Card Wallet Pattern with Little Birdie Template

Today I am sharing a pattern for a simple card or coin wallet. This is a really basic little wallet that is perfect for little ones that are learning to manage money or keep track of an allowance. I have modified the pattern to make a more grown up version that is perfect for debit cards, gift cards, or business cards.  

I recently made these purses for my nieces that came to visit. It was so much fun to see how excited they were to have their own wallets. These particular wallets I made from some mens dress pants that had worn out. I love reusing materials. It is just really hard for me to throw out material when I know that I can reuse it. This material is a good choice for a wallet because it can handle quite a bit of wear and handling. I lined the inside of the wallets with a soft flannel, but any cotton fabric would work nicely. The appliques are Eco felt, If you plan on washing the wallets regularly you should consider using a cotton fabric in place of the felt. You have to option to add the closure of your choice, I generally use velcro or snaps, but you could use a button closure or a reinforced magnetic snap if you choose.

The wallets shown are quite basic, but there are several things that you can do to dress them up. I love the idea of having little ribbon tabs below the closure, ribbon as an embellishment, different shaped pocket flaps, buttons, ect. The possibilities really are endless.

The wallets featured above are slight variations. This is a great project to use up scraps of fabric that you might have Ieft over from previous projects. I have used a wallet similar to this for the past 4 years. I really love having all of my cards in one place. I just recently created a slightly different version that just might end up in my Etsy shop in the near future.


This is my first attempt at writing a pattern other than for my personal use, so bare with me.




Feel free to use the pattern below for personal use only. Please do not sell items made from this pattern or applique.

Card Wallet and Birdie Template

Quiet Book, Hello Sunshine

In advance I will apologize for the photo, it is quite washed out.  This is a fun little page to add to your child's activity book.  It is helpful in teaching children about the rising and setting of the sun.  The sun sits snuggly between the mountains and then can be moved and placed high in the sky.  It is a bit of a peek-a-boo game.  My toddler loves to be able to move the piece around.  This is a quite simple page to make. It is fun to use two different patterns and shades of purple for the mountains, but I was running low on purple prints so I just used the wrong side of the fabric for the far mountain. Using a lighter shade of purple in the back is a great way to add a bit of atmospheric perspective.

As with all of the moveable or handled pieces in the activity book, the sunshine has two layers of lining to provide stability (If you are using felt use 1 piece lining, and 1 piece felt).  For this sunshine I used an ultra soft no fray yellow fabric for the rays, and a printed pale yellow cotton fabric for the sun.  I wish that the yellow in the middle was a bit darker-oh well.  You can attach your pieces however you'd like. On this particular page I chose not to finish the edges on the mountains, I like the slight raveling on the edges.  I  used a triple stitch along the perimeter of the mountains to ensure that they were securely attached.  I used a blanket stitch on the sun itself, I think that it gives it a bit of charm.

The supplies that you will need for this page are:  lining or a thin bat, two shades of purple fabric, 1 piece of sew on velcro, 1 piece of 1/4" wide elastic (About 6 inches long), embroidery floss for details, and your prepared quiet book page.

Hello Sunshine Instructions Hello Sunshine Template Please note that the written instructions and template are two different files and will need to be printed separately.

Pincushions: Piping, Polka dots, and Puckers

Since I have been doing a bit more sewing lately I decided that it was time for some new pincushions.  My previous pincushion was not deep enough to handle the pins.  I would end up pricking my fingers when I picked up my pincushion because the ends would be pricking through the other side...isn't one of the main reasons for a pincushion to avoid that problem.  Anyway I set out to create my own pincushion that would be deep enough to resolve that issue.

I used scraps of eco felt that I had left over from my Quiet book project, and scraps of cotton from a previous apron project.  The colors are a bit girly, but all in all I like them.  There are issues that I'd need to resolve if I were to attempt this project again, but it sure is nice to add something new to the craft box.  I  chose to make two pincushions,  I don't know about you, but I am always throwing things into one place or another as I madly clean up to make dinner or move onto the next thing on my to do list.  I figured that by having two I would at least have a better chance of finding one of them when I need it next, but knowing me I will throw them both into the same place and lose them both to the craft clutter.  Finding my pincushions when I need them should be reason enough to organize my craft room...right?

