Easy Peasy Craft

Mother's Day.
Next to Father's Day, its brain wracking for me when it comes to gift ideas.
This past Christmas, I made one of these for my aunt, using my nephew's photo (ok, not really my nephew. technically, my cousin's baby. but anyway...), so I fell back on the same idea for my husband's mom.
The idea came from somewhere on the internets. I don't know where, sorry. I am sure its all over the place, really.  My friend, Alyson, brought this up before Christmas, so I ran with it at that time.

What you need:

Photo (I used an 8x10)

Flat ceramic tile (I used a 6x6. 56cents from HoDe)

Matte Mod Podge

Sponge brush

xacto knife or paper cutter

Trim the photo down to the size you want.

I cut mine down so about a mm of tile showed on each edge.

I also bought a 12x12 tile and could have had hubs cut it down to an 8x8 or 10x10 (HoDe and Lowes will do this, too), but I ran out of time to have an 11x14 printed.

Apply a thin coat of Mod-Podge to the tile and adhere the photo to the tile, making sure you press out all air bubbles.

Let dry for an hour, then apply your first coat of Mod Podge.

I put a big glob in the middle and then brushed it over the photo, and then evened it out using even strokes, one after another, one way, not stopping mid-stroke, until the end.

 {wet after the first coat}

Let that dry for an hour, and then apply a second coat, but going the other way (ie: my first application was horizontal, so my second was vertical)

After the 2nd coat dries, it'll look like this.

{view from an angle. kinda looks like a photo w/ a linen type texture}

Then just get a photo stand from Michael's (or JoAnn or Hobb Lobb or what have you) and voila! Done. A gift for around $5.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Hi ho, hi ho. Its off to scrap I go!

Do you scrap?
I started scrapping after Aidan was born.  I will say "scrap" in the loosest of terms.  Over the years, I learned more and found my little niche.
I really enjoy scrapping. Its a creative outlet for me and the kids just love looking at their albums.  I certainly don't scrap every photo. Or every occasion. I try to focus on photos that really speak to me.
I certainly don't scrap as much as I'd like, either. Its always been a goal to do it more often. I am not a digital gal. I enjoy the different textures of the real stuff too much.

Tomorrow I leave for my annual scrapbook retreat in Illinois with a group of moms that I've known for 10 years now. Its a great weekend getaway filled with intense laughter and snorting, being silly, not enough sleep, creativity, and too much food and a bit of libations.

Au revoir!

Fashion, as defined by my 7 year old

Easter Saturday

In our house, holidays are all 2 days long, due to the fact that we have to spend it with my family one day and hubs family the next.  They don't live close enough for us to do it all in one day. And besides...mixing families doesn't always bode well.

I picked out these 4 coordinating Joel Dewberry fabrics from the Modern Meadow line.  I bought quite a bit of fabric to play with and I had in mind a cute, full twirly skirt with lots of panels. But my Gracie Girl had a different idea. And that girl has a mind of her own and I knew if I didn't make what she wanted, she would never wear it again.

{sigh}

So I made a simple 4 panel LONG skirt. No fun ribbon on the bottom. No flowers adorning the lower side panel (I made them. She wouldn't let me pin them on).  Wassup with the length?  Its so... modest.  And add the leggings to that. That's her new thing. Its so she doesn't have to sit like a lady. Or worry about those pesky undie sightings on the monkey bars.

I made a coordinating necklace top with the fabrics.
Which, of course, did not turn out as planned. Perhaps because I could only find vneck shirts at Old Navy. Or maybe it was because I was doing this 20 minutes before we left on Saturday. 

At least my boys don't groan when I dress them alike!

We had a very delightful Easter weekend, despite a few hiccups. Lots of egg hunts, food up to our eyeballs, too much candy (can one OD on malted milk balls?), and family, family, family.

Repurposing cute outgrown shirts

A wonderful consignment shop 2 blocks from my house (yeah, like that doesn't get me in trouble. I like to see it as supporting the local economy) uses tshirts to make bags.  Last year, they taught my daughter's Daisy troop how to make them.  Since then, Norah's been obsessed with me turning her favorite shirts into bags.  I don't mind. It takes but 2 minutes if my sewing machine is out.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy and they are super cute!

Ta da! And a happy little girl who can cart around her "crap" in her former tshirts :)

Squee! Another day, another project...

Ok, so technically, its not completed. Is that such a big deal? I am, however, one step closer to the Git 'R Dun phase!!!

