For those of you parents who are thinking of this last minute (and I’m assuming that you are if you are reading this on Oct. 30!) I have a few ideas that are quick and also cheap! Mostly made from clothes my son already had or stuff found around the house and best of all not wasteful!

Here are just a few on my favorite model:

First, using overalls, bandana, kids’ cowboy hat, and a party favor badge- the Cowboy!

Repeating with the overalls and bandana, a train bucket and whistle, and striped hat and jacket (that I got second hand for $1!) – the Train engineer!

Camo pants, vest, fisherman hat, toy fishing pole that came with a puzzle, a small camo backpack of mine, and I cut fish out of felt and strung through twine – the Lucky Sportsman!

Why not borrow from another holiday? Green sweatpants, a red shirt inside out with felt cut out collar (also good on green for Kermit), a red gift bag or stocking for candy, green shoes, and a dollar store elf hat (which I would pin smaller) – the Cutest Little Elf!

Or try getting use out of that suit bought just for a wedding or Easter – carry a Bible and go as a Preacher, put on a campaign button and be a Politician, a bow tie, beard, and book as a Professor, a little suitcase as a salesman!

I saw a few other inspiring ideas on the Today show last week like a:
Train Conductor costume - a dark 3-piece suit with a pocket watch chain and piece of gold braiding glued on a hat with toy train in hand.
Cheerleader or Football player - with mop heads for pom pons and colorful electrical tape for uniform stripes and numbers.

Remember it just needs to be fun, cute, and easy for the child to wear. I like to dress my child up as something he can be when he grows up since he wants to copy his dad so much anyway. I like cute and simple better than scary! So look through the kid’s dresser and pair things together you wouldn’t normally. It will be fun to dig together and get their imagination going too!

Any other ideas you want to share?

Don’t know what to do with those empty coffee canisters? Turn them into pumpkins! My mom used to do this and they make great fall decorations and you can fill them with just about anything, or give them to the kids to use for trick-or-treating. Even if you’re not a crafty person, this project is easy and quick and virtually fool-proof.

Supplies needed:

Empty metal cans
Two different shades of acrylic orange paint
Black acrylic paint
Pencil
Sponge or sponge brush
Small paint brush or small sponge
Paper plate
nail and hammer, or electric drill and bit
Craft wire or a wire coat hangar

1) You’ll first peel the packaging off the can, and wash with soapy water to remove any residue; dry completely.

2) Drill two holes (or use the nail and hammer) about an inch below the rim on opposite sides of each other to place the handle. Be careful handling the can afterwards – the holes will be sharp on the inside, so you may want to file them down a bit.

3) Take the darker color orange paint and pour a little into the paper plate, then sponge the paint over the outer surface of the can. You can brush it on first if you like and them dab it to create texture. Let the paint dry completely.

4) Take the lighter color orange paint, pour a little into the paper place, and then using the sponge dab it into both colors and sponge onto the can, creating more texture and a more saturated color. Let the paint dry completely.

5) Using your pencil, draw on the eyes, nose, and mouth, using whatever template you already have or whatever’s in your minds eye. Then fill in with the black paint (in the same manner – sponging it on or dabbing it with a paint brush). You may need to do two coats so no orange shoes through.

6) The final step is attaching your handle. If you have a wire coat hangar around you may certainly use this, but you must also have pliers or a big, strong man to help twist the wire. Since I had a coat hangar, I decided to use one, but using craft wire may be the easiest to work with. You’ll stick one end through one of the holes, and twist it at the sides to keep it in the hole. Then you’ll do it from the other side.

To protect yourself from being poked by the sharp ends, you may want to sand them down a smidge. Then place on a mantle or table and voila! A pumpkin coffee canister that can hold cookies, candies, potpourri or even your art supplies.

This was one of those projects I put off for 2 years and only took one day to complete: recovering the cushions on our dining room chairs.
Here is one of the chairs previously, with large, off-white cushions, spotted with circles and stains and one year old handprints.

I bought a remnant piece of fabric without measuring the piece or the chair cushions (impulse buy!) but I liked the fabric a lot and it was only $6 for the whole piece. When I got home I saw that it was about 3″ too narrow to work! So I bought brown lining fabric and sewed a 2″ strip onto the right and left sides. This gave me just enough width to fit these very large seats. I bought brown rather than white lining so just in case it showed on the sides it wouldn’t stick out too much. The hardest part was just wrapping the corners and getting it stapled down smoothly. An electric staple gun is a necessity to get the fabric snug with the cushion.