When I showed my mom the pincushions that I was making she said "hmm...I've never seen a pincushion like that".  I think that she was caught off guard by the shape of the cube-like one, but I really love the size and shape.  I think that we have any more kids I would consider using this same idea to make some soft baby blocks.  

The felt discs one the taller pincushion were inspired by Harper and Henny, she makes these great throw pillows, I have seen one that she makes with bright contrasting colored discs. It is really visually stimulating, I think that the discs are a bit to large and far apart for the shape of my pincushion, but I had a lot of fun with it.  Next time, changes will be made.

My first attempt at a Buttercup Bag

A couple of weeks ago my sister in law and I decided to try out hand at this cute buttercup bag pattern from  Made by Rae.  Made by Rae has great tutorials and project ideas.  If you like to sew or want to learn to sew  you should definitely check out her blog.

The pattern is quite simple to follow and I really like the way that the bag turned out.  I think that I took in a bit to much fabric for the pleats which made my bag a little on the small side, but it is a great bag to tote around the basics. 

I am really in love with the fabric that I used.  It is a home decor fabric so it provides nice stability to the shape of the bag.  I also used a heavier green fabric for the lining.  I like my bags to be thick enough to contain what they should be containing, no poking pins please.  I wish that I had pictures of my Sister in laws black and white bag, it turned out great.  Try it out, you just might like it.  Flickr has a great group of images for Buttercup Bags if you need some inspiration

Craft Room Organization Inspiration

I think that I am the kind of person that is a pretty good mix of Right and Left Brain. That might explain the constant battle that I fight with myself. I long to be an organized and orderly person, but no matter how much I try my organization efforts always prove to be unsuccessful. I'll spend a day rearranging the boxes where my craft things are stored, but it seems that by the time I finish my next craft project things are a mess again. I don't know how it happens, but it inevitably does. So I have decided that it is time for a craft room update...if only I had a craft room. Like many of you my "craft room" is a shared space, and is in no way dedicated to crafting. Most of my supplies are stored in the small closet of our spare room which also serves as our office, library, and sometimes mud room.

My sweet husband seems to know what he has coming. He has a pretty good idea that one day in the near future the shared space will be a craft room. It just doesn't seem like I should have to move my sewing machine and all of my supplies to the kitchen table everyday. It would be great if I could give up cooking and turn the larger kitchen space into a craft room, but I like eating probably even more than I like crafting...so in all reality, that is not going to happen.

So now it is time for me to devise a plan. Some of the things that I really need to tackle when organizing my craft space are:

• Organization of materials. There really has to be a better way than storing supplies in old baby wipe containers. I need storage for fabric, scissors, buttons, scraps, ribbon, paint, book making supplies, ect.
• Having a workable sewing space
• Storage space for printing and shipping supplies for my shop
• Easy access to computer/printer
• Toddler-proof workspace...ha ha ha, is that even possible

Now it is time to hear your ideas, I really need some inspiration. Looking online I have found some great ideas, here are some of my favorites.

I found this great idea on everything etsy. This beverage cart is a great idea for utilizing a small space. I love the cork board on the inside of the door, but I think that I will definitely need additional storage space. I love the green/yellow/blue. Look under "Art Studio Inspiration" for more great ideas on their site.

I love this color pallet. They did a good job of making the room feel very open and light. Most people think that red and green will automatically make their space feel very festive, but if the colors and chosen appropriately it can feel really fresh. I also really love the slotted board and shelf unit. That would be great for me, because I love to adjust my system of organization. I found this image on HG tv.

I love the lighting in this red room, I also love the storage unit that is built into the workstation. I need something compact like this. I am very in love with the wrapping station on the wall. One day I am going to have a gift wrapping room, wouldn't that be a dream?

Filing cabinets are also a must for my craft space. I need a much better system of organization for all of my receipts and invoices from my etsy shop. I have plenty of Mason jars, so that might be a great solution for storing some of my supplies. And how in the world am I going to get that great yellow chair. Check this and other great ideas out at Home Designing.

