FLORAbella Bag

It all started with Pinterest. I saw this post

Source: luziapimpinella.blogspot.it via Coralee on Pinterest

and I knew that I really wanted to make one! I followed the link and found myself here. A blog in - I think- German. It's translated and I found the link to the site that sells the pattern. After much translating I realized that I could get my hands on an english e-book pattern and voila... it began.

I spent about an hour to two cutting and pasting the pattern pieces, adding seam allowances to the pattern and cutting it out again. Then I had to figure out how much yardage was required as the patten only told you what each piece measured.

I spent at least an hour at Fabricland choosing fabric. I am almost convinced to stop going there and just to purchase online. I LOVE choosing fabric online and I hate choosing it in person.

The pattern itself should really be called a tutorial (and honestly not the best tutorial) as the instructions are sparse. Thankfully anyone who has sewn as many bags as I have can figure it all out. In the end there would even be more steps that I would change or do differently if I make it again another time. For example, there are exposed seams inside. The only solution offered in the pattern was to serge the raw seams and/or cover them with bias tape. Not a great solution, but a solution. I left them serged.

I had to re-cut the flower on the front as the pocket didn't cover it properly and it was super tricky to work it out, but in the end, I see the flaws that most people won't.

Features I love about this bag... the flower edged pocket, the ribbon cinches on the sides and the straps. I used to hate sewing straps. I am learning to really enjoy a meticulously sewn strap. Crazy? Maybe, but it's true. It's nice and roomy and I finally have a zipper closed purse that is functional and cute.

Checking In 2013

Hello, January! Welcome, 2013. I am sure looking forward to a year full of new adventures. We do need to look back a bit to catch up, though.

•  We have a shelf in our bedroom that I put a few things on, but hadn't really settled on what to use it for. I found my David styling it with significant things in our marriage. I LOVE this man!

• We did make some handmade gifts that I love! David made and bottled coffee syrup. I made labels and we included bistro bottle pour spouts. We made almond and vanilla...yum! If you're not a coffee drinker, you can still use syrups for drinks like steamers or tea mistos (a London fog is a common misto). We used this recipe for the basic syrup and just changed the extract.

• I made Abigail and Malachi giant reading pillows. They like to drag it around by the handle and stuff the pockets with treasures. They both got new books with their pillows for Christmas. Tutorial here.

• I whipped up some mulling spice packets for my girlfriends at my Ladies group. I had shared this crock pot punch as one of our family favourite recipes at Christmas and then gave the recipe with the spice packet. We love brewing this over the holidays.

• I also made obi style hot/cold wraps, but forgot to take pictures. I made them two for friends, but I'm sure I'll be making myself one at some point. They look something like this.
• My David hunted long and high for the perfect snow globe for me for Christmas and he NAILED it! Love this. It's a simple Christmas tree in silver on a pedestal with a light and a fan that blows the snow inside. It's so beautiful. Truth be told, i am a picky snow globe person and he totally got it! This picture doesn't do it justice.

• New fabric! New project in progress... any guesses? 

• Road test tomorrow...finally! I am excited and nervous, but as my friend said yesterday, the worst that could happen is I fail. If that happens you try again. I am looking forward to little things like taking my littles one on one for dates and sneaking out for little Mama breaks.
• We got a new camera for Christmas... thanks to our family for the Christmas money. I am still learning it, but you can see it here.
• Micah was sick over Christmas and quit the soother. This is new ground for me. Learning.
• We cut down our Christmas card list. Postage is brutal! Sorry, if you didn't make the cut, it's not because we don't love you. You can print it out if you like. I got the inspiration here.

• Oh, and here's our return address label. Actual address not included. I like the maple leaf, not that that is a surprise.

Merry Christmas!

May you and yours be blessed beyond measure this Christmas season!

Happy Yellow Day!

8 years ago, today, while washing laundry, I accidentally died our whites yellow. My David instantly declared that December 20 would forever be yellow day in honour of that boo boo. I laughed it off, but he was in ernest. So, I bring you this year's instalment of yellow.

I found various yellow shirts at the second hand stores (it is almost impossible to find yellow in the winter! we will shop for next year's yellow day in the spring) and made some iron on transfers for mine and the little's shirts. (Designs inspired by these.) It's a work day for my David, so I found him a dress shirt and did not ruin it with a t-shirt transfer.

