JAPANESE GIFT WRAPPING HACK

Years ago I had seen this done at a store in a Holiday gift wrap stand, the kind where volunteers wrap your present for a fee/donation for a charity.  I was advised it saves paper and time and give the present a professionally wrapped look and impressive to watch if the person is skilled.

The young fella above slows it down and gives a decent demonstration on how you can do this.

The first time I tried this it looked more like a pre-schoolers interpretation of an origami swan.  It can save time and maybe a smidge of paper over old school methods, but not by a whole lot.

My suggestion is to use cheap wrapping paper to start out with, a few pieces of tape pre-cut and go slower until you get the coordination of where your fingers need to be.

Christmas Lights Coordinated to Music

When coming home from shopping we stumbled across amazing coordination of Christmas lights set to match music (it was set to a radio station with Christmas music you could tune into on your radio.

T-Shirt to Solar Dress (with link to free pattern)

This fun little casual summer dress was made using a free pattern by Charity Beasley at Indietutes using a thrift t-shirt will be perfect for the dog days of Summer on a little girl.

It was easy to make; I completed it while watching a television show that lasted an hour.

Items used:

• T-Shirt 
• Bias tape (under 1 package)
• Elastic
• Scraps of fabric for the pockets
• Sewing machine & thread
• Tracing wheel and tracing paper
• Interfacing (optional)
• Straight Pins 
• Free printable pattern and instructions from  Indietutes  (Pattern has sizes 2/3, 4/5, and 6/7)

As the complete instructions are on  Indietutes  website, I didn't take picture to repeat here, but as a t-shirt was used instead of fabric, I folded the t-shirt in half and placed the pattern as close to the neckline as possible and made sure the image on the front was centered.  I used a size Large T-Shirt for a 7/8 dress. For smaller sizes you might want to use a smaller t-shirt or one with a smaller image.

For the pocket placement, I used tracing paper on the of the fabric to mark them.

For the pockets, I used interfacing and also lined the pockets on so they will not stretch out and provide stability before pinning them to the right side of fabric and stitching down.

Tank Top to Summer Dress Refashion

This is a simple refashion of a tank top to a summer dress for Dress A Girl Around The World and inspired by tutorials on that blog.

Items used:

• Tank Top
• 1 1/2 yards of fabric (for a girl's size 14 - 23 inches around - wider if a fuller skirt is desired)
• Thread
• Scissors
• Straight Pins
• 1/4 yard iron on interfacing  
• Iron 

To decide where to cut I folded the top in half then cut in the middle.

Turn inside out and cut a piece of interfacing approximately 3 inches wide and the length of the tank top on each side and iron on.  It is to help prevent the skirt from stretching out knit in the tank top.

For the skirt, I used the selvage edge as the bottom of the skirt so no need to hem it and measured up 28 inches and cut across.

Then added a gathering stitch 1/4 and 1/2 inch away from the top edge beginning 5/8 of in inch end on each side leaving long tails to be able to gather the fabric.

With right sides together, pin then stitch a seam down the back and pin the seam in the center in back then pin and gather then stitch 5/8 an inch away from the edge.   Turn right side out, clip any loose threads and your new tank dress is complete.

Thank you for stopping by my blog and happy crafting:)

DIY Crate and Barrell Spin Vase

This DIY cost almost nothing to make and the glossy see-through look makes the flowers look fresh.

I spotted this project on Dollar Store Crafts and the tutorial is on The Budget Decorator

Items I used were

• Empty clear glass jar 
• Hot Glue Gun & Glue Sticks (I used 3 1/2 sticks)

This is simple enough that an older child (with supervision) could make one and pick out some flowers to put it - the above bouquet was only $4 at our local Kroger.

You could use any clear glass container and a different shape could give it a more exotic looks, but I used an empty salsa jar with the label soaked off and then dried.  

I plugged in the glue gun and I started at the bottom of the jar about an inch up and held it in my left hand and the glue gun in my right and tilted it slightly on a desk and pressed the glue gun against the glass and pulled the trigger and started turning it applying the glue horizontally around the circumference of the jar until I got to the top.

Once the glue dried I finished applying the glue around the bottom of the jar and it was done.

After completing and seeing the results, I think it looks better where the glue was only lightly applied (at the bottom)  instead of more heavily (middle to the top).


