Wedding Quilt

I had to delay making this post public, because it actually was a surprise for a very dear friend of mine, Rachel, who recently got married, and the project was a family tradition put together by her mother. It is such a cute and crafty idea that I just had to share.

The premise of the project is that the family members and friends of the bride and groom could make a square for the quilt in whatever fashion they wanted to. This could include a photograph, an embroidered picture, etc. Sue, the mother, created a private Facebook group in which people could post their ideas, their finished squares, and ask questions. Now, I have never embroidered anything in my life, and I was a little daunted by the task, but I really wanted to be a part, so I requested a square to be sent to me. I thought for a while about what I might like to put on the square. I had known Rachel for almost 10 years through our days volunteering as part of a youth leadership group through the National Hemophilia Foundation. In that time, we had come to be good friends--family even, through our unique situation of being affected with a bleeding disorder.

I am not really much of an artist, and didn't want to tackle something with intricate detail for a beginner. I picked out the picture I wanted--the couple Carl and Ellie, from the movie Up, in their younger years lying on a picnic blanket staring up into the sky. The note Ellie left Carl in their adventure book was, "Thanks for the adventure--now go have a new one--Love, Ellie." I thought that Rachel and Dave getting married and starting a new chapter, or "adventure" together was perfect. I sent the photo idea to Sue, and she transferred it onto the square and mailed it to me. The rest was up to me!

Supplies:
-fabric square
-fabric pencil
-embroidery hoop
-embroidery needles
-black embroidery floss

1. First, I placed the square in the hoop, and stretched it across pretty snugly and attached the outer ring to secure. I had to leave about 1/2 inch around all sides to allow it to be attached to the quilt itself.

2. Next, I took a silver fabric pencil and lightly traced the message I wanted on the bottom half of the square.

3. Now for the embroidery part! I was nervous. I YouTubed the stuff out of how to embroider, and Sue included some great tutorials for beginners in the Facebook group--everything from how to thread a needle to various stitches. I carefully stitched my message. It took about 4 hours total, and there were times I had to take out the thread, or start a new thread. Don't fret--and don't expect perfection on the first try!

4. I removed the hoop, laid out the square, and admired my masterpiece. Not bad for a first try! Even if the handwriting is a little...kindergarten-y.

5. I mailed that bad boy back to Sue, and she took care of the rest! She added corners onto the photo to make it look like an old photograph.

6. And here it is on the quilt:

7. Here is the finished product:

Also, the mother of the bride put together an album with pictures and the meaning behind each square, and who it was from! She used the same fabric from the quilt's design too.

The bride and groom loved it! All in all, the quilt looks amazing, and the best part is that each square is made with creativity and love. I definitely want to do something like this for my wedding!

Skeleton Shirt

I loved this easy, halloween DIY shirt idea. I got the idea from Martha Stewart's website, although the way I executed this craft (due to the materials I had) was a little bit different. I also only did front ribs on my t-shirts.

Materials:
-shirt (any color will do)
-fabric scissors
-ribs stencil (http://www.marthastewart.com/265451/rib-cage-t-shirt )
-fabric marker or pen
-Scotch tape

1. Print the stencil from Martha Stewart's website. Cut out each rib to make the stencil. You will also need to trim the first page on the solid line, match it to the dotted line on the second page and tape it.

2. Lay the shirt flat on a hard surface. Because I was working with a V-neck shirt, it was really easy to find the middle. Line the front ribs stencil up so that the solid black line on the right hand side corresponds with the bottom of the V-neck.

3. Trace each rib with a fabric pen or marker.

4. Flip the stencil over to the other side. Line the stencil up so that the solid black line on the right hand side corresponds with the bottom of the V-neck.

5. Trace each rib with a fabric pen or marker.

6. Carefully cut out each rib with fabric scissors. Make sure not to cut through the back of the shirt! Also, depending on how stiff the fabric is will determine how big the ribs stretch. A stiffer, thicker shirt will allow tighter ribs. This fabric was kinda stretchy.

No bones about it, this turned out AWESOME! Can't wait to wear it!

Skeleton Man

Once again, that crafty and foxy lady friend of mine, Jennifer, and I were at it again--crafting like mad women! She saw a picture that inspired this craft, and we just got creative with it. Enjoy!

