Craftnado has Hit

My wonderful, dear, precious children are at my AMAZING parents house.  

It is incredible what you can accomplish with three uninterrupted days of work!  

It is also incredible the mess I can make!  

The kiddos come home in a few hours, so it's probably time to clean up, or Kai is sure to find the can of stain and apply it to my walls.

Farewell ModPodge, it's been swell. 

I have lots of new posts this week of my little projects...coming soon!

Make Your Own Laundry Detergent

Here I am climbing up on my soap box. 

This has been one of the best things I have done for our budget.  Thanks Nicole!

The easiest laundry detergent recipe ever.  You NEED to do this.  

Here is the recipe, are you ready???

1 cup Super Washing Soda

1 cup Borax

1 bar Fels Naptha Soap

that's it!

 It's quite complicated to put together too. 

First you grate the Fels Naptha.  I unwrap it and leave it on my window sill for a couple of days, or weeks... it gets nice and hard so it grates easy.

 Put the 1 cup of Super Washing Soda, 1 cup of Borax, and 1 grated bar of Fels Naptha in a bowl, and mix well to get all the lumps out.

I use 1 Tablespoon per load in my front loader, which is probably too much.  But we have dirty laundry.  Like, chicken poo dirty.  

Sorry, too much information.  

Store in an airtight container.  Like a Mason jar or a big yogurt container.  Mix occasionally before you take a scoop. 

The End.  

Fun with Bleach Pens

The idea of using a bleach pen to draw on shirts has been all over the internet for awhile, but I will try and find a few specific examples and post links soon.  

Leif and I thought we'd give it a try today, and it was super fun.

I think it's kind of addicting, if I had collected a pile of shirts before we started, there could have been trouble.  

We started with a plain black undershirt of Leif's.  He wanted a penguin.  We are into the penguin stage full force these days!  So we looked up some clipart on Microsofts page... and Leif picked out a Mom approved image.  We had to compromise a bit on the detail, Leif overestimates my abilities with a bleach pen!

I think this would be a really fun birthday party activity.  Quick and easy! 

You will need:

 -a shirt

 -a bleach pen (sold at most grocery stores)

 -cardboard/parchment paper/tinfoil (something to put in between the layers of your shirt to prevent the bleach from going through to the back side)

-chalk

Start by putting your cardboard or tinfoil or parchment paper in between the layer of the shirt.

Then use your chalk to draw an image on the shirt.

Leif choose a penguin that we found on microsofts clipart site.

Redraw the image with the bleach pen.

 Wait 10-30 minutes.  You will be able to see the color fading under the gel.  When it gets to the shade you want, just take it to the sink and rinse well.

I had to try one too... my free hand doodle shirt.

 here you can see the color fading out

These are after we washed and dried, and obviously did not iron them :)

 Leif's is very orange... if I do it again, I'll try waiting a bit longer.  But he loves it, so we will call it a success!

Owls

I'm dreaming of these stairs

http://allendesigns.typepad.com/blog/2011/11/the-much-anticipated-stairs.html

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More work from the last couple days 

-and-

New fabric means lots of fun inspiration!

 These owls were lots of fun.  One of my favorite things about them is trying out different buttons for the eyes.  Sometimes the right one makes them come to life.

A few finished fellows, waiting for frames...

Whooo's your favorite? 

(sorry I couldn't help myself- heehee!)

Birds of a Feather

I started working on some new pieces, hopefully to sell!  I forgot how much I enjoy making these fellows.  I have fun throughout the entire process, from picking the fabrics, to stitching the outlines, and then framing them.  My next job is to find more frames from the thrift stores and paint them coordinating colors.  

The frames here are just to get the idea...

 Sorry about him, I can't figure out how to flip an image for the life of me.  Not so computer literate here.  

Day One Complete! Now it's time to play with my boys :)

Rock Love

This might just be my new favorite way to use srcaps of Grandma's vintage fabric.   

I think they are so sweet!  

ModPodge Rocks has the tutorial here.

I think I need to make a whole pile more....

Felt Flower Goodness

Felt flowers are so fun to make, and easy!  

I think I am going to use them as the bows on Christmas presents this year.  

I found this tutorial that had a little different twist than I had done before and I like it!  

Go here for the tutorial.

 Fold a strip of felt in half, and along one side.

 Cut the strip either in straight lines or on the diagonal all the way down.  

  Start twisting the strip together.

Pin it closed.

The left one is cut on the diagonal. The right is a straight cut.

 Cut a circle of felt for the backside and make two slits for the pin to go through.

 Add hot glue.

 Stick it on the back.  Let dry then close the pin.

Now, repeat!  

Pinecone Love

I learned the coolest trick at our church's Apples of Gold program.  Did you know you can take pine cones that are covered in sticky sap and bake them?!?!  I know life changing, right?!
Well, almost.  

You bake them at 250 degrees on a baking sheet covered in foil- very important or that sap will get on your baking sheet.  A half hour later or so, they are shiny and done.  The sap crystallizes and turns hard and looks like the tips of the pine cones have little glass drops on them.  So cool.
Hey it's the little things, right?

In all their sappy goodness:

 

After they have been baked...

So pretty!  Just waiting for the perfect craft to come along...

By the way- when you bake them your house will smell very piney.  You've been warned.