I'm Back! And With a Tutorial!

Oh my! It's been a long time. I guess the big reason I fell off the face of the Earth was that I got a new job and then met someone knew and was spending all my time with him instead of posting on my blog. (It didn't stop me from crafting away though hahaha)

I have been doing some "Fall Cleaning" (kind of like Spring Cleaning, only in the fall) of all my craft supplies. I didn't realize how much stuff I had and how long I had had some of it for. I found my stash of ribbons and realized I didn't really have any where to store them. Then I remembered seeing ribbon storage boxes at Target during Christmas time. It's not quite Christmas time (even though so many places already have their Christmas stuff out, Hobby Lobby even had theirs for 40% off this week) so I decided to make my own out of some stuff I had around the house.

Handy Ribbon Storage Box: A Tutorial

What you'll need:
- Old shoe box (or similar box with lid)
- Paint/paintbrush (or you could Mod Podge your favorite paper on it)
- Scrapbook paper
- Dowel rods (Wal-Mart sells them cheap, that's where I got mine when I made some fairy wands for a friend)
- Box cutter
- Hot glue gun
- Pencil
- Ruler

First you will need to measure out the rectangle that will become the opening. I left about a half inch of space around each side.

Then you will cut the rectangle out with the box cutter.

 After the rectangle has been cut out, you will paint the box. I chose white just to cover up the "Sperry" logo. When I started to paint the lid I realized that this was going to be a very long process so I scrapped the idea and covered the lid in paper. I actually like it much better than if I would've left it all painted. I covered the lid just like if I was wrapping a present. I taped the edges to the inside of the box and it still fits perfectly on the box.

Next you will insert the dowel rod. The dowel rods I had were about half an inch too long so I took my box cutter and tried sawing through the rod. I realized about a millimeter into the rod that sawing through it would be way too hard with my box cutter so I scored the rod and was able to break it where I had wanted. Another way (probably safer?) would be to take some scissors to it.

After getting the right size to the dowel rod, I placed it in the box and marked where I wanted it to sit on the sides.

I then used hot glue to make a U shape on the side where I wanted the dowel rod to sit. This acts as a cradle to hold the rod in place so it stays organized. Do this on both sides of the box where the rod will sit.

Once the glue dried I was ready to put my ribbon on the rob and into the box!

I hope this tutorial helped you organize your ribbon stash like it did me! You can also use this to store your holiday ribbon or other gift wrapping ribbon!

Until next time, happy crafting!

Wine Bottle Candles DIY

So several pictures keep floating around about how to cut a bottle with string and fire. Most posts are about people using them as glasses. Ours never broke clean enough to use them as drinking glasses (the edges were a bit jagged) but they were perfect for candle making! Dave and I love candles. I don't know what it is but if I'm going to be in a room for an extended period of time, it's safe to bet that there will be a candle burning ha! I also don't like burning more than one candle at a time (unless they are unscented or the same scent, I know I'm weird). We had several wine and beer bottles that we had been collecting so we got started.

You will need:

- Cotton yarn (make sure it is 100% cotton! Most yarns available are made from acrylic and they will just melt. We used the brand Peaches & Cream)
- Acetone nail polish remover
- Lighter
- Wine/beer bottle
- Running water
- Candle wax (we used soy)
- Candle scents (optional)
- Pre-made/waxed candle wicks
- Candy Thermometer
- Double boiler (or two pans that nest in each other)


First you will fill the cap of the acetone nail polish remover with its contents. Then you'll want to cut a piece of yarn so that it wraps around the bottle 4-5 times. Soak the yarn in the acetone, it will soak up almost immediately. Then wrap the yarn around the bottle where you'd like it to break (The bottle will break slightly above and below where you wrap the yarn around, so you'll end up with 3 pieces of glass. Plan for that space).

Next light the yarn on fire. Slowly spin the bottle so that the bulk of the fire circles the bottle a couple times. When the yarn starts singeing put it under cold running water. While doing this make sure to twist the bottle a bit to make sure you have a clean and precise break.

There you have it! A broken glass just waiting to be filled with wax! Make sure you sand the rough edges to prevent cuts!

Next heat up the wax in a double boiler (It's much safer to do it this way). We used soy wax so it melted super fast. You'll want to keep your wax at about 185 degrees. After reaching desired temperature, take the pot with the wax off the heat and let it cool to 125 degrees. If you aren't using scents you can skip this next step and head straight to pouring. Soy has a very pretty natural scent so it's not necessary. If you are using scents add them now. We made several different scented candles.

