Flower Wall Art

 I've seen these felt flowers all over the place.  I'm trying to find different things to fill frames above my little girls' bed and this was perfect.

I usually buy the individual sheets of felt, but didn't really know how much I would need for this project, so I went to Hobby Lobby and bought it by the yard.  Soooo much cheaper!  I bought 1/3 of a yard for about $1.25 with my coupon (which I figured was about 8 of those smaller individual pieces).

I didn't look at any tutorials (which I can figure out why I didn't think to), but just cut some triangles in different sizes.

I started out by sewing mine all in one long string to make them gather. 

 

 

I laid that string of petals down in a circle and just worked my way inwards with layers of petals.

I used hot glue to put it on my fabric covered cardboard, realizing it probably would have been easy to skip the sewing part.  Guess that's when the reading the tutorials beforehand would have been pretty helpful.

I did find some great tutorials after the fact.

This one has a little different shape to it.

I can't wait to make some pillows with the rest of my felt too.

Now to fill those other 5 frames...

Ruffled Apron

It was my sis-in-laws birthday, and I knew she was wanting a fun apron, so I put this together for her.

I wanted something colorful, and these tie-dyed t-shirts I already had were perfect.

For the main part of the apron I used a tablecloth that had a floral pattern on it.  I used another apron I already had for the pattern, but it's a pretty simple piece if you don't have one on hand.

I cut a couple of 4 inch strips from the bottom of each shirt and sewed them together to get enough for each ruffle.

I hemmed around the edge of the apron and then sewed on each ruffle, starting with the bottom one and then layering them on top of each other.

I added one ruffle at the top edge also.

For the straps I used the t-shirts strips sewn together too.  Best thing about the t-shirts is that you don't have to hem them.  Love that!

She seemed to like it.  It should make cooking so much more fun, right?

I left it long, but you could cut it shorter and it would probably look like a tutu. :)

DIY Magnetic Folders/Whiteboard

It's about that time to start receiving all of those random papers from school.  I never know where to keep them without losing them, but also turn them in on time.

Then one day I saw a lady say something about this thing she has hanging on her fridge for school papers.  This wasn't it exactly, but it looked something like this.

 

I thought that would be perfect, but didn't really want to spend $30 on it.  It also was a little bulky for me.

So I put something together that I think will work for me.  And it was free!  Well, I already had the folders that I bought for 20 cents a piece once upon a time, so that's about as close as you get to free.

I turned folders on their sides with the opening pointed upwards.  I stacked one folder on top of the other scooting it down a few inches and then taped the sides.  Stacked the next one on top and taped all of those sides together...and so on.  I turned them over and put some stick on magnets and that's it.

I stuck some papers in the folders to see how it worked and I think I'm going to like it.  We'll see pretty soon.

Then as I was hanging it on my fridge I got the idea that it might just work as a whiteboard too.  It does!

My folders were the really slick kind, so you would just have to test your own folders out to see if it works.

I already had a calendar on my fridge and thought I could put it on here instead.  I tested it out for a month and realized I liked being able to flip to the other months.  Now I use the front of the folders as a place for notes and randomness.  Either way, it's great!

Crate Seats

I have been looking for a craft table for my kids for awhile, and not just so I could make these seats...or maybe slightly because I wanted to make these seats.

I would give credit to someone, but I've seen so many people making these now that I don't know who to give it to.  Seriously, just Google it and you'll see what I mean.

I figured out the table (which I will show at a later date), and as soon as it was in place, I had to get these seats made.

I bought 6 to make.  I found my milk crates at Wal-Mart for about $3.50.  They had black, grey, red, blue, green, & hot pink.  I had to go with green to match the room I'm putting them in.  Although the pink was so pretty.

Next I went to Home Depot and bought a piece of plywood for $10.  They'll cut it for you, so I had measured mine at home and had them cut 6 pieces for me.  I also took the crate with me to make sure it fit.  I had a ton of plywood leftover.

I had found some new packages of foam at the Goodwill for 99 cents (which was incredible and don't expect that to happen again anytime soon), and cut it to the size of the plywood.  Then I cut my fabric big enough to wrap around it.  

Pull the fabric around the foam and plywood and staple in place.

Put it on your crate and voila.  I love these!  So do my kids.  They are actually the perfect height for my 7 year old and still works well for the little ones too.

 

Oh, and another great thing about these?

 Storage!  Who doesn't need another place to put all of the kids junk.