Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it's my super kids!

I have been sewing and sewing a lot last year... But it was mostly for other people. Now that the holidays are over and our family is all rested up from various sicknesses, I can get back to sewing. Last year while I was looking on Pinterest, I came across a bunch of awesome super hero capes. My son J is constantly asking me to safety pin a blanket together so he can be superman. I decided today would be the last day... Time to make him a real super hero cape. 

I have been sewing and sewing a lot last year... But it was mostly for other people. Now that the holidays are over and our family is all rested up from various sicknesses, I can get back to sewing. Last year while I was looking on Pinterest, I came across a bunch of awesome super hero capes. My son J is constantly asking me to safety pin a blanket together so he can be superman. I decided today would be the last day... Time to make him a real super hero cape. 

A farmer or an astronoght?

Recently I have been asked if I'd like to be a vendor at an event my church is putting on in September. I agreed... So that means I need to get to work. From one project to the next... :) 

I started rummaging and found a couple backpacks already cut out just waiting for me to add an appliqué and sew them up.  

Figuring what to put on the fronts sometimes takes me a bit to dream up. However, these two were pretty easy. And when they come together they look pretty awesome.

Even had a bit of fun quilting the bottom of the rocket ship bag. :) I'm hoping to get some more little girl backpacks. But we will have to see... Last week I made a really cute doll for my daughter... And I've been dying to make more... So we will just have to see. ;) 

Till next time!

Recently I have been asked if I'd like to be a vendor at an event my church is putting on in September. I agreed... So that means I need to get to work. From one project to the next... :) 

I started rummaging and found a couple backpacks already cut out just waiting for me to add an appliqué and sew them up.  

Figuring what to put on the fronts sometimes takes me a bit to dream up. However, these two were pretty easy. And when they come together they look pretty awesome.

Even had a bit of fun quilting the bottom of the rocket ship bag. :) I'm hoping to get some more little girl backpacks. But we will have to see... Last week I made a really cute doll for my daughter... And I've been dying to make more... So we will just have to see. ;) 

Till next time!

Clothes for my babies.

Spring has come and now almost gone... We have been busy in the yard; filling holes, sowing grass seed, and spreading mulch. It's starting to look good around here all thanks to my awesome hubby. :D 

The warm sun has been heating up our small town and its forced me to dive into the kids closets for some cooler clothes for them to ware. Finding very little in their closets for the summer I dove into my fabric bins and started creating. 

Shorts, dresses, and little outfits. Oh! I'm having so much fun! 

Spring has come and now almost gone... We have been busy in the yard; filling holes, sowing grass seed, and spreading mulch. It's starting to look good around here all thanks to my awesome hubby. :D 

The warm sun has been heating up our small town and its forced me to dive into the kids closets for some cooler clothes for them to ware. Finding very little in their closets for the summer I dove into my fabric bins and started creating. 

Shorts, dresses, and little outfits. Oh! I'm having so much fun! 

*Update* Bags for Baby Jefferson

Wow! What an awesome response on the totes to help out with the Jefferson's Adoption. Almost all of the bags from my previous post have been sold. Its been a busy week this past week... so i haven't been able to get as many bags done as I wanted, but there are a few new ones to show you. :)
If you so happen to be interest in supporting the Jefferson's by sporting a lovely bag around the shops... Leave a comment below or email me: bjsuniquedesigns@gmail.com.
They are $25 each. Each bag is made out of heavy cotton/duck material, and is fully lined. They all feature a large pocket on the front of the bag.

Sold!

Sold!

SOLD!

Help us bring Baby Jefferson HOME! 

Wow! What an awesome response on the totes to help out with the Jefferson's Adoption. Almost all of the bags from my previous post have been sold. Its been a busy week this past week... so i haven't been able to get as many bags done as I wanted, but there are a few new ones to show you. :)
If you so happen to be interest in supporting the Jefferson's by sporting a lovely bag around the shops... Leave a comment below or email me: bjsuniquedesigns@gmail.com.
They are $25 each. Each bag is made out of heavy cotton/duck material, and is fully lined. They all feature a large pocket on the front of the bag.

