Mailbox, complete!

Its no secret that I enjoy doing projects. Whether it be painting a room, decorating, getting dirty and digging up the yard, or making things, I just have a natural drive to do, make, and create. I got my very first fully functioning sewing machine for Christmas this past year. While timid at actually using it, the bloggy world has definitely supplied many ideas that convince me to get over my timidity. One such project was this mail carrier set that I found at Twelve Crafts 'til Christmas. I was totally inspired and couldn't wait to get started as Little Miss has a love of going out to get the mail every afternoon after she wakes up from her nap. Well, a few weeks later, a surprisingly bizarre search for a brad (Target didn't have them!), and a couple of re-dos later, I have successfully finished the first portion of the project and have a completed mailbox! While not perfect, I love it and I don't think the kiddo will care a bit that its not perfect. I totally have the pride of, "I made this!" Now I just have to finish the rest of the set and wait 'til Christmas!

While having to do a major fix and getting to know my seam-ripper, I decided to stray a little bit from the tutorial and sew on some cute felt flowers before closing the final seam. I really like how they came out.

I really like the butterfly button at the top for the door latch, I'm just not sure I'm going to keep it that way. I may move it over to the flowers section just as decor because its really kind of tough to put the elastic loop over...so I think using a simple round button will be a better option here.

Again, I strayed from the tutorial when attaching the flag. I went ahead and attached it before closing that seam to the main piece. I'm soooo glad that I did because the brads I ended up finding were heavy duty decor brads and I'm really not sure I would have been able to open it through the material.

Seriously, go check out Twelve Crafts 'til Christmas. It has so many fun and inspiring ideas including stocking stuffer craft ideas.