Camping Foam Pad and Case

My husband has been doing some training with the military and has been sleeping on a cot. Trying to sleep, anyway. It's been super uncomfortable so he asked that I buy him a foam pad for it. They were really thin and not very squishy, so I bought a queen-sized foam mattress pad instead. Doubled up it will be thicker and more comfortable.

Materials:
Queen Sized Foam Mattress Pad
Fabric (or a queen sized sheet would work better)
Velcro
Rope

Directions:
1. First cut your foam mattress pad in half. It should be almost perfect size for a cot (or to lay on the ground under a sleeping bag). My mattress pad measured 56" x 77" x 1.25". If yours is different the next few measurements will be different also.

2a. If you are using fabric instead of a sheet you need to cut your fabric. You should have two pieces that measure 33" x 80". I was using fabric I had, so I had to sew two pieces together to get the right length.

2b. If you are using a sheet, you don't need to cut anything, just fold your sheet in half.

3. Next you will need to sew around all the edges but one of the skinny sides. Make sure your outsides of the fabric are together. When you are done turn it inside out.

4. The final step of sewing is to hem the edge and add velcro. We're going to make that one step. Fold the edges, and pin the velcro on top of them. Sew the edges of the velcro.

5. Now for the fun part. Getting the case onto the doubled-up foam pad is a little bit of a nightmare. It's just like a pillowcase. Bunching it up and putting it on like panty hose helped.

Velcro it shut and your done! I used rope to tie it when it's rolled up, but you could sew on straps. Have fun camping more comfortably!

Strapless to Strapped Dress

We recently went on a trip (that's why I posted about my suitcase) and I needed some nice clothes. I was lucky to have friends that were able to take me out shopping to get a dress. They took me to Saver's and I found a bunch of stuff.

The dress that fit me the best was strapless, and went well with a jacket over it so that I could still wear my regular bra underneath. I found while I was wearing it out that it still didn't fit quite well enough and I was adjusting it the entire time, and constantly worried about if I was exposing myself. I knew that if I wanted to wear it again it should be completely comfortable and worry-free.

Materials:
Strapless Dress
Bra (I had this because my dog destroyed the straps on one a long time ago)
Ribbon(should be same width as bra straps, and match dress, optional if bra straps look ok)

Directions:
First alter the bra. Cut off the old straps and add the ribbon to replace it. Sew it on as it was before.

Next, try bra on with dress. Pin dress to the front of the bra, at the very top of the bra, so that it hides everything but the straps.

Sew the bra to the dress, try to sew where there is already a seam so it doesn't look out of place. If the top of the dress tends to roll over, sew where the straps meet the top edge of the dress. This can be done easily by hand, to make it less noticeable.

It sounds confusing, but it really is simple, once you try both on it should make more sense to you. Thanks for reading, I hope this helps make you more comfortable in your own clothes!

Travelling

I'm out traveling, so I decided to post a pre-blogging project, my decorated suitcase! I hate trying to guess which suitcase is mine at the airport so I personalized it to stand out. Go check it out at Arizona Mama.

No-Sew "Take Luck" Pennant

Like my Brian Regan reference? If you don't get the joke, listen to it here. If it's not a running joke in your area, there are a million different things you could put instead. The joy of crafting is the personalization!

I saw this cute printable banner for St. Patrick's Day but I don't have any ink in my printer and I'm trying to do with out as long as I can. That being said I also scored some St. Patrick's Day material from a big find at a yard sale recently. For these small holidays I don't usually keep my decorations so this is a quick easy project that could fall apart by next year.


Materials:
Green Fabric of Some Sort
White or Contrast Fabric
Glue
Yarn

Directions:
1. Fold your fabric so that there are 8 layers.

2. Cut a banner-like triangle.

3. Use white fabric and cut out your letters.

4. Glue your letters to your triangles. I used tacky glue. If you use it, make sure you have something beneath it may bleed through just enough to make things a little sticky!

