Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Tackling T-Shirt Roses

Everyone has that old t-shirt laying around that you keep meaning to get rid of but somehow just ends up in the back of your drawer, forgotten. My husband was ditching a few and I grabbed them, thinking I would make something crafty from one of them. Here is what I needed:


~ Lampshade
~ T-Shirt
~ Scissors or Rotery Cutter
~ Hot Glue Gun or Fabric Glue
~ Aleen's Tacky Double-Stick Sheets

The first thing I did was cut the bottom hem off the t-shirt, I wasn't going to use it and it would just get in the way.

I then lay out the t-shirt and cut it into 2 inch strips (five total).






I cut each "circle" strip so I had 5 long strips.



I used a hot glue gun for this part but fabric glue would probably work as well. If you do use a glue gun, take care to go slowly and watch what you're doing. I was in a rush and ended up burning myself twice. 

Once I slowed down, I put a thin layer of glue towards the bottom of each strip and folded over as I went. I didn't glue the entire strip at once as the glue at the beginning would have dried by the time I got back to fold the t-shirt over. 

Once all strips were glued/folded in half I grabbed the double-sided tape.


I found Aleene's Tacky Double-Stick Sheets at Michaels, however I also saw it at other craft stores. 


The sheets were too big so I cut them into four pieces. I then rounded the corners.



I carefully peeled off the top piece to expose the top adhesive. I say "carefully" because it is so sticky I kept getting it stuck to myself and found myself swearing calmly extricating myself several times.

I grabbed the folded piece of t-shirt and rolled 2-3 times. 


I then slowly twisted a few times. No rhyme or reason to this method.


I ended up with my first "rose". I cut the end, tucked it underneath, and cut the extra adhesive showing around the rose. I made four more the same way.





Once I finished making the roses I peeled (carefully,again) the bottom off to expose the bottom adhesive.





The adhesive is strong enough to keep the rose on the lampshade but forgiving enough to reposition as a did a couple times until I liked the placement.



This is where I considered stopping. I liked the way it looked with just the plane white on the shade as well as when the shade was put back on the lamp.



It's all a matter of personal preference. I left this overnight but decided the next morning that I wanted just a touch of color to the roses.






I didn't want too much color, just a little so I grabbed this 99 cent chalk pack and used the red.







I used the side of the chalk to lightly shade each flower.







The red chalk came out more as a pink which is what I was looking for. I ran the side of the chalk over each flower, the color didn't take to the entire flower which was fine by me.



I like the end result, and more importantly, I'm happy I could make a t-shirt I was about to toss, into something that would update my sad little lamp shade.




~ B

Although I used different methods, credit for this idea should go to this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XpYokjv0iE



Friday, May 17, 2013

Mad for Monograms

This is a "mini" post because this barely took any time or energy to make and I just wanted to reference a great website I found with free monogram patterns.  I found "For Chic Sake" and used their free monogram prints section and loved it. The options are Script, Chevron, or Quatrefoil. I went with the Quatrefoil, choose my colors, and printed them out on some 8.5 x 11 in photo paper I already had. So far the site only has these monograms available in 8.5 x 11 which suited my needs fine.





I found these white frames at Michaels for about $6 each. 




Because the frames were 8 x 10, I had to trim my monograms a bit but they still looked perfect in the frame.

Here is the finished product:



These 8.5 x 11 monogram prints can be used in work or school binders, framed and put on your kids' doors, etc. They are cute and very easy to make.

~ B

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Crafty Curtain Tie Backs

I don't really care about curtains. I know they are necessary and I like the fact that our neighbors cannot see me puttering around in my PJs but I am not one of those people who would spend hours at a curtain store picking them out. With that said, similar to my belief that making my bed makes my bedroom look 80% tidier, I do think tie backs on a curtain make them look nicer in the room. The problem is that most tie backs are expensive, so I decided to make my own.


There is a lot of nice ribbon out there. I decided on this white ribbon with grey scroll for the main piece and a white chiffon ribbon to make a rose in the center.


I wrapped it around one curtain to see how much I needed to measure. I didn't want my curtains looking too cinched so I cut the ribbon to how it would look with the two end folded over.





I folded each end about 3/4 to an inch. Any amount is fine as long as the closures fit.






I have used those velcro tabs on fabric curtain tabs before but they always fall off after few days no matter how sticky they seem when I first affix them. I used hook and eye closures for this. These are the closures you often see on pants.


~ No special sewing skills necessary ~


Just a basic needle and thread sewing situation. 


* Full Disclosure: I consider myself an intelligent person but for some reason it took me a bit to wrap my head around which side of the ribbon one of the closures needed to be on in order for the tie to work correctly.*

While I cut each piece of ribbon as close in length as possible it's most important that the finished product is the same length. This way each curtain is tied back the same way as opposed to one being looser or tighter.



I found this chiffon ruffle ribbon at Michaels.

I slowly rolled the ribbon until it was the size I wanted.





Once it was the size and shape I wanted to cut the ribbon and held on for dear life. (just kidding, but I did hold it tightly so as not to unravel).







I then took a needle and thread and sewed across the bottom, making sure to include all layers. I used a hot glue gun to affix the "rose" to the center of each ribbon tie back. 


Although I used hot glue, fabric glue would probably work fine too. I was just careful to hold the rose tight to the ribbon and let the glue dry fully.




Now that I make my bed AND tie back my curtains, our bedroom looks 90% tidier! If only I could keep myself from tossing my clothes on the floor. 
Baby steps.




Using a a nice ribbon  to create a curtain tie back was an easy, and frugal, way to create exactly what I wanted.




~ B