Drawing Pad & Pencil holder

A very special little girl in my life turned three in March. I wanted to make her something special, so I pulled my chair up to the sewing machine and got busy! Using the tutorial from Skip to my Lou, I whipped up this cute drawing pad & colored pencil holder. 

I've seen crayon rolls before, but I didn't want to do that. I wanted her to have something she could take everywhere with her. Here in Georgia, if you leave a crayon roll in the car for longer than 10 mins, your crayons will have melted by the time you get back. I think colored pencils are the way to go. 

With this tutorial, if you're going to turn & topstitch like I did, make sure you lengthen the width of your inner and outer fabrics by 1" to 1.5". I did the tutorial exactly as it said and my pencils were too long for it to close evenly. Evidently her tutorial doesn't account for lost space in the pencil slots if you turn & topstitch. Just a heads up there.

I will be making these for just about every kid I know, I think. I really like these. I like the convenience. I like that I can personalize them, and I like how easy the tutorial is to follow.

Give it a try! 

I'm excited to announce that Four A's and a D is having its very first giveaway! 

(YAAAYYY!!!)

A friend of mine (and a friend of hers) started an at-home business.

It's called Personally Mine Custom Gifts

They have tons of super-cute items for all occasions (and for no occasion!)

Here are some samples of their work:

 





Fun stuff, right?




Here's what we're giving away:


2 Jumbo Personalized Easter Eggs!

We will choose 2 winners.
Each will receive 1 personalized egg.



They measure about 8" long, so
these suckers are perfect for fun little gifts or prizes!

You get to choose your color and design!

Just use the rafflecopter box below to enter into the drawing!

Coasters & a new 'do.

Last week, I got tired of my hair and decided it needed to be cut. 

So I cut it. 

Myself. 

This is the most recent picture of the length, although it seems a bit shorter in this picture since it's curled. 

(I used the headband no-heat curling method to get these messy curls).

Here is what it looks like now. I put some subtle layers in it and cut my bangs.  

I have the top layers pulled back in this photo.

I'm going to share another gift I made for my IL's for Christmas. 

There are DIY photo coaster tutorials all over the internet.

I decided to try it. 

I made my IL's a set of coasters with their grandchildren's photos on them.

It was super cheap & easy!

I'll put the steps below, but if you would rather see a photo tutorial, google it. There are tons of them out there.

Use 4x4 tiles from HD or Lowe's. 

Cut your photos a little bit smaller than the tile, as I did.

Put a layer of Mod Podge (found at Wal-Mart and craft stores) on the tile.

Place your photo on the wet mod podge, being careful not to create air pockets.

Let it dry for a few minutes (it doesn't take long).

Put a couple of layers of mod podge over the entire surface of the photo and tile, one at a time letting them dry in between each application.

Spray each tile with a waterproof sealer (found at HD or Lowe's). 

Glue a 4x4 square of felt to the bottom of each tile.