Music & Bible camp/VBS is over and I can finally get back to blogging and making stuff! (By the way, have you guys been to Crap I’ve Made? I wish I thought of that blog title… ) Anyway, here are some things I’ve been working on:
A “Montessori” bag for Calvin (Charissa’s is still in progress):
Room enough for 12 markers, folder or notebook, Goodbyn lunchbox, and water bottle:
A new dress that’s got me thinking about when I want to start the kids on piano and violin:
A cardigan that’s been floating in my head for a while now:
And another upcycled project that I will share with you now:
I remember playing with something similar to these when I was little. You stand and balance on the top of the cans and pull/move with the “ropes”. My mother-in-law had given me a bunch of empty Shaklee cans and I’ve been waiting for the right project to use them. The “ropes” are just strips of fabric braided together, and if you feel inclined to make a pair for your own children, here is a quick tutorial:
1. You will need a power drill with a 1/4″ drill bit.
2. Drill two holes on opposite sides of a sturdy can (the shorter the can, the easier it will be for kids to use. Formula cans may work well too.)
3. Using pinking shears or a pinking blade, cut three 1″ by 88″ strips of fabric (you will need to sew strips together end-on-end to get the length you need.)
4. Layer the ends of the strips together.
5. Roll up the end as tight as possible,
6. and thread it through the hole.
7. Tie a knot,
8. and pull through.
Then just braid the strips together and secure the other end of the strips in the same manner.
Calvin had a lot of fun practicing walking on them:
And for those of you who know my kids, here’s a recent clip of them dancing away. They were much less reserved when I didn’t have the camera on them. Once they knew I was recording, they toned it down a bit
This summer will be my first Music & Bible camp, a week-long camp run by our Church that combines group music activities (everything from strings, to drums, to choral) and VBS. And surprise surprise! I volunteered to help out with the craft station! I was also lucky enough to get paired up with Alli, the designer and owner of Quilled Creations. It’s like working with a craft celebrity. Pretty awesome (You can visit her blog here for tutorials and giveaways.)
I was tasked to create hanging CD-ROM fishes as decoration for our room, and after doing a quick google search, couldn’t find anything I really liked to model after. So I created my own. And since I’m at it, I’ll share my version of CD-ROM fishes:
From Trash to Ocean Treasure A Photo Tutorial
I used beer bottle caps simply because I didn’t have enough wiggly eyes to go around. I didn’t realize that most of them had little messages printed on the underside, and this particular one was a perfect fit for a recycling craft:
Everything I know about drugs I learned from movies…
(To my children in the near future: Please don’t do drugs. Please don’t do drugs…) The relevant snippet to this title is further down in the post, in case you were wondering
I finally finished my wholesale order, so now I’m freeeeeee! (Except I still have laundry to fold. Have I mentioned that I hate doing laundry? There are weeks where we just live off the floor, clothing-wise…) Anyway, I’ve been working on this order for a month and can finally check it off my list!
Today’s post is a tablescrap creation (a term I use to describe stuff created from the really tiny scraps I like to hoard… you know, the scraps of scraps… things that we normally would throw away. A challenge to “think outside the [trash] bin” )
You know the line, “watching tv and eating bonbons all day”, often used (more in the past than now) to stereotype the wife who stays at home. Well, to THAT I say, “Don’t EAT the bonbons! MAKE the bonbons!” Out of scraps. And with rainforest-fresh baking soda to make it more than just eye candy . Make multiple candy bonbons and place in a glass jar, or make half a dozen of the truffle bonbons and place in an empty candy box to make a cute little gift set. Either way, here’s another crafty idea to help maximize your fabric usage!
Candy Bonbons
1. Grab a rectangular piece of scrap (approximately 2″ wide by 3″ long).
2. Fold it in half, RS together, and stitch down the length.
3. Pin a safety pin through one layer…
4. and thread it through to turn your tube right side out.
5. Center the seam.
6. With embroidery floss (or thread if you don’t have any), tie a tight knot at one end.
7. Drop in either a round magnet or vase pebble (um, the magnet for if you want to stick your final product to the fridge. I used the pebble.)
