• Crafts,  Holidays & Seasons,  Kids,  Tips & Tricks

    Trick-Or-Treat, Smell My Feet

    Trick-Or-Treat, Smell My Feet. That phrase is so weird, right? Who the heck even thought of it? Feet totally creep me out, but I absolutely love Halloween and trick-or-treating. So, let’s not talk about my fears and focus on the things that I adore.

    It is so much fun to embellish everything with creepy décor and pumpkins in the fall. And I love to come up with costumes for Trick-or-Treating each year and watch as my kids go from door to door collecting goodies. Instead of going with the whole plastic pumpkin buckets and/or plastic bags this year, I decided to take the classic pillow case candy bag and vamp it up a bit for a cool candy carrier that any kid would be proud to sport.

    Pillowcase Halloween Bags 1

    I love that these treat bags can be so versatile and hold a ton of loot for my kids (which I will kindly raid of all chocolate and caramel items post October 31st.)

    These are the supplies I used for this project:
    – 1 king sized pillowcase (a standard size will work as well)
    – Printed Template
    – Freezer Paper
    – Acrylic Paint
    – Fabric Medium
    – Sponge or Spouncer
    – Pencil
    – Scissors/Craft Knife
    – Iron
    – Ribbon
    – Sewing Machine (Optional)

    Pillowcase Halloween Bags 2

    Since I had an extra unused king sized pillowcase in storage, I opted to use that, although any size will work. My huge pillowcase would have been too big for either of my kids to lug around by itself, so I decided to cut it into two pieces, sewed up the sides and hemmed the tops, which created 2 separate bags. You could also do this with a standard pillowcase, but the bags will end up being just a bit smaller than mine. Or you can skip all of the cutting, if you prefer a bigger sack, and proceed onto the part with the freezer paper. Below is a photo with all of my cutting, sewing and hemming lines. The left side of the pillowcase is the open end where the pillow would be inserted.

    Does this make sense? Because Emily didn’t get it at first, but that isn’t all that uncommon. *wink*

    Pillowcase Halloween Bags 3

    After my bags were ready, I tore off some freezer paper just a bit bigger than my prints. (I had two different simple prints which I made in Photoshop, but anyone could easily whip up the same thing in a Word document. I used the font Boogaloo, found {here} and my own bat design, which you can download {here}.) Each print was taped to the waxy side of the freezer paper (facing up) and then I traced the letters and image on the matte side with a pencil.

    Pillowcase Halloween Bags 4

    Once everything was traced, I used a craft knife to cut it all out.

    Pillowcase Halloween Bags 5

    Next, I centered and ironed the freezer paper, waxy side down, onto the bag. You can see here that the middles of the R’s, O and A were also cut out and ironed on to complete the letters.

    Pillowcase Halloween Bags 6

    Then, using a small cup, I mixed black acrylic paint and fabric medium in a 1:1 ratio and applied it on top of the freezer paper stencil using a spouncer.

    Pillowcase Halloween Bags 7

    After waiting eons for everything to dry, I peeled the freezer paper off of the pillowcase bags to reveal my finished stencils. This is where you hear the angels singing. Ahhhhhhhh.

    Pillowcase Halloween Bags 8

    Then, all that was left was to add a couple of ribbon shoulder straps to each bag. I attempted to use the sewing machine to attach them, but after a few hiccups with that whole process (my sewing machine hates me,) I opted to hand sew the rest of them on. Pain. In. The. Butt. However, totally doable for those of you without sewing machines.

    Pillowcase Halloween Bags 9

    Besides a few little leaks on the letter “K” of the word Trick, I think that they turned out pretty great. They are super sturdy and can easily hold 5 lbs. of Jolly Ranchers, so I think they will be good to go when my kids drag them around the neighborhood in a few weeks.

  • Crafts,  Home Decor,  Life & Family

    Here’s Your Sign

    Four years ago, my parents moved into the house that had belonged to my grandparents. A woods in the back and several interesting old farm buildings, along with the house, make up this beautiful property they are on.

    After moving in, there was one building that was particularly aged and needed a little updating; the machine shed.  This old building was there when my grandparents bought the house and my grandfather used this barn for storing his tractors. Last summer, the ancient wood siding was torn off and replaced.

    I think my parents may check out our blog quite frequently and know what kinda of DIY projects Erin and I are up to. Lucky for us, they decided to save some of the siding and doors back for us.

