DIY - Personalized Hooded Towels

There are a ton of tutorials out there in the blog world on making your own Hooded Towels. And there was one I ran into that included personalized name embroidering. Well, I wanted to recreate that towel without having to buy an expensive embroidering machine. So this is what I came up with!

I followed this tutorial from One Simple Bliss. But instead of using a decorative ribbon I created this…

It’s made by using the freezer paper stenciling technique (view my tute here.) I cut out a 24w x 3h inch piece of fabric from an old white t-shrit, ironed on my stenciling and painted it on.

What do you think? Personalization at a fraction of the cost!

Personalized Halloween Lollipop Cards

Want a fun, personalized way to say "Happy Halloween!" to your family and friends? How about an adorable Halloween Lollipop Card?!

Start by taking a picture of your kids. Have them fist up one hand and hold it out in front of them (or in this case, Nate wanted to hold his arm out to the side)

Edit your photo with a little wording:

Have your photos printed on 4x6 or 5x7 paper. I like to print my photos at Costco. They are quick & cheap.

Cut 2 small slits (using a box cutter) where the fist is and insert a lollipop.

There you have it! An adorable way of saying "Happy Halloween!" Try this for Valentine's Day, Christmas (maybe us a candy cane instead of a lollipop), or maybe even to say Thank You.

DIY - Picture Frame Bow Board

Want a cute way to organize clips and bows? Make a Picture Frame Bow Board! Like all my other craft tutorials...this is way, way easy to make. And I'm sure you already have all the supplies on hand.

What you'll need:

• Picture frame
• Scrap fabrics
• Ribbons
• Glue Gun

Step 1: Remove the backing and glass front from your picture frame. You won't need the glass front for this project, but don't throw it away, I'm sure you can find some use out of it!

Step 2: Hot glue your scrap fabric directly onto the picture frame backing. (Don't you just LOVE the fabric I dug out of the reminate section of JoAnn's?)

Step 3: Lay out your coordinating ribbon in a crisscross patter directly on top of the fabric wrapped backing. Adjust your pieces to your liking. Add a dab of glue to the ends of each ribbon and glue to the back of wrapped backing.

Step 4: Put your frame back together. And there you have it! A beautiful bow board! You can even add a little decorative ribbon flower to give your board a little "oomph"

I'm so excited I get to start making cute little handmade bows and clips for Jules. If her hair is going to be anything like mine as a child, she'll need PLENTY of hair bows to tame the wildness!

DIY - Barefoot Baby Bloom Booties

Try saying that three times fast!

Aren't these the cutest!? They are super soft, and super cute! Make one in every color to pair up with a little cute outfit. LOVE!

What you’ll need: (Note: I made this pair to fit just right on Jules (2.5 months). So you’ll need to adjust the measurements for your kiddos feeties)

• T-shirt (I used one purchased from Michael’s, on sale for $2)
• Glue Gun
• Coordinating Needle & thread
• Coordinating felt (you only need a little for each shoe, so go digging through your scrap pile!)

For this project, I wanted to do AS LITTLE sewing as possible, so for the straps, I trimmed off the finished hem of the t-shirt (be sure to cut as close to the hem line as possible). Each shoe will need two-3 inch straps. 

Cut out a coordinating felt circle (approx 2.5 inches) and sew on both straps (I think the picture better describes the process)

Next, create a 5 petal flower template on a piece of paper. My flower ended up being approx. 2.5 inches.  Pin the template on your t-shirt and cut out 18 flowers (9 for each shoe).

Take one petal and fold it in half. Then fold it in half again. Do this with 4 petals. Arrange each petal onto your felt circle so that the corners meet in the middle. Now hot glue the puppies on. You’ll want to also hot glue each petal fold to itself… again… the picture probably describes it better than I can.

Now take your next 4 petals and fold them the same way. This time when gluing them on, rotate your felt circle so that the new petals are lying across ½ of 2 bottom petals (yes, yes, just look at the picture)

Take your last petal piece and fold it in half. Roll one corner into the other, kind of creating a cone shape. This will create the bud of the flower. Hot glue the bud to the middle. Take the top layer of petals and add a dab of glue to the center and adhere it to the bud. This will give your flower more fluff and body.

And there you have it! SOOOO adorable! I could probably make 10 pairs outta 1 XL youth t-shirt! Less than $0.20 a pair! It would look SOOO cute on a diaper cake!

DIY Baby Feeding Rag

What do you do when you have tons of newborn baby hats and your infant is now 1) too big for them and 2) living in a hot and humid state?

