100 Follower Apron GIVE-A-WAY (and why "The Autocrat")

Okay in honor of getting 100 followers I decided on giving a giveaway (made by me!).  .  . wow, it happened way faster than what I assumed from when I first decided.  Yesterday, I had to run to Joann's during lunch to purchase  fabric and then come home to whip up this apron.  Thank goodness I already had the pattern.  I {heart} this fabric!! I love the vintage-y feel it gives off!  If you're the winner, keep it for yourself, or give it as a gift. :)

HOW TO ENTER:

1) Have to be a follower or become one.

2) Leave a comment on this post.

**I will announce the winner on Thursday morning before 8AM. **

Why did I choose "The Autocrat" as my blog name?  I have been thinking about blogging for the whole year of 2009 and finally when it came 2010, I told myself I was going to do it!  As I was discussing a blog name with one of my coworkers, we where going through all of my hobbies and things about me.  My hobbies include sewing, paper crafting and all things DIY.  I love my English Bull Terriers, and my chi-wow-wow, Ginger.  I love shoes but dress overly conservative.  I own atleast 50 button up the front collard shirts with different sleeve lengths.  Yes, I like to iron!  I live in Texas and I am an Aggie, both of which I am proud of.  Then we go onto my personality qualities such as I am a very particular person and VERY obsessive compulsive.  Very organized and clutter gives me anxiety; my house is always clean.  I like things done a certain way and usually in a certain order too.  I like to have plans, hardly ever spontaneous.  Constant list making in my mini spiral that I take everywhere with me.  Very routine and yes, I admit it, I am kinda controlling, but in a loving way.  (Crap, What am I going to do whenever I have kids.  I hear all of these obsessive compulsive traits end up going out the window!)  On this flip side, I do understand that everyone is not like me.  So if I come to your house and it's dirty with dishes in the sink, I don't judge.  I read self help books on relationships & I'm obsessed with how the male brain doesn't work like the female brain. Addicted to Diet Coke & Starbucks.  Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.  Very frugal and have no shame in shopping at WalMart or throwing a clothing item in my buggy while I am there.  So the list goes on and on . . . . .We bounced a few names back and fourth based on my hobbies but none of them were jazzy enough for me.  I wanted something original because I like to think of myself as a pretty original person.  I am pretty outgoing and tend to talk VERY loud.  We kept circling back to the word "Dictator" due to my obsessive compulsiveness. However, every time I hear that word, I think of Hitler, which is not a happy thought for me.  Thus, "The Autocrat" being born, which means the same thing as dictator but doesn't sound as harsh.  It kinda works out, cause King already had the nickname King.  Therefore, we live together in our Fortress of Crafts (not a castle) with King's girlfriend being an Autocrat not a Queen.  That's the story! I always wonder why others choose the blog name that they did.  There are some pretty snazzy ones out there.

Soap Dispenser Re-Do's

A while back King was flipping through the Cabela's catalog and thought this soap dispenser was pretty cool.  I was thinking thier price was a little steap for a soap dispenser and besides it looked like a regular 'ol jar with a lid.  My mind went spinning on how I could make one but it went into the "make it later" category of my brain.  Since I have entered into the blogging world recently, I have seen a few and finally decided to make one for our guest bathroom.  Also, I saw the revamped soap dispenser over at House of Hepworths. Don't you just love hers! Brilliant! Here are my versions of the two!

Summertime Koozies!

I was invited over to Mrs. Rooster's house to meet her parents.  Of course, I had to bring something crafty since they are followers of my blog. (Thank you!)  This is one of my favorite ideas!  I live in Texas and people in Texas love their Dr. Pepper (I prefer Diet Coke) and their beer! With it being so flippin' hot here, you gotta keep your beer cold!!   I love making these koozies!!  Everyone loves them! Check 'em out . .  .  They would be great for a themed party. (Yeah, and then I left them at the house!! I wasn't even able to give them out!! LOL)

Fabulous Serving Tray!

I have another super crafty friend that I have told you all about before, Mrs D!  Her and her husband, purchased their first home at the beginning of the year and boy had she been busy with a ton of DYI projects.  Check em in this post.  Due to all of her craftyness, she decided to start a blog too, Lifes' A Dance! Which I am super excited about since we do not live in the same town, I love seeing what she does!  Check out this tray that she purchased at GW.  She got a little inspiration from everyone's favorite place, Pottery Barn!  Also check out this fabulous cross!!  I am jealous!!  I totally want to make one of these crosses!!

Camera Strap Snuggie

I have been seeing snazzy camera straps all over everyone's blogs and  on Etsy.  I {heart} them! I figured it was time to make some! I don't have a super snazzy tutorial because I really stink at giving directions.  You can hop on over to Fun To Craft for Stacey's tutorial.  Her directions are wonderful.  I didn't add the pocket like she did and nor did I use the super soft fabic on all of mine.  Honestly, Stacey's is a lot more snazzier than mine.  It's a great way to use up your scrap material, especially those pieces that are long and skinny.

Pink & Zebra Baby Shower

I am going to stop holding out on everyone and show off my pics from the baby shower that Mrs. Rooster and I hosted on Sunday.  We totally held one of the most rockin' parties ever! Considering neither one of us have ever hosted a baby shower! Yes, we made just about everything, all the tags, the table runner, table cloths, the floral arrangements, banner letters, the glued glass, Mommy corsage, the cupcakes, & of course, the cake. As well as, the gift baskets and the burp rags.  I was kinda bummed that we weren't able to use "only" pink candy, but since it isn't Valentines Day, it was hard to find a large variety of  candy  in all pink.  All of the guests had a great time and  the Mommy & Daddy To Be where very grateful!  A special thanks to Mrs. Rooster for letting me co-host this shower with her!!  What are BFF's for right?!

