Jack-O-Lantern shirts

This is a pre-blogging project from last year, but it turned out so cute I wanted to share it for anyone looking for an inexpensive and easy Halloween project!

Check out this adorable group of Jack-O-Lanterns!

My kids and their cousins last October.

What you'll need:

* Plain orange t-shirts for each child (you can get them on sale at the craft stores for just a few dollars!)

* Black fabric paint or acrylic paint 

* Freezer paper (found in most larger grocery stores near the plastic wrap and aluminum foil)

* Templates of Jack-O-Lantern faces ( I used the printable ones HERE)

* Paint brushes

* Piece of cardboard or newspaper for inside the shirt

Here's what to do:   

(For step-by-step instructions with photos, see my other freezer paper stencil projects HERE,  HERE and HERE)

1.  Trace or print the jack-o-lantern face onto the paper-y side of a piece of freezer paper.  (If you cut your freezer paper to 8.5x11" you can run it right through most printers.  Just make sure you have the paper set up to print on the paper side, not the waxy side)

2.  Cut out the inside pieces of your pumpkin face, then iron the stencil waxy side down onto the front of your t-shirt.

3. Slip a piece of cardboard or several sheets of folded newspaper inside the shirt so the paint doesn't bleed through.

4.  Using a foam brush, paint over your stencil.  It works best if you brush from the paper onto the fabric so it doesn't bleed under the stencil and you do a couple light coats rather than a thick, gloppy one.

Everyone hard at work (disposable lab coats make great smocks!)

Painting carefully.

The kids chose from a few different designs.

"Pop Pop" helps my youngest with her shirt.

5.  Once the stencils are fully painted, set the shirts aside to dry.  Depending on the amount of paint used and the size of the design, it'll take anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple hours.

That's it!  Cute Halloween shirts for just a few dollars.

Sharing our spooky shirts at:
Gluesticks 
Smilemonsters 
Happy Hour Projects 
Sun Scholars 
Delicate Construction
Tatertots & Jello 
Be Different, Act Normal 
I heart Naptime 
Lolly Jane  
Running with Glitter 
Homemaker on a Dime 
Beneath the Rowan Tree 
C.R.A.F.T.
Making the World Cuter 
 Lines Across my Face
The Sunday Showcase 
Today's Creative Blog 
Momnivore's Dilemma Halloween Party 
Confessions of a SAHM 
Bear Rabbit Bear 
It's Playtime 
Ladybird Ln. 
Someday Crafts 
The Frugal Girls

Molded Crayon Bracelet

We love taking our broken crayons and making new molded crayons in fun shapes.  Last week, we took advantage of the sweltering summer heat and made these Hot Car Crayons ~ a successful little experiment.  Now that we had a rainbow of new heart-shaped crayons, I wanted to do a little something special with them.  (Otherwise, I knew they'd end up at the bottom of our crayon container once the novelty wore off)

So, I made some super cute Crayon Heart Bracelets!

They were really easy to do, and cost next to nothing!  Here's what I did:

1.  Gather your supplies ~ molded crayons, some round cord elastic, sharp metal stick (I used a metal skewer, although an ice pick or something similar would also work).

2.  Heat the tip of your skewer over a flame for a few seconds, then poke it into your crayon to melt a hole.  If your molded crayons are pretty thick, you can make your hole sideways through the crayon like a bead.  Mine weren't quite thick enough, so I poked two holes so it would be like a button.  

Obviously, you'll want to be careful here ~ that metal skewer is sharp and hot!  I set the crayon down on the plate, then pushed the skewer down to make the holes.  Then I lifted it up to push it the rest of the way through.  I also found it helpful to wipe the melted wax off the skewer in between crayons so the color wouldn't bleed onto the next crayon.

3.  Do the same for all your crayons.

4.  Thread your crayon beads onto the elastic cord.  

5.  Tie the ends to form a bracelet and you're ready to go!  We made rainbow bracelets because that's what my rainbow-infatuated girls wanted, but you could easily make any color combination or add beads to make a necklace too!

