Mother with Jogging Stroller T-shirt

Thanks to freezer paper stenciling, I was able to create the custom t-shirt that I've always wanted: a silhouette of a running mother pushing her child in a jogging stroller. The tiny details of the stroller made this shirt slightly more difficult than my first freezer stencil project, but still very doable for the at-home crafter. The most difficult part was trying to sketch my design. I couldn't find a template online, so I was forced to draw one myself. Drawing is not my forte; good thing it was just a silhouette!



Linked: Sew Much Ado, Bear Rabbit Bear

Christmas Card Display

One of my favorite things about Christmas time is the sending and receiving of cards. Checking the mailbox during the month of December is actually fun because nestled amongst the usual bills and advertisements are colorful envelopes with familiar return addresses. It is such a treat to find Christmas cards, with seasonal postage stamps, tucked inside my mailbox. I enjoy opening the beautiful cards, admiring the family photos, and reading the annual update letters.

Yes, I love Christmas cards, but I struggle with finding a clutter free way to display them in our home. (Last year, for instance, I taped them up along the chair rail that encircled our dining room.) This year, I want to find an attractive way to display cards in our home.

Yes, its only July, but with the daily temps over 100F for the past week, I've got an early burst of Christmas fever. With the prompting of the girls over at Cowgirl Up! I decided to tackle this winter project in advance. (Plus, once the cooler weather does finally roll around, my project motivation will likely shift towards other holiday activities, like baking cookies with my kid :)

Without further ado, here's how I'll be displaying my cards this year....

....in the grasp of a clothespin frame on a large piece of fabric lined art.

For this project, I began with a large piece of foam board wrapped in a nice piece of white fabric. (If you look closely you will notice the fabric's pretty white on white pattern.) 

I then glued approximately 95 clothespins around the perimeter in an alternating up down clip orientation.

Note: Consider the length of your glue gun cord before laying out your project. I ended up needing an extension cord to reach the far side of the project. Silly? Yes. But I didn't dare move my project until after all my carefully laid out clothespins were safely glued down.

Then, using pinking shears, I cut small strips of a multi-toned green fabric. The fabric was leftover from my daughter's birthday shirt (we had a hungry caterpillar party). It was roughly 3/4 of a fat quarter.

The fabric scrap wreath was intentionally designed to be flat and simple to easily accommodate a large volume of cards. We exchange a lot of cards, so by keeping the central design two-dimensional, I can easily cover the wreath portion with cards as the season progresses.

The wreath's bow is attached by a hair clip to a loop of fabric specifically glued for this purpose. I like things to be reusable. If, I decide at some point, to also use this display with kid's birthday cards, I can  swap out the red Christmas bow for something else.

After attaching hardware to the backside (I used a glued on pop tab) the card display is ready to mount on the wall!

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Cost Breakdown:

Foam Board: $1 Dollar Tree

Clothespins: $2 for a pack of 100 at Walmart

White Fabric: ~ $2 I used roughly a fourth of a $7 section of fabric

Green Fabric: free (scraps from another project)

Total Cost: $5

Time: A few hours. It did take some time to neatly glue all the pieces down, but I was also simultaneously watching a TV marathon of the History Channel's "Pawn Stars" (hubby's new favorite show).  

Lessons learned: If doing this again, I would choose a poster frame, or bulletin board instead of the foam board. I think it would do better in storage if the project had more support.

Happy Crafting!

Linking: Cowgirl Up!, Sugarbee Crafts

Hand-Cut Nursery Art

Truth be told, I really wish I had a cutting machine. But I don't. So I learn to make do.

I would love to add a Silhouette Cameo or Cricut cutting machine to my arsenal of craft tools. But for now, I'm cutting my projects by hand. I've found that with a little time and a bit of patience, you can still create really cool gifts - even without a cutting device. 

This week, I hand cut this nursery art for a friend's baby who was recently baptized.

Would it have been easier to make this with a cutting machine? Most definitely! But what I lacked in crafting tools I made up for with perseverance.

So maybe the lower curve of the "s" is slightly jagged, and center of the letters are absent, but let's not dwell on that okay? Just humor me, and agree that it adds to the gift's charm :)

Want to make your own? Here's how...

