Friendship Bracelet Earbuds? RAD!

So I decided to friendship bracelet my earbuds...because I saw it on Pinterest.

Earlaces Lime Forest-Original pin by Chozin on Etsy

Oh yes!  I grew up in the 80's and I made at least 415 friendship bracelets between 1987 and 1993.

In retrospect, I wonder why my mom had so much DMC thread around.  She was definitely an avid cross-stitcher, but seriously...this is what her craft room looked like when you opened the door:

A literal wall of DMC thread.  

No, not really.  But she did have every single color (in multiples)!  And they were neatly organized in these special clear bags with the numbers (because each color has a number) written clearly on the outside of the bag.  And don't you dare get them mixed up!  For heaven's sake.

I can't tell you how many hours my sister and I spent making friendship bracelets!  We would pick our colors, safety pin the thread to our jeans, and take turns playing Super Mario Brothers while eating Doritos.  Amen!

(Hold A B Start to make your game pick up at the last level you were on if you run out of lives!)

Oh the memories.  GOOD FREAKING TIMES!

Well I was looking around Pinterst and saw that little earbud gem.  And I felt all warm and fuzzy.  The feeling you can only get when Nostalgia creeps in. 

I don't even use my iPod anymore, but I do have an earbud headset for my Blackberry.  

Because I am not the best driver to start with (ask the side of my parents' house) and I think cell phones probably can give you cancer being stuck to your head like that all the time.  And because I am a super nerd.  So I plug my little nerdy headset in and pretend I'm listening to some music when really, I'm talking to my mom.  

And now you know the truth.  I'm just trying not to hit your mailbox.

Anyway, my headset is constantly in a tangled mess.  Drives me banana sandwich!  So I knew I had to at least try to friendship bracelet it.  Not just because all the cool kids are doing it, but because it will keep it from getting tangled!

Speaking of the cool kids...

Do you remember this amazing episode of Saved By The Bell?  It was called The Friendship Business (Episode 11, Season 1-Oh yeah, we have the boxed set).  From IMDB: "As part of a business class assignment, the gang makes and markets friendship bracelets, but when tensions escalate, Jessie, Kelly, and Slater break off to form their own rival business - Buddy Bands."

Ha!  The title of this post isn't "Buddy Band Earbuds!"  So...I think Zack wins again.  Sorry, Slater.

While I'm off on a tangent and I have toasty warm Nostalgia coursing through my veins...let me just share with you one of the best Christmas presents I have ever received:

YES!!  A 'My Little Pony' radio!  I was 4.  It was amazing.  And I would take my pony headphones over fancy earbuds any day.

Just let out a big sigh of happiness...

Back to business. 

I was was at my parents' house over Thanksgiving and I thought..."I wonder if the amazing DMC stash is still around."  Because free thread is better than a trip to Hobby Lobby.  And I am pleased to report that, while the stock has been depleted over the last 18 years, there was still at least 200 little organized bags to choose from!  Love you, Mom!

I picked pink.  Lovely, eh?

Do you remember how to make friendship bracelets?  I'm sure you do.  So I won't try to break it down into a million steps. 

How about one step?

Tie some knots :)

It was like riding a bike!  As soon as I tied that first knot, it was like...magic.  It all came back to me!  

If only I had a safety pin, my old NES, and a bag of Doritos.  

Another big sigh...

I thought I would just do it all in pink.  But I grossly underestimated the amount of thread I needed to cover this beast so I ended up adding some blue...but I grossly underestimated that one as well.  So I added some red.  

Yep.  Blue, red, pink...three colors that you always see together.  Duh.

 

You likey?

Totally cooler than any old Buddy Band and it doesn't get all tangled up anymore!  

Now I'm not hitting your mailbox in style!  

Totally rad!

Framed Burlap Earring Holder

So I decided to make a framed burlap earring holder...because I saw it on Pinterest.

"Framed Burlap Earring Holder Tutorial"-Original pin by Positively Splendid

Do y'all remember my mom?  The amazing lady who gave me life and a stand mixer?  Well I have been wanting to help her devise a plan to sort her 843 pairs of earring for some time now.  When I saw this framed burlap earring holder I was smitten.  It's perfect.  It's so out of the box!!

Like literally out of the jewelery box.  It's perfect.  And it can hang on the wall in her closet and take up zero space.  Truly the best idea I have seen in a while! 