My living, dining, and kitchen are all in one long row in my house so I wanted to choose a fabric that was a little formal and also brought the colors of all these rooms together. What I liked best about this striped fabric was that it had a gold stripe that complements my yellow dining and living room walls, a brown and rust color that match my kitchen, and a little blue and green too to match the living room furniture. I am much happier with what seem like new chairs to me!

This is a great idea I couldn’t wait to share after visiting a friend’s house this week. I had never thought to ask if she had created this framed work herself. I assumed she had bought it this way, but I love the natural flowers with such a natural picture. It really draws your attention and adds dimension.

She bought the print on her honeymoon and the frame later. But my favorite part was that she got dried baby’s breath from a craft store to place around the print rather than buying expensive matting. She layered the flowers on the paper and then pressed the glass upon it, using no glue to damage the print. I loved this idea and her house is so inspiring! Thanks, E!

Thanks to everyone who expressed interest in learning how to embroider. This school will last six weeks, and we’ll go over all the basics of materials used and most common stitches. For those who know a lot about this know that there are over 400 embroidery stitches, so needless to say we won’t be covering every one of those. But we will be learning the ones you’ll see (and use) most, and in doing so it will also be giving you the confidence to continue learning them if you choose to do so. Anyone who sends me a finished embroidery project at the end of the school will recieve a goodie box full of embroidering fun. So without further ado, lesson 1.

What is it and Why do it?

Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with designs stitched in strands of thread or yarn using a needle. My grandmother taught me how to embroider when I was about seven years old, and I would often watch her hand-stitch designs on the many quilts she completed. There really is something beautiful, unique and romantic about embroidering by hand, so while you can have a machine stitch something up for you beautifully, if you have the time (and the patience) and are willing to give it a go, you really should try it.

General tools needed and used

Embroidery can be an inexpensive craft to learn, but so are most things. You can certainly get caught up in the cool new gadgets that are out there, but the only things you really need are material to stitch, a hoop, a needle, a pair of scissors, and embroidery floss. Depending on what you already have, you will only spend about $10 to get started.

Needle: Any needle that will accomodate your thread will do. In our lessons, we’ll be using 6-stranded embroidery floss, so a basic embroidery needle will be fine.

Hoop: This can be a cheap wooden hoop, or a heavier plastic. And it’s actually two hoops: one side is adjustable, the other is not. You will stretch your fabric across one piece and secure with the other, tightening or loosening it if neccessary. You don’t need to work with a hoop (and in some instances it will be almost impossible to use one) but I assure you it will make it so much easier to stitch, and it will keep your stitches from puckering up.

Scissors: Again, any that you already have should be fine. However having a small pair of embroidering scissors on hand that will help you cut easier and with more precision when you need to snip around stitches.

Embroidery Floss: The easiest floss to work with is 100% cotton, colorfast (meaning it won’t bleed when you wash it), and is six-stranded. You can buy this at any craft store anywhere from $.20 to $.40 a skein. You can also find it in almost any color, giving you another reason to love embroidering.

Material: I am a firm believer in you can stitch on just about everything…just be prepared for a fight at times. For this course, however, I suggest using any kind of 100% cotton fabric that does not have a tight weave (i.e. linen, flour sacks, tea towels, pique, and muslin, which I highly recommend since it is easy to work with and is very inexpensive). You’ll want to wash your fabric first, and iron it if necessary. If you have any scrap fabric lying around, you most certainly can use it, esp. for practicing and save the nicer pieces for projects you want to display.

Water-soluble or vanishing ink pens: You’ll find these in the quilting department of any craft store, and while they can be harder to use on some fabrics, they can be your best friend when you can’t find a pattern you like. You can draw on the fabric and depending on which you get, you just remove the ink with a wet washcloth, or wait 24-36 hours for the ink to disappear. They aren’t that expensive, so while this is an optional tool, I recommend it if you have some original designs in mind but don’t trust yourself to stitching free-hand.

Optional Items:

Thimble: These things drive me bananas, so you will not see me using one. However some people insist on them, so I’m just putting this out there that you might want to try using one. If your finger does get sore from pushing and pulling the needle and a metal or porcelain thimble doesn’t work for you, you can always try a rubber one, which feels a little more natural and comfortable to use.