Sold!

Sold!

SOLD!

Help us bring Baby Jefferson HOME! 

Bags for Baby Jefferson

I  know its been a bit since I have posted... reason being my husband and I (oh, and a few helpers) dived into renovating our dining room (aka sewing room). It's been a complete mess. So I'm glad its mostly finished and I can get back to my sewing. So on to the next project! Yay! :D

Recently a friend of mine announced in church that her family is in the process of adopting a child from Haiti. A bunch of her photography friends have decided to offer mini sessions with the proceeds going towards the cost of the adoption (if you are in the Haldimand/Niagara region and are interested in supporting this awesome family via photo session... Click Here). I signed up right away!
That afternoon however, I was chatting with God about how cool it was that this family was doing this, and how I'm so excited to be helping them out. Then He gave me this picture of a stork carrying a beautiful chocolate brown baby in one of my totes that I like to make around this time of year (I was actually just starting to get some stuff together to make some at that very moment. So God gave me this awesome idea -- I could donate the $$ made from the bags to the family as well! So Excited!

Here are a few of the bags I have come up with so far. They are $25 each. Each bag is made out of heavy cotton, and is fully lined. They all feature a large pocket on the front of the bag. If you'd like to purchase one of these totes... Leave a comment below or email me: bjsuniquedesigns@gmail.com

Lets help bring baby Jefferson HOME!

Sold!

Sold!

Sold!

Sold!

I  know its been a bit since I have posted... reason being my husband and I (oh, and a few helpers) dived into renovating our dining room (aka sewing room). It's been a complete mess. So I'm glad its mostly finished and I can get back to my sewing. So on to the next project! Yay! :D

Recently a friend of mine announced in church that her family is in the process of adopting a child from Haiti. A bunch of her photography friends have decided to offer mini sessions with the proceeds going towards the cost of the adoption (if you are in the Haldimand/Niagara region and are interested in supporting this awesome family via photo session... Click Here). I signed up right away!
That afternoon however, I was chatting with God about how cool it was that this family was doing this, and how I'm so excited to be helping them out. Then He gave me this picture of a stork carrying a beautiful chocolate brown baby in one of my totes that I like to make around this time of year (I was actually just starting to get some stuff together to make some at that very moment. So God gave me this awesome idea -- I could donate the $$ made from the bags to the family as well! So Excited!

Here are a few of the bags I have come up with so far. They are $25 each. Each bag is made out of heavy cotton, and is fully lined. They all feature a large pocket on the front of the bag. If you'd like to purchase one of these totes... Leave a comment below or email me: bjsuniquedesigns@gmail.com

Lets help bring baby Jefferson HOME!

Sold!

Sold!

Sold!

Sold!

Personalize Your Sewing Project.

One of the things I love to do is customize an order for someone. Weather it be an initial or the full name, its fun when you can call an item your own. Today I finished another personalized item. The customer asked for the name to be spelled out in the clouds of smoke from the tractor.

Now a lot of people ask me if I have a special machine that does my "embroidery." And the answer is, not really. Yes, I have a machine with a few bells and whistles... but not a big fancy embroidery one (and you don't really need a big fancy machine to do stuff like this). The example above shows a good example of my lettering. The "John Deere" logo is a programed setting in my machine. However, the letters used to spell "Elijah" is done with the simple zig zag stitch setting with the stitch length set at 0.4. For this particular bag I used a pencil and drew on the fabric where I wanted the letters. Now in case you don't have great penmanship here is a trick I found online that I modified for a sewing  machine. 

First find a good word/document program on your computer... type out the name or word that you'd like on your crafty creation. Find the font and size you want and print it out. 

 

Next, pin it to your fabric in the spot you'd like and start sewing. Go slowly.

