Tag Archives: DIY

DIY Boys Room Fabric Artwork Tutorial

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I finally finished the piece of artwork I’ve been thinking about for months.  Whew.  Check that off my project list.

So back in my nursery dreaming days of the second trimester this photo popped in my Pinterest feed:

I immediately decided I wanted to incorporate it somehow- and it’s kind of been a part of the underlying “theme” to little man’s nursery.  I had no idea how to recreate it- but knew I wanted to use some fabric I had and create some sort of artwork.  So here’s the finished product!

Supplies:

  • plain white canvas (Hobby Lobby $5.99 for two)
  • tape
  • Microsoft Word or any program that allows you to create and print text
  • Sharpies
  • Fabric markers
  • Fabric- *Cut fabric with enough left over so that it wraps around the canvas edges
  • Staple gun-  (or you can use furniture or tacks if you don’t have a gun)
Here are my supplies!

 

 

 

 

 

And the fabric markers can be found at Hobby Lobby or any craft store.

 

 

 

 

 

Instructions:

Type your saying into your computer program and choose the font.  I used Microsoft Word and the font was 375pt Brady Bunch Remastered font.  I downloaded the font free off the internets!

After you print out your saying, you will need to piece it together on top of the canvas in order to get an idea of how you want your letter placement.

Use the tape to piece all of the letters together.

 

 

Next tape the entire piece to a window with a lot of light.

I measured my fabric out by placing the canvas on top of the fabric and cutting around the edges- making sure that there was enough fabric to wrap around the canvas.

Place your fabric right side up over the letters and tape the fabric tightly to the window.

Now you can trace the letters with your sharpie.  I like using the sharpie for tracing rather than the fabric markers because the sharpie created a cleaner and sharper outline.

Next I wrapped the fabric around the canvas and stapled it tightly into place.  If you don’t have a nifty neighbor with a staple gun like I do- then you can probably use tacks and a hammer to get the job done.

After my fabric was secure- I then used the fabric markers to fill in the letters.  You can use the sharpie to fill in the letters- which I initially did- but I discovered that the sharpie doesn’t color as evenly as the fabric markers and I liked the darker letter better.

Finished project!!  Yay!!

The nursery is almost entirely complete!  I hope to post full nursery photos soon.

Happy decorating!

Elizabeth

American Apparel knockoff clutch

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HI!  I made a bag/clutch! 

My sister -who is way more fashionable than I-  asked me to make her a clutch.  She was very specific about how it would look and wanted it to basically be a knockoff of this:

This is a pouch from American Apparel that is selling right now for $68.  It’s showing up all over fashion bloggy land and my sister has it on her radar but doesn’t want to pay $68 for it.  I would actually kick her if she DID pay that for a zippered pouch, but that’s just me.

Soooo this was my creation:

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Birthday Cupcake Shirt Tutorial

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Birthday Cupcake Shirt Tutorial

With the help of my crafty neighbor, who has almost the entire stock of Hobby Lobby fabric in her craft room (yay me!)- I was able to create my little girl’s birthday cupcake shirt.  Here is the tutorial:

Materials needed:

Fabric for cupcake bottom

Fabric for “frosting”

Ribbon for candles

Plain white tee

Iron on jewels for candle flame

Thread

Heat N Bond Iron on Adhesive

Fray check

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First I had to decide what fabric to use for the project.  Like I said, my neighbor has an amazing stash so she saved me a ton of time and a trip to the fabric store.  She helped me choose a purple fabric with pink flowers for the base, a pink rosette trim for the frosting, and green ribbon for the candles.

  • ­  I chose a pink tulle rosette trim from Hobby Lobby to add texture and interest to the cupcake frosting, but if you don’t have this particular trim- you can make little rosettes out of any fabric with THIS awesome tutorial from Little Birdie Secrets.  OR you can just choose a coordinating fabric and cut out a “cloud” shape for the frosting.

Next you need to apply Heat N Bond to your fabric that you plan on cutting out.  Heat N Bond is purchased at the fabric store or Walmart and looks like this:

You then take the Heat N Bond and iron it to the back of the fabric by following the package instructions.  Make sure the paper side is facing up.

Next I drew my cupcake base onto the paper side of the fabric and cut AROUND it to make a smaller piece to work with.

I then fold the fabric down the center of the cupcake in order to cut an even cupcake.  Cut along the lines and you won’t have to worry about matching both sides up.

Now that I have the cupcake base, I take the paper off the back, place the Heat N Bond side down onto the middle of the T-Shirt, and iron it.  The Heat N Bond will adhere the cupcake to the shirt for extra stability.

Next, I sew it onto the T-Shirt using a small zig-zag stitch in coordinating thread.

I then added the frosting by placing three tulle rosettes on the base of the frosting and adding two on top- creating a pyramid of fabric frosting.

I pinned these pieces into place using a stick pin inserted vertically and then sewed a line all around the edge with a straight stitch in pink thread.

