the 10 minute cardigan from pinterest

In January, I decided that I would actually make/do/cook two things a month that I have pinned on my Pinterest boards.  I've been really good at doing it.  But not so good at reporting it on the blog.

Here is my badly photographed attempt at turning one of Husband's old sweaters into one of my new cardigans. The 10 minute cardigan.

BEFORE

I told Husband to do his best mean face.  It took about 4 tries because we both kept laughing.  I like this sweater and I'm not sure why he doesn't like it or stopped wearing it.  But it wound up in my "clothes I can do whatever I want with bc Husband doesn't want them anymore" pile.

AFTER

I tried to duplicate the mean face.  I probably shouldn't waited until Husband was home to take the picture.  Daughter kept putting her fingers over the flash.

What I used:

an old sweater (v neck)

vanishing marking pen

scissors

Heat'nBond Ultra Hold Iron on Adhesive (5/8in -- the kind for hems)

Iron and ironing board

What I did:

first I marked the middle of the sweater front and carefully cut all the way down the middle.

Put the Heat'nBond on the inside of one side of the new sweater opening, following the directions on the box. Iron the Heat'nBond down.

Once cooled, pull the paper strip off and fold over to create the hem.

Do the same to the other side

Kelsey at Vanillajoy.com finished the hem by securing it with a sewing machine stitch.  I haven't done that yet because I can't find tread that's a close enough match to the sweater.

It was another fun an easy pineterest job well done.  And one more thing I pinned that I actually completed.

A Pinterest Shoe Makeover

Not so recently ago I found a great pin for turning regular old plain white canvas shoes into something a little less plain and white.

All you need it the cheap $5 white canvas shoes from walmart, Rit dye in your preferred color and a little elastic that 1.5 inches in width plus needle and tread (if you want to make your shoes laceless).   Simple, simple, simple.

So why did my white canvas shoes, fuchsia Rit dye and elastic sit in a bag on the back of my bathroom door for two months?   fear.  Mainly about the dye.  I'd never dyed anything before but I had convinced myself it was going to be a mess.

Well, imagine my surprise when it wasn't.   I just rinsed my shoes in hot water and followed the dye instructions on the box.  Then rinsed and let dry.

The next day I  just added the elastic in and let the kids have the laces.  (Visit the pin and blog for more pictures.  She dyed her shoes yellow and they look fantastic.)

So here's my first one.

And the pair.

I really like them.  And for $5 shoes they are really comfortable.  I always put mine on to go outside to water the garden or take the dogs on walks, or just piddle around outside.

It was a fun, fast, cheap project and now I am no longer afraid of Rit dye.

The Baby Gift is in the Mail

Two great friends of ours, that we never get to see enough, are expecting their first child very soon.  And I just mailed our gift to baby ACT.

I made her a quilt, Son and Daughter decorated her a couple of onesies (with a little help from Husband) and then I added some diapers and the rest of the pack of onesies in for good measure.

the quilt front.  I used whirlwind romance collection from connectingthreads.com and the pattern is a slight variation of  one I've used a few times before.  I just love this pattern.  It's so easy and quick to put together and I just think it's great.

The back, with Baby ACT's initials.  Here's hoping that her parents don't change their mind on her name after she's born. or her quilt will be a call to action and service instead of her initials!

Son colored lots of "different colored friendly snakes" and then asked Husband to draw a green airplane.
Snakes on a Plane onesie?

Daughter decorated the front and back.  the front is covered in purple flowers and the back is covered with As and dots and a flower.  She was pretty proud.

We're so excited for Baby ACT's arrival and can't wait to see pictures and meet her!

Valentine's Love Notes in felt envelopes

Yesterday I showed my Husband a little extra love by leaving him 3 short "love notes" around the house in places he would find them before work. And I cooked his favorite meal that I make (Eggplant Parmesan) for dinner.  Nothing big and extravagant, but just a couple of little things to make him feel special.

I found a tutorial to make felt envelopes on Pinterest.  It looked really easy (until I realized the template link was broken.  Making my own adding a little extra time but they are still pretty easy to whip up) so I headed for Hobby Lobby to get 6 sheets of felt and with the help of my 40% off one item coupon, I made the investment in pinking shears. (I actually made 3 envelopes but one was sent to AZ for a wife to surprise her husband with)

Instead of doing the zig zag lines where the address and return address go, I embroidered our initials.  I thought that added a special personalized touch.

