Thing 34: Little Boy’s Messenger Bag (a tutorial!)

  (This is my brain turning into licorice….)

 

Any questions?

 

Heh. Just kidding. The idea was to make a bag where the sides went straight up to become the strap…but I totally underestimated how long I needed that strap to be. So…it’s more of a man purse. *sigh*

 

Cut two matching rectangles as wide as you want your bag to be and twice as long (plus 8 inches) as you want your bag to be tall. (That gives it a 4” overlap for the front flap, plus 2” to go over the top of the bag, and 2” to go under the bottom.) Then cut a piece that is 8” wide by the distance from your boy’s knees, across his chest, around and back to his knee. (Obviously, I took the measurement hip to hip…and that gave me a purse. D’oh!)

 

Sew your two big rectangles, right sides together, making sure to leave a gap for turning. Clip the corners, turn and press. Set aside.

 

Take your big strap piece and fold 2” in on either side so that they meet in the middle. Press. Fold in half lengthwise, so that your folded edges meet and right sides are out. Press. Sew along the length, right along the edge where the two folded edges meet.

 

Now, here comes the part that made my brain turn into licorice. At one end of your rectangle, measure in 4”. Mark that. It’s your “flap. Now, measure in another 2”. Mark that. Now you have the two corners for the “top” of your boxy messenger bag. Now, measure down as far as you wanted your bag to be tall…mark that. Go another 2” and mark that. There’s the bottom of your bag. You should be left with a length that is identical to the back of the bag. 

 

Time to attach your strap! Your strap should have ended up 2” wide, and so should just fit into the “bottom” that you measured out for yourself. Carefully pin your strap into place and sew the short ends to the bottom of the bag, right sides together. Then, sew up the sides to close up the sides of your bag.

 

You’re done!

 

(If you want a stiffer bag, use something heavier than the flannel and cotton/poly bed sheet that I used or add interfacing between your layers.)

 

(PS – I obviously sewed the long sides of the strap before the short side. Do whatever doesn’t make your brain turn into licorice!)

Unmatched Matchy-matchy Frames!

Confused? Check it out.

A quick trip to the thrift store…a pile of wooden frames in various sizes…and a can of spray paint. Voila! Matched unmatched frames.

 

I pulled a huge box into my driveway, and laid out my frames. Since they were all really inexpensive (read: CHEAP) I had to use a screw driver to open up the metal tabs on the back that held the frames to their insides. Once all the backs, fillers and glass plates were removed, I got started.

Ming Wai really, really wanted to help…but somehow, I didn’t think that handing a can of black spray paint to a four year old wearing all white would help anything. So, I did the next best thing. I gave her the camera!

Paparazzi, take it away!

(Hello, Crazy Tiny Manly Hands.)

(She takes good pictures! She, of course, kept the camera for the next half hour and proceeded to take 171 pictures of me, her shoes, leaves, the ground, my rear end, her feet, my legs, a tree, a bird, my head..you get the idea.)

 

The frames are all put back together now…and it’s time to round up some pictures of the kids. I have a wall in the upstairs hall with one. lone. picture, right in the middle. (It’s a Black Apple print, so it’s not such a terrible thing…but, still. It’s lonely!) I hope to fill the wall with memories, faces and smiles. I can’t wait! (I’ve admired this type of frame grouping for…well, for several years now, but I’d never found a suitable cache of wooden frames to use.)

The Ghosts, Revealed!

I first blogged about these here. (Go back to that post if you want instructions. It’s super simple – a balloon, two sheets of tissue paper, some glue and a few drops of water.)

 

And now..here’s the finished product.

 

They’re so scary, even the heads of the ghosts that have lost their heads are scared!

It’s OK, weird head-only ghost. Not everyone can be super scary and hang from the ceiling all cool like.

Tutorial: Tissue Paper Ghosts

I got it into my head this season that Halloween simply would not be Halloween this year, unless some glue and tissue paper were involved.

 

And so, I invited them to the party. This project was inspired by one I saw in a Martha Stewart magazine when I was in college. And…you know, when I say “inspired” I really mean that I saw it in Martha’s magazine, and then made it from memory using what I could find around the house, and NOW (ten years later), I’m really just stealing the Mod Podge, balloons and tissue paper from the party.

 

Now that we’ve got that all cleared up, let’s move on.

 

  

I had originally intended to make little balls that looked like mummies, using thin strips of white tissue paper. It…well, it didn’t work out that well, since mummies have arms and legs and a neck…and balloons have none of those things. I ended up giving my strips, and some truly tiny balloons, to my daughter to use.

I am simply too cheap to buy real Mod Podge, so I made my own. I found bottles of glue at the office supply store on clearance after all the Back to School sales were over. At only $.20 for a bottle, I figured that even if it didn’t work out, I still wasn’t out too much for my little experiment.

 

Luckily, a squirt of cheap Scholastic glue, with a few drops of water, makes a perfectly acceptable glue spread. (What do you call it if it isn’t real Mod Podge??!)

I decided to move on to ghosts. I used a 6” balloon, and sheets of white tissue paper, cut into three or four wide strips down the long side of the sheet. Paint the top and top sides of the balloon with your glue, and get to work. Lay a strip of paper onto the balloon, centering it on the top, and then paint again lightly with your glue to stick it down. Make sure that the edges are stuck, especially. For clarity’s sake, let’s say that strip is laying down 12-6, if it was a clock. Pick up your next strip of paper and lay it onto the balloon, perpendicular to the first strip , 3-9. Top that with a coat of glue, and lay your next strip down sort of 2-7, and top that with glue.