I love this idea for many different reasons. I love the glass top work space. It is beautiful isn't it. I love the pattern below it-I am not sure if it is painted or if it is fabric, but it sure is great. I also love the stretched fabric in the embroidery hoops. I think that fabric is SO great, and what a great way to display it.
I heart beadboard, and this is one more way that I could use mason jars for storage.

Okay who can guess what my favorite aspect of this room is? The clipboards. I have a lot of artwork that isn't framed and I think that this is a creative way of displaying images. I think that I must try this. The pegboard would probably by helpful as well.

Let me know if you have any great organization solutions or ideas for my small shared workspace.

Quiet Book, What time is it?

I think that anyone that had a quiet book growing up probably had a clock page. This is to teach kids to tell time and of course recognize numbers. Each color or shape on the clock has it's own layer of fabric and lining. I stitched the numbers onto the face of the clock and then pinned them all to the page and finished the ends. This page I used cotton fabric so I made sure to use either a machine blanket stitch or zig zag stitch to finish my edges. For the hands on the clock I used some colored pieces of plastic that were from some packaging materials for our mouse. I pushed a hole through each of the pieces of plastic using an awl (a larger needle would work as well) and then attached the button and the hands to the book. Select a button that has a loop and not the two or four hole attachment pattern.

Quiet Book, Dog

I had really wanted to put a dog page in Clark's quiet book, but I never got around to it. I still have time though due to the fact that you can add and subtract pages with the ring/buttonhole system of binding the pages together.

The purpose of this page is simply to help children learn to work a buckle. The collar that I used was a cat collar. I found it at Michael's for $1. 00. I drew out the design of the dog, cut out coordinating spots, a tongue, nose, and a tag for his collar (I really like the doggy bone detail). I was nervous that my machine wouldn't handle sewing through the collar, but it wasn't a challenge at all. When positioning the collar I think that the thing to remember is to cut is slightly longer that you need it. I cut the collar, turned the first end in 1/2 inch and used a triple stitch to reinforce it. After you have attached one side you need to turn in the other end and pin it in place. Once it is pinned in place you can unbuckle the collar and have easy access to your raw edge. I also zig zagged the raw edges down to prevent fraying. For the eyes of the dog I used some simple (non googly) eyes that you can purchase in the doll/stuffed animal section of most craft stores. I have seen them in both Joann's and Michaels. Once they are attached you will need to clip the ends. I used some wire cutters and just clipped them right off. You will want to leave a very small nub so that the backing doesn't fall off, but make sure that they don't stick out enough to interfere with the backside of your page.

Quiet Book, Shape Matching and Name

I'm doubling up, two pages in one post. These pages are pretty similar in that they are both made from simple felt shapes. I used two pieces of felt for each shape or letter, providing them with a bit more stability. I cut out the shapes with the top layer being slightly smaller than the bottom layer. I then attached my velcro pieces (rough sides) to the back of the bottom layer of the felt shapes and letters. *For the shapes I cut out a third piece of felt the same size and color as the bottom layer of the shape, and attached the softer side of the velcro to the piece. After attaching the velcro to the bottom layer it is time to pin the top layers on, and then do some top stitching-Yeah. With both of these pages I used an apple green thread for my topstitching, but in general I use white thread when attaching the velcro. Next it is time to mark on your pages the position of your letters or shapes, and in the case of the letters attach your softer side of velcro. In the case of the shapes, you will be attaching the coordinating felt piece with velcro already attached. Have I lost anyone, the process is simple, but explaining it-not so much.

These are great pages to teach children to recognize shapes and colors. The name page is great to help children recognize letters and how to spell their name.

Quiet Book, Key to my Heart

I know that you all are probably hoping for something other than quiet book posts, I'll get there. I just have to get through the pages. Hopefully by Monday I'll have a different project to share. I am working on several projects.

Because of pure blogging laziness, this will be a one picture post. For Clark's quiet book I made a lock and key page that was a treasure chest. The only problem is that for the treasure I used several jeweled and metallic buttons. I just couldn't in good conscience give -D- a quiet book choking hazard. I think that this is another fun option. It is a heart that is locked. It can be opened and reveals a photo of a loved one. It says 'You have the key to my heart", cheesy I know, but oh so sweet.

