Face Mask Purse

 

I ran into a number of face masks at a store that were marked down to 18 cents for two.  I couldn't pass that deal up, especially when I saw this idea for cute little girls purses on Facebook!  

Materials:

• 1 Adult cloth face mask
• Thread and needle
• Embellishments that match

Steps:

1. Fold the face mask in half
2. Sew up both sides with the needle and thread
3. Sew embellishments on

Crochet Beaded Necklaces

 These necklaces are relatively simple to make and depending on the colors, could be for a boy or a girl.

Materials:

• Approximately 30 Beads
• Size 5 crochet thread/cotton
• A needle
• Crochet hook

Steps:

1. Use the needle to thread the beads onto the crochet cotton
2. Chain 3 stitches
3. Add a bead in the next stitch by sliding it up to the hook and incorporating it in the yarn over
4. Chain 6 stitches
5. Repeat steps 3-4 until no more beads remain
6. Chain 3 stitches
7. Finish off
8. Knot the tail to the beginning tail
9. Use the needle to weave in the ends

Simple Memory Wire Bracelet

These are really simple bracelets that can be worn by a wide range of ages.  I bought my memory wire and the memory wire pliers together off Amazon.  I've heard that trying to cut memory wire with regular pliers will damage the pliers so I bought specific ones designed for memory wire.  The wire comes in loops already so there is memory wire designed for bracelets and some for other size projects (rings, necklaces, etc).

Materials:

• Memory Wire
• Memory Wire pliers
• Beads (seed beads or a little bigger work well)
• Needle Nose Pliers

Steps:

1. Using the Memory Wire pliers, cut off a section of memory wire. I do about a round and a half. You can certainly do more loops, but I wanted to maximize the number of bracelets I could make.
2. Use the Needle Nose pliers to add a small loop at the one end.
3. Add the beads until there's a little under a centimeter of wire left
4. Use the Needle Nose pliers to add a small loop at the end.

IC15 - London - Crown for 18 Inch doll

With the Olympics under way, the theme for the Iron Craft Challenge is London.  When I think of London, I think of Big Ben, West Minster Abby, the Queen and scones.

So for this challenge, I decided to make a crown.  Originally I was going to make it from wire, but the silver colored wire I have is too difficult to crochet with, so I reverted to crochet thread.

RD1: Use the chainless base and make the equivalent of 44 stitches. Join to make a round (careful not to twist it!)

RD2: Ch5 skip 3 stitches and sc in the 4th stitch of the previous round. Repeat around until there are 4 stitches left in the first round, ch3 dc in the same stitch as the first chain.

RD3: ch 5, sc in the middle of the next ch 5 loop, repeat around (end with a slip stich at the base of the first ch 5 of the round).

RD4: sc3, picot, sc3 in the first loop, ch 6, picot, ch6 and slip stitch in the sc between the two loops of the previous row), repeat around, join, fasten off.

Weave in ends then block and stiffen.  to block mine, I rolled a newspaper up (so it was the same diameter as the inside of the crown), covered it with plastic wrap and then slipped the crown on the outside.  I then took some straight pins and pinned it in the correct shape all the way around.  After that I brushed on some white Elmers glue and left it dry.

IC 8: Recycled Garden tags

This week's Iron Craft challenge was another recycling challenge, where we were to use something that was going to be thrown out.

I decided to reuse an aluminum pan that came with some IKEA cinnamon rolls to make some garden tags, so I don't need to remember where I planted what.


Materials:
aluminum foil pan
pencil
old scissors
Sharpie
Styrofoam tray (or other soft surface, an old phone book would probably work too)

I cut the pan (using old scissors) into rectangles.  Then, I carefully folded over the sharp edges.  After that, I sat them on a styrofoam tray while I wrote (pressing hard) on them with a dull pencil.  Finally, I went back and used a black Sharpie to write again so it would stand out a little more.

IC5 - Can you spare a dollar? Bag and weekly calendar

One of my favorite challenges this week!  The dollar store!  Have you seen Dollar Store Crafts?  It's how I found out about the Iron Craft Challenges.

