Super Hero T-shirt Refashion

My nephew Barrett asked me to make him a Captain America costume!!!  I'm so excited, not only because it's a fun project, but because he actually asked =)  I'm so happy he knows I like to make stuff!  So here's the beginning of my project, a basic t-shirt refashion!

I got 4 t-shirts at Michael's.  A blue one in his actual size (a little big so he can grow into it and I can add more cool stuff to it) and some XLs.  I cut strips from the bottom of the red and white shirts to make into the stripes at the bottom of the shirt.  Using the old hems made it so easy!  I cut them 4.5 by 8.  After I sewed the strips together, I just sewed them to the shirt at the right height.  I didn't cut the blue shirt at all so that he won't feel any of the piecing, and so my next step doesn't show through.

Iron on a star and stitch it down, and the first part of the costume is done!!!  Next step... add some muscles!!  I think he'd love just the t-shirt, and it took me less than an hour to make today.  But for a costume, we need more!  I'll share soon =)

Instructions for Child’s Toolbelt

***I'm doing my first giveaway!  See below for details!!

Instructions for Child’s Toolbelt

This project was so easy and fun!  I bought a nice heavy brown fabric, not quite as stiff as canvas or duck cloth, but very sturdy because I thought it would be more realistic.  I used cotton web belting in bright colors for the belt and the loops.  Then all I needed was a little bit of Velcro to attach it! 

I made three pockets, each a little different. 

For the middle pocket, cut fabric 9 inches by 4.5 inches.  I hemmed one short side and folded it and hemmed again so no raw edges showed.  Then I folded it up 3 ¼ inches, right sides together, and sewed up the sides.  Then I did a pinch hem like I did on the mailbags here, to give this pocket a little dimension.  This one was just ½ inch from the point.  Then I turned under the raw edges  on the sides above the pocket and sewed those so no raw edges showed.  Then I folded the top back and hemmed that.  Then I sewed it to the middle cotton belting (which I cut to 30 inches).  I put it in the middle of the belt from the top and the bottom too, because I wanted a bit of the color to show above the pockets on the belt.  This pocket was sized for the measuring tape from our play toolkit, or a very small real one eventually. 

The left pocket (as you’re facing the belt) has the loop for a hammer.  This is just six inches of the web belting sewn into the hem on the left side of the pocket.  This pocket was cut 15 inches by 5.5 inches.  No pinch hem on this one, just hem one short side, fold it up 6 inches (right sides together) and sew the sides up.  With the loop for the hammer in one side.  Then roll over the raw sides above the pocket and hem.  Then hem the top.  I tried to make the top the same on all three pockets so the opening of all three pockets is in a straight side.  So just fold it as much as it needs to be to match the first one. 

The last pocket begins the same as the hammer pocket.  Double hem the short side, then we sew on the embellishments.  I made a little pleated pocket by cutting a 4.5 inch square.  Then I hemmed it all around.  Then I made a pleat so the pocket ends up being just three inches, and it has some nice dimension so it can hold pliers or play nails or whatever.  Then stitch it to the front of the pocket.  Then cut a little strip of belting, 2.5 inches long.  I fold under the edges and stitch it to the pocket, making sure it wouldn’t fall into the seam.  This means it sticks out a little bit so it’s easy to stick a screwdriver in. 

Finish that pocket like the hammer pocket, fold it up seven inches, hem the sides, fold right side out and hem the sides above the pocket.  Hem the top, then attach it to the belt! 

Just add some Velcro and you’re done!  I hope this tutorial is clear enough, it’s really very easy and forgiving.  Any kind of pockets will work great!  =)  

Serenity wanted her tool belt to be pink =)

Turns out it's also a handy place to carry your magic wand =)

These are so much fun to make I'm going to make an extra to give to one of my followers!  Just leave a comment below saying you're following me or subscribed to my rss feed!  I'll choose someone at random next Monday!  Oh, and pick a color for the belt =)  

Sneak Peek: Child's Toolbelt

I just managed to get this project to this point, and I couldn't wait to show you!  Hopefully I'll have time to write up the pattern and tutorial for the weekend post =)  So for today I'll just post the picture! 

Mail Bags for Valentine Post Office Party

The Mail Bags for the Valentine Party are done!!  Just in time as the party is tomorrow.  Serenity loves hers!  I’ll have to make sure it gets back in the pile with the rest.

