Hand Warmers & Paper Doll Fashion Design Kits

Here's a look at the last couple of gifts that I sent off to my nieces this morning. My sis requested heart shaped hand warmers for all three girls, which I made using felt and machine stitching the edges. They are filled with rice and after just a few seconds in the microwave, they'll be keeping some little girls' hands nice and toasty in the crazy winter weather.

This next gift, I made for the older two nieces, ages almost 6 and almost 11. It is a paper doll fashion design kit. Essentially, you can take the paper dolls, cut up pieces of fabric and glue them on, creating different outfits and styles. I found the free doll printouts and the tutorial here.

I didn't have any boxes that I could use, as the inspiration blog shows, nor could I find any at our local shops, so I opted for binders. My sister and her family will be taking a car trip soon and I thought this would be a great way of keeping everything in one place (and who doesn't love glitter!). Next, I found  3-ring pencil pouches to hold glue sticks, crayons, colored pencils, etc. I printed out the dolls on regular printer paper then cut some sheets of card stock in half and glued them on. These I punched and placed in the binders as well. Finally, I gathered together a bag of scraps! This is a great way to clear out pieces that are perhaps too small for anything else.

I wish that I'd had more options on hand for the paper dolls, because as it is, they are on varying sizes and colors of card stock (I was scraping the bottom of the barrel with this project). But, making do with what I had on hand, I still think it came out well and will be a great busy activity for the girls. And once they finished these dolls, they can always just print out more themselves! (And I can keep sending bags of scraps) ;).

Ok, hope you enjoyed these ideas for homemade gifts! I'm hoping to get a refashion in this afternoon and have it up for you tomorrow...we shall see :)

Peace,
Andrea

Unicorn Headband

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, my sister made a Pinterest board of ideas for birthday gifts for her three girls. Well, one of those pins was for a unicorn headband found here. This woman makes the most beautiful headband AND a rainbow tail to go with it!!! I didn't make the tail :( but here's my version of the headband. I, of course, changed things up a bit from her tutorial, because I was using what I had on hand in my stash. She has an amazing way of making the spiral horn that I definitely want to try out next time :).

I started by diving in to my tins of treasures: bits and bobs that I thrift, harvest from broken jewelry, or simply find on the ground (yes! I totally pick up beads, charms, etc that I find smashed into the dirt, clean them, and then use them).

Included in my stash is a bunch of knit, felt, and fabric flowers that I made a while back as well as some store-bought crocheted flowers. In making a selection for this project I laid everything out and just started pairing things up until I liked what I saw. I chose the ivory flower headband from the above left photo (from my bachelorette party, thanks to my besties!), along with some pink felt roses, lace flowers, some "pearl" like beads on wire, the crocheted flowers, and the ivory fabric flowers from the necklace on the left below. I'd made this a couple of years back and then just stopped wearing it, so it needed a new purpose. I love the combination of pinks, aqua, green and ivory, so I got to gettin'!

First, I removed the big flower from the headband (to be used in a future project) and looped the fabric flowers on to see how they'd look. At this point, I definitely needed to do something to create a wide base on which to attach said flowers and of course, the unicorn horn!

So, here's what I came up with. My sister had given me some scrapbooking stencils a loooooong time ago and so I grabbed an oval shaped plastic piece that I'd punched out from the stencil. I hot glued it to the underside of the headband, then cut slits into it so that it'd curve a bit better. I hot glued felt onto the bottom side to hide the plastic and well, hot glue ;). I also hot glued the strip of fabric flowers onto the top of the headband, then trimmed away the excess felt. Voila! I've got my base to start building on.

Next step is to construct the unicorn horn. I took a scrap of ivory felt, folded it in two and sewed a tapering triangular shape in one line. I then trimmed away the excess, turned it right side out and stuffed it (regular fiber fill, or fabric scraps, whatever you please!). I cut out a circle for the bottom and stitched that on and then wrapped a length of the wired beads around the horn before stitching them down along the back seam. After I'd finished, I just hot glued it in place right onto the plastic surface.

Finally, all that was left was to start filling in the ugly plastic with all of those pretty flowers! I simply hot glued them all in place, layering them so as to build an interesting arrangement. Here's how it came out:

Soooo pretty!!!!!!! Well, in MY opinion, it is ;). I think the only self-criticism I have is I'd have made the horn slightly shorter...like by at least an inch. Oh well, I still think and hope my second-youngest niece will love this! It feels so fanciful and romantic and I hope she wears it with one of her frilliest dresses as she pretends to be a magical creature...to be a kid again! 

