Got Plastic Bags?

I'm pretty sure everyone has a place in their house designated for plastic bags.  And most likely it is over flowing.  If you're like me, your speed of throwing things away in your bathroom is not as fast as how many times you go to the grocery store or Target, but I can't bring myself to throw them away!  Well, now I don't have to.  I found possibly the most useful DIY I have ever seen from Etsy's "How Tuesday" series.  It teaches you how to make plarn (plastic yarn) and crochet yourself a tote perfect for carrying groceries!  Look at this bag!!!

I don't know how to crochet, but I really need to learn now.  This is so inspiring and would make me feel so good to make!  I really would like to know who thought of this idea, because they are now a genius in my eyes.  


Have you or anyone you know tried making one of these?  How'd it turn out?  I'd love to know!

Pictures from The Etsy Blog:  How-Tuesday: How to Make Plarn & Crochet an Eco-Friendly Tote Bag

Homemade Laundry Detergent by Crunch Betty

I got a lot of questions about this when I posted it on Facebook and in my blog, so I thought I'd share the recipe with you from CrunchBetty.com.  Its really simple, CHEAP (about 2-3 bucks for 96 loads!), and a lot safer than all those other detergents on the shelves at the grocery store.  Also, I cannot tell the difference between the cleaning.  It cleaned just as good, but mine didn't smell like anything.  Just fabric.

First, you need 5 items (EASY!): 

1 C Borax

1 C Washing Soda

2 C grated Ivory Soap (I found that 1 bar equaled 2 cups grated)

20 drops Essential Oil (optional)
Medium sized container

Pour 1 cup of Borax into your container...

Pour 1 cup of washing soda into your container...

Grate 1 bar of Ivory Soap...

Now mix all of these ingredients and try to get the clumps out.  The Ivory soap sticks a little, but once you mix it with the powder, it will get less clumpy.  Your mix should look like this:

At this point you can add the 20 drops of essential oil if you want.  I did not, because it was a little bit too girly of a smell for my husband.  The only thing you have to remember if you do add the oil, is to try and mix it in as much as possible.

When you go to do your laundry, pour in 1/8 a cup for a small load, 1/4 for medium, and 1/2 for large.

I bought a 3-pack of Ivory soap, so I went ahead and made the recipe two more times.  It was so easy, I figured why not?  Plus, it gave me so much more!  Like I said, only cost about 2-3 dollars the amount I made (about 96 small loads).  Its worth a shot!!!

Did anyone try the recipe?  How'd it work out for you?

Finished Project: Embroidered T-shirt

This week's project is one I started about a month ago.  Pretty sad I am just now finishing it.  I was inspired when my friend (Lulu's Pin-ups) posted about Sublime Stitching.  If you haven't been there before, you should definitely go now.  There is so many awesome patterns and inspiration.  I used to think that embroidery was all about flowers and kittens, which aren't bad at all.  Let me try again.  I used to think embroidery was all about lighthouses and hummingbirds until I saw this site. 

So, I decided to combine two of my current likes.  Tattoos and sewing.  I came up with embroidering a traditional style "Death Before Dishonor" tattoo on a 3-month old t-shirt, since I'll have one of those pretty soon.     

Here's all the materials you'll need:  T-shirt (or other material), scissors, pen, embroidery needle, floss, and an embroidery hoop.  Some items that aren't shown are pins, tracing paper and carbon paper.  I promise I am going to get good at this whole planning thing one day.  I am really sucking at leaving stuff out and not taking enough pictures! 

First, find a design you like and trace it with the tracing paper.  Next, situate the tracing paper on the t-shirt where you want the design to go and pin it in place.  Slide a piece of carbon paper, color side down, under your design.  Trace over your design fairly hard on the tracing paper.  When you're finished, unpin the tracing paper and you should have a faint outline of your design on the material.  You may want to check ever so often to make sure you are tracing hard enough.  I had to do this a couple of times to make sure the carbon paper was working.  I'm sure there are easier ways of doing this.  Meaning, better materials.  Recently I found out they make iron transfer pencils!  I really could have used those with this project!

Now you're ready to put your material in the hoop and start sewing. 

Just a note.  I used a 100% cotton shirt.  I would not suggest it, unless you take your 6 strand floss down to two.  With 6 strands it was really hard to get the needle and floss through the cotton without stretching too much.  I'm sure there's an easier way to embroider on cotton, but I'm just learning!  If you have any suggestions for me, please leave them!  I need help!



I used a back stitch on this project.

Close up of stitching. 

Keep on stitching and following your lines and it should take the shape of your design!  I'm pretty happy about this.  There are definitely some imperfections, but at least my daughter will have an awesome t-shirt!

I'm thinking about just using fabric markers to "paint" it.  The cotton was really hard to work with, but the t-shirt looks so plain!  Maybe just Sharpies? 

This is the inside of the shirt.  Haha, you can tell I had a little problem at some parts with the tieing off.  Looks like I won't be selling anything embroidered for awhile.  I need to find some of those iron on sheets to cut out and put on top of your stitching so they don't snag.  Anyone know the name of these?

Finished Project: Redone Coffee Table

Had a scare this weekend where I thought my entire blog got deleted!  I guess Blogger was down or something.  I did lose one post and two pages I made, but I redid them and changed the layout a little bit.  That was so frustrating!  I really hope it doens't happen again!

My husband and I have had this black coffee table ever since we started renting a house together over two years ago.  I had the idea of decorating it, but put it off...  UNTIL NOW!  I went over to a friend's house and saw her decorated table with magazine clippings and Modge Podge and got inspired.   I HAD to finish it this weekend.  And I did.  I am so happy that I did it and got it over with before we move and have a new baby.  That was one reason I always put it off.

