Reasons To Craft

I fear I may sound a little sappy in this post, but ain't it just the way?

I'm going to break down my personal reasons for crafting. I'm sure every crafter's explanation is a little different, and I'd love to hear about yours. I'm going to number them, simply because I'm not tech savvy enough to know how to use bullets on here. I'm learning, though!

1. I craft because it's cathartic. Working with my hands and focusing only on the project in front of me helps me to center myself. The mind of a flaky mom is typically whirling. I don't forget things because I'm simply not thinking, but because I'm always thinking too much. Crafting, whether I'm sitting at the sewing machine, folding bows, or delving into crafty waters undiscovered as of yet, allows me to NOT think so much about all the incidentals. It's an incredible stress reliever for me.

2. I love seeing something beautiful and knowing that I made that. It gives me a sense of achievement to know I finished a project, it turned out well, and the finished product will provide someone with happiness (and sometimes that someone is only me, but I figure I deserve to be happy as much as the next person). I feel fulfilled.

3. Crafting makes me feel wholesome and good and..homemaker-ish. For the most part I am a homemaker, but I don't always feel that way. When my kids wear something I've made with my own two hands, it makes me proud. When someone walks into our home and says, "Cute curtains! Are they new," and I get to say I just finished them, I feel like I've succeeded at the whole mom thing. I'm not saying that because someone didn't make their curtains they're less of a mom than me. I'm not even implying anything of the sort. Making things for my family is a way for me to make up for my shortcomings in other mommy departments. It's one way I show my love to my family.

4. I can make trendy, awesome clothes and home decor for a lot less money than it costs to buy those things. We're on a tight budget. Crafting allows me to change things up around the house and wardrobes without breaking the bank. I even make a little money crafting from time to time.

P.S., more  tutorials to come this week! I'll be working on a wrap skirt/dress, some giant layered bows, and a St. Patty's day bubble skirt, and whatever other wild ideas I come up with! If I create it, I'll share the how-to with you!

P.P.S, the picture down there is me and a foster dog. Not a great pic, but it was handy.

Tulle Puff Tutorial

These are super cute in the hair on an alligator clip or a hair elastic. I started making these with tulle scraps leftover from making tutus. Scrappy projects are my favorite! I love creating adorable things with stuff I already have. It's like getting something cute and useful for nothing but a little bit of your time. I've also run across a brilliant idea that uses a larger version of this project hung on a string for home decor use. They would be great, cost efficient party decor or perfect for a little girl's room.

You will need: A few feet of tulle (the kind that comes on a spool is ideal to minimize cutting), floral wire, scissors

1. Cut up tulle into 1 in. x 6 in. strips. If you're using the spooled tulle, you won't have to worry about the length of the strips, as it's already 6 in.

2. Cut about 40 pieces. If you're using more than one color, make sure you have close to the same number of strips for each color.

3. Hold your floral wire about 3 in. down.

4. Begin threading your tulle onto the wire. Stick the wire through the center of the tulle strip and move it down to where you're holding the wire. Thread all the pieces on to the wire, attempting to leave a small space with no tulle in the puff. You'll have a short piece of wire above the tulle and a long piece below now.

5. Wrap the long part of the wire through the space you left in the last step, pulling it tight to secure the puff. Wrap it a couple more times.

6. Twist the short wire with the long one to finish securing the puff, cut the excess wire. Fluff the puff by holding the whole thing in your hand and rolling it around.

There you have it!

Rolled Rosette Variation Tutorial

These are a very cute embellishment, very easy to make, and they are a great way to use up some of that scrap fabric you may accumulate over time. I'll be making a May Day wreath with these later on!

You will need: three 1 in. x 20 in. strips of fabric (these don't need to be perfect by any means), a felt circle about 2 in. across, hot glue gun

1. Stack your fabric strips on top if each other, print facing up.

2. Tie a knot at one end.

3. Use something heavy to hold the knot to a flat surface.

4. Braid the three strips together, keeping the same tension the whole way to keep the braid close to the same width the entire length. (I say this because I'm terrible at it. Thankfully these are very forgiving)

5. When you have about 2 in. of fabric left, tie a knot to finish your braid, pulling it tight. Trim any excess.

6. Glue one of the knots down in the middle of the felt circle. Wrap the braid around the knot. Keep wrapping the braid tightly around itself, using a drop of glue about every half inch between the braid and the felt circle. Keep wrapping until you come to the end knot, which you can glue to the side of the braid.

7. If your felt circle is sticking out, trim off the excess. My circle was wonky, so I had to trim.

You've seen these rosettes in my fab headband tutorial. I love that I can use scraps to make them and they are completely no-sew!