Now you can color away!

Not only are the little bracelets super cute, but they're also a great way to bring a few crayons with you in the car or out at a restaurant, without having to worry about them rolling away.

Easy Bandanna Top

If you want to know just how easy this cute little top was, let me just tell you that the entire thing was made by my 8 1/2 year-old daughter.  It was her first experience using a sewing machine and would be the perfect beginning sewing project for you or your older child.  For my rather petite daughter, it was a longer tank top, but could easily be a dress for a little one or a shorter top for a larger child or petite adult.  Oh, and the whole thing will cost you only a few dollars!

My proud little seamstress rocking her new summer top!

Here's how she did it:

1.  Gather your supplies.  You'll need two bandannas, two pieces of ribbon, pins, an iron and a sewing machine.

Our cool tie-dye bandannas were on clearance for just 97 cents each!

2.  On two corners of your bandanna, measure down 6" and press the triangles with your iron.  Repeat on the other bandanna.

Measure!

Press with your iron.

So it looks like this.

3.  Cut the triangle off on the ironed crease line.  Repeat with all four triangles.

Cutting off the triangle corner.

4.  On your cut edges, fold over 1/4" towards the wrong side of the fabric, then fold over 1/4" again.  Press down your double fold and pin in place.

I helped press the edges so she wouldn't burn her fingers.

But she was able to pin the fold in place.

5.  Now it's time to sew a little bit!  Sew your folded edge down.  She used the edge of the presser foot as a guide and removed the pins as she got to them.  Do the same with all four cut corners.

My old sewing machine is probably 5 times older than she is!

Her seams weren't perfect, and we had to stop a few times to get it back on track, but overall, she did great!

6.  Next, fold down the top of the bandanna (between the two cut corners) about 1" onto the wrong side of the fabric.  You don't have to worry about finishing the edge because it's already the finished edge of the bandanna.  Press down and pin in place.

Press to get a crisp edge.

Pin in place.

7.  Sew along the finished edge, removing the pins as you go.  Do not sew the sides shut, that's where you'll insert your ribbon.  Do the same with your second bandanna.

( No picture for this sewing step, we must have been too excited to finish to stop for the camera!)

8.  Put the two bandannas right sides together.  At this point, you can just sew up the two sides and be finished, but we found that it was just a little too loose and revealing for my almost preteen.  So, we took a shirt from her closet and placed it over the bandannas.  We lined up the necklines and then used it as a pattern to cut a little off the sides.

I marked the lines to cut with chalk.

And my seamstress made the cuts.

9.  Pin your sides together and sew.

NOTE: On our next shirt, we didn't make it quite this tapered and we liked it a little better.

10.  Press open those side seams and then turn your shirt right side out.

11. Using a safety pin to help, guide one piece of ribbon through the channel on the top of the back, and the other ribbon through the front.

12.  Tie the ribbons together at the shoulders and you're finished! 

So cute!

Pretty darn proud of her first sewing attempt!

This was such a fun little sewing project for the both of us and she's eager to sew some more now that she kind of has the hang of it!

Because I'm a proud mommy, I'll be sharing her cute shirt at:

Katie's Nesting Spot 
Fireflies and Jellybeans 
Gluesticks 
Thrifty 101 
Somewhat Simple
A Little Tipsy 
Sugar and Spice
Sassy Sites 
Sun Scholars 
Nap Time Crafters
Ladybird Ln
Tatertots and Jello 
Under the Table and Dreaming 
I heart Naptime 
The Girl Creative 

C.R.A.F.T.
Skip to My Lou 
 Today's Creative Blog
Sugar and Spice @ seven thirty three

Pretty Pink Purse (upcycled from an old shirt)

Our Pretty Pink Purse

I'm lucky to be the mom of two adorable girls (and a handsome boy, but he's not part of this project!)  My girls love pink, love flowers, and love toting around their prized possessions.  Unfortunately, my girly girls don't always remember to use their napkins or change into play clothes when crafting or mud-pie making.  By the end of each season, I usually have a pile of clothes with stubborn stains that just won't budge.  

