refashion: painted shoes

When I did my big closet clean out, I set aside anything I could refashion or repurpose. The pile was actually quite large and I am trying to get through them all in my 30 days. I don't think that is going to happen but I am plugging away at it and will post my refashions here. 

First up! I found these green heels at a thrift store for a couple of bucks and loved the color. I still love the color but I never wore them and every time I put them on, I just didn't feel them. But I like the shape and thought I could give them new life. And hey, if it failed then no love lost. 

I opted to paint them as they are made out of canvas with leather/fake leather insoles. This project was simple and would be great if you have minimal crafting skills. 

You need: 

-canvas shoes

-brushes, one big for coverage and one small for details

-masking tape or painter's tape

-paper towels to scrunch in the toe

-acrylic paint, I chose a wine red and added a hint of bright red to liven it up

1. Start by cleaning shoes if needed and tape off the leather area and the soles. I also stuffed a paper towel in the toe area. Cover your work space with newspapers and gather your painting supplies.

2. Invite a helper to sit and watch. 

3. Start painting. You'll probably want/need to do two coats. Two thinner coats vs one thick coat will produce better results.

4. Examine shoes from all angles to make sure you got all the cracks and crevices.

5. Once you are done with your two coats, allow to dry completely. This is the hardest for me as I am super impatient. Set aside somewhere to dry where you won't be tempted to cheat. 

6. Step out in your new shoes for fall! I am really happy with how they came out and can't wait to wear them when my 30 days are up. Don't forget to update your nail polish to a more seasonal color than hot pink... 

oh baby baby: crib bedding

 Finally got around to setting up the crib and taking pictures of the bedding I made. I don't have tutorials on each thing I made but I am going to link to inspirations, techniques and stores I resourced.

Making a crib sheet was SUPER easy and actually quite affordable. I found this tutorial from danamadeit and lucked out being able to order more of this sweet cherry print online. I already have white sheets from Henry but wanted something fun and since I fell in love with this soft cherry fabric while making the quilt, I just had to have it. 

Plus I couldn't find a lot of crib sheet options in red that weren't thick chevron stripes or really bold. Nothing struck my fancy. 

 For the bumper I just covered Henry's old bumper but I found this tutorial useful for how to do the ties. I felt like last time the ribbons I used were just barely able to hold the bumper up. For the outer panels, I just used a red fabric from my quilt and for the inner panels, I made extra squares to match the quilt. I kind of just patched the whole things together, no really great sewing skills required just a little fudging here and there. I also don't plan on having this in the crib for months as I know they are a safety concern but eventually it will be helpful to keep little legs and arms inside.

The crib skirt I bought at Target last time and love that I chose something neutral because I can use it again.

 Here is the finished quilt! I used the same pattern as Henry's that I purchased off etsy through Kelly McCaleb's shop. Her shop is closed but I bet if you messaged her you could get the pattern too. I love how this turned out.

 A medley of red and white patterns. This time I kept it simple by just folding over the backing to make the binding instead of using bias tape. So much easier.

The back is not one solid piece of fabric but all the scraps from the front. I love that it is chunky pieces and that you can see the white stitching contrasting on the red. Its like two quilts in one.

oh baby baby: be cool baby art

 So her little sliver of Henry's room is really coming along. Mostly we have just been throwing things into her crib for storage but I finally got some things cleaned out and some piles resolved and some laundry done. Last night I finished this wall hanging--in your face, bed rest!--and I love how it turned out.

Also note that curtain. That is actually a door. It leads to the bathroom but since we never use it or allow Henry to use it, we placed the crib in front of it. It looked weird, just a door chilling behind the crib so I rigged up this basic curtain to give the illusion of a window and to soften the wall.

Inspired by this art by Jimmy Marble, I pinned this picture to my baby board. I was originally just going to paint something similar but when faced with hours of resting, I rethought my plan. Steve thinks it looks like a 4th grader made it but I was intrigued by the simplicity of the cut outs. I also like the wording. Its perfect above a crib. Just relax baby, stop crying. Or I really want my daughter to be cool and awesome. Either way works.

 So instead of painting it or doing cut outs, I embroidered the design. By hand. Holy Cow this took forever but luckily time is what I have these days.

 I looked through my fabric stash and settled on this vintage swiss dot fabric. Four skeins of red embroidery floss, some free handed basic letters and brushing up on hand stitching completed the job. I don't really know anything about embroidery and only learned a few basic stitches but I had fun playing with texture and techniques.

 I stretched the fabric over an old canvas I had lying around. So this literally only cost me $1 for the thread. I guess it pays to be burdened by a huge stash of art supplies.

I particularly love how the B's turned out.

