Giveaway Smiles WINNER

Okay so the "Giveaway Smiles"  contest is over and here's what I did...I assigned everyone a number based on the order in which you all entered the contest then I let random.org pick the winning number.

Everyone had such great reasons to spread a smile and for that I am grateful. I am always looking into ways to donate my time and efforts to others and feel that giving is an essential part of being a well rounded being ;o) so thank you all for sharing and wanting to give to others.

I could not for the life of me get my current random.org widget to work so I did the winning number from their site and photographed it lol...some days technology is confounding.

So the winner of this giveaway is Stefanie. I will be messaging her soon to get all the details as to where to mail out the adorable Tutu Tote bag ;o)

I want to THANK everyone whom entered this giveaway and as always THANKS for your support to Kayz Kreations ;o)

Giveaway Smiles

So for the month of April I thought it would be nice to do a giveaway. As Spring starts and the flowers begin to grow I can't help but smile because I LOVE Springtime and all the new foliage. So it took me to thinking...My giveaway should be to GIVEAWAY SMILES...So here's the details:

1- You must "like" KayzKreations FB page
2- You must send me a FB message that includes
                  - Tell me about a little girl in your community that could use a smile.

EX- A parent of hers just deployed, her family just moved to a new town, she is struggling with
school, It doesn't have to be heartbreaking just let me know that there is a little girl who could use a SMILE and a happy gift to bring her joy  ;o)

Maybe you're her grandma, teacher, neighbor, church friend, nurse etc.


I will be mailing out a Tutu Tote bag as the gift for one lucky little girl. Wouldn't it make you feel happy to know that you helped bring a smile to one little girl??

Entries will not be made public but can be sent in until April 13th. Then I will pick a winner and mail out the gift. If you are the winner I will be sending you a message so that I can get the girls address to mail her the gift.

As an added bonus since you are helping bring a smile to a little girl in your community I will also give the winning person who nominated the little girl a surprise ;o)

Please share this Giveaway with as many people as you know and lets all Giveaway Smiles this spring.

Summer time bags for FUN~TIME!

I love when I can make items that bring a smile to the faces of others..even more so when the
project I've just finished sewing it to be used for FUN TIMES.

Usually I love scouring the internet for inspiration and then taking ideas and making my own twist to them. In this case I saw some beautiful beach bags and then it sparked an idea in my head that I had so much fun running wild with. I decided I wanted to make a reversible bag large enough to carry around all your "Fun day in the Sun" needs. I took some items that I would pack (I live nowhere near the beach these days) and gathered a general notion of the size I wanted the bag to be. I also decided to use a Drapery weight fabric for part of the bag to give it a little more hefty weight without having to add stabilizer. That way the bag is still able to be rolled up and packed in luggage for traveling far or for keeping in the car and using for smaller grocery trips. 

This Black and White print fabric was such a great find, I love the bold graphic look and it really can stand up to some great abuse being that it's a heavier weight fabric. This bold look is sure to be an eye catcher and truly stands out as NOT COMMERCIALLY PRODUCED. I really strive to make items that stand out as being handmade. I know when I'm using something that I made I love when someone asks "Did you make that? I love it"  it brings a smile to face.

 Then for the interior (or exterior since it's reversible) I used purple satin solid. My girlfriend (whom this was a gift for) loves purple...as do I. This is a great paring I thought because then she can have the bold print or a solid color. This bag being reversible has no smaller pockets but it is large enough to hold a days worth of items for all your fun needs. My girlfriend was headed to St. Lucia island for her honeymoon and I knew this was a must have item for her adventures ;o).

As you can see I placed a large lotion bottle beside the bag to show just how large I made it. You could really fit an extra outfit, sandals and more in this bag for a beach outing. I love how quick this bag sewed together and I think that I may just make myself one for this summer (although I have no fun beach outings in my future). There are endless fun things to do in Northern Colorado and having a kiddo does mean that there is always EXTRA things that need to be packed.

I never have been a purse or handbag person much but ever since I started sewing I really do LOVE having multiple bags for different occasions or purposes. It is really fun to be able to make something that really suits a person (or myself) just right!

Something fun for the little GIRLS in us all ;o)

So I LOVE making fun things that I would have LOVED to have as a child. I was by NO MEANS a girlie girl when I was little. Actually quite the opposite: I played sports all hours of the day, loved to get dirty, camped most weekends and rode dirt bikes...however I still have a little fru-fru princess buried way deep inside ;o) Out of the thought of "Would I have loved this as a kid" I started sewing these cute and adorable Tutu Tote bags. I have sold a ton, donated some and gifted more.

