Fabric Silhouette and Cameo Dust Covers

I have been lucky enough to have a Silhouette cutting machine for a while now - I got it as a Christmas gift when it was on a really good sale - and I have a lot of fun with it!
I have not been very kind to it however, because I have let it sit on my desk all this time with no cover!
I finally made one the other day, and I wish I had done it sooner!  It was a very fast project, and I feel so much better now, knowing that dust isn't collecting in all the little mechanical parts.

I used the pattern found here at Crap I've Made - and it worked great.
I did make a slight modification though:
Instead of doing a double fold on the bottom, I folded it under only once, sewed around and left a small opening, and threaded a thin elastic cording through. 
I wanted the bottom to fit snugly around the machine, so that there was no risk of it coming off.  I did a zig zag stitch along the bottom edge of the fabric, to keep it from fraying, since I only folded it under once, and the raw edge is visible on the inside.  The elastic isn't very tight -- just enough to make it pull a bit around the bottom of the machine. 

My mom has a Cameo - and when she came to visit me recently, I made her a cover too :)

For the Cameo, I used this tutorial at My Craft Spotlight.  I made the same modification as I did with the regular Silhouette pattern, and added elastic to the bottom. 

I have to say though, this Cameo pattern did not match up as well for me as the other pattern did.  I had to adjust the width of the rectangular piece to make it match up with the end pieces.  So, if you use it, just keep in mind that you might have to make some adjustments, and almost bunch your fabric to have the edges line up. 

 These pictures give you a better idea of the elastic, and how tight it is...

So, show your machinery a little love, and make some dust covers :)

Need a pattern for your sewing machine?  Check out my tutorial here for a Sewing Machine Dust Cover! 

Kitchen Wind Chime

I've had a picture on one of my Pinterest boards for a while - a darling wind chime made with odds and ends - from a blog called Blogesteix. 

When my mom was in town last week, we did a bunch of projects together (she is an amazingly crafty person too!) and this was one of them.  We gathered all sorts of odds and ends to make a kitchen wind chime - some antique things, some discarded things...and I love the way it turned out!

We got this donut cutter for the top from a kitchen store. I later found an old orange juicer top that is the same size, with holes, that I will use to make another one. I would have loved a vintage cookie cutter for the top, but this was inexpensive easy to find.




I used my drill and a tiny drill bit to zip holes around the outside of the cutter.  5 holes in the outer ring and 3 holes in the inner ring - spaced somewhat evenly :)

Next comes the "odds and ends" part.  We found little glass squiggles on mega sale at the craft store.  I pulled out some buttons and beads that I had lying around, and then went rummaging through my kitchen drawers and junk drawers. 
I found a little spoon, an antique bottle opener, an unused pour spout - all small kitchen items that I knew would be perfect for my wind chime!
Using silver colored copper wire (also from the craft store) we made lots of whimsical twirls and wound strands of our odds and ends to hang from each hole in the donut cutter. 

Right now it is hanging near my kitchen sink, and I really love the color and charm. 

My mom also made one inspired by this picture here.  We think it looks like a jellyfish :)

Aren't wind chimes so happy!?

Summer Activities with the Kids

I have a board on Pinterest with crafts to do with my kids, and it has been fun over the last week to pick out a few easy things to do. 
In the picture above I let the girls toss a few toys in a tupperware, filled it with water, and stuck it in the freezer.  The next day, it was over 90 degrees outside, and we all went out and they got to hammer on their ice to their heart's content!  The toys eventually popped out of the ice, and we all felt a little bit cooler with bits of ice flying around :)
Inspiration for this activity was found here at Counting Coconuts.

Another good hot day activity -- anything to do with soapy, sudsy water :)  I had the girls washing toys with toothbrushes - they loved it!  We also washed the car, and washed the kitchen walls together (both done in swimsuits).  They girls had so much fun getting as wet and soapy as they wanted - and I ended up with a much cleaner house!!

This one took a tiny bit of prep, only because I had to collect TP and paper towel rolls for a few weeks.  We ended up with a cool marble run that provided quite a bit of entertainment!
The girls colored the tubes with crayons, and I cut them up and taped them to the front of the fridge.  We had a couple runs going so they could race their marbles - and left a bowl at the bottom to catch them as they dropped. 
Inspiration for this craft was found here at Family Fun. 

Hope you are all having a fun summer!  Hop on over to my Pinterest board for more ideas - and let me know what your favorite summer activities have been!

Patriotic Tie-Dyed T-Shirts

Happy 4th of July!!

Okay, I realize that I am a bit late :)  We have been out of town, with relatives visiting, and I finished these great t-shirts during a spare moment I had in between trips - so I am just now, barely, sitting down to my computer! (BTW, yes, I am 6 months pregnant in this picture...girl # 3 - here she comes!)

