Sally's Angelworks

{winner, winner, chocolate for dinner!!}

Welcome back to Sally's Angelworks!!!

I've been hibernating!! Not really. But I have been honing some much-needed skills to keep this blog a fresh and inspirational place! I'm super excited to share with you all about my refreshing experiences lately, but first...

let's pick a winner for my two charm packs of 25th and Pine...

Everyone who posted a comment to any of the Merry and Bright August posts was entered into the random drawing! Random.Org picked a winner...

Sandy K!!!! 

Yay!!! Watch that mailbox, Sandy!!! 

So, you didn't win?

Go grab yourself a piece of your favorite chocolate, and make it dark since dark chocolate is very good for you, AND get ready to get a guaranteed charm pack!!!

Create something using this little pattern by October 1st, and I will send you a Pedal Pushers charm pack for sure!! Who says you have to quilt for free? You are earning it, baby!!!

{these are my Pedal Pusher Clam Shells...You'll receive the 5" charm pack~ for free!!!}

You can change your word to something else and use whatever fabric you want! It would be fun to have a Christmassy theme, but I tell you what; I'm not holding you to that! 

I'll have a post on October 1st that you can link to. It'll be fun! Like a party! Can't wait to see what you do!!!!

So, a quick moment to tell you about some of the stuff I got and learned this last week at Find Your Lula! It was the most magical experience!!!! 

This picture above was one of my favorites of the photos I took on a rented Canon 6D on the manual setting. Manual has been extremely intimidating for me, but with a photography expert teacher next to me (Kristen Pack), I felt more able to experiment and fail and succeed. And that, my friends, was really what Lula was all about! Learning in a safe environment and expanding my creative voice!!!

We learned so much!!! and I still have a lot to learn and to practice! I have so much swimming in my head right now, and the next part is processing it...just like you process your pictures/film in photography! 

Thanks for being here while I process out loud! LOL!!!

Here's some of the loot we got last week!

This book is my Smashbook. It's a book with a lot of open space for you to do whatever you want to with it!!! We took notes, put pictures in it, documented processes in Illustrator and photography and just good business practices...

I also had a #selfieswithsally page! (Check out my instagram feed for that snapshot! LOL!)

Just a few examples of the inside of my smashbook!

Fun resource of awesome knowledge I gained at Find Your Lula!

I'll pontificate more about it a bit later! You'll want to stay tuned for that! So inspirational!!!!

My Make-O-Meter is on the rise again, so stay tuned for some super fun inspiration!! 

BTW, how are your Christmas gifts coming along??? I'm still making my list and checking it twice!!

Blessings!!

{a merry and bright august - the final edition!}

Ohhhhhh it's so sad!!! This is it for my Christmas in August fling here on the blog!!! Kind of, anyway! I will be posting Christmas projects from now until December 25th for sure!

And today's project is so awesome!!! And a big learning experience!!

I started with these fabulous fabrics, Chalkboard Christmas designed by Melissa Ybarra with Iza Pearl Designs! 

And I finished with this!! 

A Chalkboard Christmas Table Topper!

Comment if you want to have a PDF pattern for this topper!! It's made up of strips and half-square triangles. Not too hard.

Okay...confession time!! (I think I say this a lot!! Stop me if you've heard this.)

I messed up while sewing this together. 

So, I came to a spot where I had to make a decision. Rip about 8 - 1" blocks apart or just suck it up and see how you can salvage it after sewing the next strip on. 

Confession: I am not a perfectionist. 

When making that decision, though, I had to take a few things in consideration:

 

1. Am I keeping this?
2. Is it a gift?
3. Am I going to sell it?
4. Will the mistake bug me and keep me up at night?
5. Should the mistake bug me and keep me up at night?
6. Am I going to try to enter the piece in a contest or show?
7. Will mr gorgeous still love it?

 

and the best question...

Can I cover the mistake with buttons?

In most cases, the answer to the last question is yes. I actually took buttons to my work to sew them over my mistakes, but alas, I had forgotten a needle! 

I am not a perfectionist!

But that's okay...in most cases!!

I love the swirly quilting on this piece!!

It makes me think of snow!!!

