Another T-shirt Redo!

Well, I figured that being that it's a new year, I better post something!!  :)  I've been so busy with so many things lately, just haven't had too much time to be crafty!!  (Think I said that a few times before!) :(  However, I did manage to do a quick t-shirt redo the other day & I think it turned out kinda cute!!  :)

 I started out with a plain long sleeve shirt.  (Forgot to take a picture before I cut the sleeves off, but I'm sure you can imagine what it looked like!!  ;)  I used a short sleeve shirt as my guide, and cut off the sleeves of the long sleeve shirt.

 Then, I cut the sleeves into strips, about an inch (or less) thick.








I pinned the strips onto the shirt, then sewed them on.  I didn't have the right green thread, so I chose pink - ya know, to add a little color!!  ;)
















With the left over strips, I made a few flowers & sewed them on by hand.  Totally nothing fancy, but added a little fun to my plain shirt!!  :)

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!!!  :)

Dance Bag

WOW!! I actually managed to fit in a project in our busy Fall Break week!!! :) - - Not saying it was a super elaborate one, but a project is a project!! ;)

Madelyn performed at the State Fair, so she wanted a cute dance bag. She had a pink bag that I had made a while back, but was starting to look a little blah! (Not to mention had a lovely blue ink stain!!) So, I got out my supplies & jazzed it up a bit!! Perfect for carrying her dance shoes!! :)

The before:

The after:


Simply pulled off the old ribbon & flower (not pictured), cut strips of fabric & hot glued them on:

Then, hot glued silver wired tinsel/ribbon along edges to cover up fabric edges:

Cut squares of fabric, (I believe I used 4?? Maybe 3 in.- sorry, didn't measure!) :( , then frayed the edges a bit, pinched the center together, making a "bow", then fold that in half:

Simply glue the folded "bow" down & repeat with the other squares until you make a circle!! (Sorry - once again, no picture!!) :(

Next, I took a small chipboard circle & covered it with ribbon - didn't have one (or a button) in the color & size I needed, so made my own embelishment:

Then, added a little white button & a diamond accent on top of the pink ribbon & tied a few strips of ribbon & tinsel to the handles!! Ta-da!! A new (or updated) dance bag!! Madelyn loved it, so I guess that's all that matters, right!!?? :)

Sassy Lunch Bag

I was so excited when I found a lunch bag (well, actually it's a lunch purse) at Wal-Mart the other day for only $1!!! It was cute, but nothing fancy. I added some "bling", ribbon & a flower & now it's a sassy lunch bag!! :)

Super easy - grab your hot glue gun & go to town with what ever embelishments you want to add & you're done!! ;)

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Madelyn can't wait to take her lunch to school tomorrow!! :)

Fabric Flowers

I love the cute fabric flowers that are EVERYWHERE, so I decided to give it a try!! These are a little time consuming, but super easy!! The materials I used are:
- hot glue gun
- extra glue sticks
- fabric scraps
- scissors
- buttons/embelishments if desired

* The first step is to cut strips of your fabric. Cut long strips - you can always stop "rolling" your flower & cut the fabric to make smaller flowers!

* Next, take the end of one strip & kind of roll it a little. Put a dab of hot glue on one side & kind of pinch the sides together.

* Now, just keep rolling the fabric around the center, creating a "spiraled" effect. As you roll, continue to add dabs of hot glue here & there to secure it.

There is an alternate way to make this flower - twist the fabric as you make the "spiral" - this will give a "neater" look, however, I found it way too time consuming! :(

* I kind of forgot to take a picture of the finished flower, however, here is the finished project:

For this, I just made 9 different flowers, (4 small pink, 4 medium tan, and 1 large tan), then hot glued them all together & topped them off with a fabric-covered button (didn't have a button the size & color I wanted, so I used a scrap of an old shirt to cover a button!!)!! I haven't yet, but plan on attaching pins (like broach pins) to the back, so this can be removed for washing (or adding to another shirt)!! I also made a bow (using the "twisting" technique)! Turns out, Madelyn has two pairs of shorts that this will match with!! :)

Another bow/flower idea:
I bought this shirt, which had yellow sleeves, (you know, the 2 sleeve look), so I simply cut out the yellow sleeves, making it a short-sleeve shirt! (You can get really cheap shirts at the end of winter, & just cut out the layered sleeve - - ta-da. . . a short sleeve shirt for summer!!!) :)

Anywho - I used one of the sleeves to create a flower for Madelyn's hair!! :)