craftpalace

2010-01-11T16:54:00.005-07:00

The craft room is clean, and I am back to crafting, It took 3 days but I can now find almost everything, and know what I have. Here are some before and after shots for you:)

BEFORE AFTER

One tall cupboard is books, the other is crafting supplies, my rule right now is no more crafting supplies and no more books until I have the cupboards 1/4 empty.

Etsy shop is open for business

2009-08-02T16:11:00.001-06:00

I have opened up a shop on Etsy selling supplies and handcrafted stuff. Check it out here ar http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7162136

drawstring backpacks and zippered wallets

2009-04-28T20:25:00.004-06:00

I made each of my nieces a little backpack to hold activities for when we travel next year. My plan is to let them pick a gift from their bag each day that we are travelling. Both bags are fully lined and of course little girls need little wallets for their money

Grandpa's girl

2009-04-26T22:36:00.001-06:00

My niece LOVES my dad's backhoe, but to her it's Grandpa's dinosaur, when she saw a shirt similar to this one she thought I had made it for her, well what's an aunty to do other than make another one for her. She helped blow dry the paint so she could wear it after her bath time which was needed after spending the afternoon in my craft room. She then asked Grandpa if she could have a ride, and after supper she not only got a ride but she got to drive! The shirt is done with felt applique and fabric paint.

Easy to make candles

2009-04-24T10:17:00.001-06:00

I had my niece in the craft room yesterday and she saw my candles on my window sill and found a tiny little tea cup. She asked if she could make a candle for her mommy, and I said of course, here are directions for making candles with a toddler - no worry of burns, or wax on clothing.

Equipment/supplies
-candle warmer
-candle in a jar
-wic
-small container
-Activity to do while waiting for the candle to melt

Directions:
1-put the candle in a jar on the warmer and let it melt completely (small candles work best
2-have child put the wic in the bottom of there chosen container (they may want to use the all important glue!)
3-Explain that the candle will take a while to melt and that you can work on the other activity (we made pictures with glue, ribbon, and assorted objects found in my craft room - pictures later)
4-When the candle has melted, carefully pour the wax into the childs waiting container - have them watch as the wax will be warm
5-Let the candle cool and wrap it up for the special recipient.
-sorry no pictures of the candle as she was very eager to give it to her mommy.

Refinish a damaged chalkboard!

2009-04-21T12:25:00.000-06:00

I had this chalkboard that the paint had come off, well I decided to try something and see what happened (I had nothing to lose), so I repainted the entire surface with acrylic paint (not chalkboard paint), and it worked, here's what I did:

1)Clean the chalkboard surface
2)Paint with black acrylic paint (use as many coats as you want to get a nice dark colour)
3)Cover the entire surface with chalk using the side of the chalk going all one way
4)Wipe the board off
5)Repeat step 3 going the opposite way (if you first went horizontal, now go vertical)
6)Wipe the board and enjoy!

"Born to fish"

2009-04-15T21:59:00.000-06:00

One of the woman in our TOPS group just became a grandma and since her family is full of avid fishers, I thought I would make a little outfit for her, so here it is.

The shirt is a onesie with fabric marker and fabric paint used to create the image, the pants are a simple poly cotton blend, I trimmed with lace and added a casing for ribbon which meant I didn't have to do any hemming!

Easter Merry Go Round

2009-04-15T11:23:00.000-06:00

This is an easter merry go round that I made this past weekend and it was actually pretty easy to make - especially if you make it without the music box.

Here's what you need:

wide width corrugated cardboard

empty cookie tin - with loose fitting lid

hot glue

skewer sticks

toilet paper roll

dowel - or chopstick

a poker chip

empty ribbon roll

paper towel roll

bristol board

heavy cardboard

green felt or acrylic paint

Step 1:

-glue a narrow strip of cardboard to the top lip of the lid, then glue a piece of 3" wide cardboard over top of the first piece. this will sit over top of the tin and rotatat - this is your merry go round base.

Step 2:

-Cover the top of the lid with a piece of green felt, or paint it green, make sure the felt does not extend beyond the cardboard ridges

Step 3:

-glue the poker chip onto the bottom of the dowel.

-carefully seperate one side of the ribbon spool off of the spool, slide the dowel up through the middle, making sure the poker chip will be on what was the inside of the spool, carefully glue the other side of the spool back on, make sure the dowel spins freely.

-roll a strip of cardboard that is about 1" taller than your tin can around the dowel (glue the first edge down) until it will just slide into the toilet paper roll - cut the roll so it is the same length. cover the outside of the roll with corrugated carboard until it is slightly wider than the ribbon spool at the bottom.