Dip the end of the wick holder into the wax and set it on the bottom of you glass. This will help keep your wick from moving when you pour the hot wax (make sure your wax is around 125 degrees, any hotter and it could cause the wax coating on the wick to melt and your wick will bend/move). We used a funnel to help pour the wax but if you have a steady hand you could just pour straight into the candle, make sure you save a little wax (just enough for a quarter inch more on top of the candle) in the pot and keep warm. As the candle starts to harden you'll notice that it might create little craters, just poke those with a skewer or other thin utensil and fill with the rest of the wax. This should level off your candle! 

Allow for 24 hours to completely harden! Now that your candle is cool and solid you can enjoy the fruits of your labor, just make sure to trim the extra wick off!

Until next time, happy crafting!

Mason Jar Bank

So I was cleaning out the area where my new sewing space/office will go and I found a whole bunch of change. I kept thinking to myself where am I going to put all this change???? Well I had a few mason jars just laying around so I figured I'd make one out of those. This is also a super cheap craft, mason jars are only about $2.00 at Hobby Lobby!

For this project you will need:

-Mason jar with lid
-Cutting tool that can cut through metal
-Marker (not pictured)
-Sand paper (not pictured)

So first you take the insert of the lid and measure the largest coin you will be placing in the bank (I used a dollar coin) and measure an opening on the lid so that the coin would fit if there was a hole there.

Next use the cutting tool (I used a box cutter/razor blade, and it took quite a while to cut through the lid and left it not so pretty looking) to cut out the outline of the opening. Once the hole is cut take sand paper and sand down the rough edges.

Next replace the lid and add your coins! Congratulations, you have just made an easy mason jar bank! Keep it by the washing machine to catch all that loose change or by the door for end of the day filling! I know this tutorial sounds silly but hey maybe someone will get some use out of it, and I had fun making it!

Until next time, happy crafting!

Tu-tu-tu-tutorial! Glow in the dark style!!!

Ok guys here it is, my next tutorial! Its a glow in the dark tutu! Again I'm new to the tutorials so if anything is confusing please let me know I will do my best to clarify! Let's start with supplies!

If you love this idea but don't want to make one of your own you can buy them in my Etsy shop!

-Spools of tulle (I chose 4 different fluorescent colors, but you can use whatever you like! For an adult size you will need at least 2 spools, I made 2 and ran out at the very last pattern so I had to buy more)
-Glow in the dark puff paint (make sure its fabric paint)
-Elastic
-Glow in the dark spray paint
-Glow in the dark foam stickers
Not pictured:
-Scissors
-Ruler
-Cardboard
-Marker, pen, pencil, just something to write with

First you'll need to cut the tulle. Measure out a piece of cardboard to what you want the tutu length to be. The tulle will end up being double that length when all is said and done. With a marker, draw an arrow pointing to one of the short ends of the cardboard. The take the start of the tulle and line it up with the end that the arrow is pointing to and start wrapping it around the cardboard.

Once you have reached the end of the tulle cut off any remaining (if you have a few extra inches or even half of a wrap left over that's ok you can just cut it off, it only works if you have one full wrap). On the end that has the arrow (which also should be where you started and ended the tulle) cut through all the tulle. You now have all your tutu strips! Repeat this same step for all your spools. (When I first started making tutus I would go to the fabric store and buy yardages of tulle and had to cut strips by hand the long way, it probably would've taken me an hour for these 4 colors for how much I cut. With the spools and cardboard it took maybe 10 minutes at the longest!)

Next you need to cut and sew the elastic. When you tie on the tulle the elastic will stretch out a little so when measuring the elastic you'll want to stretch it a bit around the waist so when the tutu is done it wont be too large for the person wearing it. Cut the elastic and sew the ends together

Now the fun part (it's also the longest, so put on your favorite TV show marathon or movie and sit back)! Line up the strips in whatever color order you want to help you keep them organized (unless you are using one color haha). I used 5 strips of each color to create a large color block. You tie them on with a lark's head knot.

You fold your tulle in half and put underneath the elastic with the folded end towards you.

You then put the open ends over the elastic and through the folded end.

Finally you pull the tulle tight and align it next to the other strips (or if its your first one, you place it wherever you want to start). And now you have attached your tulle with a Lark's Head Knot.

