Valentine's Day Infant Outfit

I love Valentine's Day! Whether there is a special someone or not, it's a wonderful time to show the people in my life that I care. I especially love celebrating with my favorite little people, my kids! Today I made a special outfit for the newest member of my family. I wanted to do something representative of Valentine's Day but also versatile enough to be used other days. In addition, baby legs were on the menu since her little knees are in contact with the floor a lot these days. I found some cute knee-high socks with hearts on them at my local dollar store and that was my inspiration. Using other fabrics from around my house and my friends house (we crafted together today), I whipped something up. I am pleased with how it turned out, but mostly I just think my daughter is adorable! I asked her to model the outfit for me and she obliged (although, she was moving around so much my camera could barely keep up). I hope you like this non-pink Valentine's Day outfit. Maybe you'll want to craft something "love"ly of your own!
<3 Crystal

A "Tangled" Halloween - Part 2

Tangled wouldn't be awesome without the Eugene Fitzherbert (otherwise know as Flynn Rider). And Flynn rider wouldn't be awesome without his vest. Right? So that put me in a pretty tough position trying to get together this costume for my son. He had some plain pants and plenty of white shirts, but I knew I wouldn't be able to find anything remotely close to the vest. As it turns out, I couldn't even find fabric in the right color in my price range. But here is what I came up with for a Flynn Rider vest:

(a very funny looking Flynn Rider "smolder")

I got a heavy polyester fabric from an estate sale. It was blue instead of blue-green, but oh well. It was good because it didn't fray and kept it's form. I made a pattern from a vest my son had but altered it so that it came down longer and straighter like a tunic. Then I added the little sleevelets and a short collar that stood up. I sewed some details at the top of the vest. If I'd had more time I would have liked to actually create an overlay, but I do what I can these days. It looks OK. The buckles were another puzzle. I eventually decided to make them velcro flaps with the look of buckles. That way I didn't have to complicate it by trying to find something that was actually functional. I was going to buy some metal rings at a hardware store but then remembered that my dad had recently hung a chandelier in my kitchen and had removed some links from the chain. I found those and sewed them to the velcro flaps.

As for the other costume elements, I found a mans leather belt at Goodwill for a buck and cut it shorter and used a power drill to make some additional holes. The boots were also alluding me. I ended up using some old black boots from our costume box. It bothered me that they were black, so I spray painted them brown. They really aren't as tall as Flynn's boots, but they will do. All together I spent $2 on this costume. Not bad. It's more of an impression of Flynn Rider's outfit, but everything considered, I am pleased with how the costume turned out. What are your thoughts?

Baby's Costume

I finally got into the dress-up spirit and decided to let my baby (due to be born in about 1 month) in on the fun too. Maybe I'll even share some Halloween candy with her too! :)

Here's what she'll (I'll) be wearing this year:

Thanks to freezer paper, this costume was simple and fast. Good thing since I'm last minute and we have a Halloween party to go to tomorrow! 

First, I measured my belly and the area that I wanted the pumpkin to cover on my shirt while wearing it. I drew out the pumpkin onto a large piece of freezer paper (glossy side down) and then used a box cutter and carefully cut out the design.

Then I ironed all the pieces (glossy side down) onto my black prego shirt.

Then I dabbed and painted...

Until the pumpkin came to life. Then I pulled off all the freezer paper and admired the silly little grin on this guy.

Then I let my belly give it a try. I like how it turned out. 

I got my fill of pumpkin carving, crafting and costume making all in one.

Happy Halloween!

