DIY LETTERING {without a fancy cutting machine or stencil} NOEL BLOCKS

I want a Silhouette machine. Or a Circuit would do. But I don't have one and I don't have funds for one right now. So I make do. I recently figured out  a new way to do lettering-which I used on my "Save the Date Blocks". No vinyl. No cutting out Freezer Paper stencils. Just printing off letters. This is super easy and anyone can do it.

DIY LETTERING:

1. PRINT OUT YOUR LETTERS ON THE COMPUTER.

I used a very large font size, about 300; and used an outline style letter, so that I did not waste all my computer ink. The blocks I made here, were about 5-6 inches high.

2.TAPE THE LETTER TO YOUR BLOCK. Paint the block and let it dry before putting your letters on the blocks.

3. TRACE YOUR LETTER WITH A BALL POINT PEN- PRESSING HARD.

Now your block should have a light outline of your letter on the wood block.

4. REMOVE THE PAPER.

5. PAINT IN THE LETTER. I used my old tole- painting brushes- some had flat bristles and others were very small and fine. You could probably use your child's watercolor brushes if you did not have anything else.

To paint these blocks, I used acrylic craft paints.

 When you are done painting your letters, they will look something like this:

Not perfect, so an easy solution to make them look better, is to distress them a bit with some sandpaper. After that, they look like this:

And that is it. No special letter cutting machine, no stencils, just a font from your computer.

The possibilities are endless- but I'm sure if I did something more complicated, I would prefer a stencil or vinyl. But for now, this works great!

Happy Holidays!

Square Pumpkins {Halloween Crafting}

To see if you won the current give-a-way- scroll down to the next post!
Seems like there are 1000 different ways you can make some kind of pumpkin craft to display these days.
I ditched these pumpkins, I made a few years ago, and replaced them with these.

We have a lot of scrap wood in our garage- mostly from projects or pieces found in dumpsters. Yes, that is right. We found lots of wood in dumpsters from new construction. My husband cut me some wood blocks. I had a few wood spools (you can buy at craft stores) and a big plastic one that no longer held thread.

 After painting these guys with some craft paint, I added some designs...and then was not so sure I was loving it... so bring on the sand paper! I left the back sides of these bad boys plain orange- so if the designs start to bug me, I can just flip them over.

 I thought they needed a little something- so I made little tassels out of the fabric scraps.

 Ta-Da! All done. Super easy and I'm sort of liking the end result. BEST PART: cost was ZERO. Yes, completely free project- using only stuff I already had on hand.

Happy Halloween!! I love Halloween!

Easy Peasy Fabric Flowers {turn them into magnets or something else}

 Do I dare join in on the biggest fabric flower trend ever? Well I did-in my own way. I might even make a wreath using fabric flowers. {gasp!! everyone is doing it...} For preschool, we made our moms a cute fabric flower pin. At least I thought they were cute! I also made some into magnets (shown above) which I like even better. There are so many things you can do with fabric flowers besides put them in your hair...(which most of the time I am not going to do because I am OLD....ha ha- but occasionally I give in and wear one.)
Below are the ones the preschoolers made for their moms last week. I gave them 4 circles that were 4 different sizes, and they had to put them in order from largest to smallest. Then I hot glued them. They picked out their own button. I already had pins glued on little pieces of felt for the back.

 IF you want to make the magnets, which is my favorite, I used a small wooden square from the craft store- you can buy bags of wooden cut out shapes for a few dollars- get the lightest ones you can- and then hot glue a round button magnet to the back. These can also be purchased at the craft store, or at Walmart in the craft section. Everything is hot glued together.

What else can you do with fabric flowers like these?

These truly are easy peasy. There are so many great fabric flowers out  there- I can't even begin to list them! If you have a good one -on your blog or a blog you have found- please list and share!

THIS POST on Tatertots and Jello had lots of good ideas for fabric and paper flowers! Jen always finds the best ideas out there in the ever so huge and amazingly creative world of blogs!

Have fun!

Child's Art Supply Totebag Tutorial {for coloring books & crayons}

Before I post this tute, I just have to ask...is anyone reading this lately? Somebody please say something!! As in leave a comment....won't you please be a nice reader...please??? My stats tell me there are readers..but I don't know...{sigh} ☺☺☺

AND NOW...

Here is the tutorial many of you asked about here.

Tutorials take time and work and I want it to be successful and useful for you. So if you do not understand something or have a question please let me know. AND if you end up making this I would LOVE to see your creation-please send me a link or leave me a comment and let me know! I love seeing what you are creating too!

NOTE ADDED AFTER: I am pregnant. Half of my brain goes out the window when I am pregnant. I goofed a little on this tute. PLEASE READ the typing underneath the photos- that clarifies the instructions for cutting out the pieces. AND just a note to myself: don't write tutorials when pregnant because you lose 1/2 of your brain....:)

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR CUTTING FABRIC: The main pieces of the bag FOLD so they are 14 by 14 inches. IF you open up these pieces, you will be cutting a piece that is 14 by 28 inches!!!
THIS IS FOR THE OUTSIDE PIECE OF THE BAG AND THE LINING PIECE OF THE BAG. THE POCKET PIECE IS 14 by 9 inches, when open and not folded. Hope that makes sense.

THE 14 by 14 inch pieces are FOLDED IN HALF. Opened up flat they will measure 14 by 28 inches!!

The ironed folded lines help me to line eveything up. That is why I suggest ironing the fold on the bottom of the bag. 

From here you are going to flip the pocket up, so that it is now sewn onto the bag in the right place. The seam you just sewed, will not show from the outside of the bag. Now you will topstitch the bottom of the pocket- (sew on top of the pocket along the bottom edge.) Then you are ready to mark off and sew the individual pockets for the crayons.

