DIY: Upcycled Felted Ornaments

Here is another wonderful tutorial from Dollar Store Crafts blog!  We love them - you absolutely need to check them out...now.  Go on, you won't regret it.  Then come back here and enjoy the felt ornaments.

I made these tree ornaments from a felted/fulled wool sweater last year and gave them to my family members for their handmade gifts (we try to exchange primarily handmade). You can find wool sweaters by the dozens at thrift stores (although, I admit, they are probably not commonly represented at dollar stores!). Wash in hot water and dry in the dryer to shrink them into fabric that can be cut and sewn and won't unravel. These cute trees are a great way to show off your button stash, too!

Handmade ornaments are also a great gift for co-workers or people who you need to give a token gift to, but who you don't want to spend a lot of money on.

Project Estimate:

• Wool sweater, $3-5 at thrift store
• Assorted buttons, on hand
• Embroidery floss or ribbon for hanging, $1

Total cost: $4 for about a hundred ornaments (if you use the whole sweater to make them)!

To make:

1. Wash and dry wool sweater to felt it. Repeat if necessary.
2. Cut tree shapes (triangles) and trunk shapes. I used the contrasting cuff cut in strips for the tree trunks. Use two matching triangles and one trunk piece for each tree.
3. Sew buttons as desired on front tree triangle piece.
4. Sandwich tree trunk piece at bottom between front and back tree pieces, and ribbon for hanging at top. Triangle pieces should be placed with right sides facing out. Sew around perimeter of triangle.

DIY: Easy Fabric Frames

I love this easy decor idea because of how simple it is, how quickly it can be done, but also the fact that it's easily interchangable for different occasions.  You can put holiday fabric in these and make your home more festive, and then quickly change it back out once the holiday passes.  We have plenty of scrap fabric that would be ideal to upcycle into these great frames.

This DIY comes from Tea Rose Home's blog, so check them out for more!

I found this cute frame at the dollar store; what a find! I bought four of them.

First, take out the glass inside and use it as a template. I used a pop tart box to make the squares.

Second, place the glass on the wrong side of the fabrics and draw a line. You will need about 1/2" extra around the line, so you can tape the fabric to the back of the cardboard.

On the wrong side of the fabric, place the cardboard that you cut out and tape the corners. (That way the corners will be less bulky.)


Tape the sides.


Put it in to the frame without the glass. I saved all my glasses, so in the future if I change my mind I can use the frame for something else.


It took me less than 30 minute to complete the project. I love quick and easy projects like this. On top of that the whole thing cost me about 4 dollars!
I took them to Rachel's room and did this:

DIY: Fall Canvas Art

In honor of the beginning and ushering in of the wonderful autumn / fall colors that we just LOVE, here is a second tutorial to help you decorate your home brought to you by My Blessed Life's blog.  Be sure to check her out for more DIY - her blog is excellent!

Beautimous!

Materials Needed:

• Canvas – I buy mine at Hobby Lobby 2 for $8!
• An old book that you don’t care about – I used a 0.25 yard sale book.
• Scraps of scrapbook paper
• ModPodge
• Foam brush
• Scissors
• Letter template – I have a set of cardboard letters from Hobby Lobby that I used for Ridley’s homemade birthday banner.  I just trace around the letters so they are wonderfully reusable!

Carefully tear out the book pages. {Librarians, you might want to look the other way!} Arrange pages and scrapbook paper pieces as desired.  Then begin “gluing” in one area on the canvas. Brush ModPodge both under and over each piece of paper until the entire canvas is covered and glued.

Note: To give your canvas even more interest, you can place some book pages horizontal.  I have all mine going vertically, but if I had to do it over again, I would mix it up.

1. The book pages will be uneven at the edge of the canvas.

2. Even up the edges with scissors, but be sure to leave enough of the pages to turn under!

3. Finish up the corners with a nice fold.

Brush ModPodge all over the edges and corners to make sure they are well secured.

Your canvas might look a bit wrinkled, but try not to go into cardiac arrest.  I promise that it will be okay when it dries.

I added the letters f.a.l.l. to my canvas, but you could do autumn, harvest, fall-ing, simple etc.  The possibilities are endless!  I’m planning on creating other seasonal canvases too! How fun is that!?!

Still in the wrinkly drying process…but quite loverly!

DIY: FABRIC WALL POCKET TUTORIAL

Abernathy Crafts has taken a whole new twist on making fabric wall art by making it not only aesthetic but also functional!  This is quick, easy and financially friendly.  Just the way we like our crafts!

Here’s another no-sew project for you!  This is super simple and will add color and organization to your space.  Read on for the quick and easy tutorial.

