Crafty DIYs

 Oh lordy. The Summertime Romper and I were not friends. While I appreciate that Pick Up Some Creativity shared a pattern and took great pains in making a tutorial, I have to say- this project is for a more advanced sewer than I. Time: 7 hours plus for me Cost: 1 yard of fabric + elastic +snaps, about $15. (Note: while I believe its awesome to be able to pick my own fabric, after all the heart-ache, I would just buy a romper in the future). Grade: B. Keep in mind, B's are still good! But I had to look up some of the terms... HOWEVER, loved that she included a pattern. Lessons Learned: #1- I HATE SNAPS . They can bite me. Truly. Forget the Dritz snapper tool- that sucks too. Ultimately, after much heart-ache, I just bought sew-on snaps, which work. They aren't pretty, but they work. Skip the snap tools and pretty, yet impossible to work, snaps and just go with the sew-on ones. Trust me. #2- With tutorials, stick with just ONE version, and ONE fabric at a time. Th

Otherwise should be titled, "You've-got-to-be-kidding-me-that-I-didn't-learn-how-to-do-this-sooner." Make-it and Love It had an EXCELLENT tutorial on how to make baby-hats that I really loved.  Although she says its for babies, I'm pretty sure you could make it in any size. Cost: I used scrap, but I would estimate you need 1/4 of a yard (probably less), which would be about $2 worth of cotton jersey. Time: MAYBE 20 minutes a hat- gets faster as you go. Grade: A

This is one of my favorite projects, in its simplicity and cheap-ness (is that a word?). One of my first ever diys for Z was from Plumtickled . She wrote a pithy tutorial on how to make TuTus that was easy to follow, and had great pictures! Time: 45 minutes to make 3 Cost: $11, INCLUDING the flower accents I bought- that comes out to a mere $3.66 each. Notes: Being the cheap-o that I am, I bought the tulle off a bolt of fabric to save some mullah. I bought 2 yards per skirt. If I were to do it again, I would buy 4 yards of tulle. (So, maybe each tutu in the future would then be around $5, but thats still better than the store. TIP 2: DO NOT BUY the glitter tulle . For two reasons; 1- it stretches, making it into weird different lengths. 2- the glitter will get everywhere.

So, its ridiculous how much iPhone covers cost- I can't handle it. I've seen a few tutorials out there, but I thought I'd combine a few and make my own. What you need : Clear iPhone cases (I bought mine on Etsy for $5 each at iHeartZena ) Cardstock or something like it (like a photo- or... a comic book!) Exacto knife Cost: My cost broke down to 20 pieces of cardstock (which could ultimately make 8 each) for $7. That makes .35 cents a piece of stock, or .17 cents per backing if I were thrifty. Anyway, I spent a total of $22 to make 3 bases with as many interchanges as I want, and that's pretty awesome. Instructions : First, I found a cool template I could just print out here . BEFORE you start, make sure that the template fits your cover. Some printers will automatically rescale things, so it's good to check. Choose your paper design- this one was from some thank-you cards I got from Michaels. Awesome, right? HINT: Cut the rectangle first, then

If you're a mom of a little one, you may have a lot of formula containers lying around. If you're a mom like me, you ALSO have a lot of material left over from projects. And since we always need more storage containers, why not combine the two for some eye-candy storage? What you need: Container Scrap Fabric Spray Adhesive Cost: Spray adhesive (cost me $8.11), everything else was lying around. (NOTE: if you already have this, the cost is free!!!) Ok. So. This is SUPER easy. Measure your container and cut a rectangle of cloth to fit it. Mine was 5 inches wide and about 14 inches long (ish). First- GO OUTSIDE. This stuff gets misty, and is difficult to get off countertops. Spray just a strip of glue onto the container. Keep can about 8 inches away. Put just a corner of the fabric on the strip of glue on the container. Line it up, then spray the container as you go. Tug gently at the fabric as you go, rotating the can and spraying so that you don't g

So after all my sewing adventures, I have quite a bit of scrap material. What better use than to make into lanyards for work! Materials needed: Long bits of scrap material swivel hooks Cost: 1.40 per hook, scrap material= $1.40!!!! Time: 20 Minutes Getting started Cut strips to the following dimensions (1 strip = 1 lanyard) = 2" X 40" You can alter the length before you sew together if you so desire!  If you'd like wider lanyards than I made, you could always go 3" X 40". Next, you get to iron!!!   Left- unironed, right, ironed in half Fold your strip in half and iron. When you've ironed in half, the unfurl your strip a little bit and iron one side into the center fold... Left- ironing into the fold, right- ironed only in half  Then do the other side!   Ironing strips into fold  NOW you fold along the fold again, and Iron again! Now you'll basically have a strip of fabric with no raw edges about a quarter of the

So, last week I made Z some jumpers from a sweatshirt . But what to do with the sleeves? Well, small and friendly had the answer! She turned some left-over sweatshirt sleeves into toddler sweatpants ! Get out of town! Time : 2 pairs took me 1.25 hours. Grade : A The tutorial could not have been simpler or better explained. I mean- come on, novices- this project is for you! I can't recommend it enough. Here are how mine turned out: Re-purposed Sweatshirt into Toddler sweatpants

