Frustrations.... please help?

So, folks, I was talking to Cami the other day about the craft blog (this is Anisa). I have been feeling realllllyyyy frustrated lately with a lot of the projects that I've been trying to do (see my post about sewing). I tried to make these velcro embellished flipflops.... and didn't like them because you can see the velcro. I've also been trying to figure out how to somewhat duplicate these shirts for my boys that I saw in a catalog. My technique involves applique and freezer paper stencil. But when I started on the project, my applique wouldn't stick... I don't know if it's the knit (I seem to have issues with knit) or if I got the wrong Heat-n-Bond. I'm feeling super frustrated with crafts right now. I don't know if it's just that I'm trying to make things just for the sake of trying them, or just for the sake of the blog or what my problem is. I'm super busy right now... I work 30 hours a week... but I can do my crafting during that time. And I can't think of anything that I want to do and what I do try doesn't turn out.

So, I was venting my frustrations on Cami and she said, "Should we archive the blog and quit?" If you can't tell, Angie has taken a break from the blog. And Cami wants to take a break from the blog. So, DO I TAKE A BREAK? Or do I take it over for myself? Do you guys like my crafts? Do you want me to keep going? Do you have any ideas of a cute fun craft that I could do while I'm working? I guess I could just scrapbook:)

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think? Do you like Twiddle Thumbs? Do you think I should keep crafting and posting? Let me know.

-Anisa

Staining Tip for Wood Crafts

Seriously, staining has always been such a pain to figure out. I prefer traditional stain, but it has such a strong odor that you have to let it sit in your garage for a few days before you can bring it in the house.

I think I have finally figured out the type of stain that I prefer. And I think I have finally figured out the best techniques. So, here are some tips and tricks.

First, the kind of stain that I buy is Minwax Water-based Wood Stain in Colonial Pine. This stain is somewhat difficult to find, but I have found it at Home Depot. It should be already mixed in that color. The color is important, because anything else will be too dark or too light, etc.

Now, how you stain depends on how distressed or "dirty" you want your craft to look. If you don't want it to look too dirty, then you will want to do a couple of coats of paint and then sand it lightly... that way the stain won't adhere to the wood as well. If you want it to look dirty, then only do one coat of paint and sand away.

This stain is premixed, but I have watered it down a little bit at times to make it go further as well as make it a little lighter.

I always wear gloves when I stain because although it is water-based, it will stick to your hands and is difficult to wash off.

I prefer to stain the sides of the wood first. Then I stain the back. Wipe any excess stain off with paper towels. Then, you will want to stain the front. Wipe the stain on with a foam brush and wipe it off with paper towels. If you don't want the stain to look too dirty, wipe it off quickly.

Always let the stain dry before hot gluing anything to make sure the glue will stick.

Patriotic Wood Craft Classes

I know you guys probably want to get your patriotic stuff up for the summer..... so no time to waste!

Dates:

Tues. June 8th 9:30-11:30 a.m. (my kids have swimming at 11:30, so we have to be done by then).

Thurs. June 10th 6:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.

Sat. June 12th 10:00 a.m.- noon

Patriotic Trio: $10 (you may do any combination that you want... just let me know if you want a firework, flag, hat... what combo of 3?) Stands are $5.

Hot Air Balloon: $17

Uncle Sam: $18 (can be a yard stake or hanging)

(you probably remember this guy from St. Patrick's Day)

Something in the Air: Cami's sewing, too.

When I first got the idea to make my daughter's outfit for her preschool graduation, I was worried that I would have a post similar to Anisa's sewing rant as she has a lot more skill with fabric than I do, but then...

I found this fabulous and simple tutorial from Grand Revival Design for a ruffle skirt, bought the material at Hobby Lobby and went to it.

It was really easy and I finished in an afternoon. When I do it again (I already bought the material) I'll be adding an inch to each panel. It was a bit short for this mama.

Next, I made a binki clip for this cute little monkey.I liked the tutorial found here at an adorable craft blog called Ruffles and Stuff. Again, I liked the simplicity. Something I can do!

