DIY Tutu - Win!

I'm not a girly girl really, but occasionally I like to get my frilly on. And I've tried hard not to pink-wash my daughter as best as I can, making sure she has lots of blues and greens and yellows in her room and wardrobe. It's a hard fight since she's the only girl granddaughter right now. But for her birthday I decided 'what the heck' and made her a tutu.

Yup. A pink full frilly tutu just for her birthday.
It's awesome!

The tutorial found here from The Pinning Momma is fairly simple to follow and is a no sew version. This was the best for me, since a) I can barely sew and b) I don't have a sewing machine. It just required a few stitches to connect the elastic, but you could easily tie them together if you lack needle and thread or like me are prone to poking yourself. A lot.

I picked three colours: white, light pink, and a darker pink. Yah, I know I don't like too much pink, but she only turns one once, right? The best thing about this is you can make it in any colour combo you want. And changing how I layered the tulle changed the colour for each section giving it a really neat effect.

Getting the number of wraps around the cardboard was a tiny bit tricky because I kept loosing count. I found it helpful to make a small pencil mark on the 'top' of the cardboard to help keep track of when I made a full rotation of the tulle. 
Below is a quick video I took to show what a full rotation looks like. From start to finish that's counted as one wrap around.

The whole project maybe took a little over an hour from start to finish because I had to layer all the different colours. If you're doing one colour, it should take less time.

The tutu looked great and had a nice fullness to it and held up well for the party. It can definitely be used again. And I even had someone ask to make them an adult sized one :)





















The project cost about $15 total, the tulle was on sale. You can jazz it up as well by adding ribbon or a bow at the back if you'd want something a little flashier or fun.

Overall, a super simple DIY project!

 
  

Command Center - Pinterest Inspired Win!

WE MOVED!

Oh how I hate moving. 
Really REALLY hate moving.

So we're finally settled into our new home and are slowly making it our own. It's difficult, especially because before we took possession we had never been inside our new home. A risk of moving across the country is buying a house sight unseen, and well...that was us. But we have lucked out and landed a lovely home. Sadly, this one as a much smaller kitchen and no desk space. As I type I'm using a small couch table as my desk and typing on my lap while sitting on a stool. This also means that all of our mail, cellphones, and other stuff end up in the already packed kitchen. 
Luckily Pinterest is FULL of organization inspiration. I decided on going for a 'command centre' style area since it was the best option for what we needed and it was something I could throw together quickly. It seriously took me 2 days of crafting and shopping and it's done. And the whole thing cost about $100 total!

How to make a command centre?

Pick an area - We chose the hallway leading to the kitchen. It was preferable over the front door since we don't have much of an entry way and it's accessible by all three doors into the house. 

Get an idea - figure out what you need. I needed a space for my son's homework, our mail and other papers, plus a calendar, and a spot for notes and random papers. Figure out your basics and go from there

Get crafty - I enjoyed this part! I got a large letter from Michaels and painted it. I was originally thinking chevrons, but I found stencils in my scrapbook box and used those instead. I also used the scrapbook paper I had stashed away too. 
I dug into my online stash of printables and framed up some of my kid's art work to add a personal touch. 

In addition to my mail slots, I have my calendar which I can fill in every month using dry erase markers, my weekly menu planner, our cleaning schedule, a magnet board, and buckets for the markers, phones and sunglasses, and hooks for backpacks and jackets.

Most of my inspiration for the heart of my command centre came from here at Girl Loves Glam. There are some great ideas and it's very simple. 
The calendar is a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper with a calendar drawn directly on it with sharpie. I then placed it in a cheap glass picture frame from Michaels. This allows me to change it each month and keep things up to date. The cleaning schedule and menu were also taken from Girl Loves Glam, but I modified them for our own needs. Again, both are on scrapbook paper. Note to self - don't put glitter paper through the printer.
Live and learn.
This is just an early draft. As we update our new home and paint, or as our needs change, I can change out the scrapbook sheets easily. It only took me a few hours to make up everything.

I hope this helps give you some ideas for your own command centre and help you realize it's not as hard as you may think!

Happy Crafting!

DIY Yarn Balls - Win

I have a lot of yarn. A lot! Well, maybe not a lot to some knitters and crocheters, but for me it's a lot. For Christmas my husband bought me this awesome yarn bag that's big enough for all my yarn AND my projects. Plus it's nice looking too!

So with all my projects over the last few months, I had a lot of remnant yarn sitting around making a mess. So I went to Pinterest and found a way to solve my yarn mess problem.

DIY Yarn Balls!