Supplies:
-Wooden shapes of all sizes
-Acrylic paints
-Paint brushes of varying sizes
-Hot glue gun
-Ribbon
-Black fine tip marker

1. Paint and decorate the wooden shapes however you would like--the possibilities are endless! Make full use of the craft supplies, and any other extras you would like to add (glitter, gloss, etc). That's it! Here are the skeleton men we made:

Coin Magnets

When I travel, I don't care so much about the souvenirs at all. It's the priceless things like the memories, the people I encounter, and, of course, the pictures I take that I really treasure. Often times, I will have some leftover foreign coins from my trip and am not quite sure what to do with them. I saw a GENIUS idea on Pinterest, and decided to put the idea to good use. The best part is, this craft took me all of 10 minutes--seriously. Also, you don't have to travel anywhere to put this good idea to use--you can do it with American coins if you want to! Here is the original idea.

Supplies:
-foreign coins
-craft glue
-small magnets


1. Wash the coins thoroughly with warm, soapy water. I initially forgot this step, and then realized how dirty money can be and flipped out and washed them with the magnets on (HA! Craft fail!). So do this step first, and you will be thanking me later, when your magnets aren't falling off the back of the coins.

2. Dry the coins off well, and put a little dot of glue in the center of the magnet. The cool thing about magnets is that they will stick to the coin naturally and hold tightly to make the glue stick even better.

3. Attach the coin to the magnet. Allow the glue to try for about 20 minutes.

4. Repeat for all of the coins.

5. Voila! Instant magnets that you can display, and they make a great conversation piece!

Homemade Earrings

I have a wonderful friend named Jennifer, and she is a really classy lady. She suggested that we have some lady time and make earrings, which I have never done before. I was really pumped, because I had only ever made friendship bracelets out of floss at summer camp, but never legit, grown-up, fashionable baubles. She brought over a fishing lure box filled with beautifully colored beads, tools, and earring parts. I made 4 pairs, and am excited to share the results with you!

Materials:
-earring hooks
-beads of various sizes, shapes, and colors
-metal spacers
-headpins (1 per earring)
-wire cutter
-nose pliers
-earring backs

1. Pick out the beads you would like to use. Thread beads in desired order onto headpin. As a note, if the bead hole is too big and falls right through the headpin, first place a small seed bead at the end. I actually had to do that on this pair, if you look closely.

2. Trim headpin with a wire cutter, until you have enough wire to fold over into a tiny loop. I left about 1/2 inch. It's better to have too much and need to trim more than not enough and have a wasted headpin.

3. Bend the excess wire over into a loop using the nose pliers. It takes serious practice to not make it look all jacked up (I'm still working on that). It's tough to not run into the bead at the top, also. Slightly squeeze the loop with the flat, inside part of the pliers to ensure it's closed securely. The loop should look like this when finished:

4. Almost done! Take the earring hook and slightly open the loop at the end with the nose pliers, enough to get your headpin loop into it. Then, squeeze the loop back shut securely. As a side note, you can add a seed bead to the actual earring hook (these ones came with a silver seed bead, and I replaced it with a translucent one by removing the ting spring and replacing it. This was the finished product!

And here are all the ones I made! I tried to do some with spacers, small ones, long ones, etc. for some variety. That's it! It was much easier than I thought, and I had a lot of fun making earrings. I hope you do too! :)

Rainbow Fan

Josh actually saw this idea somewhere and we both loved it and wanted to give it a shot. A DIY rainbow fan! Here was the inspiration:

I was impressed--pretty sweet, huh? I needed an excuse to buy a new (taller) fan anyways, so I decided this was the perfect opportunity to get creative. I picked up a fan for $26 at Target, some painter's tape, and spray paint in red, yellow, and blue. BEFORE YOU BEGIN--get a fan that has a slow spinning blade. Otherwise--let's just say, don't expect the above picture unless you have a camera with a slow shutter speed.

Materials:
-a fan
-scissors
-a razor
-a flat edged tool (like a paint can opener)
-painter's tape
-newspaper (to protect your work area)
-spray paint in red, yellow, and blue

1. Remove the fan blade from the fan. Cover the middle piece well with painter's tape.

2. Smooth down the edges of the painter's tape with a flat edged tool (we used a paint can opener).

3. Carefully remove the tape that overlaps onto the blade for a more perfect edge.

4. So, in retrospect, I would have tightly wrapped each blade I was not currently painting with saran wrap or something. I was lazy and just laid ripped up cardboard pieces from the box the fan came in onto the other 2 blades. The result wasn't horrible, but not as perfect as I would like.

