Freezer Paper and Glitter

I wasn't kidding when I said freezer-paper shirts are my go-to for crafting with my kiddo. This time, after waiting for the paint to dry (!!), I made another stencil to fit over the existing one, and used the Tulip brand fabric glue and glitter (found by the fabric paints usually) to spruce up a butterfly. What can be more fun for a 3-year-old than spreading glitter around her own t-shirt??? Strangely, glitter keeps showing up in my dishwasher...

I am going to hand-stitch some antennae on this guy. I am working on a time-consuming project right now, so I'm all about quickie projects to fill the time in between!!

A new skirt

Remember that $1/yd fabric I got for my drapes? I picked up a few other fabrics. How can you pass up $1/yd??? One of my picks was a linen-like fabric with abstract people and trees. It looked... interesting... in the bolt, but I knew in a smaller section it would look awesome.

And it does!!! I am so pleased with my new skirt.

I had a hard time taking pictures of this one... :)


So I was glad when my sister helped me out and took a photo! And yes, my hair looks fuzzy and unkempt all the time.

Total for the skirt:

$1 fabric

$.25 for pattern (Simplicity 4036 find at Goodwill)

$1.50 for zipper

____________

$2.75!!!

Wrapping Up- Giveaway Winners and Announcements!

Funny, I accidently published this post before it had content! Sorry to those of you night owls, or early birds, who caught it on their reader!

ANNOUNCING!!! Winners of the Flower giveaway!!

I know, I know, I didn't give an end time to the giveaway. Silly me, slap on the wrist, I'll do better next time. :)

With NO further Ado...

ERIKA!!! Random.org says you are the winner from the comment section! Just a random fact about Erika, one of her little dogs has the same name as my baby. Though, I like to think she named her dog after my baby and not the other way around. :) Erika and I wrote a song together a few years back, and I only assume we rubbed off on each other a little too much if we are naming our "kiddos" the same name. Ha ha!

CRYSTAL of Crystal&Nick!!! You are the random follower to receive the second flower! My kind husband stepped in and picked this winner Russian Roulette style. I had a good laugh when I clicked over to her blog The Lazy Sewer and saw that (ironically) it has yet to emerge with a post. So, Crystal, I am your first follower and will be the first person to see what you are willing to share with the craft blog world. :)

Gals, the flower will be mailed with the clip, but not the headband. Just FYI. E-mail me melcollette[at]gmail[dot]com to claim your prize.

Other news:

I set up a Flickr page for The Crafty Cupboard. Have you ever made anything which was inspired by a CC post or tutorial? Have your own Cupboard Space in the Flickr Group!! It is empty at this moment, but I plan on posting my favorite projects when I have a few minutes.

And... I had something else to say but it totally just left me. That is what birthing does to a person.

And because posts are better with a picture:

Nothing beats watching ESPN with daddy.

Spice up my Curtains

While shopping at Target MONTHS ago, I came across some clearance tab-topped drapery panels. The set was $9, I think. So I grabbed them, not having a plan or window to cover at the time, but knew they would come in handy some day! Do you do that too? Do your husbands thing you are crazy as well?

Anyway, enter THE OFFICE. My husband is lucky enough to be at home working for a majority of the time, but his office (MY sewing room) is Western facing, meaning we get all the hot sun in the window during the hottest time of the day.

Since my man is generally 20 degrees warmer than me at any given moment, he is sweating up a storm while I am just... warm. Just when he thinks he can't take it any more... the WIFE SAVES THE DAY!!! Thanks to some stashed curtains, his life will forever be changed. :)

Problem: Tall windows, short panels. Solution: New, snazzy bottoms to those curtains!

How to Spice up your Curtains: (I keep thinking this would be awesome on all those drop cloth drapes I see everywhere these days.)

First, figure out how much longer your panels need to be. Unpick the hem, iron it out, and measure from that point. I needed about 12". Add 6 1/2" to that measurement. This is your cut length for your new piece from cute fabric! Watch out for fabric pattern repeats so you can have matching panels!) Mine was a steal from Home Fabrics at a mis-charged $1/yd. [ I offered to let the cashier ring me up again!]