When your done it should look like this. You now have to remove the paper. Start ripping... it should come off pretty easily.

 

 Use some tweezers or a seam ripper to get the small pieces out... like the middle of the "O" and "E."

And this is what it will look like when its finished. Hope this was a helpful tutorial. you can also use this technique for hand sewn embroidery. If you have any comments or questions please feel free to leave a comment below. 

                                                  Happy Sewing!

One of the things I love to do is customize an order for someone. Weather it be an initial or the full name, its fun when you can call an item your own. Today I finished another personalized item. The customer asked for the name to be spelled out in the clouds of smoke from the tractor.

Now a lot of people ask me if I have a special machine that does my "embroidery." And the answer is, not really. Yes, I have a machine with a few bells and whistles... but not a big fancy embroidery one (and you don't really need a big fancy machine to do stuff like this). The example above shows a good example of my lettering. The "John Deere" logo is a programed setting in my machine. However, the letters used to spell "Elijah" is done with the simple zig zag stitch setting with the stitch length set at 0.4. For this particular bag I used a pencil and drew on the fabric where I wanted the letters. Now in case you don't have great penmanship here is a trick I found online that I modified for a sewing  machine. 

First find a good word/document program on your computer... type out the name or word that you'd like on your crafty creation. Find the font and size you want and print it out. 

 

Next, pin it to your fabric in the spot you'd like and start sewing. Go slowly.

When your done it should look like this. You now have to remove the paper. Start ripping... it should come off pretty easily.

 

 Use some tweezers or a seam ripper to get the small pieces out... like the middle of the "O" and "E."

And this is what it will look like when its finished. Hope this was a helpful tutorial. you can also use this technique for hand sewn embroidery. If you have any comments or questions please feel free to leave a comment below. 

                                                  Happy Sewing!

1st overseas purchase!

This week marked a very momentous moment in the history of B.u.d.. Last Saturday I received an order going out to the UK! I was quite excited over this development... so much so that it made it onto my Facebook wall. There was a little concern as whether or not the Post Office would be open on Christmas Eve (the only day I could mail it till after Christmas). With a quick search on Google, and a hop, skip and a jump down to my local Post Office we got the package sent off. I am so thankful for our postal workers here in Canada. They work so hard... especially during the Holidays. =) 

Christmas was so much fun with the kids this time. It’s been a while since my Hubby and I have really enjoyed Christmas morning… But the excitement that came from my son with each gift was priceless. It makes me excited for next year!  However, now that most of our Christmas festivities are over I'm going to be taking a bit of a break on my sewing (for a short time). It was such a crazy rush before the Holidays that I think its time to have some R&R with the kiddos. Maybe even play with them in the crazy amount of snow we just got last night. I don’t know what is in store… but I’m sure we will have fun with whatever it is. =)

Until next time...

BJ 

This week marked a very momentous moment in the history of B.u.d.. Last Saturday I received an order going out to the UK! I was quite excited over this development... so much so that it made it onto my Facebook wall. There was a little concern as whether or not the Post Office would be open on Christmas Eve (the only day I could mail it till after Christmas). With a quick search on Google, and a hop, skip and a jump down to my local Post Office we got the package sent off. I am so thankful for our postal workers here in Canada. They work so hard... especially during the Holidays. =) 

Christmas was so much fun with the kids this time. It’s been a while since my Hubby and I have really enjoyed Christmas morning… But the excitement that came from my son with each gift was priceless. It makes me excited for next year!  However, now that most of our Christmas festivities are over I'm going to be taking a bit of a break on my sewing (for a short time). It was such a crazy rush before the Holidays that I think its time to have some R&R with the kiddos. Maybe even play with them in the crazy amount of snow we just got last night. I don’t know what is in store… but I’m sure we will have fun with whatever it is. =)

Until next time...

