Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Valentine Word Block - Hugs


I love to make word blocks.  They are quick, easy, and most of the time turn out to be nice decorations.  Since Valentine's Day is coming quickly (& I needed something for the other side of my entry table) this is what I decided on.  
All you need is a cut 2x4 - I just went out into the garage and found a scrap that looked like it was the right size.
Paint the wood any color.
Add scrapbook paper to the front if you want - I love this textured paper I found at Michaels last year! Sand the edges of the paper for a distressed look.
For the words I found the awesome font here.  Cut it out of vinyl & apply.
I cut a strip of my glitter netting and tied it around the outside. 

I can think of a few other valentine words, so I'll have to make some more!

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Welcome Valentine Craft


I love to decorate for holidays.  My mom always had fun decorations for each holiday, and the tradition stuck with me.  The best part about decorating for holidays is making decorations.

I saw a really cute welcome sign at a craft store last year.  It was too expensive for me.  I knew I could make my own version for a lot less money.

I started with unfinished wooden hearts (around 30 cents each).  I covered them with textured scrapbook paper.  Then I added glitter foam letters.  I glued them to a wide piece of ribbon and added a bow at the top.

Much cheaper and a lot more fun!  Later my mom & I made one for St. Patricks Day, but those pictures can wait until after Valentines Day.

~Amy

Monday, January 27, 2014

Doll Hair

Last week in my post I talked about my daughter's obsession with 18" dolls. The hair on her dolls have become really knotted and tangled over time, and I have been trying to figure out the best way to get their hair looking nice again. I finally figured out a way!

This is what the hair looked like before:

 And this is what it looked like after:

 This is what did the trick:

Yes, a brush! But it's not just any brush. This brush is made specifically for doll hair. It is a small brush with lots of wire bristles. You can buy them online from American Girl for $8, but I got mine at a local doll shop for $6. I got the dolls hair really wet and brushed and brushed. I also used some spray on the hair that helps get tangles out. It took me an hour or so to get the hair all brushed out, but it looks so much better now! Luckily this doll's hair was the worst of all of her dolls so it took longer to fix than the others. After we got all the tangles out we put it in braid so it will stay looking nice!

~Megan

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Farmhouse Table

I love ana-white.com!  She has an awesome website full of build it yourself furniture.  Anyone who is a builder (or a want to be builder like me) should check it out.  Her step-by-step plans are free.
We really needed a kitchen table-ours is falling apart.  When my parents came to visit after Christmas I asked my Dad to help me build a table.  We had one day to work on it together.  We followed Ana's plans pretty closely.  Dad got it put together.  I have been spending the last several weeks sanding and finishing.  I think it is finally done (at least as good as it's going to get for now).  The last coat of gloss is still a little wet, but I couldn't wait to take a picture.

Now I just need to get someone to help me get it from the garage into the house.  I'm already planning my next project, now just to convince Dad to come visit again.

Check out Ana's plans for the farmhouse table!

~Amy

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Doll Ballet Outfit

 When I was a young girl, I liked to make doll clothes.  Back then, I just figured out on my own how to do it, without a pattern or directions.  The clothes didn't always work well, but I had fun trying.  Now, decades later,  I am still making doll clothes.  Three of my granddaughters got 18" dolls for Christmas, and as part of my present to them, I planned to make an outfit for their dolls.  Those granddaughters are all in dance, and one had specifically asked for a tulle skirt for one of her dolls, so I decided to make a ballet outfit.

The tulle skirt was going to be easy, I thought.  Just buy some tulle, cut long strips, add a casing for elastic and sew it all together.  It ended up being a bit more work than I thought, since tulle is a little slippery, and because of the loose texture, pins don't stay in very well.  I cut 3 layers of tulle for each skirt, width of fabric, and stacked them together.  I tried different ways, deciding that what worked best for me was to baste one long edge,  fold the stack in half lengthwise, then with an iron on low heat, press along the folded edge.  I then sewed a basting stitch close to the fold, catching all the layers in. At this point, I removed the original basting stitch that I had done first.  For the waistband, I used a soft waistband elastic that had a scalloped edge, cutting it in 11" lengths.  I used the basting stitch that held the layers together at the fold to pull up gathers.  Since the 11" elastic I cut would stretch to 15", I pulled the gathers up to 15" and tied both ends. Using a wide zigzag stitch, I stitched along the gathering thread to hold the gathers in place, making it easier to sew it onto the elastic.  I pinned the elastic at the ends of the skirt and the middle, then again with the zigzag stitch, I sewed the gathered tulle to the elastic, stretching the elastic to fit the skirt.  That way, when the elastic is stretched to put the skirt on the doll, the thread will not break,  Then I sewed the back seam, making a skirt that can be put on easily and not have to worry about fasteners.
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I wasn't sure how to do a doll leotard, so I went on the web and found a company that had a free downloadable doll leotard pattern.  The company is Liberty Jane Clothing.  The stretchy specialty fabric is not cheap, but I only needed about 1/4 of a yard, and I used a coupon at JoAnn Fabric. (I bought the shimmery tulle with a coupon at Hobby Lobby. Both fabrics are available at most fabric stores, I would think).The trim for the edges is called FOE- fold over elastic.  I had never even heard of it, and wasn't sure if I could find it, but I did find a limited variety at JoAnn Fabric (used another coupon). I understand it is available in lots of colors in several Etsy shops. Once I figured out how to use the FOE, the leotards went together pretty quickly.

