Potions and Spell Books

Is anybody else getting into a Halloween crafting mood?

This is the first of several projects I'm working on but they were so quick and cheap that I wanted to post it right away!

Now credit where credit is due, I got the idea from Lil Luna on this link. So I picked up a few hardback books from Goodwill, a bottle of Mod Podge and a few sheets of scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby and got to work!

I love how they look on the mantle and now I'm thinking I may need a few more!

I'm linking up to Skip to my Lou's Made By You Mondays. 

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a fantastic week!

XOXO Taylor

Spring Jacket

I know it sounds crazy that I'm thinking about Spring right now since I know most are still reeling from that crazy snow storm a little bit ago, but I live in South Carolina and it was 70 degrees today. I'm sorry, I'm not bragging!

Anyway it's getting too warm already for Evie to wear her fleece coat I made her so I decided it was time to make her a spring jacket. I bought this pattern from Etsy and I cannot praise it enough. (I didn't get any compensation for saying that) 

Besides the fact that the pattern only costs $6 and you get the pattern ages 1-6. I can totally see myself making a coat for Evie every year as she gets bigger! It was so easy! You guys know I'm pretty beginner and I found it so easy to follow and all the sewing and construction was very basic!

It has an adorable collar and it's fully lined! It was definitely a great learning experience for me since lining things makes me nervous!
 

Wanna know the best part? The red outer fabric was the basic broadcloth from Hobby Lobby. It was on sale for like $1 a yard and this is a 2T which took around 1.5 yards. The lining fabric is from Walmart and was $3 a yard, also using about 1.5 yards.

Guess what else?!? It's reversible!!! I just have to buy some more white buttons and sew them directly opposite the ones already there and I can flip it to the floral side for a little more pattern!

I had never done buttonholes before this but I got out my manual and some practice fabric and went to town! It was so easy (on my machine that is!) but there will definitely be more buttonhole projects in my future now!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful Valentine's day filled with people you love! My husband and I are having a dorky Valentine's day with pizza, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and X-men. Yes, I am a total dork. I'll understand if you don't wanna hang out anymore! ;)

Covered Button Earrings Tutorial

 

I picked up a button cover kit because I wanted to have them on hand to make matching buttons when I start my next shirt for Evie. If you have a child, you understand that you never know when you're gonna get that chance so you need to have everything already right?!?

When I was getting dressed this morning I put on my chunky green necklace and realized I didn't have matching earrings for it! I knew I had (pretty close) to matching fabric and thought "Why don't I make earrings with the button covers!"

I think you guys are gonna like this project a lot! It's very customizable to whatever your preference is. I picked up the button cover kit at Walmart for around $1.30 and the cool thing is they make these button kits in tons of different sizes, so if you want them a little smaller or even bigger than these you can choose whatever you like! Cool huh?!?

This is the perfect scrap busting project too because who doesn't have a bag filled with scraps that you can't bring yourself to throw away? Plus you can get all the stuff you need at Walmart!

Ok, enough chattin' ya up about it! Let's get started.

You need:
A scrap of fabric twice the size of your buttons in your kit
A button cover kit
Scissors
Earring posts (also got mine from Walmart and they come with backs too)
And E6000 glue (I had this from a previous project but trust me, you will use this stuff more often than you think.)
pliers (optional but very helpful)

 Lay your button out on your fabric and cut a circle twice the size of your button. 

 

Lay your fabric circle over the mold (or white holder thingy if you like scientific terms). Lay your button over the top. Make sure your button is directly center so there's an even amount of excess fabric.

Now take your giant hand (well yours probably isn't giant, just mine) and smoosh (still using scientific terms) the fabric into the center.

See? Smooshed!

Grab your E-6000 glue

And add a dab of glue to the center. This step really holds the button and backer together well and secures the fabric inside our little button sandwich! Also be careful not to add too much glue because this stuff is STRONG (think cement) and you don't really want it on your fingers or oozing out the sides and gluing your button into the mold.

Lay your button back on top

Taking your pusher (their term, not mine) and squish (not smoosh) it down really good. Make sure you spin and push to get every corner secured. You should feel a little click when it locks in. 

 

Pop your button out of the mold. Doesn't it look great?!?

Take your pliers (scissors also work but don't use your fabric scissors!) and pull the shank out. It will be a little tough to do because of the glue but trust me it's way easier than doing it before you glue it down!

Now you have a flat back to glue your earring post onto.

Dab some E-6000 onto the earring post

Now do the same for the other side and lay them out to dry. They need about 3-4 hours to dry really well.

Then grab some more of your favorite fabric and do it all again! This is my coveted Nicey Jane scrap by Heather Bailey. I love it so much I haven't had the strength to cut into it, but this uses such a small amount I could justify it. ;)

  

I also found these buttons while I was getting out my supplies and decided they would make super cute earrings so I glued earring posts to those too! 

Can you imagine the possibilities with these?! Any fabric you like in any size earrings you like! So if you want to embroider something cute onto fabric and make it into earrings you can do it! You want to draw on fabric and then make it into earrings? You can do that too! Cool huh?!?

