Art by Debbie Saenz

Hello Kitty Originals

My daughter-in-law is crazy about Hello Kitty. It seems to fit her personality...Tara is quiet and so so sweet. It's adorable to see my son so in love with his wife! He even takes her to Hello Kitty stores!

I know she has many Hello Kitty things or at least has seen what is out there, so I decided to make an original Hello Kitty gift for her birthday. 

There was a Learning Express store minutes from my house so I ventured over there and found a bracelet with an adorable Hello Kitty charm. Yea! It was perfect. I removed the charm and used it in a different way. A Hello Kitty bookmark!

So sweet, just like Tara!

 

I added this heart charm which matches the Hello Kitty charm perfectly.

I made this Hello Kitty tote bag for Tara's birthday last year. 

I purchased a pre-made canvas tote bag and painted Hello Kitty on it. I then sewed a band of ribbon around the bag and embellished it with bows and rhinestones. Ta Da! She loved it. 

Happy Creating!

Debbie xo 

 

Name Banners Galore and Children's Book Bags

I have lots of nieces and nephews (mostly nephews) and guess what they got for Christmas this year? Yes, name banners. I made lots!

Ever since I was a child, I've liked to make homemade gifts. This year was no different. I just need to get started earlier, the many other things I wanted to make will have to go in my idea book for next year.

I used fabric flowers, rhinestones, and ribbons to embellish the girls and heavy duty jute, stars and brass brads to embellish the boys.

The sparkle and frills of the girls is always more fun!

But the boys can be really cool too...

Well, I hope they'll enjoy their very own names hanging in their rooms...made with love by aunt Debbie xo

Last year I created this pattern and made these personalized book bags for each of my little nephews. I'll share them now, since last year I never did.  

I filled them each with little trinket toys. 

I personalized each one by stamping their names on muslin and hand stitched it to the  bag with a layer of felt. 

I hand stamped the inside of each bag with special messages. 



I even had time to make several more large tote bags for other family members. 

~ ~ ~

Since I was into name banners this year, I decided to offer custom made name banners in my Etsy Shoppe. I think they would make fabulous gifts.

It's hard to believe Christmas has already come and went! I hope you all enjoyed a beautiful Christmas with family and friends. I know I sure did!

Blessings xo,

Debbie

So Thankful!

Is your heart thankful today? Everyday? We have so much to be thankful for...if we stop and consider the blessings that God has given us.  

Our family has a Thanksgiving tradition of going around the dinner table telling each other what we're thankful for. It helps us to keep an attitude of gratefulness. Nothing does more to restore contentment and joy than a true spirit of thankfulness. 

I have SO much to be thankful for, what about you?

I made this banner for my friend Laura Otero who I met in an online class by Kelly Rae Roberts. Laura is a marketing genius! Her blog, Strategic Online Marketing offers loads of tips and tutorials. She also has another blog, Dreamy Design Works Jewelry, where she expresses herself creatively by making beautiful jewelry. 

I'm very thankful for Laura's friendship and help. She lovingly and patiently helped me set up my FaceBook business page...and I had lots of questions!  

 I hope your hearts are thankful today and everyday!

~ ~ ~

Enter His gates with thanksgiving,

And His courts with praise.

Give thanks to Him;

Bless His name.

 Psalm 100:4

~ ~ ~

Happy Thanksgiving

Love, Debbie xo

Quick-to-Make Baby Blanket Tutorial

If you own a sewing machine, or if you can borrow one from a friend, you can make a baby blanket in about an hour. Really! you can!

It would make a very special baby gift! I recently made this baby blanket to go along with a quilt I made for my new little grandson Quincey.

You will only need a few basic supplies:

• 1 yard of cotton or flannel fabric
• 1 yard of coordinating satin fabric
• matching thread
• straight pins
• iron

 1. Wash your fabric (Iron it if it's cotton). You DON'T need to wash the satin material. Cut out your fabrics so that they are they same size. I think 30" x 34" is a nice size, but it can be larger if you would prefer (Just make sure you buy more than a yard if you want it much bigger). 

2. Set your sewing machine to a zig-zag stitch. Place your fabric wrong sides together and secure with strait pins. Sew both pieces of fabric together around each edge. 

3. Use an iron to iron the edge in. First, iron 1/2 inch then turn that in again about 1 inch and iron again. There's no science here you can have the satin binding be as wide as you prefer. 

4. Once you have everything ironed, secure it with straight pins every 6 inches or so. 

5. Change the stitch setting on your machine to a straight stitch and  sew along each edge as shown.

 

6. When you come the corners, stitch straight to the end, over the folded corner* and create a stitched square then begin stitiching the next side.

*Lift the foot (with the needle still in the fabric), turn the fabric, then lower the foot to begin stitching in a different direction.

7. Snip off all loose threads and your done! Now wasn't that incredibly easy?... And I would bet that it took you under an hour to make it!

Wrap it up with some tule, put it in a gift bag with a onesie, and now you have a lovely gift to give at your next baby shower...to be treasuresd forever!

Have fun & let me know if you have any questions :)

Blessings xo,

Debbie

A Special Baby Quilt

This month has been a whirlwind of exciting events! One, being the birth of our 3rd grandchild, Quincey, who was born on October 16th.

My husband and I had just returned from the Outer Banks in North Carolina where he officiated a wedding for friends of ours. Upon returning, I still had to finish writing instructions for Plaid projects I had done. Then I was able to get started on the quilt I wanted to make my new grandson before I headed out to FL to meet little Quincey and help my daughter Kari. It was crazy, but Yea! I was able to get it done and even a few additional goodies to go along with it!

