Valentine's Monster Mailbox

This year Mr E's teacher asked the children make their Valentine mailbox at home. This was a first, so I went to look for ideas. I discovered over at The Polkadot Penguin an adorable idea for a monster style mailbox. I thought this was a great idea for a boy. Mr E was feeling the Valentine ideas were a little too girlie for him.

Tonight, I stopped off at the Dollar Tree and picked up supplies, except I forgot googly eyes -- so I just made some with a marker and made the pipe cleaners on top some antennae.

FYI, Dollar Tree has solid white and solid red wrapping paper. I think I'm going back to get another roll of each. There is so much you can do with solid wrapping paper. It's pretty nice wrapping paper, too.

This is what I came up with, and he loves it! I like the signs. I think that's my favorite part because it rhymes, lololol. It's super easy to make, and you can probably make it with what's lying around the house.

Click the link to The Polkadot Penguin above to take you to the super easy tute!

I'm trying to catch up on housework since everyone is finally on the mend. I will be posting new tutorials this coming week. See ya!

Sock Baby Dolls

My darling 13 year old cleaned out her room awhile back and got rid of an entire grocery sack of socks stuffed full. Some of them she hadn't even worn.  Children of the 21st century.  I feel the need to explain to her that just 100 years ago people were darning their only pair of socks.  Not only their ONLY pair of socks, they were also more than likely hand knitted by their mother and/or sisters.  

I digress.  I've been reading way TOO many dystopian teen novels lately.  

I wasn't going to wear them and neither was anyone else in the house.  I decided it was best to upcycle them into something crafty.  

Luckily for you guys, I happened to remember my phone nearby and took pictures of the process so you too can make these little sock babies.  Here is the tutorial in pictures, pretty self explanatory.  Have fun!

 

 

 

 

This last step I was worried would be hard to understand in just pictures, so here is a little explanation.  After you make the little round arms and legs.  Cut off as much excess of the end of the arm/leg.  Next, place the arm/leg where you are to sew it with raw side facing the body.  Then, squish it into the body (as my finger is doing in the picture) so that you can whip stitch it against the body while hiding the raw edge.  Make sense? I hope so.  I'm not sure how else to explain. 

Done in one episode of Fringe!

I got this idea in my head to make these little dolls. I even added arms and legs.  What does everyone in this house say? They look like snowmen.  No, no, no.  They have arms not made of sticks.  They have legs.  These are not snowmen.  My dear husband says it's the hat.  Did Frosty switch to a ski style hat instead of a black top hat in his last Xmas special?  Whatever.  Enjoy!!

American Girl Mermaid Tail Sewing Pattern

 The downloadable pattern has finally arrived!  And, it's only $4!  Please head on over to Etsy or Craftsy to download your very own copy.  The pattern is completely digital, which means you print it right from your computer and can get to work as soon as you want!

Click here for Etsy
Click here for Craftsy

You can whip up 2-3 mermaid costume sets with just 1/2 yard of a four-way stretch dancewear fabric.

This is a great last minute gift you can whip up in an afternoon for the little girl in your life who loves American Girl. This is an easy to make tutorial for a mermaid tail and bandeau style top for your American Girl or similar 18 inch doll. It also fit my 18 inch Waldorf style dolls.

Recommended fabrics: dancewear fabrics, four-way stretch lycra and spandex knits.

Yoda Star Wars Ribbon Sculpture Hair Clip Headband Tutorial

Well, believe it or not, I did make time for some blogging.  While making some things for my new booth space, I decided to whip up a 3 part tutorial on some of my favorite "nerd girl" ribbon sculptures.  This is part 1.  There are 2 more parts coming this week from the Star Wars theme.  And no, even though my children have begged, one of them is not going to be Jabba the Hut.  

This tutorial is to make a Yoda ribbon sculpture.  I have it pictured both on a hair clip and on a headband, and both look adorable.

I've seen tutorials that tell you to use that fray spray, but I don't like it.  I prefer to seal my ribbon edges with FIRE!  I usually just light a candle and run my edges close to it to seal them.  I'm not good with holding a lighter.  I plan to get a wood burning tool very soon to try that method.

Yoda Ribbon Sculpture Hair Clip / Headband Tutorial

Materials: 
Hot glue gun or fillet tape
Scissors
Lighter or woodburning tool to seal edges
Ribbons:
Light green (almost a pistachio color):
    1 piece 3.5 in, 1 piece 1.25 in, 4 pieces 1.1 in/ea
Dark Brown:
    1 piece 2.25 in, 1 piece 1.5 in
White:
    1 piece 5 in, 2 pieces 1 in/ea

1.  Take 3.5 inch green piece and roll top into head and secure with hot glue. 

2.  Take the 1.5 inch green piece, heat seal the ends, and create the ears.  Glue each end down as shown.

3.  Insert ears into the head loop and glue to the inside back of the head loop.

 

4.  Take all four of the green 1.1 inch pieces and round one edge of each one.  Then heat seal and glue them as the arms and legs.  Keep the legs fairly close together as shown.

5.  Take the two 1 inch white pieces and cut one end at a diagonal.  Heal seal those edges and glue to the arms for sleeves.

 

6.  Take the 2.25 inch brown piece, heat seal the edges, and glue down the length of the body.  I like to roll the head piece up a tiny bit and insert it right under it.  If it's too long at the legs, cut it so the legs will shown, like this example. Take the 1.5 inch brown piece and glue it wrapped around to create a waist.