I'm not sure if we'll get a family shot later or not, but two of my littles were ready to represent for the blog.

Checking In

It's the middle of December?!?!?! When did that happen? I can hardly believe how fast the last few weeks have gone. I have a lot to catch up on, so let's get to it!

• Before IKEA, we celebrated Malachi's 2nd birthday. He loves hats, so we had a hat party. I made myself a mini top hat to wear. It's a bit rough, but maybe someday I'll have reason to make another and to make it better.

• With much help from my David (he did some serious rescuing) we made a two layer checkerboard cake. Malachi practised blowing out candles for days before his party. He walked around the house singing "Birthday" (blow) and "yay!" It was super cute.

• Micah turned 6 months old! I am blown away!

• We've decorated for Christmas. We only have a little three foot tree and I find that a little too small, but thankfully we were able to borrow a nice tree and so this Mama got to decorate a tree and the littles got to decorate a tree. It's hard to get a nice picture of a Christmas tree, isn't it?

• We gave the children Christmas pajamas on the first of December. We're starting a new tradition to do this. They were so excited. You may have seen this on Facebook, but it's worth showing you again...

• We made an advent calendar this year. I've been wanting to do this for some time and finally was able to do it. My David found these cute boxes at Walmart. I printed off the numbers from here. We hung them on the garland we bought from IKEA. Inside the boxes are chocolates (hooray for the free swag from IKEA), a Bible reference to look up and read together, an activity (thanks to our Sunday School ministry team) and a flavour of tea for David and I to drink. My pictures aren't great, but you get the idea.

• I made roman blinds for my living room window. I like them. Not bad for a first try. I measured the windows, but didn't account for the beveled frames, so I had to tweak the first one with a trim. I ended up re-cutting the other two panels. They are much better than those awful plastic vertical blinds that we'd been using.

• I finally can show you my fun pin cushions that I made awhile back. One was a gift, so I didn't want to give away the surprise. Aren't they cute? Tutorial here.

• David and I participated in Bethlehem LIVE! for the fourth year. David was a tour guide and Micah and I were townsfolk at the well. We had a great time. You can read about BL! here. Micah, by the way, got to be a stand in for baby Jesus. That means that all three of my children have played the honoured roll at BL! We are so blessed. On one of the tours that we were in the stable scene, a lady came back after her tour group had moved on to whisper "Thank you" as tears rolled down her cheeks. I am so glad that she was so moved.

• Working on Christmas projects now. May or may not be showing you some before Christmas, but will definitely have lots to show you sooner or later.

IKEA Shopping Preview - the SWAG! (Final Post)

I'm sorry if you're sick of hearing about IKEA, this is my last post. When we were leaving, we were both handed a huge bag of free product. Having planned events, I should've expected this, but I was actually surprised. I felt treated with the invitation and the discount and wasn't expecting anything else. Let's get to the SWAG!

David and I received a bag each

here are the contents of one bag (they had the same items in every bag)

 Contents: coffee, milk frother, napkins, bowl, frame, egg timer, 4 espresso mugs, 2 candle holders, 100 tealights, desk lamp and organizing box. Plus (not shown) a light bulb (link not found, but similar to this one), a bag of chocolates and a flash drive with all the media information.

here's what we bought

Contents: garlands, napkins, napkin holder, baker's twine and an angel light (no link found). Plus (not shown) sparkling drink and a chocolate bar.

Disclaimer: I have not been paid to write about IKEA. These are all of my own opinions. Go or not, it's up to you. I just blog about what I like and I like IKEA.

IKEA Shopping Preview - SHOPPING! (Picture Heavy)

(photo credit - IKEA) We didn't actually catch this when we were shopping, but now this art piece is on our wish list.

Finally the part you've all been waiting for. Let's shop! David and I wandered through IKEA at a leisurely pace for about two hours. We had in mind certain things that we wanted to see and items we might purchase. In the end we only spent about $40, but we sure had a great time browsing.

David took lots of nice 'n' juicy pics. I'll let them tell this part of the story.

my love of colour had me drooling over this one!

I Love new bedding!

IKEA has such great children's products

Textiles are always full of colour and fun!

We love IKEA and will hopefully go back soon. Our only wish is that IKEA wasn't always so far from where we live. Why is that?