I can't get enough of these origami boxes

 Whenever I bake cookies or any yummy treat I go back to these boxes to package and give as gifts to friends and neighbors.  I also love to use them for favors and place settings for parties.  This one was made with 12x12 scrapbook paper.  Perfect size for cookies! :)

a quilt idea

I have had this quilt idea in my head for a while but I never got around to it. Till I visited my sister and was totally inspired with her passion for quilting. She showed me some tips and helped me figure out how to make my idea work. :)

Here are my fabrics

Here is my design

I was too scared to start chopping my fabric apart so I scanned all my fabrics in and made a "quilt" in Photoshop. It is supposed to be a twin but it isn't very to scale, I think it will end up being bigger and with more flags. Maybe I will add a border to it. Drawing the design is as far as I have gotten, I'll update you as soon as I get more progress made.

Free Halloween challenge

I recently went to my local craft stores and was upset at the cost of all the cute Halloween crafts there. I love Free things, as many of you do I'm sure, so I have decided to Free Halloween! By that I mean I intend to give free downloads and tutorials to you!
I want to challenge other bloggers to do the same and together we can FREE Halloween from its expensive and overpriced existence and give it new life, a free life here on our blogs! :)

Throughout the first week of October I will be posting different free downloads and tutorials. If you are interested in participating please let me know. Also, if you would put one of these buttons on your blog linking back to me that would be great. :)

<a href="http://lorajeansmagazine.blogspot.com/2010/09/free-halloween-challenge.html"><img alt="button blog" height="216" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4128/5036814581_aa04d36895_m.jpg" width="216" /></a><br />

<a href="http://lorajeansmagazine.blogspot.com/2010/09/free-halloween-challenge.html"><img alt="button blog" height="216" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4148/5036814455_c27405bdd7_m.jpg" width="216" /></a><br />

<a href="http://lorajeansmagazine.blogspot.com/2010/09/free-halloween-challenge.html"><img alt="button blog" height="216" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4151/5036814301_c5b8ff793e_m.jpg" width="216" /></a><br />

Your mothers dress

{ just not the way she'd wear it }

I just got back from another awesome trip to visit family in Colorado. While I was there I was in awe every time my little sister dressed for school. One day she even wore a retro prom dress with a cute floral cardigan on top. I keep telling her to start a blog with photos of all the clothes she wears. But my little sis lives her life "unplugged". As opposed to your everyday modern 15 year old, my sister has no cell phone and almost never checks her email or Facebook. I admire this about her. I took photos of a few of her outfits to post here on my blog. Maybe I'll make a kind of mini series. We thought the title was appropriate since the dress actually is our moms.
Here is what it looked like "in the raw".

& here is what it looked like after she styled it.

NOTE: no sewing was involved!
Here are the 2 EASY steps to get this look

1. cinch the sleeves up with safety pins
2. belt it

Seriously that's all! :) Because the dress was so big it looked so pretty and gathered when she belted it. Cinched sleeves are so in right now too. It is weird seeing calico dresses come back. I love them though!

Peek over here to see what i really want to win!