Batman vs Superman Bedroom

After all of this painting I've learned a lot about myself. I am not a patient person, I don't mind cutting corners to save time, and I know nothing about superheroes and comic books. Thank goodness for my husband who is the opposite or else this room would look horrible. Our twins have grown to love Batman and Superman. Total coincidence, has nothing to do with the movie which we haven't even seen yet. Gasp! I know. 6 kids will do that to you. Anyway, we incorporated Superman into Gotham City. We have Wayne Tower, the bat signal from the police station, and then we have Superman's telephone booth and The Daily Planet where Clark Kent works. And instead of explaining everything we did, I am just going to post pictures in steps. It started out as a bright pink room with white polka dots. This was how the last owner of our house decorated it. Super cute if we had girls. 

But we don't. So this is what we did to it...

I even made the twins Superman and Batman pillowcases. The bam, pow, wow pillows came from At Home. Now we need to get sheets and blankets to match. 

Onto the next rooms. Maybe a nap first. 

Infinity Scarf Tutorials

Both Tutorials use 1 3/4 - 2 yards of fabric depending on how long you like your scarf.  Cut the 1 3/4 yards or 2 yards in half lengthwise to make two scarves or to have scrap fabric.  

Tutorial #1:

Easiest - raw edges

(If you want raw edges but keep from totally fraying, sew 1/4 inch along the edges of sides C & D, do not sew them together! Do this before anything else)

Step 1: Fold the fabric in half putting the right sides of the fabric together (fold the Side A & Side B together)

Step 2: Pin the short ends (Sides A & B) together

Step 3: Sew the short ends together 1/4 inch seam

Step 4: Turn right side out & Done!

                                                      Side C

                        _____________________________________________

                        I                                                                             I

                        I                                                                             I

     Side A         I                                                                             I    Side B

                        I                                                                             I

                        I                                                                             I

                        I                                                                             I

                        I____________________________________________I

                                                        Side D

Tutorial #2:

Step 1: Fold fabric right sides together in half lengthwise (Sides B & D) and pin together.

Step 2: Sew along the top short edge (Side A) and down the raw edge lengthwise (Side B & D together).  Do not sew Side C.  

Step 3: Turn the fabric right side out through Side C and sew shut.

Step 4: Pin Sides A and C together

Step 5: Sew Sides A and C together

                                      Side A

                              ______________

                              I                        I
                              I                        I
                              I                        I
                              I                        I
              Side B      I                        I    Side D
                              I                        I
                              I                        I
                              I                        I
                              I                        I
                              I                        I
                              I                        I
                              I                        I

                              I_____________ I

                                     Side C

Curtains

We are currently renting a duplex and I am not in love with the style.  I called my sister-in-law who is an Interior Designer and asked her what I could do.  She told me that curtains can totally change a room and she was right!  I wish I had a picture of the old curtains.  These were so easy and I love them!  I made a pattern out of paper which was 42" x 14".  I made 4" x 10" straps to sew on the top.  Then I just sewed it all together. My next step is to buy a new curtain rod.

Car Seat Cover #2

Why do I need another car seat cover?  I am having twins.  Identical twin boys.  In addition to the 3 boys I already have.  Which I've decided I'm totally fine with.  We already have everything, except the things we need two of, and I know how to handle boys.  I don't know what I would do with a girl.  Especially if she was a girly girl. 

This is the same pattern as the one I made before from Make It Do.  This car seat cover definitely doesn't match my last one but I am not at a point where I want to make two of them and I love this fabric. 

Here are her instructions:

Here is what you need to complete this project:

• 1 1/3 yards 100% cotton fabric or flannel for top
• 1 1/3 yards 100% cotton fabric or flannel for backing
• Sew on Velcro (I prefer not to use Velcro with adhesive, as it gums up my needle.)
• fabric marking pen (either water erasable or disappearing) or fabric marking pencil

And here’s how:

1.  Cut top and backing fabrics 35″ wide x 42″ long.  If fabric has a directional pattern like my top fabric, make sure to cut it so it goes in the right direction.  If you are piecing either the top (like I did) or backing, make sure the finished dimensions are still 35″ wide x 42″ long.

2.  Create curved corners by placing a bowl in the corner and tracing with fabric marking pen or pencil, as shown.  Cut along tracing line.   (This curved corner is more than just decorative, it serves to keep the cover off the ground on the corners.  Next time around, I would use a larger bowl and take more off for the curve, as the corners in the front of the car seat touch slightly.)

3.  Cut straps 2 from backing and 2 from top 4″ x 9 1/2″.   (I was piecing the straps, so my “back” polka dot fabric was 2″, and the “top” fabric was cut 6″ thereby making my finished strap the same dimensions.)

4.  If you want to do any piecing (like I’ve done), make sure finished dimensions are same as above.

5.  For the main body of the cover, place right sides of front and backing together, stitch together using a 1/4″ seam, leaving a small opening.  Note: all seams are 1/4″ unless otherwise noted.

6.  Clip curved corners and turn right side out.  I like using a chopstick all the way around the seam, as it makes for a nice edge.  Press well.

7.  Using a scant 1/4 seam, stitch all the way around the outside edge to give it a finished look, and to close the opening.

8.  To make the straps place right sides of front and back fabric together.  Stitch around, leaving one end open.  (There are few added steps if you are making the straps pieced on top, like mine.  I stitch down the length, leaving both ends open,  I pressed the seams out, turned it right side out, and pressed so the straps looked even.  Then I turned it wrong sides together again and closed one end.  Then continue to step 9)

9.  Clip corners and turn right side out.   (Again I use chopstick)  Press well.

10.  Close opening.  Repeat steps 8-10 for second strap.

11.  Fold straps to check placement of Velcro, pin and stitch into place.  I made sure the end which I closed the opening was on the inside and therefore hidden.

