Cake Stands On A Budget

I was in charge of our RS B-Day dinner and of course I forgot to take my camera and take pictures of it all set up. It was cute. Think lots of balloons, scrapbook paper and cupcakes on these stands at the center pieces on the tables.
I had originally wanted to buy cupcake trees to use for the centerpieces, but I didn't have $100 to spend on them and there was also the issue of where we would store them and what other activity we would use them for. So I headed to the dollar store to make my alternative.
All it took was some glasses and plates.
I hot glued the cups to the plates and they held up just fine for the evening, but if I were to make cake stands that I wanted to use again and again I would have used epoxy.
I think that our RS president took pictures at the dinner. Maybe I can get a hold of some to show you how it all turned out. No one guessed that the cake stands weren't real. I think it would be fun to do some tiered ones or make them different heights for another activity or party. For 2 buck you can't really go wrong!

Making it cute: A Hoodie Refashion Tutorial

I adore this but there is no way that I'm spending close to $100 for it. So how about making something similar?

(Picture from Chasing Fireflies)

I had this pink hoodie that we got at target. Rarely got worn. Perfect for a refashion.
It went from that to this pretty quickly:
#1.) Cut a heart out of paper the size you want.
#2.) Trace the heart and draw lines down to the corners of the hoodie.
#3.) Start sewing ruffles from the top of the heart and follow the line all the way around and then follow the hoodie boarder until you end up back where you started.
I have jersey bias tape in big rolls. (I'm sure there will be a lot of jersey tutorials this year with this stuff.) If you don't have that you can cut your own jersey into one inch strips, or use any other type of fabric that you think would look good. I bet ribbon would work too!
You're done! This would be a cute gift for valentines day for your little girl.

Easy Office or Neighbor Gift

You know those gingersnaps I gave you the recipe for yesterday? I made them AGAIN along with some chocolate mint cookies for my DH to give to the guys at his office. Of course I had to wrap them.
So here's what I did. I took some old containers that I've had lying around waiting for a project just like this. (Tell me that I'm not the only one who saves stuff like this! You know what works REALLY well that I wish I saved, is baby formula containers.)
Anyhow, grab some glue and scrapbook paper too.

I covered them and then put wax paper inside. You can use tissue paper, but I think with cookie the waxpaper works nicely.


Fill them up with cookies. (Crystal lite containers are the perfect size for these!)

Then I just wrapped them with ribbon and extra ornaments I had.

Hope they enjoy them!

Reconstruced shirt/sweater Tutorial

Ever since I made the Halloween costumes I've been wanting to sew. Fall starts off my "sewing season" and I am feeling it this year!Making DS's shirt and pants really inspired me. I can do this! So last night I made the girls a two long sleeve shirts and a sweater. I should actually say that I reconstructed them. Two shirts and a sweater from old shirts/sweater of mine. (Ang, recognize the orange stripe one? You gave it to me awhile ago, really cute. . . but I think horizontal stripes look much better on my skinny kids. Hope you don't mind.)
I have to tell you, it really is SO easy. I'm not sure what I was so afraid of before. Sleeves, smeeves. Sometimes I put up "I can't" walls before I even try something. I'm sure it's because the first time I ever sewed anything was my oldest daughter's Cinderella costume a few years ago (with the help of my little sister.) and I didn't understand how to do the sleeves in the written pattern instructions. I'm much more of a visual learner.
I thought that maybe some of you might want to see how I did it, so after I made the two shirts, I took photos to do a tutorial. Of course I had the thought to show you AFTER I made the first cut into the sweater, so just pretend it's not there. ;) Please excuse my unfinished basement floor and paint splattered cutting mat. Here we go:



Find an old shirt or sweater with a small neckline. I found that all my crew neck stuff works really well because I didn't have to alter them at all, they just fit the girls perfectly.

Take a shirt of your child's that you like how it fits on her/him and lay it on top of the folded shirt you are reconstructing. (I fold it because I want to be sure that both sides are the same.)

Cut out the basic shape of the front of the shirt. Make sure to leave a 1/4inch for your sewing allowance.

Take the sleeve and cut out two sleeve shapes using your child's shirt sleeves as your pattern. Again, don't forget the sewing allowance. If you can, Use the finished cuff so that you don't have to finish it yourself. I think it gives it a more polished look. Plus it saves time.

Turn your sleeved and main part of the shirt inside out and sew the point of the shoulders together and then sew down to the armpits. Repeat for both sides.

Now just sew all the way up the side and the underarm on both sides of the shirt.

Almost done. Just hem up the base of your shirt and you've done it! Way to go!!!

If you reconstruct any of you clothes, I'd love to see! I'm going to do some pants soon. Want a tutorial? It's basically the same thing. Just use clothes you have and trace the "pattern" of your kids existing clothes. I'll take pictures if you are a visual learner like me though. Let me know.

Cheese Cloth Ghosts

This was the cheese cloth ghost I made for the example at our RS meeting. Super easy!

1. Just create a form. I used a bottle for the body, wire for the arms and foil for the head.
2. Then you just cut your cheese cloth in different widths of strips,
3. soak them in liquid starch and then drape them over your form. Make sure the bottom has plenty of starch because the base it what holds it up when it's dry!
4. After it's dry carefully remove your form.
   

You can use a sugar and water mixture, but the starch was really cheap and I think it dried faster. Good for the activity. We used hairdryers to speed the process along.

vinyl pillows

I made my aunt a vinyl pillow for her birthday. Turned out pretty cute. They are very easy to make and the possibilities are endless. I think I'm going to start selling a bunch of decorative throw pillows in my shop soon. Well as soon as I can get around it it!

Here's how I made this one:

Draw and cut out your shapes

Place them on your pillow top and sew them on

Sew around edge right sides out. Leave a small space open and stuff the pillow with polyfill. Then just finish sewing it up.

You could do all sorts of shapes or use decorative edges. This was my first go at it and now I have so many ideas!