Needle threader: You can get a pack of these for around a dollar at most fabric and craft stores and they can be incredibly useful. It does exactly what it says: it’s threads your needle by sticking a bendable “eye” of the threader through the eye of the needle. The threader “eye” is large enough so you just slip your thread through it and pull it back through the eye of the needle and voila! A threaded needle. I tend to get overzelous and excited when starting a new project and end up breaking them, so it’s just a step I like to skip. However, if this is the part you hate the most, then by all means invest in some of these beauties and skip the frustration all together.

Fusable interfacing: Honestly, I never use this stuff. I tried once and it just irritated me so badly, but truth be told I’ve never been taught how to correctly use it. I do know that it has a purpose (to smooth out your project, make it sturdier, and prevent knots from unraveling), but I also know it’s more trouble than it’s worth (over time will stain the fabric, become brittle and break off, and will pucker at certain places in your work). So why include this if I’m not going to even talk about it or suggest you use it? Good point, I don’t know. I just didn’t want anyone who believes that this stuff is the holy of holies to think ill of me that I didn’t mention it. And on that note, if anyone wants to make an argument for why this stuff should be used, please let me know and we’ll put it in this section.

Now it’s time to begin!

1) Position your fabric within the hoop. You’ll need to seperate the pieces and lay the piece that does not have the adjustable part on it on your work space. Place your piece of fabric overtop, then place the other piece of the hoop over it and push down on it so it stretches the fabric over the bottom piece, much like the head of a drum. You can tighten or loosen the top piece as much as possible, and you’ll want to pull the fabric taut so it creates a smooth, even work space.

2) Cut your thread to 12″ or 13″. This may not seem like much, but you can always use more when you run out, and working in smaller increments will keep your thread from tangling and will keep you from raising your arm high above your head to pull all the thread through the material.

3) Thread your needle. You can use a needle threader or you can do the spit-and-flatten technique (not an actual technical term, but it’s pretty self explanatory) – lick the end of the thread and flatten it with your fingers (to stick all the strands together), thread your needle, then knot the other end. Doesn’t have to be any fancy knot, just something large enough not to pass through the material and small enough so it won’t create a large bump under your fabric.

Now it’s time to stitch!

The stitches we will be covering today are super easy and three of the most basic stitches you’ll see in embroidery. Please forgive the coloring of the photo’s – I took them at the worst part of the day, in a room with bright yellow walls, so if they’re blown out or miscolored on your monitor, please let me know and I’ll try to fix them.

Stitch #1 Running Stitch

This is the easiest stitch to complete. You can use it to outline items or run along an edge, and there are two ways you can do it.

First, you bring your needle up through the material at point A and then back down through at B. You do this again (coming up at C, down at D), however you’re leaving a space in between each stitch, creating a dotted-line effect.

The back side will look exactly as the front

The other way to complete this is to gather your material and run the needle through in one seamless motion.

If you’re new to embroidery and unsure of yourself, you’ll probably be most comfortable with the first way. However, if you’re feeling adventurous or are more confident in your stitching, or want to create something that looks a little uneven but unique, then the second technique is the way to go.

Stitch #2 Back Stitch

This stitch is my personal favorite. Not only because it is quick and easy, but because it looks great (and clean) any way you use it. It’s also a great stitch to complete lettering with. The one thing to remember with this stitch is you’re almost working backwards, in a sense.

First you’ll bring your needle and thread up through the material, but at point B instead of A

Then you’ll bring it back down through, but in the opposite direction you’re wishing to go (hense the backwards part I was talking about), putting it at point A.

You’ll then keep going in that direction or bringing your needle up at point C, then back through at B, then up at point D then back through at C, etc. etc.

By the end you’ll have a seamless looking line and your stitches will connect beautifully.

Stitch #3 Split Stitch

This stitch is easy and a decorative finish when you want something a little more punchy than the running or back stitch.

You’ll bring your needle up through your material at A and back through at B (like a regular stitch).

Next you’re going to split the stitch in the center (at C), so you’re splitting the threads evenly (or as evenly as you can)

Then you’ll bring it back down at the desired point (D).

You’ll continue splitting each stitch, until it looks like this

One thing to remember about this stitch, is it’s easy for your thread to get tangled on the underside while you’re splitting the stitch. So this is very important that you work a little slower, and don’t use too long of thread.

You can also work this stitch a little differently, like the backstitch (calling it the split backstitch), by bringing up your thread at C and then splitting the stitch on the way down (from the top side of the frabric as opposed to the underside). Either way is fine, it just depends on which you’re more comfortable with.

