Wall Art

I have been wanting to do this for some time. There are so many amazing pictures all over the internet of these. My husband thinks it's something he would find in a grandma's home. It probably is but I like it.

 So here is how I hung mine and it made the process really quick.

Step 1:

Lay out hoops on the ground exactly how you want them hung.

Step 2:

Take some paper and place over hoops and mark where they need to be hung. Then tape that paper on the wall and hammer nails into the wall.

Step 3:

Hang hoops then step back and admire your work!

Gost Chair Covers Tutorial

I saw a version of these in Target a few years back and went right home and made them with stuff I had around the house. Free is way cheaper than $15 per ghost right?

The originals were made with retro white felt that was kinda creamy(dirty) looking and ribbon which got torn off very easily by little fingers. So last year I re-made them and they look so much nicer.

 Just cut out a ghost from white felt the length of your chair

 Cut some strips of fabric to hang the ghosts over the chair and around the sides and sew those into place

 Then glue on some buttons eyes and a mouth so they can peek at your from across the table

SYTYC Week 7 DIY Wallpaper and tutorial

So I got the boot this week. I guess that's what I get for not choosing something super trendy and different. Since mine was the one thing that wasn't just like the others. Oh well, I love it! I have been out of town all week, along with my family so when I was able to get to a computer to actually vote I was only a couple votes behind. Then, in less than a half hour I was suddenly 30 votes behind. Too bad the voting poll isn't hidden. But I had already don't week 8's challenge so stay tuned for that. It is truly one of my favorite things I have ever made so far. It was finished before the competition even started and I have been trying so hard to make it to week 8 just to be able to put it up there. Kinda funny!

Below is my original post along with the tutorial.

DIY Wallpaper

My walls are barren at this point in my life. We are in a new house and haven't decided on paint color, let alone wall art. So before I am able to hang anything up I needed to cover the walls. And since my husband and I can't decide on a paint color, I just took the initiative to cover the walls in fabric.

This project was simple and took about as long as it would to actually paint your walls. I decided on the design I wanted on my walls and then went about cutting out my own design and put it up.

And I definitely learned a lot of tips and tricks along the way to share with you.

My dining room is totally barren. We don't even have a real table yet, just a fold up one. Soon enough it will be put together and look ama-za-aing!


Materials:

Fabric
Scissors
Starch
Damp washcloth
Towel
Credit Card


Step 1:
Pick your pattern and cut it out. (I cut out a million black houndstooth pieces. )

Step 2:
Lay towel on floor where you plan on spraying so that your floor doesn't get all starchy.

Step 3:
Spray wall with starch.

Step 4:
Stick fabric on wall and spray with starch again till it is all wet.

Step 5:
Smooth out fabric with credit card so there are no air bubbles. Use damp towel to soak up excess drips on wall.

Step 6:
Repeat!

Tips:

If you mess up, just peal fabric off wall and do it over. It is super easy to remove!
If you are sensitive to smells, maybe wait till warmer weather when you can open the windows to air out the smell of the starch.
I am not sure about how it effects the wall underneath since I haven't had this up for very long. I hear that is doesn't do anything to it but I wasn't about to put something up on new paint until I had tried it in a room that is in desperate need of paint. I will let you know after awhile if it did anything to the walls.
I know there are more tips I learned along the way and when I remember them I will put them up here.

SYTYC Week 5 andTutorial

WOW!
This was such a close race! Everyone was within a few votes of each other and every one's craft was SO CUTE! Of course I am biased and because the Superbowl is tomorrow I want to get a tutorial to you today so you can be ready for the big game. You know, in case you are totally bored this week and have tons of time to just start a new project on the fly. 
But it's really quick and easy so scroll to the end of the original post to get the tutorial.


The 2 Point Conversion Onesie

If you're like me then you could go for either team this year in the Superbowl.

I've decided that I am going to start out rooting for the Pittsburgh. But is it so wrong to switch if the other team gets ahead? I've decided to plan ahead for just this situation. 

