Love Rocks!

Happy Valentine's Day!  I made these little rocks for the girls at work.  Pretty simple, but fun- paper hearts Modge Podged on to smooth rocks I bought at the dollar store.

Plastic Grocery Bag Crocheted Tote

This project took what felt like eternity and a million plastic bags! About 1/2 way through I said I would never, ever make one of these again, but now that it is finished I might do more, just not nearly as large.

I cut up plastic grocery bags into rings and looped them together to make plastic yarn, or "plarn" as the tutorial I was inspired by referred to it. I have no clue how many plastic bags this actually took. My best guess is at least 100?

The only other good use for the plastic grocery bags is as small trash bags since they don't recycle them around here, so I guess I make more? I think next time I might make a lunch bag sized one. I might also branch out to using a wider variety of colored bags or make a more complex patten than just the one stripe.

Etched Glass Mugs

A girlfriend needed a gift for the seniors on her son's bowling team but was on a budget.  Trying to think of something that works for both boys and girls and something that they might actually keep and use, we came up with etched, glass mugs!  This is a super easy process that has a great outcome.  I use a Cricut to make my stencil, but you can use an exacto knife to cut out your design and it works just as well- just takes a bit more time.

As luck would have it, the Dollar Tree had just gotten in these glass mugs.  I cut the stencils out of vinyl, put on the etching cream, and voila!  A functional keepsake that looks pretty cool.  She is going to fill them with candy and wrap them up in school colored cellophane. 

Now I Crochet?!

I guess I need another craft to get involved with?!  A gal from work peaked my interest to try crocheting again when she brought in some cute hats she had made her grandkids.  I had done a little bit as a camp counselor about 15 years ago.  Since then, the hooks and 1/2 finished projects have been traveling around in my craft supplies. 

I started with a basic scarf and it turned out "ok" but it is a cheap gray yarn that I would never expect anyone to wear.  I branched out yesterday and bought pink camo yarn.  Searching for a manageable project, I thought my tea mug needed a sweater.  It turned out better than I thought on a first try without a pattern, although it really isn't a complicated project.  

Now I am looking for more things to crochet for practice.  So if you need something small and basic, let me know.... Who else wants a MUG SWEATER?

Felt Play Food

About a month ago some girls on a discussion forum I participate on started talking about felt food.  They were doing a "Felt Food Exchange".  I didn't join in.  I couldn't figure out what the craze was all about, but after 3 weeks of being on maternity leave, I had to see what it was all about.  Of course, Pinterest was a great resource to investigate this.  Then, a friend gave little Lucy a hand-me-down play kitchen last weekbut we had no play food to stock it with.  I figured I would give felt food production a shot.  After $6 worth of felt, some batting I already had, and one afternoon of sewing, I ended up with the above stock of felt food items and quite a bit of left over felt.  I made two main dishes- breakfast and a sandwich.  Not everything turned out how I expected, which is why there are no bread slices and the waffles aren't exactly how I wanted them to look.  I ran out of some colors so the next day I took a trip to the craft store for more felt.

 

I love how the sandwich turned out- specifically I love the lettuce and the bacon!  Since the original production, I have also created pizza slices, peas, red pepper slices, pickle slices,  a banana, and additional tortillas.  I still plan to make broccoli, bread slices, pancakes, butter, ice cream, chips, pasta, and anything else I can come up with!

If you have a kiddo that needs play food and you have a sewing machine, then felt food is a good time investment!  It is much less expensive than the plastic or wooden store bought stuff and you can make whatever you want!

Upcycled Wool Mittens

Some of you may be wondering why I had scraps of wool sweaters lying around to make Lucy's Christmas Stocking with . . .  I have been making WOOL MITTENS!  They are so much fun to make and I absolutely love the way they turn out!  I gave a few as Christmas presents this year and some I am still working on.  They are so easy to make and it has let me fulfill my desire to discount shop, as the best place to get a variety of fun colored wool sweaters is yard sales, Goodwill, etc. 

A co-worker was recently talking about how expensive handmade wool mittens were at a local shop and that it couldn't be too hard to make a pair.  So I found a pattern online and adjusted it a bit to what worked for me and voila!  After a couple test pairs of liners to get the sizing right, I started cranking out mittens!  They are wool sweater material on the outside (after it has been washed in hot water/ soap and dried on high heat to shrink up the wool)  and the inside is new polar fleece.  So far I have made solid colored mittens with the exception of this one pair with the grey palms.  Soon I might venture out into mixing and matching sweater colors to be a little more festive.

  

Bring it on, WINTER!