 

Keep going, alternating directions, until you have at least 2-3 complete layers of paper (about 9 wide strips). It does not take much glue….just enough to moisten the paper and stick it down.

Now go check on your kidlet. She’ll probably declare herself done. (I had her working over a piece of tin foil so that she wouldn’t get drips on the table.) Check out that masterpiece!

She made sure to tell me that the pink one is a girl ghost, and the blue one is a boy ghost. (We bought a few fish this weekend, and she’s sort of on a name/gender/setting up pretend families kick now. She hasn’t named her ghosts. Yet. But I’m sure she will in the morning!)

 

When the glue is all dry (which should happen overnight), carefully dip your finger into some black craft paint and give your ghosts eyes. Then, carefully pop the balloons with a small snip from your scissors. As the air comes out, the balloon should pull away from the tissue paper, leaving you with your ghost! (If it doesn’t pull away, tug it gently, and it should come unstuck.)  I currently have one of these guys set up on my mantle, but once this new flock is dry and eye’d, I might string them up and hang them from the chandelier by the front door. I’ll be sure to get pictures up when the ghosts are all set up!

 

How are you decorating for Halloween this year? Do you have any quick and or cheap crafts to share? Let us know in the comments!

Thing 26: A Pouf!

Ladies, and gentleman, I present to you…a pouf!

(No, sweet husband, it’s not a powf. If’s pronounced poof. Got it? Ok. moving on.)

 

I used this tutorial, from Living With Punks.  Her poufs were a little different – they had some rather smart looking piping around the edges. However, I had neither piping nor the patience to go out and buy some. So…no piping for me!

I learned a new trick with these – a way to make super strong handles! The fabric for the handles is folded twice, so it’s actually four layers of canvas. Also, see that nifty little x’d box there? That makes it really stick to the rest of the pillow. Neat, right?

 

My finished pouf is sitting in my daughter’s room, and I just ADORE it! The hardest part was stuffing it. I used some ripped foam filling that I scored off of Freecycle. Now, I love me some free, but that stuff makes a HUGE mess. And my three year old was helping me stuff. And my one year old was sneaking handfuls of the filling and launching it down the stairs. And I very nearly took the (unfinished) pouf, the “helpful” three year old, and the maniacal one year old and locked them all in the cellar to sort themselves out.

I didn’t.

But it was close.

(The fabric is a home-dec weight cotton from IKEA.)

Thing 25: An (itty bitty) Man Purse!

My daughter, Ming Wai, received an invitation to attend a birthday party last weekend. We were thrilled, of course, but a little stumped. See, the party was for a little boy. Turning three. And I prefer handmade gifts over store-bought ones.

So, what, pray tell, does a three year old boy like?!

I decided that most little kids, regardless of gender, need bags to carry around their “treasures.” And so…I made an Itty Bitty Man Purse! It was originally going to be flannel on the outside (see the strap? That flannel.) and grey cotton on the inside. However, after I finished quilting it, I couldn’t bear to put the grey inside! So…I just folded it the other way, and let the cotton shine.

Then, I needed to find a model. My first model was difficult to work with, and seemed to dislike the product.

 

(He couldn’t figure out how to get it OFF….and he HATES being tied down, in ANY way. Thus, the half-nekkid Floor Tantrum.)

I moved on to another model, just to show the versatility of the bag.

 

This model was much easier to work with, and really knew how to “work” the product!

And then, just to show what a good sport he was, our first model decided to give me a Goober Face Shot. Just to be nice. (See, Mom? No more tantrum! I’m easy going – don’t tie me up, and I won’t fall to the floor screaming like a banshee on crack. Honest!)

 

PS – I didn’t have a pattern for this one. If anyone is interested in a tutorial, please let me know! I thought I could explain it pretty simply, but it’s something that’s better seen than…read? Just leave a comment if a tutorial would be helpful.

Rainy Day Fun

If any of you live anywhere along the East Coast...you'll know that it has been rather wet lately. Damp. Soggy. Somebody forgot to tell Mother Nature that the first day of Summer is just days away!

When my husband reminded me that Father's Day is even closer than summer, and we had yet to get any sort of cards in order, I was tasked with taking the kids out to find cards.

Excuse me? It's not that I mind being given the task - I usually adore shopping for cards! However, heading out in the driving rain with a two year old and a six month old to shop for cards just didn't sound like a good idea to me. So, what's a crafty mama to do?

Foist the job off on someone else!

Out came the construction paper, a new set of brushes I picked up at IKEA, and some non-toxic paints I found at a local bargain store.

Usually, paints and paper will keep my toddler occupied for about 15 minutes...or about three sheets of paper, whichever comes first. However, I underestimated the power of the Brush. Painting has been of the Finger variety up until this point, but I don't think we'll ever go back!

17 sheets of paper later, she announced herself Done.

(Grandpas, this is the point where you stop reading, m'kay? Thanks a bunch.)

Most of these are going to be carefully stowed away for later use. I chose out four of them, folded them in thirds, wrote a Father's Day note on the back, and sent them out in the post to all the papas.

A card, and original artwork, all in one!

I might take a few of these and cut them up to be pasted onto blank pre-folded notecards as well.