A Deceptively Delicious Gift

Well I think it's time for another tutorial, what about you?  Yes!  Well since you've twisted my arm ;)  I know that I saw this idea in a magazine somewhere long, long, long ago so it isn't my idea.  I would totally link up to where I found it if I could remember where I saw...I know hard to believe.  Anyway, if you find out where it is somewhere else online please let me know and I will quick as a wink linkadoo that puppy.  I hate to not give credit to the person who created it, as it is fabulous!

Now onto the craftiness...

As the school year starts winding down for the year you might suddenly find yourself in need of a few gifts, maybe for a teacher or perhaps a behind the scenes person.  You're not sure exactly what they might like and you don't want to spend a lot...well here is the gift for you: Candy in a Can!

Supplies Needed:
-a fancy can opener that doesn't cut the can but unglues it
-pull top can of anything you like...or if you have a can of something you hate with this lid then by all means use it!
-cardstock/fancy scrapbook paper
-super glue
-tissue paper
-candy
-other glue (I used hot glue but anything that dries fast will work fine)

Optional Supplies:
-roller stamps
-ink
-stamps & stamp pads

First you will have to open your pull top can...from the bottom!  This is important.

Nice clean cans.

Next, you can either eat the stuff from your can or if you're using a can of something you hate, throw it out.  Wash out your can and lid...you need both.

This is what I mean by a pull top can.

Next fill your can with your candy.  Stuff with tissue paper if desired.

Mmmm, yummy candy.

Glue lid back on with super glue.  Watch your fingers as they don't mix well with super glue ;)

I like this one, not only does it have a brush but it's
purple wet so you know when it is dry.

While your can is drying you can now take your piece of card stock and stamp it.  I chose to use my roller stamp as it was fun and fast.  Of course if you don't have a roller stamp or stamps of any kind just go find the prettiest paper (or ugliest if it's a gag gift) in the scrapbooking section of your craft store and use that.

My roller stamps

Finished card stock

Measure your cans circumference, this is the measurement around the can, add about a 1/2 inch for overlap.  Then measure the height of the can.  Take these measurements and transfer them to your 'label' paper for your new can.  Mine were 4.5"h x 11"l

Cut out and glue 'label' on your can.

Finished!  

Sit back and admire your lovely candy can and think of how deceptive your gift will be and how grateful the recipient will be.

Reupholstering My Hide-a-Bed…a Lesson in Photography and Patience

---We interrupt our previously scheduled boys posts for one ridiculously huge project done by Momma herself.  Stay tuned for more boy projects are on the horizon.---

So I just finished up a very big project.  However, I will admit that going into it did I think it was as big of a project that I first thought it would be.  What I did was reupholstered our large, hide-a-bed couch.  The actual reupholstery took a day but the pillows and cushion a bit longer as I spent an entire day reupholstering the couch.  I remembered to take pictures at the start but soon discovered that 1) the lighting in my house was great but my camera isn't working right (amendment-camera is officially broken).  Need. New. Camera.  2) it is way easier to take pictures when you're super excited about the project and not so much when you just want to get it done.  Thus, there are a lot of early pictures and then you'll hear read 'repeat as before.'  Still I wanted to offer it up as a tutorial of sorts, though really I'm simply chronically all that I did with a few pictures to go with it.

Okay so let's get started.  The Before Picture:

Disgusting…I know.
Yes that is a sheet covering the cushions.
Wrong on soooo many levels.

The After Picture:

Sooooo much better.

Okay so what I did first was replace the cushions.  I pretty sure they were original to the couch when it was new, we bought it 9.5 years ago for $25 at a yard sale and it was old then…so I'm thinking the couch is at least 25 years old if not older.  Really the cushions were pathetic…you would go to sit down and what looked like 4 inches of padding turned into half an inch if you were lucky!  They were in dire need of replacement.

Originally there were 3 cushions, but Husband and I were tired of that and wanted to go down to just 1 cushion…we have lots of little cars around here and it gets tiring pulling out 3 cushions and 4 pillows to find that much loved car, truck or remote control (wait how did we get on the topic of tv?).  Since we wanted one cushion, that is what we got!

First I made the cover for the foam cushion.  I took the measurement of my foam 67x24x5 and calculated the size.  To cut down on seams I cut one piece for the the top, bottom and front seam of the cushion.  Then I cut out 2 side panels, 2 panels for the zipper and a panel to make up the difference of the size of zipper and the length of the cushion (I had a 45' zipper).

So this is what I cut out:
1- 68x54 for the top, bottom, and front of the cushion
2- 45x4 for the zipper panels
2- 12x6 panels for the extension, what I should have cut was 1-24x6 panel but I will explain that later.
2- 25x6 side panels

I started by putting in the zipper.

Take your zipper and zipper panels.

Pin zipper FACE down on the RIGHT side of your fabric.
Sew zipper on.  Try maintain a 1.4 inch seam allowance.

