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
Jeremy thought it would be cool (for me) to make a double rainbow dress. And so I did. Really, just for our amusement. I wasn’t expecting it to sell seeing how it is a bit different than my usual style. But I actually sold one today! Which, in my opinion, is so double rainbow!
This has now become Charissa’s favorite dress. I guess there’s just something about bright colors and rainbows that attract little girls!
Speaking of Charissa, I’m “moving” my store to minimooh.etsy.com (the “h” stands for “handmade” and is only there because minimoo.etsy.com was taken …Now that I think about it, I probably should have just made it minimoohandmade.etsy.com…) Growing Up with Charissa will stay remain open for a while. Maybe even indefinitely due to all those hard-earned hearts and positive feedback!
Anyway, as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I will be co-leading crafts for my Church’s Music and Bible camp next week. We were all given this lovely t-shirt to wear:
The crew neck is so high it reminds me of a stunted turtleneck. Not attractive. To leave the shirt as-is could be considered crime on the high seas! Especially when one is able to do something about it! (Get it…? No? The camp theme is “High Seas Expedition”.)
Here is the end product (I finally figured out how to activate the self-timer on my camera):
Nothing spectacular, but a bit better than before! If you happen to need to modify a t-shirt into something more “sailor-y”, here’s a quick tutorial:
1, 2. Cut an asymmetrical “v” from the neckline. Be sure not to cut it too wide.
3. Cut 2 1/4″ off the bottom hem of the shirt.
4. Cut the strip from step 3 into two equal-length strips.
5. Place a strip across one of the “v” sides, matching up the raw edge of the strip to the raw edge of the “v”. Sew in place using a 1/4″ inseam and stopping at the bottom point of the “v”.
6. Place the second strip across the other “v” side and sew in place.
7. Tie a knot. You now have a sailor-y neckline!
8. Cut 3.5″ off from both sleeves (or however much you’d like. You can even cut the entire sleeve off and make it into a tank.)
9. Ta da! I also sewed in side seams to help the shirt take on more shape, instead of a giant tube with neck and armholes If the neckline is too wide for your taste, you can always wear a strappy camisole or tank top underneath (which is what I will be doing… I have narrow shoulders.)
I’m a guy when it comes to movies. I’ll take horror, brainless slasher, adventure, or action over drama or romantic comedy almost any day (also a big fan of fantasy and Tim Burton films). I haven’t found a “scary” movie buddy in Rochester yet so when Ninja Assassin arrived via Blockbuster (thanks Mazie for telling Jeremy about it :p ), I was all over it. I was expecting it to be one of those cheesy Asian kung-fu films (and yes, even when I know it’s going to be that bad, I’ll still watch it). It was surprisingly not bad. But maybe it’s because my expectations weren’t very high to begin with .
Anyway, I’m pretty sure the majority of those who read my blog don’t share the same taste in movies as I do (Can you imagine a group of women bringing over homemade apple pie with their cute Vera Bradley bags to watch “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and pop bonbons? Well, if this doesn’t sound like your ideal girl’s night out, don’t watch Ninja Assassin.) I may not be able to round up fellow-crafters-who-have-better-things-to-do to watch slasher films with me, or perform awesome ninja moves to protect my offspring, but I CAN ninja my way into slicing up an old shirt and making something out of it!
Quick N’ Dirty - The Drawstring Layered Skirt
You will need:
an old knit shirt (preferably long sleeved)
ball-point needle (not necessary but highly recommended)
sewing machine, thread, rotary blade and mat or scissors.
1. Lay your shirt flat and smooth out wrinkles.
2. Starting from the bottom, slice your shirt width-wise (from side to side) into three bands, each a different height (the longest should be the length you want your skirt to be from waist to hem). You now have three tube strips.
3. Open up your tube strips and put them over and on top of each other so that the longest is on the bottom/inside and the shortest is on top/outside. Match up the top/waist.
4. Pin and stitch around the top, 1/4″ from the edge, securing together all three tube strips/layers. Set your stitch length and thread tension higher and sew along the top edge again, creating small gathers.
5. 6. Measure your child’s waist and cut two 2″ strips from the remaining t-shirt so that, when sewed together at the ends, equals that measurement.
7. Adjust your gathered/ruffled skirt piece so that it measures the same as your waist strip. With right sides together, sew the waist band to the top edge of the skirt, 3/8″ from the edge. Flip the waist band up…
8. and fold over to the wrong side. Stitch all the way around to form a casing.
9. Find the center front of your skirt and snip a tiny hole in the top layer of your waist band casing.
10. With the remaining part(s) of your t-shirt (I used the sleeves), cut a long 2″ strip (about twice the length of the waist measurement), fold it in half lengthwise and sew 1/4″ from the edge, and turn your tube right-side out to form the drawstring.
11. Use a safety pin to thread your drawstring through the waist band casing.
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
Our summer days are quickly filling up with activities and fun! A little late in coming, but here’s what we did during our memorial weekend-turned-week-long-vacation-at-my-parent’s-house:
Attended a wedding and spent time with some old friends:
Painted our nails for the first time ever!
Did some upcycling…
Made a new dress and took pictures of the kids…
And finally, finally succeeded in making a (matching) top for myself. You have no idea how many hours and fabric I sacrificed to reach this point… oh, and I also realized how difficult, awkward, and depressing it is to have to model something yourself. Almost as bad as shopping for a bathing suit… I must say, Charissa is much better at this than I am! (And thanks to my little sis for taking pictures!)
And now, for my quick n’ dirty tutorial of “The Boardwalk T-Dress” - an easy peasy way to upcycle a free career-fair t-shirt that your boyfriend or husband just can’t seem to let go, or any t-shirt for that matter! And the best part is, there’s no need to serge or zig-zag raw edges because jersey doesn’t fray! Yay!
You will need:
a t-shirt
a ball-point needle, not necessary for constructing the dress, but quite so for your sanity’s sake in working with knits!
scissors or rotary cutter and mat
paper, scissors, ruler, and a pen
a tank top in your child’s size
1. Fold a piece of paper in half, and using the tank top as a reference, trace half of the tank along the fold, creating your pattern.
2. Get your t-shirt.
3. Turn your t-shirt inside out and place your pattern on top.
4. Trace your pattern onto the t-shirt.
5 and 6. Using a ruler, extend both sides to the desired length (for my 3 year old, I extended it 11″ down from the bottom of the armpit).
7. Cut the t-shirt along the lines. With right sides together (as it already is since the shirt was turned inside out!), sew together the sides. You now have a tank dress!
8. Take the bottom of the t-shirt and cut off a strip (mine measured 5 inches wide).
9. With your sewing machine stitch length set to the longest and tension set to the highest, sew around the length of the strip, 1/4″ to 1/2″ from the raw edge. You now have a ruffled band.
10. Adjust the ruffles so that the length of the band is the same as the bottom of your tank dress.
11. With right-sides out, place the ruffled band slightly over the bottom of your tank dress and pin in place (optional. I don’t do this, I place as I sew).
12. Straight-stitch the bottom band to the tank dress. Almost done! Cut two strips from what remains of your t-shirt and tie them to the shoulders to make bows (refer to the initial/finished product pictures). You can also cut another strip and tie the two tank straps together in the back if the straps lay too wide on your girl’s shoulders… or just to add a touch of cuteness
…Now that I think about it, I probably should have just made it minimoohandmade.etsy.com…) 