For this project, I went to my stash of "trashed" clothes and pulled out an old pink shirt and a pair of pants and set out to transform them into a "treasure".  I kept the neckline of the shirt, but cut off the sleeves and the bottom half.  I found a cute cupcake fabric remnant to use as a lining and made a simple purse tote.  Then I sat down with a pair of scissors, a hot glue gun and a few DVR'ed shows and got to work turning that simple purse into something a little bit more special.  I cut a bunch of strips from the remaining part of the shirt and the pair of pants.  I braided several of the strips together and attached them to the neckline of the shirt to make some purse handles.  With the rest of the strips, I rolled them into a bunch of little rosettes.  After two episodes of GLEE! and a few hot glue burns, I had enough rosettes in various sizes to cover the front of our purse.  I simply hot glued them on and my old clothes to pretty pink purse transformation was complete!


Now for the step-by-step:


1.  Start with an old shirt and any other old clothes.  I had a long sleeved girls' crew neck shirt and a pair of capris.

2.  Cut off the sleeves and part of the bottom the shirt until it's the size and shape you'd like.  Put the sleeves and bottom aside for later.

I ended up making the bottom a little more rounded after this pic.

3.  Pin the right sides together and sew down the sides and across the bottom.

Pinned in place.

Edges sewn.  I also zigzag stitched around the edges for extra durability.

4.  Take your lining fabric and put the right sides together.  Put your stitched purse on top as a pattern and cut out the lining.  ( NOTE:  I have never lined something before and I didn't feel like looking up the proper way to do it so I just totally winged it.  It ended up working well enough for me, but if you know a better way, by all means, use it!)

5.  Cut out a small semi-circle on the fold for the opening.  You'll cut it to size later.

6.  With the right sides still together, pin and then stitch along the sides and bottom of your lining.

7.  Now you have your purse and lining ready.

8. With your purse fabric right side out and your lining wrong side out, slip your lining into your purse.

9.  Now trim the opening of the lining fabric so it's about 1/2" larger than the opening of the purse.

10.  Flip the whole thing inside out.  Now the lining is on the outside and the wrong sides of the purse and lining are together.

11.  Fold the edge of the  lining fabric down about 1/4-1/2" and pin it around the neckline of the shirt.  The edge of your lining should be just a bit lower than the edge of the neckline.

12.  Stitch the lining in place close to the edge all around the neckline.

13.  WooHoo!  The purse is just about done.  Now it's time to add the extras!

14.  Cut the bottom part of the shirt that you put aside before into several strips.

15.  Braid them together to cover the shirt's neckline and form your handle.

16.  Decide how long you need your handles to be and hot glue your braid over the neckline.

Looks cute now.  You can stop here if you want.

17.  If you want to add a little more fun to your purse.  Cut a bunch of strips.  ( I used the slightly darker pink from those old knit capris. )

18.  Roll the strips to form fabric rosettes in a variety of sizes.  There are a lot of rosette making tutorials out there.  I basically just started rolling at one end, twisted the strip around now and then, and put a dab of hot glue to hold it in place after every few times around.

  

19.  Place your rosettes to cover the front of your purse and hot glue them in place.  

That's it!  You're done.  I love the way mine turned out and totally want to make a few more.  ( Mommy even has a few stained shirts that could work for a "big girl" sized purse!)

One happy owner of a cute "new" purse!

Sharing this Pinkalicious Project at: 

 

 

Skip to My Lou

C.R.A.F.T. 

Sew Darn Crafty @ Sew Many Ways 

Under The Table and Dreaming 

Keeping It Simple 

I Heart Naptime

Just Something I Whipped Up @ The Girl Creative

Craftastic Monday @ Sew Can Do 

 Polly Want A Crafter

Craft-O-Maniac 

Today's Creative 

Sugar and  Dots 

Someday Crafts 

Night Owl Crafting 

 Sugar and Spice @ seven thirty three

Tatertots and Jello 

Be Different, Act Normal 

Thirty Handmade Days