5. Cut slits in the top corners of each triangle. These holes will be used to string them together.

6. String them together, I had a preschooler help me with this, we just used yarn and she had fun pulling the yarn.

That's it! Quick and easy is how I like my holiday crafts! But as I'm told, I only like to do holiday crafts for the holiday's that I enjoy. And those are pretty much just the fall holidays. The springtime ones get on my nerves after the 40th themed post showing up in my reader! Haha I vent about that in my Valentine's Day post!

Coke Can Bracelets

I'm over at Arizona Mama today showing off my newest obsession! I've made tons of these but this is the one that I wear! Go check it out and let me know what you think!

Car Seat Strap Covers

My little guy had red marks on his neck from the car seat so I had to hurry up and make some covers for the straps! I used scraps I had and some velcro so they really didn't cost much.

Materials:
Thick Fabric (mine reminded me of a Santa suit)
Cuter Fabric
Velcro

Our straps are 1 1/2 inches thick, so all of the measurements are for that size. Also, don't forget that you are doing everything listed here twice, because you need to make a set of two.

1. Cut your thicker scraps 5 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches. I just used one for each side but if you want to have more padding you can add another layer or two.

2. Cut your decorative fabric, 7 inches by 7 inches.

3. Center your thick fabric in the middle of your cute fabric. Fold the edges of the decorative fabric over twice and iron it in place. Sew the edges down.


4. Cut your velcro strips to 5 inches and sew them on.

You're finished! Now you can velcro them onto the car seat straps and have better car rides! Thanks for reading!

Souvenir Baseball Bat Display

I'm over at Arizona Mama today showing you how I made this souvenir baseball bat display. Thanks for checking it out!

Hair Scarfette

I needed some practice sewing stretchy fabrics, so I pulled out something I've been meaning to do for years.

I had a scrap of stretchy fabric that I use as a headband, but the edges needed to be finished and it could be cut so that it had a straight line.

I first trimmed the scrap. One side had tons of fabric the other had almost none, so I made it matching and even.

Then I folded over the edges and ironed them so that it would be easier to sew. I also pinned them.

On the sewing machine I changed the tension so that it was a bit looser, and the stitches were a bit longer than normal. As I sewed, I pulled the fabric tight.

That was pretty much it. Using a straight stitch and pulling the fabric tighter turned out to be my simple fix. Happy Sewing everyone!

Turkey Pumpkin Idea

Have any pumpkins that didn't get carved for Halloween? Head over to Arizona Mama to see the tutorial on these Turkey Pumpkins.

Boo-ing: Round Two

Did everyone check out the My Memories Giveaway yet? I don't have any entries on it yet, go leave a comment!



Do you know what "Boo-ing" is? Most people that I talk to don't know what it is until I explain it, and then usually they remember hearing about it. It is a fun door-bell ditching activity to do around Halloween. You take a treat or gift of some sort and a print out (a poem with instructions and a picture to tape to the door, meaning "We've already been boo-ed, go spread the Halloween cheer with another neighbor!") Last year I made my own Boo-ing printable, so I could start it around our community, we get to start it Saturday!

Check out last year's post and grab the printable.

This year, I outlined a few containers you could make to put treats in for you neighbors on Arizona Mama. Go check out 3 Easy Boo-ing Ideas!

Pressed Flower Cards and Embellishments

I wrote a guide to pressing flowers at Arizona Mama. Click Here first.

When you have pressed flowers cards and anything else are easy to make. One lady commented that a bookmark would be a good gift idea to make.

Materials Needed:
Pressed flowers
Cards (Or cardstock cut and folded)
Anything else you wish to embellish your cards with
Packing Tape (Or laminate sheets, it works better but I had none)
Envelopes if wanted

Lay your pressed flower on the card where you want it. Anything else that you may want on the card should be placed there already, it usually makes it easier as tape is difficult to put things over. You can also make adjustments to the flower, such as trimming it shorter, pulling off leaves or thorns.

