Green Decor

My little man is getting taller and is able to reach more things on the table, so my table top decorations are limited - either none, or small ones he can't reach. I have a problem with styrofoam balls at Ben Franklin's Craft Store. They have them in every color imaginable - so that means I also have them in every color. But I keep them in their appropriate color-coded holiday boxes so my husband doesn't see them all together and know how many styrofoam balls I've got. So I sat in front of Sesame Street today and sifted the green and yellow ones out of my "Spring" multi-colored tube.

And I had some cute green jute ribbon to tie around the jar thanks to my mom and her ribbon addiction (she was "cleaning house" and thrifting her extra supplies to me and my sister). She has plenty of other addictions that I benefited from as well . . . buttons, fabric, zippers, bias tape, scrapbook paper, etc. Thanks Mom!

Paper Purse treat/gift

At church, we have a program where a pair of women team up and visit a few different women in the church and that usually involves sharing a gospel message and sometimes leaving them with a treat! As a treat to go along with this month's Visiting Teaching message, I found this idea for a paper purse filled with chocolate gold coins. This month's message is about "managing your resourses wisely and staying out of debt." This was so easy to make - I made 2 in probably less than 10 minutes! Just download her template and print it on the back of your patterned paper and cut it out. Simple and quick! It even has a quote by Elder Rober D. Hales on the inside flap.

Now all I have to do is go find chocolate gold coins. Since the next holiday coming up is St. Patrick's Day, hopefully there are tons of these to find at the store.

I could see this working really well for a party favor as well where you want a purse to hold the candy. Just leave off the quote and it works for any occasion.

Wall Trees

I painted two trees on my daughter's wall - my artistic brothers would be proud of my work. I drew them all by myself. And I'm quite proud of them. To make the flowers, I used a circle template and cut 2 sizes of circles out of pink craft foam. I double layered the flowers, so I half the flowers have a dark pink base and a light pink top, and the other half are light pink on the bottom and dark pink on the top. To attach them to the wall, I used pearl head straight pins. I didn't want to glue them to the wall since I want to be able to remove them some day. So I just pushed them through the foam and into the wall. Easy peasy!
Here's a close up of one of the flowers.

Hair Clip Holder

I've seen several of these online and decided to take a try at it. We had extra molding left over from remodeling the kid's rooms, so being the brave woman that I am, I used a mider saw and cut it all by myself! I did have to call my husband to ask how to lift the blade up since it was locked closed. So here are the pieces before I assembled them.

Then I glued and staple gun'd the corners. Then I painted the frame and cut and stapled chicken wire (to hold the hair clips on) to the back, followed by canvas fabric.

After hanging it up, it looked like it needed a little more . . . so I cut vinyl with my cricut to say "sugar and spice and everything nice" from that children's nursery rhyme. And then I glued on the double layered pink craft foam flowers in the corners. These were the same flowers from the tree on my daughter's wall (tomorrow's post).

Colorized and Brighter Ceiling Fan

My son's room had a ceiling fan, and it looked boring and plain, so I decided to spruce it up. I disassembled it, and Mod Podged scrapbook paper to the fan blades. I also added a stripe of another color to cover up the paper seam since each blade was longer than the sheets of paper. The fan blades are 2 sided, so I only mod podged the ugly fake wood side and left the plain white side alone, so if I don't want the color anymore, I can just flip them over if the the paper doesn't come off clean.

Child sized rocking chair

My parents gave my son a rocking chair for his birthday last year. They pained it green - to go with the colors in his room, and then handed it over for me to add vinyl. After adding the vinyl, I added a clear coat of mod podge on top to seal it in so he doesn't peel it off.

It's finally in his room now instead of hidden in a closet (almost a year after we've had it). I tried it out, but he would stand on it, or sit backwards in it. Sitting backwards was cute, but he would aggressively rock and ended up rocking too far and fell over - with his legs stuck in the back. He thought it was funny, but I knew that was only the beginning and he would end up hurt. So now, he actually sits in it right and doesn't rock crazy.

