DIY Christmas: Lego Pillow

I got a request to do a Lego Pillow this year.  And when I found this tutorial from mesewcrazy, I knew that was the pillow I was making!

I made two versions of this pillow.  The first pillow has a green front, colored back, and a second pillow with colored blocks on the front and a green back.

The fabric used to be available to purchase on spoonflower.com, but it's no longer there.  I contaced spacefem through etsy and she designed ½ yard in the green dots and ½ yard in the colored bricks.  It's the most I've ever paid for a yard of fabric, but I couldn't find anything else that looked like legos, so...

I got the minifigures from a Chinese seller on ebay for just over $5.  They aren't real Legos, but I didn't realize that until after I bid.  I was pretty impressed with the quality when I got them...they are close enough for me!  You can find similar auctions here.

I made it to fit an 18x18 pillow, but of course couldn't find any when I got to the store.  They had 16s, so after a few adjustments, we have a 16" pillow!

The other pillow was a gift, but this one is available for sale.  

Only 1 available. 16x16 pocket pillow to store your lego mini figures (not included). Made from 100% Kona cotton. 
$25 local (Mobile, AL) pick-up
$30 shipped (lower 48 states)
$22 case only, shipped.

Shoot me an email if you are interested.  

Happy Creating!

Handmade Halloween: M&M costumes revisited...

I finally got a pic of the whole family...a year later!  We had a little costume mishap (costume #1 got wet before trick or treating) so the little one said she wanted to wear her M&M costume.  Of course I agreed b/c I wanted to dress up too!

Check out how short the little one's costume is this year...she has grown like a little weed!

And we did end up having a little boy (6 months old) and I made him a little yellow peanut M&M.  His costume was very snug, and I don't have any good pictures of the whole family, so you just get to see the family of 3 again this year :)

see here for pics from 2013 with a printable of the m&m font.

Happy Creating!

Fingerprint Art: Easter bunnies and chicks

It's always fun to do fingerprint art.  We don't do it nearly enough!  

The bunny behinds are cute!  and I like the side chicks, they look like they are talking to each other.

We don't have ink pads in pink or yellow, so I put a thin brush stroke over the little one's finger and pointed to where I wanted her to press down.  She did good for most of them :)

And since I couldn't decide between fingerprints or handprints, we did both.  That way I didn't have to write much on the inside of the card :)  

Happy Creating!

Teacher Appreciation

I made two teacher appreciation gifts this year.  

Walmart has these little potted succulents that fit perfectly in clay pots I had leftover from my baby shower.  I made a little tag that read:  "Thank you for helping me grow up great!"

Done.

For the end of the year (which came about a month after teacher appreciation week), I made these wristlets for each of the teachers.  The key reads: "Thank you...for being a 'key' part of my success!!!"

Cheezy, I know.  But still cute.  

I used a tutorial from Oh! Fransson 'Wristlets Three Ways' (which may be called Perfect Zip Bags now),  but you can find tutorials all over pinterest for key fobs, like these ones here!

I attached a Starbucks gift card, so even if they don't need a key fob, they could get some coffees :)  Get the pdf of the key here on google docs.

Happy Creating!

String Bracelets

Gave these away to a friend...need to make more!

ok, so I'm in love with Pura Vida Bracelets, but I'm not in love with the price tag.  Especially when I can make these for less.  

First one I made, using waxed linen.

The first couple I made, I used waxed linen.  It's nice, but it's stretches (a lot) over time, and I've heard it fades when it gets wet.  I like wearing my bracelets in the shower, at the pool and the beach, so waxed linen was not going to work for that!

also waxed linen.

Since I cut the very first one a little on the short side, it worked out that the waxed linen stretches!  The bracelet was a little more snug than I wanted, but after a week or so it fit perfect!  I've been wearing my waxed linen anchor wrap (in blue) for a couple of months now, and have not noticed any fading, but I have been avoiding the water so...

Pura Vida uses a waxed Polyester cord that's around 1mm thick.  Polyester cord burns beautifully, giving very seamless finish.  It is also durable, fade resistant and waterproof!

You can find it all over etsy.  I got mine from Acai Beads, who sells it in 25 foot packs for $2 each.  They also sell it by the 600 foot spool on their website (acaibeads.com).  They shipped fast and for a flat rate.  I'm definitely going back!

Polyester cord comes in LOTS of colors, and Acai Beads has 46 to choose from!  I had a hard time deciding...I really wanted to get them all.

Of course, I didn't have enough charms either!  Really though, I was IN LOVE with the Pura Vida anchor wrap bracelet, and the only anchors I had were WAAY too small...so if I was going to place an etsy order, I may as well get more than I need, right?!

I LOVE these colors!  I was tempted to get every shade of blue offered.  

I ran out of clasps and had to head over to Michaels to pick up a 10-pack.  Boy was I disappointed.  Of the 10, 2 were broken upon opening the package.  Another 2 broke while trying to attach them.  Waste of money.  From now on, I'll stick to Fire Mountain Gems!

If I feel up to it, I'll do a little tutorial with cut lengths for the above bracelets.  Stay tuned!

Peg People: Presidents

I know these aren't the greatest of pictures.  But do you know who these peg people presidents are?!

Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.

Amazing what a little paint, pipe cleaners and felt can do!

Grandma Mini Album

My mom and my MIL love handmade items from me for gifts.

Between birthdays, mother's day and Christmas, it's getting a little difficult to come up with unique ideas.

Until I found this ADORABLE tutorial for grandma mini albums using my Silhouette Cameo.  

Krafting Kelly at Finding Time to Create has given fantastic step by step instructions for creating your own words or you can just download the grandma file she's already provided!

She has answered lots of questions and shows off her album here.

and make sure to check out her princess mini album, it's an awesome display of why you should also buy a Silhouette!

I'm not very creative with stickers and rub-ons.  And in all honestly, I was getting a little burnt out on handmade Christmas by the time I got around to decorating these two albums.

but both Grammy and Granny liked them, so it was worth the time and effort!

Happy Creating!!

Felt Food: Soft Serve Ice Cream in a Waffle Cone

The title kinda says it all on this one.

You can find a tutorial on Hannah Hoosier's flicker page.

I wish I could figure out how to make a swirl like a real soft serve...

Felt Food: Strawberries

There are tutorials all over for strawberries.  Just google or go to pinterest and you'll find hundreds!

They are pretty simple to make. 

The most time consuming is sewing all the seeds on.  Good project to do in front of the television!

I saved some of my strawberry baskets from our local strawberry festival.  I thought my felt version looked super cute packed in the basket with a piece of plastic wrap over the top!

Have fun!

Cow Towel

So for Christmas, I made 3 cow towels to go with a sort of Farm Theme.  While towels are fun to make, dealing with the fuzz from cut towel material is NOT fun.  I tried to mitigate the fuzzies but using iron-on stuff, but the material is so textured that it didn't do anything.  

Crazy Little Projects has a whole bunch of towel tutorials posted on her website.

A cow is not one of them, but I found this great looking cow towel on etsy, not that I was going to pay $39 for a hooded towel.

I got my towels from Kohl's and JCPenny Black Friday sales, but couldn't find a black towel and ended up at Target.  They have the best ones, in my opinion, for the hooded part.  There's no decorative edge a couple inches in from the seam, and you can make your hood whatever size you want without that part getting in the way.  (If you go look at a hand towel, you'll see what I'm talking about!) 

My munchkin LOVES her cow towel, and I really should make her a couple more hooded towels before summer and pool season is in full swing!