As soon as I saw these 4th of July Tie Dye T-shirts on The Creative Vault blog, I knew I wanted to make them!  Click over there for a great tutorial.  All you need are white t-shirts, blue and red rit dye, and rubber bands/marbles for the tie-dye part.

And let me tell you - they were a hit!  The girls looked so great gallivanting all across Boston in these shirts, and we got quite a few comments.  It was really fun for all of us to match :)

Want to see some of the fun things we did??
The Tall Ships were visiting Boston over the 4th of July - and they were such an awesome sight!  And I loved taking pictures of my patriotic kiddos. 

These two adorable officers were from Ecuador (above) and Indonesia (below).  Their ships were filled with amazing colors and references to their home countries...

These shirts were even good for hangin' around by the harbor...

They hid the stains well :)  Can't see the pizza sauce and greasy fried dough finger marks, can you?? ;)
If you ever have the chance to be along the Charles River in Boston for the 4th of July fireworks - I hope you do it!  We sit on the Cambridge side of the river, and listen to the Boston Pops through the loud speakers - it is spectacular!

I have a feeling the kids will like wearing these shirts through the summer -- they are unique and fun.  And really, there are plenty of reasons to be patriotic, even after the 4th!

Throwing a Baby Shower

My friend is having a baby girl in a few short weeks, and a couple of us threw a sweet baby shower for her over the weekend. 
I had a great time making some simple but eye catching decorations, most of which I found inspiration for on Pinterest, and all of which were inexpensive to make!

We didn't really have a theme, but went with pink things - and I love the pink and green combination, so that is how it ended up.
Above - I made decorative pink and green balls out of things I had around the house.  The innards are balled up newspaper - WAY cheaper than styrofoam balls! 
Take a look at this project I did here to see how I made the yarn wrapped balls. 
Each of these newspaper balls had a little bit of yarn wrapped around them to hold them tightly in shape - and then I continued to wrap yarn around some, and others I hot glued fake flowers or twine to. 

I made this chalkboard out of an old window I found on the side of the road.  I will show you a step by step for this later on - but I just used chalkboard paint, painted right onto the glass. 
Cute little baby quote added on, and it was a great baby shower decoration!

This pink punch was delicious!  I found the simple recipe here using sherbet and sprite, with some citrus fruit cut up in it as well.  Yum!

My friend made the cake pops - always a baby shower favorite. 

This scrap banner was a fun way to add color.  I have done smaller ones before.  I am Momma Hear me Roar also made a cute one that I liked. 

The tissue paper pom poms are inexpensive and take up a lot of space if you need to fill a room.  I used this tutorial here - which believe it or not, I did not perfect on the first try, despite the simple instructions.  My tips: fold the accordion creases very crisply, wrap the wire around the middle very tightly, and when pulling the tissue paper layers apart, do not over handle them, and do not pull them apart very far.  Good luck :)

The felt circle garland was cute - and fun to hang from the light fixture.  The tutorial can be found here and it is easy to follow, if a little time consuming. 

The pink popcorn party favors were bright, cheerful and yummy.  I got inspiration from this pin here - and I love how much color it added to the table :)
Simply air pop popcorn, and drizzle pink candy melt over it.  Stir it up well (add a litle salt if desired) and let it dry before putting it in a container.  You can get pink candy melt at the craft store....or you could use white chocolate bark and add some food coloring. 
I think using the phrase "gonna pop soon" or "ready to pop" is cute with the popcorn, so I made tags that said "Heidi's gonna pop soon!  Thanks for celebrating with us!!"

This "guest book" was probably my favorite element.  There are a ton of finger print guest book ideas on pinterest...like this one here. 

I traced the image of a carriage onto the bottom of a piece of cardstock.  I made a cloud out of another piece of cardstock with instructions: "Please sign our guest book!  Stamp your finger and print your name"
The cloud and rain drops were there because it is a baby shower :)

Here is how it ended up, with the names and fingerprints of all the guests. 
I had pink and red stamp pads available, with a sharpie marker so they could write their name over their fingerprint and baby wipes for cleaning their fingers when they were done. 
I added the "balloon strings" after everyone had printed their finger. 
I love it!
After the baby is born, I will add her name and date of birth to the bottom of the page.  It is a great keepsake for a baby book, or would also be cute framed on the nursery wall...

It was a really fun party - and a great excuse to get together with friends! 
We sat and talked and gathered our ribbons and felt and buttons and sat around making hair bows and headbands for the mom-to-be... just like these ones I have made here or at this great tutorial here.  It was a fun alternative to games, and gave her a great stash of unique bows, made by her friends, to use on her new baby girl :)
Aren't babies wonderful?!