In keeping with my goal for complete honesty this year I will say this…I am not much of a pin-er when it comes to sewing…however the key to putting in a zipper well is 1) a zipper foot (which I am currently without) and 2) pin like the dickens.  Trust me, it is worth the extra time to pin then to rip out seams.

Flip the zipper FACE up and fold fabric along your seam,
close to the teeth of the zipper.  Stitch.

Stand back and admire your work.  Then repeat for other side.

 Okay, here is another zipper tip that I have learned.  Begin sewing just below the zipper pull and finish the entire length of the zipper.  Then  go back, unzip your zipper and start at the top and finish up the seam.  This allows you to sew close to the teeth of the zipper without the unsightly loop around the zipper pull.  Very nice indeed.

After you have attached your zipper you'll want to trim the width to  match the  width of your extension panel.

Sew extension panel to zipper panel.  Backstitch over zipper.

Iron seam.

Okay, now that was all I was able to accomplish during nap time and didn't get back to it until night time thus no pictures…sorry :(  However, I will walk you through the next process though I'm sure you could find a nice tutorial out there as well.

You need to sew your side panels on to your large main piece…make sure you sew it to the side of the short side and not the long side.  What I did was find the middle of the fabric and then the middle of the short side of the side panel (3 inches in) then I matched up the middle sections on both pieces then pinned my way back on both sides.  I did this to make sure it was put in evenly in case my cutting wasn't perfect.  Then pick a side and start sewing stopping .5 inch (or whatever seam allowance you like) BEFORE the turn for your corner.  Lift up your presser foot and pivot 90 degrees, now adjust your corner so that you have only 2 layers of fabric, take your time, then sew to .5 inch before next corner and repeat turning, then finish off that side.  Repeat for other side panel.

Okay, so here is the last step attach the zipper panel to the back of the cushion cover.  You'll want to open your zipper a bit so you have a turning hole.  Line up the zipper start on one side panel then pin the entire panel to the cushion.  Sew on as before for side panels, only this time it is a full circle so you will have 4 corners.

!Warning!  DO NOT try and center the zipper!  Please learn from my mistake, unless you want a zipper the full length of your cushion you will have to have it off centered so that when you slip on the cover you put in the foam in and then pull the zipper section over the top of the foam.  If you center the zipper you'll be able to get one end in but not the other because unlike a pillow form foam doesn't squish well.

Okay, so now the actual recovering portion of the couch.

What you have to do is take the couch apart.  It really isn't that hard, just physical labor and a few scratch marks on your hands.  This isn't the first time I've taken it apart so it didn't take that long.  I took the opportunity of having the couch torn apart to really vacuum under it…and please don't mind the overflowing laundry sorter of dirty clothes.

Next you have to take off the old fabric.  I wasn't prepared for the utter deterioration of the foam under the old fabric so I had to improvise with what I had, quilt batting.  I really wasn't in the mood or position to run into town for foam.  I think it worked well.  The above pictures are all I had of the actual steps but they are the same for all the pieces and goes like this:

Step one: Remove old fabric
Step two (optional, based on the condition of existing foam): replace foam.  It really isn't that hard, and you don't need a pattern, just cut out the batting/foam a little larger than your piece.  Using a staple gun staple on.  Using basic sewing techniques such as notching for curves and gift wrapping practices staple batting/foam around curved areas.  Make sure all areas visible when couch is put together.
Step three: Repeat step 2 with fabric.
Step four: using Scotchguard protect the fabric.

See?  Not that complicated.  You simply have to repeat for all the pieces.  The only piece I wish I had taken more pictures of is the sides.  This is because it was the only part that had sewing involved.  I simply laid the piece on a wrapping paper, traced the front piece (the curved part) and then added a seam allowance and cut out of fabric.  Also, because of how the couch gets put back together with bolts there is a section that is put on after the couch is put together.  If you are truly wanting to recover something please email me and I can explain better.

The side of the couch where the tacks are is the portion I put on after the couch was re-assembled.  What I did was staple the panel of fabric right under the curve of the side, putting right sides together so that when the fabric fell down it covered the staples.  Then using a pair of needle nose pliers and a rubber mallet I hammered in the upholstery tacks down the sides.  I did try a regular hammer but it damaged the finish on the tacks so go with the rubber mallet.  To get the nice finish on the bottom of the side I used Velcro squares that were adhesive.  I just attached the squares first the the fabric and then attached it to the underside of the couch.  Obviously you could staple it but I didn't feel like lifting the couch up to do that…I lost my super strength the day I did it.

The finished couch again!

No you can't sit on my couch now, it's way too pretty and clean...although Elsbeth already marked it with a black permanent marker.  Thankfully there is the internet and Lemon juice, of all things, which along with the Scotchguard helped to reduce the unsightliness of the stain.

Please, if you have any questions comment below or send me an email.