Step 4:

-Create a cone for the top from the bristol board

-cover the paper towel roll with pretty paper or ribbon and glue to the center of your lid

-push skewers through the top of the paper towel roll to create the top of your merry go round, 4,6, or 8 skewers can be used

-create a circulare band with bristol board around the skewers - measure length so that everything is symmetrical, poke ends through the band and hot glue

- glue your cone onto the circular band, cover the band with another layer of cardboard to make it stronger.

Step 5:

-poke the skewers for your character through your cone and glue each down to the base of your merry-go-round, cut the excess off the top of each skewer

-glue or tape a character to each of skewers

-glue a pom pom or bead onto the top of each skewer

Step 6:

-Glue bottom of tin can to heavy cardboard, put the lid on and make sure it spins freely

-Glue the bottom of ribbon spool to the cardboard so that the "gears" connect with the merry go round base

Enjoy your merry go round, I plan to alter this one for Halloween and Christmas so I will add pictures

My Little Pony outfit

2009-04-14T16:09:00.000-06:00

So about a month ago, my 2 and a half year old niece was sick and requested a My Little Pony shirt to replace the one she outgrew, on my way home I stopped and picked up fabric and let it sit around for a bit, after all I wasn't sure what style of shirt to make, I finally decided on a peasant blouse, but still had not completed it when my niece spotted the fabric last week and asked me when I was going to finish her pony shirt, well with Easter only 3 days away I got busy, made the shirt and used a pair of my dad's old pants to make a pair of pants to match her shirt. She was a great sport and posed for pictures for my sister in law.
The front of the shirt, back of the pants (She's wearing the pants backwards in classic 2 year old fashion)

And the back of the shirt/ front of pants,I guess it's more fun to see if you can find the pony when it's on the back instead of the front

Link to directions for making a peasant blouse : http://indietutes.blogspot.com/2007/07/peasant-blouse.html,

and here is a tutorial for the pants

1: use the bottom half of the old pants
2:take one leg and slide it inside the other - with right sides facing each other.
3: carefully fold a pair of the childs existing pants with one leg inside the other and line up the crotch seam, slide this over the pant bottoms, matching the seams.
4: using the existing pants as a guide, cut a crotch into the pants bottoms at the top (CUT 2" HIGHER THAN EXISTING PANTS FOR A WAISTBAND)(bottom seams should match with bottom seams of existing pants
5. sew the crotch seam up and turn pants to proper side
6. Fold top over 1/2" and then 1", stitch so there is a casing for elastic, leave a small hole.
7: Using a safety pin, thread elastic through casing (about 2" smaller than child waist
8: stitch elastic together so it lies flat, stitch small hole closed
9: Enjoy!

Onesie refashion tutorial

2009-03-27T20:51:00.000-06:00

Refashion a onesie or shirt

It started as a very boyish looking onesie, a little lace and time and it was easily girled up, here's how I did it

cut two pieces of fabric that are about 8"(more if you want more ruffle) long x 3"

fold in half so you have a 4" x 3" piece of fabric. Create a curved edge by folding each piece so you have a 4" x 3" piece, cut the opposite end of the fold round so that you have a piece that looks like this.

Hem the curved edges with a rolled hem or binding or lace, it's your choice.

Run a row of gathering stitches along the straight edge and gather so it is about 4 to 6 inches long.

Next, get your onesie and a seam ripper, carefully take out 2-3 inches of stitches on either side of the shoulder seam where the sleeve is connected : like this - seam rip between red dots.

sandwich ruffle in between - make sure the right side of fabric is against the shoulder seam - straight edge matched

with seams of the onesie and restitch the seam.

Turn shirt right side out and get ready to add lace to the neckline (only if there are buttons to allow head to go through neck hole)

Carefully pin lace around neck edge and stitch with a normal sewing stitch.

Find a little one who can enjoy the shirt and put it on them!

2009-03-27T20:20:00.001-06:00

Welcome to my new blog, I decided it would be fun to share some of the things I make along with a few tutorials along the way, I hope you enjoy your time looking around.

I spent the past week creating for my 2 nieces,

Here is one of the 'little pink riding outfits' which they will probably get next time they visit.

The porcellain doll that our neighbours gave us for the oldest niece makes a perfect model.

Here is the easter outfit I made for my youngest niece (11 weeks old) - shirt refashion tutorial coming soon

And the pants that I made my oldest niece to match the shirt that I bought - and she decided after wearing a different shirt with the pants for 1/2 hour that she had to change her shirt so her outfit matched- gotta love 2 and a half year olds!