Turn them into handy Baby Feeding Rags!

Now, I really know nothing about sewing. Heck, I'm just happy I finally learned how to get my sewing machine up and running! I'm sure there is a better (even a correct way) of doing this, but this is how I did it.

Here is what you'll need:

• Newborn baby hats (one hat yields two feeding rags). I used Gerber hats.
• Coordinating towel
• Thread
• Sewing Machine

First disassemble the baby hat. It will look like this when you are done.

Next cut your towel to size. Lay the wrong sides of the fabric and towel together and pin.

 

Now you'll want to sew them together leaving about a 1/4 inch seam. Sew only 3 of the four sides (I left the shorter side open) You'll need this to turn the rag right side out.

Trim the excess fabric so it'll look nice and neat.

Turn the rag right side out, sew the opening closed.

And there you have it, a cute, handy and absorbent feeding rag! 

You can also see this posting over at:

Craft-O-Maniac, 

Freezer Paper Onesies

Looking for a way to dress up a plain old white onesie? I've got 2 words for you -- FREEZER. PAPER.

Really! Freezer Paper is similar to wax paper, but it's only waxy on one side. It's PERFECT for cutting out stencils and ironing them on to fabric.

I put together a couple of personalized onesies for my new little god-daughter. Here are the instructions.

What You'll Need:

• Onesies
• Freezer Paper
• Fabric Paint
• Assorted Paint Brushes
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Iron

First, Pre-wash your onesie. While your onesie is being washed, stencil out some designs on the non waxy side of the freezer paper. For this design, I decided on a cupcake pattern with baby's intial on it.

I traced the cupcake top and bottom separately since I knew I wanted to use more than one color.

Ok now cut out the pattern and iron it onto your onesie (remember... waxy side down).

Choose your fabric paint and start filling in your pattern. I found it best to use a sponge brush and blot the color on rather than painting it on with strokes.

Let your paint dry for at least 30 minutes (longer if you have the patients) before you peel off the freezer paper. Once you've peeled off the freezer paper, be sure to heat set the color into the fabric.

For this cupcake pattern, I did one layer at a time, starting with the bottom of the cupcake, then the top, then I finished by free handing the sprinkles and initial.

Wah-Lah! Adorable personalized onesies for the little people!

Easter Egg Wreath

I've seen many-a-craft blogs on decorating your own wreaths, that I decided I'd try one out for Easter. This is my first, so don't be too harsh! :)

What You'll Need:

1. Wreath (I picked up this one at Jo-Ann's for a couple of bucks.)
2. Plastic Easter Eggs
3. Ribbon
4. Glue Gun

There really isn't much to it. Just glue the eggs on, following a pattern that looks pleasing to you. Slap a big bow on top. And hang on your front door for everyone to enjoy!!

I realize that the wreath looks like its missing something... perhaps I should glue on more eggs? What do you think?

Valentine's Day Cupcake Liner Topiary

Now isn't this just the cutest! I found this tutorial over on Craft-O-Maniac the other week. I had to give it a try.

I picked up most of the supplies at the Dollar Tree (Gotta love Dollar Tree!) Click here for the tutorial.

I'm def going to make one for each holiday to add color to my foyer table.

How to: Pull String Piñata

(NOTE: Parttimecrafting.blogspot.com has now been renamed to ICanDabble.blogspot.com.)

Can you believe it? Nater will be TWO in less then 2 weeks!!! We've been planning his Fire Truck Themed party for months now and have been searching high and low for a pull string Fire Truck Piñata — No Luck. Seems like ALL the fire truck piñatas I found needed to be cracked open with a bat. Not so toddler friendly.

I bought one anyway and decided to do a craft tutorial on how to turn it into a pull string piñata!! Yay for me, yay for you!

What you'll need:

1. Piñata
   
2. Lots of Curling ribbon (the type of ribbon used to tie balloons) cut approx. 30-36 inches long
3. Tape
4. Tissue paper
5. Elmer's glue
6. Sponge brush
7. Box cutter

Step 1: Cut a 3-sided trap door on the bottom of the Piñata. I made my cuts about 3.5 inches long.

Step 2: Poke a small hole in the middle of your new trap door.

Step 3: Take a curling ribbon and insert through the small hole in the middle. Knot off the end that is on the outside of the Piñata. Make sure the knot is large enough that it won't pull through the hole when tugged. Close the trap door. (The other end of the ribbon should be now hanging out of the trap door) This is the ribbon that when pulled will release all the candy goodness inside.