Felt Bow Tutorial

Okay so here are a few links to how I came to make this.  It all started over at luvinthemommyhood last Friday for her weekend wishes where she posted a pic of the most adorable felt gift bow.  I knew I just had to make it.  Of course I thought to myself why reinvent the wheel when someone has already made these before.  Enter in bing a pretty awesome search engine if I do say so myself where I typed in something like 'felt bow tutorials' which is where I saw this post from How About Orange where she shows off another blogger who used her gift bow tutorial to make a felt one.  SCORE!  I knew I could figure it out.

However, I did not like how think the center of the bow was from all those layers of felt and I couldn't seem to get the loops to fold just to my liking (I'm rarely a perfectionist so when perfectionism rears its head I almost always listen...or walk away).  Since all the hard work was already done for me I simply needed to tweak it just a little to my personal liking.  Looking back at all those pictures makes me realize I still need to tweak it a little more, but this is what I made and for the most part I'm happy with it.  I hope you like it too.

 

What you'll need:

-Felt, pictured is 1/4 yard of felt however one 9x12 sheet of felt from a craft store will work.  Eventually I'd love to make this using 100% wool felt, but I didn't want to pay that much for this project currently.

-Glue Gun and extra glue sticks, mine is a hi-temp that I bought for $2.50 and it worked great, not sure about lo-temp guns...I prefer hi-temp simply because the glue dries slower so I can adjust better during the process.

-Self healing mat, rotary cutter, straight edge (of course you can cut everything out with scissors, a rotary cutter makes everything so much easier & faster).

Pieces You'll need:

5- .75" x 3.5"

6- .75" x 4.5"

1- 2.75" square

Step 1 Cut out pieces

 

 

Step 2  Cut square into a circle

 

Step 3 With 1 3.5 inch strip glue into a circle

 

Step 4  Twist remaining felt strip into this shape:

 

See where I've glued it on the back:

 

When you're all done this is what you should have:

 

Step 5  Taking a felt ribbon from the 4.5" length place three drops of glue on it like so:

 

Now adhere it to the felt circle like so:

 

Step 6  Take another felt ribbon from the longer length, glue it as before and place it on the felt circle opposite the first one.  Shown below:

 

Step 7  Repeat with the remaining 4 larger ribbons as shown.

 

Step 8 Taking the smaller remaining ribbons, and gluing as shown above, place on bow as shown:

 

Step 9 Glue the last loop in the center to complete the bow.

 

All Done!  See it's pretty simple.  Also save any extra felt strips so you can make another one, perhaps multicolored?  You could always add a pin to the back or glue it onto a headband or turn it into a hair clip.  One is only limited by their own expectations.  

So get crafting!

 

Dad's Gift Tutorial

So this is my first tutorial, so bear with me.  I really hope you like it, the pictures may not be fabulous but I think you’ll get the idea.

This past Mother’s Day I became aware of how my younger children who are not it school wanted to make gifts for me.  So I determined to find a gift that the kids could make for their dad for Father’s Day.  I searched the internet but to be honest all I really found were either cheesy poems on coloring sheets or too involved for toddlers.  So I came up with an idea and thought I’d send it out into cyberspace for others to try.

Supplies:

-      Washable Paint, I usually just get the three primary colors and then mix my own colors.

-      Paper/Styrofoam Plates

-      Paint Brushes

-      Hair Dryer

-      Poster Paper, I got a pack of 10 8x10 sheets at JoAnn’s for like $3

-      Pen

-      Kids

-      Soapy water in basin – trust me you want them to wash the paint off their hands right away

 

1)   I started with my oldest, he picked orange for his color.  At first I dipped his hand in the paint but really that was too much paint so for the other kids I just lightly dipped their hand in the paint then painted their hand with the paint brush.

2)   Starting at the far left side of the paper I had Lincoln spread his fingers out really far then ‘stamped’ his left hand down on the paper.

3)   With the hair dryer on the cool setting dry paint.  The paint doesn’t have to be completely dry but at least tacky to the touch, this prevents the colors to mix.

4)   Repeat steps 1-3 with each child overlapping hands.  I went from oldest to youngest so that the hands were stair stepped in size.

5)   Once paper is dry add names of children under their hands.  Make sure to date it.  Since this was a Father’s Day gift I simply wrote ‘Father’s Day 2010’ 

6)   Write Children for the title.  I printed off the word in a font I liked in Word then traced in onto the poster paper.  You could always free hand it or cut and paste, I just didn’t want to do that.

7)   Voila!  You have a one of a kind gift any Father would love.  I actually made three of these, one for Daddy and 2 for the kids grandfathers I simply wrote the word Grandchildren instead of Children.  My father-in-law really liked it.

Now to the important pictures, the kids with colored hands.

 

Variations:

Obviously if you only have one or two kids you could easily put both hands on the page.  I just knew that 10 handprints would never fit on an 8x10 sheet of paper.

If your kids hands are really different in size, say a 6 year old and a 1 year old then you could have the smallest kids handprint nestle inside the bigger kids handprint.

I hope you enjoyed this!