Scarves

I made 5 scarves for family members this past Christmas.  Oddly, all the tutorials came from one person...Susan at Living with Punks.  I made 2 of the Mama Ruffle Scarves, one for my mom and one for my mother-in-law.  She also provieds a template for the Chrysi pin flower (I made mine about half the size though).  I also made one of these and attached it to a hair clip so I can wear it in my hair or on a headband.

I haven't really worked with knit fabric much, so this was kinda fun to try it out on these scarves.  They are really easy to make, but for some reason they took me a loooooong time.  I think I'm too picky with trying to get the ruffles evenly spaced and perfectly lined up along the edge of the scarf.

I also made 3 of the Lil' Dude Scarves.  2 for my nieces (I didn't take a picture of the fully finished scarves for some reason), and one for my father-in-law.  I opted not to add the pocket on the inside - just for sanity sake since I was making 3 and only had one nap time to do it in.  I also sewed my giant button hole/zig-zag stitch BEFORE I cut the opening.  I've tried the way in the tutorial where you cut the slit first and do a tight zig-zag stitch around the edge, but I could never get it to look clean and pretty.  So I sewed the lines first and then clipped between them.

Since the tutorial and dimensions were meant for kids, I had to get longer fabric and add an extra strip to the bottom for my father-in-law's scarf (finished, it was about 60" long instead of the 45" for the children's one).  My husband modeled it for me since I had to test the length on him to make sure it looked okay on an adult.

I think I've made him watch one too many seasons of "America's Next Top Model" since he was trying to "smize"...smile with your eyes.  Sorry Honey, I don't think Tyra would call that a smize :)

Words of Love

I knew this was going on my to do list when I saw it.  It's kindof addicting to make these.  I had some standard red yarn and some fuzzy pink yarn on hand, so I decided to make 2 of them.  I can't decide which one I like better.  Last night, I liked the red one best, but this morning while I was taking pictures of them, the pink switched to my favorite. 

I don't really like them next to eachother - I think that's why I don't like the red as much today...it's overshadowed by the pink one, so I will definately put them in separate rooms/areas so I can enjoy both instead of comparing them.

She had some wire from a hardware store, but I used floral wire.

Valentine's Pillow

I was on One Pretty Thing last week, browsing through the Valentine's Roundup posts and came across this idea at Dittle Dattle.  I pretty much stopped what I was doing and made it right then and there.  And the awesome thing is she made the design into an SVG file (here) that you can import into your Cricut if you have the SCAL software.  I don't know if you can use it other ways, but this worked for me and I was so happy that I didn't have to try and replicate it - all the hard work is done!! 

I didn't have silver fabric paint, so I used black - and I like how it turned out.  I'm not a fan of the bow, but it looked like it was missing something if I just did a band of the ribbon.  I may have to coax my mom to use her machine and embroider "love" on a ribbon for me like the example did.  But until then, I just keep fixing the bow since my husband thinks a pretty pillow is one to lean on - silly man.  Pretty pillows aren't for touching.  I thought my kids would be the ones destroying the bow, but I was wrong.

I didn't want to have to store a whole pillow in my valentine's box for the rest of the year, so I just made a removable pillow cover for one of my everyday couch pillows.  That way, I only have to store the cover - much easier!  I have always referred to this tutorial when making a removable pillow cover.  They are super simple to make, but it helped getting dimensions from someone.

Valentine's Wreath

These type of wreaths are everywhere in blogland.  I initially saw it last year in January/February, but I can't remember where I saw it.  Now they are all over the place...  I wanted to make this heart one last year, but for some reason, I didn't.  So I made it this year.  It's made out of felt circles and then folded into quarters and pinned to the foam wreath form.

I made a pink circle wreath in the same manner last year for spring time...

 And then I made one out of felt stars for 4th of July last year (definately my favorite so far)...

Valentine's Blocks

I knew I was going to make these the second I saw them.  Pretty much anything from Brown Paper Packages makes it to my "to-do-list"

I had left over 4x4 posts from the Seasonal Word Blocks, and didn't know what I was going to do with them...

I LOVE them!!!

Another plastic bag holder

I finally made something for myself!! 

I made another bag holder.  After sewing the strips together, I felt like it needed something...so I topstitched along the edge of each strip.  I love how it turned out.

Little flower hair clips

I'm not a huge fan of the gigantic flower on my baby's head.  So I like when I find a tutorial or idea for a smaller flower or bow that I can make for a hair clip for her little head.  Right now, she doesn't have hair, so I just clip them onto a headband. 

And, she's taking her morning nap now, so she can't model them.

I found the pattern here; it's suggested as a shoe clip, but I made mine into hair clips.  I glued those mini snappy clips to the back - perfect size so it doesn't show behind the leaf.

Curtains

I think I've said I'll never make curtains again...

