April 2010Occasionally Crafty: April 2010

Thursday, April 22

Soft Baby Shoes

Today I opened my mail and there was an invitation to a baby shower. The only problem is, the shower is on Saturday!

I usually like to give something handmade for baby showers, and luckily I already had all the pieces cut out to make a pair of soft baby shoes.


These fit a baby appx 6-9 months. Though, after I added the flowers, I thought duh! Babies at that age LOVE to grab their feet! I stitched the flowers on nice and tight, but still. I don't know how long they will last!

I'll have to run to the store to add something else to this, as I don't have time to make anything else to go with it.

I basically follow this tutorial if you'd like to make some of your own. Enjoy!

Tuesday, April 20

Attempting the Brassy Apple Knot-tee

Man, I wish I had a rotary cutter. Consider that next on my "to buy" list.

I had this old stretched out shirt that I never wear, so I thought it would be perfect for a refashion.

I certainly don't have the cute figure she has, and I did a horrible job on the neckline. But I really like how the knots turned out.

Good thing I have another shirt I can do this to when I get my cutter. Or learn to cut a straight line with scissors.



"9 B's" Wall Hanging

The leader of our church gave a talk suggesting six qualities we should develop. We call them the "Six Be's". Later he added a few more. This tutorial at Sugardoodle puts them together into a cute mini-wall hanging.

I used scrap fabric and batting I had on hand, purchased the mini-buttons and wood stickers at Michael's (I couldn't find the ones pictured in the original), and had this finished in very little time.

This would be a great Relief Society or Young Women's (organizations in our church) craft.

Name Blocks- My Version

Again, I know that everyone and their sister is making these right now. I combined this tutorial at The Creative Crate with this tutorial at Fireflies and Jellybeans.

The result was this:


I cut a 2x4 into three blocks. The E is on a 6.5 inch block, and the other two are cut to 8.5 inches.
I sanded the blocks and painted them creamy white. When dry, I sanded the edges for a little bit of a worn look.

At the time I made this, I did not have my Silhouette, so I simply cut the letters out of cardstock with an Xacto knife and Mod Podged them onto the blocks. Simple. I really like the clean, classic look of the black and white, but you could easily use scrapbook paper instead of paint to give it a different character.

As noted elsewhere, a great gift for many occasions!

Patchwork Kindle Case


I got a Kindle for Christmas! If I didn't have three kids that use up all of my time and most of my energy, I would be a voracious reader. As it stands, I am still a fairly prolific reader. The Kindle was a perfect gift! Now I just needed something to keep it in!

My sister-in-law graciously sent me the link to this tutorial at The Sometimes Crafter. I loved it! I was a little worried, though, because I am not a great sewer. I decided to go ahead and try it, and I'm glad I did, because it was really easy! A little time-consuming for a novice, and mine didn't turn out perfectly, but it really was a user-friendly tutorial and I love how mine turned out.

The great thing about this is you can easily change the dimensions to make a case for other things. Scriptures....other electronics....it would even make a cute clutch purse!

Monogram Canvas


I found this video online for this project and was completely inspired to try one of my own.

Sorry for the poor image. Our camera has problems.

I cut out the E and our last name in white cardstock to use as a stencil. The video uses Cricut stencil material, but I find if you are really careful, you can do the exact same thing with heavy cardstock.

First I painted black an 8x10 canvas that I got at Michaels. It took several coats to completely cover the white of the canvas. After that dried, I used painter's tape to adhere the E stencil to the canvas, then carefully, using a regular paintbrush lightly loaded with paint, painted the monogram.
After it dried there were a few tiny touch-ups needed with the black paint to clean it up.

Then I centered the name stencil over the monogram and painted it the same way.

This would make a great gift for a wedding or housewarming gift!

I'm linking up to



DIY Day @ ASPTL

 http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/

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Happy Spring- Gift or Decoration


HowDoesShe had this great idea for a neighbor gift. I mostly followed the tutorial, but I modified it a little since I didn't have time to include treats with it. Also, I didn't have my Silhouette yet, so I just printed the words right on the scrapbook paper before I cut it to fit my block.

I made three of these for some ladies I visit each month. Now I just need one for myself!




Spring Blocks- before I had my Silhouette

There are about a hundred versions of these out in blog-land. Here's mine:


I took a 2x4 and used a miter box to cut it into different sizes. I think the tall ones are 6 inches, and the shorter ones are 4 inches. If I did it again, I'd probably include a third size in there somewhere.

After cutting, I sanded all sides and painted the back and sides creamy white. Then I cut my scrapbook paper to fit, applied a thin coat of Mod Podge, and smoothed my paper on. I used an emery board to sand the paper down to the blocks.

When I made these, I didn't have a craft cutter. Thank goodness I am now the proud owner of a Silhouette, but it is possible to create great looking letters without one! It just takes a little more time and work. Here, I simply printed the letters on cardstock and cut them out with an Xacto knife. Then I applied a thin coat of Mod Podge on the top of the scrapbook paper (both to seal the paper and to apply the letters), then carefully placed them where I wanted.

A few ribbons for embellishment, a paper flower (from this tutorial) and button hot-glued on, and voila! Cute Spring blocks!

Welcome!

I'm starting this blog simply as a journal and a place for me to showcase things I make. If other people read it, too, that's just icing on the cake!

I'm a mom of three. My newest addition is almost 7 months old, and he has been tough on me. I feel like I am just now starting to get things together again, and I can accomplish some projects I've wanted to do for a long time.

I hope you'll enjoy looking around my site! Thanks for visiting.