Look what I am working on...take one guess?  The husband is quite a happy camper.  

In other news, I whipped these up recently. I am posting them now because I am finally getting around to giving them to one of our favorite little 5yr old girls. They're a belated birthday gift.

 

This one is actually teal. Good quality iPhone photos.

Can you hear it?

Tesla, that is.
Yes it's only gettin' better, better every day, aha yeah!!
Does that age me?
That's the song that went through my head as I finished sewing on the tie on Ethan's shirt.  I was like, "I got this shiz down, baby! Imma figurin' it out! Yeah!"

We went to the cute baby's 1st birthday party today and so I made him those 3 shirts.

Sweet tweet

Last night, I made a cute and easy birdie applique to match the pants I blogged about here. Of course, it couldn't be easy peasy, right? Nope. My machine wigged out on me and I took it apart and then? Then I wigged out because I couldn't get it back together. I called it a night and figured I'd take it in in the morning and get a tune up while I was at it.  This morning, I had a renewed faith. I remembered that my fearless friend Sheila fixed her dryer recently. If she could do that? Then hells yeah...imma do this! And after some trial and error (and having to rip out all the stitches after having the tension wrong), I did it.
Birdie accomplished.
And yes - she's meant to look messy like this :)

I am working on some scrap, trying to get the satin stitch down pat (that's what its called, if I am remembering). Then I want a new machine, baby.

{tweet tweet}

Boden also has some super cute appliqued stuff that I am going to attempt to replicate for my girlie for this summer. Like these:

Now I need a silhouette so I can make my boys some rockin' shirts!!!

Git R' Dun!

Today is so bloody cold out and, if subzero temps are not bad enough (-10 anyone?), I have pinkeye. Fabulous.  So what better way to spend the day than staying in the house, sewing?? Yeah, I thought so too. 

I got a few things done...

A cute tie shirt for St. Paddy's Day for my Snoopy lovin' Elliott

A shamrock shirt made from St. Paddy's Hello Kitty fabric for my cat obsessed Norah

And another kitty fabric for the same sweet girl, but for Valentines Day. I also managed to get some more life out of a pair of jeans that she recently wore a hole in.

The other night while the boys were at their Pack meeting, I made this little thing w/ some scrap paper, my Cricut (the Storybook cartridge), and some $1 frames from Mike's...

...while Miss N worked on this canvas to hang over the hole on the wall where I am impatiently waiting for my TV to go (wasn't it supposed to be there in, oh, October?)

More Fun Appliques

Ahhh. The tie shirt. Cute. Fun. Don't attempt at 12:30 am. Look at this! Hot damn - its crooked! Once its appliqued on there, you're screwed, aren't you?? But that's not enough. I didn't notice that it was crooked until *after* I did the shoddiest job sewing it on. Wow. I am keeping it as a reminder of not to rush. Or sew at 12:30am.

At least the cute 'C' turned out ;)

What I've Made...

:: This and That ::

An advent calendar I've thought about for years, but never did. It was fun to make...don't know what was holding me back! I think when I took this photo, it wasn't adhered down or sprayed yet.

A ceramic flooring tile I mod-podged a photo of my beautiful nephew to, as a gift for my Aunt. Super duper easy and I now want to go tile crazy! We have a box of the white ones leftover and I want to cut out some cool designs on the Cricut and make some coasters.

Pillows for the chillins for the den. Nuthin' fussy, just simple and straightforward and cheap flannel.

What I've Made...

:: Flowers ::

My first singed petal flower.

...and my second one. Using this fabric was much more difficult!

The first rolled roses I made. I attached them to felt and sewed them to a cardigan for my mom.

An attempt at a flower using wired ribbon

Felt rolled roses...fun adornments and cheap & easy to make! I found the tutorial on Mrs. Priss. Come to think of it, I think I used her tut for the singed flowers, too.

I really like these. Kinda remind me of The Pleated Poppy's Petal Pusher, which I just adore to death. I had no tutorial...it was a lot of trial and error using an old tshirt until I got the look I wanted.

Experimenting with a few different flowers. I liked the rolled rose in the center the best. And I like the magnetic backs vs. pins.

What I've Made...

Appliques!

Alyson of Eisley Rae made these adorable ruffle pants for Miss N. She was so kind and sent me some scraps and I made this Christmas tree shirt to match. It was my first time using a fusible web. I used Wonder Under, following some instructions on Crap I've Made. I was super frustrated, but it turned out. And I have enough fabric left to make another matching non-Christmas shirt.

