Paint Can Party Bag

I LOVE THIS PROJECT!

A dear friend of mine from college has a beautiful little girl about a year younger than my little guy. Their birthday's fall around each others, and I love making things for her :) While the birthday is still a ways away, I just couldn't wait to make this and since I have the free time now, I figured I would get started :)

I took a clean gallon paint can (bought for under $5 at Home Depot) and covered it with some fun scrapbook paper and then used the Cricut to cut out a letter, some shapes and the phrase "sweet girl." I divided the can in half using the handle as my guides.

For the paper I cut:

2 -  9 1/2" x 7 3/8", 

2 - 1"x1"

2 - .8" x 5.5"

After the paper was cut, I glued on the decorations. Starting with the largest pieces I used Beacon's 3 in 1 glue (which you can pick up at Michaels) to glue the main body pieces onto the paint can. After they dried completely I glued the long slender pieces and then finally my small square pieces. I made sure that there were no bubbles anywhere and that the paper lay flush against the can. 

To do the top of the can I measured the diameter of my top and then just used the Cricut to cut a circle out of the scrapbook paper in that diameter size. 

To be safe, I let the can sit overnight, just to make sure I did things correctly and that the glue would settle well and the paper would hold. Then I went through my scrap bin and pulled some scrap fabric that would be fun and funky as well as some ribbon pieces. I used pinking shears to cut some strips out and then just knotted them along the handle of the can.

Now I have a super cute "gift bag" for my little sweetie's birthday present. I'm going to fill it with art supplies and different crafty things she can learn to use over the next year.  Plus she can use the can to store her toys or goodies :)

Running Idea Log

MJD is sitting in my bed watching some Mighty Machines. I don't normally allow a lot of t.v. during the day, but as he only napped 45 minutes today, we're using this as quiet time. Since he won't let me sleep, I figured I would surf the net for more crafty ideas and patterns..... What I found is too much! So here's a list of all the projects I want to do and where I found them from. 

Rounded Flower Petals

Flowered Headband

Racetrack Carrier

Handbag Pen Pouch

How to do French Seams

Dinosaur Play Mat

Sewing Supply Case

Easy Lunch Tote

Small Lined Purse

Perfect Box Pouch

Crib Guard Rail


Sewing a Ladder Stitch

Sew a Baseball Stitch

Flower Yo-Yo

Fabric Mail Sorter


Recipe Card Holder

Felted Needle Book

Business Card Holder

Reversible Headband

Sewing Bag

Fabric Bag Basket

Checkbook Cover

Shopping Bag

Storage Baskets

Car Trash Bags

Fabric Stitched Notecards

Pencil Bag

Owl Ornament

Quilted Wallet

Frayed Flower Pin

Making Fabric Labels

Using a Yo-Yo Maker

Drawstring Bag Pattern

Flip Flop update

I know I said earlier I wanted to get a tutorial up on the flip flops for the summer. I had a bit of an issue finding the rhinestone buckles. I thought I had seen them in my local craft stores, but alas I had not. So after much fuss, I finally ordered some off of Etsy. They have shipped and as soon as they arrive I will get the tutorial up for everyone :) If you are wanting to get buckles for yourself you can also order some from The Buckle Boutique.

Shower Re-organization

Due to an obedience issue with my little man and the loss of some bath toys, I decided to finally re-do shower toys and organization in the bathroom. We had been using a small laundry basket in the shower to house all the toys. Downside to this is that water settles in the bottom of the basket and gets icky. :(

After the incident last week which resulted the with the loss of toys, I decided to change everything in the shower so little man didn't freak out the next day with no bath toys, so I saw this idea on another blog and decided to improvise.

I purchased some cheap laundry bags (3 in the bag) and a package of suction cups at the Dollar Tree.

I cut about 11" of ribbon from some of my ribbon stash at home and seared the edges to prevent fraying. Then I sewed it under and above the zipper of the bag.
I took two thin strips of green ribbon, seared those ends, and then sewed it to the top corners.

And VOILA.... this is what we got for the morning..... a new little shower organizer with some foam bath toys and army men...

No more slimy toys in the basket, toys can drip dry and for the $2.14 it cost me in supplies at the store, I can make 3 sets of these to use as presents or small gift additions.

