Girls DIY High-Low Skirt

Last summer when I went to Europe a saw a lot of these high-low skirts around. I remember the first time (at least in my lifetime) when they were in style and I didn't like them back then. But maybe having 20 years to get used to the idea has changed my heart and I really quite like the look now.

Since my daughter is so tall and skinny, it's hard to find dresses and skirts are narrow enough and long enough. So I decided to make one for her using some leftover fabric from a shirt I had made for myself. (I may post that later. Can't decide quite how I feel about it.)

Usually when I try to photograph her, she will only be silly and crazy, but this time she turned on her modeling charm!

I did a google search for how to make a high-low skirt and got a general idea of how to cut the fabric. That was the scariest part. The rest was easy. Just a serged the top, did a basting stitch around the top to gather it, and sewed it onto an elastic waistband using a zig zag stitch. Seriously so easy.

The best part? This fabric cost me $4 on clearance, and I got a shirt and a skirt out of it!

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DIY Pine Cone Door Decor

This is a little overdue, but I blame JoAnns for running out of ribbon. I had to wait until they got more of this wired dusty teal burlap/linen ribbon back in stock to finish the project. It was mostly done before Thanksgiving anyway....

This is a simple Thanksgiving or Christmas DIY door decoration. It cost me about $5. The ribbon I got at JoAnns with coupons, and I bought some circle screw-in hooks, that's it. The fabulous giant pine cones came from Ryan's grandparent's yard. They have a sugar pine tree (or two) that drop these giant pine cones and they are kind enough to share.

I considered dipping the pine cones in white paint for a more modern look, but they are pretty sappy and earthy, and for this I think I prefer them au natural.

If you want to try this yourself, its super easy.
1. Just use a small drill bit to drill a hole in the top of your pine cones.
2. Screw in your little circle hooks.
3. Tie on the ribbon.
4. Make some bows and glue them on with a hot glue gun, and away you go.

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DIY Reclaimed Wood Framed Mirror

Years and years ago, probably when I was in college, I bought a $10 standing mirror at Target. Tacky cheap frame and all. A few years ago, that tacky cheap frame broke off and got tossed. And the mirror never got replaced! It just sat there, naked and bare, against my bedroom wall. Talk about tacky.
But it is tacky no more!

Thanks to my brother and his torn down shed, I obtained a good pile of old, weathered, reclaimed wood. I brought it home for another project (sneak peak at the end of this post), and used some of the extra scraps to make a frame for this sad and lonely mirror.

The pieces weren't quite long enough for me to do angled corner cuts, but I think the straight cuts work due to the rustic-ness of the wood.

I did have to deal with a little bit of warping, but it wasn't too bad. I love the cracks and knots and holes and coloring in the wood.

Now I have no training in this type of construction, but I did a little research, a little brainstorming, and just kind of figured it out. It's not rocket science. So if you're interested, here's how I did it.

1. I first glued all the pieces together with liquid nails (carefully measuring the inside space to make sure it was all squared, given the warping). No wait. I first measured and cut, and scrubbed with a brush to remove loose particles. A very light sanding too, but you can't do much or it takes that weathered finish right off.

2. I then screwed in the corner braces you see below. Most of them are crooked because of trying to avoid cracks, or reinforce cracks in the wood. It doesn't need to be pretty on the back (though I would prefer it).

3. In the above picture you can see I filled in a crack or two with liquid nails. Unnecessary, but I figured why not. A little reinforcement can't hurt. And see that duct-taped corner below? I know, I know, why am I still holding on to this old mirror? Because I can't stand to just toss it when it will work fine. I chipped that mirror corner in the process, but just a little, so I taped it for safety and it's hidden anyway.

4. After the frame was secured together, I used a little liquid nails (ignorance on my part--shoulda' used Mirror Mastic--if I had known what it was) to glue the mirror to the frame.

5. Then I added mirror clips (more visible in the above photo) to really hold the mirror on there. And that's it! I started to spray it with a sealant but had a hard time getting an even coat, plus I figured it's been so weathered that any old chemicals that were on there are pretty much washed and worn away by the years of weather.