Before quilting...

After quilting! And the binding? I followed Becca's tutorial that she taught us at this month's Houston Modern Quilt Guild meeting for machine binding. It took me 15 minutes to put this binding on. The only thing I would do differently is to maybe use matching thread OR a longer stitch with the white thread. But otherwise, it was soooooooo fast!!!!!!! And I think it looks pretty darn good!!!

Those words...sigh!!! LOVE!!!! 

Let me know if you want a pattern!!

Here's where I wrap things up!! (get it???)

What a blessing to start on Christmas early! And I so appreciate all of my readers and friends that have joined me here and encouraged me on!!!

1. If you still want to enter to win two charm packs of 25th and Pine by Basic Grey, comment on any post that is in the Merry and Bright August category!

2. Also, if you want to guarantee getting one charm pack shipped to you FREE, join me in creating this pillow!

 I'm extending the date (because real life hit and I overestimated my finishing ability!! LOL!!) to October 1st! It doesn't need to be quilted. It can be a mini quilt if you'd rather! You can have your squares measure anything you want (equally, you know! LOL!!). Mine are 3" finished. So it's going to be a big blue Christmassy pillow for us!! :) (love!) Post a link to your pic in any merry and bright post!! Make sure you let me know it's a link to your pillow top! ♥

3. Make sure you sign up for the newsletter! I have some fun things coming up, other blog series, and announcements for new products in the etsy shop, plus free patterns! yay!!!

I hope I've inspired a little bit of the season in your lives and gotten you ready to craft for your gifts and decorations this year! You've inspired me to continue crafting!! yay!!

Blessings!!!

I'm linking up to crazy mom quilts finish it up Friday!!

{a merry and bright august - the apron edition!}

Happy Tuesday!!!

I'm sad that this is my last week in this fun Christmas series!! I hope and pray that you have been blessed and have been motivated to start early on your Christmas gifts and decorations!!! I sure have!

Today, I have a great treat for you!! Two aprons that I made pretty quickly! You can, too!!

A while ago, I asked the girlies over at Riley Blake if I could have some Laminate fabric to make a waterproof apron for me and my crazy splashy dish washing!!

A couple of weeks ago, I got a sweet envelope in the mail from Riley Blake with gorgeous aqua chevron laminate! I rejoiced and set to making myself a waterproof apron!

Remember this apron? (tutorial linked to the pic)

I took this tutorial and changed it up a little!!

Basically, if you add up the measurements of top three fabrics, it equals 23.5" width. Then the bottom three = 8.5". Instead of sewing 6 layers together, I sewed two layers + three ruffle strips.

The top layer is a piece of laminate that measures 23.5"x34".

The bottom layer is a piece of muslin that measures 8.5"x34".

To add the ruffles, cut 2 strips WOF 2" wide and gather the top with a gathering stitch. Pin the strips to the muslin however you'd like them to look! Sew!!

Sew the two parts together (laminate and ruffle piece) and follow the rest of the tutorial!

One of the reasons I created this apron this way is to wear it high on the body so your tummy doesn't get all wet from your splashy dish washing!! LOL!! Also, this is the way Julia Child wore her aprons!!

{image source here}

Oh you want another apron? I'd be happy to share one with you!!!

This is my new Jenny Eliza Reversible Apron! I love that you can turn it around and I love Jenny Eliza, fabric that is more of Jennifer Paganelli's beautiful designs!

Super easy, too!!!

Take two half yards of fabric (preferably Jenny Eliza by SisBoom from JoAnn Fabrics) and sew them right sides together all around leaving a hole to turn it right side out. Turn it right side out and sew around the whole piece catching the opening in the seam.

 

Take your piece and fold it in half. Put a pin about 2inches from the fold.

Fold each side to the middle fold and put two pins about 1.5" from the fold. 

Open your piece with the pins holding the pleats together. Sew where the pins are about 2 inches down. 

 

Open out your piece and flatten your pleats and iron! Then you can sew across the top of the piece to set the pleats.

Time for the straps. Cut two 2" strips WOF. Sew them right sides together leaving the ends open. Turn your tube right side out and fold in the ends. Press. Cut the strap in two and press the ends in. Sew all around both straps. Sew them on the top right and left edge of the top.

