Shirring Everything!

I have shirred everything in my path lately! Still on my "using what I have to make things" kick, so I have literally cut up most every piece of clothing that I was intending on getting rid of (and have come close to cutting up perfectly good things that look like fun to shirr).

T-shirts make the prettiest dresses...it's amazing.
My girls' dresses were from 3 of my old shirts cut into 5" wide strips. I shirred the top tier and kept adding tiers until the dress was long enough for that girl. I added braided straps to the older girls' dresses.
On this dress I shirred a few rows at the top of a strip of t-shirt and sewed them on the top tier at an angle for the sleeves.

I made 3 of these shirts for my girls out of my old pajama pants and a t-shirt.
The top of this dress was my old shirt and then I added strips from a t-shirt on the bottom.This was made from an old dress I had.These next dresses were probably the most time consuming. I bought a dress for Easter/Graduation and I actually hadn't planned on making the girls'. Then I found an old shirt (the orange color) and it matched my dress exactly. I knew I had to come up with something.
So these are made from their Daddy's old dress shirt, and other random shirts from my giveaway pile.

I loved the fullness of the tiered skirt for my middle girl. I was literally having to piece together small sections of material to make it work, but in the end it did.

If you want a quick easy way to figure up how to make one of these skirts, this is a great place to look...http://www.chicaandjo.com/2009/05/28/sew-a-tiered-ruffled-skirt/.
They actually give you a calculator (which would have been handy about 6 hours before I found it).

With all of this shirring going on, I had to repurpose this dress I had. I loved it, but the pattern had become a little overwhelming to me.
So I cut it off under the keyhole and added black to the top (some old shorts I had) and shirred it.
I'm not crazy about the low belt, but I didn't have any choice. It was normally supposed to tie in the back, but it looked better in the front after the alterations.

So, I have to take a break from shirring...I have to move halfway across the country. Just hopefully when I get there I have something left to shirr.

If you've never shirred anything before here's a great youtube video...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WckKmm1cPFs
Also, I have found that light weight non-stretchy material is the best for shirring.

Leapster Cartridge Rollup

I was tired of seeing these laying around everywhere.Not like they're cheap (unless you get them on Craigslist, but still).

This is what I came up with.
The first try was ok, but I was afraid the games would all fall out the top when rolled up.

Then I got to thinking about it and this worked a lot better.
I wish I would have seen the Leapster Cartridge Wallets beforehand, but couldn't ever find anything to hold all of the games around Christmastime. I thought they just didn't have anything out there...not so.

This one is so much cuter though!

I wanted something that 1) held all of the games or I could make 2 to hold them all and 2) something where they could see the games so they didn't have to take every.single.game. out to find what they wanted.

Here's how I did it.
I'm on a "use what I have in my craft closet to make things" type of deal, so I had to be creative. It ended up working in my favor b/c I wouldn't have thought of this material for the transparent part.

I cut up this bag I was using to hold other craft items. It's a hard mesh...that's the only way I know to describe it. I was planning on using some sort of plastic, but I think this was better.

I cut 2 pieces of coordinating fabric 22 1/2" X 4 1/2". I cut the mesh into 3" X 4 1/2" pieces. I used 1/4" seam for everything.

I used the binding off of the mesh bag I cut up to finish the tops of the little pockets.
After I sewed the binding on the pockets, I spaced them out on top of one my pieces of material (right side up) and pinned them in place. It ended up being about 1 1/4" between each pocket.
Then I stitched down the middle of each pocket and across the bottom of each pocket. I added a piece of elastic at the bottom to keep the roll together when it's closed up. Place the other piece of fabric on top so right sides are together and sew around all but the top edge. Leave that open so you can turn it.
*This is from the 1st attempt, but wanted to show you how I put the elastic in and material together before sewing around it.

After you turn it right side out you can go along the edge and stitch a finishing stitch if you desire (and close up your opening). If you want to do this, you will want to cut your pieces of fabric 23" X 5" and your pockets 3" X 5" to give enough room.

The finished product rolled up.
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Dress Redo: Frumpy to Cute

You know how it is when you're trying to pick something out to wear and your closet full of clothes has nothing to offer? My first thought is I'm just a spoiled American, but after that thought I had a great idea.

While I was on the hunt for a dress to wear to a wedding I came across a garage sale find from last summer (I think about $4). It looked like a cute dress until I put it on. Since I wasn't going to go buy a dress and friends' dresses were not working, I had to do something.

I changed this frumpy dress into something I thought was cute.

*Frumpy*
*Less Frumpy*Yeah, I didn't really get a great picture of it, but you get the idea.

What I did:
Cut off the sleeves.
Hemmed the top to make it a strapless dress.
Added elastic to the inside under the arms to make it stay put.
Added a ruffle around the top (made out of the sleeves).
Took in the sides to fit me a little better.
And used the sash to make the belt around the waist...it ties in the back.
The bottom part stayed the same...since you can't really see it.

There is always potential in your closet.
I like it. Now I have my eye on another dress to cut up.

A Little Spray Paint

One of my favorite ways to make something look pretty (besides using hot glue or Mod Podge) is spray paint.It makes everything look better.
I paid 70 cents for this thing and it's just a cute centerpiece for my table for now.
Of course filled with flowers picked by my girls.

Little Piggies

After 2 beautiful ceramic piggy banks being dropped on the floor and shattering, I finally resorted to the plastic piggy banks.

My girls all had to have pink so we also had to find a way to tell which was which (besides the half peeled sticker on the side).

I decided to go with their middle names and to match their room. I used Mod Podge to stick some cut out letters from my Cricut on the sides.
I didn't think about how low the letters would end up due to the pig's ear, but it works since they sit up high on a bookshelf.But their best features are that they cost $1 each and they can't break. Once again, yea for Dollar Tree.