A few weeks ago, I'd stopped by the Dollar Store to get some yarn to make my friend's grandson a bag.  I'd made her one and he ended up confiscating it, but it was pink and purple, so she asked me to make one in colors that are better suited for a boy.  I was having problems finding colors that were for a boy.  For some reason all the cotton yarns tend to be pastels and really girly colors.  But I was as the dollar store and saw that they had some navy, so I picked up a couple balls.  When this craft challenge came up, I thought I would make the bag.  But, the more I thought about it, the more I questioned if it was really in the spirit of the challenge.  It's not all that much of a challenge to go to the Dollar Store buy a single craft supply and make something with  it.  So, I put that project on hold and decided to make another trip back to the Dollar Store.

I was at a friend's house a few months ago and she had this cool weekly calendar on her wall, where she used a dry erase marker to write the family's events.  I really liked the idea and admired it.  She said the hardest part of the whole thing was finding a frame that had that many opennings.  Using this as inspiration, I decided to create a weekly calendar for my family.  When I was at the dollar store though I ran into a problem, there weren't enough of the frames that I liked (and that were suitable).  So, I decided to settle on doing five for now and I'll add another one for the weekend later.  I'll just have to be very careful when I go back to make sure I get one exactly like the ones I've already bought.  It's amazing how much those frames look alike!



So, I bought 5 frames that were the same and had square sides.  Then I took my hot glue gun and just glued them together in the configuration I wanted.  Picking the configuration was the hardest part for me, I'm not good at layouts.  After that I found some printable scrapbook paper and used it for a background to the days of the week in my word processor and printed out a rectangle a bit bigger than my frames.  I cut the paper to size and put it in. 



If I were to do this again, I'd use a little less hot glue.  Some seeped through the front and is visable.

And then, I went back and finished the bag :)

IC 35: Done Reading? phone book craft

This week's Iron Craft challenge at Just Craft Enough was to use a book.  We're all readers here at this house, even my kindergardener who can't read will have us read to her over and over.  So the idea of crafting with a book, even one that I didn't care for wasn't something I could bring myself to do.  (Although  afterwards I realized I think I've got some with water damage that might not be readable anymore I could use.)  I do however get an excessive number of phone books each year.  I need to look into asking them to stop but haven't gotten to it yet.  So I took a phone book and loosely followed these instructions.

And made a pencil holder:




Originally I was going to paint it all blue with a yellow center, but my daughters saw it and decided they wanted to decorate it, so for now, I've left it as is.

Any other creative uses for phone books?  I used to cover them with paper and then contact paper and use them as stools for the kids (I even personalized them), but our phone books here aren't as big and the girls no longer need stools as much.  I also use them as a working pad when I'm cutting or gluing.

IC 34 - On the Go - Candy Airplanes

This week's Iron Craft Challenge at Just Crafty Enough is On the Go.  So I made some of the candy airplanes that my Mom used to make for party favors growing up.

For each airplane you need:

1 rubber band

1 roll of Smarties

1 stick of gum

2 Lifesavers (they need to have the hole in the center, Breathsavers and some of the other brands do not)

Step 1: Feed the rubber band through the holes in the Lifesavers.


Step 2:
Hook both ends of the rubber band over the ends of the stick of gum.


Step 3:
Use a finger to spread the Lifesavers apart and slide the roll of Smarties in between the lifesavers and in between the rubber band and the stick of gum. Slide it so that the stick of gum is about 1/3 of the way back the roll of Smarties.


And you're done!

Backpack Makeover

A few years ago, I found some brand new backpacks at Good Will for $2.50, but, I didn't like the design that was on them.  I picked up a couple of them anyway though intending to give them a make over.

This year, I was intending to get some princess fabric to decorate one for my youngest, but she decided she wanted a ballerina backpack.  So, I bought some fabric with ballerinas on it, cut it to size (with about a half inch extra on all 4 sides to turn under), then I sewed around the edges turning the raw edges under as I went.  I did the stitching by hand because I wasn't sure that I'd be able to manipulate the backpack with my machine enough to do a good job.  After I finished sewing it, I sprayed it good with Scotch Gaurd.  The fabric will attract dirt faster than the canvas part of the backpack, so I wanted to counter act that.

So, now my daughter has a backpack with the design of her choice and there's not likely to be anyone else in Kindergarten with one like it.  This would work well too for the times when your child out grows the theme of their backpack but it's still in good shape.

