Hair Clips

Materials:

• ribbon (1/8"-1/2") any color
• stickers, glitter, fridge magnets, comics, or any other decorations you want
• bottle caps (if you don't want the brand to show through, spray paint them a fun color first)
• hot glue gun + glue sticks
• blank hair clips or pins (you can get these at a craft store)

• (optional) cardboard cut out in the same shape/size as the bottle caps - these are used to make the inside of your bottle caps less deep inside before you add decorations. 

Cupcakes- Trublood Themed

Finished: glass shard cupcakes

The Ingredients:

• Cupcakes (any flavor you want; I used chocolate and vanilla)
• Frosting (any kind you want; I used cream cheese)
• Filling
• Pudding (any flavor you want; I used vanilla)
• Whipped cream
• Toppings
• Glass Shards 
• 3/4 cup of white sugar
• 1/4 cup of water
• Maraschino cherry syrup

Glass Towers

Instructions:

1. Find lots of sturdy, 1" or thicker, glasses
2. Get a heavy duty, clear drying epoxy glue
3. Lay down an old quilt or towel or tarp 
4. Lay out the pieces in a pleasing shaped tower (from a sturdy base to a smaller top seemed to work best, at least in our experience), but horizontally so none of them break
5. Assemble two pieces at a time, using heavy duty glue (blech, we had one that smelled like asphalt)
6. Hold pieces together (if using fast drying glue); OR tape/tie/clamp pieces together gently until glue dries all the way
7. Keep assembling with glue until tower is complete and let dry completely before placing outside

Another Bracelet Project

Behind the Seams:

My sketch of what Kayla wanted

      Last time I saw my friend Kayla, I promised her a bracelet like I made for Kelcie (check it out on the sewing projects page) for her birthday. Though her birthday was in May, I decided it was about time she got a present. :) Better late than never, right?

   

Reversible Bracelet, "inside" shown

       Anyway, we discussed what she wanted (length, color, snap or button, etc.) and I had it written down. It's been another while and I remembered I would see her for our first Project Runway viewing party at my house, so I finally got down to business and worked on it. She said she wanted an entirely monochromatic bracelet and realized she had no jewelry in purple yet, so that's the color we decided. Luckily, purple is one of my mother's favorite colors and I have been cutting up lots of t-shirts for other projects, so we have lots of purple scraps to work with at my house.


Materials: 

• 1 scrap of fabric, roughly 7 inches long and 2 inches wide
• 1 scrap of fabric, roughly 6 inches long
• Buttons, color/size your choice
• Thread, color your choice



The "outside" of the bracelet

• closure (either a snap or button)

How to:

1. Take 7"piece and put wrong side together and sew around 1 long and 1 short edge, leaving one side open to turn right side out.
2. Tuck in raw edges and then topstitch sew around entire rectangle (1/8" seam)
3. Pin 6 inch fabric to middle of rectangle/cuff
4. Sew in crazy patterns and directions until you have a pleasing effect, changing color threads if you want a multi-colored look
5. Sew on buttons in places that are lacking thread or in areas you want as your main design
6. Sew on the snap or other type of closure, fitting it to your wrist

     This is a nice, simple project that doesn't take very long to work on and the end result is very pleasing (my opinion, of course). You can use scraps and come up with a variety of looks, which is cool. In this bracelet, I used the hemline of a t-shirt for the dark middle purple mixed with a print I bought at Hancock Fabrics a long time ago. Depending on how you do the stitching and what color/type of buttons you use, you can really change the look of the bracelet.  Also, try adjusting the width of the cuff from skinny to fat!

Quilting Time

 Making a T-shirt Quilt (in steps):

1. Cut out t-shirts using a cardboard rectangle as a pattern (mine was 13" X 17")
2. Line back of each t-shirt rectangle with interfacing
3. Lay out pattern you want for quilt out of t-shirt rectangles (I had enough for a oversize queen)
4. Pin together columns of t-shirt rectangles and sew (1/2 -1" seam allowance)
5. Pin together columns and sew to create your quilt top
6. Find a piece of fabric large enough to cover back of quilt or made quilt double-sided
7. Putting right sides of quilt and back fabric together, place batting on top of quilt side
8. Sew around entire piece leaving 2 1/2 feet opening at bottom of quilt
9. Turn quilt right side out, using hold at bottom of quilt
10. Pin and topstitch around entire quilt (I used a 1/4" seam allowance)
11. Sew across top and sides of each t-shirt rectangle to finish OR outline each design on t-shirt rectangle OR both OR tie each corned or t-shirt rectangle in place using yarn, etc. (It is really up to you how you want to finish it as each way will yield a different look.)
12. Put on a bed and showcase your t-shirt memories!