In this particular case Danny's grandmother lives quite far away, she wanted him to have a picture of her with her name nearby so that he could remember her and what she looks like. I made the photo pouch out of a medium weight vinyl and stitched. It was the first time that I had sewn with vinyl, but I was quite pleased with the results. Even though the vinyl wouldn't fray, I chose to do a double-fold hem to provide stability at the pocket opening. The thing to remember when doing this is that you need to size your photo pocket so that it doesn't show when the heart is closed. You can also select the photo and measure it's size before you design your heart.

On either side of the photo pocket I stitched Danny's grandmother's name "Abuelita -----" (not pictured) so that he could not only recognize her face, but also her name.

It is a cute little page that is very personal and quite fun for little ones. My son loves opening up his treasure chest, and it seems like most little kids love keys.

Sorry about the washed out photo (blogger laziness once again).

Ibex Treasury

It is always so exciting for me when other people find my work and like it. Today one of my prints that is for sell at my etsy shop, Ibex, was featured on an Etsy treasury blog. Yeah. You can check out the post here.

Quiet Book page, Rotating Tires

I think that this is such a great page to have in a little boy's quiet book. I don't know about other little boys, but my son LOVES trucks and cars. If Clark sees that something has wheels then in his mind it also has an engine. I think that trucks are just a part of childhood for little boys. This page is great in allowing little fingers to learn the mechanics of buttoning. The object is to change or rotate the tires of the truck by removing one tire, and replacing it with another.

When I made my son's book I used cotton fabric for both the body of the truck and the tires. I am so glad that I chose to use felt on this page. The tires work out so much better than with cotton fabric. I know that when a lot of people make their quiet books out of felt they don't finish edges or use button hold stitches for buttoning activities. I think that it really adds a polished look to use an actual button hole stitch, and to use a machine stitched blanket stitch around the end of the tire (I also think that it makes it look like it has a bit of tire tread).

This is a more advanced sewing page as far as details go. I used a satin stitch with various colors of thread for the headlights, tail lights, mirror, and door handle. I think that it turned out quite nice and hopefully Danny really likes it.

You can use buttons of your choice for the wheels. I happened to have two matching gold buttons that I used, but silver would be a nice choice as well.

Quiet Book page, Crayon Caddy

You have probably seen all of the really neat crayon caddies and wallets out there. I think that they are great and very helpful in carrying your crayons to church or transporting them in the diaper bag. When I started out making my son's quiet book I really wanted to incorporate the idea. Adding a quiet book page that is a crayon caddy means that you have one less thing to stuff into your bag when getting it ready to go. You simply have to remember the quiet book, and you already have crayons and paper.

This page is quite simple to make. I used a soft patterned flannel for the caddy (this is the same fabric that I used on the inside of the cover). I used a double layer of flannel to add more stability to the case. I also edged it with some coordinating ribbon. Because I had planned on having slots for crayons, paper, and pens I had to determine how long and wide I wanted my slots to be. I needed more fabric to stabilize the notepad than the crayons. I knew that I only wanted to fabric to hit the crayons just above half way up the length of the crayon. I measured, marked, and stitched at the bottom. The crayons that I was using were thinner than crayola crayons or chunky crayons, but I wanted to make sure that the caddy could accommodate different types of crayons. Hopefully the quiet book outlasts the crayons, right. I measured how wide I wanted each of the crayon pockets to be and stitched in equal increments. On the other half of the page I made a pocket for the note pad and two slots for a pen or pencil. I think that it is pretty effective, and pretty cute.

Quiet Book page, Lacing a shoe

Oh the infamous shoe lacing page. This is a quiet book page that has been in books for years, and with good reason. I think that it is a great way to teach your toddler or child bothlacing and tying skills. I must admit that this was the page that I saved for last. I have just had major issue with so many of the shoe pages that I have seen. It is really difficult to find a good view of the shoe that still allows for proper lacing and tying of the shoe. I had intended on including this quiet book page in Clark's book, but in the end I changed it to a football lacing page.

