The Succulents I Love

I have loved succulents for a long time, long before they became ever-so-popular on Pinterest. Before Pinterest existed. Honestly, I didn't even know the internet existed when I was secretly coveting my mom's Aloe plant. These are the ones I have right now, and I'm just writing what each tag says, the ones that I have. Or if I don't have the tag, I'll write what I know.

The tag says Zebrina, Huernia. I've heard it referred to as a Lifesaver Plant, since the flower looks like a Life Saver.

This is what the tag says:

 "Euphorbia flanaganii cristata, native to South Africa, is one of the "medsoids", or plants forming a central basal "caudex" with "arms" arising from the basal area."

This is what the tag says:

"Adromischus cristatus is from Cape Province, South Africa. This attractive plant forms a loose rosette of fuzzy plump leaves, with the tip of each leaf being very undulating and crinkly. Flowers are tubular, whitish with some reddish markings." It calls it Key Lime Pie.

I lost the tag for this one. I know it's Echeveria, sometimes also known as Hens and Chicks.

Lost the tag. I'm good at this. ;) It's a type of portulaca.

Dorotheanthus, Mezoo trailing red (tag)

South African Ice Plant

 Dorotheanthus, unknown (no tag)

South African Ice Plant

Here's a basket I put together at Willard Bay Gardens, with most of the plants listed above. The silver Echeveria died, so it was replaced with the Life Saver one later.

Ice Plant

(and the tiny leftover Echeveria that I thought had died in my basket - I just moved it over here to this pot. It's there at the bottom of the photo)

This is a variety of Sedum, a stone crop, called Purple Form (Sedum hispanicum minus)

Another Sedum called Sea Urchin (Sedum Lineare)

Another Echeveria whose tag I lost. I know it had the word Brown in its common name. I'm terrible, I know. Hen and Chick.

Both of these are Sedum. The red is Sedum hakonense, Chocolate Ball. The green is Sedum rupestre, Angelina.

I know both of these are Haworthia, but I don't know what kind.

Echeveria, but I lost the tag. I'd love to know! It's bumpy on the tops of the leaves. It's the most interesting texture, and when the sun shines on it just right, it's translucent. Pretty cool.

Another unknown Echeveria.

If you love succulents like I do, I hope you enjoyed my little show and tell. Thanks for visiting!

No Sew Child's Patriotic Shirt TUTORIAL

I really love to sew, but every once in a while it's nice to leave the machine in its box and do something on my own! This project is simple enough that, if your kids are old enough, they can definitely do it with supervision.

This project is inspired by projects I've seen others do, so this idea is definitely an original thought of mine. I'll share what I did anyway, though. I had a bit of a hard time finding a plain white t-shirt for Tiny One that was the right size, so necessity gave birth to invention, with the tied sides. I think it's fun! Here's what you need:

A t-shirt a couple sizes too big (white)
A t-shirt that fits (pink - just for a reference for size. This shirt won't be altered in any way)
Blue fabric paint (I used the Tulip brand Soft fabric paint)
Fabric glue (I used FabriTac - I think it's fabulous!)
Red Rick Rack

First, take your scissors and cut a straight line up each side of the shirt. Mine had side seams, so I cut along those and cut the serged part out. If you have a t-shirt without side seams, grab the shoulder seams and shake the shirt out and lay it as flat as you can, then cut along the folds.

Now take the shirt that fits and carefully lay it on top of the other one, matching up the neck and shoulders.

Cut off the sleeves to about the length of the shirt that fits, or however long you want them. It may seem weird, but you can cut it about even with the sides. When you tie it, the sleeve will come out further than the side of the shirt again.

Cut strips, stopping a little bit away from the edge of the shirt that fits. Cut through both layers of shirt at the same time, so that they're the same. I did about 3/4" inch cuts. It doesn't have to be perfect. I just eyeballed it.

Now tie the bottom pieces to the corresponding pieces. I tried to use all square knots, but it's really hard to keep track on these! A double knot of some kind will do fine. :)

Here's how it will look when you're done. I cut the bottom of the shirt off so that it wasn't so long, but I left it longer than the shirt that fits. When you tie this, it will pull it up a little bit.

