Scripture Bag

My daughter was baptized into our Church on Saturday. My husband and I gave her her first set of scriptures and a scripture tote. I picked one up at Seagull Book (a Utah based store) for $5. Here it is:

Cute color. Definitely girly, but lacking in personality I think. Using the fabric flower I did here (tutorial found here) with fabric in my stash and some ric rac I had on hand, her bag no longer lacks personality.

I also did the ric rac on the back.

Everything is sewn directly to the bag by hand. I was able to get it completely finished in just a couple of hours. (Less if you don't have to stop to get kids from school and feed them ;)

Swimsuit Alteration

About 5 years ago on a little getaway with my hubby, I bought my first 2 piece swimsuit. I've only worn it that weekend and maybe once or twice since them. It's such a cute bathing suit, but I have to say I felt a little uncomfortable in despite the fact that it was a tank top instead of a bikini one. With a trip to a warm and tropical location coming up and without the kids, I thought I'd risk pulling that old suit out. I tried it on and still felt uncomfortable, but thanks to all the great posts different crafters have done on clothing alteration I felt not only the inspiration to make my own alterations but also the courage to try it! Here's what I started with (I apologize in advance for any and all wrinkles you may see): See that little gap between the top and the bottom? Not so pretty on a mother of 3. (At least not me.) I headed to the fabric store to check out their Lycra selection and found just the color I needed to add a few inches to the bottom of my tank. I only purchased 1/3 of a yard and probably could have gotten away with 1/4 yard. What I did: 1. Unpick the hem around the bottom of the tank. If the holes from the seam are too big, you may have to trim the fabric just above the hem. Mine turned out just fine, though. Iron flat. 2. Lay your fabric down and your tank on the top edge. Follow the natural flow of your top to cut out your new piece. Don't forget to add a little extra for seam allowances. 3. You should have two pieces of fabric now. Sew the sides together and fold in half, seams inside. 4. Pin your new fabric band to the suit, matching side seams to side seams. 5. Using a stretch stitch (check your owner's manual), sew together. The stretch stitch will allow for extra movement and will prevent all your hard work from coming apart the first time you use your newly altered swimsuit. 6. Iron again with seams pointing up. If you are lucky to have a Serger or at least have access to one, you can serge your raw edges for a more finished look. Here's what I ended up with: It was a quick, inexpensive refashion and bonus-no swimsuit shopping this year!! (BTW-It was so much more comfortable to wear on the beach and swimming. )

Zipper Flowers

Last week I discovered such a cool craft blog: Craftaholics Anonymous. Linda made the most fun and funky zipper flower bracelet. It was love at first sight. I had to have one.

Here's my new zipper flower bracelet! I love, love, love it!

You can get the tutorial here. I did change one thing on my flower. Before rolling it and gluing along the way, I did a basting stitch by hand and gathered it. It's a little different from Craftahoics, but it's got my own bit of flair to it. :) When it was finished, I grabbed my bead box and made a 3 strand bracelet for my new little bud to sit on. I have to say, I'm diggin the finished product!

If you're into this cute zipper thing, she has a few other zipper project tutorials on her site. (Lucky me, my mom gave me an entire gallon sized bag of old zippers. Play time!)

Practically Cute

Practically meaning practical. My little family has a BIG road trip planned soon. I've been a little nervous as it's just me and my man and 3 kids 7 and under-no grandparents or other babysitter type help. All summer I've been thinking of what to do to make the long hours in the car happy ones. Three of three little monkeys like to color. So I thought I'd do something practical like this: that they can use as a little lap table for their travel projects.

But, how could I leave that sad little thing so plain? I couldn't, so with Pride and Prejudice on my ipod and a few hours to myself....

So much better. Practical and cute! I love what a little Mod Podge, paint and paper can do. the kids have seen these and love them. The best part is they can be simple like this or go crazy with embellishments. This just worked well for us. (I did not want to take the blame for a flower-rubbing on a Darth Vader picture if ya know what I mean!)

