Doll Shelves

 I am so proud of this project!!! Here's what I made:

Okay so how did I make this?? Well it took a few days, only because I didn't work straight through, and I was hopping around between a few projects.  And I didn't have instructions, only a picture I found off of Pinterest. 

1.  I measured where I was going to hang the doll shelves.  I then went to Lowe's (love that store!) and had them cut two pieces of wood.  At first I was going to make 4 shelves, but figured that was too many.  Plus I didn't have enough drawer pulls to hang with (more on that later)  I bought a 1x3x4 and a 1x4x4 and had them cut it in half, so they are I think 24 inches long. I am very limited on space and I didn't want them sticking out too far.

2.  I then painted the pieces white.  I knew that I was going to use color in my fabric so I went with a  basic white; plus I had it already for another project.  Why waste??

3.  I finally finished painting them, it took two days because I waited for one side to dry before I painted the other.  I only put on one coat of paint.  I admit it, I got lazy and wanted to finish the project.  I have people coming to Bunco next week and I wanted this project done!

4.  So before I even started the painting I went to Hobby Lobby to buy fabric.  I didn't know how much I needed, or how long it needed to be.  So I bought 2 yards.  BIG mistake.  I didn't even use a yard, and I had to start over! As I'm pushing around Hobby Lobby I find these awesome drawer pulls marked down. And at 3 dollars each, I don't really know how "marked down" that is!  But I fell in love with them.  Only problem, they only had 5.  And I needed 8.  So I grabbed 4 of them.  Then I look some more and found the black ones.  They only had 3 (what's with the odd numbers??)  So I got two.  And that's how I decided I was only doing 3 shelves. 

5.  I bought 3 fabrics.  The outside (stripes), the inside (pink/brown), and the middle (a canvas material that was marked down) So the following steps are what I did the SECOND time through, because the first time was trial and error!

6.  I cut my canvas first.  I decided that I wanted to cut each strip 2 inches wide.  I don't know what it measures out to after I sewed it.  I'm sure less.  I used the entire width of the canvas (which was 33 inches)  The length I cut out was 12 inches (i needed 6 strips, so 6 x 2 in = 12 in)

7.  Next I layered my fabric on the ironing board.  I put the striped fabric right side up then placed the pink/brown fabric wrong side up on top of it.  I then put my cut canvas over them both.  I pinned into place and generously cut out my large rectangle.

8.  I moved back to my table now, I had a bunch of cutting to do, and wanted to sit for it.  So the first thing I did was clean up my edges.

8.  Next I measure out 2 inch strips and marked cutting lines.  I'm still getting used to this rotary cutter and cannot make a straight line!  So having it already drawn for me really helped! Then I cut all the strips out.  

9.  So I mentioned I'm still new at this cutting business.  My blade was really dusty from all the fibers or what not on it.  So I thought I'd just wipe it off real quick. And I thought "Okay it's sharp, I'll use a piece of discarded fabric to clean with"  HAHAHA  I cut the fabric and my finger! And earlier I cut the ironing board cover too... Thankfully no blood (and there was a lot of blood) got on my fabric!

10.  So now I'm done with the cutting, bandaged finger and all.  Next I sewed them, leaving one end open so I can turn them right side out. This is where I discovered I did it wrong on the first try.  

11.  I used a drumstick to turn them out.  I pushed the drumstick into the sewed end and pulled the fabric down and over (if that makes sense).  I'm at a loss of words here on how to explain how I did this.  It was 2:30 in the morning and I was getting sleepy, somehow my mind was still working enough to figure out how to turn them.  You can't see, but my little one decided to use the table as a fort and is fast asleep at my feet! 

12.  So yay they are all turned correctly now.  Just a quick press on the ironing board and a trim so they are all the same length, and time for bed!














13.  Opps I didn't take pictured for this next step.  I put the fabric through the drawer pulls and sewed the ends together.  Yeah that's it.

14.  Then with the help of my father, we hung them up. We decided the height of the bottom one, hung it up, then moved our way up.  It was easy this way to figure out the spacing.

 Here's a link to the picture I based mine off of: http://www.beeskneesbungalow.com/2011/06/bachmans-2011-summer-ideas-house-pt-iii.html

Alphabet Blocks

I found an idea on Pinterest to work on letters for my little one.  I bought some cheap Jenga blocks from Ross.  Then I labeled one for each letter, both uppercase and lowercase.  On the leftovers I wrote some basic sight words and opposites.  I left a few blank to add to later on.  

Here's a link to where I found the idea from: http://tutorialadventures.blogspot.com/2011/10/easy-wooden-alphabet-blocks-tutorial.html

Sweet Treat Sayings

 I sent Ryan a Valentine's Day box...in January.  I wanted to make sure it would get there in time!  I found a great idea online that had some awesome printable sayings.  So heck yeah, I used it.  Ryan said that everyone in his office thought I made up the sayings.  Nope not my words, but I told him they could keep thinking that!