I had to alter her design a bit because I could only find overall clips. To use them, I took an extra strip of fabric and folded it length-wise in thirds and sewed down the length of it. I looped it over the clip loop and secured it with more stitches.I slipped it in to the tube (see tutorial link) and then did the top stitching around.

Since baby uses the Soother (which has no loops for elastic or ribbon) I used a clip on each side. Before the week is over, I hope to post a template for two different felt clip cover-ups, but in the mean time, I love this sweet fabric.

-C

Front Porch Pillows

I live in Daybreak. It's a planned community with the idea of older style homes and front porches. We have a lot of fun colorful houses in our neighborhood. I have mixed feelings about my front porch. I would prefer to have it open so that I can sit out on my bench and watch my kids play in the street. However, I do love that it hides the scooters that are always parked on the front porch. Anyway, I put my cute yellow bench out on the front porch and I wanted to decorate it with some pillows. I have been wanting to make something with burlap... since it's so trendy right now. So, I thought I'd do something with pillows!

I started with this pillow. I bought outdoor fabric at Joann. I followed my own tutorial to make it a slip covered pillow. Then I just cut a strip of burlap and sewed a reinforced stitch around the edge so it wouldn't fray. I sewed it into a band and made another smaller band to cinch it up in the front. Then I attached a fabric (burlap) flower that I made using my tutorial here.

Then came the fun part. I really liked the pattern in the fabric. And I wanted to make a smaller coordinating pillow out of burlap. So, here is what I did.

• I enlarged the pattern on my copy machine. I think it was about 8x8.
• I traced the pattern onto freezer paper.
• I used an exacto knife and small scissors to cut out the pattern. ( I got lazy and just cut out the part that repeated.

If you would like a more detailed tutorial on freezer paper stencils, you can find one here.

• I ironed the freezer paper stencil onto the burlap and used a sponge brush to dab acrylic paint onto the burlap. (this is where the lazy part came in. I had to take the freezer paper off and turn it 4 times to get the repeating pattern. That seemed easier than cutting it out.)
• I heat set the paint on with the iron.
• I sewed the pillow using the same slip covered pillow tutorial.

Here's the funny part... I was worried about a pillow form getting wet on the porch and getting moldy, so I made my pillow form by stuffing a ziploc bag with polyfil!!!

It turned out totally cute!!!

Now my front porch has a cute set of matching pillows. And I love the way they look on my yellow bench (scooters have been removed for the photo) Maybe I don't hate sewing so much after all... I just hate sewing clothes!!!

-Anisa

Anisa's Rant about Sewing!

Okay, so I'm going to warn you... I feel the need to rant about sewing right now. If you love to sew... you may not want to read this!!!

I have 3 boys. I love that I can just pass down their clothes and not have to buy new ones every year. So, it totally irritates me when my oldest gets holes in his knees or cuts a hole in his brand new shirt. So, I had a pile of mending that I wanted to do. I finally sat down at work one night and decided it was the night. I cut off some shorts and sewed a reinforced stitch along where I cut and let them fray. Those turned out cute!!!

Then I tried to patch the holes in the knee of one of the jeans. How do you patch a hole in a knee???? You can't turn the sewing machine in all directions when the jeans are on it??? Seriously, does anyone know how to do that?

Then I tried to re-hem a shirt that had a small hole at the bottom. I hate sewing on knit. It's too stretchy. I did a simple zig zag stitch, but it is completely uneven and it has already started to come un-sewed after one wash.

I got completely fed up. I buy their clothes on clearance anyway. And for that matter who cares if a boys clothes has holes?

So, I've been bored at work. And I've really wanted to do some refashioning of t-shirts like I've seen on several blogs. I love Elizabeth Kartchner's posts here and here. I love this tutorial on Ruffles and Stuff. I take cell phone pictures of clothes that I see in stores so I can try to make them myself.... Love this idea I saw at Target.I have a shirt that I love that has a hole in it. So, if I did reverse applique like this shirt at Old Navy, I could take care of the hole. I also love the applique on this shirt at Target. I've seen tons of others out there as well and I love the idea of taking a shirt that I have that has a stain or hole or is just plain, and making it cute and fun. I've been putting it off because... frankly, I'm scared. It usually doesn't turn out for me. And after my mending.... I just didn't want to so it. So, last night I thought I'd give it a try. I asked my mom how to hem a knit shirt. This is what she told me....

