Fabulous Friday w/ Family

This Friday I got to hang with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, for an evening filled with girl time, food, and crafting!  You know me and my camera, I needed pictures and wanted to make sure that I got one of the three of us {which ended up four, as Lola wanted in there too} and now I know where the hubs gets his feistiness from about taking pictures {look very close at the picture, I couldn't not put it on her, I thought it was hilarious and spoke volumes about Rae Lynn Friday night}!

So here it is close up, without the bird, sort of!

Once in a while, Donna's {MIL} church organizes these evenings and we were finally able to go to one together!  It was a blast!

 And, I got to hang out with Alyssa for an hour or so and that pretty much made my night!  I miss seeing her beautiful face each morning in homeroom!  If I haven't mentioned her already, she was the glue that held me together at times!  She was my key finder, organizer, story teller...you name it, she rocked it!  Love every chance I get to spend with her!  The first picture pretty much sums up our relationship and I think is my favorite from the night!

 Basically how the evening works is this; a list of crafts is presented to the women of the church and they have the option to sign up for any or all of the crafts.  You pay for the materials, but have options to pay a little bit less if you bring your own fabric {for some of the crafts}.  I signed up to make two of them, but am kicking myself that I didn't make one more {the boys watch}!

So tonight, I will show you the first of two of the projects that I made:  The flower canvas.

I opted to bring my own fabric, since I have way too much of it in my closet and because I have been itching to do a project with the fabric I found at grandma's estate sale last year, I just was waiting for the right one!

What you need:

21"x21" {give or take} piece of fabric for the back of the canvas

1 yard of coordinating fabric {I choose to have them be the same, but lots of women did not}
18"x18" canvas

Staple gun

Glue Gun

Scissors

How to make your own:

 Take the 21"x21" piece of fabric and staple all four sides to the the 18'x18' canvas

Next, take the yard of coordinating fabric and cut {or tear, like Rae Lynn did...I just couldn't with the fabric that I used} into strips.  I did mine about 3", Rae's seemed closer to 2-2 and 1/2"...just saying.  The thicker they are, the fluffier the flower is {I think}.

 Next, sew the strips using a straight stitch, getting it ready to gather {or ruffle, as I would rather call it}.

Then beg your mother-in-law to help you ruffle the fabric so that you can go work on the next project!  She did this by pulling on one end of the string so that it bunched up or gathered.

Then, glue the pieces of fabric down onto the canvas.  Start on the outside and work your way in.

Time ran out at this point, so we packed it up and dropped Donna off at home and then headed back to my house to finish working on our projects!

Here is mine, all finished.  I plan on hanging it in Lola's room.

And here is Rae Lynn's, she plans on hanging hers in her bedroom or bathroom or her new house when it is finished!

Same project, two totally different looks!  I love them both, even if it was after midnight when we finished them!