Making Grammar Easy for Bloggers

Besides working on new projects this spring, I've also been spring cleaning my blog. Sprucing up graphics, upgrading my photo editing and improving my post writing is as critical as making the crafts.   These things have a significant impact on how people see your blog.  No matter how fabulous projects are, seeing basic spelling mistakes and grammatical errors in the text can create a negative impression.  Wrong word choices in your blog or written work can do that too.  One of my personal pet peeves as a French major is seeing "wa-lah" written when someone means "voilà", but some people have no idea it's even French so how would they know to check it?


So I was interested in an offer to try out a grammar checker tool, called Grammarly.com, that not only proofreads for spelling, grammar, and punctuation, but also word style and plagiarism.

This on-line grammar checker provides a straightforward format where you can just copy & paste your content and then see a full report that points out any issues and offers suggestions.  As someone who doesn't have a writing background (and is usually writing in interrupted moments or late at night), I like the idea of being able to check that everything is written accurately in my work.  You can even tailor the review to the type of writing style, like technical, casual or creative.

As a homeschooling family it's also a helpful tool for explaining grammar and improving writing, so my growing writers can benefit from using it.  I ran this post through it and was impressed with it's its suggestions and reasons for using them.

Grammarly.com offers a free 7 day trial of unlimited use to check all the writing you want and then has monthly subscription service.  There's also a free grammar handbook that anyone can access for writing tips and questions.   I like the idea of improving my writing and how easy this tool can make that! 

Sweet Spring Grass Wreath

I want to start off today's post by saying the original idea for this wreath project comes from P.S. Capture The Details.  I saw her yarn grass wreath on Pinterest and loved how simple & striking it was in design.  Unfortunately (as is the case with many Pins), it didn't go to the actual source, so it took a while to track down who to credit.  This is such an easy project - even a non-crafter can make it!  And it's the perfect springtime decoration.

All that's needed is a foam wreath, some green eyelash yarn, a few pins, ribbon and some floral decorations:

You simply wind the yarn all the way around the wreath, totally covering the foam, which gives the effect of blades of grass.  One skein does a good job filling up a 10" wreath.  Cut a loop of ribbon to hang the wreath and either make a knot at the end or overlap and pin the ends together on the back of the wreath like I did:

Add some strategically placed flowers.  I used some sprigs of millinery & satin flowers that were wired so just cutting them apart makes it easy to poke them into the foam. Then the wreath is ready:

Since I have a covered porch and double front doors I made two to add a little "Spring" to our front steps:

Easy & cute! 

Sharing this with my FAVE LINK PARTIES too - click HERE to check them out!

Craftastic Monday Link Party!

Welcome to a new week of the Craftastic Monday Link Party!  I hope everyone who celebrated Easter or Passover this weekend had a lovely holiday.  I had a great time with our families, but was well and truly wiped out from all the festivities!  Now it's time to focus on some relaxing, new projects - ahhhhhhhhh:)  So let's start this week with some fabulous things from all you creative crafters out there!

Here are a few fun ideas from last week to get you in the mood:

Crafty Mischief showed her tutorial for making a tutu basket - great for Easter, playing dress-up or weddings: 

Our 3 Sons Plus 1 shared how to make a pair of shorts into a stylish skort:

Check out this lovely (& easy to make) lace bowls from Handmade by Stacy Vaughn:

I also feature these projects and many more favorites on the Sew Can Do's Craftastic Picks board on Pinterest.  Follow me there to see more great projects and if yours is one of them!

Ready to link up your crafty creations?

  

Party rules are simple:

• As long as it's crafty and made by you it's Craftastic (no links giveaways, shops, link parties or other people's work).  Add the link to your specific post (not the main page of your blog).
• Grab my party button & put it on your post or blog somewhere.  The code's on the sidebar -> 
• Check out some of the other great links and share some crafty comment love.  We all love getting comments!!

Have a great week!

Egg-cellent & Easy Easter Ideas

With Easter just a few days away I thought I'd put together a few fun ideas from past years that have gotten me ready for the coming holiday:

Make some Spring Shaped Candies in all sorts of Easter designs. This is great for keeping the kids busy too!