I wrote 2 short sweet notes for the envelopes and I left the first envelope in the bathroom by Husband's toothbrush.  The second was left by the coffee pot.  and the third note was funny and envelope-less.  I taped that one to the steering wheel.   

maybe one day the envelopes will get RTS with a note to me in them.  ;-)

Another Crayon Adventure

Remember those giant super crayons I made? Well, turns out the kids think those crayons are too big for their tastes.  So, I decided to get a box of those small bathroom cups and do a remelt.  PLUS, we have recently switched from bottle glue to glue sticks in our home.  And I've been saving the empty ones for just this purpose.

Off I went.

This time I melted them in the microwave.  At about 30 seconds a time. Stirring in between.

The key to the cups was to get the crayons in SMALL SMALL pieces so they'd melt faster.  I was using wax lined cups and some of my cups almost melted away before the crayons did!

one of the cups I poured into the glue sticks.  It doesn't take much melted crayon to fill up a glue stick.  the paper cup was perfect for pouring.  Just pinch it a little to form a mini funnel.

Son sat down at his make shift craft table and started to get to work.  He definitely seemed to enjoy the glue stick crayons and the smaller giant crayons.

Repouring Old Candles for NEW Candles

It's a common household  theme: You have 13 almost completely used candles at your house.  I have 13 almost completely used candles at my house (and I don't even think I'm a "candle person"  all mine have been gifts) ... I actually keep them in a box in my closet.  Apparently, I've been preparing for this candle project  for years and didn't even know it.  

What I used for my first new SUPER candle

these are all the candles I used, the wick (I got a pack of 5 from Hobby Lobby for a couple of bucks)  I used the pliers to reach into the hot wax and pull out the old wick.  and I used a pair of Husband's thick (never used before) fishing gloves to handle the hot glass containers. The tall container with the pink candle in it is what I used to be my new holder.  It was a Home Interiors Candle my mom gave me years ago and I really like the shape and weight of the holder.  

 btw, I've permanently taken ownership of those gloves.  They are fantastic!  Great for handling hot things.  And I may or may not have used them to reach into the oven and pull of a tray of chicken nuggets during the candle making process.

What I did:
-Put about 3 inches of water in a saucepan on the stove.  Towards the end of the project, I had to refill the water due to evaporation.
-I started by melting the one in the big container that I was going to use again.  When it was all melted, I pulled out the old wick, put in the new one and set it aside for the pink bottom layer to harden.
-And moved on to melting the white ones next.  (I added one of my mason jar lid rings around one of the jars so they wouldn't bump into each other while they were shaking/melting in the boiling water.  I was a little afraid they would shatter)
- I pulled out those wicks and after the pink had hardened completely, I poured the white on top of it.
-and continued adding layers until I was finished.

For the small pink candle, I melted it in one of the jars the white ones was in after they had been poured.

this is the first two layers after the white had hardened

And this is the finished result of my first candle.  I really , really love it.  And besides the $2 for the 5 wicks, it was completely free.  score.

The night after I finished the first one, I was browsing at walmart and found IDENTICAL jars for $1.67 each.  So, of course, I gathered a few more used candles and made two more.

1, 2, and 3

From this process, I learned that I pretty much only have white, pink and red candles.  (there's one purple one that's still in the box with lots more white ones!)

Also, you don't have to do layers like I did.  You could mix them all together at once.  It's a great way to get some more use out of your old candles for mostly free.

A Crayon Melting and Molding Adventure

Pinterest strikes again.  I'm excited about finally making and doing the things I've been pinning for months.  Makes me feel like all those hours on pinterest weren't a total waste!

We (well, mostly me ... and actually, technically, the oven) melted down all the kids' broken crayons into new "super crayons" (don't you love pins that tell you everything you need to know without having to go to the website?  I do.

The kids loved the ideas of new super crayons and were eager to help me peel all the remaining paper off (something they love to do anyway)

all our busted crayons.
Notice Daughter has started to "fill" the mold.  That's kind of how she thought the process would go.  One old crayon turns into one new crayon.

I filled the little leaf molds with solid rainbow colors and then went about dividing the rest of the colors in ways that made sense to me in silicon muffin molds.

my helpers.  They also helped test colors during the sorting process so I  wouldn't get the purples, dark blues and blacks mixed up.

the leaf mold stayed in for 15 minutes on 230 degrees.  And you can tell the mold is a little warped.  next time, I'll check on them sooner.

the biggers ones needed more time.  they stayed in for 22 minutes at 230.

