Upcycled Vase

So I've been slowly Spring cleaning the house and a little more thoroughly than normal.
With no more use for baby items we decided to actually hold a yard sale this year so we're giving everything a good clearing. One thing we decided could go was a hurricane vase that we had bought to hold kitchen utensils (so we're talking good sized).

To fit today's trends I decided to play with it a little and settled on wrapping it in twine.
Here's the finished product.

I thought about going further up but I like the half way better. Plus, I had burnt myself with the glue gun enough.

I've had it just sitting on my counter since I finished it and got a good idea (as a storm had knocked to power out at our house). Look how cute it is with a candle sitting inside of it (admittedly, the peonies our neighbors allowed the girls to pick from their yard help the beautiful aspect of this picture):

I've got plans to make some bows for the yard sale too (to use up some ribbon without selling half used rolls that I wouldn't be able to part with any way), so there's more to come soon.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Baby Tank

I'm really into the denim top with patterned leggings trend for kids right now, especially for the baby.
I've bought a few sets that I love but I also knew that I had some denim left over from a skirt so I found a cute pair of leggings (at Walmart) and threw together a quick tank.

I really liked the look of the raw edge as the bottom of the tank and didn't think about the orientation as I did that. But I've decided I don't mind the sideways hearts.

That's all for now,
Jo!

New Wallet

So, I've taken quite a break from the "Creepy Quilt" but I feel like it's time to get back to it. When I left off I was trying to find a way to add my uncle's name and possible picture to the quilt. I didn't want to do an iron on transfer because those wash off pretty quickly, so I tried a few techniques I found on-line to try and transfer ink to fabric but they usually ended up fading pretty quickly (like 1-2 washes). Recently I found Kraft Tex, a "paper fabric" that looks like faux leather but can be worked with like paper. I tried running it through the printer but it's too thick, so I decided to try a few different inks. I cut myself a 3x5 piece of the Kraft Tex and wrote in Sharpie, Oil-Based Sharpie, and a Crayola fabric marker (on both sides because one is smooth and one is textured). I threw it through the washer and dryer after 24 hours and they all came out pretty good looking still. The only issue was the oil-based smeared when rubbed (which if I would have thought about before I should have known). So then I added a new mark (just a line next to their previous marked) to test how the Sharpie and fabric marker would come out on pre-washed fabric and to give the others a second cycle test. All came out well! Yeah!!

So then I decided to do a test project just to get a good feel for it and I found a cute and simple wallet pattern. The pattern used a colored version but I had bought a white and thought I would decorate it to match my purse. I used the help of my big Ks to decorate my little pieces and that makes it that much more special. Here is what my pieces looked like:
(The top row, in order left to right, are done by KK, KK, and KL.)

(At this point KL had not yet finished her second so it's sitting under the markers.)

Here's the finished product, with my purse (purchased from JCPenney's).

We used the foliage designs from the purse and kind of played with them a little. And I did choose not to add the vinyl for the ID pocket mostly because I just wanted to finish it without having to dig around looking for my vinyl. I think they look pretty great together (and I've already had one person think they were the same fabric). I love it, especially the fact that I can carry around my girls' work all the time.

I think it was pretty easy to work with, and hopefully it will work well the quilt, my biggest concern now it the texture difference between it and the rest of the quilt. I may go looking for other ideas but right now this is my best option.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Fun patches

I've been busy lately with everything but crafting but it did include a few patches that I thought I'd share with you because who doesn't love a fun clothing patch.

 This was on a pair of KK's jeans- so she's a preteen, who loves emojis. So she loves them, but won't model them because she's a preteen who is done having her picture taken if she doesn't have to.

This is a pair of the twins' jeans. Before it was the twins' they were KL's jeans and she really wanted something special on them (she never wore them before that), so I stitched the design of Elsa's coronation dress on the leg. Since Elsa's dress was there and they were in need of repair I figured a store bought patch of Elsa and Anna would fit great. While I was there, I threw a few patches under the thinning knees and the designed runs at the waist that caused the big tear.

Here's a few close-ups of the patches so you can see even the simple patches are made fancy.

 I just used a running stitch around the knee patches (enough to hold them on since this is the second time I've put these patches on).

For the decorative runs, I stuck with the short stitches, disconnected stitches for an almost "stapled" look.

And here's a close-up of Elsa and Anna (purchased from JoAnn's in case you're curious). I want to reinforce this one before I return it to the closet so there's no model for this one either.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Christmas

Here's a few quick projects I did for Christmas:

This was the delivery men and teachers' gifts. There was a label that said "Warm wishes" (get it, it's full of warm colors).  The teachers' were a little more personal with my kids picking out specific gifts for their teachers that fit the theme, including nail polish for the the girl teachers and Carmex and hand warmers for the male teacher that also serves as a crossing guard. The basic fillings were a few packets of apple cider mix (in place of the normal cocoa packets), hand warmers for the delivery men, some Juicy Fruit gum, yellow and orange Starburst (my husband was so excited a bought a big bag and planned on getting rid of all the yellows and orange so he was left with his favorites), and fruit flavored Melt-Away mints. After we got the the big stuff in we just packed the candy in to fill it.

Here are the bows I made this year for my nieces- presents, gingerbread men, and Christmas trees.
It's almost becoming tradition for me to add to their bow collections on every occasion.

I apparently forgot to take a photo of my neighbor gift.
It was nothing too fancy because I forgot about them until about the 12th. I had been saving bottle caps to spray paint green and make a tree for the girls anyway, so we glued them to a canvas instead of paper and one went to each family. The decorated their trees with some simple jewel-like stickers that I bought marked down from Wal-Mart and topped it off with a foam star (from the same pack as the ones used for the Christmas tree bows).
I also made a more adult craft for them. I took some cubed glass ornaments (left over from last years teacher gifts) and filled them with green and red crinkle cut paper that they make for gift bags. Then I added their initials to personalize them. I used glittery alphabet stickers I thought were cute. Both of these came together pretty easily, and went over well with the neighbors.

Now here's just a few cute photos from Christmas break so far.
A round (or 2) of Reindeer Ring Toss (KK is too old to get her picture taken while wearing the ears) :

 And a few enjoying their Christmas gifts:

That's all for now,
Jo!