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.