owl bucket bag

Well. That was quite a hiatus.  It was unexpected, but on the plus side, I've gotten a ton of stuff done on my time off from blogging.  I'm glad to say that my car is back and running perfectly (and not to mention, it looks amazing since they actually washed it and stuff. Something I hardly do. :P), and things seem to be getting back to normal (as in... pre-stress mode).  Oh, and also, I managed to make this cutie!

I had this bag pinned a while ago after seeing it on Sew Mama Sew, and I finally decided to give it a try.  I'm super glad with the results. :)  I tend to choose a bunch of mismatching colors (this time, it was bright green, orange, and blue), but I'm glad to say it worked!

For anyone interested in the pattern, you can go to the website.  It's actually an excerpt from The Bag Making Bible by Lisa Lam, but they offer it on the site as a pdf file for free.  I did make some adjustments: I didn't need to have it reversible, so I made the lining slightly smaller for a better fit.  Also, I added fusible interfacing to the straps, since just having binding as straps made me feel a bit uneasy.  I also used lightweight fabrics (and not medium as suggested), so I used lightweight interfacing for my exterior fabric.

Here's the bag a little close-up so you can see the swirly green fabric I used for the lining:

I'm already cutting fabric for a second one.  It's the perfect size, and so adorable!  This time I'm adding pockets to the inside so I don't have to fish around for my cell phone. :)

be you project {printable}

Happy weekend. :)

So lately I've been really worried about how young women tend to view themselves.  I think my concern spawned from the overwhelming amount of self esteem issues I see on reality TV (my sister is a bit of a reality TV junkie), but I also see the same issues reflected on my Facebook news feed everyday.  I'm not sure why, but it seems like everyone (women especially) goes through this phase of believing like they're just not good enough or smart enough or pretty enough, and we tend to forget that we're perfect just the way we are.

I've been in that position many times, where I will compare myself to everyone who I see as "better" than me, and convince myself that I'm just not enough.  I'm happy to say that I'm usually able to pull myself out of that rather quickly, but it's hard to not go there every now and then, you know?  So I decided to make myself a little something to remind myself how amazing I really am.

I made a short list of the qualities in myself I really like (and maybe want to portray more), and I made this to inspire myself to stay "me".  It serves two purposes: to remind myself why I'm awesome, and to motivate myself to stay true to me.

It's only been a few days since I've drawn this up, but I have to say... it does do a lovely job of perking me up when I'm feeling a little down about myself.  You should definitely try it.  It might be a little hard thinking up qualities that describe you (especially if you tend to be modest ;) ), but after a while your list gets longer, and you start feeling pretty good about yourself!

And in case anyone was interested, I've included what I made as a printable.  It's quite a large drawing (I wasn't sure how big I'd want it in the beginning), so make sure you resize it if you wanted a smaller print. I also made two versions, one with a butterfly and polka dots (like in my photo), and a plain version without the butterfly and dots.

Be You Printable {With Butterfly}

Be You Printable {Plain}

Enjoy!