Fairy costume

Craft: make a fairy costume

Inspiration: Halloween is around the corner and I wanted to get my daughter involved in making her costume. She decided that she wanted to be tinkerbell, so I came up with an easy costume that we could make together. It consists of a skirt and wings. I lucked out and found a green leotard for sale at a local dance store. This craft can be used to make any type of fairy, just alter the color and decorations. Crowns and wands would also make great additions. The sky is the limit, except if you are a fairy!

To make yours like mine:
Felt in dark and light green 2 sheets each
Green ribbon 1 inch thick
Green ribbon 1/4 inch thick
Elastic (approx. 12 inches)
Needle and thread
Measuring tape
Scrap cardboard or paper for template
Glitter glue
Lighter or no-fray glue

Steps:
1. Measure waist of future fairy.
2. Make a template for the petals using scrap cardboard or paper. I measured one of my daughter's skirts from waist to hem to get the length of the petal. Cut out enough petals to make two rows that go around the waist.


3. Decorate petals using glitter glue. Let dry for 24 hours. (I did this out of order, we decorated the petals after sewing together but I think doing it before makes more sense.)




4. Lay petals down in a pattern. I soldiered the dark green first and then the light green in a stagger. You want enough petals to go around the waist exactly or less than, but not more than. You need a little bit of space to tie the skirt.
4. Sew petals together at the top only.




5. Cut the larger size ribbon long enough to go around the waist and tie a bow. Use lighter or no-fray glue on ends of ribbon.
5. Sew petals to ribbon leaving space at either end to be able to tie a bow.
6. Set skirt aside. It is done.
7. (insert wing instruction here)

Insert photos here...

Two Summer Sundress

Craft: make a dress

Inspiration: I saw this pattern on the website Ravelry and wanted to try it. I did make a few adjustments to the pattern, that are noted below.

To make yours like mine:
Pattern
The Two Summer Sundress by Natalie Lawson (This is a free pattern on Ravelry.com, but you must be join to get it. Joining Ravelry is also free. It is a knitting website that helps you find and organize your projects. It rocks.)

For top
1 skein of yarn (Blue Sky Alpaca Cotton in Orange)
US 8 needles

For bottom and straps
1 yard of fabric (you need enough to go around the waist of your model once with a little extra for the edges and straps)
Sewing Machine
2 buttons

Steps
1. Follow directions for knit top, but exclude straps. Remember to make button holes for the back closure.
2. Follow directions for fabric bottom.
3. Make two straps by cutting fabric desired width and sewing together (wrongside). Using a safty pin, thread the end back through itself to make the rightside face outside and to hide your seam.
4. Sew straps to top front.
5. Sew bottom to top.
6. Place dress on model (mine was a 3 year old). Safety pin dress in back where you would like it to close. Safety pin straps on back where you would like them to hit.
7. Sew buttons and straps in proper place on knitted top.

Summer Slip

Craft: Make a summer slip for my daughter

Inspiration: I love white eyelet, especially in the summer. I wanted to make a white eyelet sleeping dress for my daughter. I know that a light, airy sleeping dress is taboo in the world of skin tight, flame-retardant pajama land. So let's just call it a summer slip...shall we?


To make yours like mine:
One pack of hanes girl's camisoles (sold at Target, Walmart, etc.)
White eyelet trim (long enough to be decent and enough to go around the circumference of the bottom of the camisole)
Sewing machine


1. Sew trim to bottom inside of camisole.
2. Sew up side of trim and cut away excess.

Simple summer dress

Craft: Make a simple summer dress for my 3 year old daughter.

Inspiration: Summer is the time for swimming pools and flip flops. I wanted an easy dress that my daughter could wear during these days. Fabric stores often stock shirred fabric. My local fabric store had a variety of shirred cotton fabric that was just the right length for my daughter. This could also make a nice summer top for an older kid or adult. The elastic in the fabric is what will keep the dress in place, so you can make it strapless if you would like. If that is the case, just do steps one and two. This dress was the best for those pool/beach days. Yeah!

Make yours like mine:
Shirred fabric
Ribbon
Sewing machine
Needle and thread
Lighter or No Fray Glue


Steps:
1. Go to your local fabric store and get some shirred fabric and ribbon. At our local fabric store, they had two lengths: long or short. Get the short-sized one for a child. I just wrapped the fabric around my daughter to get the amount.
2. Sew up the dress.
3. Cut ribbon into four equal size pieces (should be long enough to tie for straps).
4. Use lighter on ends of ribbon to keep from fraying (can also use no-fray glue).
5. Sew ribbon onto dress.
6. Place dress on child.

Hair bow how to

Craft: Making hair bows

Inspiration: Boutique hair bows are expensive but beautiful. I figured I would give it a shot to see if I could make them myself.


To make yours like mine:
Ribbon 1 inch thick for main bow (striped)
Ribbon 1/4 inch thick for center (light blue)
Needle and thread ready to sew
Lighter
Superglue
Barrette for holding bow (I used a pin clip)


Arrange ribbon as shown, looping it from back to front.