I haven't had time to make it until now, which is actually perfect because I can give it to her for Christmas.  She's been extra nice this year :)

This is what I started with:

You will need a frame, piece of burlap just larger than your frame, and some hot glue or a staple gun.  If you want to add an embellishment (like a monogram) on the burlap, you will need a permanent marker.  And I used some felt and ribbon to make a flower for the corner.

The frame is recycled.  I had a picture in it that really highlighted my unfortunate case of UFD.  And that sort of spoiled the frame for me.  I even changed the picture once to see if that helped, but it was too late.  So I'm really glad to give this frame new life at a new home!.  

First I removed the glass and backing of the frame.  Then I cut a little notch in the burlap to accommodate the wall hook.  

I really should have been a little more careful when ordering my burlap because I just barely had enough to cover the frame.  I haven't been crafty long enough to know how to order fabric, apparently.

Which I was regretting when I tried stretching my burlap during the hot gluing process because there wasn't any hanging over the sides to pull on. 

So I had to pull on the piece as I was gluing it down, which made for some very sad, hot-glued fingertips.  Lesson learned (hopefully).

I stretched it as tightly as possible all around the frame and trimmed off the little bit of edge I had on two of the sides:

After I had the burlap stretched as tight as I could get it, I decided to check the original post for instructions.  Did I just hear you ask, "Why didn't you check it before beginning the project?"

I'm thinking of renaming my blog 'Because I Saw It On Pinterest and Didn't Bother to Read the Instructions.'  Because no matter what lesson I supposedly learn every week, I still fail to read the directions on the next project.  For example, the tutorial over at Positively Splendid clearly says (in Step One!), "Spray your piece of burlap generously with your spray starch, and iron the piece until it is dry."  I was too lazy to read that little bit of helpful info.  And it was the first sentence of the tutorial.  Lazy.

So here I am with scalded fingertips looking at my already-glued-down burlap...

I did what I had to do.

No, my Magic Sizing doesn't defy the laws of Physics.  Note to self...figure out a way to import pictures without making them read-only! Not being able to turn them around is maddening!

All starched, ironed, and glued into place:

You could stop here but the next steps are the most fun...decorations!!  

Now fancy pants Positively Splendid says to use a die cut machine to make a letter stencil.  But I don't have a die cut machine.  Mostly because there are about 100 things higher up on my list of items to buy with $250.  

Like groceries :) 

This is a working girl's version of a Cricut:

Yes.  PowerPoint and a pair of scissors.  

I used a blank template, Mongoli font set at 800pt, and I chose the 'no fill' option (no sense in wasting ink!).  I also rotated the text box to portrait so that I could get my monogram as large as possible on the paper.

I just taped my ghetto stencil down on the burlap and traced the inside of the stencil with my black magic marker.  

Then I removed the stencil and filled in the letter.  

Now who's fancy?

Again, I really could have stopped here and I would have been totally happy with the way it looked but I wanted to try felt flowers.  I have never made them before and Positively Splendid has another tutorial about how to make the cute felt and burlap flower shown on the original frame. 

I used red felt and some candy cane striped ribbon to make my flower.  And burlap for the leaves.

The ribbon is 2in wide and I cut about 8in off. This will be the center of the flower.  I folded it in half lengthwise and glued it down the edge.  Then I cut in at the fold about every half inch. I didn't take a picture of this process for the ribbon because I didn't think it was going to work.  I don't remember why I thought that because it totally did!  

Next, I cut the felt 3in wide and I think the square I had was 10in long.  (I wish I could be more precise but if Miss P sees a sticker-like the one on the back of the felt square that told the size- nothing can stop her sweet little hands from stealing it...and sticking it somewhere like the glass window of the oven...where I will never be able to fully remove it.)

I did take a picture of the gluing process for the felt:

Anyway...I cut it on the folded non-glued side about every half inch.  

Next, I started rolling the center striped piece around itself (petal side up) and glued the end down.  Then I glued the red felt around the center piece. 

Now doesn't that look nothing like Positively Splendid's flower??  I swear I read the instructions for it.  But no matter.  I think it looks cute anyway!

I cut out two burlap leaves.  But I didn't like the look.  What do you think?

So no leaves it is!  I just glued the flower down to the frame and it was done.  

I love it!  

And I'm glad the frame is so big because my mom is seriously an earring hoarder.  But I like that about her!  Its her thing.  An earring for every occasion. 

Overall I give this project an A+!  It was nearly free.  I already had everything but the burlap which cost about $1.50 for half a yard. The felt flower was a little annoying because I kept trying to make it look like the original pin.  But when I decided not to be frustrated, the flower suddenly became pretty cute.  