Although I dreaded making this page, and I will admit that I am not thrilled with the result, it isn't the worst that I have seen. I tried to add little details that would distract from the awkward angle of the shoe. I added some personalized labels to the shoe , the tongue has the letter "D", and on the insole it says "Danny" (it was supposed to say Danny's kicks, but I ran out of room). I also really like the combination of colors. I think that the dark blue, the apple green, and the orange stitching look really nice together. I chose to use eyelets for ease of lacing. On Clark's football I used a small buttonhole stitch that also worked well, but for the shoe I prefer the eyelets. One of the problems that I had was finding shoe laces that were short enough for the lacing on the page. I think that I ended up getting 30" laces. The lace is a bit longer than I would like, but it may end up making the lace learning process easier for little hands.

Quiet book page, Zip Zip Hooray

This is one of the least interesting Quiet Book pages to look at, but it can provide quite a bit of fun and entertainment for toddlers. My son just loves to move the zippers back and forth. On Clark's book I put the zippers on a diagonal, but with this particular page I chose to put them on a horizontal to save room for the button holes. Quite a bit of planning is necessary when choosing where to position your objects on the page to accommodate button holes or eyelets.

I chose to use three different colors of zippers and to position them facing different sides so that they can go back and forth. This is a great page to help your toddler learn the mechanics of zipping a zipper. There are several pages out there that incorporate zippers into images such as zipping up a tent, tepee, pair of pants, ect. I chose to keep the page as simple as possible. It would also be fun to have an even larger amount of zippers in differing colors to teach the order of the color rainbow.

This is a simple page that doesn't require a large amount of sewing or detail. It is always nice to have a simple quiet book page to give you a bit of a break when making a detailed quiet book.

Quiet book pages, Tic Tac Toe

I think that it is nice to have a gender neutral pages in a quiet book, and by all means I understand that girls like and play sports as well, but I just think that it is nice to have a sports page for the little boys that have to spend most of their time buttoning on flowers. I have seen tic tac toe pages in other quiet books, but I think that this version is a lot of fun, I call it "tic tac toe-three balls in a row". In Clark's book this page consisted of footballs and basketballs. I really wasn't pleased with how the footballs turned out, but I think that these baseballs are a lot of fun. I traced the bottom of a spool to make the circles and then used the spool to mark the arcs in both the basketballs and the baseballs. The trickiest part about this page is stitching the baseballs. I adjusted a decorative stitch on my sewing machine so that it was the best proportion to my circle and then hoped for the best and started stitching. The baseballs are by no means perfect, but are homemade things supposed to be perfect?

The basketballs and baseballs attach with velcro. Snaps could be used, but I think that velcro is much easier for young children. Even if your toddler isn't able to play tic tac toe yet, they will have fun pulling off the balls and repositioning them.

In my son's book I used a decorative stitch for the tic tac toe board, but I chose to use felt for Danny's. The decorative stitches on my machine like to skip so felt seemed like a better option.

I think that it is a good idea to make a few spare pieces for your tic tac toe board. I have seen quiet books that include a pocket on the page, but I wanted to have my board as big as possible on the page. I figure that spare pieces can be kept in the pocket on the back of the cover.

Quiet Book Pages, Vegetable Garden

This is one of my favorite pages in the quiet book, it is also one of my son's favorite pages. He loves to pull the vegetables out of the ground. This is the second version of this page that I have made. In my son's book I didn't have quite as many details (the sign is absent, and the green leafs are a bit simpler), I think that this attempt was much more successful. It is a bit easier on the eye. In my son's book I chose not to use any felt. I don't know why, buy I was just really anti felt and wanted to use "real" fabric. Felt has made my life so much easier, and I really don't think that it looks bad at all. Now the thing that is hard to look at is my son's book with all of the finished edges. It is really hard to finish edges on leafs and small little corners. I love that you can just add some topstitching to felt and it looks finished. Felt....oh what a blessing. You will probably notice that I didn't use Felt for everything. The vegetables in the garden are actually made from fabric, but I just fabrics that won't fray.

I used my button hole stitch on my machine to make the slots for the vegetables to be pulled. It seems to work well. I made the holes just barely bigger than the carrots. They are actually a bit smaller than the beets (or whatever they are), this is nice because then the vegetables don't fall out of the book on their own. You have probably noticed that there is velcro stitched in the bottom right corner, this allows for repositioning of the vegetables. I am quite pleased with how the page turned out....if only the beets didn't look like strawberries.

