GMT: Doilies!

Thursday, January 31, 2013 No comments
 Today on Good Morning, Texas I'm sharing Valentine's crafts...using....the doily.  I submit the doily is to February what the Pumpkin is to October....almost...at least that is the trend I'm trying to start.  If I am my own world...it's catching on quickly.
One of the crafts I'm trying out is this shirt with a doily stamp.Super simple, I saw this at artful, and I knew it would be the perfect addition to 's wardrobe this Valentine's Day. 
Super easy-you just need a doily, foam brush, paint of whatever color you choose and then another paint called textile paint (sold in the paint section).  You add a few drops of this to any paint and it makes it so that once the shirt is ironed, the paint is set in and can be washed etc. 
Most craft stores sell plain t's for a few bucks, and every other week they are on sale for less than that.  I found a few for a buck in the clearance section of a super center. 
The one thing I learned it to be generous with the paint.  I had a big globe and added the textile medium, then just mixed it with my brush. 
Paint the back of the doily, again, be really generous so that it will stamp onto the shirt and leave enough residue to make the design. 
I put a plastic bag between the front and back of the shirt so it wouldn't leak through and then  placed the doily (paint side down) on the shirt....
I pressed it down with a bag so that it would seep out and smear as much. 
OK, here was my learning curve-the first time there wasn't enough paint....I pulled it off, added more paint and went over the exact same area, not hard at all since it's not about perfection....peal, iron, wear. 
I'll probably bedazzle these a bit with some Valentine's themed pins. 
My other two crafts I'll be posting soon along with the video of the segment, which will then live on facebook. In the meantime....I have to share this adorable necklace my friend Jan gave me awhile back.   I'm wearing it today -so perfect for Valentine's (and me-not too short- these chunkier necklaces are usually so short I look like a Flintstone).  She sells jewelry (Premier).   I tell you this only because I am slightly obsessed with this necklace, and Jan is a sweet heart.  There is no incentive for telling you about this necklace-  I just love sharing fun finds by nice people.    I met Jan this summer on a mission trip to the Amazon.  I get emails from time to time after GMT about random things like this, so....if you want a cute necklace, you'd be getting it from a nice gal-I'm just going to skip the process and say you can email her at jandrook@gmail.com.  I'll be posting the rest of my project over the next week or so.  :O)

Bow: Purple Posie Felt Bow

Wednesday, January 30, 2013 1 comment
 The design of this bow is actually what got me started on the felt bow craze....when I found myself adding a similar bow to a basket on a website....for 7 dollars.....and realizing how easy it would be to make my own.....I got busy.  I bought some pearl dots, felt, and elastic.  The elastic made more than 10 bows! 
 I cut two strips from the felt (just about 1/4 inch wide.  The felt was 15 cents a piece,...you could make quite a few of these bows out of that piece!
 The pearl has a stick back, but I added a dab of glue to hold it down, along with two leaves, and then I just started adding a few dots to the side every few centimenters and wrapping around my thing felt.
Dot of glue, roll, dot of glue, roll some more. 
 I cut another round circle to sandwich the elastic.
 I glued the elastic down, then cover the whole circle with glue and added my posie to the top.

Bow: Daisy Hair Bow

Tuesday, January 29, 2013 No comments
 I used a die cut to punch out these little daisies.  I didn't know until recently that you can use a die cut to cut felt....hmmmm...makes life a little easier.  It has to be a machine with the presses....I haven't figured out how to do this on my cricut...yet.  You can also just cut out the shapes of the daisies....
Once I had a little collection, I sewed them to a small circle with a seed pearl to hold them down. 
 I added leaves, glued on the elastic, then cover the whole thing with another circle that I super glued to the base. 
 A little daisy blossom for a little dainty girl. 