5. Cover your workspace in newspaper. Spray the first blade with red spray paint, covering it evenly. Don't hold the can too close--just use a thin layer of paint (I will tell you why in a little bit!). Allow to try a solid 45 minutes, just to be safe.

6. Cover the other 2 blades and spray the second blade with yellow spray paint. Allow to dry for 45 minutes. Here's a fun story--we used too much paint because the yellow was initially too light, and the paint ran and clumped and dried in the middle and looked like SHIGGENS. Oops! So we sanded the plastic blade with sandpaper which resulted in it being all scratched up. SHIGGENS! We repainted it with 2 coats of yellow paint.

7. Cover the other 2 blades and spray the third blade with blue spray paint. Allow to dry for 45 minutes.

6. Remove the painter's tape. If touch ups are necessary--don't spray them! Simply get a paintbrush and do the touch ups by hand.

7. Reattach the blade onto the fan.  

8. Turn the fan on. Moment of truth! Here's what we got:

Well, dang it! It just looked light yellow, even on the lowest setting. However, when we turned it off, I snapped a pic and got a good one of what we WISHED it looked like, which was:

Well, it was a fun project, nonetheless, but I was a little disappointed, to say the least. Can't win 'em all, I guess! :)

Memory Jar

The memory jar has been, hands down, my favorite craft project that I have ever done. I am not even sure how I first heard about it, but I fell in love with the idea about 7 or so years ago, and have since seen many variations on it. I made it for a friend's birthday, and essentially what I did was, about 6-8 months in advance of his birthday, I contacted as many of his family and friends as I possibly could and had them write down 2-5 really good memories that they had with him on separate slips of paper. They could be as creative as they wanted with the paper and include pictures, quotes, memories, jokes, advice, etc. I gave them really specific instructions to keep the project a secret from him, and to either email or snail mail me their memories. I would then put them into a jar that I had decorated. The response was tremendous, and he got memories from all kinds of people in his life: friends, family, co-workers, acquaintances, neighbors, etc. And the best part, honestly, was reading all the great things that people had to say about him. When I received all of the slips, I folded them up and put them into the jar. When his birthday rolled around, I had so many memories, I couldn't even fit them all into the jar! It was really awesome.

This project that I am doing for this memory jar is a work in progress that I got here, but the idea is that both Josh and I will contribute to the jar throughout the year. We will fill it with memories as the year goes on, and are not allowed to read them until New Year's Eve. So, we started into it a little bit late, but not too late. I hope it gets all filled up!

Materials:
-a jar (I am all for upcycling, so I washed out an old pickle jar)
-slips of paper and a pen to keep near the jar
-whatever you would like to decorate the jar with (stickers, ribbon, etc).

1. Wash out a jar with warm water and soap. Dry thoroughly.

2. Decorate the jar however you would like. Place slips of paper into the jar all year long. Open them on New Year's Eve (no peeking!)

Map Coasters

This idea is amazing. Now, I have seen many different ways of doing map coasters using Mod Podge, etc. This is probably the easiest way I have seen, and unfortunately, I was unable to find the original post for it to give that person credit. The idea actually comes from my creative friend, Rich, who made these as a wedding gift. Map coasters can be for places you have traveled to, places you lived, places you love, or places you have a special connection with.

Materials:
-Maps of the places you want to use (AAA has them for free if you are a member or know someone who can get them for you!)
-photo coasters
-scissors
-pencil with eraser
-laminating machine (If you don't have one, you can go to Staples, Kinko's, OfficeMax, or an office supplies place to have it done. It only cost me about $3.00)

1. Locate the area on the map you would like to use for the coaster.

 2. Use the back of the coaster (or the insert if there is one in the pocket) to trace the exact size of it onto the map.

3. Cut the piece of map out.

4. Repeat for all of the other places you would like to use.

5. Take the map pieces to get laminated (you can do these all on one sheet, because you will be cutting them out again anyways).

6.  Cut out the laminated map pieces (if you didn't already have them cut them at the laminate place).

7. Slide into the coaster, facing up. You may need to trim the edges a bit to get them to fit exactly.