Double Ruffle Ribbon Puffs

I LOVE dressing my girls up for the holidays. These cute little hair accessories are perfect for every holiday. Just change the ribbon colors and you've got a 4th of July or Christmas hair clip!

You will need: 12 in. of 5/8 in. double ruffle ribbon in three colors (36 in. total), needle and thread, scissors, lighter for sealing ribbon ends

1. Cut each color of ribbon into four 3 in. pieces. Seal the ends. You can cut the ends into two points by folding the end in half long ways and cutting a triangle from the folded side about half in. down to the outside edges at the top, then sealing by running the flame along the angle quickly. I call that 'forking' the ends.

2. Take one of your ribbon length's and pinch it half in the middle. Run the needle and thread through the middle (after you make certain you have a nice secure knot at the end of the thread, which should be about 12 in. long, by the way). There is no need to find the exact middle, just eyeball it.

3. Repeat step two with the remaining 11 pieces, alternating colors.

4. Now you're going to fan out  the ribbons so that they're going all different directions. For the most part, this will happen naturally, but it's good to fan them to make sure there are no bald spots in your pom pom.

5. Pull the ribbons tight to the knot. Run the needle and thread back and forth through the center of the stack of pell mell ribbons, pulling tight. When the ribbons feel securely together, knot the thread and cut of the excess.

The result should be a super cute pom pom shaped ribbon puff. It's simple and girly and can be used on an alligator clip, hair elastic, or headband. Customize the colors to match any outfit or double them up for adorable pigtails!

The picture with the pink, hot pink, and brown double ruffle puff and the Valentine's Day one showcases the difference between 'forking' the ribbon ends and leaving them straight.

You can also use this technique with 1 1/2 in. double ruffle ribbon. Simply cut your ribbon pieces 5 in. long instead and make the project the same way. You get a puff that is approximately 4 in. wide.

A word of caution: cheap double ruffle that is 'plasticky' down the middle does NOT work well in this project. You'll want to make sure you're using a soft, supple double ruffle ribbon or the ribbon lays flat instead of fluffing. I don't suggest ordering mass quantities of double ruffle ribbon online for this project unless you've ordered it from that company before and know you'll be getting a high quality product.

Window To The Heart Pillow Tutorial

You will need: 5 2 1/2 in x 11 in pieces of printed cotton fabric (I'm using a tan and country red check), 2 13in x 13 in pieces of light neutral muslin, poly fill, basic sewing implements

1. Place two of the printed cotton strips together, right sides together. Adjust the thread tension on your sewing machine all the way up. Set your stitch to the longest stitch length. Sew down one long side of the two strips, moving fairly slowly. The fabric should gather into a cute little ruffle. (Have you noticed yet that I avoid pinning like it's the bubonic plague? Anytime precise measurements are not absolutely a necessity and I'm not sewing a huge length, I find it unnecessary. I also avoid precise measurements at almost any cost.)

2. Repeat with another two strips. Sew the ruffled double strips together using the same method (right sides together, 'ruffle' setting still on, sewing down the length of the fabric). Now sew the remaining strip in the same fashion. You should now have a ruffly rectangle of your printed fabric. You may notice that I messed up and put half the seams on the outside. It wasn't my intention, but I decided it suited the primitive look I was going for. Your call, though!

3.Place your ruffly rectangle face down on one of your 13x13 muslin squares. Center it. Sew around the edges of the ruffly rectangle, using the edge of your presser foot to judge your seam allowance. You may want to zig zag around the outermost edge of the rectangle as well. I like to use a good zig zag to finish any edge.

4. Now for the heart. Either make a heart stencil that will fit in your ruffly rectangle with at least 1/4 in of leeway then center it on the muslin and trace it , or free hand it directly onto the muslin. Verrrry slooowly stitch along that heart outline.

5. Pull the muslin away from the ruffles and make a little snip in the middle. Stick your scissors in there and snip around the inside of the heart, being careful not to catch the ruffles or the heart's stitching. You've now finished the front!

6. Place your front face down on the other muslin square. Pin around the edges. Sew down three sides using that presser foot seam allowance, then zig zag those three sides as well. Sew the last side only 2/3 of the way down.

7. Flip your pillow right side out. Poke the corners all the way out. There are fancy tools for that, but I just use a dowel rod or any other long skinny object that's handy. Stuff your pillow.

8. Fold the edges of the hole in neatly until the edge is level. Pin. Use a straight stitch to close up the hole, or you could hand stitch it if you like (I don't like).

Voila!! A cute Valentine's day throw pillow. You could use this method to do other themes as well. A pumpkin for fall or a Christmas tree, perhaps. I have also envisioned an Easter egg, stripes built right in. You could also adjust the measurements and make any size pillow you like, or maybe use the idea for the front to make a wall hanging or...the possibilities aren't endless, but there are a lot of them.