Fairy Princess Wands

For favors for Joey's birthday party, I decided to make each guest her own fairy princess wand.  Well, each child guest.  Considering that only a few young ladies will be at the party, it's a manageable project. 

Most of the materials that I needed were available at Hobby Lobby:  wooden star wands, glitter spray paint, acrylic gems, and ribbon.  The primer was purchased at the hardware store, but they probably have it at the craft store.

I began by spraying the wands with spray glitter, but it was very sheer and I realized it would be necessary to prime the wands for good coverage.  At the hardware store I purchased gray spray primer, which worked nicely with the silver spray glitter. 

To transform the wands from drab to fab:  glitter spray paint.  I used several coats to make the wands extra glittery. 

Oooh!  Sparkly!

After the paint was dry, I brought the wands inside to bedazzle them.  By that I mean that I used hot glue to affix acrylic gems to the wands.  For the finishing touch:  a little organza ribbon.

Although Silly Bandz and stickers are fun party favors for kids, I hope that Joey's guests will be able to enjoy their wands for longer.

Silhouettes II

Yesterday while Baby Charlotte was napping and Paul and Joey were out of the house, I snapped a picture of the baby's profile and created her silhouette in Photoshop.  I had begun this project with the rest of the family last week and I was really pleased with the results.  Click here for the original post.  Here's Baby Charlotte's silhouette:

and here's the rest of the family:

 We'll be printing and framing these in the near future.  I'll be sure to update!

Silhouettes

In the crafting and decor blogosphere, the rage these days seems to be cut-out silhouettes.  You know, the vintage-looking solid-color profiles.  I've seen fabric silhouettes appliqued on pillows, silhouette Christmas ornaments, colorful silhouettes, silhouettes painted on canvas, and basic black and white framed ones.  For several months now I've been dying to create custom silhouettes of my family.

But how?  I remember in grade school sitting in a dark classroom with a light to the side of me, projecting my shadow on the wall where my teacher traced my profile on black construction paper.  I'm not sure that any of us would sit still long enough for me to do that.  My answer was Photoshop:  Paul uses Photoshop all the time.  He could do it for me.  All that we needed to do, I told him, was to take profile pictures of all of us and he could then do his magic in Photoshop.  And then we could send them to somewhere to print.  I would do it, but I don't know how to use Photoshop.  These would make a great Christmas gift, I told him.  Hint, hint.  To my dismay, my husband never got around to doing this project for me.

A friend shared a link to a silhouette tutorial using Photoshop and I decided to give it a shot.  At least if I screwed up, Paul might be inspired to finish what I started.  That blog author traced her silhouettes in Photoshop, then printed, cut out, traced on black cardstock, and then cut the silhouette out of cardstock.  I decided to use technology to my advantage and cut out a few of those steps.  I took profile pictures of the entire family, including myself which was extremely tricky.  I then traced our profiles in Photoshop, created a white background, and then colored our silhouettes black.  Paul came in after me and modified the proportions and tweaked some other things so that all was consistent.

I'll need to wait until Baby Losavio arrives to complete this project, but here's what we've got so far.  I created the collage below in Picnik and I'm really not sure why the background is teal.  I plan to have the individual 8 x 10 silhouettes printed on photo paper at Wal-mart because their photo processing is very reasonable.  If I'm not satisfied with the results we may have these printed on textured paper at Kinko's.   

Now we just need to rearrange some wall space so that we can showcase our DIY art!

Plain White Onesies

When I was sorting through our baby clothes the other day I found a ridiculous number of Plain White Onesies.  Seriously ridiculous.  At least 15.  And that's just for sizes 0 to 6 months.  Some of these probably haven't even been worn.  Seriously.  I know that I bought them all, but why?  Did I think that Joey needed a Plain White Onesie to go with every outfit?  Regardless, Paul and I figured that we could do something fun with these Plain White Onesies.  Fun as in creative.

Paul's idea was to screen print or stencil designs on the Plain White Onesies.  I suggested creating designs on the computer and using iron-on transfer paper.  Paul is a talented designer (if you didn't already know) and I'm sure that his designs will be awesome.