    Of the boards I have, I found the shape of this piece extremely interesting and decided to create a sign out of it for our kitchen. By the way, Erin said she didn’t think this wasn’t interesting at all. Although, she did find the final product to be up to her standards.

    sign 1

    Once I had chosen the location for my sign, I realized it needed to be a little smaller. Using the miter saw, I cut a smidgen off the bottom and side.

    sign 2

    To keep the weathered looked consistent, I sanded and hammered the blunt edges I had just cut.

    sign 3

    The sign was stained with Minwax Special Walnut. The porous wood soaked up more of the stain than I anticipated. Oops! Should have known!

    sign 4

    To remove a bit of the dark coloring, I sanded the entire piece down.

    Next, I painted the letters on using the same technique Erin used {here}. I don’t always have a real steady hand when painting, but I was okay with the hand written look.

    sign 5

    Then, the letters were sanded down to let some of the wood show through.  Finally, using a hot glue gun, I tacked down a piece of jute to the back and hung the sign from the wall.

    sign 6

    It’s so nice to have something in our home with special meaning. Every time I look at it I will think of my parents and grandparents. Oh, and to eat.

     

     

  • Crafts,  Home Decor

    Vintage Inspired Chalk Cloth Map

    Last week, while perusing the interwebs, I came across {DIRTSA STUDIO} on Etsy and fell in love with all of the chalkboard maps they had available for purchase. I absolutely love the vintage old school vibe that these portray and I knew I could probably whip something similar up for a few pennies less than theirs are selling for. Not that they aren’t totally worth it! They are, but I’m a DIYer and it only made sense for me to try this one out on my own.

    Vintage Inspired Chalk Cloth Map 1

    So, I headed out to the craft store where I found chalk cloth and dowels for a steal with a 60% of coupon. Woot! I always love a good deal.

    My supplies included chalk cloth, 2 wooden dowels, white acrylic paint, a paint brush, a pencil, a print out of MA, scissors, a craft knife, chalk, thumb tacks and baker’s twine. (Sorry. I totally forgot to take a supplies photo. Oops.)

    I started out by cutting my chalk cloth down to 24″ wide X 18″ high and sawing the dowels (my hubby actually did this) down to 25″ each for a little over hang. Using a hot iron on the back of the fabric, I carefully smoothed out the wavy spots.

    Vintage Inspired Chalk Cloth Map 2

    Next, I printed out sections of the state of Massachusetts onto 4 pieces of paper. I went with MA because our son was born there and I thought that this project could end up hanging out in his room. Each piece was taped together in the appropriate place with the rest.

    Then it was time for the tedious work of cutting everything out.

    Vintage Inspired Chalk Cloth Map 3

    After about an hour and a half, I was wishing that I had chosen a state with straight line borders vs. the crazy ocean eroded coast of The Bay State. But I kept on cutting, alternating between my scissors and craft knife. A few small islands may have been lost in the process, but hey, you win some, you lose some. Right?

    Look at all of those nooks and crannies.

    Vintage Inspired Chalk Cloth Map 4

    After that, the entire state was traced onto the chalk cloth with a pencil. This process went much faster than the cutting.

    Vintage Inspired Chalk Cloth Map 5

    Using a fine tip paint brush, I outlined the image with white acrylic paint.

    Vintage Inspired Chalk Cloth Map 6

    Once it was all dry, it was time to attach the wooden dowels. Again, my hubby came to the rescue and pushed 3 thumb tacks through the chalk cloth and into the rods, after I centered them up.

    Vintage Inspired Chalk Cloth Map 7

    Finally, I tied some baker’s twine to each end of the top dowel, primed the chalk cloth, and my project was finito.

    Vintage Inspired Chalk Cloth Map 8

    Tada! Here it is hanging in our son’s room. Doesn’t it look cool?

    Vintage Inspired Chalk Cloth Map 9

  • Crafts,  Home Decor

    A Shady Project

    I have been seeing tons DIY roman shade tutorials all over the internet, so I knew I just had to give it a try. Here’s my version of A Shady Project. Haha. I’m so punny!

    Our kitchen window did not have any type of window treatment and looked a little bare. A roman shade, made out of mini blinds, was the perfect budget friendly thing to spruce it up. I know. Our kitchen window needs more than a shade. Because of all the moisture built up in it, it needs to be replaced. But this wonderful shade was right around our price range, unlike a brand new window. This was also an awesome way to add a pattern into our kitchen area.

    $3.00 mini blinds, Liquid Stitch, scissors, and gray and white striped fabric were the supplies I used.

    Shade 1 Shade 2

    It is, in fact, just as easy as it looks to make. I basically just removed the slats by cutting the cord that looks like a ladder. Not the thick one. Then, I glued 5 remaining slates to my fabric about 9 inches apart to create the folds of the shade. Finally, I hung it in our window.  It only took about 20 minutes!  I referred to several tutorials on {Pinterest} and I found similar steps for each one.

    Shade 3

    Now, does anyone have any great projects I can attempt with these leftover mini blind slats?

    shade 4