two half yard cuts of Melody Miller’s ‘Ruby Star Rising’ for Kokka Fabrics. This fabric is a heavier weight that is perfect for all sorts of projects. It is made of 85% cotton and 15% linen.

The Sewing Bundle includes a fat quarter bundle from Dear Stella of ‘Bukhara‘. This is a bright and cheery bundle in gorgeous pinks, orange, yellow and a hint of green.

And finally, the Sewing Bundle includes 1 yard cuts of four of my current favorite trims in my stash. You will receive 1 yard of each of the woven trims pictured above.

Prize #1: Sewing Bundle




So maybe you don’t sew or craft, I wanted to make sure there was a prize for you too! The Cooking Bundle includes the cookbook ‘Double Delicious‘ by Jessica Seinfeld. This is a wonderful book for those of you with picky eaters in the house. This book has all sorts of healthy recipes for incorporating more fruits, vegetables and healthy grains into dishes without your picky eater ever knowing the difference.
The Cooking Bundle also includes four green and blue trimmed cloth napkins and two dish towels.
Prize #2: Cooking Bundle

The Crafting Bundle includes a variety set of Mod Podge. It includes all the different types of Mod Podge that are perfect for creating all sorts of crafting projects. I adore Mod Podge and this variety pack let’s you try out all the different types.

The Crafting Bundle also includes the book ‘Mod Podge Rocks‘ by Amy Anderson. If you don’t have this book, you need this one in your collection. It is filled with all kinds of projects from home decor to gifts and so much more.

Also, the Crafting Bundle comes with some Martha Stewart Craft products including stencils, Crackle Effect paint and a set of paint brushes. I am including some Kolo photo corners and some squares of my favorite scrapbook paper including some Amy Butler paper. In the following picture, you will also see that I am including some large scrapbook paper as well. This paper will be perfect for all your new Mod Podge projects!


Prize #3: Crafting Bundle

So there you have it……..three prize bundles for you to win! So, will you please, pretty please, head over to this link (click HERE) and fill out The Cottage Mama 2013 Survey for me? I would be so grateful if you would. And once you’re finished, just leave me a comment here saying you completed the survey and you will be entered to win these fun prizes. Thank you so much!

Giveaway and Survey will be open until Sunday, January 6, 2013 at midnight (CST).

Here’s to a fabulous 2013!