My idea was to embellish the PWOs (Plain White Onesies) with scraps of fabric, ribbon, and buttons, all of which I had on hand.  I've also been wanting to attempt applique, and practically free PWOs would make a great medium.  And considering that I've got lots of fabric just lying around, I wouldn't feel wasteful if the outcome wasn't perfect.

For the applique project, I found simple images on the Internet and printed them.  I cut the fabric and fusible web (available at fabric stores) to the approximate size of the image and ironed the two together.  I pinned the image to the fabric and then cut it out.  I then ironed the fabric to the onesie and then stitched it for reinforcement and to prevent fraying.  I believe there are "no-sew" options that would probably be worth looking into, since the stitching was the most time-consuming part of the project. 

I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome:

"C" Onesie: 

Font: Adobe Jensen Pro Bold

Fabric:  Amy Butler Midwest Modern Happy Dot

Crow Onesie: 

Image:  Milliande Printables

Fabric:  Amy Butler Midwest Modern Honeycomb

Fish Onesie:

Image:  Clker.com

Fabric:  Michael Miller Tortoise Plaid

I also created some yo-yo rosettes to embellish the PWOs, but thinking that they won't launder well I didn't bother to attach them to the PWO.  I think that they would make adorable headbands or hair clips.

More on the DIY Diaper Burp Cloths

Several weeks ago I entertained myself by making diaper burp cloths.  So many of our friends are having babies, and I think that these will make cute, personal baby gifts.  Especially if they are monogrammed.  But I don't have an embroidery machine, nor do I know how to embroider by hand.

Last week I made a couple of diaper burp cloths for a friend's baby shower, which was Saturday.  On Thursday I realized that I should get the cloths monogrammed, since our friends had just decided on a name for the baby.  I called several local businesses for pricing and turn-around time, but none would be able to do the work by my deadline.  After a little searching, I found a local woman who does this sort of work out of her home.  Her prices were extremely reasonable and she was able to do the work overnight!  I dropped the things off on her porch on Thursday afternoon and picked them up Friday morning.  Paul said it sounded like a shady drug deal, but no, no drugs in these diapers.

This is how they turned out:

Every Word's a Winner

One of Joey's favorite hangouts is Starbucks, where she loves drinking vanilla milk and playing "the letter game," known to the rest of us as Scrabble.  She enjoys "making words" with the tiles.  She's pretty good at identifying her letters, but doesn't exactly spell yet.

At home we've got a set of plastic letter refrigerator magnets.  Well, we used to have a set.  I think that we might only have eight letters at this point whereas we started with 26.  But only having one of each letter really limits the words that you can make.  Heck, you can't even spell "Mommy" or "Daddy."

I got the idea to make refrigerator magnets out of Scrabble tiles.  We actually have our own Scrabble set at home, but to keep it intact I needed to find just the tiles.  A new Scrabble set costs about $15, but eBay has tons of tiles on the auction block for less.  Since I really didn't have the patience to wait to win an auction, and then for the tiles to arrive in the mail, I used our Scrabble tiles.  I fully intend to order replacement tiles, but at least now I can hold out for the best price.

For this project, I used a set of 100 Scrabble tiles, 100 round craft magnets, and my hot glue gun.  I simply adhered a magnet to each tile using a small amount of hot glue.  Since the glue can get extremely hot, this is not a good project to do with your child.

After an hour of standing at my kitchen counter gluing magnets to Scrabble tiles, I was finished.  I'm very pleased with the outcome.

Warning:  Scrabble tiles are a choking hazard.  If you choose to replicate this project, please use common sense.  Joey knows better than to put these in her mouth.  However, when Baby Losavio (arrives and) becomes mobile, these will be moved out of her reach.

Arts and Crafts

Our friend Hayley and her daughter Adelyn came over this evening to watch the Alabama vs. Tennessee game.

Adelyn and Joey didn't care much about the football game, but Hayley came armed with arts and crafts for the girls to do.  They took a break from running amok to paint piggy banks. 

 

They turned out gorgeous, don't you think?