The method is simple. It suggests using a paper towel roll tube, placing about 6 inches of yarn into the tube, and wrap the yarn around the tube. Now the first time I tried this I did use a paper towel tube and after one yarn ball it was all crushed. Not sure if it was me and I was wrapping to tightly, but it pretty much made it unusable. However, I had conveniently finished a roll of aluminum foil, which has a much smaller but also much stronger tube. That is now my yarn ball tube. I've used it many times and it's still holding up. It's nice too because if you have only a small amount of yarn you can make a tiny yarn ball. So if you're looking to reuse your yarn ball tube, look into something stronger like one from a roll of aluminum foil. Paper towel rolls are great, but you might only get one or two uses out of them. I keep mine in my bag with all my yarn. I did say it was a big bag!


This works up really fast. You can do a large amount of yarn in under 30 minutes. Unless, like me, you have a bunch of yarn at the bottom of your bag that looks like you tried to do cats cradle while on LSD. Then it'll take a couple hours. But it's the perfect mindless activity while watching TV if you're not actually up to crocheting or knitting.


Below is the results of a few nights of work, doing one to two balls a night. As you can see some are large and some are quite small.
To use the ball, you just pull the string from the middle and start away! I've used the some of the yarn I've balled up and it comes out smoothly as you work away on your project. A definite DIY winner here!

Christmas Crochet Extravaganza - Wins and Fails

As noted last year, I try to do Christmas on the cheap. Buying for so many people can add up. Since I'm a novice / intermediate crocheter, I decided to make as many presents as I could.

#1 - 6 Hr Afghan

Win!
A very simple project using bulky/super bulky yarn and a Q hook. Make the blanket as large or small as you like. Using a V stitch makes it a very open blanket, so be aware of pulls and snags. Add tassels if you like. Did NOT take me 6 hrs, more like 2 weeks, but that was with multiple projects on the go and only a few hours in the evening to crochet. If I had 6 hrs of straight free time to do anything, I probably could have finished it in the allotted time. The colour I used was called Peacock (as seen above, it's the blanket at the bottom of the pile), and the blanket when finished covered me from stomach to toes. I'll definitely use this pattern from Ravelry again. 

#2 - Cow Hat

Win!

My dear little nephew loves cows. LOVES COWS. So what did his Auntie make him for Christmas? A cow hat. The pattern from Repeat Crafter Me is really cute and easy to follow. I only had trouble with the cow spots, and no matter how many times I tried they looked weird. So I just made something up - little stitch, big, big, little, big, on and on till it looked like a wonky cow spot. I'll definitely use this hat pattern again, and I used it a lot this year, especially since the poster has adjustments for infant to adult sizes.

#3 - Car seat blanket and matching hat

Win!
So I'm getting another nephew in January! Excited Auntie right here! So the new addition gets a present too. The blanket was a combination of two patterns/methods. I used the three-strand single-crochet method for the blanket, and left 2 large gaps to accommodate the carseat straps. This way the straps stay right against baby, but baby remains warm. I got the idea for the pattern from here, but I pretty much winged it.
For the hat I used the Cow Hat pattern again, and added a pompom at the end.

#4 - Tiny TARDIS Ornament

Win!

The Hubby is a Whovian. Let's just get that out there. And since I couldn't work on some of the gifts in his presence, I got bored in the evenings and decided to make him a TARDIS. Yes, he knew about it but he loves it. Even though our Christmas stuff is all packed away, the TARDIS still sits on the shelf. 
This was my first 3D project and it turned out ok. Not very square, but I think that is just the pattern. I added on the Snowy Top as well, and used felt and black thread for the windows. It was a bit fiddly making something so small, but for a starter project I think it turned out fine! Pattern from Ravelry

#5  - Jayne Cobb Hat x 2

Win and Fail for this one

My Hubby and I are huge Joss Whedon fans. You know that guy who directed The Avengers movie? Him. But we liked him way before the movie came out. Jayne Cobb is a character from one of his shows Firefly. And this hat is from that show. Look it up. It's awesome.
Years ago I remember my Hubby saying he'd love a Jayne hat one day. So this year I decided to make him one. And just for kicks, make one for my son too. Both hats are pictured above, they are the orange and yellow ones.

For the hat for my son I again used the Cow Hat pattern. See? It's my new fave. It worked great, except I made it too small. But that's my own fault since I underestimated the size of my kid's giant head. Seriously, he's 4 and has the head size of a small adult. 
For my Hubby I used this pattern from Crafting Adventures. Now my husband is the only one in my family with a normal head size. The rest of us are blessed with huge heads. And I will fully admit that since I'm a relatively novice crocheter, one of my huge failings is figuring out gage. But I followed the pattern exactly and the hat is TOO SMALL! How disappointed do you think I was to find that on Christmas morning the hat didn't fit! 
So I have to order more yarn and make both hats bigger. So be cautioned and check measurements before diving into this pattern. Other than the size issue, it turned out great. 