Next up, bedding...

baby crafting: recovered swing and boppy

 When we had Henry we bought a used swing for a couple of dollars off of craigslist. It was ugly but I wasn't interested in spending a lot in case Henry didn't like it. I also needed something small and compact as our old apartment was tiny.

 This time around I thought I would spruce it up a bit. I forgot to take a before picture and couldn't find one when Henry was a baby. So I lucked out at Walmart and got all the fabric for $3. As usual with Walmart customer service, I was left standing at the cutting counter for 30 minutes. I think the lady felt bad for me because she gave me the fabric at clearance pricing even after I pointed out her mistake.

I love how it turned out and with fresh batteries, we're all set. I did not make a tutorial as it was relatively simple yet there are so many steps I wouldn't have felt like I could/would do a good job.

 Big Mickey likes it too.

 Next up was to recover the boppy. If you are going to buy one baby thing, I would highly recommend a boppy. I bought the basic pillow form from Joann Fabrics and it came with a pattern for making a cover. Last time I used a combination of green minky fabric and vintage plaid. Well the plaid ended up ripping after the first time I washed it and I never made a new cover.

 This time we're brightening things up with floral and aqua. Luckily I had saved my boppy cover pattern but it would be pretty easy to draft a pattern from an existing pillow.

 Love the combination of the super soft minky and the punchy floral.

 Still loving this pillow

years later.

baby crafting: zebra wall hanging

When we got Henry's new dresser, I knew I would be moving his old dresser out into the living room to be the baby's new dresser and changing table. It fits perfectly squeezed in between the kid's room on the left and the bathroom on the right. All her 0-3 month clothes fill the drawers and the cabinet has the next size all ready to go. I wanted something to hang above it to tie the whole space together. I found this awesome wall hanging from a french children's blog and fell in love with the charming banner carrying zebra. 

 Here is the inspiration photo. 

So now looking at them side by side, my zebra is a little squatter and not as graceful looking. Ha ha. Oh well. Once you forget what the original looks like it looks pretty cute and enough like a zebra that it is not such a big deal. 

I vow to never compare them again in the future. 

 I didn't put together a tutorial on this as I was just copying someone else's design for personal use. But here is the gist of what I did. The size is large, one yard of fabric (36X44"), I bought two yards of fabric so I could have a nice finished back . I just bought a natural cotton muslin as I wanted the banner to be white. I used black wool felt for the zebra and heat n bonded it in place. I tried hard to match the design of the original by just eyeballing it. I also laid everything out before ironing into place. The banner is just white cotton with colorful wool felt squares and other fabric scraps. 

The only sewing I did was sewing the back to the front and then sewing the casing for the dowels. I also sewed on the pom poms but it was all very basic and minimal. 

To make it a wall hanging, I bought two 36" dowels and inserted them into the panel so the hanging would hang straight. Adding the pink pom poms really helps the design pop especially against our cream walls. Steve even mentioned that it would look better against a colorful wall but I definitely don't want to paint and I didn't think his enthusiasm would translate into a solo painting project. 

I have another art project in the works for above the crib and it is "rest" friendly. Meaning I can do it while sitting in my favorite chair watching Parenthood. 

oh baby baby: gold sequined pencil skirt

So you know I lead the music at church. Its one of my many growing talents. Well anyway I totally tripped when I got up to lead a song on Sunday. Luckily I caught myself but it was embarrassing and I immediately started sweating and smiling to cover it up. Only a couple more Sundays of that left.

When you are pregnant and love skirts and dresses and have to wear one almost every day either to teach seminary or go to church, you suddenly realize that maternity skirt options are limited. This time I really lucked out with dresses but sometimes separates are easier and give you more options. I had one fantastic knit pencil skirt from the Gap last time and figured I could use it as a pattern to make another one.

Over Christmas I made a special trip to Joann Fabrics with the intent of finding a unique knit to make into a skirt. If you have experience shopping for knit yardage you know it can be tricky. Well I fell hard for this gold sequined sweater knit. You can actually still buy it here.

 I bought a yard of it and whipped it into the most comfy skirt ever. Okay lets be honest, sequins totally itch but I am willing to suffer for style. I love how it looks with simple fitted tees and I like it paired with flowier tops like this olive green tunic. This top is another great find from H&M. Its non maternity but since it is stretchy and voluminous, it works.

And I think it is going to work as a non maternity skirt too which is awesome because I would hate to pack it away. Thank heavens for knit!

 And whether paired with ankle boots, sandals or bright orange and gold heels, its a win win. I scored these heels at Last Chance also in Arizona and fell in love with the super soft leather and fun gold strap. I think I scared my mother in law a little when I showed up with them in line. I am definitely not afraid of color!