Wool Christmas Stocking

Lucy's stocking last year was a cute pink "Baby's 1st Christmas 2010" stocking given to her by her Grand-dad, but this year I wanted to make her a unique stocking that had more of a Christmas feel.  I have been making things with old wool sweaters this season and had quite a few scraps left, and thought that would make a cozy, festive wool stocking!  I traced a stocking shape from one of ours that I like the shape of.  Then I cut the paper stocking into shapes for a pattern and left about a 1/2 inch around all sides for a seam allowance.  The whole process of making the pattern and sewing it together took less than an hour and was very easy.   I love how it turned out and it looked even better full of presents!

30 Sucks.

I saw this project on Pinterest a while back and kept the idea in the back of my head, knowing that I would have to have a friend turning a milestone birthday sometime in the near future.  Well, I had a friend turn the 30 last week.   So about a month ago I set out to make the "30 Sucks" sucker bouquet.  I went a fairly easy route- Bought a block of florists foam and 2 bags of Blow Pops.  Then I used 2 colored paperbags I had on hand cover the foam block.  I think next time I would use wrapping paper, but I was impatient and excited to make it and I liked the bright pink.  I used my new Cricut machine to cut "30 SUCKS." out of scrapbook paper and to make a little Happy Birthday card.  Using an exacto knife, I cut 30 slits in the top of the bags/block and stuck in the suckers.  Around the suckers I stuffed crinkle cut paper shreds(the kind you use in gift bags)... and Voila!

I thought it turned out very cute and hopefully it brightened her day for the dreadful 30.

DIY Christmas Wreaths

We offer a wreath making class at our greenhouse and I went Saturday to join in.  It was quite intimidating in the beginning.  Of course, I was late and the other ladies were deep into the process.  They were clipping greenery, bundling, wrapping with wire, using a variety of supplies and I was clueless!  But I collected all my materials, observed some of the others, and jumped right in.  It was actually a lot of fun and turned out much better than I expected!  There were some ladies in the class that have been coming to the class for years even though they are nearly wreath making experts, so that they have all the supplies provided in a festive location.  Their wreaths were incredible!

I have never bought a fresh wreath (I have a cheap fake one that I have used for years) but I don't think I ever will buy one-  I will just make it from now on!  I wish I would have taken some pictures during the process to share with everyone, but maybe it is good I didn't so that next year I can gather a group of friends to take the class with me!

Freezer Paper Fabric Printing

This has to be one of the coolest crafts I have ever made.  Mainly because it is so easy and it has such a great outcome!  All you need is:

• Freezer Paper (not wax or parchment, but paper with a plastic coating on one side)
• Iron
• Fabric Paint
• Foam Paint Brush
• Exact-o-knife
• Pen or Pencil
• Fabric item of your choice (I used one of Lucy's onesies)

I printed out an image I wanted to put on the onesie.  I selected a bowling ball with a pair of bowling pins, perfect for the start of bowling season!  Then I cut a piece of the freezer paper to just a bit larger than the image and traced the image onto the freezer paper with the plastic side down.  Using the exact-o-knife,  I cut along all the lines to make a stencil.  I didn't have to worry about the pieces all being connected since it gets ironed on to the fabric so the will stay put.

After it was ironed on, I used purple fabric paint in the fabric exposed areas.  The paint directions say to dry for 4 hours, but since it is spread out and I am impatient, I probably only left it for about 2-3 hrs.  Then I pulled all the paper off and viola!  I LOVE the outcome.  I ended up making two and will probably make a lot more once I get more colors.  I also plan to make some shirts and things for Rudy and myself.

Milk Jug Case

I found this "lunch box" made out of a plastic milk jug on Pinterest.  Since we have quite a few infant water jugs siting around waiting to head out to recycling, I decided to give this a shot.  It was really easy to cut the plastic, although I didn't cut very evenly.  And I already had some self-adhesive velcro dots in my sewing supplies. 

 

 Now I just need to decide what I will use it for.  Perhaps pencils, crayons, small toys, brownies, cookies, or carrots?

The Expedit

Several years ago my husband bought me the most fabulous shelving unit for my craft room.  The extraordinarily large, 6ft x 6ft IKEA Expedit Bookcase.  It weighs 213lb, has about 100 pieces, and took me a couple hours and several bruises to assemble.  Then 6 months later, we moved.  The movers were able to easily get it out of our house, but after a 1/2 hour of trying, they had no luck in getting up the stairs to our 2nd story, 1 bedroom, downtown apartment.  So off my new, cool shelf went to our storage unit to live for over 2 years.

Well, about 2 months ago we moved into a house and I was so excited for us to be reunited.  Until we tried getting it into the house.  Since our box-spring wouldn't fit, we knew the IKEA shelf wouldn't either.  So here is the dilemma:  do we concede to be beat by the bookcase and just make it into a piece of garage furniture?  Or do we disassemble it with the hope that we can get it back together again in the room of our desire? After much debate, we decided to tackle the reassembly.