I have a lot more crochet projects on the go. Most patterns I don't have an issue with but if I find a really good one I'll post it here.

Have fun!

Crochet Baby Hat with Flower - Win!

After completing my baby blanket project I had some yarn left over. I felt empowered by my success at this blanket, so I decided to once again attempt a hat.
Now hats are apparently and issue for me. I tried making one for myself as a trial for making one for my husband. It turned out all wonky and WAY too big, which is saying something since I come from a big-headed family. Other attempts failed as well, I never could really follow the tutorials as a rookie crocheter. 
Until this one!
She walks through it perfectly and slowly. I FINALLY got a lovely little hat! And the simple flower was a bonus from this tutorial.

A lovely little addition to my blanket project for our baby girl!

Super easy crochet blanket - Win

I had some free time waiting for baby # 2 to show up so I decided to do a little crochet.

Now I'm not a knitter. A relative tried to teach me when I was younger and it never stuck. Recently I've tried a few crochet projects which have turned into misshapen hats and headbands. Then I found this - a seemingly super simple baby blanket project. I added the hat on afterwards when I had extra yarn.

I ordered 3 different colours of yarn in worst and bulky weight. Tip - check how big each skein is, I had to dig around and find 2 more skeins when I realized one colour came with less yarn. 
The project is simple - pick different colours and weights if you like, and single chain a blanket as big as you like!



















My blanket measured about 35" by 35" and is SUPER thick and soft. It's a little big to use for the car seat but it's lovely for tummy time or just warm cuddles. Next time I may use Sport weight yarn and make a lighter blanket, and maybe just a smaller version that fits better in the stroller or car seat.

Overall the project took me a couple weeks to finish, only really working in the evenings and the delay for finding extra yarn. This is a definite win project. Awesome for your self, your baby, or as a gift!

Arm Knitting an Infinity Scarf in 30 minutes - Win!

First things first, I am NOT a knitter. I have aspirations to be one but the one previous attempt in my life to learn knitting was an utter failure. So when I saw arm knitting I figured I'd give it a shot.
The original video I found on Pinterest was alright but way too confusing for a knitting-nubie like me. The poster went too fast and didn't describe things very well. Luckily a commenter on the video posted another which was significantly better. She went much slower and explained things much clearer. The link is here and this is the one I'd recommend using.

I purchased one ball of 82m/90 yard yard in a fairly bulky thread.

Knitting in progress

It took a good few tries to figure out what to do and I ended up doing the whole thing twice since the first time my scarf was too short.I did 6 stitches total across my arm.
 The whole thing (once I got the hang of it) took me about 45 minutes from start to finish, including connecting the ends to make it an infinity scarf. You can also skip that part if you just want a regular scarf. 

The finished product

A shot of the stitches

I'm not posting instructions or a whole lot of in-progress pics since obviously my hands were a little busy :)

I really really love this project. It was quick (with the right video and once you get the hang of it) and cheap - about $8 with tax for the yarn I used. I think I'll be using this one for gifts in the future!

A definite winner!

DIY Parachute Craft - Win!

This past weekend was a cold and crappy Sunday, complete with snow. Yay Calgary! We decided to stay inside and have a cozy family day which means crafts and baking. I'm always looking for new little crafts for the Munchkin and this looked like an easy winner

To make your Parachute
Supplies
1 dinner sized napkin
Tape
Hole punch
Yarn or string
Scissors
Paratrooper (we used a driver from one of Munchkins cars)

The instructions are simple
Spread out napkin (I decorated ours since plain white was boring)
Place clear tape on each corner on both sides of the napkin for support
Punch a hole in each corner, about an inch in
String yarn though holes
Tie two strands together
Tie a second knot in each already tied strand to create a little arm hole for your 'volunteer' paratrooper
Attach your paratrooper to the yarn

Then DROP!

This was a super cute and easy craft. Pictures will come - I didn't take any since I wasn't sure how this would go over.
Munchkin love it! It provided a whole 5 minutes of entertainment which is hours in when converted into toddler time.
A great little rainy day craft!

Original instructions can be found here:
http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2011/02/toy-parachute-craft.html

Handprint Ornaments

Considering it's the middle of March and it's still snowing I thought it'd be appropriate to post a Christmas project. 
After the Sharpie mug fiasco I was in desperate need of a replacement Christmas gift for the grandparents. And good old Pinterest came though again!

