Finished Object : Boxie Bag!

I accidentally kind-of-sort-of took a nap around 8 pm tonight, so I had this random spurt of energy tonight. A random spurt of energy that's now making it challenging for me to go to bed at a normal hour for someone who gets up at 5:30. Good thing tomorrow's Friday, because otherwise it might be pretty rough.

Pattern : (No Guts!) Boxie Pouch
SoChick! Handbags & Embroidery {Melissa Strong}

I took full advantage of feeling productive and creative tonight and finished this little project. I've got a few more fabrics picked out for it and in the works already, and this one is going to a good friend (unbeknownst to her, I just love surprises, don't you?!). It's very "her," and I hope she loves it.

One of my favorite things about this pattern was the minimal supply requirement: two coordinating fat quarters, a coordinating zipper, some thread, and interfacing. I omitted the clasp on the tab, because I couldn't find any that were the right size. If you do, it's handy to hang your bag up!

Not going to lie, I'm particularly proud of the awesome zipper job on this little boxie bag. Zippers and I have never really gotten along, and this time, I think I mastered it. Hurrah! (And seriously, doesn't that zipper just match perfectly?! *happy dance*)

All I need to do is stitch up the lining, and it's ready to go in the mail. I should have enough time during my lunch break tomorrow to accomplish that, so hopefully she'll get it early next week!

Once I figured out what was going on in the tutorial, it's really quite simple to put together . . . provided you pay close attention to the directions and make sure the fabrics are facing the correct way while stitching them to the zipper (oops). Hopefully the next two won't take quite as long to complete, now that I've got one finished. It makes a good sized pouch, ready for a craft project, makeup, accessories, or anything else you can fit in and want to show off in a stylish way.

What's Up, July?!

I feel like this is slowly (or quickly, from my perspective) becoming a theme. . . Not having quite enough time to get everything done I'd like to, craft-wise, and therefore not posting much anymore. Maybe one of these days I'll have tons of finished objects magically flying off the needles and out of the sewing machine and I can do a few posts on those, but for now...

Anyway, it's hard to believe July is already half over. I've been at my job now for seven months, and again today someone told me it feels like I've been there forever. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not, but I'll take it as a compliment. :)

I've been having lots of fun lately putting together some care packages for our youth. They went on a week long trip to the National Youth Gathering earlier this summer, and I figured they might enjoy some entertainment and emergency supplies while they were traveling. Oh dollar store, how I love you:

Out of all this swag, their favorite by far were the fake mustaches. They had a blast waving to people on the highway and seeing the looks on their faces. Anything to entertain a handful of high schoolers on a 13 hour bus trip, right?!

I also included lots of sugary candy, bandaids, hand sanitizer and wipes, kleenex, drink packets, glow sticks, gum, crazy straws, and snacks. It's always so much fun to put packages like this together, and I'm glad they enjoyed it. (They also had a great time the rest of the week, learning, praising, and serving!!)