Home made "baby legs"

Have you ever heard of BabyLegs? It's a company that makes ADORABLE leg warmers for babies and little girls. My little Layla can often be seen sporting them:) We also love their pattern footless tights that cover her undies when she is wearing a skirt, and forgets to act like a lady;)

If you want to see more of their stuff you can check them out at BabyLegs.com

If you want to learn how to make your own, stick right here with me;)

I was at the Dollar store the other day and saw this pair of socks. I immediately thought "oh my gosh, those would make the cutest leg warmers EVER!", so I bought them of coarse.

This was the EASYest sewing project EVER!

I broke it down to 5 simple steps...and only 2 of them involve any sewing;)

EASY PEASY LEMON SQUEEZY...let us begin.

Step 1: cut off the feet right above the heel

Step 2: Turn the socks inside out

 Step 3: measure the elastic around your little ones ankle, and cut the elastic 1/2 an inch                                     longer.  Sew the two ends together to make a circle.

                                     

Step 4: fold the cut end of the sock down over the elastic circle, and sew it in place.

 Step 5: Strut your stuff:)

DIY ruffle Throw

Today I have two sweet little sickies home from school, so I'm going to take the easy way out. Instead of writing my own tutorial I'm just going to give you the link to another one that is great, and I'm sure you will love muchly;)

To make this cutie for your bed go to

www.do-it-yourselfdesign.blogspot.com/2011/11/diy-ruffle-throw.html

Guess how much money I spent on this project.......$0! Wooohoooo, that's right, it was free. Want to know how? Most hotels love to give their sheets to others that want them when they start to look a little tattered or worn. My sister and I got 3 big garbage bags full of clean white sheets from the Marriott last year for a project we were doing at the time, and I had a couple left over. I used one of my free white sheets from Marriott to make my ruffle throw, and thank you Judy for helping me get started on this:) It was much more fun to make with your company.

Tomorrow I'll show you something else I made with Sheets;)

TTFN

DIY Yarn Tree

I have been wanting to have a big tree in my room for a long time, but I didn't know if I wanted it to be painted, vinyl, stencil, or what. I as searching the web for ideas when I came across www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-make-a-string-tree-wall-109655

I loved the idea.

I did mine a little different then the apartment therapy blog, but both are so cool.

You will need:

yarn (I used brown for the tree, blue for birds, but you could do all kinds of cool things with color)

little push pins

thimble

Ruler

pencil

I started at the base of the tree and worked my way up one wall at a time. my tree is in the corner of my room (I'll show you a better picture in the "whole room reveal" later this week;)), but it would be a little easier to do it on just one wall. Start by pushing a pin through the end of your yarn to hold it in place, and use your ruler and pencil to make a line from that pin to your next. Push the next pin in the wall, wrap the string around it, and continue the process.

After a while I figured out it's easier to draw the lines and push all the pins in first, then wrap the string all at once.

I looked at the tree in my back yard for a reference, but you might want to print a picture of the kind of tree you like.

After you have the basic outline of the tree, go back and wrap more string in the spaces to create the look of bark.

To make my birds, I drew a simple outline of a bird, pushed pins around the silhouette, wrapped the string around the outside and eye first, then filled in the middle.

happy pinning my friends, and send me your picture when your done:)

DIY wax paper capiz shell chandelier

I pulled a little "While you were out" action on Craig the other day to surprise him for his birthday. It will be 10 years this year that we've been married, and we have always just had an "it will do the job" kind of bedroom. No personalities, or fun details that made us love the room, and that had to change! I've been on pintrist a little, and looking around for ideas. I Saw this idea on http://www.designsponge.com/ and knew I HAD to try it! And I've got to tell ya...I LOVE the way it turned out!

I had a bunch of projects for my made over bedroom, so I'm going to show you one at a time how to do them (for the ones I took pictures of during the process), and at the end of the week I'll show you the before and after shots of my room:)

I'm excited:)

The First project was to get a Capiz Shell Chandelier, but have you priced these babies out? Anywhere from $250- $3,000! Um, ya...that's about $245 out of my price range...for the cheapest one. But don't you fret my frugal friends, My "Capiz chandelier" Cost me under $5. You heard me...UNDER $5!

So, Here is what you need:

1 roll of wax paper

1 roll of contact paper

1 3/4" Circle punch

lamp shade

sewing machine

and a little patience

I didn't have a lamp shade on hand, so I went to DI and found one that was the right diameter for the right price (.75). I cut off the fabric so we were left with the metal skeleton of a lamp shade. My sister couldn't find a lamp shade that was the right size for her light, so she got a hanging metal planter, and that worked to.

Now (sorry, I don't have a picture of this) you are going to layer your wax paper and contact paper like so: Bottom contact paper, 3 sheets of wax paper, 1 sheet contact paper, 3 sheets wax paper, 1 sheet contact paper on top. After you have your layers, you will iron the paper, and I had my iron set on high. This will make the 3 sheets of wax paper stick together, creating the capiz shell illusion. Save the wax paper, and discard the contact paper.

Side note, I tried breaking up a brown crayon, and melting it between the layers of wax paper, and it looked really cool. In the end, I preferred all white for this one, but if you want color, it might be fun to play around with:)

Now, you will use your 1 3/4" circle punch and cut out LOTS of circles. You can decide how long you want your Chandelier to be, but for my room, I did 12 circles per strip. I organized the circles with muffin tins, so they would all be the same length.

Next, you just feed the wax paper circles into your sewing machine (Chain linking). I linked 12 circles together, then let a little thread out, then linked the next 12, over and over.

