My latest DIY tutorial, DIY Pennant Banner, is up on You Are My Fave. Go see!
I am so grateful that Melanie lets me share my crafts over on her site. She’s the bee’s knees. I heart her.
My latest DIY tutorial, DIY Pennant Banner, is up on You Are My Fave. Go see!
I am so grateful that Melanie lets me share my crafts over on her site. She’s the bee’s knees. I heart her.
Sometimes it is fun to make your kids smile by sewing smiles in to their socks.
Your kids probably already have white socks in their drawer. And any good crafter has embroidery thread and a needle perfectly labeled and stored with their other craft supplies.
Use a simple stitch to create a shape, face or word. Due to the stretchiness of the fabric, just make sure not to pull the thread too tight or you will have a really hard time getting the shape you want. Check out my meaty, man hands! This is why I fail in comparison to other DIY bloggers. I have no interest in making sure my nails are perfectly painted before I take photos of a post. Although I did take pause when I burned the hell out of my thumb with hot glue recently. That was the first time I have had a wound weep. Have you ever had that? It’s super gross.
This post is incomplete. I had planned of having my oldest son wear these with his cute little high tops. But sometimes your kids can not be bribed. It doesn’t happen often. I know the way to my kid’s hearts is through candy and Legos. But alas, he could not be bought. But just think of how cute these would look on an actual child’s foot.
After I threw my son’s space party, and made shirts for all the kids, I have loved buying inexpensive blank t-shirts and doing fun things with them. For this shirt, you just need a little bleach.
Start with a blank dark colored T-shirt. Sometimes you can find packs of Hanes dark colored t-shirts at Target in the underwear section but they are pretty hard to find. I love Wal-Mart for their kid’s blank T-shirts and sweatshirts.
Grab a spray bottle with bleach in it. That is my attempt at drawing a skull and crossbones. In my head I am super artistically skilled. But there is a disconnect between my brain and my hands. Obviously.
You should probably use some sort of a drop cloth. My landlord had just told us that he was moving back in the night before I took these photos. So I didn’t really feel the need to be extra careful. I’m sure you understand. And we are really experiencing my amazing photo taking and editing skills in this post today. They are all over the place.
Spray it as much or as little as you want. In my opinion, less looks better. I did not show what I did to the back of the shirt for this reason. It is not as cute as the front. Too much can be, well, too much.
Let the bleach sit until it changes color a bit. The longer it sits, the whiter it becomes (I’m pretty sure…) While you are waiting you will start contemplating squirting bleach on every black thing you own. Like your Toms. I didn’t do it. But I’m pretty sure it is going to happen in the very near future.
When you like the color, throw it in the wash by itself to get all the bleach out. I don’t use bleach. Like, ever. I’m afraid of it. So I’m not sure if this is proper treatment of bleached items or washing machines. Feel free to rinse the shirt out first if you don’t want to just toss it in the machine.
But the real question is, are you sick of seeing my kids in posts yet?
I really like to knot things. And I can’t stop. I’ve used this particular knot for garlands, I’ve used them for hanging balloons and now I’m using knots for these Knotted Yarn Bracelets. They are easy, they look cool and I just plain like them. And I have no idea what this kind of knot is even called.
For these knotted yarn bracelets, you just need yarn and scissors. For tutorial purposes I’m showing you how to make them with just one piece of string. To make a thicker bracelet, just use more pieces in one color, or mix it up and use a bunch of colors.
1: Make a loop with the yarn. Make sure to leave enough at the end so that you can hold it in your left hand (you’ll be knotting with your right hand).
2: With your right hand, tuck the yarn through your first loop from underneath. Do not pull it all the way through, you will be creating your second loop.
3: Grab your new loop and pull to create a tight-ish knot at your first loop (from step 1) Have I lost you? It is really simple just super hard to explain!
4: Here is a better look at the knot. Remember do not pull the yarn all the way through. Your knot may get really long in order to get your first knot to tighten which is fine and will be fixed in the next step.
5: You want to work with a small loop to keep it efficient and taut. Place that floppy loop around the thumb on your left hand and pull the loose string back through the first knot with your right hand. This part is critical when making the bracelets with more than one piece of yarn. This is where you get them to be smooth and not have one that is looser than the rest which can make it look really messy.
6: Begin the next loop by repeating step 2. And continue until you have the amount of knots you want.
Here is what it will look like. Remember keep the yarn tucked in your left hand and do the knotting with your right. After the first few knots this will go really fast.
To finish the knotted portion of the bracelet, create one last loop, but this time you will pull the piece of yarn all the way through and secure the knots.
As if that last part wasn’t hard enough to explain, here is how you make it adjustable and wearable… On one end, make a knot (just to be safe, knot it again at the same spot so that the knot is larger). This is the knot that make the bracelet slide to tighten on your wrist, but not slide all the way out of the other knot that secures it.
Next, tie a knot with both ends of the bracelet.
Pull the knot tight. Trim the end of the bracelet without the knot. Don’t cut it too short as this is yarn and it is somewhat slippery and a nice tug can pull it out of the knot. Once you have this on your wrist, you will pull the end with the knot to tighten it. To loosen, just pull on the piece of yarn (the one with the knot at the end) the other direction.
Then stack them up and wear them with other accessories.
These are perfect for Easter when using these pretty pastels. And they are easy enough that young girls can do them. This could be a super fun party activity. And I love that they can be made with only yarn. I’ve done it with rope for a really cool look but probably not something you would wear on your wrist. Embroidery thread would be a bit too thin for my taste but would make a really delicate looking bracelet. I would love to know if you know what this knot is called??
You guys! I’m super excited to have a guest poster today sharing DIY St. Patrick’s Day Toppers! Melissa from Truly Chic Inspirations is one of my fave online people! She is one of my biggest cheerleaders and it makes my day when I see her name pop up in my inbox. She recently started growing her blog and I’m super proud of her. Please make sure you comment to support her and check out her site!
From Melissa:
Hi there! I am so happy to be guest blogging on one of my favorites sites. I adore all things Cupcakes and Cutlery and I’m excited to be sharing a little DIY today.
I’m a bit of an any reason to celebrate sounds good to me fan. With St Patrick’s Day coming soon I thought it only appropriate to dress up a cake. When I think of St Patrick’s Day I think of food, beer, food, beer, and more food… sweets have to be in the mix somewhere, right? Plus I bought this green cake stand and have been anxious to use it, St Patty’s Day gave the perfect excuse.
I like crafting but I also like to keep things simple, this St. Patrick’s Day topper project was easy and fun. Aside from baking the cake it took only minutes to put this together which is perfect when adding in those last minute touches prior to guest arrivals.
I made a quick stop at the Dollar Store and noticed some glitter table scatter (got excited) and automatically pictured them on a cake. I know this is totally normal. Using skewers I attached the glitter pieces with hot glue. You’ll want to trim the skewers so they “fit” the cake.
Is it odd that I also picture these in bratwurst? I’m game for dressing up all types of food. These accessorized skewers can double as drink stirrers too. A green cocktail with a fancy stirrer, yes please!
Happy celebrating & happy crafting!
Thanks, Melissa!!! I know my kids would love these St. Patrick’s Day toppers! And they are totally my kind of craft, easy and inexpensive. These are the perfect way to make the holiday a little more special. Be sure to check out Melissa’s own blog!!
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