Now I needed to apply the candles so I cut three candles from green ribbon and applied fray check to ensure that they wouldn’t fray.  I also clipped the tops to create the tapered candle look.

Next I sewed the candle tops above the frosting using a contrasting straight stitch.  I would recommend applying some adhesive to the backs of these because they kept moving around and annoying me.

Almost done!!

Now I enlisted the help of my crafty neighbor- who has a bejeweling thingamajig and she added some jewels onto the candles for me.

BUT if you don’t have a super crafty neighbor with neato crafting toys- then you can easily do this yourself by using the iron on jewels that you can purchase at any fabric store or even Walmart!  Just follow the package instructions.

The result!!

A super easy T-Shirt and a super happy birthday girl!



I hope you enjoyed the tutorial!  And happy crafting!

~Elizabeth

Dollar Tree Designs

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My daughter’s three year old Birthday party was this past Saturday.  Being the DIYer and frugal person that I am, I opted to have it at the house instead of at a location.  This gave me the opportunity to do what I love- which is entertain my friends and family and craft.  The theme was a storybook theme.   One of the crafts I chose to do was to make a banner for the party that read “Once Upon A Time”.  I was inspired by a trip to my FAVORITE place…the Dollar Tree.

Supplies:

1 book- for $1!!

Construction paper

Die cut letters (teacher section)

Ribbon

Glue stick

Hole punch

First I cut all the construction paper in half to make the base.  Easy stuff.

Second, I pulled out pages of the book I chose to make an interesting backdrop for the letters.

On a separate note…when choosing a book from the dollar store…make sure you READ the pages first. This book: seemed innocent enough…I mean it has parrots on the cover; I ASSUMED it was about a lost bird.  But upon further investigation into my little crafty time, it was discovered that this innocent bird book is a cover for a deeply disturbing sex novel filled with salacious scenes that made ME blush- and I’m 34!  AND this was only the first THIRTY pages!!!  I can’t even imagine what the rest of the book is about…which I might be buying again…you know…er…just out of curiosity…

After that little debacle- we (my trusty sidekick sister) and I were able to get to work making this super easy birthday banner.

Take a piece of the book page (WITHOUT sex scenes) and glue it onto a piece of construction paper:


Then take your die cut letters and glue those onto the book page:


Next, punch a hole in the top of the page and string a ribbon through to connect each piece.  I used curling ribbon and we tied the ribbon to each individual page to stabilize it and keep it from moving around so much.

The result is an easy banner in what ever wording you choose!

This is why I love the Dollar Tree and will forever be checking the content of the books I buy from there!

Project Progress- painting is fun..when you are three

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One of the tasks of the Princess fairytale room redo is to paint the furniture.  I have to paint one bed, two bookcases, and a square organizational bin holder thing.  I got the bed and bookcases done with little interruption by punky priss, but she caught me in the midst of repainting the bin holder.  And in order to avoid the struggle that would ensue if I tried to keep a curious toddler AWAY from an open can of paint, I opted to hire her as help…payment was in the form of lollipops.  Cheap labor is awesome.

Day one:  Not so shabby!  She’s focused, she’s being clean, she’s following direction…I gave her a passing grade of A+.

     She was even concerned about getting paint on her hands…sweet sweet girl…

Day two:  Um.  I turn my back for ONE second…and I get this…

Which then turned into this:

so I decided to at least get a craft out of it…

This all resulted with a bath in the water faucet out front.  But the painting is done and we have a present for Daddy!!  Thank goodness it was water based paint.

**disclaimer- no paint was consumed during this process…I think…I’m fairly certain.

First project- Big Girl Fairytale room redo

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I have a kid obsessed with princesses and fairies.  BUT she refuses to sleep in her own room.  In an effort to remove her from my bed and get some one on one time back with my husband, I am wanting to redo her room from nursery to a spectacular uber-princessed posh room.  BUT I also HATE spending a lot of money- I’m kinda cheap and frugal that way.  I would rather refinish old furniture than buy new, and I would rather make her bed linens than buy new as well.

So- this is what I’m inspired by:

And…these are the fabrics:

I have a black sleigh bed that will be repainted white and I plan on painting a couple of bookcases and an organizational square thingy white as well.  It’s a huge project- and I’m almost guaranteeing that it will not be flawless.  But I hope she loves it.

The funny thing about this is- I’m NOT girly.  I never have been.  I’m a tomboy.  I played in the dirt, caught frogs, played sports.  I didn’t own a purse until I was  24.  I didn’t get a pedicure until 27.  So for me, all this princessy pukey pink that was so nauseating before I had a kid, is now a pursuit to unlock my inner girly side.  Anyone who knows me, especially my mother, is laughing their butts off because I gave birth to the biggest girly girl ever.  But…confession…it’s *kinda* fun.  I love creating all this girly crap.