My photo’s for this stitch are a little blurry, so hopefully this diagram will explain it where my picture lacks detail

If you’ve hung on through all that jibber jabber that’s great! I can promise you the next lessons won’t be so wordy, we just had to get the intro out of the way. If at anytime you have any questions or think I need to clarify a little more, you can leave a comment or feel free to email me at [email protected].

Homework for Lesson 1:

If you have any scrap material, you’ll want to use it for practice this week. Draw a circle, a square, and any other shapes that you want on your material of choice and practice each stitch. If you haven’t gotten your pens yet or choose not to, you can use a regular pen or pencil, or do them free-hand. If you’re feeling confident enough, try stitching other images and letters using these stitches. It may sound simple enough – and it is – but like you’ve heard before, practice does make perfect. Next week we’ll go over three new stitches and I will have a PDF you can download and transfer onto your material to complete.

One of the best things about summer is the flowers, don’t you agree? A fun way to keep them around past the peak bloom point (and for those in cold climates to remember the lovely summer colors) is to press them. You can easily make your own flower press, and here’s how.

Start with 2 squares of wood (approximately 8″ across), 4 bolts (approximately 4″ long), 8 coordinating washers, 4 coordinating wingnuts, and several squares of cardboard and felt, with the corners trimmed. I have 7 cardboard pieces and about 10 pieces of felt – these are used to separate the layers of the flowers you press and to provide cushioning.

You simply drill 4 holes near each corner of each square and assemble: bolt, washer, one square of wood, cardboard, felt, paper, flowers, paper, felt, cardboard (etc), board, washer, wingnut. You add layers of plain white paper around the flowers to prevent them sticking to the felt, and it also allows for easy storage later on — I keep mine either in a folded piece of paper or inside envelopes. Screw the wingnuts on tight to press the layers together and compress your flowers. Then you wait for a week or so to allow the flowers/leaves to dry and flatten.

Pay attention to the layout of your flowers and leaves when you are pressing – you want to make sure that it will look how you want it to when it’s flat. Leaves are easy, but be careful with multiple petal layers – sometimes they bend oddly when you press them, and the result is not pretty.

Simple flowers work well though. Pansies are gorgeous:

I’ve also done marigolds, lilac, roses, several kinds of leaves, irises, even a butterfly. If your garden is large, you can have lots of fun playing around with the press and trying different layouts.

Once you have your array of pressed flowers, you can paste them into a frame:

I just used regular Elmer’s and glued the marigold and the butterfly onto thick white paper (I think mine is designed for painting). Tweezers can be helpful in arranging delicate pieces, such as the butterfly – sometimes your fingers are just too sticky. These flowers would be lovely on cards, too, if you enjoy making your own. Let me know of other fun ways to use them – I’m just beginning my foray into paper crafts

This guest post comes from Gina – thanks so much for your contribution, Gina!

Hi, I’m Gina. As do many others, I have always loved the beach. Growing up in Minnesota, though, there are few opportunities to be in the ocean, so I guess I tried to take advantage of all of mine by bringing the beach home with me. Thus I have accumulated a lot of shells, beach rocks, coral, and other beachy finds from various trips, some with sentimental value. For example, one of the rocks I used in the project was from the spot on a rocky beach in New Zealand where my husband proposed.

There are lots of ways to display shells – on countertops, in bowls, etc. But I wanted a way to look at the special ones all at once without them taking up too much space or requiring much dusting. So I decided to create a seashell shadow box.

To begin, you need your collection of shells, your trusty glue gun, and a shadow box. Mine has a lovely dark wood frame and a neutral linen background that mimics sand:

Next, you lay your shells in a pleasing pattern. You could go with a more random arrangement if you like, but I preferred to arrange them so that I could balance shape, color, and size:

Then you glue! Most of mine were light enough not to require much glue, but obviously rocks or large, heavy shells will need more. Make sure when you’re gluing (and when you lay everything out) that your shells all fit when the lid is closed. One of mine (the large on in the bottom right corner) was oddly shaped and would only balance on one edge, so I paid attention to that while gluing to ensure I glued the correct edge.

I love the finished product! I had tons of shells left over, but I liked keeping some space between the shells. I think a tighter arrangement could also be lovely, though.

Here are close-ups of the shells and the linen background of the shadow box:

So have fun with your shells! I’m sure everyone has a collection of sorts that would fit nicely into a shadow box, even if it isn’t seashells.

My son just turned 18 months, and is really into coloring. I absolutely love this because now we can be creative together. However, he is also a toddler (and a boy) which means most of the time breaking the crayons is often more fun than coloring with them. A friend of mine told me awhile back about melting down crayons to make chunkier ones that are easier for little hands to hold (and tougher for them to break). This is also a great way to use up broken crayons that you have laying around.