• First create your graphic using PicMonkey, or equivalent. Begin with a blank image resized to the dimensions for your frame. (Send me an email if you need help getting started.) Design your graphic in regular view and once satisfied, switch to a reversed image by clicking the two sideways arrows. (Located on the text edit box - where you select the color.)

• Save and print your image (on cardstock). It should look something like this...

• This will be your guide for both stitching and cutting. The printed portion will be on the back side of your art.
• Stitch selected portions before cutting.
• Then cut out name and hearts with craft knife.
• Line backside with pretty fabric.
• Embellish frame with rosettes made in corresponding fabric.

Sit back and enjoy your completed gift! 

(and try not to dwell on how much simpler this would have been with a cutting machine :)

Linking: Happy Hour Projects, Positively Splendid, Sew Much Ado, Uncommon

Secret Coded Birthday Message

My sweet little niece turned six this summer. I wanted to give her a special birthday gift without spending a lot of money. When reflecting on my own childhood, I decided that a detective themed gift would be the perfect gift for this stage in her life. 

When I was a girl, Nancy Drew and The Bobbsey Twins were a few of my favorite fictitious  characters. My cousins and I would make up elaborate plots during our Nancy Drew reenactments. Clue was a favorite board game. And many summer afternoons were spent playing "detective" with my brother and sister.

The bulk of the gift was a box of Crayola's Twistable colored pencils and a monogramed notebook. To add some personality and make the gift special, I wrote a few coded messages within the opening pages of the book. (It took a lot of will power not to try out her new twistable pencils. But I sure wanted to - I'm a sucker for unique Crayola products.)

The first secret code was an simple Happy Birthday message.

This was followed by a much longer and personal message, written in numeric code

The final coded message read "you are beautiful." The remainder of the book is blank, for her to imagine and create her own detective notes and secret codes (or doodling is great too).

This was such a fun gift to make - totally brought me back to my elementary days. I hope she enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it. Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Linked: Bear Rabbit Bear

Not Quite the Bench I had Envisioned

Two months ago I rescued this piece of furniture from my parents house. Having removed the hutch from the top half of their office desk, it was now discarded to the garage and was awaiting trash pick-up. I happened to stumble upon it before garbage day and hauled the piece back to my house, determined to make something great.

(On a side note, I'm convinced that minivans are the mommy version of a pickup truck. The hauling capacity is quite impressive once you fold down the back seats.)

My intentions were transform the desk hutch into something like this lovely bench by A Shade of Teal. source

source

Or check out this hutch and desk turned kitchen island by Haute to Sew. source

source

These two examples were my main inspiration. I felt that my parents' old desk hutch could be something great, if I just gave it a little DIY love.

However, having minimal furniture renovation experience, I was extremely intimidated by this project. The only furniture project I've ever done was our concealed kitty litter box - transformed from an old sink vanity. (Read about that project here).

For weeks, I parked in the blazing heat, while the "landfill rescue" enjoyed the shade of our garage waiting for me to find the time and courage to begin this project. Motivated by the abnormally hot summer, (and my desire to reclaim my indoor parking space) I finally began my renovation project last weekend. But it DID NOT go as planned.

My idea was to create a bench by removing the backboard and cutting down the sides to suitable bench height. Then I was going to remove the curved arch and add a few stabilizer boards before priming and painting the bench white. My plan was to use the finished piece in the craft/guest bedroom for extra supply organization. 

However, as I began working on Saturday, I quickly realized what I failed to notice during the two months it sat in my garage: Aside from the thick top piece, the remainder was not nearly as sturdy as I thought it was. It would need a lot of reinforcement if I wanted to continue as planned. At that rate, I might as well build a bench from scratch.

Now, after a two month detour, this old desk hutch is back where I first found it - in the trash pile.

Children's Travel DVD Art Kit

 {Full credit for this brilliant idea goes to Stacy @ Handmade by Stacy Vaughn. Click here for "pin"spiration and tutorial link}

A big thank you to Stacy for sharing her modern version of the traditional crayon roll. This travel art kit, which is made from an empty DVD case, is absolutely the perfect roadtrip companion for young children. The clips on the left keep the paper from falling to the floor. The case provides a firm coloring surface. AND its sleek design allows convenient storage within the backseat pocket, making this roadtrip life saver always easily on hand. Even quick trips to grandma's go smoother with this handy travel art kit as entertainment.

