Fun With Fabric: No-Sew Pennant

Do you ever find a fabric that you want to cuddle up and fall asleep with? Sometimes I find such a great pattern that I just stare at it, run my fingers over it and fold and re-fold it until I realize how crazy I look.

That's pretty much sums up my obsession with Holly Holderman's Dolly Dresses for Lakehouse Fabrics line.

My husband is a very kind man, but I'm sure he would put his foot down if I attempted to decorate our bedroom with such girly-ness. Luckily, I have a daughter! This fabric is PERFECT for her room. I plan on starting a quilt for her new "big-girl" bed soon. But for the time being, I made a no-sew pennant:

Instead of binding or fabric, I used lace to string my flags together:

I used a bit of the fabric to dress up a picture frame in her room too. Rose prints make me drool:

I thought of writing up an entire tutorial for the pennant, but it was so drop-dead simple there really isn't any point. All you need is:
-A few scraps of beautiful fabric (maybe an 1/8 yard of each)
-Lace trim from the fabric store
-Heat N Bond tape

I even made my own stencil for the bunting out of a scrap of cardboard:

Cut out your flags, pin them where you want on the lace, add the bonding tape, iron and you're done! Very easy, and I have a ton of fabric left over. Can't wait to use it!

I'll be linking up to these great parties!

Painted Picture Frame Tutorial

 My mother-in-law is a very special person. And I'm not just saying that because she and my husband both chipped in to buy me my Silhouette for Christmas. She is the type of person that lives life to the fullest. She has unlimited energy when it comes to playing with her grand kids, she cares deeply about everyone she knows, and she's always been an excellent mother-in-law. I occasionally gripe at her for bringing over too many toys for the kids (she is exceptionally fond of the ones that have 40 tiny little parts), but I think she knows I love her :)

On top of all that, she is a teacher. A Special Education teacher, in fact. I knew when she gave me the machine that I wanted one of my first Silhouette projects to be for her classroom.

Every year she takes her class to the Special Olympics and usually she takes a picture of them all together. I thought a personalized picture frame might be a good way for her to display it!

To make this, you will need:

- a wooden board, mine was roughly 10" x 13", from the craft store

-Paint (I used a little bottle of acrylic)

-Cardstock

-felt

-ribbon

-glue gun

-Popsicle stick

-clothespin

First, paint your board.

While you're at it, paint your clothespin and Popsicle stick. Ignore that little wood nub there, it was an abandoned idea. Let's just pretend it's a Popsicle stick, kay?

My paint choice:

While that dries, fire up your Silhouette software, or whatever you plan on using to cut your letters.

Print. Or cut. Or whatever.

Place them on your newly dried board (that acrylic dries FAST!) and Mod Podge them on. Puh-lease do not make the same mistake as me and use a dirty brush. Now her board has a light dusting of glitter. Ick.

Cut out felt shapes using this template, courtesy of Tatertots & Jello. I like to cut 7 flower shapes, plus one 1 x 1 inch square for backing.

Take a flower, dab a little hot glue in the center (yes, I am totally doing this on a framed painting. My craft table is a little cluttered at the moment).

Fold in half:

Dab another drop of glue:

Fold in half again. Repeat for all your flower shapes:

Next, take your backing square and glue down 4 of your folded flowers. Here's mine with 3 of the 4 glued down:

And here it is with all four. Add a large dab of glue to the center:

Pinch together the ends of your remaining 3 "petals" and stick it on the glue dallop. Voila! Flower is done:

Glue your Popsicle stick to the top of your frame on the back (I painted mine black first--well, halfway). Then hot glue the flower on the front of it:

You're almost done! Mine looked a little too clean. So I roughed up the edges a bit with some sandpaper. Then I mixed a little of the black acrylic paint with water and brushed over the letters. It gives it a more distressed look:

Add a little ribbon for a hanger (I hot-glued that as well). Mod-Podge a little bit of scrapbook paper to the clothespin and you are finished!:

Since it's New Year's Day and all, I decided to start on my resolution and relax a little. Kiki and the kitty were so tired that you'd think they were the ones crafting all day!

I will be linking up to these parties.

Upcycled Shabby Centerpiece & Paper Flower Tutorial

 Ever since we went to get sodas last week, I've been wanting to do something with our bottles. It seemed pretty obvious to me that they should hold some sort of flower, but seeing as how I have a black thumb, I had to give that a bit more thought. What I came up with: Paper Flowers!

[note: I'm not really sure if there's a difference between "upcycled" or "recycled" or just plain ole "re-used," but I think "upcycled" sounds best, so that's the one were going with.]

