Handmade Costume Series: DIY Baby Hedgehog Costume Tutorial Hey y'all! I am Alida from I Make Stuff. I have four rambunctious kids and a hubby in medical school (4th year! Praise Jesus it's almost over!). To say my life is crazy is putting it mildly, so making stuff is my therapy. Baby hedgehogs. This costume may look complicated but it's really not! You will need: Cream, tan, and brown fleece (amount will depend on what size you make, I would get at least 1/2 yard each) Scissors Hoodie Sewing machine and thread The first step to hedgehogdom is making super cute ears. Once you've added ears you need to cut lots of strips of fleece. The length of your strips will depend on the size of your hoodie. Ok, I know this looks tedious, and well it is, but it is sooo worth it. Stack on strip of each fabric on top of in this order: brown, tan, cream. You want fringes going all the way across the back from one side seam of the hoodie to the other. When you're done sewing down one set of fringes push them over to the side and sew down another.
DIY Cloth Child's Activity Books A cloth activity book makes a wonderful gift for a child. These books are made from cloth and contain small activities that even the youngest child will enjoy. The books are soft, easy to carry and use. The size of the book you make is up to you. Anything from 21" x 14" to 17" x 9 ½" works great. This is the measurement of the book laying open flat. Think about making the cover of the book from a different fabric than you select for the inside pages. Before embellishing the pages with activities, lightly mark the center of each "page". The pages and activities you do can be simple or complicated. This is a great project for using up smaller pieces of fabric. The designs and ideas for each page are endless. A lamb made from a high pile fabric. These books are wonderful for lots of different occasions. Have Fun!
Dolce and Gabbana inspired thrift store blazer I love the Fall 2012 Dolce & Gabbana collection. I decided to use it as inspiration for a thrift store blazer just to see if I could come up with something that every day fashionistas could afford. Here's what we came up with. Hope you like it! Dolce and Gabbana Collection Fall 2012 From runway to real way! This is what I made! Here's the how to video You'll need: Hot glue and glue sticks Gold lace and gold beaded trims Straight pins Thrift store blazer Pick your trims and figure out where you want them. Using straight pins, place your trim in place and see how it looks. Don't forget to add some trim around the lapel! Using small dabs of hot glue (ON THE TRIM) stick the trim to the blazer. Cut small holes in the lace to allow for the buttons on the sleeve and then glue the trim to the end of the sleeves! Olivia trying on the final project! Now get out there and rock that runway! Enter to win everything you need to make this project!
Tutorial & Pattern: Felt Activity Book Egg Come have a look at what is inside this little book... I've been wanting to make some sort of little creative felt book for a while now, and then last week, in the middle of a completely unrelated meeting at my day job with some boring white guys in suits, I just started having all these ideas for new tutorials I could create around Easter and spring related themes. Not sure where the inspiration was in that scenario, but I came out of that meeting with a whole list of ideas scribbled in the margins of my notebook. I had something sort of traditional in mind at first for this little egg design book, but then just found I loved making the kooky monster and character faces more than anything else...so the shapes I started cutting out from felt became more and more conducive to facial features rather than stripey and dotted eggs. Whatever the case, I love the portability of this book and its open-ended creative potential using just basic felt shapes in a variety of colors.
5 Ways to Turn Old Hoodies into Hip New Threads You know we love us some repurposing around these parts. We’ve turned floppy disks into planters, colored pencils into jewelry, and even turned a white t-shirt into 10 totally different garments. Now, we’re tackling the hoodie. You’ve probably got a few worn out hoodies from concerts, college visits, and the like that you don’t ever wear but can’t bear to part with. We started with a pile of old hoodies found in our closets and at Goodwill. For our pieces of flair, we grabbed a patchwork pillowcase, red fabric, a piece of crocheted fabric, and a scarf. 1. For this one, we found an old patchwork pillowcase. Cut the shape out of your quilt that works best. More chic than shabby, don’t you think? 2. This is best for a sweatshirt without a big graphic. Turn your sweatshirt upside down. So adorable! 3. The flair for this? First thing to do for this one is to cut a hole out of the back of your hoodie. We love how it gives a boxy zip-up hoodie a more feminine edge. 4. 5. Next, a beanie!
