Teeny Tiny Banner How-To

Now this is the fun part -- the decorating! And making teeny tiny little things, like this banner for the dollhouse's "play room." You could also make one of these cuties for another purpose, such as decorating a little bulletin board or shelf, etc. Here's how to make one.

1. Get some regular width, single-fold bias tape (I found the red tape I used at the thrift shop for $.25 woo) and measure the length you'll need for your banner. Allow for a little bit of extra tape at the ends if you need it for attaching your banner to something.

2. Draw or trace a little triangle shape onto some heavy cardboard or cardstock (I love to use the backs of scrapbook paper pads). Cut it out. This will be the template for your little fabric triangles.

3. Gather up a bunch of fabric scraps (even teensy ones work for this project) in lots of different colors. Using the template, cut out as many triangles as you need to cover the length of the bias tape.

4. Find a work surface where you can lay your bias tape out straight and flat, folded part facing up. Set your first triangle down at one end of the bias tape. The tops of the triangles should hit the middle of the tape, so that you can fold your tape in half exactly. Lay the triangles tip to tip all the way down your tape.

5. Once you are satisfied with the layout and color arrangement, secure each triangle to the bias tape with a teeny bit of fabric glue.

6. This is probably going way overboard, but before folding over the top half of the bias tape to iron it down, I stuck a thin little ribbon of fusible tape down the length of the banner. This is probably unnecessary, but it did make it really easy to keep the banner nice and neat when I ironed it down.

7. As noted, fold over the top half of the bias tape onto the triangles so that the bias tape is folded perfectly in half. Use the tip of your hot iron to iron it flat.

8. Sew with a straight stitch (or whatever stitch you choose). And that's it!!! All done.

You can do all your cutting while you are watching trash TV, no problem. The best part is that this project turns out S CUTE!!!! These pictures do not do it justice at all. It looks so adorable that I want to move into the dollhouse. Thanks for all your continued comments and ideas! I really, really appreciate them!

Instant Gratification

Inspired by these fabulous dish towels I spotted on Flickr user Willy-Nilly's photostream, I decided to whip up a couple myself. It seriously takes about 15 minutes to make one, and that's with junky TV (Top Model marathon) on in the background. I took four pre-cut, 4" x 4" charm squares (of course you can cut your own) and sewed them together. Then I pressed the seams flat. Then you just attach your nice fabric strip to a dish towel using whatever method is easiest for you. I sewed the fabric strip along the bottom, right side facing the towel, and then folded it up (so the right side of the strip is now facing out) and pressed it flat against the towel. Then I ironed quarter-inch seams on the other three sides and pinned everything down. Then I top-stitched all the way around. I used a zig-zag, but I think a straight stitch probably would have looked nicer. Super easy, and almost instantly gratifying. A nice gift idea too, I think.

Meet The Behemoth

This is the little one's future Christmas present: a gigantic, nearly four-foot tall bookcase that I am turning into a dollhouse. The fun part will be painting, wallpapering, making little curtains and rugs, etc. The harder part will be getting together the furniture without spending a lot of money. Have you seen how much dollhouse furniture costs!? Holy cow. Anyway, here is the starting point, and I will update as I go along. If you know of any great dollhouse furniture sources, please let me know!

Faux Quilted Stocking Tutorial

Last Christmas I came up with this method for making a quilted Christmas stocking without actually knowing how to quilt. The key is to use a quilted pillow sham. You can get a quilted sham lots of places -- this one is Simply Shabby Chic by Rachel Ashwell for Target. It's green and red and shabbily Christmas-y. It was $12 on clearance (yes, pricey, but I really liked it).

Lay the sham face down and cut off the back. Save it for another use. Be careful when cutting it off not to cut the ruffly that goes around the sham.

Fold the sham in half, right sides together. Use another stocking as a template, and lay about .75 inch from the fold.

Line up the top of your template stocking just below the ruffle at the top of the sham.

Using a disappearing ink pen, outline the template stocking on the sham, leaving a one-half inch seam allowance. Cut along the outline and lay scraps to the side.