BJ 

New Listings

Spent the day updating the B.u.d. shop. Four new backpacks are now online and for sale! I still have a few more listings to touch up and post, but they will have to wait until tomorrow. My day has been so busy. We recently purchased a new-to-us van. So my day has been busy running around town making sure all the papers were in order for us to switch the ownership over. Crazy stuff... (especially with my kids in tow...)
Now without further ado photos of the new product. Check out the shop for more details.

Spent the day updating the B.u.d. shop. Four new backpacks are now online and for sale! I still have a few more listings to touch up and post, but they will have to wait until tomorrow. My day has been so busy. We recently purchased a new-to-us van. So my day has been busy running around town making sure all the papers were in order for us to switch the ownership over. Crazy stuff... (especially with my kids in tow...)
Now without further ado photos of the new product. Check out the shop for more details.

Christmas orders

Christmas is coming and this little elf has been busy whipping up orders in time for the big day. I've had 6 backpack orders, 2 hats, and 1 crayon case. Oh, and an extra last minute order for two more backpacks. :) It's been interesting figuring out how to juggle family and work. I'm finding that my oldest is asking for more snuggle time (not that I can really complain about that) and my yongest is finding more ways she can get into trouble (little toddlers can be so good at that). Life in this house can be exciting.
Now since I am celebrating that most of my orders have been finished (and shipped out), I thought I'd share with you a few pictures of my favorite completed orders.

Christmas is coming and this little elf has been busy whipping up orders in time for the big day. I've had 6 backpack orders, 2 hats, and 1 crayon case. Oh, and an extra last minute order for two more backpacks. :) It's been interesting figuring out how to juggle family and work. I'm finding that my oldest is asking for more snuggle time (not that I can really complain about that) and my yongest is finding more ways she can get into trouble (little toddlers can be so good at that). Life in this house can be exciting.
Now since I am celebrating that most of my orders have been finished (and shipped out), I thought I'd share with you a few pictures of my favorite completed orders.

Sewing Party

Have you ever thought of having a crafting party with your friends? There are few of these happening these days. I.e. card making parties,scrap booking parties, even Pinterest parties. A few weeks ago my sister-in-law came up with the idea to have a sewing party/class and asked me to teach it. So with a bit of scepticism I agreed to it.

The sewing night turned out great! It was a small group yet loads of fun! My sister-in-law, Becki, did an amazing job hosting... coffee, goodies, girly chit chat, then top it off with sewing and that my dear friends is the perfect recipe for a good night (at least for me that is). The project for that evening was the Toddler backpack (pattern found here). I wouldn't normally recommend it as a first time project... but the ladies in the group were pretty adamant about it. Everyone did such a good job on their bags. I'm so proud of them and all their hard work they put into the bags. Below are a few pictures of their bags... :)

Have you ever thought of having a crafting party with your friends? There are few of these happening these days. I.e. card making parties,scrap booking parties, even Pinterest parties. A few weeks ago my sister-in-law came up with the idea to have a sewing party/class and asked me to teach it. So with a bit of scepticism I agreed to it.

The sewing night turned out great! It was a small group yet loads of fun! My sister-in-law, Becki, did an amazing job hosting... coffee, goodies, girly chit chat, then top it off with sewing and that my dear friends is the perfect recipe for a good night (at least for me that is). The project for that evening was the Toddler backpack (pattern found here). I wouldn't normally recommend it as a first time project... but the ladies in the group were pretty adamant about it. Everyone did such a good job on their bags. I'm so proud of them and all their hard work they put into the bags. Below are a few pictures of their bags... :)

Cozy and warm

Old man winter is on his way. Here in Southern Ontario we've had a few snow falls but nothing significant. However, enough of a chill for me to get out my knitting needles and my crochet hook. This is my favorite pass time in the winter. The whole concept of being able to create a whole garment out of a single strand of string is absolutely amazing!  Hats, scarves, slippers... the list is endless of things to make! Below are just a couple hats I've whipped up so far...  