And here's a little peak at a few other things. Me at 16 weeks (I'm pregnant!) And also these are some old work pants I cut off and turned into Bermuda shorts. They were a bit flared at the bottom so I hadn't worn them in years, but they fit nicely in the waist and behind so I hated to toss them. Perfect solution and super easy to do, a great way to upcycle your clothes. Of course with my growing belly, this will probably be the last time I wear them for a while.

And one last thing. The purpose of my collecting the reclaimed wood in the first place was to make a headboard for my bed. I'll show you the whole thing once I get a duvet cover and some night stands (can you tell my bedroom is in sorry shape?). But this will have to do for now:

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Sleepy Eye Mask

It's been a while since I've made one of these, and it was time for a new one.

This time instead of batting I just used some leftover thick gray fleece on the inside, so it provides more light blockage and is just as soft and cushy. The back side is a dark gray silky satin. Now I can sleep in until 7:00 if my kids don't wake me up first.
Oh, and Ava just went to a pajama party birthday and they decorated their own little eye masks with glitter and pom poms, and now she loves to put hers on at night, even if it's already dark. Cute.

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The Truth About DIY Gold Sharpie Mugs

You may have seen the gold Sharpie mug tutorials floating around the webosphere. Seems like such a fun idea, right? Easy way to cuten up some plain mugs. Since I have some plain white mugs I thought I'd give it a try. Let me just state that I get discouraged by DIY tutorials that don't yield professional looking results. Sure, anyone can fake a photo or make something look good on screen, but I want things that are actually going to look good and be worth my time and money.

So I followed the instructions carefully. I colored my mugs (round one showed streaky marker lines so I had to bake and then do a second layer). And baking them took away the shiny gold sheen and left them a dull brassy gold. But I could live with that.

As the mugs sat on my counter top for a while awaiting their photography session, one got a smudge of butter on it. And whadya know! The gold wiped clean off! (So why did I bother baking it? I assumed that would create some sort of permanence). But on the up side, you could do these for a party and then just wipe them clean when you are done, using a little grease or butter! But I'm not sure it's worth baking them. And it's definitely not permanent.

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DIY Duct Tape Child's Dress Form

You've probably seen these around. I wanted to create a dress form for my 3-year old so I could make sure things fit as I work on them. She's not much for trying things on or holding still. I thought this would be a great place to start. I started with this tutorial by Prudent Baby.

Attempt #1 wasn't so great. I put a t-shirt on her and then the duct tape, and it was too big. When I tried one of her skirts on it, it didn't fit. Too thick. So I started over. This time I put a too-small old t-shirt on her. Trying to get my ADHD child to hold still long enough to tape her up a second time was just asking too much. I put on her favorite show, but I still had to wrap it up a little sooner than I was ready.

I think that if I had immediately reinforced the form as soon as I cut it off of her, it might have held it's shape a little better. But instead, it took me several days to add tape to the inside (I didn't want it to end up too thick again, so I reinforced the inside mostly). I also thought it was still just too weak, so I added paper mache to the outside and the inside. I wanted it good and firm. Then I spray painted the whole thing.

As you look at the side views, you can see that the form slumped a little and became pretty sway-backed. But the size still works and the clothes don't hang too badly on it, so for now it will suffice. With how fast kids grow, I'll have to make a new one next year anyway. Here it is with one of her swimsuits on.

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Polar Bear DIY Graphic T-shirt

I had a $4 red t-shirt for Ezra that needed some personality. I decided to try a 2-step 2 color process with the freezer paper stencil this time. And I will tell you, I didn't go very well. I managed to make it work with some touch up, but I probably won't be doing that again. And I forgot to put the middle in that back wheel, oh well. Its still better than it was as a plain red T-shirt.
I based this design loosely on a pen and ink illustration that I did a couple of years ago.

