Anthro-Inspired Valentine's Tea Towels

Have you seen the fabulous vintage-inspired applique tea towels in Anthropologie lately? I love them all and they remind me of the real ones that my Mom carried in her shop for so many years. I have been wanting to make some of my own, and when I recently participated in a Pay it Forward Handmade Craft Challenge on Facebook I knew just what to make.

A friend of mine had this as her status:

Pay it Forward 2011: I promise to send something handmade
to the first 5 people who leave a comment here.
They must in turn post this and send something they make
to the first 5 people who comment on their status.
*The rules are that it must be handmade by you and it
must be sent to your 5 people sometime in 2011.

I love a challenge and I was intrigued by who might sign up with me so I went for it. I already knew that I was going to be working on some of these pins, but I also wanted to do something for Valentine's Day. I thought about the Anthroplogie tea towels and remembered that I had bought some tea towels at Target.


I was surprised when I opened them up that the towels were HUGE and far too big to be comfortably used as a tea towel, so I cut them in half and planned to bind the cut side later.

Next I needed to think about fabric. I went to my stash and found these two fun Valentine's Day appropriate prints:


Next I ironed some heat and bond to a large square of each piece of fabric, and then I drew up a template and began cutting out hearts.



I ironed the hearts to the tea towels and then I zig-zag stitch appliqued them to the towels. I finished them off with a little Fray Check to be sure they would make it through the wash.


I had a happy accident while I was sewing up the open side. I remembered seeing somewhere that I could zig-zag stitch up the side and the machine would sort of gather the material into what would eventually look as though I had used a Serger. It worked!


I am so happy with them!


Cute and sweet and handmade by me.


Stay tuned for tomorrow's Tell Me Tuesday--we had 30 entries this past week and if we hit 50 I will host a giveaway.

And MANY THANKS to the ladies at Three Sisterz for guest posting for me over the weekend. I had a nasty virus on my computer and was out of commission for a bit. Thank you ladies for keeping my little place in Blogland vibrant over the weekend!

This post is a part of the following link parties:

Making the World Cuter Monday
Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Mad in Crafts Mad Skills Mondays
Making Monday's Marvelous at CRAFT

A Lemonade and Sunshine Social for Ella

Yesterday was the big day for the Lemonade and Sunshine Birthday Social to celebrate my daughter turning two years old. I had planned special vintage touches throughout the event (you can see a blog post about my original party plan here).

I'll start by saying that is was planned to be outside, and have the feel of a garden party. But we woke up to rain and so we worked around it and had the party inside.)

Here is Ella, the party girl in a beautiful pillowcase dress by Three Sisterz:


A closeup of the tablescape. The pie plate is vintage milk glass and the roses vase is an old lard jar.


My fabric flag pennant garland, you can see more photos and the tutorial I used here.


The tablescape, complete with a victorian tablecloth and French cut glass vases. Notice the folding chairs? I don't have any actual dining room chairs right now because I am waiting to find the perfect Windsor chairs for this table.


A close up of one of the vases, with flowers from my childhood home in Maine that my Dad brought for the party. The lemons are in an Ironstone tureen. I placed lemondrop candies in old Mason jars throughout the room.


This Victorian doll was the gift my Dad brought for Ella. Notice the card? It is from the 40s.


Here are my party favors, lemon drop candies in little canning jars and my paper peonies made from coffee filters.


Dad brought a vintage pin the tail on the donkey game.


Ella didn't like the blindfold much!


The cake, made by a friend. It was a lemon cake with raspberry filling. Here is the stack of Pink Flamingo Pyrex that my friend Flannery lent to me. Now I want a set of my own!


I made these fabric flowers for all of the women and girls that came to the party. They are made from the same fabric that I used for the garland. I will be posting the tutorial I used later this week.


And here is the big moment, when Ella blew out the candles on her cake!


It was a happy day, filled with indoor sunshine and love!


Thanks for visiting, and be sure to check out these fabulous Monday Link Parties!

Lemonade & Sunshine Vintage-Inspired Party Favors

I am participating four link parties today--if you are visiting from one of them WELCOME and please follow me and leave me a comment if this is your first time here!

How CUTE are these?


I am pretty much beside myself over how cute these turned out. They are party favors for Ella's upcoming Lemonade and Sunshine Birthday Social. They were SO SIMPLE.

I purchased two packs of 12 mini-jelly jars with twist-rings and lids at my local grocery store. The lemon drops came from Target at $.99 a bag (each bag filled two jars). I pulled out the leftover fabric from my Scrappy Fabric Flag Banner, and I planned on using the raffia for the lids.


There was a happy surprise underneath the jars--these labels!!


So initially I was planning to put a square of fabric over the lid and tie it with the raffia. BUT--the lids were so slippery and the fabric square so small that it was just impossible. This was my plan B solution--to use my new pinking rotary cutter to make longs strips of fabric and tie them around the lids.


Aren't they precious!!!??



I plan to place them in an old basket as party favors for my guests on their way out.



Oh, and here is Ella's rag doll, inspired by the tutorial from Inside A Black Apple--only this doll is nearly the same size as Ella, and made with all vintage fabrics (except for the felt hair.)


I hope you are having a wonderful week! I can't believe that there are only 4 days until Ella's birthday party!

I am participating in these link parties today--if you are visiting from one of them welcome and please follow me and leave me a comment if this is your first time here!