Water You Wearing????

The boys in my house had a baseball night. They all left. And what do the girls do when there are no males around? We craft. We get out all the glitter and glitz and fabric and glue and we make stuff.
We decided to make bracelets. I've seen more than a couple tutorials online for different ways to do them. Here's our take. Keep in mind my girls are 4 and 10...so you can gage them for own little ones.

 

 We started with drinking waters earlier in the day- in preparation for the evenings' activities. The girls took the labels off so that the bottles started like this:

 

Then I cut the top and the bottom off

(I kept these- for some future products, just in case you hate wasting 'opportunity', too.)

Then we cut the bottle open. This allows you to {sorta} lay it out flat so that you can cut it into the thickness you want your bracelets.

This picture looks weird...I was holding the camera AND trying to show you my cutting, too. Just know, you can determine the size you want to cut here. Put it around your wrist and measure it out.

 

 Also, you can determine if you want to cut it to size length-wise, too. I cut mine down to size...but you could wait til later, too.

We used duct tape to cover the bottle- it gives more texture: something for everything else to hang-on to. After I laid the smaller (the girls') bracelets down I was able to fold the tape over length-wise, so it was fully covered (the hot-dog way, my daughter would say). The larger bracelet I folded the tape over the top (the hamburger way...I have no idea).

After the bracelets were covered in duct tape, we decided what we would cover them in and what we would "make them pretty" with. Here were our basic tools:

We glued the ric-rac to the bracelet- be careful not to touch the bracelet, it will melt.

 

 Then we added a rolled-fabric flower and a cute button!

My bracelet was twice as thick as the girls'.

I used orange satin ribbon and the glue gun to attach it to the bracelet. I wanted to do something a little 'Anthropology-esque'.

I wrapped mine in a rubber band while I helped the girls finish theirs.

I won't lie. We got these really great enamel necklaces in this last week.  I took it apart. I wanted to use it as a bracelet. I still need to clip the loops off of the flowers, but overall I love the look.

 We had a really fun time. I think if I was to change anything- I would probably double-up on the plastic bottles for my bracelet. It was terrific recycling and re-using items to make something my girls wore all day today.

Stop into the shop to see what's new or pop over to MMMblog to see what's being featured today!

 

Kiddo Craft...Sort of. ;)

I invited a few friends over with the FULL intention of letting the kids do this craft. I was going to visit and oversee the glue-gun usage...that was all. UNTIL my friend starting pulling out all these MMM goodies I have stashed in my office. Add to that the really INCREDIBLE buttons we just got into the shop...we couldn't resist.

We started with the SUPER cute felt MMM just started selling. We each picked a piece and measured on the "wrong" side of the felt- or the side you don't want showing at the very end. We measured 5 1/2 inches by 7 inches - marked the felt with a ball point pin .

I marked mine in a couple places so that I could "connect-the-dots" I used a piece of paper to trace straight measurement lines onto my felt. I cut it out with REGULAR scissors first.

Then I used pinking shears to cut around the outside. You could omit this part, or only do the inside (the opening) part or just the outside edges...whatever!

We folded the felt so that the two shorter sides met up in the center. I put a {little} dab of glue on each of the inside corners of the felt so that it would hold while I sewed. I hate when multiple parts move around when you are trying to complete something.

We all just did a basic stitch. We used some BAKER'S TWINE I had lying around- it was my friend's idea. She's pretty clever.

She mentioned to make sure you start on the inside of the edge when you start so that you don't have the knot on the outside....and to end the same way.

After we sew the ends, we began embellishing! We let the kids tell us what ideas they had for their holders.

Did you spy buttons, ric rac (both BIG and SMALL), baker's twine, buttons...colored, shapes and hearts, lace tape, AND ribbon?  WHEW! It was a FUN, FAST craft and I think we may make some more- after we buy a new glue gun.  Did you know that a glue gun struggles to work properly after a four year-old pulls a half-melted stick out the wrong end? Yeah. I didn't either.

Check out the TULLE feature over at MMMblog!

Morena's Corner: Easy-Peasy and SUPER CUTE Headband Tutorial

Are you ready for an incredibly easy headband tutorial?  This project is so quick that it will probably take me longer to blog about it than it took to make!


You will need ribbon, fold over elastic (FOE), and thread & needle (or sewing machine if yours isn't still waiting to be unpacked like mine is!)

Cut ribbon and FOE.  I measured from the back of one ear, over my head to the back of the other ear for the ribbon. 

  Sew the wrong sides together and then turn inside out.

 Cut three lengths of ribbon as shown to make the bow.

 Make your large loop first.  Fold the ends of the ribbon into the middle and overlap slightly.
Repeat with the other ribbon strip.

 Use the shortest ribbon strip to cover the middle of the bow.  Sew into place.  Finally, sew the bow onto the headband.

And you're done!  Wasn't that easy?

 A heck of a lot easier than getting a two year old to hold still for a picture!

 I have been making them in tons of colors with this gorgeous twill ribbon I bought from Mindy Mae's Market!

Thanks for stopping by my corner!  Come visit again!  By the way, do you love my magnetic chalkboard frame as much as I do?  Be sure to like my Facebook fan page to be the first to find out how to get one!

Springy Straw Wreath

I loved the wreath Jen did over on TT&J...

so I decided to give it a Spring-y Twist!

I started with assorted paper straws....{I used about 76 straws}

 a foam wreath form from the dollar store, a glue gun...

 and I had some old satin-binding from a long-ago quilt project.

 I first cut the binding into two pieces, so that it would go further...just in case.

And  then I started wrapping.

{Don't mind the finger dents- my two year-old was "helping"}

I made sure that the finished edges were the ones showing....so wrap your first loop and then make sure the next loop covers the edge that would fray.

I reached the end of the form, cut the excess, folded the end of the ribbon and glued it down.

I started witht the straws...a little nervous about placement... Something I will say, I wish I would have over-placed the straws a little more- further into the middle of the wreath. Instead of placing them at what looked like the end of the form.

 I first started with a pattern of straw colors and then at the end I had to switch it up a bit because a whole pattern wouldn't fit. See if you can tell where that was....

I liked the look of differing size straws so I cut them in an every-other-one pattern. I just eye-balled it. I rather like the randomness of it that way.

 I finished it off {for now} with a bit of green binding I also had left over...tied it in a bow and secured it with a safety-pin {so that I can change it out next time I feel the need}.

Last, I formed a loop with some left-over {again} yellow binding, folded and glued over, glued to the form and then secured with safety-pins. {I have issues with trusting the staying power of hot glue.}

 Here's the finish product...I LOVE the colors and the airy-ness of it!

 You'll see where this ended up in a future post!