DIY: Diaper Burp Cloths

With so many of our friends having babies in the next few months, I've been thinking of personalized baby gifts that I could give.  I often purchase gifts from a registry, but I also like to include a small supplemental gift.  I figured that diaper burp cloths were within my skill set, so I asked Google how to make them.

I used  Gerber cloth diapers, the kind that have the thicker center panel.  These seriously make the best burp cloths, in my opinion.  I believe that these are also available in organic cotton, if that's your thing.  I washed the diapers using hot water and then dried on hot, to get the little suckers to shrink as much as they were going to.  Unfortunately they didn't shrink very evenly, as you might be able to tell by the photographs.

I had some very cute Amy Butler fabric on hand, but I decided to make the first burp cloths using scrap fabric, because it was pretty darn likely that I would mess up.  I found some houndstooth fabric that was left over from an attempt to make a dress for Joey.  Houndstooth diaper burp cloths would make great gifts for our friends who are Alabama fans.

I cut the fabric to size, and then folded down the edges and ironed.  I sewed the strips of fabric to the diaper using a small zigzag stitch.  And Voila!  A diaper burp cloth, made by yours truly!  A little crooked, but not bad for a first attempt.

Sewing...

Attempt #1

Attempt #2

If you are interested in making your own diaper burp cloths, please visit the blogs that I referenced.  These explain the process more eloquently than I can.

http://chickpeastudio.typepad.com/chickpea_sewing_studio/diaper-burp-cloth-tutoria.html
http://anewchelseamorning.blogspot.com/2007/03/such-mystery-not.html

To my friends who are having babies in the next few months:  you will be receiving burp cloths from me.  And they were made for you and your baby with love.

Here's an update on this diaper burp cloth project.

Joey's Halloween Costume

Unlike the past two years, this year I really took Joey's interests into consideration when deciding what to dress her as for Halloween.  She is getting to the age where she's enjoying dressing up, and I knew that her costume would be reused for playtime regardless of what it was.  She loves princesses but she's getting a princess dress for Christmas (shh!), so I didn't want to buy another one.  I turned to Etsy for some inspiration and found the idea of Candy Corn Princess. 

For Joey's Candy Corn Princess costume, she'll have a tutu, a magic wand, and either a tiara or a hat.

I found several tutu-making tutorials online, and the consensus said:

Cut the tulle into 4 inch wide strips
Cut the strips to double the desired length
Layer three strips together and fold in half length-wise.
Sew or knot around elastic (cut to desired length with the ends sewn or tied together)

I was able to find 25-yard spools of 3 inch wide tulle pretty cheaply, so I bought one spool each of white, yellow, and orange.  They were $1 each, but after shipping and handling (gag) they worked out to about $3 per spool.  I had 75 yards of tulle to work with, and would you believe that I actually used all of it for Joey's tutu?  I cut the strips roughly 24 inches long and layered three of the same color, folded, and sewed, allowing room to thread elastic through.  Although it seems to be the trend to make "no-sew" tutus with knots, sewing seemed easier to me.  I threaded the strips onto a wire hanger before the elastic to make sure that the tutu would have the fullness that I wanted.  After all of the strips had been threaded onto the elastic I sewed the two ends together, fluffed, and Voila!  A tutu!

The magic wand was purchased at Hobby Lobby.  It is a wooden star-shaped wand that cost $1.47.  I first painted the entire thing yellow using acrylic craft paint, and then added a candy corn design using white and orange paint.

A candy corn hat was lent to us by Paul's coworker, but if I'm able to find a tiara I may use that instead.

Joey will wear her costume over a long-sleeved black shirt, black leggings, black socks, and black Mary Janes.

This project was so much easier than anticipated that now I want to make tutus for Joey for every occasion!

New Hobby

I've decided to take up a new hobby:  crocheting.  I checked out some books from the library and bought $4 in supplies from Hobby Lobby.

I want to be able to make things like this

and this.

And yarn is just so yummy.

If my hobby doesn't work out I can always do this.

Photo links:
Hat with earflaps
Amigarumi bear with mushroom
Yarn skeins
Yarn mobile