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!! :)

Back To School!

Well, we don't officially go back to school for 9 more days (who's counting :), but we did a fun project today to get ready!! Since Madelyn's going into FOURTH grade this year, she needed a HUGE 3 inch binder!! Being that they're kinda pricey, (like $10!), we used one that we had & "jazzed" it up! ;) Using the Cricut and some white contact paper, we came up with this:

Cute, huh?? I guarantee no one else with have a cuter 3 in. binder!!! :)

Spool Bracelets - Part 2

Finally getting around to posting the rest of the spool bracelets!! :) These are super easy & only limited to your creativity (and supplies)!! ;) If you need (the super easy) directions, just click on the category "spools" or "jewelery" on the right!

Washer Necklace

I've seen these on a few other blogs, but wanted to try them myself!! They are super simple, super cheap, & (if you're prepared), super quick!!

What you need:
* metal washers (found at Home Depot/Lowes, Wal-Mart, etc.):

* scrapbook paper
* glue that will hold metal (ie. Gorilla Glue, hot glue, etc.)
* clear nail polish, Mod Podge, or any other clear top coat
* necklace chain, rope, ribbon, or whatever you want your necklace to be made of
* any embellishments you wish to add

For my 2 necklaces, I used scrapbook paper. First, I traced the washers on the wrong side of the paper, then cut the circles out. Apply the adhesive of your choice, (I used Gorilla Glue because that's what I had!), then attach the paper circle & allow to dry. After glue has dried, apply a top coat, (I used clear nail polish because I couldn't find my Mod Podge & it worked great!!), making sure to go over the edge a bit to seal off the paper! Once the top coat has dried, you can attach another washer, or add embellishments!! The final step is to add the chain or necklace of your choice! For the brown necklace, I used a chain that I had, with a small piece of chain to attach my lock & key:

For the other necklace, I used a "ready made necklace", that was black velvet, that I just looped around the washer! That's it - super easy, super cheap, & super quick!

You can also use nail polish to "paint" the washer for a cool effect:

I haven't done anything with it yet, but I thought the metallic blue was so cool, so I had to try it out!! :) - And it's a bad picture, so it doesn't really do it justice!! :(

Iron-Ons

Looking for an easy shirt make-over?? Well, here it is!! (Easy & cheap - even better!!) ;) I went to Big Lots the other day & found these:

Iron-on letters, that came with 2 skulls . . . for only $1!!! I also found white letters, but forgot to take a picture before I cut them apart! :( The directions are on the package, but all you do is cut the letters out, arrange them on the shirt & iron!! Super easy!!

Using plain t-shirts, (the red ones were only $1.99!!), I let the kids decide what they wanted to put on them. The boys each got a skull - Hunter, who loves Indiana Jones, wanted "Mutt" (Indy's son in the last movie), under his skull, and Noah wanted "Rock On" under his! :) I already had the "girly" skull for Madelyn's shirt, so she decided to add "Glam" under it! They turned out pretty cute!!

Spool Bracelets

While looking through my ribbon today, (planning to make a hair bow), I found some empty spools & started to clean them out. Well, to carry them easier, I put them on my wrist - - then the my creative juices started flowing!! ;) Why not turn them into bracelets??!! I grabbed all my materials & went to work! My daughter wanted a pink & black one, so we used some sheer black ribbon, a silk flower & a cool button accent for the top!

First, I took the spool of ribbon apart. (Sorry for all the different colors of ribbon shown - I hope you can get the idea!!) ;)

Then, I put a dab of hot glue on the spool & tacked down one end of the ribbon - at an angle.

After that, I just wrapped the ribbon around, (putting little dabs of glue under the ribbon, on the inside of the bracelet, as I wrapped it), until I came back to the starting place! Then I added one last bit of glue to finish it off. Well, my daughter tried it on & it was WAY too big! So, I just cut it open & over-lapped it a bit, glued it together & made it work! :)

I added a small circle of light cardboard (cut from the pieces I removed from the spool) to the back of the flower, just to make it sturdier.

I attached the final piece, tied some extra ribbon on the sides, (put a small line of Fray Check along the edges of the tied ribbon), & ta-da . . . . one cute bracelet!!! :)

I'll post the other bracelets as soon as I give them away as gifts!! Stay tuned!! :)

Shower CURTAINS

I found 2 pink fabric shower curtains, on clearance of course, and turned them into bedroom curtains!! In my daughter's first room, we used them separately as panels. They had silver grommets on them & I just tied them to the curtain rod, using ribbon! Then I added a few accessories, (pom-pom garland & XL diamond rings), and ta-da. . . . .curtains!! :)

Not the best picture, but you can get the idea!! ;)

When we moved, (and since I'm always changing things), I sewed the panels together - just a simple stitch down the center - and cut off & hemmed the bottom half, making a valance! I added a little more ribbon, but kept the other accessories!
2 different styles, only paid about $3 for each curtain, spent a little on ribbon & used some I had!! Super cheap & easy!!