 I used Winnie the Pooh material and satin binding. 



This is the back of the quilt.

I used one of those iron-on tags on the back.

I embroidered on the front. 

I made this quilted tote bag too with several pockets on the inside.

I created this tag by stamping Quincey's name on muslin with StazOn ink. I ripped the edges and sewed it onto a tag I made with the same material I used to line the bag with. An eyelet and a bow completes it!

 

I got into the satin and made this cute blanket for little Quincey too. I made this one smaller than the quilt. I took pictures of the few and simple steps it took me to make it and plan on posting a tutorial of this quick-to-make baby blanket.  

Quincey weighed 7 pounds and 11 ounces and was 19.5 inches long and looks just like my daughter. He's so sweet! I stayed for 4 days before I returned to Georgia. It's always hard leaving my daughter and my 3 beautiful grand kids!

Here are Quincey's big brother and sister, Arianna and Isaiah.
Aren't they ADORABLE?
The quilts I made Isaiah and Arianna became their favorites. Arianna's quilt is so tattered and well loved that there was only a few inches of lace left hanging off the edge. Thankfully, I brought my sewing machine with me, found the Melbourne Jo-Ann Fabric Store to purchase more lace, and was able to fix it while I was there. I had my doubts that she wouldn't love it as much with the stiff new lace, but, to my surprise, she kept saying, "Pretty, Oh pretty". Whew! 

 
I arrived home late Thursday night, slept some, repacked, packed up an Etsy sale, and at 9am the next morning, my youngest daughter, Sarah and I were off to Apalachicola Florida (another 8 hour drive) where she was running a marathon the next day.

Sarah is an amazing athlete! She made a personal record with a time of 3:38 and qualified for the Boston Marathon (which is very hard to get into especially at the young age of 17!) Sarah finished first in her age group and was 7th overall female in the Running for the Bay Marathon. 

 I'm totally exhausted, but I'm praising God for my Beautiful family and thanking Him for the celebration moments that I've been able to share with my wonderful family!

Full of Blessings xo,

Debbie

YEA! I did it...

Finally and Finally I have changed the look of my blog! I never liked my other design, but didn't know how to create a custom banner. I was determined to try before I began searching for one to purchase.

I just knew with my Mac there had to be a way! With the help of Keynote and my son Nick, we did it! Yea! I wanted my blog to have a clean, light and airy feel. I think I captured that. What do you think? I have recently bought and have been studying the book, Typepad for Dummies. My next goal is to add categories to organize my posts...learning as I go. 

My banner consists of a flower I made out of fabric scraps and tulle. I gathered it a bit, sewed it together, and glued a pin on the back then added a vintage brooch I found at an antique shop. I pinned it to a floral bag that I had previously made. 

 I love the shimmery colors of the fabrics 

with their tattered fray, the delicate look of the tulle, 

and the sparkle of the rhinestones!   

I have been working on my blog every time I can grab a few moments here and there. Using Typepads Theme Builder means I've had to resize every image on my blog to fit the allotted pixels in my new design. UGH! A tedious, time-consumming task, but also rewarding!

 

Until next time....

Blessings XO,

Debbie

Apron-ology Worthy? I think so...

My friend Susan from Art Of Mine made this beautiful apron.

This was her name tag for the Southern Belle Georgia Bloggers Retreat. Her husband was so sweet to put it on her while making sure all the ruffles and pleats were perfect! She used a table cloth to create this beautiful piece of art.

Susan used her blog banner printed on fabric to display her blog name while adding the beautiful clusters of pink daisy's. 

Adorned with lovely lace and crinkly ribbon. Susan's apron should certainly be featured in

 Apron-ology! Keep an eye out...

Blessings xo,

Debbie

When Old Sweaters Become Something New

Just Playing.....cutting up several 100% wool sweaters.

While browsing in the thrift store, I found these 100% wool sweaters and my mind started going wild with ideas! The red one was a size 3x. Wow! that's a lot of material and perfect for making lots of little red hearts or flowers or birds or strawberries...and know I will use those cute little buttons for something.  First I washed them, tossed them in the dryer, then got out my scissors.

I made this little heart, slightly stuffed it, added a spring from an old pen, a little bell, and hung it on a ball chain necklace. It turned out so cute.

This one is a little bigger. I just love the natural look of 100% wool for crafts - beats felt any day!

XOXO ~Happy Valentine's Day~ XOXO

Blessings,

Debbie

Curtains with matching pillows

Since last January, when I visited my family in Florida, I told my beautiful neice Sydney I would make her some curtains for her bedroom and send them to her. Well, time came and went with many projects inbetween and I never got around to it. Finally, I made her her curtains and sent them off to her...sometimes my busy life and procrastination get the best of me!

My brother, Chuck, painted a beautiful mural on Sydney's wall over her bed. He painted big beautiful flowers and a butterfly on the wall space between two windows. When we visited, he was proud to show me what he had done. It was spectacular, but what I immediatly noticed was that there were no window treatments to flank his masterpeice! Chuck paints, builds, bakes and decorates beautiful birthday cakes and really can do just about anything but he told me he just doesn't sew LOL!...that's where he draws the line.

I added a green stripe along the bottom for visual balance and used large ric-rac to create movement.

I just couldn't stop at the curtains. I decided she needed throw pillows for her bed to complete the look.

I added pom-pom trim and some sparkly ribbon for accent.

I sent some extra material for my brother to use for other ideas he might come up with. I also included a package of pink beaded trim for her to decorate her lamp shade.

 

I hope Sydney was surprised when her package finally came in the mail:)

Blessings,

Debbie