Monday, February 28, 2011

Lip Gloss



Ingredients:
Vaseline or Crisco
Cherry Kool-Aid
Containers
Labels (printed on sticker paper)

You can print some adorable Labels at this BLOG  Also I ordered my tin containers from a website called SPECIALTY BOTTLE.  They were about 30 cents a piece. 

Directions:
Heat the Vaseline or Crisco in one minute increments until liquefied. This may take up to ten minutes. When melted add one package of Kool-Aid to each cup of Vaseline.  Pour into containers. Print, cut, and stick on labels.

The gloss has a little tint and tastes really yummy. I think these would be such cute party favors for a little girl's birthday party.  Enjoy!


Sunday, February 27, 2011

Glue Quilts & Table Runners

I love the way a patch work quilt looks. Somehow it conjures up feelings of eating cookies at Grandma's house. The only problem, my style of sewing is fast and sloppy. I cannot stand the tedium of pinning and measuring. So, when Jill and her sister Natalie introduced me to this gluing technique I couldn't wait to try it out on a new table runner for my dining room.

First, let me show you the full-size quilt that Natalie made and the adorable baby quilt that Jill created.Now that you are sufficiently tempted to make one too, here is how you do it.
First, pick a base color or two. For my table runner and Jill's baby quilt the top and bottom fabric matched, but for Natalie's larger quilt she picked a coordinating fabric for the bottom.

First, cut the fabric to your desired length. This may require you to sew some fabric together to achieve this desired size. For example, my table runner required 2 yards of fabric. I cut my fabric into 4 equal pieces, length wise. Then I sewed 2 pieces together twice to create 2 long skinny matching strips of fabric. Was that about as clear as mud or what? Pick out five or six coordinating fabrics to go with your base fabric. A simple way to do this is to buy a pack of charms at the fabric store and then cut those cute little squares into 4 pieces. You can also just bust out the scissors or rotary cutter and start making squares. For the table runner I cut out 44 pieces of 2.5" by 2.5" fabric.

Now that you have your long pieces of base fabric and all of your teeny weeny squares, (cut bigger squares for bigger quilts) you can begin to glue them onto your top fabric. Using Elmer's Glue apply in the following manner-around the outside with an "X" in the middle.Using a ruler begin adhering the squares to your top fabric.

When you have glued all of you squares, your hands have been washed of all that stickiness, and the glue is dry. You will apply the batting and bottom layer of fabric.
I used the brand of adhesive pictured above, but you could use craft bond as well. Spray your top fabric and then lay the batting on top. Try to make the batting as smooth and tight as you can. Then spray your bottom base fabric and lay the top fabric/batting onto it. Voila! You are now ready to sew and you haven't had to use a single pin.
Sew vertically and horizontally down the sides of each square. As pictured above.
(Note, do not pick up your stitch between squares sew the entire length and width of fabric.)
The back will look something like this when you are finished.
Finally, you have some options to finish the outside edges. Jill used a serger to finish her baby quilt. Natalie bound her quilt with the bottom fabric. I stitched completely around my table runner and then left the the edges raw. This made the runner a little more rustic looking, which I like.
When you have sewn up your outer edges using the method you prefer, throw it into the washer and then dry. The more you wash these quilts the better they look.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Toddler Bed Skirts

One of my amazing friends who has 6 kids (5 of them are boys!), asked me to help her make bed skirts for 2 toddler beds so that she can store buckets of wheat under them. She wanted to hide the legs of the beds and so this is what we came up with. It is literally a skirt. It was fast, inexpensive and I love the finished products.

First of all look how many buckets you can put under a toddler bed 10! You could even put other things in the buckets like your off season clothing.

First we measured how long we wanted the bed skirts to be and then we added a few inches for the hems and the casing for the elastic. Ours was 23”. Then we cut the material into sections of 23”.

Then we sewed all the panels together into 1 long strip, and then into a big tube.

Once we sewed the tube. I turned down the top edge and sewed a casing for the elastic making sure to leave an opening big enough for the elastic to fit. Then we laced the elastic in and fit it on the bed until it was gathered to how we liked it. Then, I cut and sewed the elastic to itself. Make sure that you go over your stitches a few times. Last, sew the hole for the elastic shut.

Now, try it on and then you will hem to the desired length.

The kids played in it like a tent while we were adjusting. Even the baby crawled under.

Last Tack it onto the bed with small nails or heavy duty staples. Adjust the gathers as you do this.


Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Just in time for March Madness!

It seems that all the boys in our house have an ample supply of BYU gear. The girl's are another story. Today being a game day and with March Madness just around the corner, I set out to remedy this little problem. Using the same technique described in the Freezer Paper Silhouette post (see two posts below) I made Belle this I "heart" Jimmer onesie. Plus, momma got a cougar fix up too. I cut my letters out with a Cricut but you can easily print letters onto the freezer paper or even free draw them.


The shirt that I made for myself has a very low scoop neck . When I tried it on, I got a funny feeling about dressing like a Hooker while wearing a BYU shirt. This is the same compelling feeling I get to restrain my middle finger while driving on the Beltway because I have a BYU Alumni license plate holder.

My Solution: Add a ruffle.

First I dug around in my goodwill pile of clothes and found an old shirt. I trimmed the bottom.


Next, I pinned the bottom of the old shirt around the collar of my new shirt. Some trimming to make the sizes match will most likely be required.


Finally, I sewed it on with my machine and now I have a cleavage free BYU shirt!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Grandma Pam's Play dough

Growing up, playing with playdough was one of my favorite things to do. My mom's playdough is the best homemade recipe that I have found. It is cheap and so simple to make. I love making it in different colors for different holidays. Today we made St. Patrick's Day playdough...here is how you do it!

Grandma Pam's Playdough Recipe
1 1/2 C.water
1/2 C. salt
1 T. Alum(you can find this in the spice isle at the grocery store)
2 T. Mineral oil ( in the laxative isle at walmart)
1 T. Glycerin (in first aid isle at Walmart)
oil of cloves(optional, it makes it smell good but is not necessary)
Food Coloring
11/2 C. flour
Step# 1 Gather ingredients

Step # 2
Put 1st six ingredients in a pot and heat on the stove DO NOT BOIL!

Step#3
Add food coloring, until you reach the desired color.


Step #4
Add flour and Knead until it is soft (I added fine glitter to the yellow for some golden fun)

Step #6
Find some cute kids, sit down and play. When you are done store in an air tight container.

Freezer Paper Silhouettes

I absolutely love the way these silhouettes turned out! I made mine into pillows because I obviously needed at least three more pillows on my bed. However, I also think that they would be great framed.
Here is how to do it!
Step 1: Take a picture of your munchkin's profile. This is a bit hard to do when you have an active 9 month old. Step 2: Download your picture. I then copied mine into a word document. I wanted my picture to fit on a 8.5 by 11 in. printer paper. So, I played with the image until I got it the size I wanted it.
Step 3: Take freezer paper and cut it the size of your printer paper. Place the cut freezer paper in your printer and print your image.Step 4: Using an Exacto knife cut out your image. (For some reason this picture cracks me up!)

Step 5: Take your fabric and iron your silhouette onto it.

Step 6: Paint! You can use fabric paint or just plain old acrylic paint. Both work well.

Step 7: After the paint dries, peel off the freezer paper. This is when I made mine into pillows. But the possibilities are limitless.