Lookin' Good

So, I don't know if you are like me, but money doesn't grow on trees at my house. So, we don't have really expensive furniture. I actually got this book shelf on sale at Target for $20. BUT the problem is that is has the cheap look. You know, the holes drilled every where to adjust the shelves, laminated particle board shelf;) I was sick and tired of looking at those dumb holes.

So, I grabbed some acrylic brown paint and a small paint brush and got to work. Now my cheap furniture looks just a little bit less cheap.

T-shirt to Bib

Here are 2 variations on THIS post.  Part 1 will teach you how to make the neckline smaller. Part 2 will show you how to make it double layered. Don't do part 1 if you intend on making double layered.

PART 1
If you are looking for part 2 scroll down a bit on this post and you will find it. 
If the neck line is too big, it is a simple fix. In this photo where the arrows are you can see how big it is on my daughter. It hangs too far on the shoulders. I have it pulled back in this photo, but it also hangs too low in the front.

Cut along the black line.

Cut off a little from the front (just about 1/2 inch)

Sew the shoulders together again.

 It should be a much better fit!

PART 2 (My sewing machine is getting a tune up so I only had my surger. You can do this with just a sewing machine)
This particular t-shirt was thin and I wanted to make it double layered.  If you want to make it double layered skip the above tutorial.
You will need fabric of any kind. I used cotton and it turned out fine.
Cut along the black line.

Cut the 2 pieces out from your chosen fabric. You should now have 4 pieces. Make sure to cut right UNDER the collar as shown in the picture below.

Zig zag or surge around the neckline of both pieces you just cut out.

 Sew along the straight edges leaving the neck and shoulders open. Do this for both pieces.

Flip right side out. At this point I would have pressed the seams out and topped stitched, but with no sewing machine, I couldn't.   I HIGHLY recommend you do this step.

 With right sides together, sew the shoulders together.

Leave the neckline open so it can stretch.

Put on your little person and step back to admire your handy work!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Hubby was going through his drawer the other day and getting rid of shirts he doesn't wear anymore. I decided to get rid of a few myself. As I was looking through the shirts I realized that I could out them to good use in a project I have been wanted to make for a while.

My mom made this for me a few years ago out of a dish towel. We use it all the time, but I only have one.

Are you seeing where this is leading? Here is a simple NO SEW tutorial to turn old t-shirts into a great cloth protector. (my 5 year old still uses this when he has nice cloths on so he HATES when we call it a bib:) All you need are some old adult size t-shirts and scissors.

Lay the t-shirt out as flat as possible. The cut all the way up the sides and through the sleeve.

Open it up. I used our "bib" as a guide, but if you don't have one, you can use a hand towel instead.

Just make sure that there is 5 inches from where the collar is attached to shirt to bottom of towel.

If there is a tag make sure to cut it out.

Cut out the shape and you are DONE!!! Tomorrow I will be showing 2 simple variations you can do to these bibs.

Gobble Gobble

I have finally come up with a good decoration for my nook. Because I am feeling so pleased with how it turned out, I will share a tutorial of how to make one for yourself:)

Supplies:
frame, scrapbook paper, hot glue gun, leaves, scissors, and 2 black things for eyes.

oh and something for the body. I found this at Hobby Lobby. Not sure what it is, but it was swirly and sparkly and I knew it would be perfect for what I had in mind.



















Stack 3 leaves on top of one another. Arrange as wanted. I put a tiny stitch that can be removed to hold the leaves in place while I was working. At this point, if you want sparkly leaves (I did) then add glitter. I used spray glitter.

Arrange the leaves and body of the Turkey on the paper into the position you want. Hot glue into place. Then place the body of the turkey. I just spiraled it into a circle and hot glued it down. Take into account the legs when centering the turkey.

For the legs cut 2 small pieces and 2 even smaller pieces. I bent the even smaller pieces in half.

Then at the bend I dipped it into hot glue and glue to the leg. (It would be easier to do this directly to the picture.) Slide the stick under the body mass.

Add eyes. For the eyes I just pulled some of these off some left over decor.

For the beak just use a corner of a leaf cut into a beak shape. Glue into place. A turkey is not complete without its gobbler:) I cut mine out of a red leaf.

And you're done:)

I will be linking up to a few of these:

Be Grateful

With Halloween past, I am ready to focus on the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday. I have already taken all my Halloween decorations down:) I am working on figuring out my mantel, so stay tuned for that; so, for now I will be sharing a simple "Be Grateful" decoration.

Supplies:
1 sheets of white paper,
a print with color ink
mod podge and brush
8 X 10 frame
Matching Ribbon

I went a little further this week and actually made this even easier for you. I put it all in one using photoshop. Click directly onto the picture for the full size. Then print off as an 8 X 10. (I will be re-doing mine this week using my new printable. It looks much better I think)

NOTE: This is for personal use only. Do NOT sell any items made from this. 

Click on the picture to download.

tinroof background from The Cutest Blog on the Block

Cut ribbon the desired length. Mine is 15 inches long. Tape the ribbon into back of frame.















Hang it up and enjoy:)
 

Spooktacular

I had an old frame not being used so I turned it into a fun Halloween decoration. I just put orange paper behind the mat and added the letters. Super simple. LOVE IT! I think I will link this up to a few of the parties this week!



















Also, this is the project we did for Make and Mingle. A very spooky and sparkly halloween wreath. It was super simple too! I spray painted the wreath black. Tied purple and orange tuile around it.

Made a big black bow (tutorial on that to come)

and added some glittery spiders. You just need black and orange spider rings. Paint some mod podge into the top then dip in the orange rings into orange glitter and the black rings into purple glitter.

Baby Sign

A friend of mine wanted to make something with her new baby's name in it. So, I got my mind to work. We found some wall hangings at the dollar store. With the miracle of mod podge, paper, buttons, ribbon, and fabric, we were able to create an adorable wall decor for her nursery. LOVE IT!

Christmas in September

This may seem like a strange early post, but my sister is coming to my house in 2 weeks and I wanted to save myself shipping costs. She lives in a different state. Sooooooooo, I made her Christmas present for her to take home with her. If you are said sister, STOP READING!!! You know who you are, you pregnant wonder you.

Alright, now that I got that cleared, I am pretty sure she is still reading:) BUT, whatever, this will spoil her Christmas surprise. hhhhhhmmmmm...... maybe I should wait to publish this post. NOPE! I am way too excited to show you what I came up with! This thing was a beast. I didn't really have a clear vision for what I was going for, so I had a ton of mistakes and had to re-paint 3 times because I tried putting the vinyl on when the paint was still a little wet. Then I sprayed some glitter and it came out way to fast and too thick. Then my daughter stepped on it when I was letting the paint dry and I had to clean her and all her little feet print up. NOT GOOD!

I seriously about just trashed the hole project, but I left it alone for about 4 days. I thought and thought of how to salvage what I did have. I wanted to use what I had so I could stop wasting vinyl. See each time I had to re-paint, I had to cut out more vinyl. Ugh!

Long story short, I finally got it right. I added some brown paint to distress it. It was the final touch to this project.

I used 2 colors of ribbon and overlapped them

Just some sparkly holly stickers from Hobby Lobby

Top words

Bottom words

Think she will like it!?! I do. Does it inspire you to make one? Well you still have 2 1/2 months left to make one!