another J crew inspired shirt.

Here My blog post from blog swap with Night owl Crafting.
My mother and all my grandmothers were seamstresses, and baking pro's. My mother actually made Wedding dresses and had a successful business when I was younger. That is of course where I learned to sew. She even tells me stories about how my grandmother would ride into town with my grandpa and sit in the car in front of the clothing stores and sketch the cute newest fashions, then she would go home and make things out of the hand me downs they were given. I think that is so cool, that she was refashioning back in the 1940's too. They had a small farm and 5 girls and 1 boy. So money was super tight. Right now I am OBSESSED with jewelry and have an etsy shop here above and below is a sampling of the projects I have made recently.
I love to copy ideas from jcrew (below)or anthropologie.


Here is my latest attempt.I started with my husbands pink shirt which I figured he was never going to wear.
I took in the sides, and used the scraps from that and the sleeves to make a ruffle to line the neck area. I also had to make a facing for the neck and arm holes, to hem them. I did this by laying the shirt on the scrap fabric and tracing the curve. easy peasy.





I totally love it. I think it is my new favorite article of clothing, I wore it yesterday and got lots of compliments.
I hope you enjoyed it, Thanks Leslie for letting me blog swap with you and your cute blog! I hope you will all take a look and let me know what you like. Today is the kick- off of my "Crafty Summer" I will be posting something every weekday in June. I hope you will join me.
Becky

what I've been up to.

I am sorry for the lack of posting, lately I have been so obsessed with finishing unfinished projects that I haven't finished any posts. hahaha. I am going to apologize to you right now. I realize I am probably only talking to myself? Is there anyone out there reading this blog? I guess the reason I started blogging was to feel more organized, so I have a record and pictures of the things I've done. I frequently get asked how to do things, and if I give them the blog address then they know right where to go. I follow more blogs than I can even count... really. So most things I make or have made are allready out there. I like to post my attempts with links to other blogs so my friends can find out how to do it. If my blog has helped or inspired you in anyway. Let me know, I would love to do a post about you, your project, blog etc. I am going to be more on top of things this summer unless if by some miracle we sell our house, :S

Here are a couple of pictures that I meant to blog about and never did.

We (Activity Days) made some of these snakes out of minky and fleece for Humanitarian aid (I made a few more for birthday presents) for humanitarian aid we used fiberfill and for heavier ones, for presents, I used wheat. Because thats what I have a lot of. So far everyone loved them. But then again. I really don't think they would tell me, ummm Becky these are dumb.

I bought this towel and Kohls. I wanted to make one, but I gave in and bought it because I had a coupon. But it would be pretty simple. On the corners it looks like paws. so cute!

Mckinley's spring scarf i made with fabric off the remnant rack. probably cost .50 It is about or 8 inches wide, then sewn into a ring. after that I soaked it in water and wadded it up and sat it in the sun to dry. Here is a good tutorial at ruffles & stuff.

So now I will begin to

Celebrate a "Crafty Summer"

with a new post every weekday in June.

You heard me right.

stuff to make for you, your kids, with your kids, for a neighbor, or to EAT!

I will start tomorrow with a guest post/blog swap with

Night Owl Crafting.

are you a crafter?

Do you want to join me?

Let me know and we can work something out.

see you then!

The Scrunchy shirt tutorial

Yeah its finally here!! I really hope I have finally found a way to describe this process in a way you will understand. It is not an exact process, you might want to play with some scraps first, But it is such a fun,fast way to bring LIFE to a shirt.

FIRST you need to start with a shirt that is a little too big. A tight fitted shirt will not work, the scrunching will bring it down about 1/2 a size, depending on how much you do.

Also when choosing the area you want to scrunch, TRY on the shirt, use your hands to wad up the area you want to scrunch. Does it make the neck pull wierd? Does it fit too small or look gross? It will make the bottom of the shirt pull shorter in that area, but that is part of the funky look you get from scrunching.

now after you take it off, outline with a fabric marker or chalk the area you want to work in.
If you have never bought elastic thread this is what it looks like, you will find it in the elastic section. Hand wind your bobbin not tight just pulling a little. Then you will use it just like you would a regular bobbin. Use matching thread on top. Then start sewing.

