Tonight's Mess

LABELS!!!!.  Tonight I made labels for all the goodies I make.   I used interfaced weaver cloth, StazOn Ink Pad: Jet Black, and small letter stamps.  It was fun to making different shapes with different colors.  Too bad my pinking shears are dull,  it would be fun to use those for the edges.

I made a not so perfect circle by tracing around a small lid right on the fabric. Then carefully sewed inside the circle using an embroidery foot.  Then cut, pressed and stamped.

TGIF!  I am getting out of here!

Ironing Boring Cover

Before I could start making any fun, new projects I had to take care of this nasty mess.
I bought this high-end ironing board cover about 3 months ago and it's trashed, so I decided that I would have to make my own in order to get any kind of quality cover.  Boring!

Here's how I did it. 
1) Choose 2 yards of a thick cotton fabric.  I found my fabric at a thrift store, one big, flat bed-sheet.  Great color, great quality and best of all, super cheap!

2) I then traced the ironing board by turning it upside on the fabric.  Then made the cut lines 4 inches wider from the original traced lines.  I cut out two of these pieces and stitched them together to get extra thickness.

3) Cut out a top piece that looks like the picture below. Measure is 4 inches long as if your were to cut the top of the board piece off.  Notice, the pieces are not ironed, kind of irononic to iron an ironing board cover. LOL

                                                                                

4)  Time to sew!  Use a strong stitch throughout this project.  I used a strait/zigzag combo stitch. Sew the large top portion to the small top portion then turn the seam in.

5) Then fold the edges in about 1  1/2 inch, leaving room to thread in cording or elastic. Now sew all the way around.  Leave an unsewn gap at the bottom,  enough room to insert and tie off elastic or cording.

6)  Now thread the elastic or cording around the whole cover.  You will need about 4 yards.

7)  Time to put on the finished cover. Yeah!!!!  I left the old cover on because I liked it's padding.
Project time = 30 minutes

Tip
Before putting on your new cover, cover the ironing board with aluminum foil,  this helps to conduct more heat and prevents the metal board from leaving rust stains on clothes.

 Isn't she pretty

Edward or Elvis

     

Who is this handsome man?  If you want a good laugh, go ask any tween in your house, then go ask anyone over fifty.  I find this this very amusing.  Have your tweener with you when you ask the old dinosaur.  

I am sure anyone under fifteen-years-old, told you that this is Edward Cullen, the hunky vampire from the Twilight Saga and any over fifty-year-old's, told you that this is Elvis Presley, the king of rock-n-roll.  We're still laughing.  Famous words from the tween's "Duh! it's Edward, how could you have not known that."

Well, I think they're  both hot, so I made a reversible bag for myself, one side is Elvis and the other side is Edward.

      I also made all the tween's in my family these Team Edward themed bags.  They were a hit!  I think I even heard  my niece scream when she opened it  from 10,000 miles away.

     These are fun, big bags that sling over the shoulder.  The best part is that, they are reversible.  The pattern for the bag is super easy and can be found at http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/sling_bag .  I found the awesome Cullen crest by doing a Google image search and  Edward's silhouette can be found at Pin and Paper's blogsite at http://pinandpaper.blogspot.com/2009/11/embracing-my-inner-13-year-old.html  .            I made a cardboard stencil  by cutting up a cereal box with an exacto knife. First, I printed the images I wanted out. Then taped each one to a cereal box then carefully cut it out.  This gave me my reusable stencil to paint.  I then taped the stencil on the bags and used acrylic paint to paint the images on the bags. The small pieces on the the Cullen Crest (example, the clovers) were floating pieces.  I used tweezers to place them on the fabric where they belonged, then very gently painted around them. Tip-use the tweezers to help keep the floating pieces in place while painting.  Turned out quite well.  If I do say so myself. 

Here are some happy girls, standing in line to see the movie New Moon on opening day.  We had a great time.  Check out their suckers.  Blood suckers!  LOL.  Everyone in line got a real kick out of them.  Here is the link if you want to make some, for the blood suckers in your life.  http://tissupapers.blogspot.com/2009/10/vampire-blood-lollipops.html.  

       Well, there are two more Twlight movies left to come out, so there is a lot of time to start making some fun gifts for the little blood suckers in your lives.                                Edward and Bella Forever!

Wild Things

Is this not the cutest?  My nephews are going to love their new shirts.  They have whiskers, fuzzy tails, and buttons.  What fun!  I found a the idea and some of the pattern for this here at Meet at Mikes http://meetmeatmikes.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-to-make-where-wild-things-are.html   I came up with the tail and arms myself.  I used white fleece vs felt  because it will hold up longer in the wash.  I used real buttons down the front and  I used button/utility  thread for the whiskers.  The tail is made from monster fur (don't tell PETA) and it wraps around to the back.

     I made three of these shirts and four of these adorable  hats for more of the wild things in my life.  This pattern can be found at instructables  http://www.instructables.com/id/Sew-a-Where-the-Wild-Things-Are-hat-pattern/ . 

Here I am using every spare second wisely, putting the heel to the pedal. Ten minutes early to attend a Christmas party,  3 days left until Christmas, I have no time to waste!   3 more gifts to make and I still have to Christmas shop for my own child.     AHHHHHH!!!  Where does the time go?

I hate appliqueing

I have made all the kids in our family appliqued t-shirts for Christmas gifts. Total of 15 shirts. It is the most time consuming and boring thing to do. I would rather go on a scavenger hunt in a padded room. Appliqueing is really easy to do. I recommend this tutorial if you plan on making appliques.

Supplies

Vodka
Orange Juice

T-shirt
freezer paper or stabilizer of choice
interfacing
web fusing

I chose my patterns by using an on-line image search, then transferred my image to a word document then re-sized the image to one that looked appropriate for the size shirt I was making. You can now print the image or tape a piece of computer paper to your computer screen, trace it.