Happy Crafting:)

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Dino 101: Dinosaur Paleobiology - Free Online Course Review

Picture from Flickr

I recently completed this free online cours e offered by the University of Alberta on Coursera and would recommend it to anyone interested in dinosaurs to get a brief overview of the different types, their extinction and evolution along with time lines and geography or even a home-schooling segment for students junior high age and up (there is the option to receive a Certificate of Achievement for a fee of around $49, but a time scheduled needs to be adhered to in completing quizzes).

While the course is currently over, they are offering it again in September 2014

I chose to take it as I have had a fascination with dinosaurs ever since seeing a traveling promotional display by Sinclair Oil of a Brontosaurus at a gas station in a nearby town as a very young child., which found out that it was a misclassification and is actually an Apatosaurus.    (There are more pictures and information about the Sinclair traveling exhibit from late '60-early 70's at Monster Bash News)

It was huge, I believe I read somewhere it was 70 feet long.   I just remember straining my neck to look up at it and from head to tail ti seemed to go on forever and I was afraid at first, but as my Mom said it was a plant-eater and it had a non-threatening looking face and then I became enthralled and for awhile was into all things dino.

When my son was young, he was into dinosaurs as well and we went to see a lecture by Richard Bakker, "The Dinosaur" man, who was also a technical advisor on the "Jurassic Park" films in the mid 1990's and I was surprised how much theories had changed since I was a kid and Bakker's hypothesis that dinosaurs were not cold blooded like reptiles, but warm blooded creatures.  I decided to take the course as I was curious as about learning more and what some of the updated theories might be and it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

It consists of 12 video lectures cut down into 3 to 5 different segments that are 5 to 20 minutes long and average probably around 11 minutes, so you don't have to commit to a major chunk of time and you can work at your own pace (if not seeking a certificate).   There are 5 question multiple choice quiz at the end of each lesson to test your knowledge, but if you get an answers wrong you have the opportunity to take the quiz one more time.

There are also interactives within the lectures, such as the Dinosaura tree where you match the picture of the dinosaur to their type and the hip type to their classification.  There is also where you can check out bones from a 3-D angle, a timeline and quizzes within the lectures that are meant to get you thinking what the correct answer might be, but are not part of any grading.  

I would suggest taking notes early on.   I didn't start until the 4th week and wished I had started earlier.  You really need to read and comprehend the material to pass the quizzes.  

There is also the opportunity to interact with the other students in the forums.  There were students as young as a 12 year old home-schooler to retired people.  Two of the retired people had completed the course within a few days.

So if you want to learn interesting information such as there is evidence that a T-Rex had feathers and it is thought that a meteor hitting Earth caused the extinction of the large dinosaurs but that we see whey evolved into in order to survive every day, I recommend checking out the course.

Miracle Milk Bath

This would make a nice last minute Christmas gift, or a gift to yourself to relax  with an inexpensive at-home DIY spa treatment from ingredients that may already be in your cupboards.

This recipe was adapted from Tablespoon and will equal 3 recommended bath treatments (1 cup each), although prefer putting mine in an old Parmesan Cheese shaker and sprinkling or pouring into my bath instead.

The mixture is to be added to a hot bath to detoxify, deodorize and moisture skin.

• 1 Cup Baking Soda
• 1 Cup Epsom Salt (Tablespoon used regular salt instead)
• 1 Cup Powdered Milk
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• Clean dry container(s) or plastic bags
• Bowl to mix ingredents in
• Spoon

Optional:

• Printer
• Scissors
• Free Lacy Graphic The Graphics Fairy
• Photo Editing Software
• Glue or glues stick
• Gold Acrylic & sponge brush or spray paint

aaPut the ingredients in a bowl

Mix together.












.Pick out the container you want to use and spoon mixture inside

 I used a Free Lacy Graphic The Graphics Fairy to create a vintage looking label.  I used the free version of  Picmonkey to add the text to the label, then cut around the edges and used glue to glue it to the bottle.  

As I wanted it to have a vintage vibe, I used acrylic paint to paint the lid gold, dabbing with a sponge brush, allowing to dry and repeating 3 times.

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Happy Crafting:)

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (on a Edsel Logo Cake)

For my son's 20th birthday he wanted a vanilla cake with buttercream frosting and minimal decorations and something more "grown up" than past birthday cakes, so I decided to make him an Edsel logo as
he and his father own a 1959 Edsel Villager (pictured left).