All cooled off and popped out of their molds.
I saw other pins that used paper cups and I think that would be as easy as the silicon  molds.  especially cleanup wise.  This was a cinch.

My only complaint:  the new super crayons definitely do NOT fit in our crayon box.   The crayon box has now been upgraded to the same shoe box size rubbermaid containers used for race cars, potato head body parts and play-doh accessories. 

All in all, it was fun for the kids and I.  Plus, now instead of hundreds of crayons pieces, we have less than a dozen super crayons.  And after Daughter got used to the fact that her crayons don't have much of a point anymore, they both love using them.

Hand prints on Canvas

Here's the great thing about Pinterest, I am great at replicating.  I can look at something, figure out a way to make it and often times make it better/something I like more but I am horrible at innovating.  which is basically why pinterest is so amazing for me.  I can see thousands and thousands of great ideas and then adjust them a little to make them fit me/us better.

I'm pretty much a gigantic copy cat and I'm starting to come to terms with that. 

I recently ran across this great idea of hand prints on canvas and I got to thinking about where I could display this in our house if I did it.  Well, there's a perfect spot in our long beige hall (that is already being filled up with pictures in black frames) that can not only be a great place for 4 canvases ... but many more can be added for years to come.

so the idea was to get 4 canvases.  8X10 for Husband and I because our hands are bigger.  And 5X7 for the kids. Then I decided that unlike the pinterest idea, I wanted all the backgrounds to be the same.  I decided black.  And I already had that at home.  Next, I had everyone pick out a color they wanted their hands to be.   Came home and made it happen.  

our colors.  Can you guess who picked the pink ...

I used another pinterest idea to paint the canvases.  I put push  pins in the backs of them, so they stood up off the paper. So there was no canvas drying TO THE PAPER.  fabulous idea and no touchups needed.

I decided to do the hand everyone writes with (even though Son uses both equally now, I went ahead and used his right)
I like how my blue hand is facing Husband's red hand.  Plus, you can see my wedding ring.  Daughter loved this and stamped about 8 pieces of paper after her canvas.  Son hated the paint on his hand and finally displayed his deep dark secret ... he has 6 fingers.  ;-)

After the hand prints dried, I added everyone's initials and the date 11-11.  We'll hang then just like in the picture and in  a year or two, do another set for the kids to hang under these.  And so forth and so on.  Until the space is top to bottom hand prints, with Husband and mine always on the top.   (sigh) this gives me a warm feeling.

Wordless Wednesday: craftiness in a former life

His Turn to Paint

Husband took over crafting over-seeing duties a few times last week so I could do something else ... and Son got his first real taste of painting "the white animals" as Daughter calls them.

wow, when did this little baby become a little boy?

concentrating.

I love how he's turning into such a fun, sweet, smart little boy.

Crafting in Our Underwear

Son is just starting to get the hang of cutting with scissors.  Husband was a lot more effective in explaining it to him than I was.  I don't know if it's a male brain/female brain thing ... but he showed Son in a way I would have never thought of.  

Cutting scraps of paper I have left over from a project from YEARS ago and gluing them on construction paper = nice way to contain and entertain toddlers for at least 45 minutes.

figuring it out

busy at work

Ya like how they just craft in their underwear?  I going through a phase where I hate doing their laundry and the fewer clothes they wear, the less I have to wash. Underwear it is.

Wordless Wednesday: rainbow in the rain

Book to Purse Part 3 (!!)

Tina finished the purses, Tina finished the purses, TINA FINISHED THE PURSES!

Can you sense my excitement?

Imagine how surprised I was when my mail carrier dropped off a package on the porch yesterday. There has been no recent online shopping. It's no one's birthday. what in the world in this box? Then I recognize the handwriting and squeal. yes, I squealed.

Tina definitely had the hardest, most involved job. Remember, I just donated the books. Tiffany had a slightly harder job of selecting matching handles and fabric, but WOW, Tina was our workhorse.

sewing, gluing, shlacking ... she did it. And did it well.

My purse that used to be a Nancy Drew book

the inside -- peacock feather fabric. love it.

plus, the handles are a perfect size. The provide nice grip.

So ends the first project of the crafting trifecta. Now that I can sew, I promise to help bear the load when we get our next idea.

We still have all the pages of the books to do something with. ideas?

