Kids Craft: A Pirate's Life For Me...

The girls have been playing Pirate lately. It may be because Disney has just released a new cartoon called, Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

I decided they needed an X to mark the spot. I cut out a red X out of left over felt and a couple dozen brown "dashes" to point in the direction of the treasure. Two decorated paper towel rolls (telescopes), a shoe box full of "treasure" and two left over pirate hats from Lu's birthday and we had all the makings of a great pirate adventure.

You all know by now that crafting is a compulsion with me. Therefore you know I couldn't just stop there....

I made a Pirate X softie. Much more durable and fun to play with. How cute would this be in a pirate themed gift. A wooden paintable pirate chest filled with this X, gold coins, a plastic telescope, eye patch...

This would be a fun party favor for a pirate themed birthday...

I used a blanket stitch and filled the felt X with poly fill.

Yo ho ho! Happy hunting!

Fancy Felt Collar For A Furry Stuffed Friend

Dilly the dog needed a new collar...

A strip of felt, 6 sequins, 6 seed beads, and some iron on velcro.

Easy...right?

The trouble is, now there is a line of furry friends that all of a sudden NEED a collar. 

Be careful what you start. :-)

Although, this would be a cute Valentine's Day gift for your little one!  

Barbie Mermaid Tail

Lu requested a mermaid tail for her Cinderella Barbie. I think she is hinting she wants the Ariel Barbie! Here is the slightly bulky and ill fitting result. Note: Felt does not make an ideal mermaid tail.

Lu is happy with it (it helps when your audience is 4 and easily impressed!)

Plus, it only took me 20 minutes to whip up.

So, I can live with it...for now. 

You know the next trip to the fabric store I'll be looking for some cool fabric. 

St Patrick's Day Pony Tail Holder

Too much sparkle? Nah, not according to Lu!

Cut out shamrock. 

Sew on sequins. 

Use fabric glue to attach to another piece of felt. 

Let dry and cut out. 

Sew on hair elastic.

We went to a Birthday Party last weekend and the Birthday Girl was wearing the cutest headband. I asked her mom about it and she remarked that she paid over $20 dollars for it! Well, being the resourceful mama that I am I went home and whipped this up in 10 minutes for probably a a dollar. We had all the  supplies already. I roughly cut out a bunch of tulle circles by folding the tulle over several times and cutting out all the circles at once. I began by folding the circles into quarters and threading them on the needle. I used about six quarters. Then I just threaded the rest of the circles on, without folding them. I then sewed the flower onto a sparkled children's headband. If I were to do it over again, i would probably make the circles smaller, otherwise I thing it came out cute!

Pocket Tissue Holder: Bless You!!!

Thought I would try Skip To My Lou's simple tutorial (click here) for a pocket tissue holder. 

My kind of sewing project...EASY!

What a great little "no special reason" gift for someone. 

Think I'll stick a piece of tissue paper out of each one that says, Bless You!

I Heart Bean Bags

Bean bags are so simple to make. The girls love thinking up new games and uses for them. There can never be enough as far as they are concerned. They toss them into anything and everything. You can draw a bullseye onto a large piece of cardboard or fabric for a simple game.

For the heart: I traced a large cookie cutter onto the back side of fabric. Sew two pieces together, right sides facing in, around line. Leave one inch for turning. Trim, turn fabric right side out, fill and sew closed.

Crafting After Surgery

Usually this is my favorite crafting time of the year. Unfortunately, this year I will be scaling back on the projects and decorating as I am recovering from some pretty major surgery. Fortunately the surgery went exceedingly well and I will be in tip top shape by the new year!


I had my surgery the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. By Thanksgiving Day I thought I felt well enough to tackle this ornament kit I bought off eBay. I was pretty much bedridden so why not do something productive...always the multi tasking mom (right?)

My mother had made these same ornaments when I was little. They were always my favorite and I looked forward to seeing them on the tree every year. Being the middle child I assumed that my oldest sister would end up with them since she loved them as much as I did. I did a Google search for Wizard of Oz felt ornaments and voila! Up came several eBay listings for the original kit.

OK, I don't know what I was thinking because I was in no state of mind to translate these directions or do any minute bead work. I was on some serious pain killers and well... Dorothy looks pretty messed up after my drug induced attempt to craft. I won't even show you it is too embarrassing! So moral of the story kids, don't craft while on pain killers!

Solving Sewing Problems

McCall Pattern's were on sale 99 cents at Joann's Fabric last week. I picked up the two easiest patterns possible. Here is the first dress. I will hopefully have time to do the next dress sometime this week.

I followed the pattern size 4 but found the dress to be very shapeless and ill fitting especially on top. Solution: I added the ribbons on top to solve the gaping neckline and the tulle on the bottom to dress it up a bit. Simple to do and makes the dress a little extra special.

A very happy customer!

Easy Recycled Appliqué in 4 Steps

Lu LOVED this shirt and being that the message is Green I thought I would recycle it. Perfect timing because Lu's preschool issues the kids the same canvas tote bags at the beginning of the year.

This stuff rocks! You need it for your appliqué.

1. Cut out design (allow for some room around design. It is easier to trim more exactly after the No Sew Adhesive is attached.
2. Cut out No Sew Adhesive to match
3. Iron according to directions
4. Peel off backing and iron onto (in this case) Lu's school bag.

