Monday, March 30, 2015

Inspirational Wooden Sign


I've been wanting to try painting words onto a wooden sign.  I found this kitchen-themed wall décor at Goodwill and decided it was due for a makeover!  I used its dimensions and created the inspirational words I wanted to use. 
 
I bought yellow craft paint and two sizes of a white paint marker.   


Since I was upcycling a sign, my first step was to spray paint a primer+white paint so I'd be starting fresh.

Then I painted it yellow.


I'm not sure yet what I want to do with the sides, I'll probably just touch up the black paint.

 
Then I taped my sign into place. 


The next step (which didn't show up in pictures) was to trace over the outline of all the letters with a pen.  Then I could see the indentation and traced over that with my fine tip paint marker. 




Then I used the larger paint marker to fill in the letters.



You can see imperfections up close, but from a distance, I think it looks great!
I hope everyone has a blessed and happy Easter!


Monday, March 23, 2015

Sports Team Spirit T-Shirt Scarf (try saying that five times fast)


1. Happy Spring!!
 
 2. Happy March Madness!!

I've gotten really into watching Wichita State basketball this year, and they played (and won) on Friday and then played (and won!!!) on Sunday, I wanted something unique to wear - especially to work.  I don't really know how, but I got obsessed with the idea of a t-shirt scarf.  I bought a t-shirt, not knowing what I would do with it.  There were pictures that I liked of t-shirts cut into strips and worn as a rope necklace. But then I decided on a kind of patchwork scarf, so I went back to Goodwill and found about 9 different Wichita State University themed t-shirts. 

 
After I washed them, I decided on the dimensions 10x90 for the overall scarf, so I just cut pieces of the t-shirts 10 in. wide by varying lengths and laid them out on the floor next to my measuring tape so I would know when I got to 90 inches long.  I also cut corresponding pieces for the "back side" of the scarf.





 
 
Then I just sewed right sides together on the front side. Then sewed right sides together on the back side. Then pinned the front and back (right sides together) and sewed each long (90 in.) side.  Then I turned the scarf inside out and was finished! I didn't have to sew the two short sides together because I had used the bottom hem of the t-shirt on the two ends.
 


 
 
 


I've loved wearing it - it's so cute and comfy and I think it's brought us luck!!
#GoShockers #WatchUs #PlayAngry

Monday, March 16, 2015

Monday, March 9, 2015

Teddy Bear Hooded Towel


DIY hooded teddy bear towel, hooded bath towel

Last weekend was snowy, so it gave me time to enjoy my fireplace and sew this adorable teddy bear hooded towel.

I found this tutorial at Crazy Little Projects and am crazy impressed with how many of these towels she's made/created. 

This is a project that forced me to try something new, which I love.  I've never done an "applique stitch" and in fact, I thought it was a fancy setting that my sewing machine didn't have.  But it's just a really tight zig zag stitch.
For this project you'll need:
1 full size tan towel
1 tan hand towel
dark brown fabric (I used a washcloth)
black fabric (I used felt)
white fabric (I used felt)
black, white, tan thread
the pattern found on Crazy Little Projects



I won't go through every step, but will explain the pictures.  The first step is to cut the hand towel in half.

Then you pin and sew the finished side about 4 inches under.
Then you do all the steps to make the face. 





Here's where the applique stitch comes in handy.


I'm excited to give this to my nephew Henry at Easter.  I am thinking this cute face:


plus this cute face:
is going to equal cuteness overload!!