halloween banner

I'm just now starting to get in the fall/Halloween spirit. It took me a while. Usually what happens is I get in the spirit about 2 days before any given holiday and then have no time to decorate. It's always too late at that point. Lately I've seen a lot of bunting on Pinterest so I decided that would be a great starting project. I'm seeing this little banner as a small victory in getting ready for Halloween early this year.

zippered pillow

My husband's cousin, Crystal, and her husband, Justin, recently asked for my help in redecorating their basement after it was destroyed by flooding last September. I gladly accepted and we've been working on making it a fun, inviting space for their family to hang out. One of the projects I'm helping Crystal with is making new pillows for their existing couch. Since they have 2 kiddos, I knew it would be important to make them washable. This is why I chose to do zippered pillows. I was flipping through my sewing machine guide book a few months ago trying to figure out how to use my zipper foot and I came across a tutorial on "how to install a zipper". It is by no means a new method, but it has helped me tremendously, and I'm hoping it will help you too. 

the weekly creative #1

Hi All! 
Welcome to week #1 of The Weekly Creative...a little link party to share what you've been up to and to gather inspiration for your next project.
The rules are pretty simple: [1] Link to a specific post & feel free to link as many projects as you'd like. [2] Share any kind of "project": sewing, crafting, recipes,  photography, life, etc. We love it all! [2] If you have time, visit at least 2 other links and show some comment love. [3] Become a follower of my blog (not required, of course, but I love new followers. You can also find me on facebook). [4] Stop by next week to see if your project has been featured. [5] Please link back to my blog so others can share in the fun. [6] Keep creating :)
If you'd like, grab a button to share on your blog:
<center> <a href="http://sewingbarefoot.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i1173.photobucket.com/albums/r599/barefootshannon1/button_zps183a7aac.jpg"/></a></center>
I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to. Thanks for stopping by!

coffee stained picture frame

For my sister-in-law's birthday, I wanted to make her a gift she could put in her home. In March, they had their second child so I thought this "What A Difference A Day Makes" gift would be nice. I had seen it a number of places on Etsy and Pinterest and decided to make my own. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out:

To spruce it up just a bit, I decided to try a coffee stained picture frame. I figured this would be the perfect project for it. Here's what I did to turn an ordinary craft frame into the frame you see in the picture above.

::inexpensive:: gift wrapping

I love DIY projects that are cheap inexpensive. I realize that my hobby could get out of control expensive and I try to keep my project costs low. I'm the same with a lot of things in life, so I thought I'd share a cute, inexpensive way to spruce up your gift wrapping.

Now, I am no expert... I actually have a hard time wrapping anything that isn't square, so when it came to these oval gifts for my sister-in-law's baby shower, I did my best to "wrap pretty". To disguise my mediocre wrap job, I decided to add some decorations to my package.

wedding art

Adam and  I just spent a fun weekend in Detroit celebrating the wedding of our good friends, Dan & Kelly. I wanted to make a sweet little gift for them, so I decided to do a spin off of my "quote art" and make them a little wedding memento for their home. 

Since art is such a personal thing, I decided to make them a small 6x6 picture with their last name and wedding date - I kept it simple and neutral. This project is fun and easy - plus, in the end you'll have a personalized gift for any occasion.

cleaning ::sigh::

image source

Growing up, my grandparents told us they had a little man that lived in their basement named Mert who did all of their laundry. We would poke our little heads into the laundry shoot and yell "Is that you down there Mert?" Now that I have my own house (& laundry shoot) I, of course, have my own Mert. I'm disappointed to say - he doesn't do any laundry. I work full time and LOVE to craft. Between those things, making time to clean & cook is almost painful. After my craft room looked like this the other day, I knew I needed something to get me motivated to clean/organize:

address box

I have a bunch of addresses on my computer, but they're not always the easiest to access if I need to jot one down quick and stick it in the mail. That's what lead me to make this - an address box!