So, start digging around in your stash! If you don't have felt and fabric flowers already made, there are tons of tutorials on how to make every kind imaginable, and most of them only require hot glue and scissors :). This was practically no-sew, and really, completely no-sew if you follow the inspiration's tutorial (even better!). I'm so lucky to have nieces to make girly things for now and then, and I'm kinda glad we don't have a daughter or I might get in trouble with all of the amazing stuff I want to make for girls ;). 

I'll have one last post about DIY girl birthday gifts for tomorrow then back to refashions! Stay tuned <3

Peace,

Andrea

Fabric ABCs

I have four nieces. Three of them are my sister's girls and they were all born within a 3 week stretch from the end of January into the first part of February and they are 2 and turning 6 and 11!!! Wow! You go sis ;) Being that they are following Christmas at a pretty quick clip, I was not as prepared as I ought to have been...basically, the 2 year old is getting her gifts with the older two, that is, a couple of weeks after the fact, but hey, she's 2, she won't know the difference! I had my sis make a board on Pinterest where she could pin ideas for their birthday gifts as I'm continuing in the mode of homemade gifts using up my stash. Here's a tutorial for the main gift that I've made for the youngest niece...fabric ABC's!

First, gather up your materials: I used a vintage pillowcase, batting (which was actually a thrifted tree skirt meant to look like snow, but basically, its batting), threads (as many colors as you can handle), a contrast fabric, and letters printed out in a basic font. I used Arial Round, I think, at a font size of 290 and reduced my margins to under an inch so that I could fit 4-5 letters per sheet. And if you print them out on "recycled" printer paper (we have a stack that has something printed on one side, but that's blank on the other) then you'll only need about 6-7 sheets.

I'm using a piece of the bright pink fabric from the photo on the right (almost 3 yards at 40" wide for $1.25, thrifted). The thread comes from my grandmother's stash, and the vintage pillow case was thrifted a while back for $1.

I got busy with the seam ripper and dismantled the pillowcase so that it was just one large piece of fabric.

I then laid out the pink fabric, layered the batting on top, the pillowcase on top of that, and started pinning my letters in place. I made sure to arrange the letters so as to leave as little waste as possible, but all scraps just go into the scrap bag for later use.

Next, I straight stitched around the letters, essentially outlining them. Now, I did end up cutting each letter away from the next so that I could maneuver them around as I was stitching them up (so I had a stack of letters like the second photo). Then, I simply started peeling away the paper along each stitched line and curve. Take your time here, because you don't just want to start ripping things apart and pulling out your stitches at the same time.

Here's what they look like once the paper is removed. Not very impressive, though I used white thread and you could absolutely use a contrast color for this step. Then cut around each letter leaving a margin, mine is between an 1/8 and a 1/4 of an inch. Do this with all 26...this takes some time (just like sewing around each letter).

Here's where I used my contrasting threads. I set my machine to zigzag, adjusted the size to a smallish stitch and divided up the letters into 3 groups. You'd obviously do this however you like depending on if you use just one color of thread or more. Then get finishing all of those edges! Again, this takes time...but the result is so worth it, right?! I love these fun fabric letters and have already been commissioned to make a set for my son (btw, my son commissioned me for said job). :) 

Hopefully my niece will get lots of use out of these as she soaks up all kinds of information and enjoys just playing with them, as well. I think I'll take a few weeks before I dive into the next set for my son, though...my shoulders hurt from leaning over my machine!

The good news is, tomorrow we'll have another birthday gift post, but this one required almost no sewing!!! (Only copious amounts of hot glue). I've given you a peek at it over on my FB page, but I'll break it down to materials and the step-by-step for ya with a link up to the original inspiration!

Peace,
Andrea

*Just want to mention, I wish I could link up to the blog where the inspiration for this came from, but it's apparently by invite only. And I have no idea how they went about making their set, so this is what I came up with from the final product photo. Oh, and they'd pinked their edges instead of zigzagging them, but then I don't have pinking shears and prefer to avoid any chance of fraying. And that's my official disclaimer ;)

Love Bot!

Meet Love Bot!

I've seen these amazingly adorable little robots all over Pinterest and Etsy and thought that I'd make one for my little boy for Valentine's Day :) I didn't follow a tutorial (figured I'd just wing it) and I didn't take my time (the little boy was soooooo tired of waiting!!!). Yeah, he got his gift a little early ;). But I'm in love and will be making a girl version for myself with a weighted bottom so that it sits up on a shelf...or my desk...or maybe I'll just move it around with me wherever I am in the apartment throughout the day!

Stay tuned for more Valentine's Day refashions...