Cut it off. Zig zag the edge. Then turn it over and with a double needle, sew on the top and it's a great finished look. I did all of this, but I just don't sew well!!!! And I'm seriously jinxed when it comes to sewing clothes. It turned out awful. I can't even hem a simple t-shirt. How am I supposed to put cute ruffles on it!!! So, I threw it in the trash and decided that I will leave the clothing sewing to someone else!!!

Now that I've put this post together... I feel bad that I gave up. Should I try again? Should I just not hem the sleeves? Seriously, what is my problem?

Top Picks for Kid Crafting

Crafting with your kids can be a lot of fun. Expect a mess and you'll have a great time, though these aren't very messy anyway.

Here are my three top choices for crafting with my kids. By saying with my kids, I do mean, supervised crafting and together time.

1. Perler Beads/Fusible Beads-Ever since my little girl got these beads for her birthday we've been having a blast with them. The boys love them and we even got my husband involved once. She has been very gracious in sharing them.

The concept: small cylindrical beads are placed on peg boards for infinite possibilities. Then you fuse the plastic together using your iron and parchment paper.

My son is holding the horse that he chose the colors for. We assembled the shape together on the horse-shaped board with our heads close together. I made up my own owl using the hexagon peg board. I love it!

2. Pipe Cleaners-This mostly has to be supervised because they always use too many! It's also good to have me on hand to cut extra length off with a wire cutter.

The concept: fuzzy wires are twisted and woven together to create anything their minds can come up with.

My oldest son likes to make pet dragons out of them.

Yesterday, my three year old made me a modern art mobile that I really am planning on hanging in my craft room after the flood clean up is over.

These are also a great items to take along on road trips because they're mess-free. (Just be aware that the ends are poky and wouldn't be great for kids under, say, three.)

3. Shrinkable plastic-Shrinky-Dinks or any brand shrinkable plastic is something that was cool way back when, but it is SO fun.

The concept: special plastic is drawn and/or colored on using colored pencils, water colors, or markers. (Crayons are a big, flammable NO) Cut the item out, place it on a foil lined cookie sheet, in a preheated oven and watch through the oven window as the plastic twists and distorts down to a considerably smaller size than when you started.

I used to wonder why you'd make something big, just so it could turn out smaller. (I still wonder this about felting). However, once I gave it a try, I learned. It's just SO COOL watching it melt in the oven. We spent two hours playing with them the first time.

I like tracing an image from the kids' picture books with a fine Sharpie marker and letting them color the item or they draw something on their own. My son wore these to school today.

Summer is approaching and all these things are great to do to keep the boredom away. They can all be found at your chain craft stores and you can use those great %off coupons. :)

What do you like to do in the summertime to keep your kids entertained?

-C

Jewelry Dilemma

So, we had a yard sale this past weekend. My mom was going to be in town, so she said that she would bring up my Grandma's old jewelry so that we could put it in the garage sale. I was in a rush, but I quickly opened the "jewelry box" and found countless clip-on earrings inside. Seriously... how could I sell those awesome earrings? My grandma didn't have a lot of money so they aren't expensive real jewels, but they are totally cool, vintage clip-on earrings, nevertheless.

I even found a pendant in there from when my Grandma was the fire chief of the first all women's fire department in her small town of Kanarraville, UT. That thing is priceless... not garage sale material.

So, here is where I need your help!!! What do I do with all of these earrings??? Do I just stick them in my cedar chest and pull them out to look at every few years? Or do I make something out of them? And what do I make? Please leave a comment and give me suggestions!!! This is my grandma's so called "jewelry box." I for sure know what to do with that! It holds 12x12 paper. I've been wanting something to organize my scraps.... yeah! I think this will work.

-Anisa