Another Set of Curtains

After making curtains for my daughter's room, I set out to make some for my son. Don't be alarmed by the black paint on the bottom half of the wall . . . it's chalkboard paint. But for now, it looks pristine - I haven't been brave enough to give him any chalk yet.
The fabric is a charcoal gray - but it looks like black in the picture. And the red fabric is actually not so bright in real life either. I found this fabric in the red tag clearance section at Jo-Anns and then matched the red to the spray paint I used on his dresser.

I kinda followed the same measurements I ended up with for my daughter's curtain, but then I added some extra fabric at the bottom - with the stripes going the opposite direction as the top section. I also added blackout fabric to the back as well, to help keep the sunlight out during nap times.

These curtains just have a casing at the top that the curtain rod slides through. I'm so through making curtains for a while. It's stressful trying to work with large amounts of fabric and also trying to get the red stripe to line up on both pieces was a headache. But I'm happy with how they turned out.

Shower Curtain turned Bedroom Curtains

I wanted to make curtains for my daughter's bedroom, but couldn't find any fabric that I liked. Then I had an idea . . . There are cute shower curtains, so maybe I could find one of those and turn it into a curtain. I found this fabric shower curtain at Target and the colors matched the theme I was working on for her bedroom. It even has butterflies! Plus, the top was already finished with the button holes, so less work for me.
I had an extra set of shower curtain hooks, so I hung it up with those. I cut it in half to get two long pieces and then cut about 16" off the bottom to get the length I wanted. I also bought "black out" fabric from the home decor section to line the back of it with. We live on a busy street, and I wanted to block out some of the car lights and also sunlight for nap times.

So I sewed the black out fabric to the curtain sides and bottom - right sides together and turned it right side out (I didn't sew along the top since I wanted to keep the holes for the hooks in tact, so after it was turned right side out, I topstitched all the way around to flatten the edges and that's when I closed the top (below the hook holes).

But after hanging it up, I felt like it needed a little more . . . so Ruffles to the rescue. I cut strips of white cotton, sewed them into a long piece and then sewed a gathering stitch down the middle. Then I gathered them to the amount I wanted it and sewed them to the side and bottom edges. I love it!

St. Patrick's Day Decor Plate

I made this last year, and when I pulled it out of the box, I love it just as much as last year.

Ever since college, I've always loved St. Patty's Day - not sure why, but I think I just liked wearing green and dressing up fun. I still have that clover anteanna headband that my mom sent me as a care package that year. My friend Emily was always fun and dressed up with me. I always seem to have really tall friends - I think I try to make up for my 4'11" shortness through them :)
Anyway, back to the plate. I cut out the black and green vinyl with my cricut and then spaced out the words and separated them with mini-clovers. My favorite is the clover in the middle.

I used the program "sure-cuts-a-lot" and I think the font I used was "paddy whack" or something that sounds like that. . .

Toddler Toolbelt

We bought a "fixer-upper" house, so my husband has been fixing stuff and working with tools almost every day. Our son got some toy black and decker tools for christmas and already had some little tyke ones as well. So when he sees Daddy using tools, he grabs his and follows him around.

With his birthday coming up, I decided to make him a tool belt - and it didn't cost a penny! I used scrap fabric, an old skirt, and a belt of mine. I love how it turned out. I had to do a bit of tweaking with the measurements and redo some seams, but I think it's workable now.

So I used an old khaki skirt and a studded belt along with some fabric scraps.Here's the supplies:

Base fabric (canvas or other heavy weight fabric) - 2 pieces 10"x14"

Pocket - 1 piece 10"x14"

Hammer loop - 1 piece 2"x7"

Interfacing for loop - 1 piece 2"x7"

Belt - I used 8" off each end - but you may want to measure your kid first to make sure that length works - and just saved the middle of the belt for a future project. If you don't have a belt to use, you can make your own ties out of fabric and sew them into tubes. But I liked the "manly" look of a riveted belt.

