Tieing it all up!

So every year for the Oestman Christmas we try and bring (or drink lol) a bottle of wine for the family. This morning I just happened to stumble across this pin for a cute wine bag! Lucky for me I made Justin clean out his closet just a couple of nights ago and I knew I had this little beauty in the donation bag! This was to good to be true! 

My only downfall was it wasn't a shirt that required cuff links and I didn't have any cuff links either.... I decided I was going to do it anyway. I would look cute enough right!

I started by just putting the wine bottle we had from Sage Hill Vineyard and Winery in the sleeve to give myself an idea of how it was going to look. I was kind of sad because it looked better with the folded cuff shirt so I folded the cuff in half and that's when inspiration hit...

(A quick note about Sage Hill Vineyard and Winery... It is located in Parks Nebraska near the lake where Justin and I got married. Run by two of the best people you will ever meet, Hal and Carol, it is a gem in the middle of no where! If you EVER get the chance, swing by to do a tasting or stay the night in the loft above the winery. TRUST ME you will NOT regret it. For now like them on Facebook. Ok back to the topic at hand.)

I started by sliding the wine bottle in the sleeve so the bottom of the cuff was right at the bottom of the wine bottle neck. Then I folded the fabric down over the bottom of the bottle to find where the seam should go. I gave myself about 3/4 of an inch and cut the sleeve straight across. Then it was off to my handy dandy sewing machine.

First I turned the sleeve inside-out. Then being careful to follow the existing pintucks that come from the cuff I folded the excess fabric into the sleeve and pinned them so the wouldn't move while I sewed. A good seamstress would get out the iron at this point and iron the tucks as well. The reality is (and we've talked about this before) I'm also a lazy seamstress. 

What you are looking to accomplish is to make the sleeve look like a tube. Like the sleeve is one size all the way down. Pin the fabric so it holds the folds. 

Sew a 1" seam all the way across the cut end of the sleeve. Make sure this 1" seam catches all the fabric that you folded in on itself. If not go with a longer seam. Trim the excess fabric along the seam to about 1/4".

When you finish and turn the sleeve right side out you should get something to this effect.It basically creates corners that are much quicker and easier than the tutorial I found on this pin. I learned this on the second wine bottle cover I made... 

Next (because I'm a lazy crafter as well and because my husband stole my iron and took it to the office at BlackWolf Emergency Prep (shameless plug I know)) I turned on my hair straightener and ironed the cuff in half just below where the buttons sit.

I'm hoping at this point you can maybe see what my sudden inspration was. Doesn't this dapper wine bottle seem like he could use a TIE??? I pinned the top of the "collar" to hold it in place while I tracked down some ribbon I had left from my "First Christmas Ornament" post. 

I tied this handsome little guy a classic tie out of ribbon and cut it to length. I cannot believe how cute this little guy turned out and it only took me like 15 mins. I even decided to do it again with the other sleeve! You know its a quick project if I'll do it twice! 

The final product turned out better than I could have ever imagined. I made one for Oestman Christmas and one for the Love Christmas yet to come. (Don't worry Mamma Chelle I'll make you something cute for next year! Just didn't find it till it was to late!) 

A Record Christmas

Oh Lord...Christmas is 5 days away and I am still wrapping gifts and trying to get my #%&* together for this year... I've been putting off one particular gift for my sister-in-law's boyfriend for waaaaay to long. You see for the Oestman family Christmas we do a name draw and I got Skeeter. No Problem... Usually... Somewhere in my late pregnancy nesting phase I agreed that we should make our gifts for each other this year. The reality is I would be at the mercy of a new born when I would actually have to find the time to do this... yep... hormones are a &%*($.

In a haze of sleep deprivation I turned to Pinterest for idea's because I couldn't think of any on my own. What I didn't realize is that it would be way more difficult to find a gift to make for a early twenties guy than I thought. Luckily I ran across this blog post that showed how to make some pretty cool bowls out of vinyl records. I knew we has some old albums we didn't want and it didn't look to incredibly hard or time consuming so I went to work. 

I started by gathering my materials. One oven safe bowl, some old albums (approved by Justin to melt), some PAM (butter flavor cause I don't have anything else) and my Ov-Gloves (I love these stupid things! Seriously if you don't have them...buy them).

I followed the blog instructions and set my oven to 275 degrees. I did however add one step. I sprayed the bowl with the pam so if I pushed down on the album it wouldn't get stuck to the sides.  I placed the record on the bowl and popped it into my amazingly beautiful oven... seen at left. I left them in for 3 mins.

When it came out it looked pretty good. I pushed it into the bottom of the bowl to make sure it would have a nice flat surface to sit on. I let them sit until I could move it around the bowl without the vinyl bending.

My finished product turned out pretty cool if I do say so myself. I can't wait to give it to him tomorrow!