Peace,
Andrea

A Christmas Review

Maybe this should have been my first post, following the holiday season, but our season didn't end until January 6 when we celebrated el Dia de Los Reyes Magos/Three Kings Day, also known as the 12th day of Christmas! My husband grew up celebrating this day in Puerto Rico by placing a box (normally a shoe box or something similar) underneath his bed the night before filled with yerba (grass, leaves...camel food) for the camels that brought the kings on their way to find the baby Jesus. In return for this favor, the kings would leave a small gift as a thank you for the child's hospitality along their long trip. Living in a cold climate does not afford a lot of "camel food" this time of year, so we opted for some carrots and my son insisted the kings should have a treat as well and sat out 3 pieces of fudge. The next morning he awoke to find a gift left by the three kings. Here's what "they" made for him:

I've told him that the Three Kings and Santa prefer to leave handmade toys/gifts, 1. because we are on a very tight budget and don't have the money to spend on toys, and 2. because I want him to value handmade items just as much, if not more, than store-bought/mass-produced items. It satisfies my desire to see his imagination sparked as we prepare for and wait so impatiently to discover the magic in the holidays, and it satisfies his desire for a new toy to love. He hugged this lizard so tight when he found him under his bed (despite still being half asleep and showing absolutely no emotion on his face). I sighed a sigh of relief, because not being able to buy for your children after a lifetime of being taught that buying for your children is how you show them you love them was disproved in an instant. He loved his lizard immediately and named him Googly-Eyes.

Now, because of our current lack of funds, I was forced into meeting a goal that I hadn't necessarily been planning on keeping this year: to do a homemade/thrifted Christmas all around. That means all of the gifts and decorating would be homemade or thrifted (and even my thrifting budget was microscopic). Nothing like having no money to spark your creativity, right?! I used supplies that I already had in my stash, gifted items that I'd bought new and had never worn/used, and thrifted a few inexpensive things (half-off week is my favorite week to shop!) Here's a rundown of some of the gifts I came up with:

My son had seen the "ninja"bread man cookie cutters, and I found this angel at the thrift store and figured I'd just "refashion" it to fit my needs ;) Nothing a pair of pliers and some patience can't fix!

I'd seen snowman kits all over Pinterest and figured I'd make one for each of my siblings' families. I used buttons, felt, hot glue, corks, clothespins and some fleece and fabric from my stash to put these together!

Again, another idea from Pinterest, felt tic-tac-toe games for travel or whenever. You don't have to waste any paper and this just folds up when you want to take it to go! My nephew got this one...

and my niece got this one!

I made a stocking for my niece to go with the ones I'd made for the rest of them...though, now that I think of it, I haven't made one for my newest nephew!

 Another niece requested a jellyfish from this thrifted sweater and this is what I came up with:

I'd made this felt Christmas tree for my youngest niece last year, so I added a few more ornaments for her to play with this year :)

I made a dinosaur from one of this coat's sleeves for my youngest nephew:

And a little softie bear for my youngest niece from a thrifted sweater and embroidery floss:

I made this bunny for another niece (it has moveable arms and legs!):

And thrifted these toys for my son (love that they are learning tools as well!):

 These were a stocking stuffer 2 years ago, that my son pulled out and played with this Christmas:

And here's the Santa Sack I made for the toys that Santa would leave...my son had to write his own name ;) (made from a thrifted pillow case):

And here's the main event! I found the monkey at the thrift store for $4 (in a camo outfit) and made the Sonic the Hedgehog costume for him from my stash and a picture of Sonic from my son's t-shirt. This was his favorite gift from "Santa":

Most of our lights, tree decorations, and other decor for the house are thrifted from previous years, things I've kept since childhood, and a few recent additions from my grandparents' decorations. These things hold so much meaning and memories for me. They make me feel like I am "home", not just here with my husband and son, but surrounded by family and friends that may not be with me in person as the miles separate us. I am absolutely a sentimental person and love to reminisce about the good memories, but as opposed to "living in the past" it spurs me on to making those same kinds of memories for my son by coming up with our own family traditions. I love blending the practices from my childhood with those of my husband's; it results in a beautiful celebration of love, family, hope and sacrifice as we try to give of ourselves. Música Navideña and Christmas carols, pavochón and Christmas Eve tacos (old family tradition ;) ),  coquíto and eggnog...who said the blend couldn't be delicious, too? I find each year that I love the holidays more and more because of the experiences rather than the gifts...as it should be.

Well, in any case, using a lot of previously thrifted materials, "junk" that I keep in a drawer just in case, and a little imagination (with the help of Pinterest, of course) I think I did pretty well. Hopefully all of my nieces and nephews appreciate the gifts and get some good use out of them. Hopefully, they love them! Hahaha, here's hoping...

Peace,
Andrea