Seam allowances 1/4"

Process:

1. Iron pocket in half lengthwise so it is 5"x14"

Optional step - I added brown bias tape to the top of the pocket to add detail, but that's not necessary

2. Line the raw edges of the pocket with the bottom of the base piece. Sew the bottom edge along the presser foot

3. Mark the lines for the pocket dividers at 4.75" and 9.25". Pin the sides in place so it doesn't move, and then sew along the pocket lines - making sure to backstitch at the top of the pocket so it is strongly attached.

4. Iron the interfacing to the hammer loop. Fold in half lengthwise with right sides together and sew along the long edge. Turn right side out, iron flat (and optional, topstitch along the seam)5. Fold the loop in half and attach it to either side - about an inch up from the bottom6. Sew the back canvas piece to the front piece along the top edge (with right sides together)

7. Open up the piece you just sewed and line the belt pieces along the inside of the seam (so that they are flush with the top of the toolbelt when it's finished). Pin belt pieces in place and sew along the edge.8. Flip the canvas back piece back over so that the right sides are together, and sew down both sides and along the bottom (leaving a 3" hole in the bottom to be able to turn it right side out. 9. Turn right side out, iron edges, and topstitch around the entire outer square.10. You could stop here, or go on to add detail as I did with freezer paper stenciling.

11. I used my cricut and cut out the words "Tools" and a hammer shape on freezer paper. Iron it to the tool belt at the desired locations.12. Using fabric paint, paint in the letters and the hammer shape. Once it's dry, peel off the freezer paper and viola! You're done. I think you're supposed to iron over the paint, with a top cloth to protect your iron and that would heat set the paint, but I always forget to do that.Here's a picture of my son wearing it before I added the paint. Luckily he's too young to remember I gave it to him for a picture and to check the length then took it away until his birthday. :)

Car Roll-up

So if you've ever made a crayon roll, this will be a cinch for you. The process is pretty much identical. If you haven't made a crayon roll, this will still be quite easy, but I would suggest making a crayon roll too. The crayon roll and my car notebook have been lifesavers at church or when we're in waiting rooms. It keeps my son calm. So I'm hoping this car roll/car cozy will do the same.

I saw the idea on Homemade by Jill. I used my cricut to cut the numbers out of freezer paper. I didn't have any felt for the road, so I used flannel - which meant I had to use wonder under to adhere the yellow road stripes since it's not as sturdy of a fabric. It was basically free for me to make since I used a pair of jeans and scrap fabric I already had on hand. I love thrifty projects!

I didn't topstitch around the edge because my fabrics were too thick. I used some "outerwear" fabric for the front (the red fabric) and it's pretty thick, so paired with the denim pockets, my machine wouldn't like me.

Baby Info Blocks

I made another 2 sets of the baby name blocks. I made one new set for my daughter and another for a friend's baby.

I also cut out vinyl butterflies with my cricut to add detail.

Here's the first set I made for my son last summer.

UPDATED INFO:
I've been asked for the dimensions of the blocks and how I made them . . .

The tall block is 2.5"x4"
Top long block is 5.5"x2.5"
Bottom long block is 5.5"x1.5"

• Basically, I designed the vinyl layout for my Cricut using the "Sure-cuts-a-lot" program on my computer and then cut the wood to fit the sizing of the letters.
• Sand, paint, and distress the wood with an ink pad
• apply the vinyl
  

Hair Clip Crazy

I went a little hair clip crazy this weekend. Here are just a few that I made:

Satin singed flower clip (on the knee-high headband)Pink and Green Zipper flowers (idea from Sumo's Sweet Stuff) & a ribbon flower clip (all white for the baby blessing - but I'm definately making more of that style in other colors)

Here's the zipper flower closer up - I love these and will definately get a stash of zippers now! Until my daughter gets hair, she will be wearing all of these hair clips on the interchangable knee-high headband :)