Keeping right sides together, make sure your two stocking pieces are lined up exactly by lining up the top seams and then smoothing down the rest of the way. Starting at the top, pin the pieces together and set aside for a minute.

Now you need to make a hanger for the stocking. From the scraps of the sham, cut a piece about 6 inches by 2.5 inches.

Rather than trying to sew rights sides together and turning the bulky material, I sew wrong sides together with a straight stitch and then a zig-zag stich. Trim close to the stitching and no one will even notice.

Now back to the stocking. I put it on the sewing machine with the toe pointed to the right. Start sewing at the top of the toe side. I used a triple stitch for durability.

When you get near the end of sewing around the stocking, it's time to add the hanger. Fold the hanger in half (stitched side toward the bottom of the stocking) and place INSIDE the stocking so that when you turn it right side out, the hanger will be on the outside of the stocking. It should look like this.

This part is a pain to sew. Look at how far away the presser foot is from the sewing machine! I prefer to use the handwheel for this part. After you've sewn past the thick part, go back to the triple stitch to finish sewing the last bit of the stocking.

Once you've sewn all the way around, if you are dissatisfied with the shape of your stocking, just use your marking pen to redraw then lines you don't like, then sew again and trim the edges.

Turn the stocking right side out, press it and you can cross one more thing off your handmade Christmas list! Email me if you have any questions.

Have a great day!

Super Easy Teeshirt Embellishment

I love crocheted flowers. I wish I knew how to crochet . . . Sigh. Anyway, I order a huge bag of all sizes of them for about $6 on eBay and have used them on lots of things. Here is a plain white teeshirt spiffed up with a few of them.


I ironed the flowers onto the shirt using double-sided fusible interfacing, just to hold them in place. Then I sewed them on using a zig-zag stitch and trying to get close to the edges so they don't curl up. They'll probably curl a little in the wash, but they should iron flat. So this whole project cost about $5, including the teeshirt, which is a lot cheaper than similar ones from Boden, Gymboree, etc. By the way, thanks so much for checking out my blog, and I hope to be posting more when summer winds down!

My Favorite Tutorials

I am working on two big projects, and I'm still not finished. I hope to have some pictures later this week. In the meantime, check out some of my all-time favorite internet tutorials. (I'm sorry not to include photos, but I didn't have time to check each blog's policy on using images, etc.). I'll come back and add some more tomorrow.

V & Co.'s amazing Fabric Easter Basket at Moda Bake Shop
Inchmark's very chic Fabric Scrap Memory Game
Traditional but still awesome Canning Jar Pincushion by Suzanne's Crazy for Collars
A divine honeycomb smocking how-to on Tumbling Blocks
Crafty Carnival's precious Tooth Fairy Pillow
Among many others, Purl Bee's Connect the Dots Pillows and Party Garland
Glue Gun Annie's insanely awesome Pencil Case
The Red Thread's lovely Paper Christmas Wreath
An oldie but goody -- Artsy-Craftsy Babe's Fabric Flower Tutorial

Okay I can't stay awake any longer. I'll add some more tomorrow. XOXO

Fifteen Minute Toddler Tank

This is my new favorite thing to do: embellish a little toddler Target tank top with a neck ruffle.

1. Get a strip of fabric about two inches wide, give or take, and twice the length from shoulder to shoulder of the tank top. It doesn't even have to be cut on the bias. Just a strip cut straight across the fabric works. (This looks just fine not going all the way around the back, I promise. I didn't continue the ruffle around because I knew my daughter's hair would probably hit right at the top of the ruffle).

2. Anyway, sew a basting stitch from one end of the fabric strip to the other, then pull your thread to gather the strip (or use your preferred method of gathering).

3. Pin one end of your gathered strip to one shoulder, and continue pinning along the neckline until you reach the other shoulder, adjusting the gathers as you go.

4. Then sew along the ribbed neckline. Et, voila! Seriously, this took 15 minutes only because I was watching the Tori & Dean marathon in the background. Let me know if you have any questions.