Cut another strip 3.5" and fold it right sides together and sew! Leave one side open. Turn it right side out. Fold in the open end, press and sew. Cut it in half and set aside for the top!

Now, let's quickly make the top part. Fold a piece of fabric in half so that it measures 14" square (you are starting with a 28"x14"). Put the fold on the bottom, and mark the top in from each edge 3.25" on either side! Draw a line from that mark down to the bottom corner. Repeat on the other side (you are basically sewing a trapezoid!). Sew the sides and turn it right side out.

Fold in the top raw edge and place your raw edges of your straps inside against the folded corners. Sew along the top of the edge to secure the straps and the open edge! 

Sew the top piece to the bottom matching the middles of each, pinning and sewing!

Because I finished the bottom of the top, it's totally reversible!

 

So sweet!!!!

What is your favorite cookbook that you are cooking out of?

I'm loving this one...

Giada's Feel Good Food

There's a recipe for an awesome arugula-lemon sauce that Mr Gorgeous loves on his salmon!! I actually don't eat seafood, but as of this year, I cook it! I'm expanding my horizons...a regular renaissance woman!

I also love any Weight Watcher cookbook!! LOL!!! They do the hard work for me.

But it isn't really any fun to cook without a cool apron!! I hope these two above (really, three, counting the Valencia Thankful apron above!!) have inspired you to cook and to cook up some aprons! ♥

Here are some links to others I've made:

Mother/Daughter matching aprons

Art Smock Tutorial 

Delighted Scalloped Apron Tutorial on the Quilted Fish

 

Fun Flirty Girl Promenade Apron Tutorial on the Intrepid Thread

What are you cooking up today???

Don't forget to comment to enter to win two charm packs!!

Blessings!

{a merry and bright august - the pillow edition}

Happy Saturday!! I pray your weekend is filled with rest and recharging for next week!! 

I have a quick post for you today with fun Christmas pillows!! yay!!!

Here is this wonderful fabric!! It's Angel Band by Janet Wecker Frisch for Quilting Treasures! She has two panels in her collection that are awesome!!! Julie from Intrepid Thread sent me these panels and other fabrics in the bundle! I've created two pillows from one panel today. One of them is an itty bitty pillow...

I took two similar panels (7 3/8") and put them right sides together and sewed them together. I left a little opening, added stuffing, and handsewed it shut!

It's a cutie little deco pillow, perfect for Christmas!!!

I cut the rest of the panel apart and created a much bigger pillow!

I added the strip of angels on this side with the taller panels...

On this side, I added two more 7 3/8" squares of fabric from the line and one other that is cut in two (the black strips!). I also added a strip on the top and the bottom of this side of the pillow. This beautiful fabric is so fun and wildly decorative for Christmas! Perfect for my couch!!!

Here's another Christmas pillow you can make...

Use extra charm squares that you have...

For a neutral charm, add your writing and embroider!

I used Aurifil 12wt thread + DMC metallic thread to be a little bit more festive!! Love!!

I added borders with my Folk Art Holiday fabric that I had left over from this project here.

So, now, what about you???

Are you into creating pillows?

Do you love traditional Christmas colors or non-traditional?

I have a special challenge for you!!!!

Take this pattern (below) and make it Christmassy!!! Your kind of Christmassy!!

This is made out of half-square triangles and squares! Basically, it is 9 churn dash blocks without the side strips. 

***Everyone who posts a finished top (doesn't have to be quilted YET! but it'd be cool if it were!!) and links to it here on this post will RECEIVE A FREE CHARM PACK!!!***

Here are the rules:

• You can pick any size quilt/pillow/HST.
• You can use any color pattern you wish!
• It doesn't need to be quilted, but it does need to be pieced.
• You can use a different word other than believe or no word at all...although, I may have some extra goodies for those who embroider a word on their pillow top!!
• Post your link here in the comments by August 31st and you will receive your charm pack after I contact you by email!!!

So fun!!! I hope you join me in finishing this fun little pattern in the next week!! ♥

Happy Christmas in August!!!

(Come back next Tuesday...there may be snacks involved!!)

