Archive | {DIY} Tutorials RSS feed for this section

I’ve discovered that the best way to be successful when it comes to a lost tooth is having an executable plan — and lucky for all of us, Phase 1 doesn’t even have to be stealthy!

I received my warning from the dentist, informing us at Big Sister’s bi-annual check-up that a tooth would likely be gone within 6 months. That got me thinking about tooth fairy pillows. From there I was able to work out what I envisioned for the pillow. So when she showed me the adult tooth already making its way through her gum, despite the baby tooth still in place, I was ready and had the pillow done the same night!

It can even be a lot of fun to include your child in the fabric choices. I let Big go through my fabric stash picking out her favorites for each piece of the house. As I said before, this part doesn’t have to be a secret!! In my world, that greatly adds to my chances for success!

Since I love you all so much, I’ve helped out with Phase 1. I’ve put together a pattern & tutorial for our Tooth Fairy House pillow. You can follow along here, or I’ve made a Printable version, along with the Pattern pieces that you can download by clicking on the image below:

You are totally going to rock this Tooth Fairy thing!! Enjoy!

***********************

To get started: Print out the Pattern Pieces.

Cut out all the pattern pieces, ensuring that they have printed at 100% by checking the measurement of the line at the bottom of the page in the box titled Print Test. It should measure 1 inch.

Cut a piece of fusible interfacing slightly larger than the house front.

Follow the instructions included with the interfacing & adhere it to the house front fabric, then cut the piece out. Cut out remaining pieces as indicated on the pattern piece.

Prepare the pieces to be assembled: 

Place the Door Front and Door Back fabric RIGHT sides together and pin in place. Stitch a 1/2” seam along the curved edge as shown by the dashed line on the pattern piece, leaving the bottom open.

Using a piece of interfacing that is just smaller than your stitching & 1/2” shorter (you can use the light grey portion as a pattern),  iron interfacing to both sides of the door.

Trim the seam allowance to 1/4” and clip the curve as shown.

Turn the door right-side-out and Press flat.

Turn the open edge inside 1/2” and stitch closed 1/8” from the edge.

Fold the Pocket fabric RIGHT sides together and pin in place.

Stitch a 1/2” seam up each side, leaving the top open.

Trim the seam allowance to 1/4” and clip corners as shown.

Turn the Pocket right-side-out and Press flat.

Turn the open edge inside 1/2” and stitch closed 1/8” from the edge.

Fold the Tab fabric in half, RIGHT sides together and pin in place.

Stitch a 1/2” seam up each side & across the top.

Trim the seam allowance to 1/4” and clip corners.

Turn the Tab right-side-out and Press flat.

Following your sewing machine’s instructions, make a button hole, centerd on the Tab ~3/16” from the closed edge.

Assemble the House:

Center Ric-Rac or any other embellishment on the dashed line indicated on the pattern. Pin in place and stitch.

With RIGHT side down, align edge of Roof to the dotted line indicated on the pattern piece and pin in place. Stitch a 1/2” seam along the pinned edge.

Fold Roof up and press seam.

Flip the House Front over and cut the Roof fabric to match the shape of the House Front.

Pin the Roof to the House Front & Baste 1/4” from edge.

Using the dashed lines on the pattern piece as a guide, pin the Window in place and closely stitch around the raw edge a couple of times with a contrasting thread, adding window panes if you wish.

As with the Window, pin the Pocket in place. Stitch in the same way along the sides and bottom, leaving the top open.

Before attaching to the House front, stitch around the door the same as you did the Window & Pocket.

Using the dashed lines on the pattern piece as a guide, pin in place and sew along the Right edge, creating the door hinge.

Allowing enough room for the button, fold the Tab around the door as shown. Use the dashed line & circles as a placement guide.

Open the door & pin Tab in place. Stitch where indicated by dashed line. Trim excess as needed.

With RIGHT side down, place House Back on top of House Front.

Pin into Place.

Stitch a 1/2” seam along the edge, leaving open between circles
as indicated on the pattern piece. Clip top corners.

Reach inside the house to pull open the cut-out corner on one side. Flatten so that the seams match up, with the seam allowances folded
in opposite directions. Pin in place. Stich across with a 1/2” seam.

Repeat on the other side, making sure that the seam allowance on the bottom of the house is folded in the same direction on both sides.

Turn the house right-side-out & stuff.

Close the turning hole with a ladder stitch.

Put a tooth in the pocket and you are ready for the Tooth Fairy!!

**********************

Now that the pillow’s done, it’s on to Phase 2. The money & the note. But don’t worry, I’m here to help on those as well! Check back soon and I’ll show you how to get maximum impact for very little effort! Your kids will love it!

xoxo Lori Danelle

How is March already half over?
This, of course, means that St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner.
Big Sister & her class were challenged to make a Leprechaun trap with their parents and then they’ll set them up in hopes of catching Larry the Leprechaun.
They were due this morning.
I thought I had one more week.
However, I think we put together a trap that is sure to catch the little Mischief-Maker.