 If you have any questions about how we did anything, let me know! I will be glad to answer any questions!!

Zebra Cake!!

OMG! Mrs. Rooster and I need to open up our own bakery!!  We are awesome!! (Okay sorry, just had to toot my own horn for a minute.)   I've always heard of fondant icing being very finicky and hard to use, so I have never even considered using it.  However, Mrs. Rooster was very adamant about making a fondant cake, and I am thinking she is loco in the cabeza(crazy)!  But she talked me into it and I am glad she did!  We kinda cheated a little and bought pre made fondant.  Surprisingly the store bough fondant was very easy to use.    Did you know it came in so many colors at Micheals?  Okay I will stop talking about it so you can go whip up your cake mix.  Listed below are a few tips and our pictures (this is a semi tutorial, not real detailed.).

TIPS:
Hot and cold are your best friend, yes, get out the hair dryer
Use ALOT of cornstarch, you don't want it sticking to the counter top
Watch several video's on YouTube, so you can become a pro!
Patience, Patience, Patience and Smooth, Smooth, Smooth
Don't roll too thin, it will tear
Be sure to "dirty" ice the cake before fondont, YouTube will tell you this too

Wedding Program

(Be sure to come back tomorrow, I will have pics of our really fabulous cake!!)

I was really excited whenever I saw Mrs. D's wedding programs because they were so darn cute!! (back in April).  Of course, I was showing them off to one of my coworkers and she asked if I could put together something like that for her daughter's wedding.  Caution: We printed 200 of these,  it takes ALOT of paper!  We saved money by purchasing the $8 ream of  110LB paper at an office supply store and we needed two of them.  I think we used about 9 rolls of ribbon, but I didn't look to see how much was on each roll.  I was able to print these at our office, where we have the big mamma-jamma printer, that prints very well.

Burp Rags #3

Once again, more burp rags! Mrs. Rooster and I made a dozen last weekend for the mom to be plus a few more for some other soon to be mothers.  Like I said before, I just can't seem to get enough of these!  With all the great fabrics available they turn out so cute!  And everyone loves them!!  I love the way they look when they are all stacked up, makes me smile!  Wish us luck tonight- we are trying our hand at fondant icing!! If it doesn't looks like we will be having just cupcakes. LOL

Glued Glass

I am sure Mrs. Rooster and I have plenty of serving wear for the candy bar at this shower; however, I wanted to make sure!  Last minute I decided to run over to the dollar store real quick and dig through what I already have to see what I can glue together.  Remember the cake stands that I did?  Well, it is the same concept.  You can spray paint or Gorilla Glue just about anything!!  (I just now realized that I have a misspelling on the picture, yeah, but I don't feel like changing it. LOL)

Baby Gift

I have been finishing up things for the baby shower this week. Oh I am very excited about it! It is going to be so fabulous! Don't worry you all will get to see everything soon! Instead of posting something crafty, I am going to share with you the fabulous gift basket I made for the soon to be mom.  Mrs. Rooster got the mom another bask to match too, so the mom will have a set!

Felt Owls

I have been wanting to make some of these owls like I saw over at Not Just A Mommy.  She has a great tutorial on how to  makes these! I followed her instructions and they turned out fabulous! I don't really know why I made them . . .  no particular reasoning except that they are super cute!   However, Not Just A Mommy made hers for Valentine's Day, I believe.  I like that idea too! Put a tag on it that says "Wooo Love You!"

Baby Shower Corsage Tutorial

I crafted it up this weekend with Mrs. Rooster!  We are hosting a baby shower for her sister in law and of course, we are going all out for this shower!!  We have everything made and are super excited about it! Here is a sneak peak into what was made . . .  the shower corsage for the Mom to be.  I didn't want the corsage to look like she was going to homecoming or prom, so it is kinda simple but yet cute at the same time.
 



Supplies:

Pink Gerber Daisy (in regular floral aisle)

Small Mum Flower (in the baby shower aisle at HL)
Pacifier (a real one, not a decorative one)

Mini Flowers & Ribbon

I ripped out the center "button" of the daisy and then glued the mum into the center of the daisy.  Then I cut half of the pacifier brim off so it would tuck nicely into the flower (it was too buldgy with the whole brim) and glued it into the center of the mum.  I added some mini flowers and a tiny bow for accents.

My Own Sock Monkey

As you all might know I love the sock monkey.  Not sure what it is about it, but I love it!!  I am so very EXCITED because my super fabulous mom made me my very own sock monkey!! Doesn't it look fabulous!! I am excited to have him sit on my craft room and watch me craft!  Keeps me company when King is out of town!  LOL  My mom said it took her over an HOUR! to put one of these together and she is a very avid and almost professional sewer, been sewing since she was wee tiny.  Therefore, if you want to make one, you might want to have a little time.  Just thought I would let you all know.  Sorry, I am not even sure if she used a pattern or not . . . but here is a site that has a pattern.  I found the actually sock monkey "socks" at WalMart, only saw them like once, not sure why they had them but I bought a few pair!

 How You Like Me Now!

Cake Stands

This is one of my all time favorite repurposing ideas.  I've have had the supplies for quite some time but haven't taken the time to actually put everything together but since Mrs. Rooster and I are hosting a baby shower, I figured I should go ahead and get this project out of the way! I am super excited about her and I getting together this weekend to make some things for the shower.   It's going to be an explosion of pink paper!!  I know some of you have probably seen this idea before but I wanted to share mine.