The bags are SUPER simple.  I just cut a rectangle 26 by 12.5 out of some canvas.  I happened to have some of that on hand, and I thought the thick texture would be realistic for a bag like that.  Then I hemmed one short side.  Next, I folded up that side eight inches and sewed the sides of the bag.  Then I did a “pinch” where you open up the bottom so it looks like a triangle on each side and sew perpendicular to the hem.  Here’s a pic of that, I hope it makes it a little clearer, or you can Google it just like I did =) 

the pinch bottom to give it dimension

fold up eight inches

After that, I hemmed the rest of it, just a quick single fold on these.  Then I added a strap.  The strap is cut to 32 inches, so it can be worn on the shoulder or across the body.  At least a 3 year old can. =)  The strap is just grograin ribbon.  I’d planned on twill tape or that heavier strap but they didn’t have enough in red, and I just had to have red straps.  This was cheaper and works just fine! 

My last step was to use my Silhouette Vinyl to iron on the letters… more on that later today if I get time.  I have not yet found the words to describe my recent Silhouette experience.  At least not ones that aren’t four letters.  My Silhouette and I have issues.  We’re working on them. 

One very happy Mailman! 

She helped me make play mail to go inside.  I addressed postcards made of foam to the students, teachers, and some generic ones to Mama’s and Daddys.  Then I got envelopes and addressed them to each student, putting a contruction paper heart, a few stickers inside.  Serenity added a sticker as a stamp to each one.  Each mailbag is loaded with three pieces of mail, and there are lots of extras in the big mailbox.  I don’t imagine they will all get delivered, but hopefully it will be good for plenty of fun!

Moose Head =)

My nephew Casey is turning ten this year!  It’s insane =)  He’s such a fun, awesome kid.  They recently moved to a new house so he got to decorate a room just the way he wanted it.  It looks like it came directly out of the Pottery Barn catalog, he has good taste =) He loved this moose head, but since Pottery Barn prices are a little scary, I offered to make it for them. 

Here’s the inspiration…

Source: pbteen.com via Chrissie on Pinterest

And here’s how mine turned out!  We haven’t figured out yet how we’re hanging it, we’ll have to figure it out after I get it to their house.  My dad cut out a basic moose head shape with his jigsaw.  This took a LONG time because of all the curves, but he did a fantastic job!  Then my job was to sand, stain, and seal it. 

Then Dad took it back and attached little boards all around the back.  He had drilled holes through these boards so he could wire an LED rope light all around the moose.  I love how it turns out, I can’t wait to see Casey’s face!!!

Onesie tie and vest

Onesie tie and vest

I did it!  Actually made something that I pinned.  I was always a little skeptical of the appliquéd tie onesies.  Very cute, but not actually that dressy looking.  Then I saw this one that had the vest as well, and I was sold!  I went shopping with my niece and she helped me pick out the perfect little gray corduroy fabric and the paisley print for the lining and tie. 

It was SO easy!  I just used steam a seam to iron the tie on, using this pattern.  Followed instructions on the vest from here at B is for Boy.

Then I had to have some pants, and I just drew around a pair of pants that fit Donovan already to do that.  I added some fake pockets to the back, which I think are my favorite part =) 

I’m so happy!  I finished this in one day of crafting for fifteen minutes at a stretch.  Such a quick and cute project!  I’m still glowing with happiness =) 

Digital Scrapbook Pages!

Well, I'm jumping right into the new year with digital scrapbooking!  I went back to check and I did zero pages for 2011!  I'm so far behind.  My friend Abbey has a great system where she just scrapbooks stories, so she can scrapbook anything she wants at anytime, but I just can't break through the concept of chronology.  So it's time to play catch up.  At least digitally.  I don't seem to want to work on paper scrapbooks by myself, so that will have to wait for another Girl's Weekend retreat.  But I'll share the two pages I did today!  I made one for Serenity's first pigtails, and another for the crafts we did last winter.  I'll list the crafts in case anyone wants some ideas for simple crafts to do this time of year!

1.) Shape Teddy Bear Valentine.  We did this with sticky foam and cardstock.  I cut out the shapes and she assembled them into a bear, using circles, ovals, triangles, and hearts.  She gave it to Daddy and spelled Love on it for him.
2.) Shamrock collage.  I just took a piece of contact paper, cut a shamrock out of middle of a piece of construction paper and took the outside to use as a border for the collage.  Then I gave her yellow, green, and white tissue paper to fill in the middle.  We used it for a suncatcher all spring!
3.) Fruit loops necklace.  Great lacing practice.  And very tasty.
4.) Marker painting.  I made a jungle in the living room, and as one of the crafts I had Serenity color a jungle with green and brown markers. We painted the marker with water to make it run and look more jungly. 
5.) Cardboard road.  I pull this out every now and again still when we're in need of an activity.  I drew the road for her WOW car, so it's a pretty wide road.  We keep adding more locations. We started with a pond and a farm, and I put Little People figures and her play barn on it so she had places to drive in her car.  Then she colored a garden and a zoo and added stickers. We've had mountains, parks, lots of different places.  It's perfect for a rainy day!
6.) Snowman out of cotton pads.  I use the flat circular cotton pads for washing my face (occasionally..when I have time for that kind of stuff =)  They made perfect snowmen!  We added snowballs and faces out of sticky foam =)
7.) Kazoo:  Saw this craft on Family Fun.  Make a kazoo!  Painting, decorating, and then music.  Great fun!
8.) Starting seeds:  I let her pick out her own seeds and we started them inside.  They really grew!  I was a little surprised because I let her take care of them herself, but they made it despite getting a LOT of love =)  We will definitely do this again this year, hopefully I give the garden a little more attention this year. 
9.)  Lollipop flowers: We made these for her Valentines last year.  I have no idea what we'll do this year, especially since she actually has a whole class to give them to!  We'll see!!
10.) Playdoh Snowmen: Just push googly eyes, buttons, and beads into play doh!  

