Monday, January 9, 2012

Baby Shower Banner

I'm helping to host a baby shower this weekend and wanted to make a banner with the baby's name on it. I started by cutting out 8x9 inch triangles and added one inch at the top to later fold over for the string to go through.





I googled cute fonts and when I found one i liked, I opened it in photoshop, cut each letter out and opened in a new file. Resized each letter to 3 inches then printed it out. I cut the letter out of the paper.


Next, I ironed heat n bond to the back of the fabric, then placed my letters backwards on the heat n bond. After I cut them out, it was time to iron onto my triangles.


I found the letters didn't show up so using the same process as above, I cut out white circles to make my letter stand out. The letters were ironed onto the circles which were then ironed onto the triangle using heat n bond.


Fold edges over 1/4 inch and top stitch using an edgestitch foot. Ten fold the top 1/4 inch twice and top stitch across creating a casing.


Run a string through and you're done!


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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Poor Man's Inchbug Cup Label

What you'll need:

Wide rubber band
Sharpie


Write child's name on the rubber band


Voila!


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Sunday, January 1, 2012

Lunch Bag

I am really excited about this post. I was inspired by a bag tutorial on the Purlbee blog, but I changed a bunch of things. First, I wanted to make sure it would keep lunches cool. Plus, it had to be washer and dryer safe. I researched what to use and found Insulbright. It will rock your socks off.

What you'll need:
1/2 yard of outer fabric, Insulbright and interior fabric
velcro

Cut 2- 13 1/2 x 10 inch out of each fabric
Layer your pieces with the outer fabric facing down, Insulbright with the shiny side facing up, then your interior fabric and pin together
Using 1/2 inch seam allowance, sew all the way around through all three fabrics. I used my serger. If you use a serger, use a sewing machine to sew across the top, backstitching at each end.
Carefully cut the Insulbright out of the seam allowance at the top making sure not to cut the other two fabrics. This will make it less bulky to fold over.
Fold the top over 1/4 inch, pin and sew. Don't worry about the raw edge because your velcro will cover it.
To make the pull tab, cut two 2 x 4 inch strips from your outer fabric
Fold the long edges over 1/4 inch and press

Fold the strip in half and use your edge foot to sew along each side.
Sew velcro across the top of each piece with the tab between the velcro and fabric. I arranged my tabs to rest next to each other instead of uniform.
Place your pieces outer sides together and sew/surge down one side, across the bottom and up the other side.
Fold the bottom flat so the corners come to a point. Draw a line where a ruler measures 3 inches across.

Sew or surge across the marked line. If you sew, then cut off the excess fabric. If you don't have a serger, use a zigzag stitch on your raw edges for a nicer finish.
Turn the bag right side out and you have an insulated lunch bag!

Window/Card Tree

We have always put our Christmas tree in our front window. I love pulling up to the house and seeing the tree lit at night. This year we wanted out tree in the den where we spend most of our time so I searched pinterest for an idea to bring some light to my front room. I found this and loved it:
I knew I wanted to add lights to mine and I love the big bulb lights. I had planned to add ornaments, but never found any I loved that I could afford a bunch of. My Christmas cards were crowding the mantle, so I hung them from the branches and liked how it looked.
So here is my front room tree. It's perfect for me. I can see it from the street and I like the way it looks in the room. Now if only the rest of the room could look as cool as my branch tree.....
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Saturday, December 31, 2011

Air Freshener

Original post:
http://www.theburlapbag.com/2011/12/diy-room-air-freshener/

Sounded easy and my linen closet in our bathroom always smells damp because we have no vent to take the steam from our showers outside. I used tea tree oil because it's what I had
Don't even try to make yours look prettier than mine because your efforts will be futile. It just doesn't get any nicer than a leftover meat container with slits stabbed in the top.
Safe and sound in my linen closet. I'm hoping this works and I can now fall asleep in tea tree goodness instead of musty blech.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Wish List

This is the post I saw on pinterest http://pinterest.com/pin/62135669828460829/ I changes it up by using a hop and embroidering my girl's names.





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It was delicious. Next time I'll add more bacon just because you can't have too much bacon. Here's mine before I set it to cook all night. We ate it before I could take an after picture. Was also good rolled up into a burrito with salsa and sour cream!


This is the original post http://www.alattewithotta.com/2010/11/crock-pott-recipe-egg-brunch-casserole.html?m=1 Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Monday, December 19, 2011

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Phone Charger Holder


I saw this on Pinterest and wanted to make it for teachers gifts.

However, there is no tutorial. Even if there was, I believe it's in German, so that takes care of that. This is my attempt to make my own. I do not know why my pictures come through so fuzzy on Blogger. They look clear on my phone...sigh.

What you need:
two contrasting fabrics (I bought an 1/8 of a yard of each. It's the perfect width for the pocket)
Pellon Peltex 72F Double-Sided Fusible Ultra Firm Stabilizer (my new favorite thing)

I made mine to fit an Iphone in an otterbox, so your dimensions may differ from mine. Here we go:
Cut two of backing fabric and one of stabilizer to 7x4 inches
Cut front fabric to 5x4 1/2 inches for the pocket (I cut mine on the selvage so turn 5 into 5 1/2 if you will need to hem for a clean edge)


Fuse backing fabric to front and back of stabilizer according to the directions that come with the stabilizer. Here's a silly video of what you'll end up with:

YouTube Video


Now, line up one side of the pocket fabric with one side of the backing. The 5 inch side will run vertical. I cut my fabric so the selvage edge is on top. If you have an unfinished edge, sew a hem on that end of the fabric, then line up your pieces.

Pick a zigzag you like, I like mine wide with the stitches close together. Sew down this side.






Line the other side of the pocket fabric up with the backing. There will be excess fabric in the middle, but you want that. It will end up being a pocket. See where I'm going with this? Now sew down that side!

Fold the excess fabric back evenly at each side to make a tuck. Pin in place.

Sew across the bottom and the top


Now is time to cut out a 1 3/8 inch square. Measure 1/4 inch from the top and 1 1/4 inch from each side. It would be more accurate to make a template and trace the square onto your fabric. Now, as Joey on Full House would say, CUT IT OUT!



Zig Zag around that sucker



You can make this for less than $3. It's easy, doesn't take long and is super cute! Plus, you will fall in love with such a sturdy stabilizer and will dream about other projects to make with it.

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Friday, December 16, 2011

Candy Cane Reindeer

You will need:
Candy cane
pipe cleaner
Fuzzy ball (that's what she said)
Googly eyes
Glue gun with glue (duh)


Twist pipe cleaner around top of candy cane


Bend top of one end down


Bend again


Twist to make the antlers stay put


Do the same to the other side


Glue on red fuzzy ball


Glue on eyes


DONE!