I found a craft that used your kid's handprint on an ornament and then you, the parent (with all your crafty skills) turn said handprint into some sort of festive creature like a reindeer or snowman.
With such short notice I was hard pressed to find plain ornament balls that didn't come in bulk. So I found a small canvas square at our local craft store. I then purchased paints, and used the Sharpies I had from our failed project. The whole thing cost about $15 since I didn't have any paints or decent brushes on hand.

The canvas was white so I painted it a light blue and let it dry overnight. Then we painted Munchkin's hand and fingers white and pressed them on the canvas. Again - dry time was required. Then came the parental creativity - I used a fine brush and the Sharpies as well to decorate the white fingers into little snowman families. I even made a dog out of the deformed thumb! And the disconnected finger? One jumps and one is upside-down! 

                                          

Pretty cute if you ask me. We made 3 in total, there was to be a 4th but I got messed up. And it took a whole 5 minutes of my son's participation which was great. It's a neat way to get creative. I attached some green wire to each one so they hung on our tree. They were a definite hit with the grandparents!

Have fun!

 The original idea is from here - http://www.littlebitfunky.com/2010/12/make-these-now-handprint-snowman.html

Ikea LATT Activity Table

For my son's most recent birthday we wanted to make him something instead of buying him something. He has a LOT of stuff and we really didn't want even more. I came across the idea of some sort of activity table and thanks to good old Pinterest I was able to come across this!

http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/50178411/

We started with a LATT table and chair set from Ikea which is $24.99 from our local store. We then went to Home Depot and got paint - the hubby and I settled on a really bright green and white. We only bought the small 'sample' tubs which cost about $5 each and we had lots of paint left over. And for the actual 'activity' portion of the table we settled on Chalkboard Paint. This was more expensive at $22.97, but even after 3 coats on the table we have LOTS left. We also purchased a spray lacquer which is a non-toxic sealant and goes for about $6 - $8 per can.

Painting in progress!

The hubby and I did this project over a week, working on it for about an hour or so each night. We did 2 coats of paint on the table, and 3 for the chalkboard. Then we let it dry and set and then sprayed it with the sealant. And then - ASSEMBLE! Now remember the chalkboard needs to be 'primed' - once the paint is dry and cured, you have to run a piece of chalk over then entire surface and then wiped off with a clean cloth and voila! You're ready to go!

The final (already used) product

Sorry I don't have a better picture of the finished product. You can sort of see that we painted the sides of the table and chairs green, and the legs white. The seats of the chairs were already white so they're unpainted. 

The Munchkin LOVED his table - the above pic is about 10 minutes after he received it at his party. And 6 months later it's still a favourite for colouring, activities and snacks. A definite win!

The whole project cost about $70 with table, paint, and a couple additional supplies like brushes. It may seem a bit steep but we have a lot of paint left over for future projects.

Have fun!

Here is where I found the original idea for the activity table...

http://designbuildlove.co/ikea-latt-childrens-activity-table-hack/

Sharpie Decorated Mugs - Fail!

I'm going to take a stab and guess most people like to save a few bucks, especially when it comes to the holidays. We seriously can't afford to spend $50 plus on each person, or even half that sometimes. So I found this seemingly great idea off Pinterest for Sharpie Decorated Mugs. I figured this would be an awesome project for my son to do for the grandparents - cheap, creative, and personalized. Sounds great - right? WRONG!

The entire project cost about $16 for all 4 grandparents - $10 for 4 mugs and $6 for a packaged of colour sharpies both from the Superstore. If you search around Pinterest you'll see many links for this project and all are the same. Buy mug, wash mug, decorate mug with sharpie, bake, and TA-DA! Until you wash it...

After washing the mugs I let Munchkin go crazy with the Sharpies all over the mugs. He had a blast. As he'd draw something I'd ask him what each thing was and wrote it down on the mug (dog, cat, mommy, dinosaur, etc). The colouring took a couple sessions for all 4 mugs since my son has the attention span of a gold fish - again, he's 2!

 Looking neat - Right?

After we finished the colouring the mugs looked great and I was really excited. Then we baked them at 350 for 30 minutes as instructed. And that's when the problem started.
1) The colours seriously faded - big time. Especially the yellow which turned some sort of gold-brown colour. Not super attractive
2) As a Pinterest-craft rookie I should have done more research about the project. One of the major failings of this craft is the ink comes off with washing - or in our case, by rubbing your finger on it...lightly. We even re-baked the mugs at 350 for an additional hour and it still came off.

And....fail

So all and all I really was hoping this project would work but it didn't. I thought about trying again with new mugs and Sharpie Paint Pens but those were way too messy and too expensive for my dreams of a cheap(er) Christmas gift.