Thanks for stopping by again! It's been amazing having so many sweet comments and followers!  ;)

Have an awesome day!

Big Bow Headband Tutorial

A few months ago I was on Trey and Lucy and Tanya posted some pictures she took with her sister. In one of the pictures her sister was wearing this giant bow headband and I fell in love with it immediately. Since my hair is so short headbands are really the only thing I can do to dress it up. I guess I could grow it back out but who wants to do that?!? I'm still having fun with it.

So I decided to make my own headband. Wanna make one too?!? I'm sure you guys could all figure it out yourself and don't need a tutorial, but I tried it a few different ways and this is how I made mine.













You need:

4 strips of fabric (1 strip 16 inches x 1.5 inches) (2 strips 4 inches x 15 inches) and (1 strip 2.5 inches by 15 inches)
Iron on Inferfacing
A headband
And the obvious other stuff (scissors, sewing machine, iron etc.)

Note: I really love huge accessories so I made my bow pretty big. If you take a few inches off each strip, you can make a smaller one if you prefer! ;)

First you want to measure your headband. You will need to know how long to cut your strip that covers the headband. Mine was 14 inches so I cut my first strip 16 inches long so I had extra to glue under the headband.

It also really helps to measure your headband if you have chipped nail polish. Just kidding, just makes for a good picture right? 

Okay so once you've figured out the size of your headband, cut a strip of fabric the length plus about 2 inches give or take and about an 1.5 inches wide.

My headband was 14 inches long so I cut a strip 16 inches long and 1.5 inches wide. I found much smaller than 1.5 inches wide and you basically want to give up and watch reruns of "Dancing with the Stars" instead of this project when you go to turn the tube inside out. Maybe that was just me.

Okay so now you want to fold your strip (16in x 1.5in) in half and sew down the open side. I used the edge of my presser foot for a guide. I could probably give you a seam allowance, but since I don't really know what I'm talking about when it comes to seam allowances, it would probably be some non-existent seam allowance fraction like 1/25ths or something. 

Grab a safety pin or if you have one of those tweezer slider holder thingys (these are scientific terms) use that instead. Pin the side and push it through your tube. I'm sorry if i'm insulting anyone's intelligence here, I just know I tend to need a thorough explanation when i'm crafting!  

Now you should have your strip right side out with the big ugly seam on the inside. Take your strip that has been upgraded to a tube and iron it flat with the seam flat on the bottom so you can put that on the inside of headband and nobody will see it!

Now put your headband through your neatly pressed tube, again with the seam on the inside. 

Remember those 2 extra inches we left (1 on each side)? Hot glue them up inside the band. 

Okay so this part varies depending on how big or small you want your headband. Like I said, I wanted mine big so I cut 2 strips of fabric 4 inches wide and 15 inches long. Again, if you want a smaller bow I would probably make it 10-11 inches long but still 4 inches wide.

Cut 2 pieces of interfacing about the same size on your 2 strips of fabric. I made mine just a little smaller but that's only because I was lazy and didn't measure and stuff. I guess I shouldn't admit that huh? 

Iron your interfacing onto both your fabric strips.

Fold each side into the middle so it kinda looks like bias tape and iron it down. I would definitely not recommend the tube approach here because the interfacing makes it too stiff to pull through. Duh right?!

With the seams on the outside, sew down the edges creating a tube. Now when you turn it right side out all the seams are on the inside.

Now hot glue gun that baby to your headband, making sure your seams from folding it into itself are on the inside and your seam from making it into a tube is in the center. See? I feel like i'm saying "seam" a lot. Am I saying "seam" too much?

At this point you could just stop here and wear that bad boy out and you would look HOT! Okay I'm kidding, let's continue.

Add a dab of hot glue in the center and smoosh (again, scientific terms here) it down. It's also important that you burn your fingers with the hot glue gun at this point and for the next few steps. You must have battle scars from this project! 

Now take your other strip with interfacing and repeat, folding the sides in and ironing it down, then sewing it into a tube and gluing it on top of the other bow and smoosh it down.

At this point I took a minute to smooth out the bow a little and puff it up. The interfacing keeps it nice and study and poofy (scientific term) but can crease like paper (maybe because it kind of is) so just run it between your fingers a little to give it a smooth curve. That made sense right?

Now take your last strip of fabric (2.5 inches wide and 15 inches long) and iron the side in to meet in the middle again like we've done with the other strips.

Dab some hot glue to the inside of the headband (underneath your bow) and glue the strip down (again, it helps if you burn your fingers).

Wrap it tightly around your bows.  Give it a little glue when you get underneath again. I wrapped it 3 times just to keep it tight but I don't think it's necessary.

At this point you are pretty much done, but I hot glued a little piece of felt to stabilize it a little more.

Now grab your baby and look down at something! 

Again i'm sorry if I insulted anyone's intelligence! I'm sure none of you guys needed a tutorial for this!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a good day!