February 4, 2011
Each week, I have such lofty goals for getting my tutorials up and as this week comes to an end, they are still not here. My goal for this weekend is to have several tutorials completed. The second half of the picnic blanket will be here, the cloche hat tutorial is getting it’s finishing touches and I will also show you how I made my candle holder lamp.
Below is my entry from last week on SYTYC. It was up-cycled week and I’m loving my new lamp. It has a home on the table next to my side of the bed.
If you haven’t checked out this week yet, head over to SYTYC now and see the Game Day projects. The polls close tonight, so you have some time to get your vote in.
I wanted a new lamp and my budget didn’t correspond with what I wanted. So I took this week’s challenge to get my creative juices flowing to upcycle something to make a new lamp. After a bit of brainstorming, I came up with the idea of using candle holders to make a lamp.
I love the look of the of the glass now. It looks so much like milk glass. It was great to get a hand-me-down lamp to use for parts. That made the project so much more affordable.
For the finishing touch, I recovered a lamp shade to coordinate with the base and to get just the look I wanted.
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January 29, 2011
Today my grandfather went in for a biopsy that confirmed cancer.
Tonight I saw this:
Tonight I wish I could give Pawpaw a hug.
I wish I could take away his pain.
All I can do tonight is send my love and say my prayers. It just doesn’t feel like enough.
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January 24, 2011
Click on the link above to vote for your favorite project this week. The theme is upcycled and maybe you will get some inspiration about how to reuse some items you have around the house.
I’m almost finished with the cloche hat tutorial. Sorry it’s taking me so long to get it finished. I would have taken pictures for the first one I made, but I stitched it in the car and made it up as I went along. So for this tutorial, I had to start from scratch.
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January 22, 2011
Thank you for everyone who voted for my project last week on So You Think You’re Crafty. The theme for the week was cozy and I made this bath robe. The girls outgrew the bath robe I found at Carter’s for them years ago and it was time for some new ones. They requested soft, cuddly robes with a hood. So this is what I came up with for them. Since they have difficulty tying the tie on their old robes (and robes with ties tend to open up easily), I decided to go ahead and add big buttons they could easily open and close.
I’m still working on getting Katelyn and Madison’s robes finished. They are patiently waiting.
Below is the post as it appeared on SYTYC.
For this week, I set out to make the coziest bathrobe I could. The bright colors of this robe help brighten up dreary days when you feel like lounging around.
The robe features a soft flannel fabric on the outside with the yummiest, softest pink fabric you can imagine lining the entire inside. The buttons help secure the robe and are easier than a tied belt for little hands to manage alone.
Who wouldn’t want to step out of a warm bubble bath and into this cozy robe?
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January 18, 2011
Things You Need:
1 vinyl tablecloth 60″ x 60″
1 piece of fabric 60″ x 60″
1 1/2 yards of coordinating fabric
Coordinating scrap fabric (to make checkers board)
34″ sew on Velcro cut into 4 equal lengths of 8.5 inches
34″ ric-rac cut into 4 strips 8.5 inches long
7 yards double fold bias tape
Heat’n Bond Lite
Fabric marker
game pieces: 24 pieces of wood 1.5″ diameter and 75 small pieces for Bingo calling numbers (I used small wooden hearts)
Let’s get started making the blanket.
I found a 60×120 tablecloth and cut it in half for this project. Now I can make a second blanket one day. I used a bottom weight khaki fabric for the top side of the blanket, also cut 60×60. So that’s where I started.
Next, cut the pieces of fabric you need to begin making the pockets and borders.
Cut 4 strips of fabric (out of your coordinating fabric) that measure 37 x 6.5 inches.
Cut the corner pieces that will form the pockets. Follow the measurements on the diagram below and cut 4 pieces total.
Stitch each strip of ric-rac to the top piece of your Velcro. Be sure to stitch it to the backside of the strip so it’s not between the layers of Velcro later.
On the side of the corner piece that measures 8.5 inches, turn under 1/2 inch and iron. Stitch the top piece of Velcro (with the added ric-rac) to the folded edge of the corner piece. Allow the edge of the ric-rac to extend beyond the edge of the corner. Fold back and sew the Velcro to the remaining corner pieces.
Place each corner piece onto the top portion of your blanket with the corners aligned. Mark the position for the bottom Velcro piece. I use a disappearing ink pen, but you can pin it to secure it. Doesn’t matter how you mark it, just be sure you have it aligned properly. Stitch lower Velcro onto the 60×60 inch piece of fabric for each corner.