 

7.  Create the robe.  Take the 5 inch long white ribbon and find the middle of it.  Glue the down the sides as shown in the picture.  Leave an opening to go around the "neck" Yoda that is 3/8 inch wide.  I just eyeball it and try it on Yoda before I glue it down.

 

8.  Heat seal the edges of the robe, then wrap it around Yoda's neck, glue it down at the arms, and at the edges of the legs that are next to the brown ribbon.  Then you are done with Yoda.  

Attach to a ribbon covered alligator clip or a ribbon wrapped headband with fillet tape or hot glue.

**If you want to add a little embellishment, dip a toothpick 1/3rd in black paint and 2/3rd in green paint.  Allow to dry, then hot glue into his hand for a light saber.  When I write up the PDF version of this tutorial, I will include pictures of this embellishment as well.

Enjoy!

 

Animal Applique - Free Downloadable PDF

Here are some more "boy" friendly appliques (as opposed to the cupcakes and ice cream ones from before), though they are perfectly find for girls too.  I love this crazy-eyed octopus.  I've been putting him on all kinds of things lately, especially lots of onesies for new babies. 

Included in this sheet is the crazy-eyed octopus and the elephant pictured above, as well as a whale, that I forgot capture in a picture.  I'll make a new one soon.  To describe it, he should have curly cue water spouts coming out of the top of him, a bullion stitch for his eye, and a little smile. 

Find the printable here.


These samples are headed to my little microboutique over at Creative Collective in Fort Worth. If you are local, check my blog for our little boutique here.  I update when we restock.

If you need help with learning to applique, I have a great tutorial here.

This animal applique printable will go up on Craftsy soon.  I'm combining the "how to" applique tutorial with the sheet before I upload it.  And, I'm currently in sew-mommy-sew mode by making some Mommy Diva diaper bags and changing pads for my microboutique.  I'll be sure to snap pictures to share. The fabrics are coming together and looking so adorable!

Fleece Sunflower Pillow Tutorial

I was inspired by the fleece pillow tutorial I posted about over the weekend, and I had this vision of a sunflower version I could not wait to try.  So, while Joann's was having their blizzard fleece solids super cheap, plus the extra 25% off your entire purchase ($3/yd!!), I ran up there 30 minutes before closing and got the supplies.  Then, it took me until today to complete my masterpiece because I've been awake for the last 3 days with my poor 2 year old and her nasty stomach bug.  Toddlers and puking do not go well with anything.    

I have to say, I love how this came out.  Even my almost 13 year old liked it, and that's saying something!  Woohoo!  The only thing I'd change was that I used a mustard yellow fleece and I'd probably do it in a brighter yellow if it was for a child's room.  This darker yellow just gives me harvest gold 1970s afghan on the back of the couch vibes.   It's perfect for a hipster's couch ;).

Below is the tutorial, I will make it into a printable PDF and put it on my website and Craftsy.com later today.  For the time being, you can download my petal template at the link under the materials list.  

Materials:     

1 yd of yellow fleece

1/8 yd of orange fleece

1/8 yd of brown fleece

¼ yd of black fleece

½ lb of Polyfil stuffing

Hot glue gun

Hot glue

Pinking shears

Thread

Sewing machine

Find the Petal Pattern here.

Instructions:

1.       Take a large dinner plate and trace it (roughly 14 inches in diameter).  Then, using the template cut out two circles of yellow fleece.

2.       With WRONG SIDES TOGETHER, using a ½ inch seam allowance, sew around the circles, leaving a 3-4 inch opening.  This could also be done with hot glue. 

3.       Stuff the pillow until satisfied with it’s shape, then sew the opening closed. 

4.       Pink the edges of the seam to get a uniform look.

5.       Cut 3 strips of the fleece 4 inches in length by the entire width of the fabric (usually about 60 inches).  Cut petals from the yellow fleece.  You need enough petals to make three rows.  The pattern piece is at the top of these instructions. 

6.       Using pinking shears, cut circles about 1.5 inches in diameter from the orange, brown, and black fleece.  You will need 3 or 4 times more black circles than orange and brown.  They do not need to be perfect circles. 

7.        Begin with the petals.  First, take a handful of petals and put a 1 inch line down the middle back and fold them in half as shown. 

8.        Then, when they have dried a little, I take one at time and add glue at the edge and a dot at the end of the line I previously made and glue them to the pillow.

 

9.       Place the glued edge of the petals about 1.5 inches above the pinked seam.  Begin overlapping the petals just slightly as shown in the picture. Complete an entire circle of petals.

 

10.    The second row will be placed about 1.5 inches above the glued edge of the first row as shown in the picture.  Then, the third row will be about 1 to 1.5 inches above the second row’s glued edge. 

 

11.    Take the orange circles, place some hot glue in the center and then pinch them into a trifold as shown.  Then, begin gluing them in place around the raw edge of the inner most petal circle until they are an entire circle around the petal edges as shown. 

12.    Next, make trifold circles from the brown and begin interspersing them between the orange circles as shown. 

13.    Then, begin the next inner circle with both black and brown trifold circles, as shown.

14.    Lastly, fill in the rest of the inner most part of the flower with black trifold circles until you cannot see anymore yellow underneath.

 

And you’re done!!