I do like that I kept the zipper on this version rather than the original idea because we do tend to travel to visit family, and this way I can just grab his bath bag when it is dry and put it in his suitcase.

(By the way, the foam package that I used for the toys was $5 at Toys R Us, and it had more than 20 pieces, so I am going to parcel some out in the other 2 little bags I am making for friends.)

Firecracker Tee

I've seen tons of 4th of July shirts at stores like Old Navy each year, but they always have the year on it and then you can't really pass it down through kids, or I don't know it's never been something that's caught my attention enough to buy it. 

This year, LMM is definitely big enough to enjoy the holiday festivities, so I want to make sure he's appropriately outfitted. Plus we'll be going on vacation for a few days with my in-laws. So after perusing the Internet and different holiday shirts, I saw a firecracker on a tee shirt and thought, "I could totally make that!" 

So here we go: 

• I started out with a white Granimals tee from Wal-Mart. (Even luckier for me, I got the last 3T white shirt on clearance :)
• Picked up 6" of red star fabric in the fabric aisle while there. I cut out a 2" wide by 8" long strip and rounded the edges freehand. Fused some Heat 'N Bond to the wrong side of the fabric and then fused everything to the white tee. 

• Next I cut out a star shaped piece of blue fabric with dots on it that came out of my scrap bin. (I went on the computer and actually printed a star picture so I had a template to cut the fabric from. I didn't want my points all off.) Once again I fused the Heat 'N Bond to the fabric, then everything was fused to the shirt a couple inches from the top of the firecracker body. 

•  After everything was placed where I wanted it, I ironed it down to keep it in place. Then I pinned some lightweight stabilizer to the back of the shirt and used my ziz-zag stitch setting on my sewing machine (at .5 length and 3.5 width) with a matching red thread to do a tight ziz-zag stitch all around the body of the firecracker and star. 
• Once I finished with that, I used a disappearing ink fabric pen to draw lines between the star points and I did a ziz-zag stitch on top of the lines. 

•  After all the stitching was done, I snipped all the threads, removed the stabilizer from the back and ironed the shirt out. 

Now all we have to do is wait for the 4th and party in style!

Cost of the project (including materials I already had in supply) about $4

Boutique style burp cloths

You know those good ole Gerber cloth diapers that are super absorbent just not super cute??? My girlfriend picked up a package of them on sale not too long ago at Wal-Mart and some cute fat quarter fabric to decorate them with. 

So here's how I got them from simple burp rags to super sweet burp cloths for sweet little Charis

• Iron out the burp cloth, silly I know, but it makes a big difference when sewing.

• Cut your fabric strips to be 4.5" long by about 16" long.

• Fold under the edges so that you have it in the size you want for the middle of the burp cloth. I did about 1/4" on the long sides and about 1" on the short sides.  Be sure to press your folds well.                                                                                   
• Cut out Heat 'N Bond fabric adhesive and fuse it to the wrong side of your decorative fabric, peel back the paper layer then fuse it to the burp cloth in the thicker middle strip of the fabric. (This step is not essential if you don't want it to be, but I recommend it to make sure your fabric stays where it should be while sewing.)  

• Use coordinating thread and sew the fabric into the burp cloth with about a 1/8" seam allowance so your stitch is as close as you can get to the edge of the fabric. 

• Now enjoy burping your baby in style!                 

Summer Sandals

I live in Florida, so flip flops are a year round staple. I must own a least a dozen and in all sorts of colors. But black is certainly my most used and I'm constantly buying them on sale at Old Navy.

So when my friend walked in the house with these on this morning, I was drooling over her shoes, how cute are these??!!

I have to go to Michaels today so I'll pick up the rhinestones to make these for myself and then I'll post a tutorial later. These are a must have summer project!

Make your own diaper cake

I was first introduced to diaper cakes at my baby shower, they were the table centerpieces. While they made an adorable decoration, they were also incredibly useful as I went through the first months as a new mom.

Now when I have baby showers to organize or go to, I'm always sure to find out if someone is making a diaper cake, and if not, I try to bring one. Here are a couple of photos from some made not too long a go for a couple I work with.