Craft Room Part One And Banner How-To

Welcome to your tour of my craft room. Since I am only able to keep one section clean at a time, each section is going to require its own blog post (i.e., week of organization). Here is the little area where I do my computer printing/copying/enlarging, etc. I have an HP 4-in-1 that works okay for most things. Next to that is my little Ikea box that holds all my stickers. Next to that are a couple of magazine files I got a few years back at Target. They hold all my printing media, like cardstock, transfer paper, full-sheet labels, etc.

Banner How-To

I made a little banner to tie everything together, and it was super easy. I used double-fold bias tape because that is what I had on hand, but you could just as easily use single-fold bias tape, twill tape or even a long piece of ribbon if that's what you have handy. I will say that the bias tape is nice and firm and makes a lovely curve that lays flat against the wall. Next, Google "isosceles triangle" and print out whatever image comes up! That's what I did, then enlarged it, cut it out, traced it onto cardboard to make a template and cut out the template. After measuring the length of the banner and determining how many triangles I would need, I traced triangles onto ten fabric scraps with a disappearing ink fabric marker and cut them out. I laid the bias tape out across the ironing board. Then I took a roll of double-sided fusible web -- the really narrow kind -- and cut a long piece of it, which I then cut lengthwise. Then I laid that on the inside of the bias tape and stuck my triangles on top of it. Then I laid the other half of the fusible web on top of the triangles and pressed the bias tape closed on top of it. This way, everything stayed in place while I ironed and sewed the banner, and it gave the bias tape some additional heft. Once everything was ironed down, I sewed the length of the banner with a zig-zag stitch. I hung it up with push-pins. It was so easy, and I love how it turned out. I'm sure I'll be making a lot more banners!

I Really Like Gluing Paper To Stuff

Here is another IKEA wooden box transformation. This time it's the Mackis Paper Organizer, available in-store only. I store my stickers in it. Here's the "before" photo:
I removed the label holders from the front of the drawers; sanded it; painted it with my favorite green Folk Art paint by Plaid; and then decoupaged some Martha Stewart scrapbook paper (from Michael's) to the drawers with Mod Podge. I coated the covered drawer fronts with two coats of Lustre Mod Podge and then coated the entire thing with Ceramcoat clear varnish. I made the little drawer pulls with some ric-rack. Thanks for looking and for all your sweet comments on my last IKEA chest. They make my day!

Make A Fun Decoupaged Address Card Box

Here is another easy and fun decoupage project -- and this one will help you get organized: an address card box.

Here is what it looks like inside:


At some point, I stopped using an address book and converted to printing information onto recipe cards. I found this plain wooden recipe box at Target and decoupaged it to match my office fabrics. By way of background, I am in the process of organizing/redecorating my home office with Anna Griffin's Alix fabric and matching scrapbook paper.

I started off by sanding the box and priming it with white craft paint. I wanted the finished box to look slightly shabby, so I didn't completely cover it in paint. Then I measured each section of the box and cut the paper pieces to decoupage onto the box.

Apply Mod Podge to the box, section by section, and smooth the paper pieces on top.

For me, decoupagagin paper to wood works a lot better with lighter-weight paper, but here I used cardstock-weight scrapbook paper. You have to really make sure it is pressed down nice and flat.

I covered this box with three layers of Mod Podge and a top layer of Ceramcoat clear varnish.

For inside the box, I made dividers by tracing the dividers that came with the box onto some "chipboard" (not real chipboard, although you could buy that, but the back off of scrapbook paper pads) and cutting them out with a craft knife.

Then I applied Mod Podge to the chipboard divider and laid it glue-side down onto a piece of scrapbook paper. Using the craft knife, I cut away the excess paper. Again, press and smooth until you are sure the paper is flat and secured to the chipboard divider. Next, I used little stickers on the tabs for "abc" and so on.

Then I covered the front (papered) side of the divider in a coat of Mod Podge. Once everything was dry, I inserted the dividers into the box and added my index cards with address/phone/email/birthday information.