~ Chelsea ~

A "Tangled" Halloween - Part 1

Wow! There is less than a week until it's Halloween! When we were growing up my mom made many of our costumes. I don't remember ever going and buying one at the store. I have fond memories of being part of that creative process. And if my memory serves me, I believe some of our costumes even won contests.
My two older kids have decided that they want to dress as a group this year and chose the Disney movie "Tangled" as the theme (no surprise there). What's not to love, really? The boy gets to be a ruggedly handsome, carefree rouge with boots and a satchel, the girls gets to be a princess and wear a pretty dress and a wig, and the little sweet pea gets to dress as a cute, no-nonsense chameleon (since she's got the sticking-out-her-tongue part down solid!). I have a budget of about $10 for all three costumes... not a lot. Luckily, this post is going to show one way that creativity and thinking outside the box can help you pull together a costume that is pretty decent while using what you already have and stretching your dollar.
Tonight I made the Rupunzel costume. I started by looking in our costume box. I was glad we already had a long blonde wig... that saved a lot. But if you didn't have a long blonde wig, you could check your fabric and yarn supply for yellow colors and get creative! We also had an adult-sized purple dress. I figured I could use that for the skirt portion of the outfit. Rupunzel's top is unique. It is laced up across the front and has slightly puffed sleeves with pink stripes. I knew I wasn't going to find anything like that on the cheap, so I looked around the house for a way to make it without spending hours upon hours in my craft room. I found a stained and too small tee-shirt in our "donate pile". So this is what I had:

I didn't do anything to the dress. I will just pin the straps and bodice with lots of safety pins so that it will fit my skinny little 5-year-old and pop the top over it. 

For the top, I cut the dark purple part of the tee off with a slight "V" shape at the front center. I also cut the front neckline into more of a square. I then folded the center to create a faux lace-up look and re-cut my "V" shape (yeah... I did those steps backward). I didn't have enough pink ribbon, but I happen to have a gigantic spool of pink elastic so I used that for the laces. I painted (the untalented way to avoid complicated sewing) the pink accents on the sleeves and the area behind the lace-up. This saved a ton of headache while producing the right look (at least for a costume).

The wig was pretty frizzy, so I wanted to make it look as good as a cheap costume wig could look. I un-braided it and sprayed it with a solution of 1 part fabric softener to 4 parts water. I sprayed, brushed, waited, and brushed some more. I repeated this process several times. It took a long time, but it looks a lot smoother now. I also raided my craft supplies for silk flowers. I tried to find the colors they used in the movie even though they weren't the same types of flowers, necessarily. I think it's close enough.

So what do you think? I spent $0 on this costume by using what I had around the house and a little bit of creativity. 

<3 Crystal

A few more Shirts

Ok, I promise this is will be the last painted shirts I post on here, at least for a bit. I just love to share some ideas in case any of you are getting into this with me.

So much fun. Fast, easy crafting... just what I enjoy.

And I'm loving making these for personalized gifts for some kiddos that I love. 

~ Chelsea ~

Another Painted Shirt

Since I'm on a fabric painting kick, you probably will be seeing these for a bit. :)

On the pink toddler shirt below, I used cardboard decorator stencils. It was a lot harder and didn't produce such exact edges as the freezer paper does, but it turned out cute. My friend taught me how to paint shading by dipping part of the paint brush in the pink paint and the other part in the white. When I brushed it on, they shade nicely. I am still practicing this technique. 

~ Chelsea ~

Painting on Clothes!

I have a new favorite craft... for this week at least. :)

I have always loved embellishing plain baby onesies or kiddo-sized shirts. And now I have tried my hand at painting them and I LOVE it! 

Here are my nap-time creations of the last 2 days.

I used my fancy dancy Silhouette machine to cut out my stencils from Freezer Paper, but you can also manually cut stencils from freezer paper using an exacto knife or use purchased decorator stencils. The freezer paper works great as a stencil on fabric because once it is cut into the stencil, you iron it glossy side down to the fabric and it has a light adhesive to your fabric. Then your stencil will stay were you want it and it prevents the paint from leaking through the edges. Wonderful! And so fun. 

Now, I am experimenting with different paints and shading to get more fancy with my fabric art. I have used both fabric paint and normal acrylic paint for canvas painting and they both seem to work fine.

I am on the hunt for more inexpensive plain shirts to paint!

~ Chelsea ~

Braided Headband

I got this ingenious re-purposed headband idea from my crafty role-model, Ashley from Make It and Love it.

Just a few days before Ashley shared this idea on her blog, I had thrown away the scraps of a large red knit t-shirt. So after I read her post, I went and snatched it out of my craft room trash can, shook the threads off of it and made this little headband for my little girl. She loves it and it does a great job keeping her hair out of her eyes.

