Craft Archives • Page 5 of 14 • diy mama

by Shelly on September 4, 2017 1 Comment

Fall Leaf Garland

Fall Leaf Garland- I’ve noticed a lot of people saying they don’t decorate for fall because Halloween is right around the corner or the decorations are not their style. I say fall deserves it’s own decorations! When I think ‘Fall’, I smell pumpkin spice lattes and bonfires. I hear cheers during football games and the crunch of dried leaves. I feel the snuggles of a warm blanket while reading a favorite book and possibly sipping warmed cider. Guys, fall is awesome and it deserves it’s own decorations.

I made the most simple felt leaf garland that is super easy to customize by changing the colors to your favorite fall pallet. This fall leaf garland can be easily customized to suit your style.

This craft could not be easier or cuter! I love how happy these colors play together. These colors were inspired by a jewel toned hat I’d gotten one year. I always buy amazing hats but never wear them. Maybe this year will be the year of hat wearing!

If you follow me on Instagram, you’d have already seen these from last year but I wanted to be sure to do a tutorial this year.
Materials Needed:

Felt of your color choice
A piece of sturdy paper (for leaf stencil)
Scissors
Chunky Yarn
Tape

The first step is to cut out your leaf pattern and trace it onto your felt. Use fabric scissors for an easier cutting experience. Once all your leaves are cut, fold each leaf in half (hotdog style) and snip little holes down the middle of the leaf. I would start in the middle and cut 4 to the right and 3 to the left allowing my thread to start and finish on the same side of the leaf after it was threaded. I suggest to do small snips and make them larger if necessary to make it look like you really sewed the yarn through the leaves.

Once the leaf has it’s holes, use a piece of tape to make an aglet on the end of the yarn for easier threading. String all the leaves on your yarn and hang! Seriously. It’s that easy!

I also did the same method to make a mini garland for our family command center but cut the leaves in half.

The felt leaf garland was extremely simple to make but this bradded foam pumpkin was the easiest and fastest decoration I’ve ever made. I love his happy polka dots. It’s a nice change of pace from the orange/red/yellow standard fall decor I see in stores.

I used 7 pieces of felt from the store which allotted several garlands. I even had enough to decorate my blog/craft desk! What’d you guys think? Simple enough? What colors would you use to match your fall decor? I think this would be a fun craft to do with your kids! Maybe use it as a count down or add a leaf for every book they read in the fall!

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by Shelly on August 28, 2017 15 Comments

Love Letters Scrapbook

Love letters scrapbook is awesome to keep memories in one spot. My husband and I have a lot of letters, cards, drawings and tickets from the past 8 years. I had them all in two shoe boxes that we never looked at. I wanted to be able to have them in a place that was easy to pull out and flip through when I’m feeling especially girly and sentimental. I wanted this book to be all about the contents and not about the stickers, brads, gems and extra goodies I usually put into scrap booking, so I picked up a Smash Book binder from Michael’s and started loading everything in! Our love letters scrapbook is now one of my favorite keepsakes.

Love Letters Scrapbook

The first step was to sort through the most important memories. All of our memories are special but they can’t all fit in one book and I wanted them all in one space (up to this chapter of our lives). The next step was to attempt to put them into chronological order. This was, by far, the most time consuming step of the whole project. I didn’t stress out if I couldn’t remember when something had happened…I’d just throw it in somewhere close to that time period.

I loved that this book had a large pocket in the front and back to put larger treasures. I also used photos as pockets by adhering glue dots to the back and making it look pretty with washi tape on the front.

By layering pamphlets with their tickets, I was able to create a tangible layout. I’d kept the keycard holder from the hotel we stayed at and used it to hold the keys and tickets. I left everything in the envelopes accessible so we can pull them out later on. Envelopes also made for great pockets to hold letters.

I also bought a pack of hole punched folders to stuff holiday cards. I’ve saved all of the cards from flowers that Jeffrey has sent me and put them in the mini pocket folders. Anything that was a little heavier, I adhered with glue dots.