And without further ado, here are the pages!  Hopefully I'll have many more soon!

Stocking Stuffer: Peg Doll (Dora's Explorer Girls)

Stocking Stuffer Idea: Peg Dolls!

I’m so happy, I finally finished a handmade Christmas present for Serenity!  I kept procrastinating, but have finally switched into “get it done” mode.  So here they are, my peg dolls!

Serenity randomly found on nickjr.com Dora’s Explorer Girls.  Apparently, Dora grows up, moves to the big city, and totally forgets about Boots the monkey.  Very sad.  I will try to forgive her for selling out.  Anyway, she has a great group of girl friends, and Serenity loves them!  There doesn’t seem to be much out there for this show yet, maybe it’s new?  All we’ve seen is the game and the introduction to the girls. I actually like that more, because it means Serenity is making up all the adventures herself!  She tells us which explorer girl we are, and she is usually Naiya.  Then we explore, which ends up being follow the leader as she takes us wherever she can imagine! 

I printed some little pictures of the girls, and Serenity played with these for hours.  So I decided to paint these peg dolls for her.  I did six, for Dora, Naiya, Emma, Kate, Alana, and Serenity the Explorer Girl.  I painted Serenity’s yellow hair, blue eyes, and my favorite purple dress.  I loved Lier’s idea of painting peg dolls to commemorate favorite outfits.  I don’t know that I’ll make as many as she did, but we’ll see.  If Serenity loves them Christmas morning, maybe I’ll be inspired! 

Kate

Naiya's ponytail

Naiya

Serenity in her Purple Girl dress

Alana... technically half these girls are wearing pants... I could try to add a line with a sharpie but I'm thinking it might look weird because of the doll shape...

Dora

Emma

(Process-wise, this is very easy to do.  You just paint it in stages, doing faces, main clothes colors, hair, and then details, waiting for it to dry in between.  It dries super fast though, so I got this all done in one particularly fine afternoon nap.  And I painted over the top with clear modge podge to seal it.  I used a chopstick and a cake tester for the really fine details, the brushes I had weren’t good enough for such small detail. 

Oh, and here's a pic of what the explorer girls should look like =)

Source: google.com via Chrissie on Pinterest

More inspirations:  Filth Wizardry's super cool Star Wars peg dolls

December Day Two =) Reindeer Food and Pink Decorations!

I probably won't post all my Daily December entries here, but today's projects were so much fun I wanted to share! 

Today’s activity was to decorate Serenity’s room!  I bought a pink tree for her last year, and this year picked up a pink tree skirt and some white and purple felt ornaments to add to her purple snowflakes.  She was so thrilled!  She looked up at me and said, “I’m a big fan of ornaments!” 

She might be out-crafting me!  She asked all day to do ornaments, so I pulled out a craft kit that I’d bought for later in the month.  Then she wanted more!  We read a bunch of library books that I’d requested, and one of them was The Wild Reindeer by Jan Brett.  So we decided to make some reindeer food.  It’s very easy and fun, you just take regular oatmeal and stir in some glitter to make magic oats for the reindeer.  Sprinkle on the lawn Christmas Eve.  We put the finished baggie into the pocket for December 24^th so we remember to do it.  She was very serious, choosing just the right color glitter (pink iridescent) and measuring the oats into the bowl and stirring it together.  Such fun! 

A Stocking for Donovan

A Stocking for Donovan          

Well, I’ve had this on my to-do list since before he was born… and I managed to get it done the day before I put up my Christmas Decorations.  Ahh, deadlines.  I work so well with them. =)  I made three patchwork stockings five years ago.  I made three, partially because I already was wishing we had a baby, and partly because I had purchased a set of stocking holders from Pottery Barn that spell out JOY.  (Or YOJ when my husband has his way and mixes up the letters.)  I saved scraps from that sewing frenzy so that I could make more stockings as our family gets bigger that matched the originals.  So here’s how I did it!

