Wedding gift, numero tres

The third and final installment in the "Wedding Gift" series.

I saw this picture on pinterest and fell in love.  (Picture from here.)

 I thought some sort of glass etching would be a really nice, personalized wedding gift.  Maybe a vase or a candle holder?  (Again, I didn't know the couple very well - what if she hates to bake?  Then a personalized casserole dish is a bad idea.)  Then I went to Michael's and realized the supplies for glass etching are a little on the spendy side.  And after reading the instructions, it seemed a little putzy for me.  So on to plan B.

I bought some Krylon Frosted Glass Finish spray paint.  Which, contrary to logic, is not located with the rest of the spray paint.  It's with the glass paint.  I also bought a cool vase from Goodwill.

For $2.99.  Holla!

Then I got out my trusty contact paper.  I printed off a "G" from the computer in a font and size I liked (their last name starts with G, in case you thought I just picked a random letter), cut it out and traced it on my contact paper.  Be sure you trace it on the top of the contact paper so you don't get a backward letter.  Unless that's the look you're going for.  Then trace however you darn well please.  Stick the letter wherever you want it.  Sorry I don't have pictures for this step.  My friend Emily and I were having a craft day and I got distracted by the cute stuff she was making.

Next I took the vase with the contact paper letter on it outside and sprayed away.  It took a couple coats to get the coverage I was looking for.  (Is it creepy that I was hearing Sherry from Young House Love saying "thin, even coats" in my head?  Stalker?)

Here's what it looked like after it dried.

After peeling off the "G" I filled the bottom with some rocks and them put a candle in it (both of which I had on hand.)  Ta-da!

I was super impressed with how it came out!  SOOO easy!

Here's the cost break down:

vase: $2.99

Krylon Frosted Glass Finish spray: $9.98 (and I didn't have a coupon :s)

contact paper: $0 (already owned)

candle: $0 (already owned)

rocks: $0 (already owned)

TOTAL: $12.97

On-Going Total for wedding gifts uno, dos and tres: $25.23

Not bad for a three piece, personalized wedding gift!

Wedding gift, numero dos

As I mentioned earlier, we went to the wedding of a couple who has everything, so I made them three personalized items.  Numero uno was a Christmas ornament made from their wedding invitation.  Numero dos was inspired by this framed wedding date that I found on pinterest. 

Here's the finished product:

The couple got married on Sept. 10 (hence the 9-10-11), so the babe and I went on a walk one morning and I took pictures of numbers.  I may or may not have gotten some weird looks from people driving by.  The 9 and 10 are from mailboxes and the 11 is from a garbage can.  Romantic, I know. 

Then I took my camera to Targhetto, cropped the pics and changed them to sepia (to match the brown frame), put them in the frame and voila, instant wedding present:

Total Cost:

- Frame: $10.26 (on sale at Michael's)

- Pictures $0.75

TOTAL: $11.01

On-going total (including numero uno): $12.26

Numero tres is up next!



Wedding gift, numero uno

Justin and I went to a beautiful wedding a couple of weekends ago.  The couple had registered at one of those donate-to-our-honeymoon sites.  I checked it out, but wasn't sold.  (Something about typos on websites that I give my credit card number on makes me feel like my identity may or may not get stolen...)  So that was a no go.  Back to the drawing board.  This couple has everything.  They have a hovercraft.  They have everything.  I don't know them super well (the groom is one of Justin's poker buddies), so that made figuring out what to get them even harder.  That's when I decided I would make them something and headed over to my dear friend pinterest  where I found this adorable idea for a Christmas ornament made from the couple's wedding invitation.
 

And can I say how easy it was?  The only things you need are a clear ball ornament, the invitation, scissors and a pencil. 

Step 1: Cut the invitation into strips.  I made mine various sizes. Try to get strips with things like their names and the wedding date.

Step 2:  Wrap each strip around a pencil to curl it.

Step 3: Take the top off of the ornament and put the curls in.  If using glass ornaments, be careful of sharp pokeys at the opening...ouch.)

Step 4: Put the top back on, tie a ribbon and admire your handiwork.

Total Cost:

- Ornament: $1.25 (I got a 4-pack for $5 at Michael's)

- Invitation: free

- Ribbon: free (I just grabbed some from my stash)

TOTAL: $1.25 - not bad for an adorable and personal wedding gift!

Stay tuned for info on the two other things I made for them

Tarf

What's that?  You've never heard of a Tarf?  Seriously?  Do you live under a rock?  Probably not, because I just made that term up.  Pretty catchy.  Anyway, a Tarf is the love child of a T-shirt and a scarf.  I saw this on Pinterest (go figure) and it looked easy enough.