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DIY JCrew Heart Tee

A while back I saw these cute purple and red oversized-heart shirts at JCrew and they were super simple. (Now they've moved on to sequins). So being the DIY kinda girl I am, I decided to just make one. JCrew had the solid colored kids shirts on sale for like $6, so I bought the purple shirt from them. Then it was just a matter of another freezer paper stencil and some fabric paint!

Here's a tip: I bought 2 different colors of red fabric paint because I couldn't decide, but one turned out to be a "pearl" finish. Fortunately I put down one layer of the matte red color first, because the pearl paint is a bit transparent. I wish I had put down 2 layers of matte and then a layer or two of pearl over top. I like the shimmer/glitter the pearl gives, but it took about 6 layers of the stuff to get an even, solid, professional-looking finish.
Ever since this project, Ava is obsessed with Valentines Day and asks me every day to show her on the calendar when it is! Pin It

Chalkboard Painted Lids

Confession: I still haven't finished all my neighbor treats. But. I did manage to get a few done, including this one for a friend who is gluten-intolerant. She loves peppermint patties so I gave her a jar full of those. You could do hot cocoa mixes, cookie mixes, soup, etc.

I had bought some chalkboard paint for another project, and I still have a ton left over. If you want to do it, it's pretty self-explanatory. Paint the lid with 2 or 3 coats of paint and write a message on the top! You can decorate the jar too if you want, of course.
And a little tip I saw on Pinterest after doing this, you can sharpen your chalk in a pencil sharpener for more precise writing. Pin It

DIY Glitter Heart T-Shirt

After making my first freezer paper stencil graphic tee, I decided I wanted to do it again, with a twist. A glitter twist! I was hoping to find a glitter fabric paint at my local craft store, but instead found this 2-step glue and glitter.

I followed the same process as described here, and it turned out just great!

 Too me it seems impossible that the glitter will stay through multiple washings without some sort of clear sealant over layer,  so I will let you know how it holds up over time.

UPDATE: It has not held up well at all. I don't recommend it. After one washing half the glitter was gone. Maybe if you put a clear topcoat over it it would hold up.

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Halloween Craft #5: Pop Tart Pumpkins

I know I'm just a wee bit late on this one, but I've decided to post it anyway. I've seen some make-at-home pop tart recipes and I had been wanting to try them. I thought some jack-o-lantern poptarts would just be the cutest thing for Halloween, so here they are.

I recommend a homemade pie crust if you want them to taste really good, but a store-bought one does work. But trust me, it doesn't taste as good. 

Here's how you do it:

1. Roll out your pie crust on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4" thickness or less. You don't want too thick of crust.

2. Take a large circle cookie cutter and press one end of it down on the crust, leaving the other end on top of the surface. Use a sharp knife to cut around the cookie cutter except for a notch at the top for the stem. Cut around a rectangular shape at the top for the stem. 

3. Using a sharp knife, carefully cut/saw out the eyes and mouth and lift them out from the center.

4. Cut a simple circle using your cookie cutter for the base layer of the pumpkin (your top stem doesn't need a bottom layer, it will be fine).

5. Place a spoonful of filling (recipe below) in the center of your base layer and spread slightly outward, leaving a sufficient clean edge around the outsides for sealing the top.

6. Dip your finger or a brush or something in water and run it around the outside edges of the base layer and the underside of the top layer to encourage sticking. Place the top/face over the filled base circle. Using a fork, press around the outside edges of the pumpkin with the tines to seal it shut. (I skipped over the stem and it didn't leak out).

7. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

I've done some where I overfilled them and some of the jam filling spilled out the eyes and mouth, which is actually kind of fun too. It's like the jack-o-lantern is drooling or crying.

Jam Filling:

3/4 c orange marmalade or apricot jam

1 Tbsp water

1 Tbsp corn starch

Mix all together and use as your filling.

If you want to be more festive you can use a pumpkin pie type filling with a cinnamon frosting, but I personally prefer jam poptarts.