I stick with the same four base colors of Hot Pink, Purple, Lime green and Turquoise and from there I pick out fun tulle and ribbon combos that are usually all different.

On some of them in the past I have put on letters for the first name of the child getting them. I have yet to hear that a child was unhappy with getting one of these as a gift ;o) I just love seeing those smiles.

I usually can sew these fairly quickly and therefore can do multiple bags in one day. I love having projects sometimes that are super quick..it makes it so much fun. 

  This by far has to be my FAVORITE picture of my Tutu Tote bag and my ADORABLE little model. She is such a natural in front of the camera ;o). So for now I continue to make these as there are still little girls in need of gift to brighten their day and widen their smiles.

Time Away...

So for the last FIVE months my poor little blog has been so sadly neglected...to say the least.

There have been SSOO many things going on in my life that have really thrown me for a loop.
However I am trying to back log through some of the projects that I've done recently and let you know
a bit about them. That is the nice thing...No matter how crazy things get it is ALWAYS
wonderful to take some time out and sew ;o) It truly does help my outlook on life when I see
something I've made...a little ray of sunshine to warm my soul.

So hang in there with me and you will start to see more frequent updates on my projects.

And as always if you see something that you like I usually can make you a custom order to suit.
Just email me at KayzKreations@yahoo.com  
I always love hearing from you ;o)

Well here's to a MUCH BETTER 2012 and I hope that you are all enjoying the new year!!

Wool Dryer Balls..to the test

Okay so recently I have been looking for more ways to cut on our household spending and I've been hearing about MANY people using Wool Dryer Balls to cut cost and time in drying. So of course I had to give it a shot however I've been seeing them being sold on ETSY for almost 5$ per ball plus shipping. Okay it's always great to support other WAHM's however I knew I could do this for a much more practical price. So to google I went and I found a tutorial here (http://goodmama.typepad.com/goodmama/2008/05/make-your-own-wool-dryer-balls.html) Not only is Goodmama Awesome for sharing this tutorial but she is also a WAHM. Anyhow I followed her instructions with some wool I had leftover from a purse I made last year and I bought a new roll (on sale of course).


So here are the supplies that I started with ...

I got this roll of wool from Joann's on sale so after making three full wool balls I only ended spending about $1 per ball (I love being thrifty). The directions that the Goodmama gave in the tutorial were very simple to follow. Wind core and felt in the washing machine..I wound my cores to measure about 5 1/2 inches around.

I show four balls because that is what I intended to make but ran out of wool so for now I have three completed and one core.

After felting them in the machine and fully drying them twice I feel that they may need a few more washings to be fully felted (I threw them in with wash loads that were able to be washed on hot). However they are fully usable and saving a ton of time in the dryer.

The Goodmama tutorial suggest that you wind them to be 10-10 1/2 inches around however I experimented and did one at 8 1/2 one at 9  and the largest at 9 1/2 inches around. I ended up liking the one at 9 inches the best (the middle ball in the picture). So in the future I will wind the last core to the 9 inch size.

I laundered a full load of king size sheets and two VERY large thick towels. They normally take about 80 minutes to dry and this go round with my new wool dryer balls they took 40 minutes...YES 40 minutes. This week I will repeat the same load and try for 30 minutes. I am very happy with the outcome and am saying GOOD BYE to dryer sheets because this load came out SO SUPER SOFT...I cannot wait to see just how much time this cuts off all my dryer loads ;o)

If you can sit for twenty minutes and wind yarn (super easy) you should try this and see what kind of savings in time and money you get out of using them.

Giveaway prize sewing

Okay so as you all know I did a giveaway and sewed up a clutch following the tutorial from Noodlehead. I had a lot of fun sewing up this clutch and thought that I would share the end result with you all.

So all in all I was pretty happy with the outcome...Following the tutorial was very easy and the pictures were awesome (because I a complete VISUAL learner). I would suggest this tutorial for the beginner that has had some experience with zippers.

The only things I was not to happy with was that I currently have no zipper foot which makes zippers kind of a pain and my top stitching could have been cleaner.

All in all I love the overall look of the clutch and would only change two things if I were to make it again.
1-Make it slightly larger.
2- Make the front panel more pleated.


Well Amylee I hope that you enjoy it and get much use out of it ;o)