In case you find yourself in a similar situation, here’s how we did it. I found the green pot at Hobby Lobby, but they didn’t have any gold. (?!?!) So I found the gold at JoAnn’s. Luckily they’re right across the street from each other.
I traced the top of the pot onto a piece of chipboard. Cereal box or similar could work as well. Then I drew a second smaller circle in the middle & cut that out with a craft knife. Once cut out, I trimmed it just a bit with scissors so that the trap door will open & close more easily.

On the back, I glued a tab to the inner circle & glued an old magnet to the end of the tab and one to the outer circle.

I then gave it a coat of gold/yellow paint so that Larry the Leprechaun won’t notice that the pot isn’t really filled to the brim with gold.
Using hot glue, I strategically placed the gold coins on the middle circle and then on the outer circle, allowing them to overlap the inner circle to hide the seam/trap door.

Once all the coins were in place, I flipped it back over and used Duck Tape as a hinge to connect the inner circle to the outer circle.

Hot glue the whole thing to the top of the pot, add a “Free Gold” sign and you’re good to go! Big did have me make a ladder quickly this morning which I just cut out of chip board.

I will be very surprised if we don’t catch Larry!

xoxo Lori Danelle

No judging here, but I think making Valentine’s is so much more fun than purchasing them, and it’s a great opportunity to spend some quality time with my girls. Plus, I think they take a lot of pride in giving their friends something they helped make.

Besides, how can I claim to be a “Maker of Things” if I don’t make our Valentines????
(You don’t realize the pressure & expectations that come along with such a moniker! Ha!)

I had considered buying the pieces since I didn’t have a lot of time this weekend, but nothing really struck our fancy while we were out. So instead, we bought clear treat bags & some candy, with plans of making & printing tags to go on top.

If I’m allowed to say it, I think they turned out stinkin’ cute!

I left plenty of space for my Kindergartner to write out her friends’ names and sign her own. She loved that part — systematically checking of the girls and then the boys names.

Tomorrow night we will be decorating a box in which to collect her Valentines. We’ve consulted Pinterest and Big Sister has decided that she would like to make her box look like a mail box. I’m debating how in depth I want to go with this. . .  (I’m telling you! That “Maker” title sets the bar high!! It can be a real curse sometimes.)

But, in the meantime, in case you’re still scrambling to put together Valentine’s for your kids class, I thought I’d share our tag with you. And just because I realize not everyone is going to like the multi colors, I’ve given you a pink option too. Consider it my Valentine’s gift to you.

xoxo Lori Danelle

Click on the image below for a downloadable pdf file.

So I’m assuming you noticed the AWESOME curtain rods we made for our lovely new curtains, right? If you’re like me and don’t really love traditional curtain hardware, this is a wonderful option!

And really easy!
I like easy.
The most difficult part was finding someone at the home improvement store to cut the pipe for me!
OK, even that was pretty easy.

For each curtain rod, you’ll need:
[2] 1/2″ black iron floor flanges
[2] 1/2″ x 1″ black steel nipples (longer if you’d like your rods further out from the wall. in the picture above we used 2.5″, but have switched to 1″)
[2] 1/2″ black iron elbows
[1] 1/2″ black steel pipe cut to your dimensions
Mineral Spirits
Rust-oleum Spray Paint in Hammered Metal

At the home improvement store you’ll find the steel pipe in various shorter lengths, but also in something like 10 foot lengths as well. They can cut all of the pipe and re-thread it to work with the fittings. This is especially good to note when doing more than one window. Much cheaper to have 1 10′ pipe cut down into 3 sections than to use the almost-correct-length shorter pipe.

The pipe in particular will be greasy. This isn’t Pottery Barn. This stuff is made to be put in the ground for gas lines. So, use mineral spirits to clean it up, along with the other pieces.

Go ahead and screw all the pieces together in the arrangement shown above. With the hammered metal spray paint, give the whole thing a good coat and after it dries, give it another.

Once it’s completely dry — I’d give it AT LEAST 24 hours, longer if you can stand it — and you’re ready to attach your curtain rod to the wall!

You will need to put your curtains onto the rod before hanging them. You won’t be able to change out your curtains easily. However, if this is a must, I recommend using rings with clips to hang your curtains, but you’ll still need to thread the rings onto the rod before it goes on the wall.

I’m perhaps a tad paranoid and hate putting anything on the wall that isn’t attached to a stud, so I highly recommend anchoring your rod to a wall stud. Building codes dictate that you’ll have about 3″ of wood on either side of a window opening, which is helpful to know. If you don’t anchor them into the stud, make sure you use the proper hardware to attach them to the drywall, just like you would need to with any curtain rods.

Once it’s up, step back and enjoy!
You might even want to start practicing saying, “Thanks! I made them!” cuz you’re going to start hearing it a lot.

xoxo Lori Danelle