Here's a link to the printables and where I got the idea from : http://www.thedatingdivas.com/erika/quick-sweet-treats/

I Love You Card

 Sara and I made a Valentine's Day card for Ryan to mail to him.  I only used 1 sheet of card stock paper.  I traced both of her hands then gave her a crayon to color with.  She colored the whole sheet! I cut out her hands and a strip from the top of the paper.  I then folded the strip, taped to the back of the hands, wrote my message, and tied it up to send in the mail!

I got the idea from a Pinterest link to http://tiffkeetch.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-much-card-and-kid-canvas.html

Wall Boards

So I'm cleaning up my computer room and I come across an old Expo combination wallboard that we used in the old house (4 years ago).  It is just to big to hang up in the computer room, and it's so bulky with it's metal frame.  So I decided to tear it apart and create two separate boards.

I'm gonna stop right here for a second and mention that it took me almost 30 minutes to figure out how to create the above picture.  I did not know how to combine two pictures and text into one picture! Yay but now I know.  Okay back to the craft at hand.

I used just a handful of materials that I had around the house.

Old wallboard
Tacky Glue
Staples
Scissors
Fabric - I went for patterns that wouldn't show if I put it on crooked!
Packing Tape

- The hardest thing was to tear away the metal frame from the wallboard.  I had to remove all of the screws then use a screwdriver to pry one end off.  I was expecting the dry erase part to be glued onto the backboards but it was not.  So now I have a separate project to work on!
- I placed my board on the fabric and cut the fabric, with a good inch or two extra on each side.

- Then it was off to the ironing board (I do NOT like to iron)
- Once it was done, I placed my fabric right side down and put the backboard onto of it.  I put a line of glue on the top side on one side. I did the smaller sides first (tops/bottoms) Okay my "line" was more like a squiggle

- I pulled the fabric up and over and pressed it into the glue.  Now I'm sure I could have stopped here.
- But I like to know that things are secure, so then I stapled the fabric onto the back.  I did it quickly so the glue could ooze around the staple.

- I repeated this process for the bottom, then the two sides.  On the sides you have to fold in the corners a bit so that it looks nice.
- Once done with all of the glue and stapling I decided to put a strip of packing tape on all of the edges of the fabric.  I figured this way it can't fray. And you can't really see it, since it's gonna be against a wall.

And then it was done! I'm gonna hang it using a few command strips, gosh I love those things!

 I have a cork board in a wood frame that I'm thinking of trying this with, but I'm going to experiment with using a spray adhesive on the front side to hold the fabric onto the board. We'll see.....

Tutu Making #1

I found a great no sew tutu tutorial from Pinterest.  And since Sara loves to dress up, I thought why not.

So imagine us pushing up and down the fabric section of Hobby Lobby looking for fun fabric for a purse.  Well Sara sees an ad for no sew tutu's (which I was gonna make as a surprise) and she's all like "I want one, I want the green one, I need one..."  Thankfully they had their rolls of tulle on sale 50% off.  So I'm pulling up my Pinterest app on the phone trying to see how much I need.  They say 20 yards, but then again, they're making if for a baby.  My kid is 4!  I end up letting Sara pick out 4 rolls, green, pink, purple, and blue.  

This was by far the easiest thing I have ever made.  All I had to do was sew the elastic together (which i didn't even do straight!) then cut and tie off the tulle.  I ended up using all 4 rolls of tulle to make her skirt.  

 After she played with it for hours I decided to tighten the knots holding the tulle.  By doing so it made the gaps smaller together, so I added more pieces, making it a fuller tutu.  She loves it!
I got the directions from http://www.momdot.com/howtomakeatutu

Now she's begging me for a tutu dress.  "Baby mommy's gotta learn how to sew better to make that!"

Purse Making #1

I don't sew that often. Okay rarely! I can make pillows, blankets, pillowcases, a tent (that's another post) and now a purse!

I used the very detailed instructions from Sew4Home (thank you for the pictures!) to create their Scrap It: The Angela Shoulder Bag.
Of course I didn't make this one completely alone! Alex and her 3 boys, and me and my Sara worked really hard on this. Okay the kids played, left toys in the sewing room, Alex and I tripped on them, then there was dinner and somewhere in between all that we made some Jack Daniel Balls and Malibu Balls for my hubby. But with Alex and I tossing around ideas on what the instructions meant and taking turns at the sewing machine, we finally made it! And it even has pockets on the inside. Yay.

This was actually a trial run purse, I'm looking to make a bag to hold all my music and equipment in. This bag can only hold one of my trombone mutes. So I guess it's off to the drawing board. Until then, I'm loving the purse, and have already decided to make another one with some minor adjustments!