2 Ways to Turn a Men’s Shirt into a Chic Shirt Dress Nothing like borrowing your man’s shirt, throwing a belt on and rocking it with a pair of leggings, right? Well, sort of right. While we love being scrappy, we wanted to take the DIY shirt dress even further with help from our sewing machine and a few key cuts. Materials: - 2 oversized men’s button down shirts - sharp scissors - sewing machine - optional: belts for accessorizing! For our first look, we wanted to create a sweet little tank dress, perfect for Indian summer. At the top, fold over each side and stitch. Finish the edges of the arm holes with a contrasting thread for some fun detailing. Use scraps from the shirt sleeves to create two drawstrings. So cute! Our next look is definitely a little more city girl. Cut triangles out at the shoulder. To create a more feminine shape, create darts at the back. Belt with a little bling and you’re ready for a night out.
How to Make 3 Super Simple Wrap Bracelets Wrap bracelets are all the rage right now, and friendship bracelets (or friendship cords!) are always a summer staple. While we love the intricate detailing of the gorgeously beaded wrap bracelets we've been seeing in boutiques both online and offline, we knew there had to be a quick and easy hack for getting the same look at home. Thanks to silver ball chain found at any hardware store or craft store, becoming a wrap star is as easy as pie! Materials: - silver ball chain - silver ball clasps - embroidery floss - scissors - tape - optional: leather lacing, yarn For our first wrap bracelet, we used teal embroidery floss and light blue yarn. Take a length of chain that suits you. Lay the chain next to the yarn and tie the embroidery floss around the two. We wrapped each section 3 or 4 times. We used yarn to give the bracelet a funky texture, additional color, and because it helped the embroidery floss stay in one place. Next up, we used leather and got a little knotty.
Bullion Crest Tuxedo Flats | The change in weather means my toes are going into hibernation. That’s right no more pedicures for the next 6 months! It’s time to put away those embellished sandals and pull out those fancy flats. I’m a lover of crested flats. To purchase buillon patches online try here, here or here! Materials: Flats (available at Target), Metallic Bullion Crest, Fabric Glue, Clamps This project is soooooo easy. Bring on the change in weather.
Chain Bracelet (Part 2) I am loving thin, delicate jewelry. And as promised, I wanted to create a second chain bracelet tutorial (part one: here), with a delicate touch. These bracelets are great to add a mix of thin and thick bracelets to your arm party. Full tutorial after the break... Materials: - thin chain - bead cord/thin rope (here) - lobster claw - 2 small jump rings - 2 metal cord tips (here) - scissors - pliers Steps: 1.
Googly Eyes Halloween Wreath I’m in love with this fun Halloween wreath made with ping pong balls and googly eyes. Googly eyes are one of my all-time favorite crafting supplies, especially for Halloween. Our googly eyes halloween wreath makes everybody smile, especially our kids. Here is how to make one of your own: Supplies needed: 18 inch straw wreath form White ribbon or fabric to wrap wreath form Wire Practice Ping Pong Balls, Pack of 144 balls - two orders. I used around 250 ping pong balls and have some left over for future crafts. Googly Eyes – Two packages of 94 count Hot glue and hot glue gun Step One: Tightly wrap straw wreath in ribbon or fabric, hot glueing the ends down. Step Two: Hot glue ping pong balls onto wreath. Step Three: Hot glue googly eyes to ping pong balls. Check out my other Halloween projects so far: Candy Corn Oreo Stuffed White Chocolate Chip Cookies Faux Bois Pumpkins Thanks for reading! Melissa This post contains an Amazon affiliate link.
Two Tone Chunky Chain Necklace | I’m back in LA and back to the business of being crafty. I really enjoyed the time I spent in NYC last week. I left feeling very inspired. Everyone in that city is already extra fancy, but the added pressure of Fashion Week brought out all the fashion fabulosity. I couldn’t help but notice that chunky chain necklaces were a popular look on the streets of The City. Recently, celebs like Rihanna have been spotted rocking the chunky chain and even I got with the program and took my vintage chunky chain necklace for a ride. Materials: Two Chains, Lobster Claw Closure, Jump Ring, Plyers Use a pair of plyers to attach the two chains. There are two tricks to making this project a success: 1.) Use your plyers to attach the jump ring to the last link. Connect the closure to the opposite end of the necklace to secure. This project is all about options. Top and pants are from JCPenny (available here and here).
Painted Tights DIY I recently made the amazing discovery that you can use textile paint on tights. I was so enthusiastic that I immediately started thinking of all the fun things that I could paint on them. I decided to go with the classic heart shape, because who doesn't like hearts right?! Here's how: 1. draw a shape you like and cut the shape out of cardboard. 2. 3. 4. All done!