for me to make, for you to make... some great tutorials

This awesome, super easy skirt that looks like the stuff from that one blonde girl on P.R. this season. Wish I woulda had this tutorial when I was making my christmas skirt... I had wanted to make one like this in raw silk, but didn't know how, and only had 2 days to make something, so I just made something else that kicked my butt. more details and a photo to follow...

I have been wanting to do some bleaching on a shirt or two, and never knew how I should approach that messy task. This girl gave a nice little tutorial on how she made this shirt above with tape, bleach and water!

And if you are following "So You Think You Are Crafty" then you already know about this tutorial, but I totally want to make pillows like this. I have had throw pillows on my to do list for quite some time now (about 2 years), but I always seems to have a million other more important things to make! (like um... headbands? christmas dresses??).. Anyway, now that holiday making season is over, I will have time in the new year to make lots of other things I have been dying to do!!!! yeah!!!!

TUTORIAL: t-shirt or onesie REVAMP

Wanna take that boring t-shirt or baby onesie and make it interesting? Here is the easy way to do that in under an hour (this is a "one nap" project for those of you with babies).
materials needed:
patterned fabric (cotton, flannel, etc)
"steam a seam" or something like it that allows you to iron on fabric
wool felt, lace, crochet, buttons, anything you want to adorn it with.
thread, scissors, iron

get the shirt, onesie, whatever and the fabric you want to work with.

this is the stuff I use to adhere the fabric. Of all the kinds I've used, this is my favorite. I got it at Hobby Lobby, but I am sure you can find it other places or on the web.

cut out pieces of the fabric into interesting shapes. I used the pattern on the fabric to guide my shape decisions. I then put it onto the sticky part of the "steam a seam."

keeping the "steam a seam" attached to the fabric, cut around the fabric so the edges are flush.

peel the paper part off, and leave the sticky part attached to the fabric

place the pieces on your shirt and then iron on according to directions (steam a seam says press it on the cotton setting for 15 secs).

Cut-out other things you want to add on top. and pin. then sew together (you can sew through the steam-a-seam). TA-DA!!!

HERE ARE SOME OTHER EXAMPLES....

 

  

 Enjoy revamping!

want some tape

any anyone want to buy these for me so i can

make some cool stuff??? like this cool garland or just to adorn some envelopes???

i love japanese washi paper tape. i have always loved colored masking tape. in fact i have made a few different masking tape murals in my day...

last year I made this paper and masking tape mural for my art room at Weber.

And the year before that I made this tape mural for my art students at Mater Academy.

and in 2003 I made this tape mural in my apartment in Chicago. and then I taped this boy into it for fun.

ornament inspiration

For the owl-lover, I love this one with the pinks and oranges.
Here is a bird rattle I made back when I was pregnant. It hangs over Olivia's carseat and she loves it! I roughly followed the bird pattern on this site, then embellished it with felt and stuck a bell inside so it would jingle. I think it would make a great ornament too (no bell needed).
My mom loved Olivia's rattle so much that she asked me to make some non-hanging ones for her birthday (I gave her these back in November). YOu could do 2 white ones and make them represent turtle doves?
I love these little terranium ornaments I saw on cup of jo.
And these cool polaroid ornaments (made by just inserting a regular photo into a felt "polaroid" sleeve. (saw these on how about orange).
I had actually been contemplating making some like this (retro), and then saw the link for these ones on how about orange also!
And THIS one is soooo simple! And yet looks fancy! also linked on how about orange.....

So get ornament making people! I don't know if I actually have time to make ornaments for myself this year, but I have a feeling I will be making some for other people!

a heliopter ride

soo.. the day before thanksgiving my husband took me on a surprise date, which included a ride over atlanta in a helicopter! (okay i knew we had won the ride awhile back, but i told him to surprise me in the future and take me when i didn't know it was coming. just for fun.) anyway, it was a fabulous date, and we had SUCH great time. what a view! i especially loved the way the intersecting highways created these beautiful lines around the buildings. the reminded me of this series of mixed media pieces i did awhile back called "undulating lines." of course my lines were tiny and profuse, but it was like an enlarged 3 dimensional version! so inspiring.