The DVD travel art kit was quite simple to make. After removing the circular disk holder from the right, I hot glued in a fabric covered cardboard insert with crayon pocket. This was all done with a box knife and a glue gun - no sewing - yay! (Check out Stacy's great tutorial for tips and step by step photos)

Because the crayons I used were thicker than the pencils in her version, I could only make a partial pocket, to allow for tab clearance when folded shut. But my two year old only needs a handful of crayons, so this wasn't an issue.

See the cute coloring pages on the left? I couldn't believe my luck when our birthday party leftovers fit perfectly within the case! Good thing she still likes The Very Hungry Caterpillar because after forgetting to hand them out at her birthday party, I still have a stack full :)



To read more about our two year old's Very Hungry Caterpillar party, click here.
For a direct link to the Eric Carl website and coloring pages, click here.
And again, see Stacy's original version, click here.


Linking: Find a Friend Fridays, Delicate Construction, The Gunny Sack, Bear Rabbit Bear, Positively Splendid

DIY Wall Art: Umbrellas on Parade

Over the weekend I decided to finally do something with the hundreds of tiny cocktail umbrellas that I've had in my cabinet for the past six years. (Because let's be real. I'm probably never going to throw that luau themed party...) I thought about just throwing them all away, but the colors were so bright and cheery, and more importantly, I was in the mood for some new bathroom decor.

Here is how I took approximately twenty tiny umbrellas and snipped them apart for a cheap and easy DIY project.

First, disassemble the umbrellas. Cut the frame and then twist off the top. 

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Interestingly enough, I found a scroll of Chinese looking symbols rolled within the white top of each umbrella. I have no idea what it says. Probably something boring like assembly instructions or even just filler paper, but it does sort of resemble a fortune cookie message... just saying.

Arrange in your shadow box and enjoy! 

(Oh, and learn from my mistake: Mod Podge will not work for this project. The ink will bleed.)

Happy Monday!

Sharing here: Sugarbee Crafts, Uncommon, Sew Much Ado, Craft-O-Maniac, I Heart Naptime, C.R.A.F.T, Sew Many Ways, Debbie Doos, The Gunny Sack, Positively Splendid

A Sister Campground Tradition

The return to school following summer break always started the same way during my childhood days. After the initial attendance, announcements, and Pledge of Allegiance, our new teacher would deliver our first homework assignment - usually a written essay, which would later be read aloud to the class. The topic was always some variation of "How I Spent My Summer Vacation."

My essays were always the best.
*written in playful arrogance*

I wasn't the best writer in the class, but my tales of summer vacation received complete attention from my classmates. Why? Because each summer my parents would take our family on a long and often unusual road trip, camping our way across the country while experiencing a variety of cultures, climates, landmarks, and adventures.

Some of my greatest childhood memories are from those family camping trips.


A few family traditions were born along those vacations too. For instance, french braiding in almost as expected as s'mores for a camp ground activity between my sister and I. What began out of necessity for yucky camping hair soon became a fun sister bonding activity. 

Here's a picture from an old scrapbook showing us eating breakfast in the mountains. Notice the two the elk in the background grazing very near our camp. My sister is on the far right, sporting a double braid. (I am sitting on the opposite side of the table.)


After awhile, we became more creative in our technique moving from single, to double, and even triple braids. Sometimes we'd intentionally braid it wet, just to let it dry and enjoy the fun wacky volume when the braids were removed.


Last year I had the joy of camping with my sister again. It was just for two nights, and of course we had to continue our hair braiding tradition. This time my sister really upped the ante, asking me to do a spiral braid encircling her scalp.

My lovely sis

The braid began above her left ear, hugged her face line, rounded under the bottom and circled around and around.

Completing her spiral braid was tedious and hand cramping process. I'm so glad I don't braid hair for a living!

We then swapped places and my sister french braided my hair. I  got a double braid as my hair was too short for "the spiral". Even my aunt got in on the action during this mini family reunion!

No matter how many years pass, I will never be too old for our silly sister tradition. I love you sis!

Patriotic Pigtails

Check out The Bean's newest hair accessory - patriotic pigtails!! 

I had full intentions of writing a step by step photo tutorial on how to make these Fourth of July hair bows, but time just slipped away from me and now it's the eve of Independence Day. I completed the bows on time, but the tutorial will have to wait for another occasion.

Happy Fourth of July!