Baby Logs

If you've been reading the blog since the beginning (or have gone back to read what you've missed) you know that I nanny an incredibly sweet baby boy every Monday and Thursday.  He really is the greatest!  Well, I like to keep track of when and how much he eats and sleeps and his mom really appreciates being able to see that when she gets home.  I've been using a small pad of paper that I got at the dollar store to write everything down.  But, today, I was fooling around on my computer and decided to design a PDF printable just for this purpose!  So I went ahead and created one with fun, baby boy colors.  Of course I couldn't stop there and had to design one for a baby girl as well.

What do you think?  Is it something you'd use as a nanny, babysitter, parent, grandparent, etc?  Maybe I'll offer it up as a download if people are interested!

Of course the watermark isn't on the printable version :D  Too bad I didn't think about it until today...  Now I won't be able to start using them until next week.  But I'm excited none the less!

Tidy Up Your Plastic Bag Collection!

I don't know about you all, but I save just about every plastic grocery bag I take home.  Even though I have cute, reusable bags, it is inevitable and I will leave them in the car half of the time.  I had been piling them in empty, plastic garbage pails or under the kitchen sink.  But enough is enough!  I needed to get rid of a lot of them.  But I didn't want to throw them all away since I use them for the small garbage can in my bathroom and by my desk.  So I found the perfect storage solution!

These are two garbage bag dispensers that I found patterns for on Pinterest.  It's perfect!  It fits a ton of the plastic bags so I felt confident throwing away the rest.  And they are perfect to hang either from the ceiling or from a pin/hook on the wall.  Aren't they fun?!  I love them!

Need some from your own home?  I'd be happy to make them for you!  Just contact me for pricing information!

New Fabric!

Last weekend Joann fabrics was having a Firefly Frenzy sale!  So many things were marked down :D  So, of course, I couldn't stay away.  I went to find fabric to make more bags like the ones from my post about Finished Father's Day Gifts.  My dad LOVED his!!  To my luck, the swatches for discontinued Home Decor fabric samples were on clearance!  Just my luck because they are perfect for all of the pockets!

Here's a preview of just some of the fabric I purchased:

I wanted some manly ones and some girly ones.  After all these bags are good for anyone!  Don't play golf?  No worries!  The shoe bag is perfect for holding dirty shoes while traveling to keep it off of your clothes in a suitcase, the accessories bag would make a perfect craft bag with the tee slots for crayons, pencils, etc.  The bags are perfectly versatile to meet anyones needs!

Want to order one or a set for yourself?  Just shoot me an e-mail or visit my facebook or etsy page!

Stepping into Design

I've discovered just how problematic not having Internet at my apartment is.  Makes it a little difficult to find wifi and time to write when life gets hectic.  So that's the explanation as to why I've been MIA for 8 days.

Anyway!  Exciting news :D  I've decided to try my hand at designing knitting patterns!!  I'm really excited.  I really love the idea of designing clothes but am not so confident in my abilities yet..  So I've decided to do that on a smaller scale and design clothes for American Girl Dolls (or any 18" dolls)!  I thought the perfect thing to start off with is a collection of Disney character costumes.  Starting with my favorite non-princess: Alice!  It's going great so far.  I've picked out a lovely cotton yarn from Hobby Lobby's line of "I Love This Cotton"

My progress thus far :D  My plan is to get this finished within the next couple of days, send the pattern out to test knitters, and then start working on the next one!  Then this pattern should be available in a few weeks once the test knitters are finished.  Any preferences as to who my next one should be?  Personally I'm leaning towards Cinderella but I'm definitely up for suggestions!

Baby Shower Cakes

I found an adorable book at Joann Fabrics for Baby Shower Diaper Cakes.  I've seen a few on the internet and thought they were adorable!  So when I saw this book I decided I needed to have it, plus I had a 40% off coupon which makes everything better.  The goal is to have one of them for sale if I end up joining a craft fair.  Probably something pretty gender neutral.  Any thoughts on color scheme?

Aren't the cute?!  The yellow one is bear themed, the blue is sports, and the pink is a girly princess.

I haven't had a chance to price them out yet but if you are interested in ordering one you can contact me and I will give you a quote.