Step 4: Start individually taping the remaining ribbon around the trap door. Make sure you have enough for each child to pull (Note: In my picture, I taped the ribbon to the door itself. After I was done, I realized it would have probably been a better idea to tape it AROUND the door and not on it! Ugh.

Step 5: Cut four 4x4 squares of coordinating tissue paper.

Step 6: Using a sponge brush, brush a thin layer of Elmer's Glue over the trap door and edges of the ribbon. Lay a square of tissue paper on top. Repeat Glue, Paper, Glue Paper. The last layer should be of glue to seal everything up. Let your glue dry.

Step 7: Trim the ribbons so that they are of equal length.

Tada! You've got your self a toddler friendly, treat dispensing piñata!

You can also see this posting over at:

Craft-O-Maniac, 

Super Hero Cuffs

It's a bird! It's a plane! No. It's Super Nater rockin' his super hero cuffs! Schweet!

After working a full day, commuting about 1 - 1.5 hours each way and spending time with my family, I am not left with very many hours minutes in the day. So I am ALL about finding easy crafts to create -- and this is one of them!

What you'll need:

1. The cardboard roll from a roll of paper towels (one roll makes 2 sets)
   
2. Color felt
   
3. Elastic
4. Hot glue gun
5. Scissors
6. Box cutter or exacto knife or other hole making device
   

Step 1: Take your cardboard paper towel roll and cut it down the middle from top to bottom.

Step 2: Measure and cut out 2 1/2 inch sections. One roll should yield 4 cuffs.

Step 3: Cut out different color felt pieces to cover the bare cardboard strips. (Using the cardboard roll helps give shape to the cuffs. ) Be sure to leave an additional 1/2 inch of felt on each side. Using the glue gun, glue the strip onto the roll and wrap the extra 1/2 inch of felt around to the back and glue on as well.

Step 4: Using a box cutter, exacto knife, hole punch (whatever you can find), make an incision on either ends of the cuffs. String through some elastic band and knot off at the ends. This will keep your cuff secure and in place when battling the evil doers.

Step 5: Using scrap pieces of felt, cut out different patterns and hot glue them on.

Super Easy. Super Cute. Nater Tater just loved them!

Tutu - Part Tu

Here's another version of the Elastic Band Tutu, but instead of using an elastic band, I used ribbon. Before you start adding on the tulle to the ribbon, be sure to knot off both ends leaving about 18 inches of ribbon to each side. This will be used to tie the tutu around the waist.

This will be one of the couple of Tutus I will be donating to the Tutu Drive 2010. I had made two earlier, and had Rusty model them. Well I wasn't thinking! Because the Tutus that are getting donated to the Alexa Foundation need to be new and never used. The kids that these dress up clothes are going to have very weak immune systems, so they need to take every precaution to make sure no germies get them sick. Hello Nelly?! Why didn't I think about that? So brand new Tutus will be made, sealed and donated. :)

Tutu Made Simple

Okay, so this has got to be the easiest Tutu tutorial ever! It takes no time to make and comes out super cute!

(I don't have a cute little girl to model my Tutus, so I used Rusty instead. Yes, he is a boy dog... but really, it's OK, he didn't mind)

What you'll need: (this makes a size 2T-3T)

1. Elastic band (19 inches long)
2. Needle & thread
3. Tulle. I bought mine in rolls at a fabric store for $2.99/roll. Each roll was 6 inches wide x 2 yards long.
   

That's it... really.

Step 1: Take your elastic waist band and overlap the ends about 1/2 inch. Stitch together.

Step 2: Take your tulle and cut into 24 inch strips. For my tutus, I used about 35-40 strips.

Step 3: Take one strip of tulle and fold in half. Insert folded end behind your elastic band. Pull loose end through the hole to form a "knot." I think this picture can describe it better than I can.

It also makes for easier work if you wrap your elastic band around a chair. I used my son's chair that was in the play room. It was the perfect width. PS: don't mind the lovely artistic work on the furniture -- courtesy of Nater Tater.

Step 4: Repeat step 3 until your tutu is as full and fluffy as you'd like. The pattern I used for the Pink & White Tutu was 3 pinks/2 whites. And for the Red & Black Tutu, it was 2 reds/2 blacks. Tulle comes in a variety of colors... so the possibilities are endless!

After you have all the tulle on and in place -- tighten each knot slightly. This will help them from getting undone.

Step 5: Admire your work! :)

See. I told you it was EASY!

Both Tutus will be donated to the Tutu Drive 2010 for the Princess Alexa Foundation. If you feel inspired to make your own and would like to donate it as well, visit here for details.