Way Cute Memo Board

Home Office Storage Solutions

I'm going to make a huge one of these memo boards for the office. Time to search for fun, pretty fabric! (update 8/11: Still haven't made it, but perhaps it's more likely to get done having posted the link here so I don't forget where to find it!)

Finishing old projects

This is "finishing old projects week so I can move on to new projects with a clean conscience"

This is a little baby quilt I started when I was expecting Sarah, yes almost five years ago! It is made of little quilted squares sewn together, with the raw edges all on one side, clipped and frayed and kind of ruffly.

back of tummy time floor blanket

Front of tummy time floor blanket. I just added a layer of muslin between each yard of coordinating fabric, sewed it all together an inch from the edge, with raw edges out and clipped to make ruffly tabs around the perimeter.

And here is the blanket in action! Yes, Ben is climbing ON Lizzy. She didn't seem to mind, poor kid.

deer in the headlights...too innocent to know she's being wrestled by her big brother

Craftiness

I recently dusted off and oiled up the old sewing machine, broke out the knitting stash, and visited the craft store, multiple times. I've rediscovered crafts as a way to have a life outside of mommying (unless, of course, I do crafts with the kids). I'll post finished projects and maybe a few tutorials. (but no scrapbooking...)

Bleachin' Shirts

I get crafty at night. So instead of going to bed, I pulled out the bleach! I have a pile of old t-shirts that I haven't worn since before this last baby and dug out a few I was willing to sacrifice if this project was a flop. I put some bleach in a little spray bottle (an old blue glass one that used to have good smelling water so it made the bleach smell kinda good). You can also have fun with a bleach pen (but make sure it's not old or the bleach will have lost its gumption).

This shirt was done by placing a fake daisy on the shirt, then spraying the bleach over and around it.

Up close. Looks like daisy shadows on the Milky Way.

Here is the back of the same shirt. I originally had some bleach bleed through. (If you don't want this to happen, put cardboard or something in between the layers!)...But then it gave me an opportunity to camouflage. So I sprayed and splashed the back. It's a party from all angles.

This shirt turned out cool. I placed a huge necklace just below the neckline and sprayed it with bleach.  A little bleach dripped down and made splotches, but I like it crazy like that! Now I have a built in necklace.

Here's the detail of another shirt. I cut out a flower and dot shapes from thin cardboard and laid them on the shirt and sprayed bleach over them.

 

And this purple shirt had great contrast, turning all shades of pink.


I was getting bored of all my plain jane shirts. Now they have a little spice to em!

(I did not picture the bleachy-green practice shirt which turned out ug-ly, but hey, you gotta start somewhere!)

Button/Ribbon Bookmarks and Flowers

Don't you always need a great bookmark to make reading more fun? I found this cute idea from Family Fun Magazine. These bookmarks are fast, easy, cute and incredibly useful (if you read a lot).

First gather materials: trusty $3 glue gun and glue sticks.

Buttons (mixed bag from Michael's) and ribbon, wide and skinny both work. And scissors.

Cut the ribbon 12 to 15 inches (I've found I like it when the ribbon has a few inches on either side of the ends of the book. A little long is better than too short.) Cut a triangular shape out on both ends of the ribbon so you get nice angled points; it really helps with unraveling and with cuteness. Pick buttons you like for both ends of your ribbon. Add some glue to your button, ( I like to glue around the outer edge of the button so the glue doesn't goop up through the holes too much) stick it on. Add buttons to both ends. Ta-Da! 

I played with stacking buttons or making little collages with tiny buttons (they look like jewels). These make great little gifts. Cheep, easy, cute, fast: what could be better? And seeing one sticking out of a book makes me want to read the book some more!

(While making these I came to identify with the phrase 

"Cute as a button." 

Those things are stinkin' cute, and I think I'm going to look for more crafts using buttons just so I can dig through the button jar some more.)

So here are all the bookmarks I made one night. I plan on keeping a few and giving a bunch away to friends. But notice the orange flowers?

That brings me to my next little button/ribbon craft:

Ribbon flowers with button centers

Take a little bit of quilters thread and needle. Double the thread and tie a knot.

 Run a gathering stitch all along one edge of a long piece (25 inches or so) of wide ribbon, about a quarter inch from the edge. I used the same cheap orange ribbon I used for the bookmarks.

I didn't take a picture of the process, but pull the thread almost all the way tight. I liked it a little loose though so the flower laid flat. Tie a strong knot. Quilting thread won't break. Shape the ribbon flower till it lays how you like it. Glue on a button. Glue the ends of the ribbon together if you want, so they stay hidden in the folds. I glued hair clips to the back so the girls can wear them in their hair.

These look a little like a ribbon you would win at the fair, without the tails, so it seems a look more suited to a kid. I'll have to try lace and see what it looks like though. Or maybe thinner ribbon would make a cute smaller flower.

***I got the idea to do this gathering technique from a little kit I bought at the local quilt store, Quilter's Haven. You can make a cute flower out of gathered jelly roll fabric (that's a piece of fabric 2 and 1/2 inches wide, 45 inches long, cut with pinking shears, often they come ready cut in coordinating colors, rolled up at the fabric store). You take a half jelly roll strip (22 1/2 inches or so) then fold it in half lengthwise, so it's long and skinny. Sew a running stitch along the folded edge, pull tight, tie a knot and glue on a button to cover the gathered center.

Here's the one I made with fabric: cute, yes? I like this one better than the orange ribbon ones.... If I bought a jelly roll of coordinating fabrics and made a bunch of these it would be fun to cover a pillow with them. Hm...I feel another craft coming on.