Quiet Book Pages, Love Letters

As Promised Here are some pictures from Danny's Quiet book. I love these pages for the mailbox. Danny's grandmother thought that it would be fun to have a page where Danny could learn to make sentences like "I love Mami". I thought that the mailbox would be the perfect pocket for all of those love letters to mom.

One of the great things about quiet books or activity books is that you are able to keep your kids busy, but also allow them to learn new things and develop new skills. This particular page allows for development of sentence structuring skills, and also the development of motor skills as children open and close the mailbox, rotate the mailbox flag, and pull and place the velcro attached envelopes.

I think that it is so much fun to personalize the pages. This particular mailbox is personalized with a last name stitched on the mailbox, and with personalized envelopes. So now Danny can make sentences like: "I love Mami", "Daddy loves Danny", "I love Abuelita", ect.

Quiet books are fun to make because you are ultimately in control of how much detail you put in. I personally like a fair amount of detail, but I try not to go overboard. The stamps for example are there, but I didn't make a full scene or image on each stamp (which I considered doing). I think that the small block of color is sufficient for the project. I prefer stitching letters on the page with embroidery floss rather than using paint pens. I just think that it compliments the materials better. Quiet books also take a great deal of time and work. I want the book to last a long time, and I also want to be satisfied when I am looking at it. In my opinion there is nothing worse than staring at something you made and wishing that you had done things differently.

A few tips if you decide that you want to try this project:

• Use the soft side of the velcro on the backs of the envelopes so that it doesn't stick to the inside of the mailbox and pull on the felt.
• Use two layers of felt instead of one in the areas that will be handled most (flag, mailbox shell, mailbox flap, and also the envelopes).
• Stitch details such as names or stamps onto 1 layer of felt and encase the strings and ends with the second layer of felt.

Garden Plot Markers. What's growing in your garden?

Well, it is about that time. We have planted a few things in our garden and are getting ready to plant the rest. This is our first attempt at growing our own garden. My parents always had an immaculately kept garden, but I feel quite unprepared and inexperienced in this area. I am barely experienced enough to recognize the plants from the weeds. I am really hoping that I am able to tell what I have planted where. I have started a spread sheet in Numbers, and I am mapping out our garden, but I still feel the need to mark our garden. Because we are inexperienced gardeners I am looking for some cute ways to mark our vegetables. After scouring the internet for ideas I feel a bit more inspired. Here are some things that I found. I hope that you are as inspired as I am.

These stoneware markers are gorgeous as well. You can find them at From Artisan Hands on Etsy. What a great and beautiful idea.

I think that these stamped spoons from Monkeys Always Look are absolutely adorable. I can't get over them. Unfortunately I probably won't be making them, I just don't have the equipment. ICheck out the shop they really are great.

These broken Terra cotta plant markers were found on Teaching Good Things I think that it is a great way to use what you have. They are made from pots and wire hangers. There is a great tutorial with pictures if you are interested.

This next idea doesn't come with an attached image, but I read a suggestion for making markers out of free paint stirring sticks. It was suggested that you burn in the name of the plant variety. I think that this is a great idea. The paint stirring sticks seem like they would be just the right size, and they would sit relatively low to the ground so they probably wouldn't be pulled out of the ground by the wind. Burning the variety into the stick also ensures that the writing won't be washed off by rain or watering.

I found these adorable DIY plant markers at craftjr. There is a downloadable file for the images of garden vegetables. I like that natural elements are included in these markers. I think that they would compliment the garden very well.

Heather Bailey's Bitty Booties

Heather Bailey has an amazing talent for pattern and fabric making. I love to check out all of her creations. She has a free pattern on her blog that I absolutely love. It is for Bitty Booties. they are so cute. Her pattern is free for download, but you cannot sell items made from the pattern or reproduce the pattern.

The pattern is super simple, and there are oodles of images for inspiration. You should hop on over and take a look at her blog. She also sells patterns, fabric, and other items at her store. I am dying to try out her new line of laminate fabrics. So cute.

I made these cute little booties by adding ribbon, a rose shaped button, and some super soft flannel for the insole. I think that they are precious. If only I had a little girl to put them on.