A trip to Target seems to be on most of our weekly or every other week To Do Lists these days. It sure is true for me. The first thing I do when I arrive at Target (unless they have a Starbucks on site) is hit the Dollar section. Sometimes I walk away with things I just couldn't live with out and others not so much. My most recent trip was defiantly a score big time! I found these plain and ordinary straw bags that were just screaming to be rescued and made cute. What kind of person would I be to just ignore their pleas?
I snatched up four bags for my girls and am in process today of turning boring into beautiful!
There are so many directions to go in, from flowers to stenciling an initial to just simply adding ribbon. My first bag is on the simple but stinking cute side of all the possibilities.
All I did was have child #1 chose her ribbons. I turned over the ends 2 times and sewed them down so they dint fray. Then I pinned my ribbons to the bag and with a zig zag stitch, sewed them onto the bag. It was that quick and easy for a really fun result!
So hurry over to Target before I go back for more! ;)
Enjoy!
Five kids sharing one bathroom means, desperate need for organization! I had been using a color towel system (see here) that was working great, but I wanted something a little more personal and fun. Here is what I came up with. I am just loving how the towels turned out. I also love that my kids are enjoying hanging up their own towels and no one is left guessing whose towel is whose.
Here is a quick tutorial of what I did. If you are left with questions, please message me, or email me and I will do my best to clarify.
The first thing you want to do is locate your tag. It will need to be on the bottom and the back. Lay your towel down and measure the top part of your towel. My towels had a clear band of stitching, at the top. Just above that, I measured the width and length. I then measured that same width and length for my fabric adding extra for a 1/4inch seam all the way around.
Notice just bellow my fabric is the stitching on the towel. I wanted to place my fabric directly above the stitching.
I first pinned and ironed my seam. I did a 1/4inch seam all the way around my fabric. Then I pinned my fabric to my towel.
Using a straight stitch, I sewed the fabric onto the towel.
Now time for the monogram! I used my word processor to print out the font I wanted for my monogram. It is best to use a bold font.
I used liquid stitch to hold the fabric monogram in place on the towel. I then used an applique stitch on my sewing machine and sewed the monogram onto the towel.
I chose to place my monogram at the opposite, top corner of my towel. That way when the towel wraps around the monogram shows.
Because towels need to hang up to dry, I decided they NEEDED an easy hang loop! Here is a quick how I did it picture.
The loop once pinned on (to the backside of the towel) should measure about 4". I folded my towel in half to find the exact center and pinned it on there. Using a straight stitch I sewed back and forth a few times just to reinforce the loop, since it will be holding the weight of the towel.
Are they not just lovely? It really is a simple project for a great result! Hope you have fun personalizing your towels!
When my oldest daughter was two she received a wooden play kitchen for Christmas from her grandparents. She was so little she could barely see over the top of the kitchen. Eight years and four more kids later this wooden play kitchen is sill played with and well loved. So well loved that the paint on the burners was chipped and needed refreshing. Why stop there I thought? Why not do a kitchen remodel? That is exactly what I did and boy am I glad I took the time. The adorable factor was kicked way up! It is amazing what a little paint and fabric can do. Now many more
fantastic "meals" can be created by my five darling little chefs!
For the knobs I added scrapbook stickers and then sprayed them with Mod Podge sealer.
I simply hot glued the ruffle onto the kitchen door. I also used my nifty hot glue gun to add the embellishments. I just love an upgraded kitchen don't you? Simply adorable and perfectly simple to do.
I love ruffles! I do! They just make me giddy like a little girl. So how perfect are ruffles on a plain, boring tote bag? I made these ruffled tote bags for my nieces and just adore how darling they turned out. My four girls fell in love with these ruffled bags as well and have placed their orders... Oh my lots of ruffles in store for me!
For these bags I began with a ready made tote bag that can be purchased at Hobby Lobby or for a tad cheaper at Walmart. Walmart has a package of 3 totes for under $6.00, that is a great deal.
Supplies:
Tote bag
1/4- 1/2 yard each of 2 coordinating fabrics for the ruffles (I always get extra fabric so I chose to go with 1/2 yd. each.)
Ribbon
Fabric for flowers, if doing fabric flowers
Thread
There are many different ways to sew a ruffle. I do NOT claim to be a ruffle expert, just a ruffle admirer. Here is how I chose to sew the ruffles for my bags.
Lay out your ruffles first to find out where you want them before you begin to sew.
Once the front of your bag is finished with all it's beautiful ruffles, it is time to finish off the back.
There are two different looks for your bag. The first option takes the ruffle almost to the top of the bag and does not leave room for flowers. The second option does leave room at the top to add fabric flowers. I think both are super cute. Just depends on what you prefer.
The curtains in my dinning room were just a tad too short. Using coordinating fabric that I have in the adjoining living room. I decided to make a ruffle at the bottom. This way it added some length as well as a bit of somethin' extra to the room.
Too short!
I first cut the fabric to the size of ruffle I wanted needed. I went with 12" because that was all the fabric I had left. So that seemed the perfect size to me!