The best part of this project is that I know my mom is going to LOVE it!  And it is going to be super useful for her.  I'm going to keep this one on my list of possible gifts for future occasions.  I mean, who wouldn't want one?

Have fun making yours!

Vampires Are Probably Really Annoyed By Scarves...

So I decided to make a t-shirt scarf...because I saw it on Pinterest.

"How to make a frilly scarf from a t-shirt":Original pin from The Pink Peony of Le Jardin.

Unless you live under a rock, you are probably aware that this was opening weekend for Breaking Dawn.  Oh, how I have counted the days until I could see it on the big screen!  I actually just got back from the theater and I LOVED IT!  LOVED IT.

I really wanted to wear something cute to the show.  I feel like I don't get out much these days so going to a movie with my bestie is sort of a big deal.  I saw this amazing t-shirt scarf and thought it would be perfect.  And ironic, right?  Because I'm covering up my neck to go see a vampire movie... I bet vampires get super annoyed by scarves.  

Anyway, I noticed a serious lack of green in my wardrobe so I chose a t-shirt that was an amazing shade of green.  Not grass green or lime green but somewhere in between. I will call it chartreuse! I got it at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon.  They are only $3.50 regular price so less than $2 after coupon.  You can print one of your own here.  (Some weeks they don't have the 40% off coupon.  It changes every Monday.)  Or you could always recycle an old t-shirt you already have as long as it's big enough.

All right, so gather a t-shirt (in a size XL or larger), scissors, and fabric glue or hem tape (and an iron if you use this option).  And you all know what happened to my fabric glue, right? 

This scarf ruffles because you cut out circles and then cut them into curls.  So you'll need a guide for cutting your circles. You can trace them out using a paper plate.  I ended up just cutting them out freehand (but making sure they were at least as large as the plate).  

I mean...am I really too lazy to trace my circles?  

Yes.

The original post recommends a 9in plate but mine was more like 11in.  The larger your circle, the longer your scarf will be.  Just make sure you have enough shirt to accommodate your plate as you will need at least 10 circles to make this look nice.  

First you need to cut off the hem like so:

I didn't toss it.  I ended up using a piece of it to tie all the layers together.  But it's up to you. (Pinterest has made me wary of throwing anything away.  How about you?)

Next, I cut under the arms of the shirt and set the top part aside. 

The original post doesn't use this top part but I wanted a really full scarf so I found a way to incorporate it at the end.

The shirt was now essentially a tube.  I stretched it really good and then I cut it up the side seam and made it one long piece of fabric. 

Which made me think...you could really do this with just about any fabric you have!  Like maybe you have, say...9 yards of knit left over from making your child a Halloween costume.  You could totally use that!

I was able to get 6 circles out of this piece of the shirt. I used the plate to measure off the width I needed for each piece I was going to cut.  Like this:

But like I said, I was too lazy to trace the circles so I just cut this piece of fabric in half.  That gave me two squares.  Then I cut each of the four corners off to make it sorta like a circle.  Lazy.  I know.  But it totally worked!  

Then I started on the side and cut about two inches in and around the circle.  Like in a curly-q fashion.  Can you tell?

When I made it all the way to the center, I held it up and was so excited to see that I'd made a ruffle!  I ran my hand down the ruffle to stretch it a little and make it curl.

After I cut all the circles out of the main part of the shirt, I tried to figure out how to use the top portion of the shirt.  I cut the sleeves off at the seams.  

Then I rounded the edges and cut in a curly-q fashion.  The sleeve didn't make a circle but the fabric will ruffle as long as you cut in a circular motion.  These ruffles are shorter, obviously, but I attached them to the longest ruffles.  You'll see.

Then I cut the neck seam off the top of the shirt and did the same thing-rounded the edges and cut in a circular fashion. 

I was able to get two more circles out of each side of the top part of the neck, so 4 total.  That gave me 12 ruffles in all (6 from the body, 2 from the sleeves, 4 from the top). They were various sizes depending on where I cut them from.  The next step involved piecing the ruffles together in pairs so I made sure to pair shorter ruffles with longer ones.  

I cut a small piece of fabric tape and affixed it to the end of a ruffle by pressing the iron (on the highest dry setting) to the tape for 8 seconds.  Remove the backing, place another ruffle on top of the tape and press it for 8 more seconds.

This is a super important point to make.  Put the fabric tape on the end of the ruffle that is the loosest (the part that was the outside of the circle).  The ruffle gets tighter as you cut into the circle and that is the prettiest part so don't hide it!