Much to our surprise, it was very easy!  Unassembly went very fast, and reassembly wasn't that bad either.  So here we have it...

Now it is time to work on organization of all my craft supplies!

Paper Bag Mini-Album

Years ago I used to teach kids how to make paper lunch bags into all sorts of things, including scrapbooks.  I would always start a sample, but never really finish it because it was just a sample to show them the concept and I didn't want to give them something they would try to copy.  I would hole punch the binding and lace it together using yarn.  Well the other day I had my sewing machine out and decided it might be fun to try making a mini-album out of paper bags similar to the ones I made with the kids.

I used an overlock stitch to bind together three folded bags.   The stitch messed up a little from going through the thick layers, but I like the haphazard look it created.  I alternated the bags directions so the flaps and openings of the bags would be mixed up to create a more interesting booklet of pages.

Since the bag openings make great pockets, I knew I wanted to put something in them.  I found some tulle left over from a tutu I made for Lucy and I sewed a picture on an index card to give it some stability and tulle on the end of it that sticks out of the pocket for decoration.  This album was made out of three bags, therefore it has three pockets and three picture/tulle cards.

To sew the pictures directly onto the bag pages I used a basic straight stitch about an quarter inch off the edge.  Under the flaps I have written a few words about the pictures on the pages or general characteristics of Lucy  inspired by the photos.  I used some decorative rub-on transfers and letters for the cover and to add thematic color to the pages.

I'm not completely finished with this album. I still need pictures for two of the pages,  but I was so excited about it and how it is shaping up that I just couldn't wait to share it.

Tags, tags, and more tags.

Pre-motherhood I would see those Taggie blankets, clothes, etc. and wonder why in the world that company makes so much money on that stuff and who would buy that for their kid.  Then Lucy turned 6 months and tags were no longer safe.  She can find a tag on anything and get it into her mouth.

So last weekend I decided that I could just make a taggie mini-blanket myself so that she could chew and slobber all over that and it would be easier to clean than the awkward shaped stuff with tags: stuffed animals, wrist rattles, and the toys on her exersaucer.  Off I went to my bin of fabric, of which I have way too much, and out I pulled a colorful piece of duck fabric and bright pink scrap of terry cloth, both of which I used earlier this year to make bibs and burp cloths.  Then I selected four different colorful ribbons to make into "tags"and I got to sewing.

I was quite proud of my creation and immediately gave it to little Lucy, knowing that she would be in 7th heaven with so many tags!  I was envisioning the cute pictures of her over the years as she would have her little home-made taggie by her side.  She took it, looked at it, and threw it to the side while reaching for a tag on her pink plaid Scooby-doo.  Oh well.  I was glad my time investment was minimal and financial investment even less.  And I had decided I would not blog about my little creation because it was a failure.

Well about 10 minutes ago she picked it up on her own! She has since put it down, but maybe there is some hope!  Maybe it wasn't a complete waste of time and effort.  Who knows!  If you see pictures of her in the months to come with her little homemade taggie, then you will now know where it came from and that she has finally warmed up to it.  Otherwise, tuck in your tags, none are safe from Lucy!

The Reading Corner

I saw a Kid's Library pinned on Pintrest that looked amazing and decided Lucy must have her own little reading corner based off the same idea that the books face out on display.  It almost serves as wall art while being functional.  I would rather her see books and be enticed to use them then stashed away on a bookcase.  Plus, the covers are so much fun to look at!

So off we went to the local Big Box hardware store to look for shelving.  First we thought we would use a 1"x 3" and attached a 1"x 1" to give it a lip to keep the books from sliding of the edge.  Then we decided to get the 1"x 3" and wait until we could borrow a router from someone to make a ridge... then Rudy had the brilliant idea of using a piece of trim that already had a little ridge and was also finished in white, which matches most of her furniture in her room.  Brilliant!  So we bought two 8' pieces of Marco trim, eight little L brackets, and a pack of tiny screws and off we went.

Today, Rudy got to cutting, sanding, and installing the new, slim shelves in Lucy's room.  It really only took a few minutes and I LOVE the result!  If there weren't so many darn windows in her room, then I would do a whole wall with these.  Now I want to get her a little bean bag chair and maybe a small, fun rug to set the corner off as a special area.

Father's Day Candy Arrangement

Lucy and I made a Father's Day candy arrangement for Rudy out of fun sized snickers, fun sized twix, a laffy taffy "straw," a fun glass,  drinking straws, and a lot of tape!