Super C

My son is your typical little boy. He is going on 5, loves robots, candy, and can get dirty from head to toe in 2.3 seconds! He has always been the hardest for me to make things for. My girls are easy there is always something I want to make those two. But my son always seems to get left out. Which has made this years Christmas even harder. I wanted all of my kids to have a few hand made gifts, other then the typical pj's, pillowcase, and blanket. While searching for ideas I ran across this Cape tutorial on The Long Thread. It was perfect! I knew that my son would LOVE a superhero cape for Christmas. I only hope he likes it as much as I do! Anyway I loved this tutorial so much I had to share it with you guys! Happy crafting!

Fabric Treat Boxes

I am sure i am not the only one with a list of people I still need gifts for. Do you need a gift for someone still? These little fabric boxes are perfect! You can make a set for someone or make one and fill it with some home made treats! They can be used all year round. I have mine out for all of our Christmas cards! These boxes are so easy to make you can easily make other sizes too.

Supplies:

Two pieces of fabric (I like the basic quilting fabrics)

Interfacing

Ribbon

Something to seal your ribbon ends (Heat tool, candle, or Fray Stop)

Thread

Sewing machine

I cut my fabric to 16x16 squares

I attached fusible interfacing. This will help stabilize the boxes shape when it's complete.

Cut 8 pieces of ribbon, 8 inches each

The ends of your ribbon will fray. So it is important to seal the ends of the ribbon so it stays neat. I use a wood burning tool. Just slide the edge of the ribbon to the heat tool and it melts the ribbon together, making it a neat sealed edge for you.

Next we need to pin the ribbons in place. I pinned each 4 inches from each corner on one of the fabrics, facing right side up.

Place your other fabric on top, right side down and pin the fabrics together.

Sew the fabrics together, being sure to leave one space open so you can flip it right side out.

Snip the corners. This makes the fabric lay better once it has been flipped.

Flip the fabrics right side out.

Press the edges.

Sew around the edge to finish the edges and close the hole we left open. I used a zig zag just because I like how it looks. You can use any stitch you'd like.

Fold the the fabric in half at the corners, making the two piece of ribbon meet, and tie a bow.

Once you have tied all four corners you should have an adorable fabric treat box!

I hope this helps you knock a few gifts of of your list!

Happy Holidays

Stylish Snowflakes Black Christmas Card

Make a statement with Shutterfly Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Altered Canvas

Altered canvas can be used for so many different occasions and themes. These make wonderful personalized gifts and great decor!

This one is a bit different then my usual step by step instructions. Since canvas comes in many sizes you may need to adjust to your projects needs

Altered Canvas

Supplies:
1 canvas - mine is 12x12
acrylic paint
Mod Podge
Sponge prush
printed scrapbook paper - mine is cut to 6x12
Ribbon
Stapler
Embellishments - I used chipboard stickers and rub-ons

First you need to paint the canvas. Any part that will be showing needs to be painted. Since the bottom half will be covered by the paper, I only painted the edges. make sure you paint the outer edges as well. I wanted more of an abstract multi colored look. So I did blue, purple, and pink.

Lightly coat the canvas with Mod Podge where your paper will be going. If you use too much Mod Podge the paper will get air bubbles. So remember a THIN layer.

 Carefully place your paper onto the canvas. Gently rub it smooth, pushing any air bubbles to the edges. Flip the canvas over and rub again to be sure the paper is evenly attached. If you want you can wait for a bit for the mod podge to dry before moving on.

 Coat the paper and canvas in a thin layer of Mod podge to seal the paper. And to give it a protective coating.

Next you are going to mount your photo(s) to the canvas. If the mod podge you used to coat the paper and canvas are still wet, use that to mount the photos. Otherwise make another thin layer of the mod podge then place the photos onto the canvas. be sure to smooth out the air bubbles.

Wait a little bit for this to dry before moving on.

Make thin coat of mod podge across the top of your photos.

Allow to dry.

 Embellish and decorate as you wish. I used black chipboard letters that I roughly painted pink, Chip board stickers on the photos, and I used rub-ons on either side of the word "love" and across the top and bottom.

 Seal it all with another layer of Mod Podge and let dry. After it is dry you can spray with an acrylic coat if you want another protective layer. I didn't do that on mine. 

If you want to hang it on ribbon, you will need to attach the ribbon to the back of the canvas. I used a stapler. I attached mine in the center, but You could also attach it on the corners. 

 I finished it off by hot gluing a bow to the center on the front.

I am planning on making a few of these for gifts this year. They are so easy to make. And I have seen quite a few deals lately on the canvas. So they don't cost very much either

Monster Eye Hair Clip

With Halloween coming my daughter is a tad excited. She asked me to make her some Halloween hair clips. So I made a monster eye clip. But after making I realized with a couple changes I could make it look like a pumpkin too. But I don't have the right color ribbon to make those yet. 

Supplies:
Hot glue gun
2-3 different color ribbon (5/8 or 5/16) 
Alligator clip(s)
2 Small buttons (smaller then 1")
Ruler
Scissors

Ribbon lengths:
Clip cover -1- 3"
Whites of the eyes -2- 5 1/4"
Outer eye -2- 5"

I suggest cutting all your ribbon lengths and heat sealing the ends first. This makes sure your ribbon wont unravel. There are a few ways to do this. They sell some stuff that is called Fray Check that is sort of like a glue for the ends of the ribbon. You can use a wood burning tool to cut and seal the ribbon at the same time. Or you can use a lighter or a candle to seal them. I used the candle technique. Hold the ribbon close enough to the flame that the heat melts the ribbon a tad. But not too close, otherwise you could scorch or light the ribbon on fire.

 

Now we are going to cover the alligator clip in ribbon first. You will need 1 piece of ribbon cut to 3" and 1 alligator clip.

Squeeze the clip open. Put a dab of glue onto the underside of the top half and place the end of the ribbon over the glue.

Next carefully put glue along the top half and fold the ribbon over it. Careful not to get too much glue into the hole in the center. It will end up getting onto the bottom half like I did. Then you have to scrape some glue off LOL But if you do don't worry. you can use a hair dryer to melt away any little strings of glue left after you scrap some off.

Put a dab of glue on the bottom, right where your thumb would pinch to open the clip. Wrap the ribbon around and glue it down.

Your covered clip should look like this.

 Now lets make the monster eyes... Start with one of the 5 1/4" pieces of ribbon. Wrap it around your index finger making a circle.

 Glue the ribbon to it's self making the small circle.

 Wrap the ribbon around it's self making a larger circle around the smaller one.

Glue the end of the ribbon to about the same spot that you glues the smaller circle at.

 Repeat this to make the second eye.

Using one of these double circles. Glue one of your 5" ribbon tips to the same spot. Wrap it around and glue the other end down as well.

 Repeat on the second eye.

You will end up with two pieces that look like this.

  Glue the two pieces together in the center.

 Carefully put a drop of glue inside the smallest circle and attach one of the buttons. Let that cool then repeat for the other eye.

 Next flip the eyes over. In the center put a dab of glue and attach the eyes to the clip. I marked the area with a green dot.

There you go! A cute Halloween inspired clip!