Blessings!!

{a merry and bright august - let's embroider!}

Can you tell it's the first week of school??? More about that later, for sure!!

But right now, I'm just breathing and getting ideas and breathing some more and trying to implement ideas and even more breathing...

...breathing is good!!! {coffee is, too!!!!}

But I digress...

Let's share some fun EMBROIDERED gifties for Christmas!!!

Embroidery is a very fun calming activity for me, especially after school starts. There are times where we just sit and wait for our kiddos...result? lots and lots of fun embroidered projects!!!

Here's my first idea for you:

An embroidered sweater!!!

How cute is that??? A kitty on a quilt!!! 

Here's how I did this:

I bought the "boyfriend sweater" at Target in white (because I'm totally addicted to white clothes...i don't know why!!!).

Then I bought this pattern...

...from Penguin and Fish! Crafty Cat! LOVE!!!!

I put the sweater on and pinned where I thought would be the perfect kitty spot on the left lapel of the sweater. Then I got my light box out and centered the pin on the kitty...

Using a water soluble erasable blue pen, I traced the kitty onto my sweater. I didn't trace everything from the pattern...

When dealing with knits, it's a bit of a challenge to trace and also to evenly stitch...

...but oh, so worth it!!!

Alyssa has fun stitching instructions on the pattern, too! 

One of the beauties of embroidery is the freedom to do what you want!!

I adjusted the tail as I stitched. This is why that blue pen is so awesome!!! (You can barely see the blue under the tail...after spritzing water, that will be gone!)

And I now have a kitty sweater!!! yay!!!

 

Here's another idea that encompasses a few different ideas within it:

Using a vintage quilt block to make a throw pillow!!

So, I found this vintage block at a stand at the Round Top Antiques Show. I kept trying to incorporate it in my Stash Bee Block Quilt, but it just didn't go!!! So, I decided to make a pillow!!

Here are my steps:

I soaked my block in Yuzu SOAK wash! (It smells soooooo dreamy!!! and cleans it all up!!!)

I made a quilt sandwich with batting and muslin backing and pinned.

Starting near the center, I quilted with a very small meandering stitch avoiding the red handpieced portion of the block. (to be honest, I did sew on the red part twice, but I do believe only Jesus was perfect! #justbeingreal!!)

Love that meandering...

It doesn't have to be a vintage block...do you have orphan blocks just sitting around????

 

I trimmed around the block. I have to say, since I didn't piece the block, I wasn't as picky as to the edge measurements. Some may be, and that's okay, too!! You can add a little border so you don't cut off the points of the triangles on your block. 

At this point you can embroider a word in the middle of your pillow top (or offset, like I did!!)...

I forgot to take pics of me embroidering because I did it in the recording studio while we were listening back to what we had just recorded three times!! Ohhh the joy of embroidery! :)

I embroidered the word love free hand. You can write your word first and then embroider it. You can print it from Word and then you'll want to trace it before you quilt your top (so you can see the paper you are tracing! LOL!!). 

Then it's time to make your pillow back...

My block measured at 12.5"x12.5". To make my pillow backing, I cut two pieces of white Moda White on White fabric at 9"x 12.5".

I sewed a double-fold hem on one long side on each piece. Then I placed them right sides together on the front of the quilt block and pinned...

I sewed around the whole pillow reinforcing (backstitching) over the folded hems on the top and bottom. I trimmed and turned it right side out.

Then guess what? The pillow form I had was much bigger!! (I forgot the whole idea of measuring your pillow form first! LOL!!!)

So I made a new pillow to go inside...

Sew two pieces 13x13 together using a 1/4" seam. Leave an opening to stuff it with polyfil...

Stuff and handsew the opening closed and Voila!!! A pillow!!!

This block just looks like LOVE to me!! There are so many options to embroider on there!

A few years ago, I made a slew of pillows and embroidered special phrases on them. Here are a few phrases you can embroider:

• "Whatever you are, be a good one" ~Abraham Lincoln
• "Mothers of little boys work from son up till son down"
• "Friends are sweet encouragements from God."
• "Live well, Laugh often, Love much."
• "5 out of 4 people have a problem with fractions!"
• "Good words, Good deeds, Do them all in the name of the Lord."
• "Happiness is...a home full of love that is blessed from above."