Bunch O' Bears Cake:

- Crochet rimmed blanket with Polar Bear motif

- Polar Bear pacifier clip

- Stuffed Panda Bear with security blanket

- Bear Claw booties

- Striped cocoon

- Striped hat

- Teddy Bear

- 85 diapers

Simply Sports Cake:

- Baseball diamond blanket

- Crochet rimmed blanket with football motif

- Baseball glove mittens

- Baseball bat rattle

- Baseball cleat booties

- Football car seat strap covers

- Air horn bottle cover

- Football cocoon

- Football hat

- 85 diapers

Precious Princess Cake:
- 3 pairs of crochet rimmed socks
- Lace mittens
- Crochet rimmed blanket
- Ballet slipper booties
- Crochet rimmed baby bib
- Floral headband
- Floral pacifier clip
- 85 diapers

I'm also working on some "Create Your Own" options!

Diving Into Craft Fairs

It was bound to happen eventually.  I have seriously been considering selling my items at craft fairs for a few years and I have finally decided to bite the bullet and do it!!  I've started doing a lot of research into different craft fairs around my area (there are a ton!)  Unfortunately, there are next to none in my price range...  But I will not let that stop me!  I have found 2 with a commute of less than an hour, and a few more that I'd have to travel around 2 hours to get to.  I've chosen one to apply for first so we'll see how that goes.  They haven't sent out applications yet but I'm looking forward to filling it out once I receive it :D

And, of course, I've started building up my inventory so I'll be sure to have plenty of items to offer.

Anybody have any craft fair experiences they'd like to share?  I'd love to hear about them!!

Finished Father's Day Gifts

I just finished making and photographing the golf bags for my dad's Father's Day present!  I LOVE the way they turned out!  I went to Joann Fabrics yesterday to pick out the perfect fabric.  Which, let me tell you, was not easy.  Picking the right fabrics was no easy feat...I kept finding fabrics I would love but didn't really fit for my dad.  I ended up picking two beautiful blue fabrics from the Home Decor section.  I new I wanted something durable that would survive my dad's many trips to the golf course so the everyday cotton just wasn't going to cut it.  I could sit here and describe them but the pictures do it so much more justice!  So I will let those speak for themselves :D

I think the colors work really well together.  And, lucky me, I had ribbon on hand that made the perfect trim and drawstrings!  The bags are definitely spacious enough to hold everything my dad could need.

 

This may have been my favorite part.  Little pockets for golf tees!  Aren't they cute?!  The Golf Accessories Bag also has two pockets to carry things like a cellphone, money, pens, and other small items while the large drawstring pocket can fit golf balls, golf gloves, or other larger items.

Even the shoe bag as two extra pockets on the outside!  

I'm really pleased with the way they turned out!  Hopefully my dad will be too :D

Interested in purchasing your own bags?  Just e-mail me at craftedbycorley@aol.com or follow these links:

Facebook Link

Etsy Link 

Father's Day Fun!

Father's Day is coming up in a little over a week!  If you're anything like me you've either just started thinking about what to get him, or you were just reminded to start looking after reading this post.  I've been looking for a lot of different craft ideas to make for my dad this year and it's been a tough decision.  He lives in Miami so anything made for the cold weather doesn't work out very well.  But finally I found some tutorials from Joann Fabrics for two different golf bags.  One for accessories and one for shoes.  My dad LOVES to golf so I knew these would be perfect!

I still need to figure out what colors to make them but I will take a trip to the craft store soon!  The best part is they are available to you as well!  Crafted By Corley has now added these to the constantly growing inventory!

The golf shoe bag is priced at $35 and the golf accessories bag is priced at $28

If you are interested in ordering either (or both!) of these bags please e-mail me at craftedbycorley@aol.com  You can customize the color of the bags as well.

All about Corley and the Business!

Crafted By Corley officially has a blog!  Thank you for stopping by to check it out.  As you may or may not know, Crafted By Corley is my personal business where I send all sorts of handmade needle crafts.  I currently have a web presence on Facebook here: Crafted By Corley on Facebook as well as on Etsy here: Crafted By Corley on Etsy.

I have been doing needle crafts for what seems like forever.  I learned to sew somewhere around 5th grade, to knit in 8th grade, and to crochet my freshman year of college.  It was during college that I decided to try selling the crafts that I absolutely love to make!  And, now that I am a recent college graduate, I have decided to continue to grow my business.

Of course this is not my only job, I currently work as a nanny for two different families during the week.  One family has an incredibly sweet 3 month old and the other family has two fun and energetic kids of 4 and 8 years.  I love all three of these amazing children and am so happy to be able to spend my days with them.  They also offer me a lot of crafting time!  With naps and extracurriculars I'm granted a few hours during the day to knit or crochet and of course my nights and weekends are completely open to craft as well.  It's what I love doing so I find every opportunity to fire up my sewing machine or pick up some knitting needles.

I'm very excited to share my craft with all of you!  Hopefully you'll enjoy this as much as I do :)