Take a large piece of tape (larger than your card) and place it over the flower, make sure there is about 1/4 inch of tape around all parts of the flower, you want to make sure that the tape will seal well. If your flower is wider than your piece of tape, you can lay another piece of tape on it, but you will get a slightly noticeable line across the entire thing.

Next you will trim the edges of the tape that hang off the sides of the card. You can also fold them over and glue a pretty piece of paper to the other side, hiding the edges of the tape.

This works well for cards, and for small embellishments. I put some of my pressed flowers or smaller pieces of cardstock for putting on cards later, for using as gift tags and for scrabooking embellishments.

I went the cheap and easy route, but if you wanted to do this for scrapbooking you would need to find an acid free tape or laminate sheets.

Thanks for reading and be sure to check out my Arizona Mama posts!

Repurposed Onsie

My son wore this onsie twice. It wasn't because he grew out of it this time!

Check out what I did with it at Arizona Mama!

Incedibles Costume T-shirt

Every year at work we dress up for Halloween. There's a theme for everyone in the clinic. This year our theme is superheroes. I will only be working a couple hours that day so I wanted something easy and comfortable. My sister suggested Elastigirl.

This same T-shirt could be for any of the Incredibles, I might do one on a red onsie so that my baby can be Jack-Jack.



Materials Needed:
Red T-Shirt
Black Scraps
Orange Scraps
Yellow Scraps
White Scrap
Ribbon

T-Shirt Instructions:
I used an old T-shirt of my husband's and tried to put it together to fit me, but it would be much easier to use a shirt that already fits.

First I added the black neckline. I used another old T-shirt for this, but any type of black fabric would work. I cut the neckline out of the shirt and sewed it on, but if I was using a T-shirt that fit, I would have cut out black fabric and folded it over the existing neckline and sewn it on that way.

Next, I cut out the pieces for my logo. I googled the logo and copied it from there. You could print it out and cut it out if you needed a pattern. For the fabric I used scraps I had, but if you have more choices than I did, I would choose knit fabrics so that the edges don't fray (like mine did).

I cut the black out of the other t-shirt. I just cut a big oval. I used the black oval to figure out the outside line of the orange. I guessed the inside cuts of the orange and pinned them to the black. I cut a rectangle for the bottom of the i and then cut off the top with a slant. I used a can that was slightly wider than the bottom of the i to trace the next piece of yellow. I used another circle lying around my kitchen for the white in the i.

To sew the patch I started with the black piece with the orange pinned on. I used black thread (I didn't have any orange) and a small, dense zig-zag stitch. I sewed the edges of the inside of the orange. I then pinned on the i pieces and did the outside of the yellow. I then switched to white thread and sewed the middle of the i on.

Once the patch is finished, it's time to sew it on the shirt. On a smaller shirt you may have to take the shirt apart to sew it on, mine I didn't need to. I switched to red thread and did the same zig-zag stitch around the edges.

Mask Instructions:

If you want a model to work with, you can make a quick mold of your face using tin foil. I used a knit black scrap and just started cutting, comparing to my model. I folded it in half to try to make it a bit more symmetrical. I hot glued the ribbon to the middle of the edge on each side, and had plenty so I could tie a bow in the back.


I loved the way it turned out, but next time I will definitely use knit scraps for everything! I will probably just wear both of these with jeans, but it would be easy to use a pair of red sweatpants with black undies over the top if you were brave!

How to Cut Jeans for Scraps

This post should be named How to make Redneck Thongs, but there will be more on that later.

I finally cleaned out my craft closet, again. It was bad. I had a ton of jeans I wanted to keep for the material but it was pointless to keep the entire jeans that were taking up tons of space. While cutting them up I found the best order to cut them and which cuts would yield the most useful material. I also found a great way to make redneck thongs for your next redneck party!

