New Insulated Lunch Bags

Well, it's almost that time again.  Everywhere you turn there are back to school sales.  I have completely finished buying Aly's supplies and have most of Abby's taken care of too.  Just a few things like Clorox wipes and Dixie cups left to buy for her, not the actual school supplies like crayons, markers, glue, etc.  I try to stock up on those things each year when they are really cheap so the next year I can just pull them out of my file cabinet drawer and not have to spend so much money all at once on everything either. 

With everything else mostly taken care of, I got this bug to make the girls both new lunchboxes for school this year.  Not that there was anything functionally wrong with their old ones, I just wanted some to better fit their personalities, and not be some cartoon character.

I started with a 99 cent McCalls pattern.  I made one from the pattern, and it turned out just ok, not great, just ok.  Then, I altered the pattern to make a smaller one with a shorter handle and better insulation.  And, while I liked the finished product, they made it way harder than it should have been to make that style bag.  So what did I do? 

Drafted my own pattern for the bag in 2 different sizes.  Then I got all technical (for me anyway) and scanned my pattern pieces and wrote up step by step instructions with lots of pictures and made that into a PDF pattern so I could put it in my Etsy shop.  Pattern available HERE.

I got one of the $1 fat quarters from Wal-Mart for Aly's.  Abby picked out her Owl fabric from Hancock Fabrics.  I like owls, but Abby LOVES owls.  Anything to do with them, reading books with real facts about them, cartoon owls, clothes, literally anything.  We found this fabric within 60 seconds of entering the store.  I tried showing her some really cute fabric with birds in birdcages on it and all she said was "those are birds, not owls".  That's Abby.  There were several other cute owl fabrics, but she kept hugging this one tight saying she wanted it. 

I made both of these in the larger size since we use re-usable containers for drinks (way cheaper and better for the environment).  The smaller size is great if you are sending juice boxes or capri-sun type pouches.  And no, I won't hold it against you if you choose to send those, it's just not what we choose to use.

I just need to make some matching luggage tags to hook on the strap so I can put their names on them.  I just can't make myself Sharpie their names over all this cuteness!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

I ended up just printing these out to choose a winner since there were only 10 entries.

I cut them  apart and folded into itty bitty squares.

Put them in a lovely plastic orange bowl and gave them a few tosses to mix them up good.

Then I found an unsuspecting kid that can't read big words yet...

Stood directly between her and the TV with cartoons on it....

(no I did not pose Hoot there, she drags him everywhere, makes this mama so happy to see them love things I make for them!)

Told her to choose one piece of paper...

And she unfolded it to reveal......

So, Pamela, let me know if you want the orange or white ribbon and I will make sure you get it!

Birthday Boquet

Linked up for Sew and Tell Fridays.  Remember to enter my giveaway; I'm taking entries through Saturday.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I really, really, like to stretch out my birthday for as long as possible. I'm getting an early start this year! I made myself 2 gifts already.

The first is this adorabl little hair pin. I used one of the few little slivers of fabric I have left that used to be my Great Aunt Bertha's. You can find the super easy tutorial at Poppy Chic Designs. She used a 4 x 4 inch square, but the biggest size I could cut was 2 1/2" x 2 1/2". It turned out the perfect size. When I was finished, I just hot glued it to a hair pin with a little disc on it.

The second, I finally got around to making myself a scrabble tile pendant. I just love the design on this one. Actually, I love just about anything vintage, especially fabric. This was a fabric swatch I saw online this morning and just fell in love with it. Granted the original is much prettier, but, $18 a yard is just slightly out of my price range, so I went with this instead. I still have to wait 3 days or so for the glaze to dry, but it will be ready before my birthday!

Birthday Giveaway!

So, exactly one week from today is my birthday! 7-11, you know, just like the convenience store.

Ok, so you want to see what you can win and how to enter?

You can win, this adorable little orange owl scrabble tile pendant with the letter S on the back, and choose either the orange ribbon necklace shown here or a white satin cord necklace to put it on.



Earn one entry for each thing you do!

1. Leave me Happy Birthday wishes.
2. Visit my Etsy shop and tell me what your favorite item is.
3. Blog or let your friends on facebook know so they can enter.
4. "Like" Becky Ann Designs on Facebook.
5. Become a follower or subscribe to emails. If you're already a follower, make sure leave a comment to tell me.

Make sure to leave me a separate comment for each thing you do. I will use random.org to pick a winner. And make sure I have a way to contact you. I will accept entries through Saturday, July 10th and announce the winner in a post on my birthday. GOOD LUCK!

Fabric Key Chains

These are so much fun to make! And the best part is, you don't have to order any supplies online to make this version. This is a very basic tutorial showing the first one I made. Feel free to make yours longer, shorter, wider or thinner. I plan on making lots more to sell in my Etsy shop and at the Pendleton Farmer's Market.



Supplies:
Scraps of Fabric
Fusible Interfacing- medium to heavy weight
Oval Ring
Key Ring



Cut out all your pieces.
2 pieces of fabric 1 3/4 x 9" (make the width the same as your oval ring)
2 pieces of interfacing 1 1/2 x 8 1/2 (this cuts down on bulk in seam allowances)

Fuse your interfacing to the wrong side of your fabrics.

Put fabrics right sides together and stitch down both long sides, leaving both short ends open. Turn it right side out and press. This is where you should topstitch down each long side. I am pointing this out because I forgot to do it on mine and it is bugging me now.

Another option if you are making narrower keychains, is to sew just 1 long side, then press under the seam allowance on the other long side and stitch it up. I'll try to post a picture of what I'm talking about here later when I make one that way.

Now, put the fabric strip through your oval ring and fold it in half. Tip: put the side of the oval ring where the ends meet towards the outside. Stitch the ends of the strip together.

Now, turn it so that the seam is on the inside. I scooted my seam down a little bit so it wasn't directly on the top.

Topstitch over the seam close to the oval ring to hold everything in place.

Add your keyring and keys and you are all done!

A few things I noticed only AFTER I looked at this picture:

1) What is that blue plastic thing and how long has it been taking up space on my keychain?

2) I forgot to topstitch and it is really bugging me!

3) Why do I have to have 10 different discount cards just to get the sale prices at stores. Ok, so 1 is my library card, and 2 of them I only shop at a few times a year, but don't want to have to fill out another form every time I go.