And now I'm going to show you how to make one of these pretty little 5-petal bubble flowers!

You will need:

-5 5" x 2.5" rectangles of tissue paper for each flower. You can cut these a little bigger/smaller depending on the size you want.

-small scrap of white tissue for the "stamen" center.

-small hard ball about 1" in diameter (once again, use a bigger/smaller one if you are changing the size of the tissue paper)

-thin green wire. Cut one 4" and one 12" piece for each flower

-floral tape

First, gather your rectangles:



To make the petals, wrap a piece of tissue halfway around the ball and twist the ends on each side (like a piece of candy):

Cut one end off. Repeat the last 2 steps 4 more times:

For the center, I rolled up a small piece of white tissue paper:

Bunch up the 5 petals and insert the white "stamen" in the center:

Wrap a piece of 4" wire around the petal and stamen ends to hold it in place:

Wrap a piece of 12" wire around your twisted ends:

Wrap floral tape around the ends to cover the wire: 

Fluff out the petals and your finished!:

I probably need to add a few more (BTW--the white flowers came from a kit I bought awhile back), but that's going to have to wait until later. It's going to be a busy week!

And in case you were wondering, YES! Those are coffee filters in the basket. I'm a bit obsessed! (here and here)

I'll be linking up to my usual parties this week. You can find them under the "Linky Parties" tab at the top of the page!

Skirt-to-Purse Tutorial

I made this skirt last spring with a charm pack. The construction wasn't bad, but the fit couldn't have been more frumpy. It was way too short for how full I made it. I held on to it because the fabric is just so pretty. This week I finally decided to refashion it into a cute purse!:

Now I want to show you how to do it yourself!

You want to start by turning it inside out and pinning the bottom. Mine was very full, so I made many pleats so that the bag wouldn't be huge:

After pleating and sewing the bottom closed, I also boxed off the corners by sewing a diagonal line at both ends:

I also needed to take in the waist a bit. I would suggest removing the elastic so that it is easier to sew this part closed. Also, if your skirt has a zipper (mine did not), I suggest that you remove it and sew the opening closed.

To close up the opening a bit (which you'll probably have to do unless you are a size 2), pinch together the waistline (skirt still inside out):

Pin. Where you pin will be largely dependent on how large you want your purse opening to be. Remember to do this to both sides of the skirt:

And then sew closed. You can now cut the extra fabric off:

Next you'll want to make lining. Place your skirt over two layers of lining fabric:

Then trace out your cutting line:

Mine is a little messy, but it works. Since my skirt is so full, and I really hate digging around in a huge purse for my keys, I made the lining a bit smaller than my purse so that the inside wouldn't be humongous. The size is really up to you:

Cut it out. Then set it aside:

I have to have pockets. Luckily, I had some coordinating charm pack squares left over. I picked out six  and then sewed them together in twos (only 4 pictured here):

For the pocket body, Sew one of the pairs to another pair, wrong side out. Make sure to only sew 3 sides so that you can turn it right side out. For the pocket top, sew the other pair together in half, wrong side out. Once again, leave an edge unsewn so that you can turn it:

Turn them rightside out:

Then topstitch all around to close the opening:

Sew velcro to the center of your pocket top:

Match it to your pocket body, then sew that piece in place as well. It's up to you how many pockets you want to make. I suggest one for each side:

After you have made all your pockets, place them on your bag lining:

Pin, and sew in place. Sew the pocket body first, leaving the top open. Then place your pocket top and sew:

After you have finished sewing your pockets on, place your bag lining pieces together, wrong sides out (pockets on the inside). Pin and sew, leaving the top open:

Pull it right side out through the open top, and stuff your purse into the lining, still wrong side out:

Match up the opening of your skirt to the opening of your lining and pin:

Then sew together:

When you are done, you should be able to pull the skirt out of the lining and have a finished purse body! Notice how in the picture below it still looks a little baggy? I ended up topstitching around the edges of mine to give it a bit more definition to fix that, but that is up to you:

Lastly, for the strap, I used one that I cut off another old purse. Luckily I had one that coordinated!:

Using another of my coordinating charm pack squares that I stitched up, I made tabs for each of the rings on my strap. I sewed those to each side of the opening:

I sewed-in a snap to keep all of my things from falling out:

And finally, I added a few burnt satin flowers to dress it up. And voila! My purse it done! (Notice the top-stitching around the edges here):



I hope you have an old skirt lying around that you can transform! It's a really long tutorial, but well worth it to have a one-of-a-kind piece. Also, due to the fact that everyone's will be different, it's a great way to build your sewing skills!