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Sunday, January 31, 2010

Poor Man's Flach Cards/ trying to get organized

I’m trying to go thru my sewing/craft room & reorganize before I paint & put up shelving. I found all these old paint chips that I used to use for inspiration & design board color pallets (from past careers).
Peepers was walking around with a few saying “yellow” over & over. Then the idea came to me… I could use them for flash cards!
So I pulled out the basic colors & added a few fun ones. The ideas just kept going from there… Although paint chips are heavier paper, they are not toddler proof. So I decided to laminate them. AKA: clear packing tape.
I then thought, what if they were magnetic! So I dug out my magnetic tape (bought 2 years ago at Target on clearance).
So after about a half an hour… we have FREE flash cards. All made from stuff we had on hand.
I’ve used this laminating/magnetic tape for other organizing projects. Labeling the file cabinets in my sewing/craft room… I just used coordinating scrap book paper. Taped the front & back of the label, added about 1" of magentic tape to the back


I then set up files for all the art projects he brings home from daycare. I’m trying to be very selective on what I keep.
Someday, I hope to have a small display for his art. I’m inspired by this from Knock Off Wood.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Felted Slippers

HI - I've been collecting wool sweaters for a few fun projects... This being one of them.

You can down load the pattern from Martha. You enlarge the pattern on a copier to your shoe size according to her scaled directions. These are super easy, I whipped them up in half an hour.

To felt a sweater: you need a sweater that is at least 80% wool. Wash it in hot water & dry it on the a high heat cycle. Voila' a felted sweater that you actually meant to do. If you accidentally felted a sweater, now you can put it to good use instead of throwing it away.

Cut out 2 soles & 4 uppers.


Sew the heel together & the front upper seam together. Since these are felted you don't have to worry about any edge finishes since they won't fray or unravel. I left the seam allowances on the outside of the slipper. I used red thread for a "pop" of color (but you can hardly see it).

The pin you upper (or vamp) on to the sole & sew all around. Again I left my seam allowances on the outside of the slipper.

Finished Slippers for toasty toes.

NOTE: I enlarged my slipper to be a 7 1/2 and used 1/4" seam allowance. They turned out to be a size to big.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Embellished Sweater

This was my latest weekend project...

I took a 4.00 sweater from the Target clearance rack & added my own "do-dads".

I had an off white tee just asking to be remade... So I cut off the hem & cut 1" wide & 1/2" wide strips.
I then made accordion pleat ruffles and hand sewed them along one edge.I hand stitched the 1/2" strips into a circle, by connecting the 2 ends. I fanned the "petals" out so they laid flat & sewed a pearl in the center. For the 1" wide strips, I made half circles & sewed a pearl on each end.
This was the hard part... hand sewing them on the sweater. I stitched the half circles on the sleeve & used the flowers & half circles to make a pattern to sew on the sweater left front shoulder area. OH, I forget to mention I created some rusching on the sleeve by sewing elastic to the inside of the sweater. I added my "do dad" where the rusching ended.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Dance Ribbons

Peepers & I go to a music class every week. One week, the teacher brought out the dance ribbons from here & he just went crazy for them.

The next day & started planning how to make them. I found kids bracelets at the ONE SPOT ( Target's dollar section). I sanded off the princess decals & spray painted them black. I then took four 4 ft long strands of grossgrain ribbon each a differnt color ribbon & looped them thru the bracelet. I lined the ribbons together & bartacked thru all 8 layers about 1" down from the loop. I used fray check on the ends of the ribbon.

Peepers digs them!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Valentine's Banner

Hi,

As you may have heard, we've been having some computer trouble. We had just backed everything up before the snafu - so all is OK now.


BACK UP more often is my New Years resolution!


I've got a bunch of crafts to post - but this is the one I just finished tonight.


I used bits & pieces of scrapbook paper for the hearts X's & O'x. The word "Love" was from my latest Archiver's adventure. The ribbon was just something I had on hand in my stash.


I have this hung on the mirror in the dining room...Not sure if I love the reflection. I'm trying to decorate a bit for ALL holidays & think this is a "Peep a do proof" decoration.


K