Cutter Blade Sharpening Tricks

In only 9 days, my little baby girl will be 1 year old! Holy Moly! In the midst of Christmas, we are also working on her first birthday party. I have been cutting a lot of cardstock and am watching my blade dull so I did a search online to see how to sharpen the blade.

Here's some ideas:

 Blades can be sharpened with heavy duty aluminum foil. Simply cover 

your mat with the foil. Create a file with several straight lines, a couple of 

circles, and a few squares. Set the speed to slow or medium in case the 

foil comes loose from the mat and you need to quickly abort. Set the 

thickness to 1.  Repeat with all three blade caps. 

When a blade is slightly dull or you have a thick cardstock and 

need to cut twice, try copying/pasting the image on the screen on top of 

itself. The cutter will then automatically cut it twice. 

Also, pieces of lint can occasionally get caught up in the blade. 

Remove the cap and check  the blade under a magnifying glass to see if 

any fibers are present. 

I will definitely be doing the aluminum foil trick! And how smart to double the image to automatically cut twice! Brilliant!

Giveaway Winner!

Congrats Lil Misses' Mama! You won the pattern of your choice at  Noodles & Milk!

....and everyone, don't forget to use "sparklinbecks" for a dollar off each pattern purchased in her shop!

Thanks!

market skirt from made

Today is the last day for the Noodles & Milk giveaway! I will pick a winner tomorrow!

This week, I have been busy sewing up a whole bunch of stuff! One of the things I worked on was my own spin off of the Market Skirt, This pattern was VERY easy to follow, and I will use it again, however, I will NEVER use satin again. I was going for a dressy look, but it turned out a little messier than I had hope for, and I just do. not. like. satin. for sewing. Accessories, yes, clothes, no!

I added the tulle to the bottom by doubling the tulle and gathering it. Its a shimmery tulle too, which seems to be a bit softer than other tulle.  The pearl and lace trim was just sewn on.

(She just started walking the week of Thanksgiving and is impossible to keep still now for pictures!)

Noodles & Milk Review and Giveaway

I am pretty excited to be doing a giveaway this week for the fabulous Noodles & Milk! 


Have you seen her cute patterns? Baby items, pants, dresses, skirts, the possibilities are endless! Her patterns are easy to follow and she even adds beginner's tips for those that would need them (and you might even learn something new in the process like I did!) 


Sabrina is a stay at home mama of two with a seven week old baby boy and a 2 1/2 year old daughter.  Prior to staying home, she had the greatest job on earth. She was a buyer for a major jewelry retailer. Yes, she got paid to play with jewelry and travel the world- oh and it was just icing on the cake that she had a super boss, the best coworkers and a non-existent commute to work. She had no plans of anything changing. When her daughter was 3 weeks old, she looked at her husband with tears and told him that she could not leave her with strangers and that she had to quit her job. They promptly sold their house and downsized and the rest "is history"

Here's a little bit of info about her shop:

After about 4 months of staying home with my daughter, I started to get antsy. I had no creative outlet. I had nothing that was "mine". I desperately needed something. So, I decided to take up a new hobby- something that I have always wanted to try-sewing. That is right, if you do the math, I have only been sewing about 2 years! To say that I took right to it would be an understatement. Within a few weeks I had an enormous fabric stash and could not stop creating and trying new things. Within about a month I started selling custom baby gifts on ebay (yuck) and then etsy (yea). The shop grew really quickly and I loved all the custom work I was creating for little ones. Custom gifts grew into custom clothing. In January, when I found out I was pregnant with our son, I knew that the shop had to change. I knew that at least in the beginning, I would not have the hours at naptime and nighttime to sew custom orders. I decided right then to try pattern writing. I have found pattern writing to be as addicting as sewing. I love it! I can't say the shop will always be patterns and that I will never go back to custom orders, but for now I am loving the new direction that Noodles & Milk has gone.

Well I am definitely loving the direction Noodles & Milk has gone too! Isn't this Sadie Scrappy Peasant dress adorable on Ellie?

I loved the scrappy strap!

I also thought the pattern for the diaper clutch was great...I have tried to make them without a pattern and they are a pain to think through! This way, the thinking has been done for you!

and this Elizabeth outfit is adorable!

Which one would you pick? Go to her shop, pick a favorite and then comment to let me know and you could win a pattern! Get another entry for following her blog and/or becoming a fan on facebook 


And if you are interested in purchasing her great patterns, she is offering a code: "sparklinbecks" for $1.00 off each pattern. Valid for 2 weeks! These would be great gifts!

Fairy Romper inspired by Samster Mommy

I read this post back in the summer and wanted to do one for Ellie. I have looked casually for cheap green tshirts but hadn't really seen anything that I was willing to cut up. I guess really, I could have bought some knit fabric, but this was more fun. I would say this is a size that would fit 12-24 months? Its long, so it will last awhile on my long legged little girl, and since its shirred and has adjustable straps, it will grow with her.

I ended up not finding anything in adult sizes, but noticed these two green tshirts at old navy this week on sale, and thought I would go for it. At first, I was afraid to cut it up in case there wasn't enough material, but there ended up being enough for the romper AND shoes to match!

Mine is the same concept as Samster Mommy's, except I did not make it into a romper. If you want it to snap and be longer, you should probably follow her great tutorial!

Here's how I did mine:

After I cut it out this way, I used her tutorial to put it together. The straps were cheater straps though, and i cut off the collars of both shirts and sewed them on as straps, and knotted the ends to finish it off better.

I also made the leggings out of a tshirt I had bought to cut up for ruffles for another shirt (gotta love when you stretch a 1.99 white tshirt into two projects!) 

The shoes are from the sleeves in the shirt using the Stardust Shoes pattern here  I lined it with felt, so they are sturdy and thick to keep her toesies warm. The pompoms are just simple pom poms made with white felt.

Cant wait to dress my little tinker in her own outfit!

Online shopping time!

One of the things I dread about this time of year is having to go to any stores to buy anything. I love to online shop instead, because crowds just drive me crazy! CSN stores are perfect for this because they sell anything from clothes and shoes to counter height stools

I have shopped with them before, and their shipping is fast too! I put an order in on Monday night and it was here yesterday.

They even have art supplies! I can't wait to use these:

So if you are looking to just stay home and not fight crowds, I definitely recommend CSN stores!

Choose your interfacing

While at the store recently, I needed to buy interfacing and would have loved to have read this article prior! I thought I would share it here!

PS. Stay tuned, because on Monday I have an exciting giveaway coming that sewers new or experienced will enjoy!

Looking for some gift ideas?

I love November at Sew Mama Sew because that means a whole new list of gift ideas that I can use all year round!

Here is this year's list!

And because no post is complete without a picture (and I seem to keep posting without them lately), here's one of my sweet babies. Nothing is more snuggly than a fresh bathed baby in snuggly jammies!