Who irons jeans? Not me... Usually. I think of the movie Cheaper by the Dozen.

Kate: [referring to Hank] He's not a doorknob.
Jake: He irons his jeans, Mom.
Kate: Yeah that's weird.

There were a few pairs of jeans that were wrinkled and folded in weird places so the first thing to do is iron the jeans that need it.


The first cut to make is at the bottom. Cut one inch on each side of the seams. Cut each side of the inside and outside seams on both pant legs.


Then cut the bottom hem off, leaving the seams intact. It should look like this after wards.


Turn the jeans inside out. This is the line you'll take for the first cuts.


Some of the jeans were serged so you could cut both sides of the seam at once, and others were sewn down so it was easier to make two cuts around the seam. (With scissors instead of the rotary.)


When you get towards the top of the jeans cut until you get to the eyelet on the pocket.


Keep cutting the backside of the same seam until you hit the next seam.


Next, go back to the pocket side of the seam where you left off and cut underneath the pocket, to the zipper and down to the crotch. You will cut across the inseam.


Next continue your cut on the backside by going up towards the waist. Cut until you get to the next seam.


Cut along the seam below the waist until you get to your other cut. The pant leg should come off now.

This is what you should have.


Now do the same thing for the other pant leg. After that you will get your final Redneck Thong.


Back to saving your jeans...
Take the open pant leg, and cut out the last seam.


You now have a pile of seams, some redneck thongs and a nice pile of usable jean scraps.



Now I tossed the thongs, and almost tossed the seams, but I tried weaving them together, and I might have a post about what I'm making with them later. But I'm not done yet, so it will be a few months. I'll also have the project I've been saving the jeans for, but that hasn't been finished either. If you must know why, cutting these jeans was the project I was working on while I was in labor with my baby boy. I went to the hospital fully dilated but at least my jeans were cut and put away!

How I Made Bassinet Sheets

Quick Disclosure: I am not a professional seamstress, yet. I make it up as I go, and it is probably wrong, but it works and might help others, any advice on how I could do it differently next time is appreciated and can be left in the comments, thanks!

I am borrowing this cute bassinet from one of my neighbors. It's in my bedroom not the Baby's Room.


My neighbor didn't have sheets to go with it, I think she said it was hard to find ones that fit, but she might have said something completely different. I looked at target and only found pink ones and I still wasn't sure if they would fit.

Finally my super-smart husband looked at me with the "you are such an idiot" face and asked why I didn't sew my own. Duh!! I've been on a sewing everything kick lately, and didn't even think of it. Seriously!

The one it came with is a really easy layout.


First I laid it out on my fabric (I used a Christmas woodland creatures print that was a hand-me down with no other uses) and I traced around it, but about 5/8" outside of it to accommodate the seam, this makes piece A.


I then cut it out, and used it to trace out the next piece (B). I just guessed at the size of B, but I used the original to compare and it has to be straight. I pinned the two of these pieces in place against A.

For the next piece (C) I really confused myself. Use the first piece (A) to trace this one too, but remember that the part you can't see (its under the one you're using to trace) is the part that you are going to be using. I then pinned the two of these pieces in place against A, and pinned the edges that are touching of B and C together (not to A). You should still be able to lift the edge of B away from A enough to sew the edge, the same with where you have B and C pinned together.


The first stitch I did was a zig-zag stitch to hem the edges and to sew B and C together. Using a serger would work well here too. I went from under 1 down to the 2 only sewing together B and C. I did the same thing on the other side with 3 to 4.

I then did a straight stitch around the edge of A (including the pinned on B and C)keeping my 5/8" seam line. I then zig-zag stitched that same edge just to keep my fabric from fraying. (I don't believe in hand-washing laundry, it takes too much time, effort and energy!)

Lastly, I zig-zag stitched along the inside of the C pieces to keep them from fraying also, and that was it. Hope this helps!