Brand Stenciled T

To honor his ranching heritage, I stenciled one of the family brands onto a T for Ethan. I am happy to report that he loves it. Now, if it will only instill that ranch work ethic...

Ribbon box tutorial

Usually I forget about the presentation of a present, but for small gifts, I needed to come up with a cute way to gift. Thus came about the ribbon box. All you need is 2.5" wired ribbon (actually you can use any size, but I used 2.5 inch).
Step 1- Cut 1- 16" and 1- 40" piece of ribbon (this can be adjusted for larger or smaller boxes. To calculate your own, follow these instructions: The shorter length should be approx 6x the width of the ribbon used (A). For the longer length, tie a bow to your liking, untie it, and measure the length of ribbon used (B), then add the shorter length (A) to your bow length (B). The resulting number is the longer length needed. It sounds harder than it is.)
Step 2- Fold both ribbons in half to find their center.
Step 3- With wrong side facing up, layer long and short ribbons together, lining up centers to form a T shape. Make sure longer ribbon is on bottom.
Step 4- Take ribbon to sewing machine, straight stitch on the inner side of the wire-edge all the way around the overlapping ribbon, forming a square.
Step 5- Mark the height of your box (I used straight pins to mark mine and measured 2.5" away from the square I had just sewed)
Step 6- Line up adjacent edges and stitch from the corner of the square out to the pin. I tried both a straight stitch and a zigzag and thought the zigzag looked much nicer.
Step 7- Repeat with 3 remaining corners.
You can stop here and have a nice box, or for a more finished look, continue...
Step 8- Fold the short ribbon ends back on themselves, wrong sides together and zigzag the outer 3 sides. Repeat with other side.
Step 9- Fancy cut the long edges or leave plain. Sear the edges with a candle to prevent unraveling.
Step 10- Insert small gift, fold in short edges, and tie long ribbons into bow.

I TRI-ed it and I liked it

Last Saturday I completed my first triathlon (Olympic distance- 1500 meter swim, 23 mile bike, 10k run). I was supposed to do it with a friend, but she injured her knee a few weeks before the event, so I was on my own. Good thing I have my own personal support team that comes with me everywhere. The race was a lot of fun and I think I'll do it again, it just takes up a LOT of time.