I did not take a picture of the table before I got started.  I was too excited and just wanted to start putting on pictures.  But it is just a normal plain black table that dips down about 2 inches.  I started the project by cutting out pictures from a photography book called "Skins" by Gavin Watson.  I glued them to the table with a regular glue stick. 



These pictures are kind of hard to see.  But there is nothing on top of the pictures.  You can tell because they are matte.  Here's some close-ups of the table:







My husband was nice enough to go to Micheal's and get this pour on clear coat stuff for me.  You mix the two bottles of liquid together, pour it on, spread it out leveled, and let it dry.  It has been 12 hours now, but its still a little sticky.  It is definitely working, though!  It cost around $24 for a kit that will cover 4 square feet. 



When you're all done you'll have a layer of clear coat that is waterproof!  My coffee table is going to look so much cleaner, too!  All that dog hair will be invisible!  I'm a little happy about that.  Every week I had to vacuum the table.  My husband walked in on me and had this weird look on his face the first time he saw me doing it.  Haha.  Here's the finished product!



The only bad thing about mine is I think we needed one more layer.  I'm pretty sure we're going to do it one more time.  Some of the pictures came up a little.  Probably because I used a regular glue stick instead of better glue.  So use better glue than I did!  You can see some of the edges that the pour on stuff went underneath. 



One more coat will do the trick, though!  It looks really nice when its done.  Again, kind of hard to see in my pictures.  Oh well.  Hopefully it will give you some ideas of your own!

Mother's Day Project Tutorial

I had a request from a friend to show the process of this project, so hopefully it turned out okay.  I'm VERY new to this so I don't think I took enough pictures.  Some moments I was so into doing it, I completely forgot to take pictures of the different steps.  This was a fairly simple craft since I am a beginner, so I don't think anyone will get too lost. If you do get lost, don't feel bad. I had a couple of slip ups along the way and definitely learned some things for next time.



I made my mother a picture of my daughter's hand print using fabric.  You don't have to do a hand, you could do any kind of shape and it would work out the same.  After you know what you want to do, you can go ahead and get started.



Here are all the materials you'll need:  Embroidery floss, tracing paper, a pen, 2 different colored fabrics, ruler, needle, scissors, embroidery hoop (optional), pins and a frame.  The last two items are not in the picture!



I just wanted to take the time during this to point out that I got this giant bag of 150 flosses for 17 bucks at Joann's.  Awesome if you're just starting out with embroidery. 

Here is where I left out a couple of pictures I should have taken.  Haha, sorry! 

Keep in mind the size of your frame so you will not make your shape too big.  I used a 5 x 7, because my daughter's hand is small. 
Trace or draw your shape on the piece of paper and cut it out.  Place the shape on the fabric color you want, trace again and cut.  You can also skip the tracing part and draw right onto the fabric if you are confident you won't mess up!
On your background fabric, I recommend measuring out the dimensions of your frame, so you will not go outside of it, and also, so everything will be in the place that you want it.  If you are using dark fabric you can use a white colored pencil or chalk and for light, a pencil, pen, or sharpie is fine.
(MISTAKE I MADE:  I measured my background fabric to fit the frame and immediately cut it out.  Do not do this...  well, if you're not using a hoop it wouldn't matter I don't think!  It was so hard to keep the fabric tight in the hoop when I was sewing the hand in place!) 
Now you are ready to place your shape in the spot you want.  After you are satisfied with the placement, pin your shape.  Next place the background fabric into your hoop (if you are using one) and make it nice and tight.  Just not too tight.  Now start sewing!



Try to make your stitches as even as possible.  I did an okay job.  Not too bad for one of the first times I've sewn.  Check the back of your fabric every now and then to make sure your thread is going all the way through. 
(MISTAKE I MADE:  I did not check my thread every now and then.  All of a sudden I was sewing and wondered to myself, "why am I already getting close to the end of this thread?  I just reloaded!"  Well, at the beginning stitches a huge section of thread got tangled, and i had to pull each stitch tight until I got to where I left off.  It was incredibly tedious!



Now that you've got your shape sewn on, you can start adding some embroidery! 
Note:  My background in already cut into the frame shape.  I really wish I had not done this when the embroidery comes into play.  It would have been so much easier with the hoop!  If you're not using a hoop, don't worry about it!



For my project I went online and found a cool font to add some personalization to the present.  Yes, I am crazy.  For some reason I still thought it was 2009.  Its really sad how fast time goes by!  If you want to add anything to yours, just draw whatever you want on the tracing paper, keeping in mind the dimensions of your frame.  Cut around the words or design, leaving enough paper to pin it on the fabric.
 


Now you pin!



Next, start stitching through the fabric and tracing paper following the design pattern.  It might be a little tricky, but it will be worth not having all the lines made by a pencil or something on your fabric.  It would probably be hard to clean after you embroider stuff.  On mine, I used a simple back stitch.  Don't know how to do it?  Watch below:



Once you are done with the first embroidery, if you have anymore, repeat the process. Then you will need to tear the tracing paper away from your design. Be careful not to pull your stitches! If you need extra help for the pieces under the thread, you can use a pair of tweezers or push it out with your needle.

When you're all done, if you used the hoop, you may want to iron a little to get out the creases.  After that, cut the fabric to fit your frame and you're done!  I haven't made my mom a handmade gift in a long time.  We went out to eat on Wednesday for Mother's Day, so I have already seen her reaction.  I'm pretty sure she loved it!!!