Back to School

It's getting close to that time, stores have their back to school supplies on sale.  I took my youngest shopping for a new outfit for her to wear the first day of school.  We hadn't even left the store yet before she was asking how many days until she starts school.  She's just a *wee* bit excited about this next step!

After getting asked a number of times the rest of the day, I finally asked her if she wanted to make a chain to count down.  So, that is what we did.

I've made it into a pdf for you to print.

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Some of the graphics are from WebWeaver.

IC 28: Reuse - Reusable Sandwich Bag

I'm not the most green person in the world. Don't get me wrong, I DO recycle and try to reuse things before tossing them, but I don't allow a product's packaging to influence my decision to buy it.

One of the green things I do though is try to keep the waste from my daughter's lunch to a minimum.  I've sewn several cloth lunch bags, we use a thermos for her drink, a cloth napkin, a heavy reusable plastic utensil and I've made a few cloth bags for the stuff inside the lunch as well.

I've been needing to make a new sandwich bag. So, when Iron Craft announced Challenge 28: Reuse, I knew right away what I was going to make.

For this you need:
thread
the bag from a box of cereal (empty), cut open so it lays flat
fabric

I don't have dimensions right now but the fabric was about 7 inches by 16 inches, it was a scrap left over from another project so it wasn't cut straight, but it didn't really impact how this turned out.

Lay the fabric down and place the bag from the cereal over top. Trim the bag to be the same size as the fabric.



Next, sew the two pieces together. I just did a zig zag stitch around the outside edge.


Then, fold the bottom up with the fabric sides together so that the bottom edge is about 2 inches from the top and then sew (using straight stitch) along the sides.


Now, you're ready to turn it right side out and start using it! I've washed the other one when it got particularly messy in the washing machine and it's held up pretty well for two years.


I just tuck the open end down in the bag once the sandwich is in there to close it.  You could use velcro if you wanted.

For more great tips check out We are THAT Family and their Works for Me Wednesday post.

For more great crafts that reuse, check out The Iron Craft flickr pool.

What do you do to reuse?

IC 26: Camp Crafts

This week over at Iron Craft, the theme is camp crafts.  I did several crafts this week.

T-shirts

I found these color change paints at the store last week and knew I had do make my daughters t-shirts with them.


So, I printed out some Hello Kitty coloring pages, put them in the T-shirt and then using regular black fabric paint, I traced the design.  Then, I took the color changing paints and filled in various parts of the t-shirts.

I'm a little disappointed with how light the color change is, but reading their website, it says that the paint needs to be applied thickly, so maybe I didn't put it on thick enough and need another coat.

Sand Bottles

When we were at the beach earlier this month, we collected sea shells. Most of the shells we found were really tiny and a number of them broke on the way home.  My daughter saw bottles with sand and sea shells in at the souvenir shops but thought they were too expensive.  So, I offered to make her one.  Due to not having a whole lot of seashells and not being able to find any good sized bottles I opted to use some mini ones.  I then labeled the jar with the name of the beach and the year.

Tajar pins

One of the last years that I went to camp as a camper (and not a counselor/aid), our leader told us one of the Tajar tales about an animal that is part tiger, part jaguar, and part badger. In the story she told, his tail came off and he used tape, string and a pin to fasten it back on with.  Then, we each received a tajar pin. While I was looking up this story to go with the Tajar pin, I found that other people are actually using tape, string and a pin to make theirs.  Ours were made by wrapping wire around the closed side of a safety pin. I'm sure she explained the symbolism behind it, but that was a long time ago.  I've still got my pin though!

IC25: Scan This!

They're popping up everywhere.  I saw them on my cup from a fast food restaurant, I see them in ads, on the cover of my phone book, even on signs at the zoo and a concert.  What are they?  QRCodes!

I'm a little behind technology wise, right before we went on vacation, I got an app for them.  Unfortunately, my beloved Centro is getting to be old technology, so I could only find one app and it worked fine the first few times then refused to recognize the codes, furthermore, it messed up my camera app, so I've unfortunately had to remove it.  (just one more pro in favor of an upgrade!)