Anything that was double sided, I attached with washi tape so we’d be able to lift and read both sides. Again, in the above photo, I used an envelope that held a card because it had writing on the back that I didn’t want to be glued to the page.

In a few cases I had a lot of one thing (tickets, letters, art) so I made an envelope out of scrap paper and glue dots but covered with washi tape to make it a bit prettier.

I’d also gotten a clear photo holder that was by another company so I had to re-punch the holes. I wanted something clear that would hold photos, or in this case, movie tickets.

With the pack of hole punched folders I’d already mentioned, I added all of the remaining holiday cards. Another helpful technique was to accordion letters and tape one edge so you could unfold the letter to read it. I would show you a picture but I don’t want our love letters on the internet.

As always, a shot of my work area: messy. I was sure to include a few photos sprinkled throughout to show what we looked like during these memories. I have several photo scrapbooks already but wanted a memory album full of tickets and love letters. There are a few more pages left in the book but it’s so packed I can hardly wrap the elastic around it. I’ll just have to make a new one in 5 years! Have any of you made a memory album? What do you do with all the little trinkets you save from trips, birthdays and invitations?

Washi Tape Light Switch

Today I wanted to share with you how I did the quickest, quirkiest update on Soph’s light switch cover. Seriously, this project took 5min. I did a simple washi tape light switch DIY to add a little fun to her bathroom.

I have this thing about not buying new stuff until I really feel I’ve been using up my current supplies pretty steadily. I wanted to buy more washi tape but knew I hadn’t been using my current stash since my last smash book. This was the perfect solution!

Materials Needed:

Washi Tape
Scissors
Exacto Knife
Switch Plate

The first step is to figure out your color arrangement. I knew I wanted gold to be prominent so I started with it to ensure I’d have a full stripe.

I made a little gif of the process with the PartyParty app. I have no affiliation with this app or the producers but I thought it would be a fun time to try it out! It was a good thing I did because I forgot to take a ‘middle of the project’ photo!

The corners were definitely the hardest part of this project. I cut a diagonal slit in the excess tape and wrapped it the best I could to alleviate wrinkles. I don’t get too nit-picky on details like this because I’ve since realized that no one ever notices these details!

Once the entire plate is covered, it’s time to make the holes for the switches to fit. I used my exacto knife to make an X in the tape. Notice on the left hole I had to do an elongated X. This does not have to be perfect, it’s just a way to get the tape flaps back.

I also put a small slit in the screw holes. I was worried that forcing the screw through might pull up the tape or tear it in an area I could see.

I love how it adds a bit of fun to her bathroom. Don’t mind the teal tape on Oliver’s (the octopus) frame. I’d dropped him right before this shot and broke the frame! Have you ever done something to liven up a playroom or your kid’s room? Anyone do anything other than scrap book with their washi tape? How many rolls do you have? It’s addictive once you buy your first roll!

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by Shelly on August 16, 2017 4 Comments

Tie Dye With Your Toddler

Tie dye with your toddler can be tricky but I’m not one to shy away from a craft project for fear of a mess. Starting my toddler off experiencing different art forms is more important than the mess. We went to the Farmer’s Market this past weekend and stopped at a Tie Dye booth swooning over their toddler summer dresses. I caved and bought one for Sophie with a $20 price tag. Thankfully she wants to wear it every day but that was a really hard purchase. She loves the swirly colors in the dress so I thought she’d enjoy making her own tie dye clothes.

There are several different ways to approach tie dye but I’ll be showing you the easiest way to tie dye with your toddler.

Tie Dye With Your Toddler

What you’ll need:

White clothes, bags, bananas etc. washed and dried
Tie Dye Kit (I used the Tulip brand bought at Hobby Lobby but it is less expensive on Amazon)
Paper towels
Extra rubber gloves
A wire rack
Plastic tablecloth
A nearby hose

Step 1: Rubberband all clothing items. This step will mostly be done by an adult but you can ask your toddler what designs they want on their shirt. For example, I did a Mickey Mouse on my daughter’s shirt per her request.