Lately I am loving these things...

1. AMAZON UNIVERSAL WISHLIST BUTTON... go to amazon, download the button (its on the left side) to your browser and then you can add anything, from aNYwHERe on the web, to your amazon wishlist! What a great way to keep track of everything you see that you want and don't want to forget about!!! I told my mom about this, and so she had us each do an amazon wishlist for christmas. Luckily, I had been adding things to this list for months, so I didn't have my usual brain fart when she asked me what I wanted for Christmas!

2.Discovered this site ("clients from hell") on "How About Orange" and have spent a lot of time laughing out loud with my husband about the ridiculousness of people. NOTE: you may not get all the jokes if you are not familiar with graphic design lingo, but some things are funny regardless.

3.GovDeals.com.... old desks, chairs, etc from schools and other state facilities. ONLY PROBLEM is everything is sold in large quantities and I have neither the space to store 50 chairs, nor the vehicle to pick them up in.... Does anyone oh anyone in the Georgia area want to go halfsies on something with me??? I need old school furniture!! For what? I don't know!!! But I love it. that is all I know.

4.And this little etsy seller, who I discovered while reading this blog..
How cute is that necklace??

5. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this contest (So you think you're crafty), and I have fun voting every week and seeing who wins! Whoever wins posts their tutorial for all to have! so great!

Hope you enjoy these things as much as I do!!

"while you were napping" Christmas Tree Skirt Tutorial

THIS IS A 1-2 NAP PROJECT (ABOUT 2 HOURS). depends on your child:)
Materials needed:
Scissors
Felt (I prefer wool blend) 1-2 yards (total) of varying colors.
hot glue and/or sewing machine (this entire thing can be made either way or a mixture of both)
ruler/tape measure
large paper (newsprint, etc and you can tape pieces together if neccessary) and marker
*optional: pinking shears

What we will be doing first is to figure out the size of each "gored" piece (triangles that are sewn together to make a circle). Its like a slice of pie... and we need the dimensions so you can make a template for cutting out the pieces to make your skirt.
1. figure out a rough estimate of what you want the circumference of your circle/skirt to be. I used a fabric tape measure to make one. 2. create the "circle" on the floor and then measure the diameter of the circle (I did mine with a long ruler, you could use a tape measure, etc).
instructions above: draw out a little diagram, then divide your circumference and diameter in half. keep these measurements and move to the step below.
If the number you got after dividing your circumference in two is not easily divided into 4 (i.e. I got circ.=62, then I divided it by 2 and got 31, but that doesn't divide into 4 (or more) easily so I rounded up to 32. So, Now to make the piece of "pie" you have your sides (diameter /2) and the top (1/2circ. divided by 4 or more). See diagram below.
The next instructions are written above. just click on the photo to enlarge it. After making this template, then use it to cut out 8 "slices of pie" out of varying colors of felt. I stuck to greens, gray, and creme.
Then cut out some decorative stripes. I used my pinking shears to make the edges interesting. Then SEW or HOT GLUE the strips onto each slice of pie.
After you have adhered the stripes, sew or glue each piece of the christmas tree skirt pie together. i put wrong sides together when i sewed that way there would be a ridge between each piece. ** leave an opening between the first and last triangles so that you can open up the skirt and put it around the trunk!
Once you have sewed them all together, cut a circle out of the center (big enough to fit your trunk). Hot glue the cut threads so they don't unravel.
You can either leave it as is, pink the edges of the whole thing, or proceed as follows...
first trim all the strips that are hanging over the edge. Then either free-hand some scalloped edging, or make a template on paper. then trace onto the felt.
I free-handed as you can see. I am too impatient and have limited time. (I had to use a few strips, so i just overlapped them when adding a new one.)
Then hot-glue or sew the scallops round the circumference of the skirt! It would probably be cute to do another row of scallops too... in a contrasting color... hmmm...
put it around the tree!!!
voila! too bad i have that cord showing in the photo!!!! ugly! if you have any questions email me at buyblueeyedfreckle(at)gmail(dot)com. Happy Christmas tree skirt making!!