After I got all the ruffles paired up, I used a piece of the neck seam that I removed in the beginning to tie the bundle together around the middle.  

I don't have a fancy dress stand to model my creation on.  I did take a picture of myself wearing it under a poster for Breaking Dawn at the theater, but I'm seriously grinning like a deranged vampire-obsessed lunatic...so I'm not posting it.  This one will have to do:

What do you think?

I freaking adore this scarf!  I love everything about it.  I love that it is unique. I love the color!  I. Love. It.  LOVE!

I totally give this project an A+!  It was cheap (could even be free), only took an hour or so, and it turned out AMAZING!  So go make yourself one.  You can do it!

Cutesy Envelopes

So I decided to make some cutesy envelopes...because I saw it on Pinterest.

"Tutorial: Easy Tiny Envelopes"-Original pin from Poppytalk.

(Which is actually a guest post by Ruth Bleakley of RuthBleakley.com.)

Getting the mail is usually the highlight of my morning.  I do a lot of on-line shopping and I'm almost certain the mailman hates me.  He is actually the second mailman we've had this year.  The other one retired (and I'm almost certain that was because of me, too).  But hey, USPS is going through some rough times.  I like to think I'm providing job security for this endangered American Institution!  Right?

Here's my mail from one day earlier this month...

Anyway, without disclosing my true age (a lady never tells), I will say that I'm no longer in the stage of life where wedding invitations (the pinnacle of all mail varieties) are common inhabitants of my mailbox.  Luckily, there have been an abundance of baby announcements to take their place.  In my opinion, nothing compares to a piece of mail intended for you, personally.  A birthday card, an invitation, a letter...someone taking time to write a note just for you.  So much better than an email or text.  

And you know what's even better?  A pretty envelope.  

When I saw these cute little envelopes on Pinterest, I immediately decided to make some.  The beauty of this project is that its completely free and you can use any form of paper you happen to have around the house. Really the possibilities are endless-think newspaper, magazines, old books, etc!  (This is incredibly exciting for me because I subscribe to Martha Stewart Living and every page is perfeciton!)

I decided to use scrapbook paper for my envelopes.

I am a scrapbook paper hoarder connoisseur.  All my pages are carefully sorted by theme in a special bin with wheels that lives in the guest room closet.  Actually, the hardest part of this project was deciding which papers to choose for this post.  I decided on some cheery prints from my Spring stack.   See?  Cheery :)

All you need for this project is an envelope you like the size and shape of, a bowl of warm water, scissors, a thin piece of cardboard (I used a piece of cereal box), cute paper, and some glue (or double sided tape).

Just soak the envelope in a bowl of warm water for about 3 minutes or until the glue loosens enough for you to undo the envelope. 

Lay the undone envelope out to dry for about a half hour.  I am lazy and impatient so I pressed the water out of my envelope with a paper towel so I wouldn't have to wait that long.

Trace the envelope onto the piece of cardboard, then cut out the shape.  

I'm actually couch-blogging at the moment.  I'm super sick.  And it just occurred to me that I could have skipped this step entirely (lazy me can't believe sick me didn't think of this before now) and used the envelope itself as a template.  Yes, its thin, but it would have totally worked.

Now you have a template for tracing your envelope onto any paper you choose.  I labeled the top and bottom to help my antibiotic-drugged mind not bugger this up.

Trace the template onto the back side of your paper and cut it out.  Then just fold and seal the edges.  

I used Elmer's glue sticks (they go on purple but dry clear) because I have a whole six pack that needs to be used up before Jake gets tired of looking at them and they disappear!  Much like my bobby pins and ponytail holders tend to... Anyway, if you're not planning to use your envelopes right away, use permanent tape.  Glue stick stick-ability isn't that great long term.

Aren't they darling?

I would be thrilled to open my mailbox and find one of these little envelopes in there!  It really doesn't take much to make someone feel special.  I know a sweet note would make my heart happy!  

I think I will send The Good Girl over at GoodGirlsInc a little note to let her know how much her blog makes me smile.  Especially since she added the Breaking Dawn countdown widget... 

My name is Cassie and I love Twilight.

So overall, I give this project an A+!  Its super easy, free, and you can make any kind of envelope you want!  Think about the possibilities:  sweet little lunchbox-note envelopes, seed envelopes, invitation envelopes...you could even make paying your bills less dreadful with a cheery envelope!

And you may never have to buy envelopes again!

Go make an envelope and someone's day.  Happy crafting, friends!