8. Now this is where the post title comes in… It seems popular to use small pieces of paper as sniffing devices and to transport tiny amounts of stuff to tiny bags. It makes sense seeing how it would look pretty ridiculous to shove a kitchen funnel in your nose unless you have huge nostrils, most people dump a little of whatever-white-powder-stuff onto a small piece of paper
9. and then bend the sides to funnel the stuff into whatever orifice, bag, or in our case, fabric candy wrapper-tube. (Note. I am in no way promoting or instructing drug use. I’m simple stating how I’ve seen it in movies.)
10. Use floss or thread to tie off the other (open) end and trim the sides to the desired length.
Truffle Bonbons
1. Cut two circles of equal size (mine measured about 2.5″ in diameter).
2. Set your sewing machine tension and stitch length to the max and sew around the perimeter of the candy circle (mine is white chocolate!)
3. Use the paper technique again…
4. and funnel in the baking soda, enough to round out your truffle.
5. hand stitch the opening shut (pull on the upper thread to gather the open edge close).
6. Repeat step 2 for the wrapper piece.
7. Turn your filled truffle upside down into the wrapper.
8. Hand stitch secure the truffle and wrapper, then pull out the thread from step 6.
9. Use a fabric marker (or any marker) and draw a chocolate swirly.
So I have this “collection” of recycled/upcycled/re-purposed crafts that’s been sitting in my blog queue for a while now and decided to start sharing them with you, along with my usual updates on our family life, which is more for my own sake than anybody else’s
I’m not sure why, but ever since I started sewing nine months ago, I began collecting empty/used thread spools in hopes that someday, I would find a new use for them. And I finally have! I give you, the citrus slice stamp! I’m sure others have probably already thought of this, but no matter, here is my mini tutorial on how to make… er… use them.
1. Gather your items: an ink pad, a brown paper bag (or blank card, paper, fabric etc.), and an empty spool. 2. Stamp one end of it. 3. To get the “citrus” slice marks, you will need to press in on the other side (the slice marks are slightly recessed). 4. Stamp, color, and tada! You have a fresh slice of lemon, lime, or orange! 5. Stamp on the blank side of an old business card, cut it in half, color, make a slit in the middle, and freshen up some drink glasses for a summer party. 6. A random shot of… stuff
I love hoarding and looking through catalogs (especially, Land of Nod, Room and Board, Crate and Barrel, just to name a few). Not for the sake of making a purchase, but for inspiration and ideas.
I came across these cute hanging books in PBKids:
They don’t actually sell these, but were adorable enough to garner some of my attention and creative juices. I toyed around with the idea of recovering some old books, but then the Asian side got to me (”Whaaa?! That better not be your Calculus textbook ah!”) Plus, they would too cumbersome to hang (can you imagine a book falling on some kid’s head while they’re reading next to that floppy green frog?) Reconstructing cereal boxes? Nah, too big. Things seem to be cuter when they’re mini. But I liked the idea of reusing/recycling something old, just needed something smaller…
A SOAPBOX! (Which I discovered while taking a shower.) And a few pages from all those phone books that keep on sprouting up next to my front door…
So if anyone is interested in making something similar, here is a mini tutorial.
You will need:
- scissors
- empty soap boxes
- scrap fabric (or pretty paper, construction paper, newspaper, brown bag paper…)
- old phone book
- glue
- ribbon, string, or thread (I used thread)
- tape
1. Grab an empty soap box… 2. and your stash of fabric scraps. 3. Open up the soapbox. 4. Cut off all the tabs. 5. Get coordinating fabrics for the spine and main cover. 6. Cut a piece of fabric to fit the spine (forgot to take picture) and glue it on. Put some glue on the “cover” area of the box and put it face down on the fabric. 7. Trim off the edges and cut squares at the corners. Fold and glue down the flaps. 8. You now have an empty book. 9. Grab the phone book. 10. Rip out some pages and cut and fold them to size. Then put some glue on the folded edge and place in your book. Hang, with a piece of thread looped through the spine and taped to the ceiling, to dry.
Easy and fun Took me about 30 minutes to complete all 3. And they are light enough to hang with Scotch tape… and not kill anyone if they decide to fall…
)