So this morning I decided to make Z a blouse. I've been drooling over a pattern I saw in Sewing in No Mans' Land for The Bali Break Tunic: Little Girls Shirt Tutorial , and decided to give it a try! Time: 3 hours Grade : B+ Fabric Needed : 1 yard, if you're creative in cutting. So, I hate to take points off a tutorial that included a pattern, because a pattern is a MAJOR plus. BUT, I was taking a chance, because the pattern did not have a size (after I finished, I would guess roughly 18months). Also, the pattern was hard to cut. One last negative, I get that the shrt was off-white, but it would be nice then if during her tutorial she took pics against something with color. But other than that, the blouse was worth it and came out wonderfully! Lessons Learned I didn't know what a Topstitch was... I found a good video here . Same goes for a Gathering Stitch (ugh!). I found a good tutorial here . When she says iron the sleeves before hemming- she isn

So I saw this wonderful post from Cleverly Inspired on how to cover a lampshade with fabric. I have this really great fabric from JoAnns that I didn't have a plan for (I just loved it and bought a yard), and when I saw the post on how to cover a lampshade, I thought- AWESOME! I had recently inherited some lamps from my Nana, and I thought this could be a really great way to make them my own. Grade: A on the tutorial. It was good, and her tutorial was VERY detailed, with lots of pics to guide you. Time: <1 hour (sweet! And I made 2!!!!) My additional tips: Rather than craft glue, I used fabric glue, which stuck a little better, and was clear, which was better for the fabric I used... it also seemed a little bit "cleaner" in drying than tacky glue. Just sayin: I had 2 large lampshades, and I used 1 yard of fabric... so that's how much you need.

I'm so excited to have just finished my first quilt of 2012- AND the first quilt I have ever made for myself.  I considered not blogging about it, as I didn't take pics as I went, but I think this quilt is so easy to make, that maybe I could describe it well enough.! So, this is for novice sewers. As long as you have sewed SOMETHING before, you can do this- really! Time Required (we're not messing here): Cutting- 2 hours Sewing Front- 30ish hours Binding- 2 hours Materials Required 7 yards total for front (this is where it can be super fun, pick 7 different colors and get a yard of each, or go to 14- 1/2 yards, its all up to you!) 7 yards total for back (all 1 fabric) 1 1/2 yard for binding (or, we'll discuss the alternative if you scroll wayyyy down) Cutting your material I like to cut as I go, so only cut your front first. Make sure to wash your fabric before you do this, as it will make for a better final product.  Unfold and iron your yardage. T

So a few weeks ago my friend Steph saw a tutorial for a hemless skirt that should take about an hour and sent it my way on Pinterest. Sure enough, One Avian Daemon' s Hemless a-line skirt tutorial was a hit. Grade : solid B+. She did a really nice job. Things got funky for me with the zipper, but her attempts were pretty solid. I did, however, need to check out you-tube, so... But other than that- flawless! I have now made 3 skirts with this pattern, the TIME goes as follows: 1st skirt: 3 hours 2nd skirt: 2 hours 10 minutes 3rd skirt: 1 hr 15 minutes!!!! So- awesome! Keep in mind this was my first time to add a zipper to something, so I think her one-hour skirt could actually be less than that with more experienced sewers. TIP : If you like your skirt you made with newspaper print, TRANSFER your pattern to card stock or cardboard, and you can SO easily make the same skirt over and over- just sayin'. Stitch 'n bitch buddy holding skirt I made for sister, my

Now on to feature another one of my favorite blogs- The Handmade Home . They are truly wonderful, and very inspiring! So the project I saw there was how to make your refrigerator into a chalkboard . I had seen this tutorial many, many places, but their description made the most sense to me. Grade : A !!! It truly was easy to follow. I appreciated her descriptions. Time: Hands on- 30 minutes, total- 7 hours Lessons Learned : I have a different type of fridge than her- I took off the door handles [because I could], which I think made it look pretty slick. Additionally, I used a color other than black. If I were to do it again, I MIGHT choose gold instead, but whatever. Extra Info : She mentions this in her blog, but the chalkboard paint really is tintable- there are 12 colors I believe- you can kind of see them here . Also, you might see on mine that I forgot to tape a tiny tab on the right- don't forget it on yours. :)

This is my first foray into tutorials- so be gentle ! TIME: It took me 2 hours to make two, along with writing this down as I went and taking pics. So I estimate an hour per dress- perfect for naptime! I had these two old LL Bean sweatshirts that never did look good on me, and I thought would be great for jumpers for Z, so I thought I'd go retro here and make some fab-colored jumpers. Before you get started- make sure you have enough material! I wanted this to go over leggings, so my goal was 14inches- and I just barely made it!! First, prepare your fabric [sweatshirt] and cut it so you can manage the pattern! I cut from armhole-to armhole on the sweatshirt so that I could measure out the rest more easily. So I folded over my sweatshirt to make a fold and cut the following dimensions. Remember, my length was already at 14 inches? The neck line (top) is 9 inches, the bottom 14. So 14" X 9" X 14 inches. Leave your sweatshirt hem on the bottom- saves y

So, for my first post, I wanted to highlight one of my favorite bloggers (shout out!)- See Vanessa Craft . For months I had been eyeing yarn wreaths on Etsy, but couldn't possibly bring myself to pay the 30-40 dollars those crafters were demanding. And then I saw Vanessa's post on how to make a Felt-Flower Yarn Wreath! Here is what I think of it: Tutorial: Right-On, A+ ... she had enough direction and pictures that you really were able to follow along. She left nothing to question. New skills: Felt flowers! Worth the tutorial to use on other projects Time: 1.5 hours. Maybe it's because I'm new to crafting, but this took a lonnnnng time. Well, not that long, but longer than I thought- so be warned! I think if I had not expected this to take less time, it would have been ok. So. Manage expectations- but the results are worth it. Update (June 2012) Here is a different one I made for my daughters bday party. Same theory, but hot-glued foam cut-outs of hippos I