I haven't done too much with QR Codes until this round of The Iron Craft Challenge.  But the inner geek in me, was intrigued.  It turns out that to allow a lot of devices to read these codes, there is a lot of redundancy and error checking built in.  What does that mean?  It means that some people have started to exploit that by doing custom QR Codes that incorporate an image, or a style to help convey their message.  So I decided to give it a try.

I started with QRStuff.com and generated a QR Code that just has text (it turns out there are different types of information that a QR Code can contain, in addition to just URLs).



This code has the text of John 3:16.

Then, I decided to modify it a bit and changed it to have a cross:


Due to the redundancy in the codes, you can change them some without breaking them for most QR Readers.  Now, the software tester in me kicks in here and wants to point out that they're no longer up to the 'spec' for a QR Code so it's very possible that there are readers out there that will not scan them correctly.  But what's the fun in that?

Now that I've got the code, what should I do with it?

It'd be cool on a T-shirt, even just on a piece of card stock.  It's an interesting outreach method.  As a geek, I'd scan it to at least see if it's a valid code.  Some websites are selling QR Code temporary tattoos for people to use to exchange info at trade shows.  (It'd be an interesting twist on the kid tattoos for contact info too)

I decided to follow the directions here and transfer it to a piece of wood to make a necklace.  Can you say fail? LOL



Next time, I'll try to paint the wood first that will hopefully make it more distinguishable and will keep the ink from soaking into the wood so much.

So, I was back to what to do with the code after I made it. I originally was going to try to print it on shrink plastic but wasn't sure it would still be scanable afterwards. So I thought I'd try it. I tried to print on a small piece of shrink plastic I had left from another project. Fail again! My printer jammed LOL.

By this point I had a number of the codes printed out in various sizes, so I decided to just frame one.



I've got a smaller version that I printed out that I'll probably attach to the wood with modge podge to make necklace.

Can you think of other creative uses for QR Codes?

IC23: You Are Here

Actually, no I'm not "here", I'm on vacation, but I left after the challenge was posted, so I was able to complete it before I left!

This week we were to craft with a map. Recently, when my husband and I were planning our vacation we were talking about all the states that we've visited and that our girls have visited.  We decided we should start keeping track.  So for this week's challenge, I made a map of the US and colored in the states that my daughter has been to.



First, I found a simple map of the US via Google images.  I printed it out to the size I wanted it to be (mine was half a sheet of paper).  The map I picked had a boarder around the edge, so with the paper on top of the fabric, I sewed the border.  This helped to keep the paper from sliding around later.  Then, I very slowly just sewed around each state until they were all done.  I messed up Maryland a bit as you might be able to tell, I might go back and fix that.



After all the states were outlined, I very carefully tore away the paper. I used regular old white printer paper this time, but I'm thinking next time I might use something a little lighter, like onion skin or tracing paper. When I was tearing it away, some of the stitches pulled out.

Lastly, I took a non-washable crayon and colored in the states she's been to.

Iron Craft 20: To a Tee

T-shirts are pretty much a staple in my wardrobe.  I wear them well over half the time.  So I've got a number of them and I've also got a number of them that are sitting there unworn because they have holes in or are stained.  So, I was really looking forward to this round.  I just needed to decide what to do.  I googled a lot and found this site.  Perfect the shirts there actually look a little more dressy afterwards.  So I gave it a try.  I took a blue t-shirt, put it on, marked where I wanted to cut it and then broke out the scissors.    I encountered a few problems in the process. One, I only ended up with enough "yarn" to go half way around the shirt's neckline, but fortunately I was able to finish the front.

 Two, my stitches don't look nearly so smooth as the ones in their picture, I don't know if it's something with the way I cut the strip or if there's something else I did wrong.


 The neck opening it a little larger now than I really am comfortable wearing. I knew it would be wider when I made the decision on where to cut, but I was planning on having several rows of crochet.  My daughter tells me how much she likes the shirt every time I have it out though so maybe I'll try wearing it some time.

I really would like to try the one at this site too.  I've got a shirt in mind, but need to double check that it fits right.  Or, maybe one of the other Iron Crafters will submit something even better!

Iron Craft 19: Spring Craft Challenge

Over at the Iron Craft site they had a Spring Challenge.  We could do anything related to spring.  Well, around here, we broke out the flip flops as soon as spring hit.  But, my youngest had out grown hers from last year.