Here is an example of a pattern I chose. THERE IS NO EXACT PATTERN OR PROCESS TO THIS. Just sew in zig zags or figure 8's until you fill the area. This is the way I ended up doing it because there was less turning, lifting foot, and backing up. It was super easy. Believe me, cause I don't do hard stuff. --The only thing to watch for, is trying to keep the circle areas around the same size, that is where the fabric will pop out.
This tank was SO baggy I decided to do a middle section, I really like it on my bathroom floor, not sure how I like it on me. I added little ribbon flowers to disguise how some of the areas are a little off centered.

ANY QUESTIONS??

Ding Ding Ding *we have a winner.

The Lucky lady with $30 to spend at Karen's cookies.... Cat who said. "I would get more supas!! Love them supa tubes."
Cat
I will give Karen and Mike your info.
Which has me thinking, hmmm. I better try those! wow. Thanks so much to Karen and Mike for having a giveaway. They are so awesome and they have a great business. I love how they listen to their customers, and their wants and needs.

This is what I did yesturday for my kids' teachers.



Thanks for your inspiration Karen!!

jcrew re-make "the sunray tee"

Hurry, today is the last day for my most awesome GIVEAWAY yet. So get signed up NOW!! For a chance to win a $30 gift card to spend at Karens Cookies.

Here is my cheep version.

the tee was $5 at Downeast, I got one for me, another for my daughter, and another XXL to cut up. when cutting it up always get the biggest size you can, the more fabric the better.




Here is a picture of my friend Katie, wearing the scrunchy shirt that she is still trying to steal from me. We are going to scrunch everything we can get our hands on this weekend. My tutorial was a total bust, I am starting over. sorry.

Giveaway Deadline.

I have been thinking about maybe giving this giveaway a deadline?? haha. I think Wednesday the 26th will be the best day for me. I will be celebrating my last day of teaching pre-school, and Karen is about to celebrate the opening of her KAREN'S COOKIES store front, in Idaho Falls. I can't believe it, it is going to be so cute, can you picture a wall filled with every kind of cookie cutter, and shelves filled with cute little sprinkles of all kinds of shapes. ahhhh.
So the deadline will be Wednesday the 26th at midnightish.

A HUGE thank you to my new friend Leslie, at Night Owl Crafting, she is so sweet and made me a new button to go with this adorable background. How nice is she, well too nice thats for sure. If she lived closer I would make her a Karen's cookies Bouquet!

Happy Sunday.

Cookie Decorating Kits: GIVEAWAY

$30.00 Gift Certificate to Karen's Cookies, for Cookie Decorating supplies, or kits.

Have you ever been to KarensCookies.net ? If you have not you should definately check it out. She is amazing. I mean an absolute genius. I blogged about her here a while back.

Her website contains, almost any cookie cutter you can imagine, in fact Martha Stewart herself is very fond of Karen's buffalo cookie cutter for her bicuits. Wouldn't this Halloween bouquet be fun to decorate you home, or haunt your neighbors with?

I am thinking this would be AWESOME for mothers day, or teacher appreciation.
I made these pizza cookies for my sons 11th birthday. We were caked out from all the birthdays in our family and he requested cookies. It was a pizza popcorn and a movie themed party. and they turned out cute. This is the actual picture of the one I made, Karens are a lot better. But as you can see anyone can do it.
I actually did something similar to this to thank one of my kids coaches.

Well Karen not only sells everything you need for these awesome gifts, but she has recipes, tips, and even video tutorials for a lot of different techniques.


This talented girl is a friend of mine and offered to have a giveaway on my blog. The giveaway is for a $30 Gift certificate. It can be done electronically, or she can send it to you if you want to use it as a gift for someone you know who loves to bake.

If I won I would get this cutter and a set of all the food colorings,

#1 Become a Follower of Becky's Craft Closet and Go to KarensCookies.net and tell me in a comment of something you would like to have from her shop.

Thats is pretty easy. If you want another entry, you can

#2. BLOG about it. If your friends mention your blog post I will give you and them an extra entry. Be sure to leave me your blog address.

Good luck, I am crossing my fingers for you.

SCRUNCHY

I know I saw this shirt on J Crew, I just can't find it anymore. it was SO fun and EASY!! I had to go to the mall and find more shirts to scrunch last night. Should I make a tutorial?? Let me know if you want it.


*** THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN, AND I AM WORKING ON A TUTORIAL TONIGHT ***

J Crew look alike

I have been surfing the net for cute ideas for shirts. here is one that cost me $1.49.