Done! Next step...adding some grosgrain bows or felt flowers :-)

How To Make A Sparkly Tiara Top

Lu turned four this past weekend. I made her a super sparkly shirt to match her tiara for the occasion. I included the directions because it is so simple to make and all the girls thought it was just so pretty!

I cut out 4 strips of felt. I arranged them into the tiara shape and pinned them in place. Next I sewed on the sequins. I used larger sequins on the points. Sewing on sequins is actually a pretty fast once you get the hang of it. See here for directions. Trim stray threads.

Next glue on to shirt using fabric glue. I placed some cardboard behind the shirt so glue wouldn't soak through to back of shirt. Allow to set up 24 hours before wearing the shirt. Wash shirt inside out on gentle.

Sequins & Felt Flower Headband

Monday was the first day of preschool 4. I made Lu a new headband to go with her outfit.

I cut out felt flowers, stacked a few on top of each other, sewed on sequins using seed beads to hold the sequin in place, sewed the flowers onto an old headband.

A fast and cute way to dress up an outfit. If sequins aren't your thing you can use a button as the flower's center. Lu just loves all things glittery and sparkly :-)

Sewing on the sequins is simple:
Push the needle through the felt
Add a sequin to the needle
Add a bead on top of sequin
Draw needle and thread all the way through
pushing sequin and bead flush to felt
Take needle and go back through sequin hole
Bead will hold sequin in place






A happy customer!

Look What I MADE!

I found this great men's shirt dress tutorial (Dana-Made-It blog) via One Pretty Thing.

I made two shirt dresses this weekend from two of Papa Kings old shirts. The first was this no-iron shirt. The no-iron aspect made it very difficult to press and pin the elastic casings. The positive is it is no-iron! It looks adorable on Lu! Lu LOVES the idea she is wearing something of her Daddy's. I chose not to do the elastic mid panel shown in the original dress. Partly because I was too tired :-) But I remembered I had this cute ribbon that came on some gift a while back. It looks adorable as a sash with the shirt dress. I also kept the shirts bottom hem. Which I think adds to the whole I used to be a man's shirt feel.

My pattern had the angles of the sleeves wrong - so the sleeves are off the shoulder. Still looks cute! Lu is frowning because she is still not feeling well. Was sick all weekend (104 temp) - missed all the Easter fun & activities (including the much anticipated DORA Live!) She is smiling in the picture above because I told her if she smiled she would be done. What a trooper!

The second shirt was a Hawaiian Shirt (from our honeymoon...so I guess that makes it a Tahitian shirt!) Unfortunately it shrunk pretty much after the first washing. Look how cute! I want to go to the thrift shop and find old Hawaiian shirts so I can make more!

I didn't gather the bottom of the sleeve so it looks ruffled. Em looks like a little Hawaiian princess! The great thing about this dress is it fits both girls! The elastic top and open sleeves makes it easy to slip on.

This is a great project for novice sewers. If you have some old shirts laying around give it a try!

Button & Felt Barrettes Disected

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER MY FIRST GIVEAWAY!

I'm giving away 5 prize packages full of stationary for Moms and Kiddios! (That I designed) Just leave a comment on the Giveaway page...get there by pressing Giveaway!

I thought I would take the opportunity to answer some questions regarding how I made the Felt & Button Barrettes. Here is a step by step:

I cut out all my pieces free hand. Some of you may have heavy duty die cutters that can make this step much easier. I cut out one large, one medium and one small flower shape. Plus, I cut out 6 thin strips. Thread a needle, place large piece on top.
Place one end of a strip on needle.Place other end on needle -- like so Continue until you have all your strips on the needle
Place medium size flower on top and then smaller flower on top of thatSew button on and your done! Sew or glue to your barrette.I am going to trim the smaller flower a bit so you can see the medium size flower under it a bit better.

Beach Towel Poncho

Lulu and Emme love ponchos. Lulu has been taking swim lessons. I am always re wrapping her in her towel after class...so...you can hear the wheels turning...towel poncho! I've seen simpler type towel ponchos that are basically a towel folded in half with a slit put in it. This one requires a bit more effort but I think is sooooo much cuter and you can twirl in it!! Plus you can wear it with one arm out -- Grecian style. If I find a thinner towel I may put elastic in the neck band so it is much more versatile for playing with pool side - she can wear it as a strapless dress or skirt or on her head.....

Look how cute! I used two complimentary beach towels. You should be able to get 2 toddler sized ponchos out of the towels. I used the factory finished edge for the top piece. I cut out 3 triangle shaped panels from each towel (6 total). Sewed the panels together, alternating the pattern as I went. Sewed the "skirt" to the neck piece . Finished with a ribbon hem. I eyeball measured the neck piece and the length. I wasn't used to working with such a thick material so my sewing isn't that straight but all in all a one night project.

Reversable Skirt

Krissy, my good friend and college roommate (from all those years ago!) suggested I try making a reversible twirly skirt based on the ribbon skirt model. Here it is! I am proud of myself because I figured it out on my own. Although I should have looked at a tutorial online. I think it came out very cute. I really like the weight it adds to it. It gives the skirt more structure. So here you have it 2 skirts in one!