But I guess I lied.  We finished painting the last room in the house (we've only lived in the house for a year . . . so that's not slow at all, right?).  And after the walls and window sill were painted, The old blinds looked beat up and ugly.  So I ripped them out (actually my husband did) and used the last of my JoAnns gift card from Christmas on some fabric and the curtain rod.  The fabric was 30% off and the rod was already 60% off, but I came armed with a 20% off entire purchase (including sale items) from Michael's that they honored.  So I was sad to use up of my gift card, but I'm loving my curtains.  Actually, I have $1.47 left, so maybe I can buy a button or a candy bar :)

This window is right next to the front door, so we needed something pretty.  This said it was "silk" but I think I remember seeing 100% polyester on the label, so I think it's impostor silk - oh well, I love it.  It's a charcoal gray so that looks nice next to the black computer desk.

It's tricky to iron and sew sheer fabric to silky fabric - it will not stay put.  I guess it would if I pinned it, but I'm lazy and like to get frustrated, I guess.  ( I used sheer on the back side to add a little more bulk and keep out a little more light.)

Winter Snowflake Lamp

I love when I find a project that I can make right then and there.  I found this idea on Crap I've Made and realized I had the exact same lamp sitting in the garage.  I bought it a few years ago at Ikea but never really liked it - it just seemed too plain.

So this was a great project to spruce it up.  And if I ever change my mind and want it plain again, I can just peel off the vinyl.

Keep CLAM and Carry On canvas

I did a new spin off of the ever so popular "keep calm and carry on" poster.  My dad lives at the ocean and goes Clam digging often, so this was a fun gift to give him.  I wanted to just do a clam sillhouette, but you couldn't tell what it was without the lines drawn on the clam shell.  So that part I printed off and then cut out.

Cookie Package

My dad LOVES butterscotch cookies, so I made some for him for Christmas.  But I wanted a neat way to package them and then ran across this idea at Creative Itch.  I didn't have any of the clear plastic to use as the window, but I have tons of vellum . . . use what you have, right?

I did make a test box first using the dimensions in the tutorial, but my cookies weren't as tall and there was a lot of empty space.  So I cropped the dimensions so it wasn't as big around and so it would fit my cookies better.  Then I cut out the oval and word "cookies" on the cricut and glued it to the box and added ribbon.

Burlap Stars

I saw this idea on Someday Crafts several months ago and knew it was perfect for my mom for a Christmas present. 

I mod podged the burlap onto some metal star shapes and used about 50+ clothespins to keep the burplap in place around the edges while it dried.  I wish I had been able to find different sized stars so there was one big and one little, but I think they still look great.

I hope she re-ties the bows cause I'm horrible at them and she is a bow-pro!

Project Fail...don't spray paint styrofoam

I wanted to make a wreath for Christmas and spent a long time getting it ready . . . then I ruined it.  I spent forever gluing the styrofoam balls to a wreath form.  I wanted red, but only had yellow on hand, so I went at it thinking I would spray paint it red - awesome idea right?  Nope - here's what it looked like yellow . . . (just image that as red and hanging with a pretty ribbon and some felt/fabric flower embelishments.)

And here's what happend when I spray painted it. . . 

Spray paint melts styrofoam!!! It didn't melt the wreath form, but it was a different kind of styrofoam.  Next time, I'll spray paint the wreath form red, and then use red styrofoam balls.

Some Winter Decorating

I really wanted to decorate for Valentine's Day, but I decided to do a little Winter for a couple weeks.  I realized that my table needed nice, pretty placemats.  I only have yellow and red that aren't holiday ones.  So neither of those colors worked for Winter.  I decided that since I have a black table, white placemats would look crisp and go with the rest of the decor for winter.  And luckily, my mom had thrifted some of her fabric stash to me and one of those was white canvas.  I'll probably regret having white placemats, but hey, I can bleach them and if they get stained, I didn't lose any money since it was free fabric.

I used 2 pieces of 19"x13" (finished size was 18"x12" since my seam allowance was 1/4 inch).  Then turned them right side out and ironed them.  And I topstitched 3 rows around the outside edge.  I love how they turned out.  The are kindof plain, but I may try to embelish them later.

I also had this hurricane vase on the table for Christmas with green, red, white, and silver little ornaments and bells.  So I took out the red and green and that left me with a wintry mix.

My mom also gave me a couple packages of these giant foam snowflakes (I've seen similar ones if not these same ones at the dollar store if anyone wanted to know where to find them).  So I took a needle and thread and stitched them to the edge of the curtain.  I have 5 hanging in the window in the dining room.  No matter how many times of day or how many angles I used, I couldn't get a great shot of them.  They look way cooler in person.  I also hung some from the corners of mirrors and the mantle.

And lastly, I dug through my plate stash and found a powder blue one that was perfect for winter.  I cut out the words and snowflakes on my cricut and adhered the vinyl to the plate.

freezer paper stenciling

It's always hard to think of something to do that's crafty for a guy. . . but I was able to come up with a couple freezer paper stencil ideas for my father-in-law and my brother-in-law.

This one was for my father-in-law's 60th birthday . . . I drew an abacus and cut it with my cricut on freezer paper.  The orange paint looks quite neon in the picture but I promise it wasn't that bright.

This one I made for my brother-in-law for Christmas.  It was tricky to draw a cassette tape and then try and make it not flat and boring.  I'm impatient, so instead of waiting for the paint to dry so I could do the next color, I used my blow dryer to speed up the dry time (worked great!!)