This first one shows that there are rubber bands holding everything together under the ribbon, I pulled the ribbon down for the photo.

The accessories are all bath themed for this one. The next photo has the ribbon in place and had toys and diapering accessories.

To make these two cakes, I bought one box of size 3 Target brand diapers (the generic ones allowed me to have the colored dots and no cartoon characters to try and hide,) wipes, bath items, diaper cream, a toy and a large package of rubber bands.

I rubber banded about 6-7 diapers and then put them inside of a large rubber band for the base. I rolled more diapers without a rubber band and secured them inside the large rubber band set so I wouldn't have to be hiding rubber bands everywhere. Once I had the base the size I wanted, I went ahead and did the same thing for the other two layers, rolling diapers and sticking them into the rubber band area.

When my layers were the size I wanted them, I used 3/4" to 1" ribbon and wrapped it around the rubber band holding everything together so the rubber band was hidden from view, plus the ribbon adds a nice finishing effect. You can tape the ribbon with clear tape, I used a pin needle to pin it in place.

Cost of the project: under $30 for 2 diaper cakes, not bad, especially if you know you have 2 baby showers coming up!

How to Make a Fabric Name Banner

I posted a photo of the name banner before, but this week I had the time to make two of them! Shocking huh?! Actually I did it while MJD was crafting at his table or sleeping. 

So here's the low down on how to make one: 

• Buy 4 different 1/4 yard of ribbon (in the picture I'm posting I used only 2 fabrics b/c of the color scheme she wanted, so mine is a little smaller than normal.)
• Use pinking scissors to cut the fabric into about 1" strips. Here's a picture:

• Use a long piece of ribbon to hold everything on and tie the fabric strips onto the ribbon with a simple knot. (Yes, it will look like it's flying everywhere, that's okay.)
• Cut out a shape background from card stock so it's a little sturdy. I used a Cricut machine, if you don't have one you can just hand cut the paper with some template. 
• Then cut out a smaller shape to layer on top of the large background. I alternated my color pattern, you can do whatever you want. 
• Then cut out your letters for the name you want to use, or saying. Glue them all together and punch a small hole in the top of each backing. Use a piece of ribbon to attach the letter to the banner and you're done! 
• Hang it on a nursery or bedroom wall or door. 

Some other ideas on how to use these:

• Instead of a name use holiday words and holiday fabric to decorate your home for the seasons such as Valentine's Day, Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas
• Make for a baby shower.
• Use for a birthday party either with a name or HAPPY BIRTHDAY
• Give as a holiday gift with words such as NOEL, FAITH, JOY, etc.

New present idea

So this past year for all my girlfriend's birthdays, I made them the Carry All Padfolios. We don't really exchange presents or anything like that, but I LOVE BIRTHDAYS and just can't help myself. Plus with all my fabric I don't really feel like it costs me much other than time. Anyways, now that I've been through a round of birthdays, I needed a new idea for this coming year.

While on vacation I stopped at a store from Italy called Portico. They have a huge collection of all sorts of house things and gift ideas, that is also where I bought some little girl presents. I picked up these sparkly pens there.

Wanting to add something to the mix, I also bought a ton of little notebooks (that fit perfectly into the padfolio) and just decorated them to be personalized for each lovely lady.

If you happen to be one of the lovely ladies with a birthday coming up and you're reading this blog and already have a padfolio birthday present from me, do me a favor and act surprised when you get one of these this year :) Thanks!

Name Book

I was looking around the house at some of the awesome crafty projects I've either done or had made for me, and I just wanted to share this awesome name book. A very dear friend of mine, Wendy, who is one of the best scrapbook crafters I have ever met, made this for MJD's first birthday! I just love passing by it every day and thinking about her and him at the same time. Such a special gift.

You can buy similar "name books" online which say "LOVE", "FAITH", etc. But to make one personalized you need the following:

• Assortment of scrapbooking paper
• White poster board paper
• Foam board
• Stickers, accessories, stamps, pictures, etc. to decorate it with
• 3 Binder rings
• Adhesive glue in spray
• Cutting mat and X-acto knife
• Printed letter fonts that you want to use as your template
• Hole puncher

The idea is to take your poster paper and trace out the letters for the name, all but the last letter. Start with the first letter, in this case the M. Cut it out, then lay it on top of the next piece of poster paper and then trace out the next letter, "A" over to the right  so they stack in a horizontal manner. Do all the letters except the last one. The last one you need to do with foam board, which is a little harder because of the depth of the foam, but the foam is what holds the book standing upright.