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Halloween Costumes 2012

This year's Halloween costumes were from the movie Up! I love bringing animations to life. I brought out my old house costume and took on the challenge of making Kevin, the bird. An added challenge was that it had to be wearable by a 3 year old. Which meant that attempt #1 was a no go (see below):

The neck and head were too tall and tipsy for my girl. They were attached to a bike helmet but the support still wasn't sufficient. And actually, I think the transition to the body isn't that great either. So it's probably good I had to make another attempt.

Now for a picture of my boy. I've mentioned before how active he is. Impossible to get a good still photo.

My hubs was out of town but fortunately my sweet mother-in-law came to trick or treat with us and get some group shots. I love my mother-in-law, I know not a lot of people can say that, and I feel very fortunate.

A few notes: For the scout sash, I went to the boyscouts website and downloaded a picture of each merit badge (so glad they had those available!). I put them all on one page and resized them all to 1.25 inches. I have a circle craft punch that size, so then I printed them on iron-on transfer paper (for dark shirts) and punched each one out. Peel off the backing and ironed them each onto the sash. The peeling off the backing was tricky and took forever. The shirt was from a thrift store, the rest I already had.

The bird: I wasn't planning on doing all those feathers. I was planning on just spray painting the felt body, but it looked terrible, so I had to do feathers. the orange feathers are actually just yellow felt with spray paint. Those looked fine. The body I ad-libbed and it could have been better, honestly. I'm not a great seamstress and times like these I wish I knew more, but it worked. It is padded with fiber fill (stuffing). The head started with a posterboard mold, padded with fiberfill, aluminum foil, and masking tape. I paper machéed it, let it dry, pulled out the posterboard and almost discarded the whole thing (that's when I started on head #1). It got a little deformed, so I had to remold a little with aluminum foil and then paper mache again. I used paper towels as my final layer of paper mache for a slightly better finished texture. The eyes are also paper mache (over small water balloons filled with air, not water). Turns out styrofoam balls are kind of pricey. Once dry, I spray painted it yellow and red. I used acrylic paint to do the green circles around the eye, then glued the eyes on. The pupils are drawn on with a sharpie marker. The blue part on the head is felt, and I just kind of pinned, glued, and trimmed. The head feathers are pipe cleaners and felt feathers.
Hope you had a happy Halloween too!

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DIY Graphic Tee

The weather is starting to cool a little here, and my kids are in need of some warmer duds. So I snatched a plain grey t-shirt at Target the other day for Ezra and decided to make it into something more. I've always wanted to try freezer paper stencils, so this was a great opportunity for that. I decided upon a simple star image.
My little guy doesn't stop moving, so getting a decent photo was a serious challenge. A fun challenge too!

A typical face. He loves to "ooooo".

And lets finish with a salute? Why not.

If you'd like to take a stab at it, here's a quick tutorial. (It's easy).
I prewashed my shirt, probably should have ironed it for the photo {note that for next time}.

Create your image. I drew mine on the computer and printed it out. For more simple shape ideas, read the end of the post. Ok, so next lay your design over your freezer paper (waxy side down) and tape it down onto the freezer paper so it won't wiggle. Cut around your shape with an exacto knife.

Separate your papers and place your freezer paper stencil onto your shirt, waxy side down. Gently place the iron over your design, not rubbing it back and forth, just pressing it up and down so the paper doesn't get warped. Make sure you get all those little corners and edges really well.

Now the fun part! Put a barrier layer (like a flattened box or piece of cardboard) inside your shirt to prevent bleed through. Squirt some fabric paint onto an applicator sponge (I used a make-up sponge because  it isn't very porous and looked most like what the kits come with). Gently dab one layer of paint all over your design. You don't need to flood it on the first round. Allow layer 1 to dry and reapply. Repeat one more time if it needs it.

Once it has dried, peel off your freezer paper and you are done! (Read bottle directions for recommended wait time before washing).

Some other simple image ideas are: heart, cloud, moon, mustache, raindrop, bow tie, mask, simple elephant or whale, sail boat, an letter or number, bird, ampersand, mountain, octopus, fish, and so on.

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