Unpick your side hems a bit, and then sew your new fabric piece to the bottom of your panel, right sides together, using a 1/2" seam allowance. I serged mine, but finish your seams any way you like. Iron the seams toward the print.

Now, fold the bottom up 6". Be precise! Iron well.

Next, open up your 6" fold, and bring the bottom of the fabric to the ironed crease (like the picture below). Fold it up again to make a 3" hem. Sew it down! (I used a blind hem. Check your manual to see if your machine can do this-- it looks SOOO much nicer!)

Iron your side hems to match the existing hem, and sew it down. Since my panels were cheap-o, they were not quite 1" double-folded hems. Meh.

YOU ARE TOTALLY DONE! What was that, one cut and three hems per panel? Easy peasy! Hang and enjoy the temperature difference in your room.

Typically I would suggest using the law of thirds, meaning whatever you are working with is divided into three equal parts (in my case, 2/3 white and 1/3 contrast fabric), but I was trying to save moolah and just bought what fabric I needed to make up the difference. Also, lined is always best! Total cost for this penny-pinching project was around $11. No joke.

Awesome Office Art

Looking for my giveaway? Enter Here!

I scored some 12" cork tiles at a garage sale this weekend for 50 cents. YAY! I have been looking for something else to go on my wall above my computer/sewing desk, and this was an ultra cheap solution.

I love ultra cheap solutions. Especially when they are also functional.

You need:

Cork tiles or any board you want.

Fabric

Hot Glue gun

Ribbon, other embellishments

Cut a piece of fabric to fit around your tile, right side down. Pull the fabric tightly as you glue it to the sides of your tile.

Repeat with the top and bottom, leaving the corners all loose.

Fiddle with your corners until you get something nice and pretty, like so:

Embellish with clips (I glued mine on), cute thumb tacks, etc. Mount it! My tiles came with sticky mounting squares.

For the top tile, I put folds into my fabric. The folds were 2 1/2" deep, and 6" from the top of one fold to the top of the next.

So it will look like this:

Lay your tile down on top of the fabric, and glue it down just as you did the first. Embellish! I just did ribbon on this one. Hi, pocket!

Mike was quite impressed. Especially since it took a couple quarters and some stuff I had laying around. And life is all about impressing the husband :)

Circle of Life

My mom was my first sewing instructor. Actually, my only sewing instructor. You would think that with all her talent, I'd end up a better seamstress!! But then again, she is more patient than I am :)

Take, for instance, this dress. My mom made it back in the day, and I was fortunate enough to wear it. It puts me to shame when I think of what I put on my children. But thats okay, at least they aren't running around in their birthday suits instead.

I grabbed this dress out of the DI (Thrift Store) pile at her house. She was going to keep the apron, since she did smock it herself, but I convinced her that without the dress, it would not be complete. Can you imagine getting rid of something so perfectly cute???

The apron is really impressive though. The back even has this heart cut-out. And has matching heart buttons.

My mom is totally cool. I was really glad my munchkin fit into this dress for an "old time's sake" photoshoot! Mom, you're the best!

Sharing the Love-CLOSED

I've been waiting for the opportunity to share a little gift with you. Lucky you, today is the day!! I am giving TWO of my ribbon hair flowers away.

ONE winner will be picked from commentors, and ONE winner from my google followers.

Go ahead, leave a comment! If you are a follower, you automatically have one entry, so a comment gives you a second chance! No jumping through hoops on this one! Winners will choose between pink, yellow, or blue for their hair flower, and it will come with a clip.

I love these things.

Who Knew??

I had THE BEST night last night. I felt like my face was going to fall off I was smiling so much. First, my girls took turns trying to blow raspberries on my belly, and when a 14-month-old does it, all the slobber is enough to make you laugh out loud anyway. So fun. Then, I went to an EVMCO practice and felt like I was actually good at what I do, so much so that I kept tearing up and smiling like an idiot. Then, I came home, and hopped onto my blogger.