Now you are ready to attach the handles.

TIP: I use an iron to put a crease in my fabric when I have to measure something like this. I folded the bag into thirds, and made a crease using my iron, at each third. I attached the handles at each third so that they were evenly spaced on the bag. When you are done with the handles, place this aside and pick up the lining /inside of the bag piece.

I'd love to see your project- please send me a link! I'd also love to know if you use this and it works for you, or if you have any questions! Thanks a bunch! Happy Sewing!

Fabric Covered Easter Baskets {tutorial}

This post should be titled- "How to glue fabric to a tin bucket using a glue gun to make a cute basket."
I wanted to make the beloved Easter Baskets this year. And so I did. My 3 year old even helped me make his. {And He was very excited about it!}

We are using these for Easter Baskets this year, and in case you are still in need of a cute Easter Basket, here is the tutorial.  {Time to make each one: 30 minutes-1 hour; Cost for each one: $2.50-$4-depending on what you have on hand-mine cost only 2.50 each- since I already had everything:) }

I found the tin planter baskets at Target in the dollar section for $2.50. I had my husband drill holes in each side so I could add handles.



Next, I cut 4-5 fabrics into 2-2 1/2 inch strips. I cut the full length of the fabric- about 44-45 inches, and had a few inches left over with each strip of fabric when I was done. Decide which fabric you want for the handle. You will need two strips, about 2 inches wide, and about 45 inches long for the handle.

With your handle pieces, fold in 1/2 so the right sides are facing out, and stitch a zigzag stitch along the edge. You could sew both of these strips together first, but you really  don't need to.

Next, cut your wire about 23 inches in length- depending on how long you want your handle to be. I cut mine longer than needed, and trimmed of the excess when I was done attaching the handle. I don't know what kind of wire I used, since I already had it. It was bendable, and not too heavy or thick. Thread the wire through both fabric strips scrunching it up as you go. It helps to attach the wire to something on one end, while doing this so it doesn't come off.

When the fabric is on the wire, attach the handle to the container, by bending and twisting the wire shut. Flatten the wire as much as possible so that the sharp end does not stick out.

Using your hot glue gun, cover the sharp wire end with hot glue. Pull the fabric from the handle over the top of this and press closed.

Now you are ready to glue the fabric around the container.

Get your fabric ready and in order.

 Glue fabrics on so they overlap one another.

Fold the raw edges under with each strip.

Trim thread and clean up those crazy glue webs from the glue gun.

Add chipboard lettering on the front side.

And you are finished! My three- year old helped me- and picked his own fabrics.  He really wanted the "orange one with leaves..." :) He mostly just watched me cut and glue everything, but he felt like he was part of the entire process and was very pleased with his work!

{If you have girls, you could totally add some flowers to this project)

I think we will reuse these baskets for carrying stuff from downstairs to back upstairs where it belongs.

These will be perfect for all those legos and cars that somehow find themselves all over the floor!

Hopefully, that darn Easter Bunny will fill these things up with treats and goodies!

Happy Easter!

Thanks for reading!

OXOXO

Spring Fever at Creation Corner

I'm participating! Creation Corner is having a tutorial and give-a-way a day this week! Check it out!
 It will be fun! I'll be sharing a tutorial, so I better get the creative juices flowing! Happy Spring!!

Fabric Book Pocket/Sling {Fabric Book Holder} Tutorial

I needed a solution to the never-ending pile of books on the top bunk bed. Let's face it, I am not climbing up there everyday, and therefore, books were piling up- up there.

Here is my solution- a fabric book sling pocket thing!

I saw a similar idea in Family Fun magazine. And if you don't subscribe to Family Fun, you really really should! (I mention it so much on here, they should pay me! ha ha ha)

I made my pocket kind of deep so the books don't show unless they are really big books. You can make yours as deep as you wish. We used 2 U-shaped curtain rods-because these are very inexpensive. You can see here- how it looks with the rods and with things in it.

If you use these rods please note: I used 2 sets- a part from the set from Target and a part from the set from Walmart- both will run you about $3-4 dollars. The reason I did this is because one set  from one particular store did not have enough space in between the two rods. You have to make sure your rods have enough space between them for putting books in and out of this opening. This is the reason I used a set of rods from Walmart, and a set from Target- to get two different sized rods with enough space between them for books.

HOW TO MAKE A FABRIC BOOK POCKET/SLING:

you will need:

2 pieces of fabric 45 inches wide, and 30 inches long- if you want your books to show make it about 25 inches long instead.

2 long strips of heavy interfacing

thread/sewing machine

an iron

2- u-shaped curtain rods or 2 double curtain rods (or holders and dowels that fit)

1. On the shorter ends of one piece of fabric, iron on the interfacing across each end. This is where you will make a casing later.

2. NEXT with right sides together,  sew the two pieces of fabric together, leaving an opening to you can turn it right side out. It is a good idea to pin the fabrics together when you do this.

3. Turn the fabrics right side out and press.

4. On the shorter ends, fold the fabric over to make a casing. The size of your casing will depend on the rods you are using. I made my casing just over an inch wide, and my rods were about a 1/2 inch in width. Press this and then sew along the long edge only.

5. When your casing is finished, fold your fabric in half so that both casings are lined up. Press and iron well.

6. Now you are ready to hang up your book pocket with your curtain rods.

When your rod brackets are hung, thread the rods through the casing of your book pocket, and you are done! Hang it up and fill it with books!

I plan to make more of these, so I will try to get a better tute w/ photos. It was pretty easy, so hopefully the above instructions will help you out if want to make one. Let me know if you have any questions and happy sewing and happy reading!