Halloween Felt No-Sew Banner

It's October!

October is one of my favorite months of the year, mostly because I love, love, love Halloween.  I know it's kinda silly, but I love getting dressed up in some ridiculous costume and parading around.  In previous years, I've tried to make the girls' Halloween costumes (I've done R2D2 and Fawn, one of Tinkerbell's fairy friends, for example) and even my own (I have a giant pink felt poodle skirt just waiting for me in my closet); but this year I really wanted to make something that I can reuse every year. I love the idea of getting out the Halloween box of decorations and finding all the cool stuff that the kids and I have made each year and putting them up. :)

Two years ago, I made a paper banner for Halloween. Click here to check it out. It's nice to see that it only took me two years to finally make a new banner out of felt! 

Here's the finished banner:

Didn't it turn out awesome?!  I really like it!  The last triangle is a spiderweb, made with glow-in-the-dark fabric paint--spooky! 

Close-up!

I bought some felt on sale at Jo-Ann's and made a few triangles, then I embellished them with some cute felt cut-outs that I free-handed.  I attached all the cut-outs with tacky glue (no-sewing!). 

If you didn't want to get out your sewing machine, you could then just attach all the finished triangles to a festive ribbon with glue as well, but I just got a new shipment of bobbins in, so I sewed mine on. I found the glitter/orange ribbon at Michael's. 

Don't forget to sign up and follow my blog! I'm working on a spooky Halloween wreath and have a bunch of easy Halloween decorations that you can make with the kids to share soon.  Stay tuned!

~Patricia

Things I've learned (ongoing)

You know that feeling when you think you're doing ok, you know, as a parent, a spouse, a friend...and then you have this realization that well, you don't have it figured out. Not at all. I've made a decision that I'm going to write about these things that I'm learning, in the hopes that maybe it'll make me a better person.

We're all a work in progress. Here goes:

1. Give freely.

I have this friend, Ivy, who is one of those people that donates to every cause. You know, like my friend's sister has this, or we need money for that, etc, etc. Often I don't give anything because well, I'm stingy. There. I said it. I am cheap, selfish and stingy sometimes. Aren't we all a little bit? And when you realize something like that about yourself, you're bound to make a change. So I will. I am. I did. I'm going to be more generous, because being generous feels good (there I go back to being selfish again!), but it also sends a positive message to my children.

There are people out there that need your help. If you can, you should. Simple as that.

Give freely.

Freezer paper stencil state t-shirt

This is such a cute idea and so easy!
Freezer paper stencils are a favorite of mine, because they are an easy way to personalize any t-shirt.
If you are unfamiliar with freezer paper stencils, here's a brief how-to:
1. Print out any shape that you want, animals, states, hearts, holiday stuff, etc.
2. Trace it onto the non-shiny side of freezer paper and cut out the inside of your object, in my case, the state of Minnesota. 
3. Iron the stencil you've created onto a t-shirt. Put some cardboard directly behind the surface you're going to paint on.
4. Using fabric paint and a foam brush, paint 2 coats of paint over your stencil. Let dry overnight.
5. Carefully remove the freezer paper, then set a cloth over your creation and iron it to set.
6. Wear and enjoy! Easy!!

Never heard of freezer paper or don't know where to get it?

Click here to buy Reynolds Freezer Paper from Amazon.com or look for it at your local stores. I found mine at wal-mart near the aluminum foil.



Have fun!
~ patricia

DIY Plastic Grocery Bag Holder

Want a simple easy, project that leaves you feeling like you've accomplished something?

Of course! Enter the easy DIY Plastic Grocery Bag Holder. This project took me maybe 15 minutes to complete, and it's so useful, I felt really good about myself afterwards. And that's really the reason that I love to get crafty and sew.

Basically, you sew a dish towel into a tube, put elastic at one end, and a piece of twill tape at the other end so that you can hang it up. And it's kinda fun to stuff it full of plastic bags too. Bonus!!

I used a scrap piece of flannel that I had in my scrap pile, but how cute would it be to use a coordinating dish towel in your kitchen to tidy up all those unruly bags? Love it!  I also made another one from a leg of a pair of pajama pants I shortened!

What are you waiting for? Get sewing!

~ patricia

Make a "Taggie" Monogram Baby gift!

My husband's cousin is having a baby soon, so I found this easy tutorial for making a "Taggie" monogram toy--so simple!

I got the directions from this website here.  Check it out!

I added some Warm & Natural batting between the layers of flannel to make it extra soft and give it some shape. I've made these in squares with just flannel, and I found those to be a little floppy. Just my preference!

Here's some photos of the finished product!

Have fun!
~ patricia

Sheet bag up-cycle

For my daughter's birthday, I got her a set of sheets from Target. They had little horses all over them and were just darling!

I decided to add some ribbon (as a strap) to the bag the sheets came in, and voila! A super cute messenger-style bag!

If you don't know how to sew, you could use some glue to secure the ribbon, or even hand sewing would work for this. It's just too easy not to do!

How to fix a tear in a dress! (creatively)

Awhile ago, someone gifted us a bunch of clothes, which was really awesome, since most of the items were exactly the things my daughter wanted.

There was a red pinafore-type dress in there, that would have been cute, if it didn't have a big rip right in the front.

I decided to get out the craft supplies and fix it! Felt to the rescue!

I stated by doing a Pinterest search for felt flowers and then free-handed one on a scrap of thicker paper (a good use for the million of tear-out cards that are in every magazine). I made 3 flowers in different sizes.

I was going to just plop the flower on top of the tear, when I got the genious idea to just continue the thread down to make a stem. I used the machine to make the leaves too, by adjusting the width of the zigzag as I went along. I then just sewed the flowers on and voila!

A super cute fix to an unsightly problem! I think it turned out great!