Thursday, June 14, 2012

What kind of shoes would your bookmark wear?

About a month ago, I saw the cutest bookmarks on SneakPeeq and actually bought one for a friend. Considering the book marks are regularly $25 through the Etsy shop MyBookmark, I got a pretty good deal.
 
These things are so cute that I decided I was going to try and attempt to make a couple myself because I can’t afford to keep paying that kind of money for a bookmark.  I have never really worked with clay before and have very minimal painting skills, but I went for it anyway. Although they aren’t nearly as good as the one’s sold at MyBookmark's, I think they are cute. I made one for myself and one for my dad for Father’s Day.
 
My dad has worn cowboys boots everyday of his life that I have known him and he also enjoys reading so I made him these. I thought the individual boots looked pretty even until I attached them to the bookmark. One leg goes higher than the other but we’ll just say that it adds to the charm.   005002
 
The bookmark I bought for my friend was called “Wicked.” She is moving away so everyone in the book club is going to give her a bookmark that has some sort of meaning behind it and she is a huge “Wicked” fan. I loved her bookmark so much when it came in the mail, that I decided to  make myself a copycat one. I’m pretty excited about the way it turned out and am seriously in L-O-V-E with the ruby red slippers. 079083086
I need to work on my clay sculpting skills, but I think these may become a staple in my gift giving repertoire for all my book loving friends.
 
So…What kind of shoes would your bookmark wear?

I’m linking up:

Friday, June 1, 2012

Recycled T-shirt Super Hero Capes

My uncle passed away a few months ago and I couldn’t make it back home for the funeral, but I asked my Grandma to send me some of his favorite T-shirts so I could make her a memory quilt out of them. I finished the top to the quilt this week but I still need to sandwich, quilt, and bind it so no pictures yet. BUT, after cutting out all the pictures from the fronts of the shirts, I decided to use the leftover backs of the shirts to make my nephew some Super Hero capes for his upcoming birthday.

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They were so quick and easy to put together. I just cut off the arms and freehanded a basic cape shape of what was left of the t-shirt, making sure to leave the entire neckband attached. This way, I didn’t even have to worry about using velcro or making ties to hold it on. I found different Super Hero logo images online and printed them out to use as patterns for the logos on the capes, which I cut out of felt.

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I just ordered a couple of Super Hero books to go along with the capes so I can get them sent off before his big day.

Usually when I’m crafting, I’m happy I have all girls because there are so many cute things out there to make for them. This was definitely an exception. These were so fun to make, it almost made me wish I had a boy. Luckily, I have nephews!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Dr. Seuss Teacher Quilt

Mrs. Francis' Dr. Seuss Quilt 028

As an end of year “Thank You” gift for the twins’ kindergarten teacher, I decided to make her a quilt. Months ago, I went in during lunch time and traced all the kids’ hands without the teacher knowing. I used the tracings to make blocks that consist of each kids name and handprint. I used a Dr. Seuss font I found online to print the kids names on printable fabric. The rest of fabrics are all from the Celebrate Seuss! By Dr. Seuss Enterprises for Robert Kaufman Fabrics line of fabrics.

There are 19 kids in the class so I was one block short of being able to make a rectangle.  I wrote a poem and printed it on fabric to make the final block. It was the first poem that I have written in about 20 years. I attempted to make it Dr. Seuss-ish. The twins thought it was great, but they are 6, so please don’t judge me on my poor poetry skills.

The front of the quilt:Mrs. Francis' Dr. Seuss Quilt 002

My attempt at poetry:Mrs. Francis' Dr. Seuss Quilt 004

Payton’s block:Mrs. Francis' Dr. Seuss Quilt 005

Taylor’s block:Mrs. Francis' Dr. Seuss Quilt 006

The back of the quilt:Mrs. Francis' Dr. Seuss Quilt 033

Close-up of the fabric on the back:Mrs. Francis' Dr. Seuss Quilt 032

I’m going to have the kids present it to her at Kindergarten graduation next Friday. I can’t believe the year is almost over. I’m more than ready for summer break, but sad that Kindergarten is just about over for my girls.

I’m linking up at:

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

I was only 4 weeks late

but I finally got my girls’ Easter dresses made. I bought the fabric and pattern for the dresses a few months ago, but I just didn’t find the time to actually  make them before Easter. I buckled down this weekend and did the little girls dresses,  my older daughter’s skirt, and a hair accessory for each of them in just 2 days. Needless to say, my house is a wreck because not much else got done.

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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

More baby stuff

Just a few onesies, burpcloths, a bib, and a headband that I made for baby shower decorations, they were also my gift to the mom to be.

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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Baby Boom

My friends have been busy making babies lately and I been busy trying to keep up on making their baby gifts. I also had a good friend who hired me to make her husband’s client’s wife some onesies for a baby gift. What a huge compliment! When it comes to crafting, baby gifts are my absolute favorite thing to do so I have had a lot of fun coming up with all of the following baby gifts:

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For the following onesie, I dyed it using black tea. I just soaked it in the hot tea until it was the shade I wanted it. I don’t drink tea, but I had seen on Pinterest that it helps immediately sooth sunburn so I bought some to treat the sunburn I acquired over Spring Break. In case you were wondering, it didn’t do a thing for my sunburn, but it works great for antiquing onesies. 073

For this onesie, I decided to try embroidery again. It turned out better than the first time I tried it a few months ago. I think the embroidered owl is sweet.085

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Here’s the back of the onesie.106

And although it’s not baby related, I’m throwing in a picture of the newest sling I made for my broken armed monkey. She loves Dr. Seuss and I have some scraps left over from the Dr. Seuss quilt I am making the twins’ kindergarten teacher so I made her day when she came home to this:

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Friday, April 6, 2012

What’s a mom to do

when she gets a message from the school on Wednesday night that Friday is wear your favorite college shirt to school day and her kids have long outgrown their favorite college shirts? I refuse to pay for overnight shipping for anything, so ordering them online was NOT a possibility either.

Luckily, I still had some Hanes T-shirts in their size from a pack I had bought a while back, some blue acrylic paint, and freezer paper all on hand. I found a picture online of the logo I wanted to use and printed it out, made a couple of freezer paper stencils from it, watered down the acrylic paint just a little bit, and went to work. BYU shirts 001

Here’s a link that tells how to do freezer paper stenciling if you are interested. It’s really easy.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2121330_make-freezer-paper-stencils.html

The girls are were excited to show off their cougar pride at school today. They will most likely be the only BYU fans in a sea full of Florida school t-shirts. 

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BYU shirts 009

I’m linking up:

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