Want some cheap & simple-to-do items to add to those baskets?  Try DIY Silly Putty or Squashy Eggs (which just use sand + balloons).  Both are really fast to make and get a big thumbs up from the kids:

Try a new twist on an old favorite: Panoramic Sugar Eggs.  I've gone both geeky & traditional with mine, but you can easily customize the basic formula for your own custom look:

Or grab some blank t-shirts and whip up some quick spring-style appliques with some fleece scraps for the ideal custom Easter Tees:

Hope these ideas help get your holiday hopping.  Have a Happy Easter Everyone!

Sharing this with my FAVE LINK PARTIES too - click HERE to check them out!

The Bunnykins Dress & Big Brother Easter Wear

I thought I wouldn't have to make or buy Easter outfits for the kids this year.  I was feeling SO confident about it too.  I was sure my little lady could wear the dress I made for her last year:

and my guys could wear these appliqued t-shirts from 2yrs ago since they still fit:

But of course, making that assumption, the dress (which was extra long last year) was too short when she tried it on.  Ugh.  So an unexpected challenge was thrown down.  Then I saw this purple bunny fabric on sale for 60% off and figured it was a sign, so I came up with my Bunnykins Dress.

The base is a simple party dress design using pieces from one of my favorite sewing books: Kwik Sew's Sewing for Baby.  I scaled them up to a 3T and used a few of my own shortcuts to save time putting it together. 

The pinafore was my own design that I literally figured out as I made it.  I wanted to use this pretty embroidery design that came programmed on my Brother sewing machine (now that I've figured out how to use my embroidery attachment & have the right stabilizers for it).  I was so please with how it turned out - machine embroidery is so addictive!!

I used some nice quality muslin from my stash to create the pinafore and since I was adding embroidery on the front, I made the entire thing fully lined so it would hold its shape well and be a nice, crisp white.  I made it tie at the sides for some extra detailing and for plenty of adjustability:

I didn't want to wrestle with doing a closure on the back for what's essentially an apron, so I made it an over-the-head style:

I was so thrilled that this turned out as I imagined it.  When I was almost finished with it I stumbled across a very similar purple dress with embroidered pinafore online for $118! Other than the yard of the bunny print fabric I only used old materials from my stash, so this was ridiculously inexpensive - literally cost $5 from my wallet (and not counting this Mom's time to make it).  And by making it a bit generous in size, and using a big hem, I'm sure this one can get multiple years of wear:)

Of course after I finished the dress I kind of felt bad my guys would have to wear the same thing a 3rd year in a row.  But being older boys (ages 6 & 9) means super cutesy Easter outfits don't quite work anymore and I just don't see the point of making boys' dress shirts or polos from scratch.  Too much time & materials for something so basic!  So I did some a quick embellishing to make these Dandy Gander polo shirts:

I used inexpensive, plain polos from the local mall and embroidered a small, custom colored duck with bow tie on each one:

Now they have something Easter-y, but not too precious looking.  I'm even doing one for my husband (per his request), so everyone will have some seasonal flair.  Now figuring something out for myself is another matter...

Sharing this with my FAVE LINK PARTIES too - click HERE to check them out!

Springtime Craftastic Link Party!

Are you excited for spring & Easter?  I totally am!  This week I'll be sharing a bunch of goodies to get everyone feeling festive.  And for another bit of excitement, I'm ready to announce the winner of the Quilting Goodies Giveaway:

Congratulations Alyssa!  You've won a great prize pack of Pellon Quilting & Sewing Products.  A big thanks to Pellon for providing this fabulous prize!

Since I'm all about the Easter goodies this week, let's take a look at some of the great Easter-themed links from last week:

Bringing Beauty showed this adorable hatching chick cake pops:

I love the mix of colorful prints & silver in these Easter plates by Creative Chaos:

Making Memories With Your Kids shared a recipe for some sparkly rainbow cookies aka unicorn poop!

I also feature these projects and many more favorites on the Sew Can Do's Craftastic Picks board on Pinterest.  Follow me there to see more great projects and if yours is one of them!

Ready to link up your crafty creations?

 

Party rules are simple:

• As long as it's crafty and made by you it's Craftastic (no links giveaways, shops, link parties or other people's work).  Add the link to your specific post (not the main page of your blog).
• Grab my party button & put it on your post or blog somewhere.  The code's on the sidebar -> 
• Check out some of the other great links and share some crafty comment love.  We all love getting comments!!

Have a great week!