What do you want to see on a pillow? Or better yet, what does your loved one want to read? Special Christmas gifties from the heart!!!

Come back tomorrow for my Thursday post with the Christmas versions of these ideas!!

Also, speaking of Thursday, I'm super excited to be a part of this fun Sew Full of School Week this week on CraftyTammie's blog!! Thursday will be my day! Be sure and check out all of the fun tutorials and fun giveaways on Tammie's blog this week!!

Don't forget to comment to win!!!! yay!!!

Blessings!!

I'm linking up with Lee and her WIP wednesdays!! Because I have a million embroidery projects in the works right now!! ♥

{a merry and bright august - my birthday edition!}

Imagine for one day you can do anything in the whole world you want to do...

what would you do?

There are obviously going to be a gob of different answers to this question!! But I'll tell you what...I have been blessed today to do that very thing...

because it's my birthday!!

Actually, let's be real...I've spent probably 2 hours in the craft studio...not crafting, sewing, or anything like that. I've been on the laptop answering my birthday messages on Facebook! What a blessing to have sweet friends who care enough to stop and wish me the very best today! I am so thankful for those surrounding me!!

I also went to lunch with my two youngest children and my sweet mom! What a blessing to have my mom close by! 

We went to Kroger because our cupboard was seriously bare!! What? Going to the grocery store is on my most wanted list? Well, loving my family is on my most wanted list!! And right now, that is loving my family!! And what a blessing it is to be able to hop in your car and get groceries!!! so very thankful! 

We also went to one of my fave quilt stores, CJ's in Richmond.

yep, I bought red and white Christmas fabrics! Perfect for making something cool for this series today!! Except I can't finish it and make it and photograph it and post all about it before a reasonable hour today...especially since I'm going out to dinner with my whole family!!!

And now, while I wait for us all to celebrate, I get to interact with you! I get to share with you some fun ideas for Christmas decorations. It may not be much today, but know that it's what I love doing. 

Five Christmas Quilts we need to make (and finish!!!) !!!

Here's the link to this Little Trees Quilt!!

This is my reverse applique Honor Christmas Quilt! {pattern coming soon!!!}

Embroidery in the middle block!!!

Deck the Walls!!! Love this quilt!!! {get the pattern here!}

My Alpine Wonderland Quilt! {Pattern coming soon!!}

Ohhhhh this quilt! yum!!!

And for today...

Grab a bunch of charm packs of 25th and Pine, really mix them up, and make a huge random awesome patchwork quilt!!! Add several neutral charm packs, too!! Use chain piecing and put on your fave pandora channel (mine involves a lot of cello music!!!) and sew, sew, sew!!!

Quilt it however you want to, bind it up and you have a snugly quilt for Christmas! yay!!

Let's make a pact:

You and I...we're going to finish up some of our UFCOs (UnFinished Christmas Objects!!)in the next few weeks! Remember, I'm doing what I want today because it's my birthday!! And I say you can, too!!!

Tomorrow is Finish it Friday...let's see some finished Christmas quilts! (my finishes actually can be called Christmas if you want!!!)

Don't forget to comment to enter to win!!!

Blessings on you this fine day!!!! And thanks for making it the best birthday ever!!

{a merry and bright august - quick gifties for your friends!}

{See my Emma's Garden Blog Hop Post here!!!}

Happy Tuesday!!! 

Well, it's time to get a good start on that gift list for friends and family!!

And while I'm at it, I wanted to share where I was with my Summer Medallion Adventure! This quilt would be the ultimate gift for someone you love dearly!!!

Yep, I'm still at this point, BUT...I've picked my cross fabrics!!

Look at the wonderful blending of the solids and the patterned fabrics on the quilt and the low volumes...

I'm going to do the crosses in solids and then low volumes around! Love!!!

Check out all of the Summer Medallion Adventure posts to see the progression on the Marcelle Medallion quilt this summer!!! 

Here's a fun fast gift for your friends...

Decorative towels for your guest bathroom!