I didn't get these outfits done for Christmas, but I hope the girls will forgive me.  I gave the outfit to one granddaughter a couple of days ago, and in minutes she had her doll doing pirouettes and splits.  I think it was a hit, and am sure the other two will feel the same.  All in all, not a hard project, once I got over my uncertainties about swimsuit fabric, tulle, and FOE.  And with coupons, the cost was not much, especially considering I had enough for the 3 outfits, with some left over.  And just today, I found a pattern for little pink ballet shoes for 18" dolls.  Maybe I will give those a try next.
~Gayle

Monday, January 20, 2014

Doll Closet

My daughter is obsessed with 18" dolls. Her goal is to eventually save up enough money to buy an American Girl doll, but for now she has the 18" dolls from places like Target and Toys R Us. She not only loves her dolls, but she loves to dress her dolls, which means we have an abundance of doll clothes. She had a big bag that she kept all of the clothes in but it was really hard for her to find specific outfits because she would have to dump the whole bag out to search through it. So I decided to make a little closet for all of her doll clothes!

I went to a thrift store and found an old cupboard. Luckily it was in really good condition, and it was already white which is the color I wanted it to be. And it was only $15! I took it home and cleaned it up really good, then cut some vinyl using our Silhouette machine. I put the vinyl on the doors to make it look cute and girly.

The Original cupboard

The cupboard with the vinyl on it

The next thing I did was add a bar inside for the clothes to hang on. I also got some little baskets to put the shoes in at the bottom of the closet. For the hangers, I got children hangers at Target and then used gardening sheers and cut them so they were the right size for the doll clothes.

(I hadn't put many clothes in the closet yet when I took this picture)

 I think it turned out pretty cute! My daughter loves it and it definitely helps keep her doll clothes more organized! 

~Megan

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Easy Ribbon & Felt Cuff Bracelet Tutorial


Easy Ribbon & Felt Cuff Bracelet

My girls love bracelets.  Recently they have wanted ones that they can put on themselves.  I decided to make one out of felt, ribbon, and velcro.  

First, decide what ribbon to use.  I started with this ribbon (from Walmart) that has fabric flowers.



Find matching felt and cut a piece the size of the wrist it is for, plus about 1 1/2 inches.

Cut the ribbon 1/2 inch smaller than the wrist measurement.

Measure 1 1/2 inches of velcro from the soft side, and 1/2 inch from the hook (scratchy) side.  Having the longer piece of velcro will make the bracelet adjustable-especially nice for growing children.


Hot glue the velcro to opposite sides of the felt piece.  The softer, longer piece of velcro should be on the side that the ribbon will be on.  The hook side of the velcro should be on the underneath side so it will fasten into a circle.




Then glue the ribbon onto the front side of the felt (make sure to singe the end of the ribbon or tuck it under so it doesn't fray), centering it between the velcro.  





Done!


 

Next I'm going to try different kinds of ribbon....

~Amy

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Chore Chart

Something I've been thinking about for awhile has been getting my kids to help more around the house.  They would grudgingly do the chores I asked them to do but I figured it would be better to have it more organized so they just knew what their chores were instead of me having to fight them on it all the time.  I created a dry erase chore chart through Heritage Makers, who I am a consultant for.  Here is what I did:






If you want one like this you can go to foreverstorybook.com.

I selected to have it come UV coated which makes it dry erase.  I put on chores like Dusting, vacuuming, taking out garbage etc.  On Saturday they each have a chore in the bathroom which we will rotate each week so they don't get stuck with the same one all the time.  For my youngest, I did simple chores he could help me with like folding the towels.  They also have daily chores they need to do which were: making their beds, putting away their backpacks, coat, and shoes after school, etc.