What you’ll need:

• Crayons (like I said, you could use ones you already have or buy some. I purchased 5 boxes of 24-pack crayons for 20 cents each – back to school bargains!)
• mini muffin pan (one that you don’t mind getting a little crayon on)
• exacto knife (optional)

You’ll want to preheat your oven to 265 degrees F. Peel off all the paper from the crayons (for the new ones, I found it much quicker to remove the paper in one smooth motion if I carefully ran the exacto knife down the center of the paper and peeled the paper back), and break them into 1/2″ to 1″ pieces. Arrange two to three like colors in each slot, then bake for 6-8 minutes (don’t over bake – you want them just melted so you can’t distinguish the crayon shape anymore). Let them congeal a little on the counter, then place them in the freezer until they are firm (approx. 30 minutes). They should then pop right out.

This is great for little hands that aren’t steady enough to hold thin crayons. They can wrap their whole hands around them and go to town without breaking them.

They also make great back to school and birthday gifts for other little artists in your life.

In a previous post I had toyed with using iron-on vinyl lining to make my bags waterproof, but I think I may have found a simpler, less expensive alternative- just using a vinyl tablecloth. I bought this fun fruity print off a large roll of tablecloth material. It came in a 60″ roll and I got 1 & 1/2 yds. I wanted to make a bag that was waterproof and easy to wipe off, something great to throw your wet towel or suit in after a day at the beach.

All you need:
(2) – 24″w x 18″h pieces, cut folded for outer bag and lining (or whatever size you desire)
(1) – 12″w x 10″h piece for outer pocket
1 yard of nylon strap
1 piece of cardboard the size of middle bottom of bag
(1) set of snaps or ribbon for closure

1. Fold over top edge of pocket and sew.
2. Choose a front for the bag and pin pocket into place, folding other 3 sides under and sew into place. Then I sewed a straight seam down the middle of my pocket to divide the pocket into 2.
3. Sew the bottom seam and square the corners of outer bag. Repeat for lining. (w or w/o pocket)
4. Measure piece of cardboard based on the squared bottom you now have looking down into your bag. Place cardboard piece on bottom of outer bag. Turn lining bag inside out and drop down into outer bag, lining up the bottom square over cardboard and top edges.
5. With thread and needle sew in 4 places around the outside edges of the cardboard to hold into place. Do not pull too hard on thread or the vinyl can rip. This will secure that the cardboard does not slip.
6. I hammered a silver snap toward the top middle of the bag but am a little worried this may rip when pulled open. I think I will insert ribbon in the next one to just make a center tie.
7. Your bag now is completely assembled except the the unsewn top seam. Fold bag and lining edges over 1/2″ all around, match and pin together. Cut yard of strap in half and line up your 2 straps along the top edge. Sew final seam around top of bag.

You can see that the bag is a little floppy but I used it at the beach and liked it! The fabric and strap total only cost me about $6, and I bought a few packaged vinyl tablecloths in some cool prints for only $3 that I am eager to try.

I just remembered that I didn’t post an update on the gift show we went to this weekend. Truth be told, there’s nothing to post. Vendors didn’t care about free press and links and why we were there – they were worried about people stealing their ideas, so as soon as they saw the camera (and neglected to see the press badge), they began giving us the third degree. We couldn’t even look without questions and disapproving glances being thrown our way. So unfortunately, nothing to show. Which is their loss, b/c there was some cuuuuuuute stuff we would’ve loved to show and thrown some business their way. Moving on…

I picked up more craft porn this weekend and got a copy of Sock and Glove by Miyako Kanamori. This book was originally written in Japanese, but what I love most about it is the ease at which the projects seem. Not only are the directions simple, but the pictures are as well. You’re not bombarded with a lot of type – just cute pictures that tell a story. And best of all, you don’t need any fancy crafting supplies – just needle, thread, scissors, stuffing and old socks and gloves.

The last time I ventured into this arena, I didn’t fare so well. But after seeing the adorable elephant on pg. 27, I decided to give it a go, and so without further ado, I give you Nigella

I made her with a certain little girl in mind, but truth be told I hate to part with her. Lucky for me, I have an extra set of socks identical to the ones I used, so I shall fashion another one for myself. While the project wasn’t super quick (three hours from start to finish), it was easy and was done while enjoying some evening down-time. Now, I have a pair of striped socks that are longing to become a zebra.