V-Day Hair or Anyday Hair

For Valentine's Day we had to do some cute dos for the little girls around my house...those that had hair long enough that is.Honestly, it would be cute on any day.
If you have need of a unique hairstyle simply check out The Story of a Princess and Her Hair.
She has fixed her daughter's hair every way imaginable!

Valentines

I've literally been waiting A WHOLE YEAR to make these Valentine cards for my girls.

I saw them over on Ucreate last year and knew they would be my little Kindergartener's first class Valentine.Of course I had to do one for my 3 year old too.

It would actually be a good last minute idea also.
I took the pictures and added text in Photoshop. I sent it in online to Sam's and they had my order ready in an hour. I'm sure you can do that other places too.
Cut slits, add the sucker and you're done.

Although one of my favorite details of these are on the back. The sweet handwriting of a 5 & 3 year old.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

A Vintage Baby Shower

My sweet friend is having her 1st baby anytime now.

So another friend and I threw her a Baby Shower.
This girl loves vintage...loves like it's her personality, her baby's room, her everything it seems. So appropriately we did a vintage inspired Baby Shower.
In an apartment with limited space, I think we pulled it off quite well, if I do say so.Her gluten/dairy free baby bootie cake and cupcakes. For the rest of us, pudding filled chocolate cupcakes...mmmm.

We went with yellows, browns and white. All of the different yellows together actually looked good, I was doubtful at first.I made some banners with my sweet Cricut. Even cut out little hand and footprints. They were precious.They even made it to the water bottles.Here are a couple of things that I got to make her also. A bib and wipie case.
I absolutely love this fabric!
So boy, but so pretty too.
Can't wait to meet this little one!

Baked French Toast

Breakfast for dinner tonight! Can't wait!

I really don't know who to give credit to for this recipe, but it is simply wonderful. I got it from my friend who got it from a friend who's grandma used to make this. So, a big thanks to that grandma...they do always have the best recipes.

Baked French Toast

8 X 8
1 baguette
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cups of milk
1 cup light cream or half and half
4 tsp. sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Topping:
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Walnuts optional

or for 9 X 13
1 1/2 baguettes
9 large eggs
2 1/4 cups of milk
1 1/2 cups light cream or half and half
6 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Topping:
1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Cut bread into 1/2 inch cubes. Butter your pan. Arrange bread in pan and fill completely. In a bowl combine eggs, both milks, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix well. Pour over bread cubes. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

(this is before it's cooked)

Next day:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl mix softenend butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and walnuts if desired. Spread evenly over bread mixture. Bake about 1 hour or until puffed and golden brown. Serve with buttermilk syrup.

Buttermilk Syrup
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup butter
2 TBS corn syrup
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla

In a medium sized pot, mix sugar, buttermilk, butter, corn syrup, and baking soda. Bring to a boil. Cook for 7 minutes. DO NOT BURN. (Mixture will foam up to 2-3 times in volume. Make sure your pot is large enough.)
Remove from heat.
Stir in vanilla.

It takes a little doing, but well worth it. Enjoy!

Cupcake/Cake Stand

I LOVE all the cute cupcake stands out there, but couldn't bring my thrifty self to spend the money on one. That's like a whole new outfit for me!

So I saw homemade stands out there in blogland that inspired me to make my own.

There are so many variations, but this is what I put together.
I bought 2 pieces of foam board from the Dollar Tree. I cut my platforms the sizes that I wanted (9 1/2", 13 1/2", & 17 1/2" squares) and then made the columns in between out of pieces of the leftover foam board.

To cut the columns like mine, the top one is 4 pieces of 4" x 3", the middle one is 4" x 5 1/2", and the bottom platform holding it all up is 2" x 14".
This was my first to do, so I learned some things in the process. Here are some other ideas to use also.

For the platforms:
*Mod Podge them to match your decor and they would be super cute!
*Add ribbon around the edges...I think this is a must.
*Use 2 thicknesses of cardboard glued together instead of foam board.
*Make them circles or whatever crazy shape you think would be fun.

For the columns:
*Use stirofoam cylinders wrapped in pretty paper.
*Use the containers salt comes in...now I'll never throw away another paper salt container again (my hubby is going to love that).
*If painting, use acrylic instead of spray.
*Paint the pieces before gluing them on if you're worried about what it looks like underneath.
*Make them all the same size, or do different sizes like I did.

This is underneath each one...tried spray paint on the first one.
Next time I'm sure I'll be a little neater about things, but nobody sees underneath anyways.
Wrapping the columns in paper would hide where you glued them together also.I didn't connect all 3 tiers to each other because I wanted to be able to not have to use all 3 tiers. If you want it really sturdy though just hot glue them together.

This is a disposable type of thing, but I'll make mine last until it doesn't look presentable anymore.
Now go fill one up with those beautiful Valentine's Day cupcakes!
Happy Partying! (Even if that's not a word!)

Linking up to Sisters' Stuff & Tea Rose Home!

Triple Picture Hanging

I wanted to make something for the in-laws for Christmas and I knew I couldn't go wrong with pictures of their granddaughters.

There are a million ways people are mod podging pictures on things lately, but my friend started using the Dollar Tree wooden plaques and they work great.

So I bought 3 and came up with this wall hanging.I once again forgot to take a picture before I gave it to her and therefore have a cruddy phone picture to show you...blah...but better than nothing.

I painted the wood on the back and around the edges, mod podged scrap paper to the front and then the picture.
You can always add other embellishments to make it even cuter. I kept it pretty simple.
I hot glued the ribbon in one long piece to hold them together.

Looks like it's holding up so far.
Hopefully the next picture I get isn't of it in the floor.

Linking up to Tea Rose Home