I used a combination of these easy maternity skirt tutorials (pencil skirt here...comfy elastic band skirt here) and I used an old skirt as a basic pattern. Happy Belly Sewing!

baby crafting: baby tank and dress

It seems like eons ago that I made all these clothes. Maybe I subconsciously knew that my final pregnant weeks would be "take it easy" weeks. I don't regret spending all of January and February getting my nesting craft on.

baby tank, 3-6 mon

Today I am reviewing his super cute baby tank pattern and tutorial from DanaMade. All her patterns are easy to follow and adjust to your own style. I pretty much made these as she directed using her pattern and her technique for the knit bias tape. She gives a couple of ways of finishing each style, some with bows and ties and some with completely sewn necklines like the ones I did.

I found her method of attaching the bias tape in the correct way the most useful and helpful. And if you choose to do it this way, I would first attach it to the wrong side of the fabric and then fold over to the right side so your exposed stitching is the better stitching.

baby tank dress, 3-6 mons

I made a couple of tanks, the one above and below in fun knits from Joann Fabrics. You might recognize the striped fabric from another shirt I made but that one was over-dyed pink. The bias tapes were cut from old t shirts. The tank dress above was made by simply extending the length of the tank. I used an existing dress for the length and followed the lines of the tank in the a-line shape. This vintage knit I found at a yard sale and have been hanging on to it for years, I love it combined with the white trim. Its sporty and summery.

baby tank, 3-6 mons

baby crafting: Up in the Air Mobile

 I never made a mobile for Henry's room when he was a baby. I just never got around to it. Well this time I was determined to make one as they can be so cute and I am all about cuteness these days.

I found a lot of inspiration on Pinterest. Just searching "baby mobile" gave me hundreds of ideas. I originally fell in love with the hot air balloons and then from there decided to go with an "Up in the Air" theme.

After I had my theme I brainstormed all the things you could find in the sky: hot air balloons, sun, clouds, rain clouds, birds, airplane, rainbow, kite. I narrowed it down a bit based on ability, wouldn't it be amazing to be able to make a felt airplane? And I am kind of sick of birds so I ditched that too.

For the sun I used this tutorial on making a sunburst out of tissue paper. Instead of using tissue paper I bought 1/8 yard yellow tulle. It was like 19 cents. I cut it into two pieces and then made the pom poms and hand stitched them onto wool felt sunbursts. It was easier to stitch the pom poms onto the bursts and then stitch the bursts together. My pom poms had to be trimmed once they were sewed into place too.

For the hot air balloons, I used this tutorial. I used the medium and small patterns. I also just sewed them on my sewing machine so I would recommend adding a seam allowance to the pattern if you opt not to hand stitch them. I did hand stitch the bunting on the blue one after I chain stitched the triangles through my machine. Instead of using corks for the baskets, I just cut narrow strips of brown wool felt and rolled them until I got the right size. Kind of like rolling a cinnamon roll except I used hot glue to keep them in place instead of frosting. A couple of lengths of brown embroidery floss had them hanging and ready for flight.

I made two clouds, one without rain drops and one with rain. Clouds are super easy. I just freehanded the shape and then sewed them on the sewing machine. Don't forget to leave a hole for stuffing. I hand sewed them closed and also attached the rain with thread by hand. The best way to make rain drops would be to sandwich two pieces of wool felt and sew the outlines of all the drops before cutting them out. Trying to sew around those tiny drops on your machine would be a nightmare. I opted for aqua on one side and blue on the other.

For the kite I just free handed a diamond shape in mint felt. The tale is actually ribbon hot glued to cover a twist tie. I wanted something with wire so it would retain it's shape and a twist tie was the perfect length. White yarn bows complete the look. I actually hot glued the ribbon into the kite and then stitched around the edge using a zigzag stitch.

For the rainbow I chose three colors of pink wool felt but you could use any colors. I traced a circle from a cereal bowl and cut out one of each. I kept the darkest pink the whole circle and made each one a little smaller. I hand sewed them all together around each circle using a blanket stitch. Then I folded the circle in half and cut out the arch. I hand sewed the arch shut and then sewed the top rounded edge shut too, stuffing it as I went. That was a terrible description but as I didn't take how-to pictures that is the best I can do.

For the mobile hanging structure I just used an old embroidery hoop. I found the scalloped edge inspiration here. Putting it all together I tried to vary the lengths of each hanging item so you could see them staggered. I just used light blue thread to hang them from the hoop. Then I hot glued thin strips of scalloped, light blue felt around the edge and inside the hoop too. I used clear fishing wire to hang it from the ceiling. This was total trial and error and I had to retie the strands a few times to get them to be even when hanging. I guess I could have measured them for more accuracy but then that would have been too easy, right?

I am super pleased with how this turned out. And since I already had all the supplies except the tulle it only cost me 19 cents and a few hours work.