Oh the Hair Ties

 
A while back I got some really cool hair ties online.
I thought from the picture I knew what they were made of and confirmed upon arrival.


FOE otherwise know as fold over elastic.
Back in my children’s boutique designing and selling days on eBay FOE became a trendy item to add colorful and stretchy elastic in clothes.
Most commonly FOE is used in trim in panties.
Comes in a wide array of colors and is soft and stretchy.

One day I was wearing my new pony holder and a friend asked about it.
Apparently I was trendy and didn’t even know it. :)
 A local day spa were selling them (for like $3 a piece!!)  And the local high school girls all wear them.
So went to eBay and found 17 colors and 70 yds for about $20.
They take seconds to make.
Nine inches and tie in knot.  Melt ends with lighter.
I made me a big batch (though honestly brown is my fav since it’s the color of my hair.)
And I have so much I make them for friends and their kids.


My girls wanted some of their own as well. Pink please. And lime green.

Fun fun!

My Big Frame

I’ve had this big empty frame for some time now.
It’s actually the inner part of another frame I got at a thrift store.
This past weekend I decided to do something with it.


I simply wrapped it with strips of fabric then stapled bakers twine to each side.


Then I used small clothespins to pin up some of my favorite photos.


I really love how it turned out.

I needed something large for over the couch but something that can’t be broken.

This is our front room that we keep pretty open and free of breakables as this is the one room the kids are allowed to throw balls, wrestle and have light saber fights.  :)

I'm kinda over the red though. 
But our house is on the market so I'm not looking to start painting anything now.

I did paint one room before it went on...the playroom.
I don't think I ever showed you...maybe tomorrow.:)

Make it: Foam board/duct tape accordion frame

It was hubby’s bday.
I had current, cute pics of kids, but no frames.
He has moved into a new office and cleaned out all old stuff and wanted new pics.
Enter my idea to make an accordion style frame with materials I had on hand.


Started with 4x6 photos printed off computer.
And a white foam board.


I used a sharp blade and ruler to cut four pieces of 5x7 pieces of foam board.


Added black duct tape to put all the pieces together.
I started by cutting a piece of tape and placing the long side of a piece of foam board not quite to the middle of the tape.


Apparently I missed a picture, but to add the next board, I stacked it on top of the board with the tape and folded the tape along the top of the next foam board. 
This is important to get the pieces to be able to bend.
When you open it, there should be bare tape in the middle like above.


I folded the edges of the ends over the foam board.
Then I placed another piece of duct tape on top.
As you can see I had pieces not matching up very well.


Easily remedied by another piece of tape matching up all the sides to look neat.
That’s the best thing about duct tape.  It’s so flexible in projects.


After connecting all four boards, I taped up the ends with a few pieces.


When done your boards should be able to fold up like this.


And will look like this standing up.
Once I had this done I used double sided tape to attach the pictures.
Then I used a few pieces of washi tape or printed masking tape on the corners of the pictures to jazz it up a little. 

I want to make one of these for the girls room with pretty printed duct tape.  Will share a girlie version soon!

Make some simple cute coasters

 
I’ve been crafting away.  But most projects are still in process.
Here’s a quick little project I was able to start and finish quickly this afternoon.
I picked up these cork coasters from Hobby Lobby the other day.
Decided to spruce them up with a little paint.


All you need to make your own is above.  Craft paint, foam paint blotters and this cute little zebra print stencil…also found at Hobby Lobby.  I simply took each coaster and held down the stencil on top and blotted fun colors on top.






I think they’d make cute gifts.  I have a greater purpose for my crafting.  More on that to come…

DIY Gifts your kids can make

I rounded up some of my favorite projects we've done over the years that kids can do with a little help.

I love to have my kids help make their teacher gifts and they proudly tell their teachers of their part.

And sometimes my kids want to give their friends a gift.  I don't mind, but we do homemade gifts in those cases.

FOR TEACHERS

Handmade soap

Mod podge pencil can and hand sanitizer

Gourmet candy apples and marble magnets

Peppermint sugar scrub

Stamped dish towels

Stamped sticky note cubes and notepad covers

FOR FRIENDS

Glitter horse art

Personalized tin lunch boxes--fill with art supplies or small toys

Fridge magnets

Beaded bracelets

Art pillows

 I was thinking this idea could be turned into a cute 'Best Friends' shirt or something else cute and tween girlie.

Glitter playdough.

Simple stamped kids apron.

Mod podged blocks.

Mod Podged mini notebooks

Backpack buddy.

Jingle bracelet.

Decorated wooden frame.

Fairy wand.

Young sewers can tackle a pencil case with help.

Or a tote.

Art can be added with fabric markers or use a cute printed fabric.

FOR THE GRANDPARENTS

Blank books can be filled with kid art.

Hand painted plates.

Could be cute Christmas dessert plates.

Maressa made an adorable ornament to give to her very best friend this afternoon.

Will share on Monday.  :)

Make this: Unicorn costume tutorial

This was Maressa's halloween costume request this year

We went from Hello Kitty, to Wonder Woman, to girl gnome to a pink unicorn.

She saw a doggie unicorn costume at the pet store. 

She wouldn't budge after that.

I saw an expensive, but not super impressive one at Potttery Barn kids.

I finally decided to tackle a home made one.

It was really easy actually.

Just a plain sweat suit with hood and felt.

I didn't even need my machine.

She liked it just a little bit.

She kept it on all day once we tried it on.

Her sister and her played princess and unicorn for a while.

So here's how I made it:

The hardest part was finding a plain pink hoodie and sweat pants.

I actually ended up finding this set on Amazon.

Then I cut a bunch of white felt for the mane and tail.

Then black felt for the hooves and bit of pink trim for the feet.

I'm not sure how long the strip of white felt I used.

I cut 2 long and wide strips like above.

Then I sewed them down over the hood, one on top of another, with white embroidery floss.

The mane was too long so I cut it off where I wanted it to stop.

I used those pieces to sew a tail at the bottom hem of the jacket.

I added felt hooves to the hem of the legs and arms of her sweat suit.

I didn't take a picture, but I added the pink scalloped felt over the top of the stitches.

Then I added ears to the top of the hood in pink felts.

I used glitter white felt for the horn.

I simply cut a skinny cone shape. 

Then sewed the sides together and added a little stuffing.

Using white embroidery floss I sewed it to the top of the hood.

And a big thank you hug from my own unicorn.  :)

Photo courtesy of Kalla.