Mirror Re-do

I found this mirror at Goodwill (or "Goodjohn's" as my son calls it ;) - for only $2.99!!  It wasn't horrible "before", but I like the "after" better!!  :)  I used Apple Barrel Gloss paint - in black, of course, and after a few coats, it was done!!  (Could totally use spray paint, but I didn't have any on hand!!)  Now I just have to find the perfect spot for it!!  ;)

 Before

After

Teacher Treats

A few weeks ago, we wanted to give the primary teachers a little something just to thank them for all they do!  (This could totally work for school teachers too!!)  So, I baked some cookies & came up with a little poem to go along!  I gave each teacher 3 cookies - an M&M cookie, a chocolate chip cookie, and a chocolate-white chocolate chip cookie - put them in a bag & tied on the poem!! 

Super simple!  (However, baking 90 cookies & assembling 30 poems & bags took some time!!)  ;)  This was my poem:

Here are some cookies, that were baked especially for you.

This is a simple "thank you" for everything that you do!

You'll notice one is different and more colorful than the rest - 

that cookie's just like you, 'cause our teachers are
THE BEST!!!

Besides the M&M cookies, the others were made using cake mixes!!  SO EASY!!  Check out my recipe blog for the recipes!!  If you didn't want to use M&M's, you could use a Funfetti cake mix & it would still work with the poem!! ;)

   
 

Skirt to Shirt

I guess cleaning out everyone's closets lately has inspired all the "clothing" projects!! ;)  This one, however, was super simple (just my style), so I had to do it!!  ;)

I had an old skirt (it was actually my sister's & I rescued it from a garage sale, noticing its potential! ;) It's not a typical elastic waist skirt, but rather a gathered waist.










Simple steps:
I had my daughter try the skirt on (as a shirt), then I marked where to cut in the back.  After marking, I turned the skirt inside out.  Next, I basically did a good 2" seam. (If you look super close, you can see it - about 2" from the right edge.)

Next, I trimmed close to seam, top to bottom.

I took that extra piece I cut off, cut off the gathered top & lining, and cut the piece in two.  With each piece, (right sides together), I sewed along the open edge, making 2 "tubes".  I turned them right sides out, and pressed them flat with the seams in the center.

Finally, I had my daughter try the top on & pinned the straps on to fit!  I pinned the straps on, cut off the extra & folded the edge under to hem.  I did a simple seam across the edge & I was done!! :)

Turned out pretty cute, if you ask me!!  :)  I figured that since it was my sister's, I should give it to my niece - - needless to say, my daughter was a little bummed!!  ;)  (Guess that's a good thing??) ;)

T-shirt "Jewels"

This shirt was a little time consuming, but FUN!!!  It was so easy & cheap - - which helped me be patient!! ;)

Materials:
* t-shirt (or onsie - super cute idea!!)
* metallic craft paint (I used Anita's Metallic in White)
* newspapers, etc. to put between layers of shirt
* pencils with erasers, glue stick, or any other "round" items in different sizes
* 1 bunch of celery (yes, celery!! ;)

There's really no right or wrong way to make this shirt!!  Just choose how many necklace "strands" you want & start! ;)  I started with the top row first, making the large dots in the center.  For these I used a glue stick lid.  Simply dip the lid in the paint, wiping off excess & stamp on your design!  For the smaller "beads" in that row, I used the end of a wooden paintbrush.  Now, as you can see, my necklaces aren't exactly straight - but if you ask me, I think they look good that way! ;) I added the rest of the rows kind of randomly.  It is kind of hard to make the necklace match up perfectly from one corner to the other, but just do your best!  The necklace that has the larger beads that are spread out - used to be a strand of all small beads, but I went back & added the large beads to cover up a few "mistakes"!  ;)

The most fun part of the shirt was the "flower"!!  Take your bunch of celery & cut off the end, leaving a few inches of course, and it makes a flower!!  Just dip the flower in the paint & stamp!!  Cool, huh??!!  After the shirt was dry, I went back over the flower & a few beads that didn't turn out very dark.

Over-all, it was a super easy project!!  :) 

Time To Get Crafty!!

Apparently I took the summer off!!  :)  Managed to do a few crafty things here & there, but just didn't have time to post them!!  (Keeping up 4 blogs can be time consuming!!  ;)  Well, I'm back & no time like the present to get crafty!!  I've worked on a few projects lately, so I'm gonna show off what I've done!!  :)

 Curtains for Madelyn:

I made these a while ago, but just realized that I haven't posted them!!  :)  These pink curtains have served us well!! We have re-fashioned them about 3-4 times now!!  (You can see them in their previous styles over HERE!)  However, this will probably be the last re-do!! ;) I made 3 simple panels, with about a 2" curtain rod slot at the top.  I made a simple ruffled skirt (gathered the top & sewed it to the bottom of the panel) for each panel.  For the pink panels, I sewed a simple strip of zebra fabric across the center.  I made 2 fabric flowers for each panel, alternating prints. 

For the flowers:  I'm so mad that I didn't take pictures while I was making them!!  :(  However - they were super easy!!  I took a strip of fabric (width & length depends on how big you want them), gathered the top, then just spiraled the fabric to form the "flower"!!  Once I got it how I wanted it, I hot glued it in place.  On top of the flower, I made & attached a smaller flower (shown HERE) & then topped it off with a little bling!! ;)

Iron-Ons:
I just love Iron-Ons!!  They are a super easy, and relatively cheap way to re-do a shirt!!  :)  Here are a few that I've done:

 

Cute little onsies & cute big girl shirts!!  :)  These iron-ons came with some jewels that you could add on & they looked great when I was finished!!  However. . . after a wash or two - most of the jewels that were attached to the iron-on, came off!!  :(  The ones that were directly ironed on to the shirt managed to stay.  Wish I had known in advance!!!  :(

Bleach Pen:
Bleach pens are one of the greatest inventions!!  Not only can you get rid of stains easily, but you can create great shirts!!  ;)

I started with this plain shirt.  Kind of a coral color, but didn't match any of Madelyn's shorts (other than denim) & had never been worn. So, I had an idea & went with it!! ;)  Took my bleach pen & a ruler and made stripes down the front of the shirt. I let the bleach sit for about 20 minutes & then washed & dried the shirt.

 






 



While it was washing, I found a white tank top & cut three strips (even though there are only 2 showing!)  ;)  I turned those strips into flowers (like THESE).  I took a needle & thread & sewed each flower together, so that all the layers would stay intact!



 To add a little extra to the flowers, I took some tiny beads & sewed them on by hand!  It was super simple!!  I just added 5 beads to the needle, made a tiny stitch in the flower, then added 5 more beads & kept up that pattern, going in a spiral!










When the shirt was dry, I sewed the flowers on & ta-da!!!  A new shirt!!  :)

Madelyn loved it & said she got lots of compliments at school!!!  :)