Now for the paint! Make sure to put enough paint on that hand so that it doesn't dry before you get it onto the shirt. I learned the hard way... We had to do it twice.

Put the handprint in the upper left, where the stars on a blue field would be on the flag. I had to take some paint and a brush afterward and make the blue smudge look more like a hand. A 17 month-old doesn't exactly have a desire to hold still enough to put their painted hand onto a shirt multiple times. Hence the random smudges...

I cut pieces of Rick Rack and laid them on the shirt, trimming and arranging until I was happy.

Then, one at a time, I lifted each one off, drew a line with the glue, and replaced the Rick Rack. Once I was done gluing them on, I went back and made sure the ends were glued down, so that they don't get snagged on anything. This glue sets pretty quickly, while still being re-positionable.

I grabbed some star-shaped buttons and glued them on for good measure. Why not? Now I can't wait for Independence Day so that Tine One can wear it!

Missionary Sewing Kit TUTORIAL

Have a missionary going out soon? We just sent my little brother off to the MTC. In the frantic two weeks he had between graduation and heading out, one thing he needed was a sewing kit. We went to the store and got a little kit with some of the necessities, and grabbed a couple more. Here's a list of what we included in his kit, in case you need ideas! (asterisked items aren't necessary, but they were in the kit we got, so we included them)

Scissors
straight pins
safety pins
needles
*needle threader
*pincushion
thread (we got white to match his shirts, brown, gray, and black to match suit and slacks)
buttons (we got white to match his shirts, and some to match his suit coat buttons)
*measuring tape
fabric marking pen
*thimble
toothpick (for sewing the button)

After we got home, we tried to put everything in the little bag the kit came in, and it was just a mess. I pulled on the zipper and IT FELL OFF! Somebody obviously took pride in their work...

So I took that zipper and made a new bag! Here it is:

I measured the zipper, and it was 9" long. I had some plain black cotton, and my brother was delighted with the contrast (the zipper was bright green). I got started!

Cut four pieces of fabric, 9 1/2"x6 1/2". I did four instead of just two because the cotton was very thin, so I lined it. Take two of the pieces of fabric and line them up along one side of the zipper, with the zipper in the middle, like this:

I'm lazy and don't bother changing my regular sewing foot for the zipper foot. Honestly, I've never bothered to learn how to use the zipper foot anyway! I just use the straight stitch that's shifted to the left, on my machine it's stitch #4:

I sew the zipper so that the foot is right next to the teeth (you can feel it through the fabric). About halfway down the zipper you'll want to zip it so that the pull isn't in the way of sewing. Just stop the machine with the needle down and carefully pull it past the needle and out of the way.

Flip the two pieces of fabric back, and do the same with the other two on the other side of the zipper.

It should look like this after your second seam on the zipper. I grabbed some bright green thread and did a top stitch next to the zipper. You can do whatever color of thread you want.

This next part will seem difficult, but you'll be just fine. Open up the fabric so that the zipper is in the middle, like this:

Matching up the corners, pin all sides together. The zipper will try to cause problems. Just fold the zipper so that the bulky part is on the top side of the zipper, like in the picture. OPEN THE ZIPPER BEFORE YOU SEW. Sew around the entire thing (I did a 1/2" seam allowance), starting on the long side opposite the top of the zipper (in the picture, the one behind my hand to the left). Leave a hole on that edge so you can turn it. Be careful when going over the zipper. I used the manual control to go over the zipper. I've broken too many needles this way!

Clip the corners, and pull it right side out.

Hand stitch the opening closed. I love this tutorial over at Make It and Love It. She gives an excellent tutorial on hand stitching. The part you just hand stitched should be the lining, so you can push it into the other half, through the zipper opening.

Now fill it up with your sewing stuff, and you're done! It's simple, and compact for the missionary you're sending off.

Wish them luck from me!