I used a boxed cake mix, but went in search on the internet for a buttercream frosting recipe, as I had never made it before and found this super easy and delicious recipe on Food.com for Vanilla Buttercream Frosting by Sprinkle's Cupcakes (featured on Oprah).

I used canned decoration frosting to look like the emblem on the front of the car and instead of writing out EDSEL I just used the letter "E".   As the canned frosting did not come out consistently it; there would be nothing and then it would glob out, resulting in less than professional looking results but tasted great and my son loved it.

If I had it to do over, I would use red licorice strands for the logo and lines and just used decoration frosting around the edges.



I wasn't sure how much I would need as the amount was set up to frost cupcakes, so I went for 18 "cupcakes", but probably ended up with enough left over to frost another cake.  The recipe below is what I used, but you can click on the hyperlink and type in number of cupcakes and the software calculates what you will need.







Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (From Sprinkle's Cupcakes)

•  1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened (I used unsalted butter)
• 5 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons milk 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

In a bowl, combine butter sugar and salt and cream them together (I used a mixer).

Add milk and vanilla and beat 3-5 minutes until creamy.   It came out very thick and I added a teaspoon of water to get it to more easily spread on the cake.

Campfire Starter

Easy to make campfire starters from items you normally throw away.

Some former co-workers and I are going to go on an overnight camping trip in July, which is going to be an adventure for me as the closest I have ever been to camping is staying at Motel 6, but I remembered making these at Girl Scout daycamp when I was young and they are useful for starting a campfire.

Items used:

• -   Toilet Paper Tube
• -    Dryer Lint
• -    Scrap paper or Napkin
• -    String

Stuff the dryer lint inside the toilet paper then wrap the paper or napkin around the toilet paper tube.

Scrunch the ends into the end of each tube and then tie string around the end to secure.











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1 Minute Pen Makeover With Duck Tape

Quick and easy way to turn a plain ball point pen into a snazzy pen.

This was inspired by a desk set my supervisor has at work that she and her granddaughter made using one of the many wonderful print Duck Tapes that are now on the market.

Items used:

-   Ball Point Pen
-   Duck Tape
-   Scissors

The Duck tape I bought was more the consistency of packing tape and I got off of a clearance rack at Walgreens for .79 cents, but I think any Duck (or Duct) tape would work.

To be sure the cap still fit on both ends I laid out the tape and cut to length leaving some of the original pen exposed on both ends, laid the pen and one end of the tape as pictured and carefully rolled it up.

For the cap (not picture) I cut a small piece to wrap around the handle area of the cap first, then piece that was long enough to fit up to just where the handle meets the cap and wrap it around, then a piece fit from the top of the handle to a little over the top of the pen, wrap it around, pinch the tape shut at the top and then snip off the remaining excess at the end.

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Coin Catcher

This is for a Father's Day present next week and cost under 20 cents to make.

This is another incarnation of Soap Dish from Bottom of 2 Liter Bottle except the purpose is for it to be a catchall for change or perhaps a wallet and cell phone.

To make follow the instructions from here except that instead of rhintestones you will need 18 pennies to glue around the edge.

You will also want to let it dry upside down as the weight from the pennies will cause it to slide down if upright; this way they are nice and neat against the edge.










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Unicorn and a Rainbow Notebook

As it seems my son will use whatever notebook is handy as his own, I decided to come up with one there is no way he would want to be seen.

It was painted with a layer of blue acrylic paint then glued on with craft glue a unicorn drawn on a scrap of fabric with black fabric paint and outlined in dimensional paint.   The rainbow consists of nail polishes from my stash as some of my Sharpies have gone dry.

After taking the picture I wrote "Happy Thoughts" in the lower right hand corner with a purple Sharpie to balance it out a little more

Nope, he won't be toting to his automotive classes.  

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30 Days of Creativty

Refashion of Girl's T-Shirt to Dress

This is a dress I made for donation to Dress A Girl Around The World and it for a Size 8 girl.  The skirt is only slightly gathered, but if you wanted a fuller skirt you could double up on the yardage cut two pieces, on for the front and another for the back.