I bought a little new fabric for the lining.  I managed the front and back with scraps.  I chose one of my favorite quilt square patterns, pinwheels in this case.  I used pinwheels on his baby quilt and made real pinwheels for his mobile, so now they just make me think Donovan. =)  So I made a pinwheel about 8 inches square, and then just added strips where I needed it to be bigger.  With the originals, I made patchworky blocks about 12 inches by about 18 inches, but this way there was less waste, and it still looks nice and patchy to match the originals. 

So after sewing  a top that was big enough to match my stockings, I cut out a backing, and then two more pieces to be a lining.  Sew the fronts together, leaving the top open.  Sew the linings together, leaving the top open and a hole on one side to turn the finished stocking.  Then you put the two pieces together, sew around the top, and then turn through the hole you left in the lining.  I never sewed this shut, although you certainly could, especially if you put lots of little things in the stocking.  I’ve never lost anything though.  =) 

The original three are pretty too, but I think Donovan’s is my favorite =)  Serenity’s stocking is a log cabin pattern, which was my original favorite.  I’d always wanted to do a log cabin =)  Eric’s is just lots of triangle blocks and nine patches.  Mine is a pretty pointy star.  I wished I’d added some of the ivory to it to make it pop more. 

I just love sampler-type quilting.  I’ll have to share my tree skirt soon =)   

Flamingo Food

Flamingo Day!

Serenity has a new favorite animal… flamingos!  The last two times we went to the zoo she picked the flamingo as the animal she definitely wanted to see before we left (I always ask her to pick an animal, that way we have a goal since we’re zoo members and can go as often as I’m willing to drive out there =)  The zoo has been doing a Think Pink deal with huge flamingo posters, and when we went through the zoo gift shop she looked longingly at this soft little flamingo.  Then she looked up and told me that her flamingo that she has at home was missing her baby flamingo!  So I caved and got the flamingo.  The flamingo we have at home is one of her favorite things, she even took it for show and tell at school!  And it always makes me laugh, because I nearly didn’t get it.  It’s actually a dog toy that she found at Target.  It was just three dollars, and she has had so much fun with it! 

Here she is teaching Eric how to swing the flamingo by the legs.

So today, after a sandbox incident where Serenity found a piece of algae and ate it, telling her Daddy she was a flamingo and so that’s what she eats, I made some pretend food for her flamingo family.  I sewed some shrimp using a felt sushi pattern I had, making it extra pink.  (Did you know that flamingos are pink because they eat a lot of shrimp and things with beta-keratine in them?)

Serenity loved feeding her flamingo, and she made them a lake with one of our silk scarves that I dyed, and a nest for a flamingo egg out of my fuzzy brown sweater.  She put an Easter egg in it =)

We also watched Diego’s, A New Flamingo Mommy, which we have on tape.  This is the show that precipitated the algae eating incident.

Oh, and we practiced our flamingo dancing by standing on one leg. =) 

I’ve ordered several books from the library that have flamingos in them, including Sylvie and a couple about Miss Mingo. 

Source: amazon.com via Chrissie on Pinterest

Source: amazon.com via Chrissie on Pinterest

If this keeps up, maybe I’ll make a flamingo costume for her like I made her rainbow bird wings. 

Lullaby Art: Fall Pinterest Challenge!

It's that time again, another Pinterest Challenge from Young House Love and Katie Bower.  It's such a great idea to take all that pinning and actually make something for a change! 

My Version

Source: hostessblog.com via Chrissie on Pinterest

I saw this beautiful painting that someone had done for a birthday party and knew it would be perfect for Serenity!  The colors were just right for her room, but I wanted to make it my own by using the lyrics from Twinkle Twinkle.  That is my go-to lullaby for Serenity.  I must have sung it to her ten thousand times, sometimes for an hour straight when she was tiny.  I'm not sure why, but it always reminds me of her now, and I sometimes hear her singing it to herself over the monitor.  =)

I have plenty of pink paint on hand, so I just took a light and a dark, plus a little bit of white paint.  I used a big, old house-painting brush because I wanted to be sure and see the brush strokes, and so I could cover the canvas with a minimum of fiddling.  I just started with the light pink, and when the canvas was mostly covered, dipped into the dark and added a few swipes of that, and then dipped in the white to finish up.  No washing brushes, quick and easy!

Then I went into photoshop to type out my lyrics.  I used the font Girls are Weird, and chose shades of lavender for my colors.  Print on some nice paper, and glue it down!  Then I just set it on one of her ledges to add it to her wall collage!  It's perfect, not only for the song, but because we seem to have quite a star theme going on in her purple bedroom.  To see more of her room, look here.  Or here.

I'm going to add a sound button to the back with my voice singing a little bit of Twinkle Twinkle, so it will have even more personal meaning. 

Source: amazon.com via Chrissie on Pinterest

If you want to know how to make some other things in Serenity's room, check out my Wall Vase for a ThreeYear Old post.  That one still makes me happy!  Or her Oklahoma Art.