Old man winter is on his way. Here in Southern Ontario we've had a few snow falls but nothing significant. However, enough of a chill for me to get out my knitting needles and my crochet hook. This is my favorite pass time in the winter. The whole concept of being able to create a whole garment out of a single strand of string is absolutely amazing!  Hats, scarves, slippers... the list is endless of things to make! Below are just a couple hats I've whipped up so far...  

Testing the online market

Last year, after bringing a few of my bags to mom2mom sales, I figured it was time to show my face on the Online Market. Etsy turned the obvious choice for me. Its very low cost was great for my budget, and its a good established site known for its hand made products. Therefore people are more willing to pay a price that is fair for the work we artists put into our products. I have been finding out that shoppers that come to craft shows, bazaars, and mom2mom sales are constantly comparing my prices to that of big box stores. In my prices I only charge for my time because if I were to include the materials it would be outrageous. It is a bit frustrating but that makes me even more thankful for Etsy's site.
Here are some bags that have sold so far:

 Another popular item that has been selling even better than these back packs are something I call Soother Tags. They have many names... soother holder; pacifier clip... just to name a few. Surprisingly I found a strong market for them on eBay. Particularly in the spring time. I don't know why but for some odd reason lots of babies are born in the spring thus making me $$$! Yaya! These are pretty easy to make and I can whip a bunch up in no time at all. Maybe one of these days I'll post a tutorial for them. :)

Until the next post,
BJ

Last year, after bringing a few of my bags to mom2mom sales, I figured it was time to show my face on the Online Market. Etsy turned the obvious choice for me. Its very low cost was great for my budget, and its a good established site known for its hand made products. Therefore people are more willing to pay a price that is fair for the work we artists put into our products. I have been finding out that shoppers that come to craft shows, bazaars, and mom2mom sales are constantly comparing my prices to that of big box stores. In my prices I only charge for my time because if I were to include the materials it would be outrageous. It is a bit frustrating but that makes me even more thankful for Etsy's site.
Here are some bags that have sold so far:

 Another popular item that has been selling even better than these back packs are something I call Soother Tags. They have many names... soother holder; pacifier clip... just to name a few. Surprisingly I found a strong market for them on eBay. Particularly in the spring time. I don't know why but for some odd reason lots of babies are born in the spring thus making me $$$! Yaya! These are pretty easy to make and I can whip a bunch up in no time at all. Maybe one of these days I'll post a tutorial for them. :)

Until the next post,
BJ

The beginning of B.u.d.

Of all the things I didn't really think of doing--Blogging. A good friend of mine and the creator of Quick German Recipes mentioned that I really should start blogging all the fun things I create. I've always liked showing off my creations and I love it even more when my friends blog about them. So why not try it out right? 

Now you may be asking yourself..."what kind of things does this lady make?" Well almost anything I'd have to say. But my biggest passion is sewing. Especially ever since I discovered the made-by-rae patterns. One day I stumbled over her site while I was looking for ideas for a toddler backpack for my son. It was such a simple pattern. His first bag turned out so nicely that I decided to make one for my niece as well. Since making those two bags a year ago I have had quite a few orders for custom made bags. I find it so much fun making things for people. Below is a picture of the bags that started it all... 

Until the next post,

BJ

Of all the things I didn't really think of doing--Blogging. A good friend of mine and the creator of Quick German Recipes mentioned that I really should start blogging all the fun things I create. I've always liked showing off my creations and I love it even more when my friends blog about them. So why not try it out right? 

Now you may be asking yourself..."what kind of things does this lady make?" Well almost anything I'd have to say. But my biggest passion is sewing. Especially ever since I discovered the made-by-rae patterns. One day I stumbled over her site while I was looking for ideas for a toddler backpack for my son. It was such a simple pattern. His first bag turned out so nicely that I decided to make one for my niece as well. Since making those two bags a year ago I have had quite a few orders for custom made bags. I find it so much fun making things for people. Below is a picture of the bags that started it all... 

Until the next post,

BJ