Kids Paint/Craft Smock Tutorial

My middle child loves to paint and do all sorts of other wonderful crafts. One problem. He forgets to not only ask, but even tell me that he's doing these things. Needless to say, when his creativity is at work, I'm brushing up on my laundry skills. A few months ago while making this quilt from Little Birdie Secrets tutorial, I was inspired to use a vinyl tablecloth to make paint smocks for my kids. It was SO easy. Supplies: Newspaper Tape (unless your using a Wall Street Journal) Marker 1 Vinyl tablecloth (really only about 1/3-1/2, but who has that laying around?) 2 pkg coordinating bias tape 1 T-shirt Velcro

How-To:

Lay out your newspaper and tape two pieces together (if necessary) and lay T-shirt flat. Tuck the T's sleeves inside the shirt.

Outline the shirt on the newspaper with your marker. Be sure to account for seams when tracing your shirt. Remember to make the scoop in the front for the neck.

Fold table cloth in half length wise and pin pattern piece on. There should be two identical pieces now.

If you want pockets, cut out a rectangle according to how deep you want your pockets. Lay the T-shirt piece on top and trim the sides to fit.

(Sorry about the sideways picture-blogger did that. It was right in my files)

Now-down to the dungeon where I do all my sewing.

Sew the bias tape across the top of your pocket rectangle. Pin the pocket piece to the shirt piece and baste/sew together using a 1/4 seam allowance.

Determine how many pockets you'd like. Mark how far apart you want them with some pins and sew from the bottom of the pocket to to the top in a straight line.

Take the non-pocket T-shirt piece and cut in half.

Lay the two T-shirt pieces right sides together and pin and shoulders and side seams. Sew using a 1/2" seam.

Pin bias tape around all raw edges and sew. I thought this was going to be difficult on the arm holes, but turned out to be quite easy.

Lastly-add some Velcro to the back for an easy, kid-friendly fastener.

Why Should Teachers Have All the Fun?

As reported earlier...it is back to school time for our kids due to a year-round school schedule. This time of year just happened to coincide with the over-due over haul of my crafting room. As any true crafter knows, the best way to clean up the craft room is to finish at least 5 of your unfinished projects.

I did that.

Up next on the old to-do?

Examine odd items I've been holding on to then use or toss in the trash.

The first thing I saw was a long rectangular frame that my mom picked up at a garage sale. The frame had a maple look and the picture was paper-pieced flowers and bees. Not uncute, but too outdated, too cute for me.

I took the frame, removed the glass and painted it black with acrylic craft paint.

Next I saw this large roll of cork paper (3 mm thickness) and I decided to make them into a bulletin board with unusual dimensions.

I took the glass from the frame and used it as a pattern to score the cork paper. Cork paper isn't very thick so I did this three times to create enough support for anything I wanted to stick in there.

The paper only needed a light scoring and then it was ready to break easily along the lines.

I layered the three pieces of cork paper and replace the backing on frame sans glass.

I finished off this cute project with a cork paper flower. This cork paper is 1 mm thick and slips easily into a paper punch (EK Success made this punch).

The red button finished it off nicely and then it inspired another idea! I needed pins for my cork board. I used a wire cutter to remove the pinhead off a regular sewing pin (seems I have an abundance right now (may be they multiplied on there own when they saw what great homes I had made for them). Next I found two identical buttons, stuck a glue dot (I use the Glue Dots brand) on each of them and sandwiched the pin in between. Here they are on the board. Simple practical and I didn't have to buy anything new for any of it!

Two Cute Skirts

I've got a couple of cute skirts for the little girls in your life. Although, you could easily alter either for a mom-size version if you wanted.

The first is a twirly skirt designed by my friend Toni. She said she was happy to share the directions here with all of you. How cute would this look with some calf length leggings and a t-shirt with a big floofy flower pin or hair accessory?! (Yes I like to make up words. And spellings.)

To make this, first take the circumference of your little gal's waist and times it by 2. This will give you the width for the top of the skirt.

