4 Year Fire Helmet Shirt

Another year has passed & I'm sharing with you the shirt I made for Anders 4th (YES, his 4th BIRTHDAY)!

 I'm hooked on reverse appliques, I have made shirts many in the past. 

Here are the links if you want to revisit them...

2nd year

3rd year

2011 Valentine's

2012 Valentine's

This year, we are going with a fire truck theme for a party, so I made the shirt to follow suit.  Plus, I secretly hope this will become his "all time favorite shirt" that I need to pry off of him each night to wash to be ready for the next day.

I Googled images until I found one I liked.  This one has considerable more detail than previous tees I've made, So I reversed the image, to try something new...

  I sandwiched the fabric that I want exposed (black) between the reversed image & the wrong side of the shirt & literally sewed right thru the paper.

(my theory was a double negative, will make a positive)

 I then carefully peeled away the paper (this was trickier & took way longer that I thought it would).  I used a slightly smaller stitch length (3) than I normally sew with to try to prevent stitches from breaking while pulling away the paper.

Here is the exterior.  I went over the stitching again for security & because I like a thicker outline of the detail.

 Then I cut away the red... again, with this amount of detail & closeness of stitching lines, it was more challenging than past reverse appliques.

 I used a scrap piece of white knit fabric & Stitch Witchery for the front of the helmet & cheated with an iron on number (of which I stitched down also)

 WARNING:  With this amount of detail & closeness's of stitching lines, there was a spot that ripped :( 

I went back over the outside edge of the helmet with a small zig zag stitch to fix the hole & try to prevent future tears.

Overall, I do love the look of this shirt & so does Peepers!

Thank You

Tracing Cards

I'm a huge fan of Lake Shore Learning.  They have such amazing things for kids development. 

I found these Tracing Cards and Stencils while I was Christmas Shopping, I loved them, but I have a hard time parting with $$$ for somethings I know I can easily make.  Well, 5 months later, I finally get around to making a set (One less thing on my to do list!)

For a few weeks I saved cardboard from some of our food containers...

Then, one night while at Archivers, I used their "wall o' die cuts" to create a set of tracing cards/stencils  for Peepers.

 Tracing Shapes

 Tracing Numbers with Shapes

 Tracing Letters

 Some didn't turn out so great...

 But they are still fun!

Thank you, Karla

Scrabble Charm Bracelet

Hi All,

Here is a quick tutorial of the Scrabble Charm Bracelet I made my Mom's Birthday Present.

I had found a Scrabble game a while back as Goodwill  - I was super excited to find it, because there are a number of Scrabble crafts floating around in my head that I wanted to make or use for scrap booking, etc.

Scrabble tiles are 18mm wide X 20 mm tall.

1. Place a piece of masking or painters tape over the tile to protect it from the drill

2. Mark 9mm over & 4mm down for the center of the hole.

3. Drill hole - we (My Husband) carefully drilled a pilot hole & then used a slightly larger drill bit for the finished hole.  The finished hole measured approx 2mm in diameter. 

***We practiced on the "X" first - I didn't want to risk any precious letters :)

 You can simply add a jump ring here & you are ready to wear OR ...
You can add a photo/picture to the back.

4. I printed out photos of Mom's 3 grandkids at 15mm X 15mm
5. Mod Podge the photo to the back of the Scrabble tile - let dry a few hours
6. Added a thin layer of Diamond Glaze over the photo - let dry over night
7. Add jump ring & wear

 ***While the Mod Podge & Diamond Glaze are wet, I used  needle to make sure the hole was not clogged

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Love, Karla

29 cent Hay Bails

Yes, That's right 29 cent hay bails. 

I feel silly even blogging about this craft, but it was a pretty low key weekend at our house.  The Boy & I were both feeling a bit under the weather & with the rain, we were looking for quite indoor activities.

I do have to say this all started with my parents visiting from Wisconsin & giving The Boy an early Birthday present of a mini John Deere Hay Bailer.

What you need:

• 1 sheet of Felt (that's the 29 cents)
• scissors
• ruler & pencil
• hot glue

Mark & cut your felt 3/4" wide strips (12" long)

 Glue

 Play...

 Feed the animals...

 Haul in pick-up...

 Store in barn...

 Haul again... Hours of fun!!! (literally)

Thank you, Karla

Peeps

So you might think this post is about Peepers... my Son.

No... It is literally about Peeps - the Easter candy & one of the cutest crafts around.

The Peep Bunting by Dana from Made.

I followed her pattern & directions for inspiration - but made a few minor adjustments:
1) Resized bunny to be about 6" tall  - cut 12 yellow & 12 pink.  I did the double layer method - so I ended up with 6 bunny's in each color.

2) Used 2 packets of rick rack

3) Spaced the bunny's about 12" apart - leaving about 18" tails of rick rack for tieing

4) Used Stitch Witchery to adhere the front & back bunny together.  I sandwiched the rick rack in between the layers for a true NO SEW craft.  I trimmed down the bunny pattern slightly after cutting the felt for the Stitch Witchery, because I did not want it to get stuck on my iron.

 So cute with the little painted face.

 We decorated out front staircase with the peeps... this is Christmas garland that doubled

 as St. Patrick's Decorations, that is now being used to represent Easter Grass.  

Who said procrastination never paid off?

Thanks for stopping by,

Karla