12.  Press straps in half, to act as a guide.  For placement of stitching on the straps (to adhere the straps to the body), measure 4 1/4″ inches in from both sides and draw a line with fabric marking pen as shown below.

13.  For placement of straps measure 19″ inches from the top and 11 1/2″ from each side.  There should be about 5 1/2″ between each strap and about 21″ from the strap to the bottom.  If you are visual like me, see Illustration for strap placement.  Pin straps into place.  Stitch and then reinforce stitching.  (The stitching will be one inch apart, and I stitched in a box shape.)

And it’s done!  Remember, you really can use your imagination to embellish this cover.  You can add buttons, rickrack, or ribbon.

Angry Birds Birthday Party

I'm a little late posting this.  But better late than never!
This was pretty self-explanatory, nothing too fancy.

 

 

 

The Red Angry Bird was the ball for the game.  I found a website to print off the faces, I'll try to find it and update this.  The buckets are actually cheap Halloween buckets turned around.  I used one of the pigs to put chips in and the others were used for a game.

 

The gift bags.  Super easy, just like the cupcakes, print off the birds and stick them on some card stock and you've got easy decos.

Please Knock Sign

I was motivated to make this when my baby was very new. The UPS guy not only rang the doorbell once, but several times waking up my just barely asleep baby. Who by the way was not sleeping well at night and I was thrilled to finally be able to lie down and take a nap. I was fuming and wanted to chase this guy down and beat him up but had to tend to my screaming newborn instead. I never did get a nap that day. I'm still upset about it if you can't tell. :)

I took a long break from crafting trying to find a balance with having 3 kids and getting everything done in one day that I needed to. 3 months later, I've pretty much figured it out I'll be posting more.

You might start to notice a theme with my signs. They're usually this barn red color and hung with ribbon. I guess I just like it that way! I do have some plans for my boys' bathroom using different colors and ribbon :) Exciting, I know.

A Star Wars Birthday Party

My son is turning 6 and wanted a Star Wars Birthday Party.  I was a little scared because I had never seen or ever planned to see Star Wars or pretend to know anything about it.  Luckily, he told me this about 6 weeks ago so I had some time to do some research.  And I had my awesome right hand man (my hubby) who happens to be a Star Wars fan.

 

The Cake: (try to ignore the seams in the fondant)

Make a regular 9 x 13 cake.  Cut into 3 strips and lay end to end.  Frost the "light" part of the light saber and cover with Marshmallow Fondant.  Then frost the handle with gray frosting (vanilla frosting with a little black food coloring) and pipe black frosting for details. 

This was a team effort with my husband.  He is awesome!

They ate their cake along with their Yoda Soda.  Yoda Soda is this... green Kool Aid.  And if you can't find green Kool Aid like I couldn't last night at Walmart, buy the invisible Kool Aid and add green food coloring.  It was really cool (and simple) and the kids loved it.

 Party Favors:

Buy a pool noodle, cut in half and wrap the handle with duct tape and electrical tape.  It's that easy!

I also had bags for the kids with glow sticks, glow in the dark stars, and "asteroids" which were actually a Cosmic Brownie, a fun size Milky Way, and Fruit Snacks wrapped in aluminum foil that they had to hunt for.

 The Jedi Mission Training Check List:

It was nice to have this to let the kids see exactly how the party was going to go.  And on the other side we had a picture of Obi Wan (?) that they could color while we waited for the other guests to arrive.

When we were finished with our list, we did cake and ice cream and presents.  It went great!  However, it was harder for the kids to make their own light sabers than I had anticipated.  We basically just ended up making them for them.  If I were to do it over again, I would have made them beforehand.

After taking the Jedi Oath, they were awarded this diploma.

We took a picture of each child receiving their diploma. I'm going to print the pictures and send it to them with their thank you card. 

I was a little nervous about how this would all play out but it went very well.  The kids would have been perfectly happy if we had just given them the foam light sabers and just let them go for 2 hours.  They were totally into that part.

Christmas Stockings and Hanger

Not only are my Christmas Stockings finally finished.... but so is the stocking hanger!
I ended up changing the stocking with the big white ruffle. It looked too out of place. I am proud of my stockings but I am in love with my stocking hanger. I really love how it turned out. Mainly because it was so easy. Much easier than the stockings. I'm still trying to get used to the fact that once this baby is out, we're a family of 5. That's crazy!

Here's a close up.

Countdown Blocks

Okay, I know that there's not 11 days until Christmas... thank goodness. But these sides had the cutest papers and looked best in the picture.

These were super easy to make. I bought a 4 x 4 and a 2 x 4 and had them cut into 4" blocks and the bottom is 8". Then just sand, paint, mod podge the paper on, print the vinyl off and stick it on there.

I was planning on making a bunch of these for gifts for Christmas gifts but I'm on bed rest right now and only managed to make one set. Which I probably shouldn't have done :)

If anyone is interested in making these, I have all of the supplies that you could buy from me. You would need your own paint and mod podge, though. But for the blocks, vinyl, and paper, I would sell this for $8. Let me know if you're interested!

Christmas Stocking 3/5

Boy, I sure am taking my sweet time finishing these! I also need to make my new stocking hanger. Hopefully sometime soon.  Especially since those are about the only Christmas things that I don't yet have up.  I love this time of year!