I'm sure I'll be making more of these in the future. Great idea! Thank you Ashley for your creativity. 

~ Chelsea ~

Half Apron

I went to a bridal shower this past weekend and wanted to make something crafty for her gift. I decided to rummage through my intense fabric stash to see what I could do. And my fabric stash and I came up with this little beauty.

It was so fun to make. The original dimensions of the green/white checker fabric was 18" X 24" which gives plenty of coverage to save those pants from messes in the kitchen. I decided on a removable flower clip rather than a pocket because I never use pockets in aprons. The flower originally was a ruffle that was going to go along the front edge of the apron, but I wasn't crazy with how it looked when I positioned it there. I am very pleased with the little flower.

I forgot to include a photo of the ties. I used 7/8" hot pink grosgrain ribbon for the two ties. I like the way ribbon looks for ties and it saves so much time compared to making fabric ties.

My favorite part about this finished product is that it looks finished! I was precise with all my stitches and hems and in the one place on the under side that there is a raw edge, I did a tight zigzag stitch to give it a serged-edge look (Someday. maybe I'll have a serger of my very own!). 

I like it when my home-made creations look more professional. 

Try one yourself. And if you would like any more details of how I made this apron and flower, let me know and I can share. 

~ Chelsea ~

Little Man Tie Onesie

My husband's cousin is having a baby boy and I wanted to give her something unique as a gift. I love baby boy clothes that look like a miniature version of Daddy, so I decided to make a tie onesie. I wanted it to look more realistic than the appliqued ones that are really popular, so I used the small end of a man tie. I sewed it to look tied. Then I secured it with thread to the front of the onesie.

I Used These Items:
1 White Gerber Onesie
1 Man Tie (from my local 99 cent store)
Fabric Scissors
White Thread
Needle

I Did This:
1. Figure out the appropriate length. Pinch the skinny end of the tie into a gather at that length. Sew through and around the pinch tightly to secure it.
2. Wrap a portion of the tie around and over the pinch you've made. Try to make it look "tied" like a man's tie. Go for a triangle. Pull very tightly to make it small.
3. Before doing the final pass over your "triangle", sew through the layers to keep them tight and in place.
4. Wrap the final layer over the front of the "triangle", covering the sewing you've done.
5. Giving yourself enough extra tie material to fold over and tuck behind the "triangle", cut the excess tie material.
6. Fold the raw end behind the "triangle" and sew it tightly. Make sure no raw edge is popping out and than no threads are visible from the front.
7. You should now have a miniature tie that is nice and tight and secure. Sew this to the front of the onesie going through only one layer of your miniature tie (you don't want to see threads on the front).  Sew a lot on the "triangle" part of the tie and really secure it (especially at the neck).
8. Then, using a basic overhand stitch, sew the tie to the onesie down the middle about half-way down. This will keep it from flipping up and harassing the babies face, but it still looks like it's hanging freely like a real man tie does.

I hope you enjoy this Little Man Tie Onesie. But don't blink, it won't be long before that little one truly is a little man.

<3 Crystal

"Painted" Shoes

My little girl grew out of her only church shoes, so I was on the hunt for some new or used shoes. I wanted either black or brown so they would coordinate with most of her dresses. I have had the best luck with finding children's shoes for great prices at the Deseret Industries (D.I.) thrift store here in Mesa. So, off I went  to the D.I. in search of perfectly cheap shoes (most kids shoes are $2-$4).

I found some just her size but they were navy blue. I settled for them and bought them since I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.
Then, when I got home, I had the idea to use black shoe polish to "paint" them black. I first cleaned them up really well and the velcro needed to be cleaned out a lot (hairs and fuz). Then, I got to my painting project.

I am so pleased with how they look so perfectly black! I also really liked how the polish turned the threads from dingy white to black to make the shoe look new again.

Sorry, I forgot to take a before picture. But here they are now.

Try it yourself and transform shoes into just what you were wanting!

~ Chelsea ~