We are on the first day that we were home for them to do their chores and I didn't have to force any of them.  They came home asking where the things were they needed for their chores and got to it.  I am sure there will be bad days too but at least it is a start.

We let them decide if they wanted to earn basically fake money to use in a family store or a real allowance and they decided a real allowance.

I hope this continues to work and am glad I can erase the chores and redo the list as needed for whatever doesn't work.  This is similar to what we did as kids so I know it can work.

~Andrea

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Fleece Mittens

I found a tutorial for adorable fleece mittens on Make it and love it the other day.  They are really cute and easy to make.  I thought that would be a perfect Christmas gift for my baby.

My first problem was getting my 6 month old to hold still while I tried to make a pattern.  They kind of went down hill from there.  I'm not the best seamstress in the world, but I thought I was starting to get the hang of it-oops!  The thumbs look crazy!  They were so small I just couldn't get them right.  It makes me wonder how my mom ever sewed Barbie clothes.

 I will still put them in his stocking for Christmas (at least at this age they can't tell it's not my best work).  Even with my issues I think it's a great tutorial.   Next time I'll try them for my bigger kids and see if they turn out better.

~Amy

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Pinecone Ornaments





I love these Pinecone Ornaments.  I honestly don’t remember where my mom learned to make them.  I think it was a craft night she went to.  Anyway, they are pretty simple and a fun ornament.  They can be done fun, cute, or pretty depending on what colors you use.

What you are going to need:
Styrofoam eggs- There are two sizes that work: the 6 pk of 1/2 inch, and the next size up (not sure the exact size because I didn't have any packing left on the bigger eggs).
Wrapping ribbon- The type that is about 3/4 inch wide.  I have rolls that have 4 colors.  It is fun to use different colors and textures. 
Straight pins- They don't have to be real long.  Probably at least the 1 inch.
Scissors
Narrow wrapping ribbon or normal ribbon to do a loop to hang them from.




 To get started, get out one of your styrofoam eggs.  I like to put a pin in the top of the narrow end where you feel center is.


Next, you will need to cut the ribbon.  I usually eye it. They should be about 1 1/2 inches long.


Once your ribbon is cut, grab one of the pieces and fold over the edges into a triangle.  The top corners should meet at the middle on the bottom of the ribbon.  Make sure you fold with the wrong side of the ribbon facing you so the right side is facing once folded.







Once folded, you will flip it over so the folded edges are down.  Put the narrow tip of the triangle against the pin you put in the top center of the egg.  Use another pin and pin the point down.


Do this again with 3 more pieces so you have 4 points meeting in the middle.  On the 4th triangle, I pull out the pin in the center of the egg and use it to pin down the point.


 Now you will need to pin down the outer corners.  They will need to overlap a little as shown in the picture above.  You can put one pin through the corner of both overlapping corners so it hold them both down.  Repeat around, there should be 4 pins total the lower corners.



 You will add more rows now.  Continue folding triangles then pin on the next piece.  Each row will have 4 triangles.  It will be much easier and lay better if you make sure you stick to that rule.  Center the next row over the line between two triangles on the first row.  You will do this with each of the 4 pieces.




 Continue in this same technique.  Add rows centering between the triangles on the row before, always using 4 triangles per row.  Make sure you are covering the gap that you can see in the photo above so no styrofoam is left showing.  You will also want to make sure you are pinning the triangles in the outer corners so it won't be hard to cover the pins from showing.


 As you get close to the top of the egg, you will have to put each row closer together to cover the styrofoam and keep the pins from the row before from showing.




 Once you get to the point where the triangles line up in a square you will need to change the triangles a little.  As you can see in the photo below, the edges of each triangle are lining up along the edge of the triangle next to it.  Does that make sense?
 At this point, you will need to overlap the edges of the triangle when you fold it.  The edges won't stay even across the bottom of the triangle.  Hope you can see what I mean in the photo below.

 Here is what it looks like when you pin them on.



It is sometimes easier for me to do the 4 triangles in 2's.  I still do 4 per row, but I do one and then instead of going next to it, I go across and then do the other direction 2 across from each other.


 When you are at your last row and can see that the next triangles will cover the gap between the other triangles, I trim off the overlap along the bottom of the triangle.


 Here is what it should look like finished:

 Here you go!


 Here is what it looks like done and the two sizes of eggs you can use.


Now the final touch.  Cut the narrow ribbon how long you want to make a loop to hang it from.


I just loop them around into a knot.


Then I stick 3 pins in staggered across and push them in.


Now hang on your tree and enjoy!!!

~Andrea