Coupon Clutches

I had been meaning for a while to make something for myself to organize my coupons, but it took someone asking me to make something like that for me to actually do it. I really should sew for myself more often. I thought a lot about the design of this clutch, even going through two prototypes. Usually knowing exactly how I want an item to function, I can usually design on the fly. Not this time.

Now, I am NOT an extreme couponer. I think it's ridiculous that people hoard stock so much stuff in their homes. I have a family of three people and do NOT need that much stuff! I just look at the ad for a couple of stores and if there is something I use normally, I make a note of it and go get it at some point during the week.

Here are my two go-to sites I use to look at the ads and available coupons:

Southern Savers
Coupon Mom
I designed this coupon clutch to fit 4" x 6" tabbed index cards snugly at the bottom. I added extra room at the top, allowing for ease of filing through coupons. The button/elastic closure allows room to fill ‘er up with lots of money-saving coupons! Included with the clutch is a set of 10 manila heavy cardstock dividers.

Details:
~Dimensions: 2” deep, 5.5” tall, 6” wide at the bottom, 9” wide at the top
~Interfaced with heavy duty stiff stabilizer
~Fully lined
Coupon Clutches by Forshee Designs

Modern June, Oilcloth, and a Giveaway!

The book giveaway has closed.

Last winter, I was honored by being asked to be a pattern tester for a new sewing book that was coming out! The book is Sewing With Oilcloth by Kelly McCants.
I was asked to test this sweet little messenger bag: It turned out nicely and has a bunch of pockets and sections on the inside. I am probably going to use this bag to hold some of my homeschooling materials here in the office. Last week, Kelly came to Atlanta and had a booth at the Country Living Festival at Stone Mountain Park. A few days before, she was holding a book signing at Whipstitch Fabrics. I couldn't miss meeting one of my sewing/Twitter buddies in real life, so I took my mom and my friend Tara with me to get my books signed!
Mom & Tara
Kelly & Me! Oh that's right, the title said giveaway, didn't it? Wiley Publishers sent me a few copies of the book, and I got them all autographed the other night. I'm giving a copy away here on my sweet little blog!
The Details/Rules:
1. Open to US residents only.
2. Leave a comment WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS to enter.
3. Contest closes November 1st at 5pm EST.

Red (or blue or black or purple) Velvet Cake

It is no secret that my favorite cake is Red Velvet. There are a couple of variations in recipes, but I prefer the one without cocoa. I also prefer buttercream icing as opposed to the traditional cream cheese icing. I supposed everyone else likes this combination too because they keep asking me to bring these cupcakes. So I do. This past weekend, we hosted our 3rd Annual Chili Cookoff in our cul de sac and I made some Halloween-themed Black Velvet Mini Cupcakes with bright orange buttercream icing.


The beauty of this cake is that it can be ANY COLOR. What?!? How fun is that? You don't get that with a chocolate cake! Yes, my wedding cake was PINK velvet! Yes!!! See it? Want to see it again? That's what it looks like all over my husband's bald head. Note the laughing crowd in the background!

Click HERE for the Red Velvet Recipe.

Click HERE for the Buttercream Icing Recipe.

Apple Picking

On Sunday, we (me, my mom, my dad and my son) headed to BJ Reece Apple Orchards for some apple picking & fun.



First, we shot the apple guns. Basically, it's a tube with an air compressor hooked up to it. The nice young men who work there would load them up and all you'd have to do is aim, push a button and watch the apples fly!




Then, we picked some apples. We had to use a ladder to get most of them, but it was well worth it. The apples being picked that day were Rome Beauties. The work was well worth it and you can really tell the freshly picked from the not so freshly picked.

The orchard also has a petting farm with huge turkeys, goats, puppies, roosters & a baby cow! There was also a baby goat that I immediately fell in love with. I've wanted a little goat for a long time (I'm pretty sure my county doesn't allow such residential areas to have livestock, though) and seeing that cute little face just set it in stone. My husband thinks I am crazy.

We then headed to do some shopping. Fried apple pies, cider, local honey (supposedly helps with allergies), and apples (duh) were on my list. I didn't get any cider, though, since it had to be refrigerated, and we weren't going straight home.

After buying all the apples, we sent the boys (my son & my dad) on the hay ride. I wasn't even going to go near that thing...I'd be sneezing for days!


Here are some other photos I took that afternoon:

Custom Car Bag & Embroidered Birthday Shirt

I am so excited about this bag! My friend Elizabeth asked me to make her a bag with three sections to sit between the two seats in the middle row of her cute new vehicle (I can't remember what it's called...it's one of those boxy SUV type cars) to hold snacks, toys, etc.. She (and her mom) is one of my favorite people to sew for because she is always asking me to do something different. It definitely breaks up the monotony of running the shop, where I make & sell the same things over and over.

I knew I wanted the bag and section dividers to be as rigid as possible so that the bag would stand up on its own. I knew that I would use Peltex for that purpose.  The dividers have two layers of Peltex and the exterior has one. The exterior could have used two, but one was just fine. I used the sew-in kind because that's what I had on hand. I didn't realize it came in a fusible form until just now! Ha! That would have made things easier.

There are only a couple of things I would change about this bag and they are super minor. Over all, this bag stitched up exactly according to my plan! Yeah!





Also, Elizabeth's son Eli (my little buddy) is turning 2 this year and she asked me to make him a birthday shirt on my embroidery machine! It's really cute! I can't wait to see him in it!