Here's how you make them (in 20 minutes!!):

Measure your towel across where you are going to put your decorative fabric.

Add an inch to your measurement. Mine was 16" so I cut my deco fabric 17" long and 4.5" width.

Iron a hem on the long sides first - 1/4" hem. Then iron your sides with a 1/2" hem.

Pin, pin, pin your deco fabric right where you want it on your towel.

Using a zigzag stitch, sew all around your deco fabric.

Once you've sewn all around, your towel is done!

I've picked this awesome April in Paris fabric to match my soon-to-be repapered guest bathroom!! I'm going to decoupage book pages all over the walls soon! Once school gets going and we're in our new routine...anyone want to come and play?

Perfect fun gift! You can add buttons if you want, too...

Here are some other fun quick gifts {follow the links to the tutorials!}:

Jelly Roll Race Quilt!

Mug Rugs!!

Super Tote by Noodle-Head Patterns

scrappy make up pouch by Noodle-Head

Reusable Produce bag

Roll-up tote

Yep! I need a few weeks (months!) to get going on my sewing!! This is a great start to fun list for quick sewing projects!!

Check out my "stuff i want to make" Pinterest board for more fun makes!!

What other fun projects are you making for Christmas gifts?

Remember, each comment on each Merry and Bright August post goes toward winning two charm packs of Christmas fabric!! yay!!!

Blessings!!!

 

{merry and bright august - free quilt top tutorial!!}

Good morning!!! Welcome back to my Christmas celebration here on the blog this month!!

Today, I'm going to share with you a fun quick quilt top tutorial! You can apply this to a Christmas quilt for you or your mom or your best friend!!! Mine is actually for the local quilt shop!! Thanks, CJ's Quilt Shop for the opportunity to sew this!!

Be sure to stick around after the tutorial for some awesome christmas links!!

How to spruce up (get it?) a Christmas panel!!

In a few hours, you can have a quilt ready for Christmas!

Supplies:

 

• 1 Christmas tree panel (I used Marblehead Glistening Metallics III by Ro Gregg)
• 1/3 yd two different Christmas patterned fabrics
• 1/2 yd red solid fabric
• chalk pencil for marking
• green embroidery thread (I used Aurifil 12wt), needle and hoop
• fusible web OR glue stick 

 

Here's what the panel looks like to begin with...

Let's sew!!

1. Cut your three background fabrics: red solid - 18" x WOF (width of fabric); spotted fabric - 7.5" x WOF; swirlie fabric - 10.5" x WOF

2. Sew your fabrics together with the 7.5" fabric in the middle of the other two.

3. Cut out your tree with a 1/4" outside of the tree line.

4. Iron on fusible web to the wrong side of the tree and adhere it to the background fabric.

5. Using a zigzag stitch, sew all around the tree. 

6. Cut out a star and glue (using a simple glue stick) it where you want it above your tree. Using a straight stitch (or zigzag if you prefer!), sew around your star!

7. Cut out one row of ornaments, and using a glue stick, adhere them where you want to sew them. Sew around the main part of your ornament using a straight stitch.

You can continue to embellish the ornaments through your quilting, too!!

8. Using a chalk pencil, write your word on the bottom right of your quilt top. *Practice writing your word choice on a sketch pad to figure out how you want it to look!

9. Using a back stitch, embroider your word!

And you have a quilt top!!

Quilt as desired, bind, and enjoy during your holidays!! Or what a perfect gift for that hard to buy for person!

How about some other links to Christmas decorations to make easily?

Check out this post from two years ago...

{Cute ornament from This Heart of Mine} 

Here's my Christmas Pinterest board!!!

I also love this post HERE about the Good Life last December!!!

 I hope that gets you started on your decorative sewing for the holidays!!! Stay tuned next Tuesday for two project tutorials to make for gifts, 4 other tutorial links, and lots of inspirational pictures for the holidays!!! yay!!!

Don't forget!!! Comment on any Merry and Bright August post to win two Basic Grey 25th and Pine Charm packs! ♥

Blessings!!!

{a merry and bright august - a great start!!}

Welcome to my first Merry and Bright August post!!! I have a seriously fun month planned for you!!!

