Pillows

Made a new set of pillows for the camper.

Pretty sure my husband is not going to love them as much as I do...but oh well! Lol

Easy to make pillow covers...Here is a good tutorial. Pillow Tutorial

Camper Valances

We recently just purchased a camper.

I have never been into camping, but I am excited that this will be a new hobby for the hubby and myself.

I love decorating. So this has been a field day for me. I got the camper all cleaned.

And took down the widow box valances.

Covering them was pretty easy, as no sewing was involved!
I just cut my fabric with an inch overhang on each side. Stretch fabric and staple to backside.

Here is the before...

Here it is all finished...

I can't wait to hang it!

Tiffany & Co. Style Card Box

Felt pretty good when my wonderful niece asked me if I would make a card box for her friend's 16th birthday.

I have made a few before, and even though they are FAR from perfect, I always have a fun time making them.

Almost ANYTHING goes when making a card box. 

I think that's why I enjoy making them so much, a lot of creativity goes into it. 

My husband brought me home a box from work.

For this box, I wanted it to have separate lid. 

I painted it with gray primer spray paint.

And used Krylon Blue Ocean Breeze spray paint for the "Tiffany" color. 

I added some white ribbon.

Which I attached in separate pieces for the bottom of the box and the lid...

So that the lid was able to be easily lifted off.

I just used my awesome tape gun for this part.

BEFORE I attached my bow,

I cut a hole for the cards.

Then I attached my bow with some more tape.

I used my cricut and cut out the name of the girl who's turning 16.

And called it finished.

I think it turned out super cute. 

Not perfect by any means, esp using a cardboard box.

If you want perfection, Just use a wood box.

I went the cheap route, because, well because I am cheap. LOL

On a different note...
I added this photo from my computer 4x, and EVERY time, it shows up here sideways.
It is NOT Like this on my computer. LOL
What in the world is making this happen?! Oh well...

Simple Sweater Hearts

This project is so simple.

I wasn't sure about them at first.

I mean, what is the point of a bunch of fabric hearts?

But then I decided, 

They are CUTE.

And there needs to be no more point or reason than that. :)

I doubled my material so that I had 2 layers. 

Then free handed a heart onto my material, which  happens to be an old sweater. 

I didn't worry about using a marker. It will be covered once sewn.

Then I pinned both pieces together. 

 

 Cut them out. 

Save the scrap pieces!

This is what I used to stuff my heart.

I had a giant needle on hand. 

Never used it before. 

It's perfect for sewing with yarn!

I cut about 30 inches of yarn. 

And started sewing around the edges. 

After it was all sewn, I hand tied the yarn into a knot, a couple time, then clipped the remaining yarn.

And the knots disappeared right into the fabric.

Working with a sweater is very forgiving.

All finished! 

And what a quick project!

And here I am, collecting my Jar Of Hearts....

DIY Burp Cloth's

Making Burp Cloth's is fairly easy.

Actually, it's really easy.

And quick.

So easy, I did not need to follow any directions.

I used a bath towel for my backside.

And a decorative cotton for the front side.

(If you use flannel, it makes it a bit tricky to sew. 

I used some interfacing when I use flannel, and it made it super easy)

 

I paid about $3.50 for the towel. And the fabric was on sale at Jo Anns. I paid $2.50 for half a yard; Which will do about 6 burp cloths.

 

How cute are those elephants!

PRE-WASH your material. 

FOR REAL, PRE-WASH IT!

I HATE this step. 

But if you DON'T do it, then when they are washed for the first time, the different material could shrink differently and make the whole thing look crooked and badly made.

 If your anything like me, you'll wash it with all of your other towels and clothes. 

So I had to pull out my lint brush. Took care of all the uglies left behind from my brown towels. LOL

My half yard of material measured enough to give me 6 burp cloths. 

I don't know if they are the "real" measurements of  actual store bought ones.

But it looked good to me.

I cut my material 17 1/2 inches by 7 1/2 inches.

And then cut the same measurements from the towel.

The towel was big enough to give me 12 backs of burp cloths. 

But I only cut 6. LOL :) 

Just letting you know how many I can get from it.

 

Take the material and place both pieces with the front sides facing together. 

You will be turning this inside out.

\

And then pin.

PIN.

The bath towel likes to stretch and pull.

So use LOTS of pins.

Sew one of the short ends.

I use a zigzag stitch. It helps catch all the material and make sure no frays happen.

And then sew down each side.

I also find it easier to also sew about 2 inches in on each side at the open end, leaving a hole for turning right side out.

Clip the corners.

Turn right side out.

Fold down your open end, and iron. 

Its easier to fold in because of the 2 inches sewn on each side.

Then stitch it closed.

 I add a decorative zigzag stitch.

I measure my length and divide by 3. 

So if your length is 18 inches, you would sew at 6 inches and 12 inches.

 Brush all of the fuzzes left behind from the bath towel, and admire your work.

I like to fold them  up. And before I give them away, I wrap some decorative ribbon around them and add a tag that says Burp Cloth's. 

Total Cost for 6 Decorative Burp Cloth's...$4.25

I made these for my newest niece to use, who will be joining the world in a little over 2 months. 

Home Made Laundry Detergent

I am a HUGE fan of saving money.

Awhile ago, I decided to make my own laundry detergent.

I was very leery of this. Positive in my mind that it just would never measure up to store bought brands.

But to my amazement, it worked. And it worked well!

I found this link from pinterest. Certain I would have to try at least 3 recipes before I found one I loved. But this was the one I used, and the one I will stick with. 

All of the instructions can be found on her page...

HowDoesShe

I purchased all of the items from the list on the previous website I just shared. 