I hemmed the edges. Then I pinned the soon to be ruffle on the curtain. I placed my pins where I wanted to sew my stitch to make the ruffle. Then using the box pleat method I sewed the fabric to the bottom of the curtain. So basically you fold the fabric one way and then the opposite direction the next time. Keep repeating and you end up with a understated ruffle effect.
If you look closely you can see where the pins are.
So much better! Especially considering it did not coast me anything!
My daughter thinks they look like dresses now! See how happy they are to be beautiful? They are dancing in the wind! Don't you just love easy changes?
Now I just need to get my craft dinning room back in order!
I have a built in desk in my family room right off the kitchen. It has been a source of frustration for me for awhile now. It seems to not only be a bit of an eyesore but a clutter catcher as well. Since ripping it out was not an option I had to get creative. What could I do that would take away my extreme dislike for this area is what I began to ask myself. Well... here is what I came up with for now. I do have to say the dislike has disappeared! Amazing what a little paint and some creative touches can do to transform frustration into a feeling of satisfaction.
One of the things I really did not like was the open cubbies. My sweet husband uses this desk as well. Though I don't think he has ever sat at it, he does "store" stuff here. So I knew the cubbies were one area I needed to tackle. The paint color matches the accent wall in my family room as well as the bit of green I have in the kitchen. The cubby curtain matches my kitchen window valance that you can see here, as well as pillows I made for my couch. The top wall above the cabinets I am still deciding if and what I will do up there.
The memo board... can you keep a secret? It is a plastic bin lid that I turned into a memo board. Remember the plastic bins I made into drawers in my daughter's room? You can see them here. Well the lids were just sitting with out purpose. Purposeless no longer! The fabric matches pillows I made for my family room couch.
For the letter bin I used Word once again to create what I wanted inside the frames.
The toile back ground in the above picture was copied from a wall paper sample I found on the Internet. I just Googled toile and found different options. I then pasted it into Word and added the text I wanted.
For the roosters I also used the Internet and Word. I found the rooster prints I liked, copied them and pasted them. Each rooster is an individual print that I just stacked one on top of the other. The background I used for the roosters is the same one I used for my letter bin.
The frames for the pictures also found themselves made over with paint. gotta love black paint!
For the curtain here is what I did. I measured the fabric to the size I would need. I then pinned the edges and sewed them. To create the ruffle, as I was sewing the top I folded the fabric, reversing the fold each time. For example if I folded to the left the next one I folded to the right and so on. I used a zig zag stitch with silver thread. To attach the curtain I used double stick Velcro.
The folder cover is a background you can choose for a blog. I copied and pasted it into word and then added the words I wanted. The folder is a great solution for me and all my random ideas I come up with. It helps me keep my thoughts of what I would like to do around my home organized. I have each room or area in my house broken down and divided with dividers. Each section has a plastic insert where I can slide magazine clippings in of things that inspire me.
So there we have it! Simple touches that have taken my frustration away! Total cost for me to transform this desk area... my time and that is all.
May I encourage you, if you have an area around your house causing you frustration. Look around and see what you could do to improve upon it with what you already have.
Fourth of July is one of my favorite Holidays! I love spending the day with friends and family anticipating night fall bringing on fire works! This year I decided to add an extra touch of fun and make shirts and headbands for my kids. True to who I am on July 3rd I gathered everything I would need to create these fun shirts. That would explain why this post is past the 4th of July. But hey you can now be way ahead of the game for next year!
I decided to make my supply shopping spree a one stop spot. So I headed to Walmart where I knew I could find inexpensive shirts for each of my kids. I originally thought I would use fabric to make the flags, but my Walmart did not have fabric that I liked, so I decided on ribbon.
I cut my ribbon for the flag 4 1/2 inches long. The ribbon is 1 1/2 inches wide. I used two ribbons. Making the flag 4 1/2" X 3".
For the "stars" I used two 7/8" ribbon that were just about 2" long.
I first pinned everything to the shirt and then got wise. I sewed the two flag ribbons together and the two star ribbons together. I then pined the flag to the shirt and the star ribbon to the flag. I then used a zig zag stich in white thread and sewed all the way around the flag. I then sewed the remaining edges of the stars to the flag.
This shirt is before I got "wise" and sewed each ribbon on individually. May I highly recommend not doing it this way!
For the baseball flag shirt it took 3 7/8" pieces of ribbon. Each 4" long. The "stars" are the same as before.
First sew the baseball ribbons together and then sew the "star" ribbon together. Pin the baseball ribbon flag to the shirt and the "star" ribbon to the flag. Again using a zig zag stitch with white thread.
If you notice I also reversed the order of the ribbon for the flags. My oldest daughter has polka dots on top and then the next daughter (by age) has stripes on top and so on. For the headbands, I used ones I already had that had seen better days, but you could purchase new ones. All I did was hot glue the ribbon on. For the smaller head band I used the 7/8" ribbon and for the larger ones I used the 1 1/2" ribbon.