This morning, we're going to focus on planning!!! yay!!!!

I've been doing Weight Watchers for a little over a year (my second time!! I'm only 2lbs away from goal again! yay!!!), and one of the biggest tenets of WW is to plan, plan, plan!!!

This is how we are going to have a fabulous holiday season this year!!! 

And we should plan beautifully, don'tcha think???

Several years ago, I took an online class called "Cut the Crazy Out of Christmas." {You can check out the Cut the Crazy FB here}. Again, the idea is to plan!! I created this notebook, or a Control Journal, as my center of planning...

...with cute dividers...

and printable sheets for each sections...

from food to gifts to addresses to ideas!

Today, let's talk about ideas!!!

There is a bevy of inspiration out there to get us started creating for Christmas. We just need to reign it in. 

*First, grab a binder, dividers, page protectors and some paper!!!

Let's start with projects...

Check out these awesome printable project sheets from Pixels to Patchwork. You can download and edit your project sheets and put them in your fun new binder!! yay!!!

Or you could have your own custom notebook made for you...HERE!

Here's another link I found on Pinterest for organizational binders!!

 

{from I Love Patchwork by Rashida Coleman-Hale}

Start looking for fun little projects you want to make for family and friends! This little lamby is on my list for sure!!! (yes, family, you all may be getting lambs for Christmas this year!!) 

You can go from a fabric perspective first, too...

Grab all of your favorite fabrics for projects...

 

Grab all of your Christmas fabrics for your decoration projects!!! 

So fun!!! 

*Take pictures of fabrics and document them in your notebook!

{my in-real-life Pinterest!!!}

Your two other fun resources you can go to are Pinterest and magazines!!! Cut fun pics out of catalogs that inspire great project ideas and tape them to a piece of paper. Put the paper in a page protector in your binder!!

What about Pinterest? Oh yes...so many ideas!! Again, reign it in. Curate one board just for your Christmas ideas! Make it secret so your friends and family don't know what you are making for them!! 

Don't know where to start? Start with my Stuff I want to Make board...anything you think your friends and family would cherish? Create your own stuff I want to make board!!

*Make a project list for what you are going to do for gifts and decorations. 

It's okay...it can be added to or taken away from!!! You are not beholden to everything you write down. But you need to start...

and lastly, don't forget about your piles of UFOs...unfinished projects!! It is a great place to start and FINISH!!! (this is my year of finishing, can you tell???) and GIVE!!

Speaking of giving, Christmas time is the perfect time for giving, so don't forget to comment on ANY Merry and Bright August post to be entered to win two charm packs of Basic Grey's 25th and Pine!! {one comment per post, please!} Yay!!!

{sneaky peek!!}

Get ready for Thursday...we have a fun free tutorial and more fun inspirational links coming!!!

Blessings!!!

 

{introducing... a merry and bright august with sally's angelworks}

I'm excited to announce my month of Christmas here on the blog this August! August is my birthday month, and I'm ready to celebrate! 

As I reflect as we do on our birthdays, I can't get away from how we need to lift people up, encourage one another, and just love each other in this crazy, broken world!! So my love to you this month is giving you some ideas about how to show that love to those around you this coming holiday season!! 

Every Tuesday and Thursday in August I'll be sharing with you fun ideas that will include decorations and gift ideas for Christmas! 

To see all of the posts at once, you can click on the Merry and Bright August button on the right sidebar...

I'm super excited about this series and am looking so forward to sharing my love of Christmas and giving with you! As a matter of fact, I'm sooooo excited, I'm going to have a giveaway at the end of the month!

 

 I will have two charm packs of Christmas fabrics to give away! yay! All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment on any Merry and Bright August post this whole month! You can start with this post! yay! 

Get ready for some Christmas fun! Here in Houston we need a little bit of cool Christmas during this fun, hot celebratory month!!! Join me here every Tuesday and Thursday! 

By the way...my band is in the recording studio tonight finishing up our fourth album!!! If you need a little Christmas music to inspire you this month, check out our Christmas Jazz albums on iTunes...

Check out Christmas Time is Here!! It's my fave song on this album!!

Enjoy this monthly series...

Blessings!!