This project requires all of 4 things - old T-shirt, cutting mat, ruler, rotary cutter.  You could probably get away with just the T-shirt and some scissors, though...

Step 1: Square up your T and cut off the bottom hem

Step 2: Then cut your T into strips.  I think mine were an inch or an inch and a half wide.

Step 4:  Grab a strip or two and stretch it so the edges curl.  You'll have a pile like this when you're done.

Step 5: Put your new Tarf on!

I had a few loops that were longer than the rest after stretching.  So I just didn't use them. 

So easy!  It seriously took me less than 15 minutes, including gathering my supplies.  (Side note:  Does anyone ever say "It jokingly took me..."?  And that's how my weird brain works.)

Go make yourself a Tarf!

Drawstring Bag

I made fabric letters the other day for a friend's little boy and wanted something fun to store them in.  So what did my brilliant mind come up with?  A drawstring bag.  I know, super original.  I had never made a drawstring bag before, but I only made one mistake while sewing it.  I call that a success.

I suppose it would be a lot easier to make a drawstring bag out of one big piece of fabric.  But where's the fun in that?  And I kind of wanted to keep with the "rainbow colors" theme of the fabric letters, so I did a little extra sewing.  Honestly, I don't really remember the dimensions for my bag.  I just piled the letters on top of the piece of fabric and it looked like a good fit so I went for it.

Step 1: Sew some strips of fabric together to make a larger piece.   How's that for vague instructions?

I decided to make the top of the bag  (where the drawstring goes) a different fabric.  I did this because I thought it would be easier to make and thread the drawstring tube without all the seams from the colored fabric getting in the way.

Step 2: Fold one of the long edges over about a 1/4 inch and sew it in place.

Step 3: Make a little hem on the short ends of the fabric.  If you look closely at the picture, you can see the hem is kind of triangular so that there's room for that little drawstring-closure dealy when the bag is finished.  Also if you look closely, you'll see the mistake I made.  I sewed the tube for the drawstring before hemming the short edges.  I'd like to say I noticed the mistake quickly, but that would be a lie.  I had completely sewn the tub and had the fabric in my sewing machine ready to hem those edges when I realized that would actually sew the tube shut.  Genius.  Pure genius.

Step 4: Then fold the long edge (the one that you hemmed in step 2) over about 1 1/2 inches and sew in place (this is the tube for the drawstring, so adjust the width as necessary for your string).

Ta da!  You have a tube for your drawstring!

Step 5: Attach the drawstring piece to the rest of the bag, sew the bottom and sides up, thread the drawstring through, attach the drawstring closure thingy and you're done!

Here's the finished product!

Fabric Letters

 I love fabric.  If I were being honest, that "love" might teeter on the edge of having a sick obsession.  Tomatoes, tomahtoes.  Anyway, my friend Laurali's little guy was turning one and I wanted to make him a fun gift.  I found my inspiration on pinterest, of course.  They were adorable fabric letters - love.  For this project you need an assortment of fabric, batting, letters to trace, a fabric pen and a sewing machine.

The first (and most fun) step in creating these bad boys is to get all of your fabric together and decide what order you want it in.  I did mine in rainbow order with some brown at the end.  Theoretically you'll need 26 different fabrics.  The little boy I was making these for has some double/triple letters in his name, so I ended up needing 29 fabrics.

The next step is to cut your fabric and batting into squares/rectangles that will fit the letters.  To make my letter templates, I just did a word document with a font and size I liked, printed them on cardstock and cut them out.

This picture is probably not the best to use for this step, but it was the only one I took.  On the right side of one piece of fabric, trace the letter backward using a disappearing ink fabric pen.  (I realized after tracing this one that my "J" is most definitely NOT backward...)  Then you're going to make a little sandwich of fabric (right side touching the table), batting, batting, fabric facing up.

 Next, you're going to pin it together and sew along the lines.  If the letter has a middle piece that needs to be sewn (A, B, Q, etc.) I found it was easiest to start with that part and then do the outside.  After you've sewn on the lines, use your fabric scissors and cut about 1/4 inch away from your sewn lines.  And that's it!  You could probably use an X-acto knife and cut out the centers of the letters that need it, but you don't have to.  I didn't.

Here's my completed pile of letters! 

And here's the birthday boy's name in his new letters



I also made a little drawstring bag for the letters that I'll post soon.  :)