Cut 16 triangles out of 4 different fabrics. (I opted to 3-it's not quite as fluffy, but I couldn't find a matching 4th piece )

To figure out your triangles: waist x 2 (40 inches for me). Divide by 16 (number of triangles). This will give you the top measurement of your triangles. (Sophie's was 2.5 inches) The times that by 3 for your bottom width (7.5 here). Confused? It's okay. Keep reading. It'll make sense.

The length is up to you. I wanted my skirt to hang to the knees, so I did 12 inches.

Now that we know the size of our triangle-we're ready to cut! I started by cutting out rectangles 12 inches (my length) by 7.5 (my width).

Next I marked off the top of the triangle at 2.5 and 5.

Cutting from the top markings to each corner will give you your triangle.

Sew your triangles together to make your skirt. (Optional: surging or doing a French seam will give you a nice clean look.)

Round the corners of your skirt so you don't have points on the bottom. Hem as usual. (Toni did a rolled hem on hers.) Now set aside.

Then make your waistband by measuring the new width from the top of skirt. Cut that length by twice the width of your elastic. Be sure to add a little extra to sew waistband to skirt!

Sew the ends of your waistband together to make a tube. Fold in half WRONG sides together. Pin to skirt.

Sew waistband on. Leave an opening to add elastic. Thread elastic through, sew edges together and top stitch to finish off.

This was a fun project and a great way to use some fun fabrics from my stash! Feel free to email questions to twiddlethumbs@rocketmail.com

Skirt #2 is from Make It and Love It and featured on U Create. My soon-to-be 2nd grader and her BFF will be wearing these the first day of school. Get the free tutorial here. You could also combine the two skirts and make this one.

Is there a support group for skirt addicts? I am LOVING this!

Beach Towel Bag Tutorial

Beach Towel Bag Tutorial....

Supplies:

• 1 Beach Towel (I bought the cheapest at Walmart)
• 5 yards gros grain ribbon (just to be safe)
• Sewing machine
• Thread to match ribbon

Step #1- Fold the towel in half

Step #2- From the open side, measure in 22" and cut the towel (You are essentially cutting out the center of the towel. The excess that you cut off will make a pocket for the front of the bag) Step #3- Turn the towel and cut off about 4-5 inches of one side of the towel (otherwise the bag is just TOO big). You may want to serge or zig zag stitch any of the unfinished edges of the towel. Step #4- Now take the excess piece that you cut out of the center of the towel. This is going to be a pocket. The top of the pocket is going to be one of the edges that is already finished. From that end, measure down 18" and cut the other edge off. Step #5- Take the pocket and place it on one of the pieces of your bag. You will want all of the finished edges to be at the TOP of the bag. You will want your pocket to be about 5-6 inches down from the top of the bag. You are going to sew ribbon over the sides of the pocket so that none of the unfinished portion will show. Pin the pocket into place. Step #6- Sew the pocket onto the bag. Do NOT sew the top of the pocket (or you won't be able to put anything in your bag:) (I had a little excess on the bottom that I had to cut off only because I wanted the pattern to match up) Step #7- Place right sides of the towels together and pin just the bottom of the bag.

Step #8- Sew the bottom of the bag... do NOT sew any of the sides or the top.  You still want to be able to open it up fully to attach the ribbon. Step #9- open your bag up and lay it front side up on the floor or on a table. Step #10- Pin your handles all around your bag. I made the actual handle part of the bag 32". You will want to make sure the ribbon covers the side of your pockets. Step #11- Sew right on the edge of your gros grain ribbon... sew both sides. Step #12- Fold the towel right sides together. Step #13- Sew down the side of your bag (starting at the top) until you are about 6-8 inches from the bottom of the bag. Step #14- Open up the part you didn't sew and ... ...put that part together. Step #15- sew the open part together. (I hope these pictures make sense) Do this on both sides of the bag. It just makes a flat bottom to the bag. Step #16- Flip your bag right side out and you will have an awesome bag to take to the pool!!! Please feel free to email me at twiddlethumbs@rocketmail.com if you have any questions.

-Anisa