Step 2: Lay your wire rack on top of a few layers of paper towel. We started on the table but moved to the grass once we saw how much dye gets on the table. I recommend wiping off excess dye between projects to avoid muddling of colors.

Step 3: Put gloves on yourself and your toddler. We used rubberbands to help keep the giant gloves on the kids. If you have kid gloves it would be much easier.

Step 4: Place the white clothing item on the wire rack and show your toddler how to squeeze the bottle on the shirt. I really enjoyed this video on simple swirls and this video on Earth Day shirts.

Step 5: Wrap clothing in plastic wrap or bags and let sit for 6-8 hours.

Step 6: Put on gloves. Rinse clothing in cool water until the water is murky. Remove rubberbands and continue rinsing until water is almost clear.

Step 7: Throw all tie dye items into the washer with a minimal amount of all® free clear detergent. I only use this detergent because it keeps the colors vibrant while still being gentle on my toddler’s sensitive skin.

Step 8: Hang tie dye out in the sun

Step 9: Go out and PLAY!

Do you have any tie dye experience with your kids? What worked best for you? What do you find to be the best way to keep your tie dye colors bright?

Related Posts:

Snack Necklace

Modern Crayon Holder

How to Make Time for Creativity with Kids

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by Shelly on August 14, 2017 17 Comments

Easy DIY Tassel Placemats

Tassel placemats are so easy to make from drab placemats. I love re-styling simple things for our home. It usually comes in the form of spray paint but this time, embroidery thread was the material! I recently did this to my happy yellow lamp and had been wanting to use my thread to make something else happier! I found two plain-Jane placemats that I had bought forever ago and thought they’d be perfect to spruce up with my thread.

I’d seen this idea on Design Sponge a year ago and I’m not sure why I didn’t make these sooner because they’re super fun! I wanted to make mine a bit more bold so I used brighter thread and made my tassels larger. The first step was to choose my thread colors. I used a full spool of thread for each tassel.

Easy DIY Tassel Placemats

I used my phone as a template for the length of the tassels. I wrapped almost the entire spool around my phone, leaving only enough to wrap the top of the tassel (around 4 inches.) This is not an exact measurement. Like all diy projects, just do what size you think will look best. If it doesn’t look how you envisioned it to look, just make a new one. 🙂

I followed this tutorial to finish each tassel and began sewing them onto the placemats. I had no specific way to sew the tassels on other than that I wanted them to be secure enough to not fall off after a few uses. It looks quite haphazard from the back but it’s not very noticeable from the front. If I were going to do this project again, I would have bought an embroidery needle to attach the tassels using the same thread.

I sewed 4 tassels per side (16 tassels total) but you could do as many as you like. I think they turned out very festive! They’d be perfect for a Cinco de Mayo party or deck BBQ!

On a scale of simplicity I’d give this project a 2 out of 10. For me, it was free because I had all materials on hand but this project would be an inexpensive way to make plain placemats happier! I also made a few tassels as bookmarks and to put on my keyfab that make me smile to use them. 🙂 Has anyone made tassels for any of their projects before? Any suggestions on how I could have made the attachment cleaner looking? I’m sure no one would notice if I didn’t point it out but I always see those kind of ‘flaws.’ Now I need to go get some Mexican for dinner tonight since I have these set out!

Other simple crafts:

Simple Embroidery for Beginners

Sewing Machine Cover

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Fall Leaf Garland

If you follow me on Instagram, you’d have already seen these from last year but I wanted to be sure to do a tutorial this year.
Materials Needed:

Love Letters Scrapbook

Love Letters Scrapbook

Washi Tape Light Switch

Materials Needed:

Tie Dye With Your Toddler

Tie Dye With Your Toddler

Easy DIY Tassel Placemats

Easy DIY Tassel Placemats

Life Planner

Preschool Montessori Bedroom

7 Tips to Make your Road Trip to Disney Magical