Moving on to your 37 inch strips now. Fold one long edge of your strips under 1/2 inch and iron flat. Place the strips between the corner pieces with the folded side towards the middle of the blanket and align the outside edges of all the pieces. Using a 1/2 inch seam allowance, stitch the pieces together as shown below.
Place the border/corner pieces on the blanket top and stitch. I stitched each side of the seam between the border strips and the corner pocket pieces.
Part 2 of the tutorial will show you how to add the games to the top of the blanket!
Click here to head over to the second part.
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January 16, 2011
So this past week was Kids Can Do on SYTYC and I got the most votes for my picnic blanket. I’m so honored and excited that other people liked my idea. I’m getting my cloche hat tutorial and now the blanket tutorial ready to share. I hope to have them both done by the end of the week.
Don’t forget to check in on Monday to see the next week’s contest and vote for your favorite again. This is so much fun!
Here’s my post from the contest in case you missed it:
Our family loves to picnic and we go often during warmer weather, but sometimes the kids begin to get a bit bored during the time we are not eating. We also enjoy playing games together, so I thought it would be fun to have a picnic blanket that has games built right in. I’m looking forward to using this picnic blanket to help entertain the kids during camping trips and while waiting for it to get dark before fireworks.
I decided to make a checkers board for the center of the blanket and surround it with a Bingo game and tic tac toe grids. The pieces easily rotate between the different games and then store in the built-in corner pockets.
The bottom of the blanket helps prevent a wet ground from ruining the picnic fun.
In addition to playing games during a picnic, kids can help make the blanket by painting the game pieces, selecting the games and writing the bingo numbers on the blanket. Older children may even want to help with the sewing.
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January 13, 2011
I’m still working on getting a tutorial for my cloche hat. It’s coming soon, I promise! In the meantime, I thought I would share how I made the fabric flower for the hat.
I made a smaller size to use as a hair accessory for the girls. This flower and quick and easy. After making the flower, you can sew it to something (like a hat!), attach a broach pin or glue to an alligator clip.
Begin with the fabric you want to use. For the hat, I used one type of fabric, but for the flower hair clip, I decided to use two different ones so it would be easy to see what is what in this tutorial.
I cut up an outfit I made for Katelyn when she was younger. Gotta recycle when I can.
Decide how big you want your flower and find a circular object to trace. I used a measuring cup this morning and for the life of me, I can’t remember what I used for the hat flower.
Cut out your circles. I used 10 circles for this flower and 9 for the hat flower.
Fold each circle in half and iron flat.
Thread a needle and knot the end so you have a double strand of thread. Run a stitch through the straight portion of the half circle.
Slide the fabric all the way to the end by the knot and gather it on the thread.
Repeat the process with the remaining pieces of fabric.
Allow the half circles to curl into a circular shape and begin to layer the fabric as you go.
Once you get to the end of the fabric pieces, tighten the flower by pulling the thread. Make a knot to secure the flower.
Sew a button to the middle of the flower and you’re done!
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January 11, 2011
It’s week #2 for So You Think You’re Crafty. The theme for this week is Kids Can Do. There are some awesome crafts on there and Katelyn already went through and ranked them in the order that she liked them. Click on the logo at the top of the post and head over there to check out the crafts this week and cast your vote. The polls are open until Friday evening.
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January 8, 2011
The first week of So You Think You’re Crafty is over and I made it through to the next round! I was thrilled with the amount of votes I got for my hat. I was quite tickled with how it turned out and I’ll have a tutorial available soon for anyone else wanting to make one.
Any interest in a tutorial on how to make the flower too? Just let me know and I’ll get that one done as well.
Shopping at a thrift store can be hit or miss for sure. As I wandered through several stores, I came up with nothing. I put on my thinking cap and came up this idea to make a hat. I headed back to the store with this project in mind. I found the perfect blazer for a cloche hat. I’ve always thought a cloche hat was cute and this one speaks to my inner flapper.
After felting the coat, I stitched the hat using my own sewing pattern. It still needed something though. I decided to add the ribbon and made a fabric flower.
I think this hat is the bee’s knees. Now I’m all ready to put on my hat-ski, go grab a bell bottom and head down to the local speakeasy for some giggle water.
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January 7, 2011
When we get together, my sister and I try to get a picture of our girls together. It never seems to go so well. Someone is always crying or has an attitude problem or something. Before Christmas we had a girls day at our aunt’s house and we tried once again.
Tada!
I think we confused them with taking pictures with 3 cameras all at one time!
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