Cut the ribbon when you have the desired size.




Pinch and fold the ribbon in the center. This may take a few times to master.



Once you have a good fold, sew it tight. Cut the ribbon again so that the bow looks nice and neat. Use a lighter to singe the ends of the ribbon. This will keep the ribbon from unraveling.



Wrap the smaller ribbon around the middle to hide the sewing. Cut it and superglue it. Open the pin curl clip and slip in into the bow. Voila!

Zimmerman's Surprise Jacket

Craft: Making the Elizabeth Zimmerman baby surprise jacket

Inspiration: I saw this jacket on a knitting website and just had to try it. You knit one large rectangle and using an origami style folding, it turns into a jacket! The proportions are just right for a baby, but I used a larger gauge yarn to make it fit my toddler.


To make yours like mine:
Zimmerman's pattern for the baby surprise jacket
3 skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca yarn in colors: drift, stone, and pumpkin
US size 8 needles

Making Friends

Craft: Making friends out of gloves and socks

Inspiration: I just happened to pick up the book Smitten at the library. It is about a sock and a mitten on the quest to find their respective pairs. In the quest, they discover that they are each other's perfect pair and become smitten. The next day, I was at a craft store and saw the book Sock and Glove by the checkout line. Since Easter was around the corner, I decided to make two friends out of discarded gloves and socks for the children's Easter baskets.

To make yours like mine:
Book Sock and Glove by Miyako Kanamori
Socks and gloves from around the house
Stuffing (the doll kind, not the turkey kind)
Embroidery thread
Spare buttons and ribbon
Needle and thread
Scissors

For copyright reasons, I can't list out the directions, but I would like to comment on the project. I used the rabbit and cat instructions and found them really easy. It is also a great project for those of us who are not great at sewing. The more home-sewn they look, the cuter they are! Despite the book's title of using, "Cast-off Socks and Gloves" she actually uses new and matching pairs for the project. I decided to use only old socks and gloves that I had around the house, but made sure they weren't too raggedy or discolored.

Paper Bead Necklace

Craft: Paper bead necklace

Inspiration: I was inspired by a Martha Stewart paper bead necklace craft kit. My daughter has been doing a lot of watercoloring at preschool, and I had these great sheets of bright colors. The water color paper is thicker, but I think this craft would work with a variety of different paper types.

To make yours like mine:
Paper, in a variety of cool colors
Glue
Kebab sticks
Scissors
Something to hold the kebab sticks verticle (styrofoam, milk carton, etc.)
String

Steps:
1. Cut the paper in long triangles, mine were 1 inch at the base and approx. 10 inches long.
2. Place a kebab stick in your holding item (styrofoam, milk carton, etc.)
3. Place a thin amount of glue on one side of the triangle.
4. Roll the paper tightly around a new kebab stick.
5. Remove from winding stick and place it on the verticle stick to dry.
6. Leave the bead to dry over night.
7. Repeat.
8. When they are dry, lace them on your string to make a necklace.

Memory Board

Craft: Memory Board

Inspiration: I have seen these at stores, but I needed a large one to fill the space of a entertainment center turned bookshelf. I had a large bullitin board, but didn't want to use push pins in my kid's rooms (choking/poke your sibling's eye out hazard) The memory board needed to go in the space where a tv should be. It also needed to be easy for my 3 year old to use. I wanted to use it to post art, pictures, postcards, etc. I had seen one at one of my very crafty friends house (Thanks Laurie), that she had for her son. What I liked about hers, was that instead of ribbon, she had used elastic bands to hold items in place. Easy and genius! I thought it would be neat to use buttons to hold the elastic in a square pattern. However, after I finished, I realized that by connecting ALL of the elastic together, if you pulled on it, everything it was holding would fall out! Therefore, the elastic band thing was for not. To fix this, I used clothes pins to hold the items. I am still very happy with the final result, so I decided to make one for my son's room as well.

To make yours like mine:
Bullitin board
Batting
Fabric
Elastic
Buttons (four holes)
Clothes pins
Staple gun and staples

Steps:
1. Lay fabric and batting down, smooth out any lumps.
2. Place bullitin board on top.
3. Staple fabric and batting, making sure to pull it tight.
4. Cut elastic into strips.
5. Staple top side of board with strips.
6. Thread buttons onto elastic.
7. Pull elastic tight and staple to bottom of board.
8. Staple right side of board with strips.
9. Thread buttons onto elastic.
10. Pull elastic tight and staple to left of board.
11. You are done! If board is to be hung on wall, add wall hooks that came with board.

A year of crafting

I am not a crafty person, but I like to make things. This blog will document my year of crafting. Maybe you will get some good ideas for your crafts... or maybe you will get some good ideas of what NOT to do. Either way, I hope you enjoy a year of crafting with me.