And saw...

400 followers!

Did you know that I click on every new person who follows me? I LOVE taking a peek at the lives of those who share an interest in crafting with me. And when you comment, I can associate people with their faces or blogs. It is like making new friends all the time.

So, thanks. A lot.

Looks like a giveaway is in the works!

Double Hourglass Quilt, Finished.

I brought this quilt to our Young Woman weekly activity last night to finish up the binding while the girls practiced their volleyball skills. The occasional "Yeah!!! Great effort!!" was all that was required of me, so I was able to finish a side and a half :). I know, I'm terrible.

This quilt is uber cute. Primary colors make me smile, and want to go play at a part and have a picnic. How about you? Especially when you toss in a good stripe for the binding.

This quilt is particularly important because it is for my sister's mother-in-law, Karen, and a longtime friend of our family. She is going through Chemotherapy for a second time after her Lymphoma returned. I guess it missed the memo that it wasn't welcome back.

The double hourglass signifies time. Doubled. The fabric is 1930's reproduction prints, reminiscent of time past. Cancer is a mean, yucky, frightening thing, but the one thing we can be assured of is the time we have spent with those who mean most to us. Like many, Karen's life hasn't necessarily been filled with gilded pathways and gleaming adventures, but she has been a shining example of love for the Lord, and love of family. We are looking forward to many more years with her as our friend!

P.S. If you are wondering, I used this tutorial for my blocks.

Almost done.

My back hurts.

Ribbon headbands

I was working with some ribbon yesterday and my girls were very, very interested in what was going on. Or, rather, they were pulling all the ribbon off of the spools and tying it around everything. So, to prevent ribbon casualties, we made something together. Headbands!

This one above is just a ribbon glued to a ribbon. There is a piece of elastic in the back holding it together and on her head.

This one I pleated with my sewing machine and then put a ribbon over the top of my stitching. There is elastic on this one too. I don't think I had a big enough piece of elastic- it left an indent in her head after I took it off!!

Super cute, super easy, super fast. And my oldest is already asking me to make more with her!

A Ballet

My munchkin was bored and teasing the baby a little too much last week, so I suggested she make another t-shirt. She loves her robot t-shirt so much, I knew she would enjoy making another. So, I asked what she wanted and she said "A ballet!" which means, a Ballerina.

She is a genius! I thought that a fabric painted ballerina with a real tu-tu would be awesome. So, I got online and found THE PERFECT silhouette, which had already been spruced up with a tu-tu! Creative minds think alike. Go HERE to download Lynn's ballerina!

After tracing the silhouette onto freezer paper and then carefully cutting it out with my craft knife, I was ready to go. After I ironed the paper to the shirt, my munchkin went to town with the fabric paint. She is really getting good at this.

Then she pulled off the freezer paper- while it was still wet. We are working on the patience part of this. :) The paint smudged a bit around the ballerina, but if she still loves it, I don't care! I told her, "honey, you need to wait for it to dry!" and she responded with, "but mommy, it has been a long time! 1, 2, 3 long time!" Which means TOO long, apparantly. Silly girl!

Anyway, for the tutu, I took a small amount of tulle and layered it, oh, 8 layers or so. Then I stitched along the top to gather it up.

When it was gathered, I pinned the skirt to the ballerina and stitched it down.

I tried adding ribbon like Lynn did, but that should have come before I sewed it to the shirt, so it was a no-go this time around. I just trimmed the tulle instead. Should have used pink thread!! I am thinking I'll cover it with little roses or something... or not.

See the pretty crown? I used a new favorite, heat-set rhinestones. So girly. Anyway, I had my girl pick out some "jewels" and we put them in place, and then I heat-set them with my iron. She told me it needed a lot more, but I convinced her to save some for another project. $3 in rhinestones were not going to cover this ballerina!

Totally fun, smudges and all. Next time I'll put the shirt up high while it dries :)

I want to make more! My girl loved wearing this and telling people she made it. I love doing things with my girls!