Now, you decide how many levels you want your chandelier to have, I wanted 3, so I added a level with a wire.

Now you get to drape your circle chains over the lamp levels, leaving 6 circles on either side of the wire...make sense?   My chandelier is the same diameter as my light fixture, so I was able to slide my chandelier wire under the fixture to hold it up. If your Chandelier is bigger then your light, you can purchase hook screws for  a few cents from most any hardware store.

If you make your own Capiz Shell Chandelier send me a picture:) I would LOVE to see how yours comes out.

Super Duper Easy Dress Tutorial:)

I got a bug, it is that time of year you know? Not that kind of bug that makes me sick, but the kind that makes me want to be super crafty, and make cute things for all the people I love. I almost always get the "crafty bug" around Christmas, probably because I'm thinking "give, give, give". I don't have tons of moola , but I don't want that to stop the giving fun:)  So, I turn to hand made gift goodies.

I saw a tutorial on http://elleapparel.blogspot.com/ and it inspired me to make this little number. After I made my dress I had enough leftover fabric to make a matching dress for layla, so I couldn't resist:)

 (pictures of the finished product at the bottom of the post)

For my dress you will need:

any old shirt

yard of fabric

2 inch wide elastic

First of all, you will want to try your shirt on, and decide where you want the waistline to be, then leave an extra 1/2 inch for the seam. Mark the shirt, and cut it to be the right length.

next you will cut out the skirt fabric. I wanted to have the skirt gathered at the waist line, so I cut out 2 rectangular pieces of fabric. However, it would also be super cute to cut out an A-line for a little flare. If you are doing the A-line, you will probably want the top to be the same width as your shirt.

Next Step: Sew the two rectangles together on the sides. You will lay your rectangles together facing each other, so you can see the inner side of the fabric. Just do a straight stitch down each side, and you'll end up with a big tube. Flip the tube right side out.

 Next step: Measure your waist, and cut the elastic to the same length as your waist. Sew it together to make a loop.

Next step: Lay the elastic over the top of the skirt. If you are doing it A line style, then just sew it straight on. If you do it like me, you will need to scrunch the skirt fabric as you go to make it gathered. Tip: do the front side first, so if you cant scrunch as much towards the end you won't have a funny looking front;)

Next step: Pin the shirt in place at the top of the elastic.

Next step: Sew the shirt to the elastic.

 Last step: Hem the bottom of the skirt. You can get creative with this part, and make it skinny, fat, zig zag, straight, whatever you like.

This is the dress I whipped up for Layla, and it was a complete experiment, so I don't have pictures of the process:( sorry. After this picture I added another dart on the front neckline so it wouldn't be so wide. The next time I wear the one I made for me I'll try to remember to take a picture of myself standing up so you can see it better.



I guess they turned out pretty good, because nobody at church asked if I made our dresses....Success!

More hand made fun to come:)

Favorite Friday (early)

Every Fall, as a Child, Mom would take us for a hike in the mountains. We each had a bag to keep  our treasures in. We were on the hunt...for the most beautiful leaves. After we were all satisfied that we had found the most beautiful leaves on the planet, we eagerly went home, and carefully used them to create our own "Fall Place mat". To this day, I still have some of my favorites from years past, and have continued this fun tradition with my own crew.

 Craig was trying to take a picture of us from our reflection on the dirty mini vans' window:) I love how you can see Benson yelling at us from inside the car, haha.

 Gosh, isn't this just breathtaking! I love it.

 Carter spotted a water snake with his awesome eye spying eyes, so Craig tried to catch it. Sadly, (said with sarcasm) the little guys got away. Too bad;)

 Craig gave Baby B a wild berry to try out. Did he like it?...not so much.

 I kind of feel in love with this picture of Carter and Layla Lou

 If you want to make your very own "fall place mat", here is what you do.

You need:

Leaves

thin flowers

pictures

contact paper

Cut 2 pieces of your Contact paper to the size you would like your mat to be. Carefully, and artistically, arrange your leaves, flowers, and pictures on the sticky side of  1 piece of contact paper. When you are happy with the way it looks, place the other piece of contact paper (sticky side down) over your masterpiece.

So easy. So fun. so do it:)

curtains tutorial

As I've mentioned before, we have been working on the house. The goal is to get all the little projects done before baby makes his grand appearance...which will be any day now. I wanted white curtains with a bold orange pattern on them for my front room, but I couldn't find anything close to what I had in mind. I had white curtains in the office, and red in the front room, so I did a switch, and dressed up the white curtains a little. Hind sight, I would have chosen an even bolder pattern, but they still look good.

Curtains Tutorial (my first tutorial I think)

You will need:
1.curtains
2.a stencil
3.fabric paint (I used the same paint we used on the orange wall because I wanted a perfect match, but now I will have to hand wash the curtains. fyi)
4.stencil brush (I liked the foam ones better, and they were .89 for a two pack)
5.tape


step one:
Lay out your curtains and figure out what pattern you are going to use with your stencil. practice on a scrap piece of fabric to get the hang of it. When you are comfortable, tape your stencil to the curtains starting at the bottom of the curtain (so if you make a mistake it won't be as noticeable)

step two:
dip the end of your stencil brush in your paint, and begin to gently fill in your stencil by using a dabbing motion.

Step three:
after the stencil is filled in, remove the tape, and slowly peel the stencil up. Rinse the paint off your stencil, and repeat steps 1-3 in your desired pattern.

Step four:
When paint is dry, hang your curtains, dish yourself a bowl of ice cream, put your feet up, eat your ice cream, and admire your mad crafty skills.