Once all the tulle is attached your tutu will look like this:

Now to make it glow in the dark! You'll want to find a box or pegs or something that you can put the tutu around so you can take it outside and spray it with the glow in the dark spray paint and not have to worry about holding the tutu or getting paint all over you. I had a jimmy johns catering box lying around my house and it was the perfect size so I used that! I also found that using an extra piece of cardboard to poke in and around the tulle was great to be sure to get an even coating of the paint.

If it is a windy day (like it was when I was spraying) just rotate the box with wind so that the paint is always flying towards the tutu. Even though that seems like common sense, I really felt like a genius when I thought of it. Depending on the look you are going for you might go back and spray a few more coats after you see how it glows.

After the spray paint dries you can bring it in and decorate it with the glow in the dark foam stickers and puff paint. Sadly I was in a rush to finish the tutu's (my sister and her friend were running in a glow in the dark 5K later that evening) so I didn't get any pictures of those steps. With the puff paint I decorated the knots (which also serves as added security of the hold so they don't come loose). I placed the foam stickers at the end of the strands for a little extra pizazz.

My camera really hates the no flash setting so I had to turn the light on behind me to actually get it to take a picture. The spray paint picks up the color of the tulle and really highlights it and makes it glow, sadly the black didn't really show up on the picture but it was really cool in person (this was after 4 coats of spray paint).

Here is what my sister and her friend looked like for the run. You can kind of see the stickers and puff paint around the waist band! They had a ton of fun and won the costume contest!

Until next time, happy crafting!!!

Something to Cover

So this is my first attempt at a how-to so hold on tight and if you have any questions at all please let me know!!! I will answer any and all questions sent my way!

My sister is the head swim coach for an all girls Catholic high school and for her senior gifts she wanted to give them something they could use in college so she thought it would be cool to give them towel wraps that that would be able to use after the shower walking down the dorm hall or even getting ready for class or to go out on the town. All the personalized ones, so that they could be the school colors, that she found were way to expensive for the quality so I explained to her I could make them for around $10.

Fist you need to get your supplies... I went to Target and got their $4.99 basic towels in the solid colors, everywhere around her is basically the same price.

You will need:

• Towel
• Ribbon
• Elastic
• Velcro
• Matching thread
• Ruler (not pictured)
• Straight pins
• Optional: Tailor's marker

The towels I got didn't have a band around the edge so I measured 5 1/4" in from the edge and pinned the ribbon down.

After pinning down and securing both sides I stitched down the ribbon making sure to back stitch and secure the ribbon.

Then I folded over the top of the towel 1 1/4" and pinned down the flap.

Now is where you add the elastic. To measure the elastic I took the end of it and pulled it tight from one side of my rib cage around my back to the other side. Yes, there is velcro in the front but I've had a few of these I've bought from the store that have been WAY too stretchy and don't stay up around my chest and are just a hassle. The elastic ended up measuring about 9" for me. Now you take the towel and wrap it around your upper body (where it would hit you when wearing). You want the front flaps to rest on your chest and the back to hang loose behind you, (*It's easier if you have a buddy to help but I was able to do it on my own*) in the same position where you measured and cut the elastic mark the towel. There should be about 13" or more of towel on each flap.

Now you want to stitch the elastic in the inside the folded over section. ONLY stitch down one side at this moment, be sure to back stitch and re-stich again and again since it will be used a lot! You have 2 options here. I hate elastic so I tried both ways and found the open way was easier for me. I'll explain the closed way first.

CLOSED WAY:

 After stitching down the one end of the elastic inside the folded over section, secure a safety pin to the other end and lay it flat inside. Then stitch the flap down until reaching the second mark. Push the safety pin through the tube and stitch the other end of the elastic down. Finish stitching the flap down making sure to secure edges down.

OPEN WAY:

 For the open way, after stitching down the first end of the elastic I then fed it un the flap through the pins and stitched down the second end of the elastic. Then I stitched the flap down. When I got to the elastic I had to stop every so often and reposition the elastic and excess towel. It was a hassle, but ironically I found this way to be much simpler, maybe because it was faster and I had to make 6 (ended up making 7, and extra for my sister). If you guys find another way, let me know I'd love to hear!

Your final flap prouct should look something like this:

Finally you attach the Velcro. I cut my Velcro 10" long, that way with the Freshman 15 you never have to worry about it being too tight, or the other way around, if it's too loose. I stitched the soft side on the side that could come in contact with the body and the rough side that would not.

 Sadly I forgot to take a picture of the actual final product. So all I have at the moment is a crummy cell phone picture, but I have a feeling I'll be making/selling more of these as graduation gifts for other people (already made/sold 5 so far) so hopefully I'll get a better picture up here for you guys!