J Crews version

the one I made for McKinley, after seeing this gal do it on "I am momma hear me roar".
A blog I totally love and you should too if you like to create for your little boys.

This was a long sleeved tee so I used cute up the sleeves for extra fabric.

Messy Ruffle Collar Dress Shirt tutorial

I started with this dress shirt I had, It fit great other than the sleeves were too short, as always... So I started playing with it, shirt this nice shouldn't be sitting in the back of my closet for another 5 years. When I decided what the problem was, the sleeves, and the fact that I don't like boy dress collars on me, I cut them off.

I used a strip of whited knit to make some binding for the collar. I thought it would be the best way to avoid fraying. It will pretty much be covered up though.

I cut strips from an old pink t-shirt I had in my fabric stash. twice the length of the neckline, and about 1 3/4 to 2" wide. I went around the neckline tucking as I go rather than ruffling it. I wanted it to be a little messy looking, I was afraid if it was too uniform it would look really young. Here it is...

Let me know if you try it. I would love to see it, and post your picture here.

Carnation Tutorial

This is what we woke up to this morning. I think Mother Nature is taking an extended vacation for Mothers Day. HelOOOOOOOOO. Don't forget about us!!! So out to the garage I go, to look for the tote with the winter coats hats and gloves. Trouble is. It takes about 4 totes for a family of 6, so, being in a hurry so the kids won't miss the bus means a huge mess in the garage, but it was 30 degrees. I will clean it up later. I will probably just hang it all back up in the front closet for our surprise memorial day snowstorm.... right mother nature???? Well it will be a great day for catching up on my blogging.

I made a carnation Bouquet for Preschool. The kids will each give their mom a flower at our tea party.

The supplies you will need, simple....

-coffee filters

-skewers

-tape

-ink, or paint and a sponge (all optional)

fold 4 coffee filters in half

fold it in 1/3rds, zig zag style like so. You may want to staple it at the bottom (vertically) I didn't and I just had to use extra tape at the end.

then it should look like this from above.

use tape to secure the skewer in one of the folds,

fold it up and use a lot of tape at the bottom of the flower.

I used ink on the edge, the color? its called pink carnation. HA. I was experimenting and painted the skewers green, you could also add leaves, but my preschool kids voted "No".

Amazing Hand Cream

The class helped me to make the hand cream that they will give their moms. These are the ingredients.

- One tub vaseline

-one bottle baby lotion, You can find unscented at walmart

-one or two tubs of Vitamin E cream.

the Vitamin E cream is cheapest at Family dollar. $1.49. For my own kids I only use 1 of the vitamin E cream. I have a son with Sever dry skin, we're talking cracking and bleeding if he doesn't use this every night.

This is embarrassing, I am not a digi scrapper (yet) I don't even have printshop (yet) so I have to come up with a cute way to decorate these.

This recipe cost me $8.00 total and will make 15 of the baby food jars (for my preschool class) and 2 of the CUTE Kerr jars, found in the canning isle, they are 4 for 4$ at walmart, I just love them, I will give them to... well you know who, it mothers day right?

The mothers will come for a light brunch of chicken salad croissants and chocolate dipped strawberries, while the children sing a couple adorable mothers day songs, and present them with these gifts as Mel and I read what they have to say about their moms, Here are some of the best answers.

How old is your mom? one child answered "Well I know she is not 11, so she must be 12" another confidently answered "80".

What is your moms favorite thing to do? one child said "watch me play video games", another said, "making food for me" and another said "doing the dishes" and anther said "kissing daddy, she kisses him a lot". hahahahah.

Pre-school should be a blast tomorrow !!

pants to a skirt

I have been having a blast making these cute little skirts. First cut off the pants just above the knee.

Second, cut the inseam all the way, and next you will make about a 2: cut up the back and front of the pants, cut as close to the seam as possible.

Where you made the cut in the croch you will over lap them and pin. Yes it looks a little wierd, but that is when the appliqueing comes in. take a small piece of the pant leg that you have left and pin it in the open space, back and front, then sew then into place. I am sorry I forgot to take a picture of that part.

when everything is stitched you can cut the bottom of the skirt to make it evevn and the right length.

You can hem it, you can add a ruffle. or my favorite.... APPLIQUE. I will have a tutorial up for that by wednesday.

If you make one let me know so I can feature a picture of it here on my blog.