The tutorial I’m about to show you is completely no-sew, but you could easily modify it with a few straight stitches for a more personalized or practical end product.

Materials needed:

• Embroidery hoop (any size)
• Fabric (2 coordinating)

Lay out your background fabric over your inner embroidery hoop.


Lay your pocket fabric, folded in half, over the background fabric.  You can place it half way in the middle, higher or lower, depending on what you plan to put in the pocket.  Just make sure there is enough excess fabric to hang over the edges of the embroidery hoop.


Slip on the outer hoop and tighten.  Gently tug the fabric around the edges to make it taut inside of the hoop.  This is the part where you make sure you are happy with the placement of your pocket or how the print on your fabric is situated.  If not, do it over again, this is a very forgiving project.  If you’d like, you can add a couple vertical stitches down the pocket for pencils or one in the middle to divide the pocket into two.  This, of course, would be done before you place the fabric in the hoop.  When you are satisfied with it you can cut the excess fabric or tuck it behind the hoop.  Be sure to tighten your hoop real tight so that the fabric doesn’t slip out.

So that’s it!  Quick, huh?  And so easy, not to mention clever.  And since there is no glue involved, you could easily change out the fabric whenever your mood calls for it!

DIY: Shabby Fabric Flower Tutorial

Thanks to Ali Foster Patterns, this tutorial for how to add some jazziness to anything is just a little fabric away!

Step 1: Cut out circles of fabric.  The number of circles you cut and the size just depends on the size of the flower you are making.  My circles are about 2.5″ in diameter.  You can use something circular for a template (like a cup) or you can just cut them without a template at all.  They don’t have to be exact.

Step 2:   Take one circle of fabric and fold it from the center as shown in the picture. There is no exact way to fold it.

Step 3: Using you needle and thread, stitch the center of the “petal” to your  fabric. Make sure you go through all the folds so you keep the shape. 

Step 4: Continue stitching your petals around until you get your desired look.

 

Pretty easy, right?  For  a different look, try cutting squares of fabric instead of circles.

T-Shirt “Yarn” Tutorial

Thanks to Gracious Rain's blog we now know how to make T-Shirt Yarn!  Go forth and make beautiful things with it and who us what ya got! 

Oh, yeah…it’s cotton “yarn” made from a spiral cut T-shirt.

does everyone on earth have a huge pile of orphan T-shirts that nobody wears, but they can’t seem to part with…

or is it just me?

So let’s get real green and do something useful with some of them…shall we?

Start with a regular t-shirt that has lived a good life…no guilt now. It’s going on to a better place…really.

Cut off the bottom hem.

Now cut the top off just under the sleeves…

so you have a tube of fabric.

Fold it nearly in half, leaving the under side sticking out about an inch.

Now cut from right to left all the way up to and just past the top fabric, but leave the one inch margin of the lower fabric uncut. Repeat about 1 inch apart. Now unfold the fabric…

it should look like this.

The easiest way for you to hold the fabric and cut it into one continuous strip is to slide your arm through the two layers of fabric 1 inch uncut margin running along the top of your arm. I drew dotted lines  showing where you’ll cut your fabric–but you don’t need to draw the lines. You’ll be amazed at how fast you can figure this out and it’s really fun too, and for some reason deeply satisfying.

If you need more instructions click HERE for a sweet little diagram and bag pattern.

When you’re finished cutting, you’ll have one long, long, strip of fabric. Are you ready to make it more “yarn” like? Here goes!

Going down the entire length of your fabric, take a hold of it by one end and gently stretch it. It will magically curl up and behave it’s self just like it should. Very obedient stuff, I tell you.

Next, roll it into a ball and think of the stuff you can knit or crochet or weave with it. I’ve seen trivets, handbags and rugs…

Braided Headband Tutorial

MaryJanes and Galoshes blog has a wonderful braided fabric headband tutorial.  It has minimal materials and it's budget friendly!

What you need:
Thick hair tie
Six 1" strips of fabric
Bulldog clip or safety pin
Sewing machine (or needle and thread)
Fabric tac

I ripped my fabric strips so they were a bit frayed on the edges, personal choice.  Clip three strips together and braid. Did I mention this is going to be really easy! Your braids should be about 6 inches short of going around your head.

Tack each end of the braid just enough that it doesn't come undone .
 

Then tack both braids together on each end, be careful not to twist the braids.

Cut your hair tie so it's one strip of elastic.
 

Sandwich your elastic ends between the ends of your braids on each end, again, careful not to twist the braids.
 

Sew over the elastic so that it's secure.  With a scrap of your fabric, wrap the ends of the braids for a finished look.  I used fabric tac for this.
 

Your done!