Once everything is cut out and you like the layout, then spray the poster/foam board with the spray on glue and lay your scrapbook paper on top. Be sure there are no air bubbles and smooth everything out. Then use the knife and cut off all the excess. This is best done if you flip it over and see your edges from the poster board.

Stack all your letters together and get everything lined up nicely, then punch 3 holes though all the pages at the same time and connect with binder rings.

Finally, decorate with embellishments!

Fruit Buddy

I know this is more of a crafty blog than a mommy blog, but my little guy and I discovered these at Publix the other day. While he's a great fruit and veggie kind of guy, I can never resist offering him healthy snacks during the day. Seems like we tend to go through a lot of fruit snacks, which I am trying to get away from. 

So here's his favorite new things, Buddy Fruits, although MJD calls them "fruit buds"

They were $1 each, which seemed like a little much, but he LOVES them, and I'd rather pay to keep him healthy than pay to make him healthy when he's sick.

My Machine

While on vaca, I brought a few sewing projects. I was very quickly disappointed when I realized I've been spoiled by my wonderful sewing machine. My mom's simply didn't stand a chance against what I've been used to and I wasn't able to enjoy sewing, therefore got nothing done.

So, I thought I would show off my lovely beauty. Oh how I had missed you. I will not take you for granted.

If you're in the market for a new machine, I do have to say I love my Husquvarna machine! It's a rather simple embroidery machine and I can't say I use all those features, but man oh man, do I love her sewing capabilities. I don't know if I could ever invest in another brand after working on these beautiful machines.

Puff Paint and Ribbon

I am totally one of those moms who always said I would never buy a travel DVD player for my car so my kids could watch t.v. while we traveled.

Well, life happened, I had a kid, and yup, I bought a DVD player for the car. And worse still, I bought one for each of our cars.

Now don't get me wrong, we don't watch it much, but on longer car trips, or when little man is over tired and won't sleep, I definitely resort to using my DVD player.

Having a DVD player for a car means we have to tote around some of our favorite DVDs. So, last summer, I stole this idea from a girlfriend of mine. Actually, she's so awesome, I just bought the case on clearance for $2 and she did the rest for me.

You can totally pick up a travel case at your local Dollar Tree and some colorful paint at Wal Mart or Michaels for $1.

Cute presents

I am always on the look out for cute birthday present ideas that I can make and then add things to at a low cost. Last Christmas there were tons of leftover fabric totes at Michaels for $.48 so I bought up a few. They've been sitting in my workspace for quite a while with no purpose. Until now!

I found this adorable paisley pattern at Joanns a few weeks ago and had some little scraps leftover from a padfolio I made, so I used the scraps and the totes to make personalized little bags for some little ladies. 

To put some accessories in the totes, I found these adorable little gifts while on vacation at this super cool store called Portico. Really cute gifts imported all the way from Italy. 

Back in the groove

We're home from vacation! It was wonderful, but I'm also glad to be home. So a couple of new posts about some things to get back in the groove.

For Valentine's Day my hubby bought me a Kindle. (I love it, if you're wondering!) At the time I was so uncertain about a case and I didn't want to spend the money on accessories rather than books, so I made a sleeve with some interfacing and a couple cute patterns.

If anyone else is an avid reader as well as a crafter, the Kindle is awesome and you can easily accessorize it yourself.

M.I.A.

Yes folks, I've been away for a bit. We are currently in a tropical paradise, a.k.a Nana's house near the beach. I've enjoyed days of rest, good Spanish food and a full time Nana and Papa to take care of the little man.

Part of my dream vacation time is to have a lot of crafting done. Believe it or not, I did bring things to craft with, but Nana's sewing machine leaves much to be desired, therefore I am waiting to get home to do the projects.

So for the next 10 days I will be M.I.A. If you come across any cool craft blogs that you want to share, leave the link in the comment section. I'm going to spend some time this summer re-vamping the blog and adding links and such.

Happy June!