This was my second experience with Wonder Under and woah...it went so much easier. Like riding a bike!! Easy peasy lemon squeezy. And I just adore this red fabric that I got from Drawstring Studio.

I have some more adorable appliques planned. Some for boys, some for girls. I can't wait!

What I've Made...

Skirts!
This one is my first skirt. My first piece I ever made with a machine. My first pattern. And I have to say... I am proud. It wasn't easy and I did well. Its not something I'd pick out in a store, but I do like it.

A Halloween skirt I made for Miss N.

Miss N's cute owl skirt

I adore this fabric. Natch, another piece for Miss N.

There were a few others I did for Miss N, but they are non-descript and basic skirts like this :) Now I need to graduate to fancier skirts. Fun!

Where do I go for inspiration?

Its funny. I was perusing the crafty blog-iverse and was hoping to come on some new and exciting ideas. One blog I read is The Stories of A to Z. I found this recent post...A small sampling of where she goes for inspiration. Low and behold...aside from 2 or 3 blogs, there was nothing new there to me. It appears everyone visits the same crafty blogs! Not that its a problem, but I'd like to see new faces, too!!! I am a big fan of a lot of what I see out there, but living where I do, in the type of home I live in, I am not a fan of the beachy stuff or stuff that is just too southern-y, ruffley, or burlapy (nothing warm and cozy about that!). So there ya go!

New Year, New Look!

2011 brings with it some simple goals. No resolutions, since those are too easy for me to cast aside.

My days are no busier than ever before, with this being the final half-year of my PTA presidency and being chock full of activities. Not to mention volunteering in the twins classrooms and the library and whatnot. I need to carve out time each week to work on Chili'n on the Ave 2011. I need time to go to the gym. And after all that and the obligatory house cleaning and laundry duties and keeping food in the house, I need to carve out 'me' time. Time to get my creative on. I may not be all that and a bag of chips yet, but I'm learning and I enjoy it immensely.
So my goal is to come up with a daily schedule. And stick to it. Wish me luck. In the meantime, I'll post some of the projects I've done and some I am working on at the moment (curtains! chairs! flowers!).

Happy 2011!

Projects!!

Sitting around the house for 3 weeks is a real treat [/sarcasm]. It made me realize that

a) I am sick of looking at the same stuff on the walls, day in and day out, for 6.5 years

b) My walls need serious touching up in places

c) The bathroom door and linen closet door are embarrassing - chipped, dirty. They need painting. Bad.

d) The arches were never painted. And they're nasty dirty. Why did I never notice that?

e) My dining room chairs could use a facelift

So I made a project list. I had Chris dig out the original paint so I can take it to HoDe to get all shook up. I brought home a mountain of fabrics from JoAnn in hopes of finding one we liked for the chairs. And I took stuff off the walls and started moving it around.

Here are some photos:

Chair before

With the fabric we've picked

And since I am a total copy cat, I stole Frills, Fluff, and Trucks artwork display idea and put that up

Then I reframed some embroidered Holly Hobby pictures that my great grandma made for me that hung in my (HH themed) bedroom when I was a little girl.

Since they were not a typical size, I would have had to custom frame them. No thanks. I worked w/ what I had

they were awful. Falling apart and frankly, ugly.

I sanded them while I wore a mask because I was pretty sure they were painted w/ lead paint.

Then I rubbed some wax on them in a few areas, painted them a vanilla color, and once they were dry, I sanded them to distress them. The wax really helped! After that, I took some tea ink and rubbed it over the frame and wiped it off w/ a damp cloth. When that was dry, I sprayed them with a clear coat that crackled, to give it an old look.

I cleaned up the glass, mounted them back in, and voila!

Normally I wouldn't put something like that in my daughter's room (I am not a cross stitch sampler or embroidery on pillows and blankets type of gal). But I always loved these as a child and thought it was neat that she could have something from her great-great-grandma.

And finally, I did this for our room. The rest of our walls will be done with some photos that I took once I blow them up and print them. I saw this on a blog and I wish I could credit the person, but I can't for the life of me recall which blog. I remember the blogger saying that she was inspired by something similar she saw at Restoration Hardware. The skeleton key is mine and its for my hope chest. The frame is a cheap IKEA frame that I spraypainted black. I used grosgrain ribbon to hang it.

Stay tuned....more projects to come this week. AND a baseball themed birthday party this weekend!!