Alphabet Rocks

Cheri @ I Am Momma is pretty amazing. I love.love.love her blogs posts. Especially when she made Alphabet Rocks for her son(s). It's her first idea I've loved enough to copy. Please visit her blog and look at all the fun things she makes and great ideas she has.

What I used:

• I picked up two packs of decorator rocks from walmart. I got two because I am making a set for each kid and I didn't think there were enough big rocks in each pack. It ended up being just enough. (now we have lots of small decorator rocks waiting to be used for something!)
• I stayed with Cheri's color scheme and didn't even have to buy any paint. (If you're not going to use the paints for anything but this project, get those little pots of paint that are connected. If you have no idea what I'm talking about you'll see them when you get to the paint section in your favorite craft store. OR you could use paint pens. I might have done that if I didn't already have the paint)
• I did get a black fine point paint pen to outline the letters
• clear gloss finish spray paint to seal. (that REALLY makes the rocks look shiny)

Then I started painting letters. Each need at least 2 coats. Some needed three depending on the color of the rock. When that dried I traced the letter with the paint pen.

uppercase letters before I spray painted them

lower case letters on the back before spray paint

I had 4 "big" rocks left over. So, everyone got a rock with his/her initial on the front and name written on the back. (those are post spray paint. see the shine!!)

I'm really excited about the kids playing and learning with these. They both love collecting rocks. I figured it'd be a great way for Son to learn his letters and a great way for Daughter to learn what the lower case letters look like, plus begin to spell simple words.

EDIT: I actually made these almost two months ago. And after a lot of heavy toddler play, I recommend exclusively using paint pens. Skip the acrylic paint and use a thick tip paint pen for the letter and outline it with a thin tip. The paint is rubbing off on about half the letters but the paint pen is holding strong.

FABRIC BY THE POUND

I heard about this website that sells fabric by the pound and seriously, it was like I was a sniper locking in on my target. I wanted it and oh how I needed it. seriously. ridiculous.

Anyway, Warehouse Fabrics Inc. sells a lot of fabrics, but so far the only I've been beyond tempted to buy is their decorator fabric BY THE POUND. (oh, how I wish they sold assorted quilting cotton this way. What a great stash builder that would be!) And they promise that one piece will be smaller than a half a yard but no bigger than 2 yards. Anyway, they have two options, Black and White OR Assorted Color.

I got two pounds of black and white

and

three pounds of assorted color

Plus, they are based out of Winfield, AL - which can be considered "supporting local business" for me.

Everything is larger than a yard but smaller than two. And while most of it is not something I would pick up in a store and just HAVE TO HAVE, I really like it all and think I can use it for one thing or another.

I'm making three bags like our May Second Saturday Sewing Project out of the fabric (BBWP has already claimed my favorite fabric and it just goes to show we're really not that different) and the rest I'd like to use to make reusable grocery bags. We've got a couple of the BIG Aldi bags and 3 World Market bags and a couple Publix bags, but beyond that we still use paper or plastic. (well, we usually ONLY use paper or plastic because I can't even remember to keep the bags in the car!)

I'd like to add to our reusables. I've found a couple of tutorials I like but until I measure the material I don't know which one(s) I'll use. more as it's happening.

The only other fabric by the pound website I've seen is eQuilter, but they promise that all pieces will be less than 1/2 yard ... plus I don't like the sample picture they use. That leads me to believe I won't like the fabric.

Do you know of anywhere else that sells scraps by the pound?

The birdseed pine cone feeders

Remember when we went to Turkey Creek and Daughter told me all about how to make bird feeders out of pine cones, peanut butter and birdseed? yea, well, Daughter didn't forget.

I FINALLY remembered to pick up some birdseed.

tasting and carrying

spreading

more spreading

tasting again.

I predicted to BBWP that when we did this project one of the kids would try to eat the birdseed WHILE tweeting like a bird. Luckily, they stuck to the peanut butter.

ready for birdseed

yes.

heavily coated.

I'm glad I put the pine cones in this container to cover them with birdseed. It means that I was able to collect a lot of it for recoating next time.

Daughter showing off Husband's pine cone we made for him.

I'm double glad I scooped the peanut butter out of the jar and into a bowl for this project.

hanging in one of the dogwood trees.

When Son spotted a bird eating from it he screamed, "BIRD HAPPY! BIRD HAPPY!" That was cute.

EDIT: We did this about three weeks ago and I'm starting to wonder when I'm going to have to climb back up on that ladder and recoat the pine cones!