Ready to cheer on either team, this is a 2 in one-sie. HA! Get it?

The front of the onesie is all Steelers. And because I have been spending way too much time playing with toys lately, this onesie comes with accessories. A terrible towel is attached to a wristband so that when your little one waves their arms the towel goes flying.

But if I decide to change sides I can just flip my baby over, just like my allegiance.

Now I am ready to root for the other team, cheesehead and all!

APPLIQUE TUTORIAL:

1. Draw or print off your design. Most of my designs I draw myself but you can print stuff off the computer if that is easier for you.

2. Use your design as your pattern and pin it to your fabric. When you have a design like the Packers above it is easier to layer the fabric. So cut out a yellow oval, then a smaller green one, then the G. The layering will be a lot easier than trying to cut this out:

So remember, layering is your friend.

2. Once you have all your pieces cut out you need to cut out your fusible webbing.
My favorite brand is this:

You can get it a JoAnn's. I usually stock up when they have their half price sales. They also have the kind that you can buy per yard but that has never stuck for me. This brand is the best that I have tried.

Follow the directions on the back of the package and you will end up with this:

3. Once everything has been ironed on you are ready to sew. You don't have to stitch your design down at this point but it will last longer and look a lot nicer. You can use whatever stitch you want but I prefer my blanket stitch. Unless I am going a tad more grungy, then I just use a straight stitch.
Blanket stitch looks like this:

Notice the yellow star, that is stitched, the others aren't

And that's it! Cut, Iron, Sew and your done!

TERRIBLE TOWEL TUTORIAL

This is another super quick tutorial.

1. Cut out a piece of jersey knot or something stretchy to fit around your child's wrist. Since it's knit you don't have to worry about frayed edges, just sew up the middle to make a band and you're done with the wristlet part.

2. Cut out a piece of yellow fabric in whatever size you want.

3. Hem fabric. I used a rolled hem on my serger. Quick and easy.

4. Sew towel onto the wristlet.

Whether they keep it on their wrist or not,

they're still waving it around like a true fan!

(or maybe not)



CHEESEHEAD TUTORIAL

1. Cut out 2 pieces of felt in a triangle the size you want your cheese to be. Next cut out 3 triangles matching the length of the triangle. These will be your sides. Once you have all your pieces cut out, cut holes in one triangle and each of the rectangles.

Like this:

2. Cut circles a little larger than the holes you cut out in the cheese pieces. You want the holes to dip inside a little to add dimension.

2. Start stitching. I used embroidery floss and whatever stitch this is called

First, stitch the circles onto the holes. Make sure the circles are under so that there is a dip in the hole(notice above). When all the circles are filled in, start stitching up the sides. Match a rectangle to each side of your triangle and get stitching. Leave a small opening at the end to add a little bit of stuffing.

Then stitch up your last seam.

3. Attach cheese to headband, barrette or something else so that it will stay on head. I sewed mine onto a headband. But it would also work for a boy on a barrette (cause you will never see that), or just sew it onto a hat. You can always take it off later.

I was planning on rooting for the Steelers what with our living so close to Pittsburgh and all but if she will keep that cheese on her head I might change my mind. Is it bad to decide who you are cheering for based on who has the best accessories?

Knit Jamies Tutorial

Knit Jammies Tutorial

Turn these:

Into these:

1. Picking out your sweater

This step can make these easy or hard to make depending on what type of sweater you pick out. For example, the perfect sweater for a baby would be something like this:

It has a simple small neck and buttons all the way down it.

The pink sweater below, because the neck is a little large and harder to tamper with is better for a larger size. Mine is on a 3 year old. 

So just keep necks in mind when buying a sweater. After I had made the sweaters in the post for my younger two, my oldest was feeling left out so I went and found a super long sweater for her. This is what I am going to use in my tutorial. 

 

Totally ugly sweater but it is long enough for a 5 year old to wear.

2. Lay out your sweater flat and grab a pair of P.J.'s

3. Lay P.J.'s on top of the sweater

When you are laying your legs down the front of the sweater you want one leg to run straight down the buttons because this will be the opening and closing of the jammies. It will make the jammies look a little off center but they will look just fine once they are on. 