So, I found some for $1 and decided to embelish them.

Materials:
Ribbon (less than a yard)
Two buttons
Thread and needle
Hot glue
Fabric paint.



I cut 4 lengths of Hello Kitty ribbon (from Target's Dollar spot!) just slightly longer than the length of each side of the straps.



Then, I hot glued the ribbon on each side, just to hold it in place for the next step.


Next I took a thread and needle and made a small stitch in one side of the ribbon, ran the thread under the strap and made another small stitch in the other side of the ribbon, essentially whip stitching the ribbon to the flip flop. (click to see a bigger version of the pics).


Then, I was afraid that the thread would break and the ribbon would come off, so I took some fabric paint and painted the inside of the straps with it.  I think it gives it a bit more finished look too.  I also sewed a flower button at the point.


I've done every challenge since I started the IC Challenge, but haven't blogged about them all. I'll try to do a post for the others a little later.

Iron Craft 16: Taxman

This weeks Iron Craft challenge was to create something dealing with money.  I took the opportunity to knock out one of the other crafts that I've been wanting to do, but haven't taken the time.  We use a lot of gift cards and I'm always struggling to figure out if I have one for a particular restaurant. So, I decided to keep them in their own wallet.

Start with two rectangles of fabric that are about 6.5 inches by 4.5 inches and two rectangles that are 2 inches by 4.5 inches. (You'll also need about 1.5 inches of elastic and thread).

Turn down a narrow hem on the long edge of both smaller rectangles and sew.

Lay one big rectangle down (right side up) then lay the two smaller rectangles down at each end of the bigger rectangle (right side down with the hemmed edge towards the middle), lastly lay the other big rectangle on top right side down.

Sew a seam around the outside edge making sure to catch all three layers where applicable and leaving a place to turn it.  Clip the corners.

Turn, close the opening and then top stitch the whole way around.  Take a small piece of elastic, form it into a circle and sew it to the middle (I closed it up to see where that was).

Then, I put in a mini Sharpie and a set of Wallet windows that I bought.  I'll get another set for the other side.

Now, I'll have my Sharpie handy to mark the gift cards and I wont need to search through my wallet for them.

Iron Craft 15: Bunny or Chick? Marshmallow Topiary

This week's Iron Craft Challenge is to use Marshmallow peeps or bunnies in a different way.  Since microwaving peeps with toothpicks so they joust really isn't a craft, I had to think of something else.

So, I present my Marshmallow Topiary.


Materials
Square vase
12 inch long dowel
8 Peeps Bunnies
Bunny shaped marshmallows (half a bag)
Glue Gun
Shredded green paper (not shown)
3" styrofoam ball
2" styrofoam ball or cube
Ribbon

Directions
Put two Bunnies on each of three sides of the vase, (facing outward).  If you're using a ball for the base, put some hot glue on the bottom of the ball and put it in the middle of the vase then squeeze in the remaining two bunnies (I used a knife between them and the vase to squeeze them in and avoid messing up their faces).


Next use the hot glue gun to cover the bigger styrofoam ball  (3") with the bunny marshmallows.  I found it was just as easy to put some of the glue on the ball and then put a bunch of marshmallows on.  But if you're having problems with the glue melting the ball you can put the glue on the marshmallow and then put it on the ball.


Next take the ribbon and wrap it around the dowel rod and secure each end with a bit of glue.  Then, put a dab of glue on one end of the dowel and insert it into the ball that is in the vase.  Put glue on the other end and put the other ball on that end.  Then, finish it up by covering the base ball with shredded green paper or Easter grass.



Do you have any great crafts to do with Marshmallow peeps?  Check out the Iron Craft flickr pool for more ideas!

Iron Craft 13: Best in Show

This week's iron craft challenge was to be Animal related.  About half an hour before I read the challenge, I saw this post over at mmmcrafts and saved the idea to make for my future nephew.  I love the face on Larissa's  even more than the cute one on the one she used for inspiration.  I was so anxious to start making mine, that I ended up finishing it Thursday night!



Mine didn't turn out quite as cute, but I'm happy with the results.  Hopefully my brother and sister in law will like it as well.