Items used:

• T-shirt 
• T-shirt in contrasting color (I was able use the sleeves off of an adult t-shirt)
• Half a yard of fabric
• Dollar Store Lei
• Button
• 1/2 yard of fabric (more for larger sizes)
• Sewing machine and thread
• Scissors
• Straight Pins
• Iron
• Ziplock baggie (optional)
• Needle
• Clear or sparkly Nail Polish

This a Size 8 girls t-shirt, but it the same concept could be used to make any size.

First I cut the sleeves and about halfway down on the t-shirt off.

Save the bottom for a different project.

Cut 2 strips of the contrasting fabric 4 inches wide and as long as the width + 1 inch. (1/2 inc for seam allowances.

Right sides together stitch the two strips together. Press seams open.

Pin the right side of the strip to the right side of the t-shirt with the seams at the side of the t-shirt and stitch together.

 For the bottom skirt, fold the right side to the wrong side  1/2 all the way around at the bottom, then fold up  1/2 inch again the top stitch 1/4 inch away from the edge all the way around.

Run a basting stitch 1/4 of an inch and 1/2 inch from the edge at the top up to 1/2 inch from each edge and leaving the threads long so the fabric can be gathered.

Right sides together, pin the long side of the fabric together in and stitch.  Press seam open.

Right sides together pin the back seam at the center back of the t-shirt (find center back by folding t-shirt in back and then insert a straight pin.  Gather and pin then stitch.

Take the Dollar Store Lei apart by clipping the string.   For easier clean up I opened a ziplock baggie and pushed everything off the string into the bag (there are little clear plastic pieces in between each flower that can be hard to see and they can mess up a vacuum cleaner).

To help prevent the edges of the flower from fraying and used sparkly nail polish around the edges of the three flowers I chose and also put a little on the button and allowed the to dry before stacking the flowers on top of each other and pinned them to the dress.

Put the button in the center and hand stitch the flowers/button to the dress.






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Happy Crafting!

Soap Dish from bottom of 2 liter bottle

I was inspired by a post at Alessia's Scrap Craft to create my own version of the bottom of 2 liter plastic bottle into a soap dish, although I made mine taller.  Not only does it cost almost nothing to make, it keeps the soap from getting soggy and gross on the bottom.

Items used:

• 2 litter plastic bottle
• Kitchen shears, Xacto Knife, box cutter or some other method to cut the bottle
• Rhinestones 
• E6000 or other strong clear glue

1. Decide how tall you want your soap dish to be.  I used a line that was already on the bottle below the label for a guide.
2. Cut the bottom off of the bottle (I used kitchen shears as I found I have better control over keeping the even, to start the cut, pinch the plastic slightly, cut, then insert one of the blades inside the bottle).
3. Glue rhinestones around the edge - I alternated blue and clear about and put them the length of 2nd bend in my index finger as a rough guide, but you could glue them wherever you wanted.

Happy crafting!

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30 Days of Creativity

Ruffles and Bow Baby Blanket

This is a baby blanket I made for great-niece, Tegan.  Isn't she a cutie?

I wanted to make something befitting of a little princess and came up with a ruffles and a bow baby blanket and large enough to last her through the toddler years.

• 1 yard stretch fleece (I bought at Hancock Fabric, but any colorful fleece would work)
• 1 yard fleece coordinating or contrast fleece for the ruffles and the bow 
• Matching Thread
• Sewing Machine
• Straight Pins
• Scissors
• Iron

Cut the coordinating fleece into into seven 4 1/2 inch strips.

Sew six of the strips together using a half inch for the seam and sewing the two ends together to make a circle.

On one edge use a gathering stitch (I broke mine into several sections for more uniform gathering).

Pin and gather around the edges of the stretch fleece evenly and stitch together.

To finish off the edges, press the seam allowance toward the blanket, pin and iron, then top stitch all the way around the trim off the edges underneath up to the top stitching.  It will look like the picture to the side.









For the bow:

Cut a 24 inch piece off of the remaining strip.  Stitch the two ends together then fold so that the stitched part is in the center, right sides together.  Pin and stitch one side, then part of the other side, but leave a small opening large enough to turn inside out then  hand stitch the opening shut.

In the center on the back side of the bow fold each edge towards the center and pin.  Stitch down approximately 1/2 inch away from the center seam in back to secure the pleats.

Cut a piece off of the remaining strip about six inches long fold each end in to create a strip, wrap it around the bow and stitch it to the bow then stitch it to the blanket.

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