See, looks a little off in the legs.

But looks totally fine once they are one.

Also, make sure the jammies lay flat right up to the neck. We don't want to touch the neck if there is a collar on the sweater. (Now, if there is no collar and you need to make the neck smaller, like I did in the striped jammies, then go for it. But all the other jammies I have made I haven't needed to mess with the neck)

4. Cut around jammies. Remember to leave a seam allowance.

Notice that I didn't cut the arms out. Fold the arms in so that you are cutting the full outline of the jammies sans arms. And this is where the neck comes in. KEEP THE NECK UNTOUCHED. Just cut straight up to the shoulder area. The beauty of this project is that there are no finishing seams to do. They have already been made for us.

5. Cut out arms

Lay your pajama arms flat on the sweater arm matching the cuffs together.

Cut around. Remember to leave a seam allowance.

6. Pin arms to body, right sides together.

7. Sew

Start with the cuffs together and sew along arm and down to the leg. Repeat on other side. Then sew from inside leg to the other inside leg. If you are making foot pajamas(like the striped pj's below), then just sew one continuous seam from cuff to cuff.

Note: I used a serger to sew all these up and then I used my sewing machine to reinforce all the stitches since these are knit and like to fray after they have been cut into. If you don't have a serger then just use a zigzag stitch. Also, I recommend sewing these up right after you cut them for minimal fraying. 

8. The neck and/or leg

So this is where I feel like my tutorial is a "choose your own adventure" book. 

Each jammie was a little different in the neck. The white sweater was super small, too small for me which is why I changed it into jammies. And I didn't have to make the neck any smaller. On the striped jammies, I talked about making it smaller when cutting into it to fit better in step 3. The pink jammies were made into a larger size just so I didn't have to mess with the neck. It was a tad low on my 3 year old but worked. Now, onto the black jammies I am using for the tutorial. There is a rather large opening on these. Since I didn't want to cut into the neckline at all, I just added buttons and button holes hidden under neath the collar. Sneaky and it did the trick to hold it all together and closed. 

Also, with all the legs except the black jamies, the buttons went all the way to the bottom so I didn't have to do anything. But if you look in the picture under step 3 you will notice that the buttons don't go all the way down. So I just sewed the opening closed until I reached the buttons. (this is another reason to make sure you really look at what you buy. You will have less steps this way)

9. Decorate

 

The buttons on some of the sweaters were super nasty or super cool. 

Cool Buttons:

I hated the ones on the striped sweater so I switched them out. But I left the cute pocket on the striped sweater.  I also put on new buttons on the white sweater to add color.

10. Extra fabric

What do you do with the extra fabric? Makes hats, mittens, booties, whatever!

 Or if you find a sweater you like with only one button and don't feel like making more button holes to turn it into jammies then turn it into a layette set. 

This sweater:

 Into these mittens and hat:

For the hat just cut out a square making the bottom of the sweater the bottom of the hat. 

See, excess fabric

 Cut into a square.

Then sew up the square leaving an opening for the head of course. And then pull the 2 top corners together and stitch with a cute pom pom in the middle. 

For the mittens, trace a hand or another mitten to get the size you need, making sure to use a finished side of the sweater the bottom of your mittens. Then stitch up and enjoy!

These really are simple to make, I just had so many different variations, I wanted to make sure I included everything I did for you guys. If you have any questions on the tutorial just leave a comment on my blog and I will try and answer it. If I need to I will also update the tutorial on my blog.

Heart Garland

As part of the heart doctor party I just hung up a bunch of my Valentine decorations but of course my daughters wanted something fun, new and special made just for the party.

I found these heart doilies in the dollar section and took them home thinking I would make something with them.

I decided to just sew them together and hang them in the window. It took just a few minutes. I left lots of thread in between each heart to add space when hanging. And then I just tied them on the curtain rod with the excess thread.

Simple and quick!