Painted "Chevron" Maxi Skirt TUTORIAL

Hello! I'm glad you stopped by! Today we're going to add some zigzag to a Baby Maxi Skirt! 


Doesn't it sound just thrilling? And it only took about a half hour to do! Look at it!

Adorable, right? Well, here's what you need:

Baby Maxi Skirt
Fabric Spray Paint
Masking Tape

Got your stuff? Let's go! First, you will take your tape and make the zigzag, trimming corners so that they line up,

I even had fun and made them irregular, and the space between varying. I admit, if I get caught up in a trend at all, I try to put my own spin on it. It's no fun to be the same as everyone else! Anyway, now that you have the masking tape on there to your satisfaction, it's time to paint!

I wasn't sure how far the paint would saturate, so I stuck newspaper between the layers, and I went outside with newspaper underneath my project. Obviously my newspaper needed to be a little bigger. Luckily it came off of the concrete without too much work! 

The best way to ensure that your paint is even across your project is to start spraying off of the project, go across evenly, and stop off of the project. I went back and forth across until it looked how I wanted it. I went inside and gave it a little while to dry. About 15 minutes later I came out, flipped it over, and repeated! After I was satisfied with how dry it was, I took it inside to survey my handiwork. (The paint on the tape takes longer to be dry to the touch than the fabric, so I waited until the tape was dry, just to be safe)

Peel off the masking tape. It should come off quite easily, and it shouldn't have been on there nearly long enough to leave any sticky. 

I let mine dry for a couple more hours, and then I put it on Tiny One! I couldn't wait any longer to see it modeled! She loved it, too!

 Here's the back:

And the front:

Love it!

NOTE: Make sure you follow the instructions on the fabric spray paint you purchase. Mine said to allow the paint to set 72 hours before I washed it. I'd rather not mess up anything, so I did what it said! You should, too!

This method can be applied to any article of clothing, or accessory. It just has to be fabric paint for fabric, or an appropriate paint for whatever else you want to do! And it's certainly not limited to zigzag! Be creative! If you have any questions, or if you want to special order one of these, send me a message!

Flat Iron Case TUTORIAL

For Christmas I made my sisters flat iron cases. Thought I would share how I did it! They're an easy, useful, and inexpensive gift. Here's what we're making today:

To make this Flat Iron Case you will need the following:

• 6"xWOF of cotton of your choice
• 6"x30" of ironing board fabric (it's the silver fabric in the picture)
• 6"x30" of Insulbright fabric (this is NOT ordinary batting - it is specifically made to withstand heat)
• Velcro 

Cut your pieces of fabric so that they measure 6"x30". Keep the remainder of the cotton. You'll need the rest of the piece for a pocket.

First, hem one end of the pocket piece, then set aside. You'll use it in a minute.

Measure 13" from one end of the body piece, just the cotton, and mark it with a pin on both edges. The pins should be 13" from one end, 17" from the other.

Now take the hemmed pocket piece, wrong side up, and lay it on top of the 13" portion, hemmed end away from the pins, placing it about 1" from the end.

Now pin it in place, leaving the original pins where they were.

Sew a straight seam between the two original pins. Trim off excess fabric, and then  fold the pocket up onto the longer piece. Pin in place.

Place the ironing board fabric, right sides together, on top of the cotton. Place the Insulbright on top. Sew around all three pieces together, leaving a small opening.

Clip the corners.

Reach between the cotton and the ironing board fabric. Pull it right side out.

Top stitch around the entire thing, using the top stitch to close the opening.

At the base of the pocket, sew a straight seam through all layers.

Sew Velcro onto each end, on opposite sides. I put the rough piece on the inside (silver side) of the 17" half, and the soft piece on the outside (cotton) of the 13" half. The pieces I used were approximately 3" long.

Fold it at the seam line you sewed at the base of the pocket. Now sew, starting at the fold, up each side until you reach the top of the 13" half.

Guess what? That's it! You're done!

Perfect pocket on the back for the cord.

 Nice thing about this one is that it can hold the wide straighteners or the skinny ones!