Bow: Yellow Felt Bow

Monday, January 28, 2013 No comments
 Hello, my name is Christy and I'm a felt bow-a-holic.  :wipes brow:  Just 11 more steps to go.   I'll work on that....tomorrow.  Soooooo, everyone I know seems to be producing baby girls these days.  I.  Can't.  Even.  Stand.  The.  Cuteness....going on in my life right now.  Everytime I see these lil' frilly nuggets they are all glammed up with super duper cute accessories.  So.....I've done what I do best and I've deconstructed each in my head.....ran home....and....reproduced these lil' cute bows.  OK, and can I just say, these things are selling for 6-8 dollars, and they literally cost just pennies to make.....like, maybe 25 cents once you buy the supplies and if you use it to make as many bows as the materials can make.....and even if you don't, all the supplies, that would make a ton of bows is super cheap.  AND, super easy.  So.....I'm going to be deconstructing and reconstructing these bows on my blog this week.  I made all these bows for a newborn, so the elastic is about 17 inches.  The bigger the baby...add an inch or so, you can look up measurments online. 
This bow requires 6 little circles (don't count....one is MIA here)....I cut mine to be about 1 1/2 inches.  It doesn't have to be perfect.
 Heat up a glue gun, fold one circle in half, add a dab near the crease to hold it down. 
Fold it in half again, and add another little glue near the center (you don't want to glue the whole thing, or it won't flop open a little like a petal....just glue a dot in the middle to hold it closed. 
 Start gluing this one (of four total) to one of your other squares, the base will be 1/4 of the circle.  Below is two glued down. 
 Once all four are glued, I added a pearl to the middle with more hot glue....you could also use a rhinestone....that's coming later. 
 I glued the ends of the elastic to piece number six, then glued my flower to the round circle withe the elastic to 'sandwich' and hide that elastic.  I also glued on some little leaves. 

Bow: Spray Rose Felt Bow

Friday, January 25, 2013 1 comment
 This is another favorite of mine, these little roses are really easy to make, and I'll be sharing a tutorial soon, but look....you can buy these at the craft store!!!  I bought a little row at Michaels.....
 It doesn't get any easier than this to make a bow.....I took a little strip o felt and glued these down to it....
 I glued a 17 inch (newborn size) elastic to the second piece, then glued the top piece with the three roses on top. 
Ridiculously cute, ridiculously easy....I'll be sharing a bunch of felt bows I made....next week. 

Month to Month Mickey Stickers

Thursday, January 24, 2013 No comments
Last spring I made month to month onsies for a friend of mine who had a little girl.  The idea is they wear them each month for a picture to document their growth.  I used transfer paper, and I posted the process here.  I feel like onsies are fairly forgiving, but I also have seen these little round stickers you can buy for onsies (though the older the kiddo gets heading towards that '12th' month, the more the likelihood you may need to sneak this sticker on from what a few friends shared).  I decided I wanted to recycle the idea for my friend Maurine who is having baby boy #2 in just a few short weeks.  She is also in love with all things Disney, as is her first little guy, Donovan.  I decided to explore the options of making my own stickers, and personalizing them with a Mickey them (which went with my whole gift....more on that soon). 
 The first step was finding some stickers.....I hunted down 4 inch stickers, and found them for a reasonable price (you get 80 stickers,which will make quite a few sets of these for the future) at labeloutfitters.com.  I can't really say they are superior to any other product, I'll just say they were the only ones I was able to find, and they worked for my purpose, BUT I could not find a template online for four circles....enter my ghetto computer skills. 
 So....I created this Mickey belly (I saw one similar I liked) in paint shop (yes, 11th grade computer teacher-that did come in handy).  You are free to use it, I saved it here (I just used 'snag it or print page' and a free Disney font to change the month). 
 I printed off a few test copies, used a window to hold the sticker in front to see if the size was right....and then I cut up my stickers, put them directly over the circle, taped the corners, and print each month. 
 Ghetto fabulous, I think so!   I'm really not interested in brushing up on computer skills or circle formatting blah blah blah.....I'm happy with the results and have big plans for the other stickers....just as soon as the rest of my friends give me a reason to start printing. 
I can't wait to see the little guy in a picture each month wearing his Mickey Belly. 

Picture Pages (AKA Dictionary Page Print)

Wednesday, January 23, 2013 No comments
 I've been seeing these little dictionary page printings all over the net....for sale.  Uhhh, I've been around for a little while, I have an expired dictionary or six in my possession...and the ability to do a little google search for a picture.  I have a lot of 'travel' stuff in my house/living room where this is going to live, so after deciding on the word 'destination'....I located this page in the dictionary and ripped that puppy out (I'm sure it's not necessary to match the page with the word to the picture/word...unless you are me, then it's necessary, any old vintage book page ain't gonna work for my peace of mind!). 
I figured out the size and font I wanted and printed it off on some scratch copy paper. 
I then taped the edges of the page I wanted and positioned it to how/where I wanted the picture/wording to go. 
 I ran it through the printer....
 It was smaller than the 8x10 page, so I created my own mat with some scrapbook paper. 
Simple and fun....and I have a few thousand more dictionary pages I can now go find pictures and phrases for....