And the total cost for me came to

$21.79

From my previous batch of this detergent, I got about 8 months worth of laundry.

I do an estimated 1 load of laundry a day.

That brings my total of laundry soap PER load of laundry to a grand total of about 

9 CENTS!

Yes, you read that right. 

It only cost me 9 cents a load for detergent.

I found this link for making Fabric Softener stretch farther.

Clarkscondensed

I haven't tried this yet. But I did soak my washcloths, and they smell so good.

I stored them in an airtight container.

And can't wait to see if they work.

If they work, I will be getting over 1000 "dryer sheets" per my bottle of Downy!

I hope they work! If so, it will cost me just a penny for each load!

I will keep you updated as to if they actually do in fact work for me.

***UPDATE***

The Downy Rags actually work fairly well.

Although, I don't seem to be able to get 10 loads from each rag.

I can get about 5 loads. 

Which is still a HUGE savings. I am getting FIVE x the amount I am paying for.

And that still makes me very, very happy.

How can saving money not make you happy, happy, happy! 

Stacking Boxes Redo

I had every intention of taking photos of my recent project...Ok, that's a lie.

I got lazy, and my camera on my iPhone is HORRIBLE. I mean HORRIBLE.

Wait til you see the 2 photos I did take with it.

So I immersed myself in my craft, didn't worry about taking photos, and had a fun night with it.

I found 6 stacking boxes at a thrift store the other week and got them ALL for $5.00 

YES, I got ALL SIX boxes for less than a dollar a piece. 

It pretty much made my day. 

Ya, I'm easy to please.

 

I cut some burlap, that I already had on hand.

And glued it around each box, leaving a good inch or 2 of the box showing on top and bottom.

Then I wrapped and glued jute around each lid.

And wrapped and glued  jute around the top and bottom edge of the burlap.

 

I found some labels online and printed them onto fabric.
(Using freezer paper method.)

 

Attached the fabric to each box, and outlined it with jute.

And that was all, finished and done and they are growing on me.

On a different note, WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE CAMERA ON MY IPHONE?!

It used to take amazing photos, with or without flash.

Now no matter if I use flash or not, lots of light or not, the photos are horrible.

Anyone else have this problem?

Snowman Container

I have a large version of this lil snowman that I placed a small tree in.

My sister-in-law admired him, so I made a mini version for her.

I used a cottage cheese container. 

Painted it a light tan color.

I used dark brown to give a grungy look to the top and bottom rims.

Then painted on his face. 

I used tea stained cheese cloth and stuffed in the inside.

Then added some prigs of greenery, a stuffed candy cane, 

some cinnamon sticks and a star. 

Pretty quick and easy.

Primitive "Peppermint" Sticks

I made these for myself. :) 

And as Christmas gifts.

I cut dowel rods down to about 4 inches long.

(Any size dowel rods would work.)

I cut my fabric about 6" x 1".

 

 

Used hot glue. (I LOVE HOT GLUE, if you haven't noticed by now)

Hot glued the strip of material on one end at a slight angle.

I wrapped the entire stick, and then hot glued the end, and cut off any excess material.

I printed a tag I found from a share site on Facebook onto a piece of fabric.

(Using freezer paper ironed to the back of most material allows it to go easily through the printer)

And attached it with twine. 

 

Voila, Peppermint Twists that will last me forever. :)

Snowman In A Jar

I've seen photos all over Facebook of crafters making their own lil snowman scenery jars. 

So I had to try it myself.

Ok, well the craft started out great.

And I even got out my REAL camera to take photos of it all.

Then it all fell apart from there. LOL

After a few pictures, I got a visitor.

And it threw me off my game. 

So when I finally got back to crafting,

The snowman I was working on would not go together right.

So I gave up on the photos. 

So instead of sewing, I got out my glue gun. LOL

My first step was to make 3 round shapes for a snowman using this tutorial...

HomeSpun from The Heart Tutorial

Well, that did NOT go so well for such a small snowman. 

Maybe if I would have hand sewn, but I DON'T hand sew.

 I finally just made three sloppy balls for my snowman.

Drew on a mouth, and attached a nose made from material shaped into a cone.

Wrapped a scarf around him.

Made a horrible hat using material and my glue gun.

No directions needed, as I just shaped and glued the best I could.

I placed him in a mason jar. Added a couple pieces of old garland that I cut down, 

hoping to make them look like tiny trees. 

And then I added some Bean Bag Fill to look like snow.

Maybe cotton would have looked better? Or even some fake snow bought at the store? 

But I used what I had on hand. :)
 

And here is my finished craft for the day.

Ya, nothing to be proud of for sure. But it is what it is. 

Wish me better luck on my next craft.

Projects like these are why my blog is called 

MAYBE I can make that.

Hanging Candle

 

I cut down an old piece of wood I had laying around.

I painted and sanded to distress.

 

I drilled a hole in the top center of the board. 

 

I then attached a strand of wire through the hole and wrapped it around itself.

I attached the candle using a piece of string. 

And I didn't want to admit this, as its pretty silly but...

My candle kept sliding down off the board. 

So I used a thumb tack attached right underneath the candle

to hold it in place. An old small nail would have looked better, but I didn't have any on hand.

 I did paint the thumbtack to blend in though. :)

Mini Christmas Tree

How did December 2nd get upon us already? 

Time is going by TOO Fast!

 

My first Christmas craft was a retake on the fabric tree's I have previously made.

Instead of tying all my material in knots and attaching to the tree, I did it in a different pattern.

I simply cut the fabric in about 3" x 1" strips, and looped them. 

Then attached with a glue gun. 

And each row I placed a little bit overlapping the previous row.

Simple, easy and quick.

Not sure if I like it, but at least it was something different. :)