Create-Celebrate-Explore

Turn Jeans Into Shorts and Patch Knee Holes

I've written about this topic before. I have a boy. That boy has holes in nearly every pair of jeans he owns.

Now that spring is in the air here in Southern California and we are experiencing weather around mid 60's-mid 70's most days, it was time to grab all of the jeans with holes in the knees that were worn all winter long, chop them up into shorts, patch the knees and make some Spring shorts out them.

I found three pairs today, although I daresay there will be more coming out of the laundry in the next couple of days.

Instead of lots of sewing this time, I decided to take the easy way out and pulled out a roll of hemming tape, which honestly I'm not sure how long I've had it, or where it came from, but by the looks of the package, I've been dragging it around for some time or inherited it with crafting supplies from a friend or family member.

DIY Wall Art in 10 Minutes

Looking to change up your wall art? 

Let's say you have a canvas that you painted, stenciled, or that was pre-printed, and you wanted to change it up.

The quickest way to do this is to wrap it.

I'm frequently trying to change things up in our house, so instead of purchasing new canvases and throwing old ones out that I don't want anymore, I just wrap them in fabric.

To make it even easier, rather than cut and hem fabric, I use napkins. I adore the table linens at World Market. They always have such beautiful designs. I often keep a variety of designs on hand for taking photographs and to create a pretty mis-matched table.  I've also made cushion covers out of them in the past.

What you need:

• A used canvas
• Napkin
• Staple Gun
• Sawtooth Picture Hanger
• Picture Hook
• Hammer

Simply wrap the fabric around the canvas and staple attach it to the back of the canvas using the staple gun. If one side is longer you can just turn the edge over before stapling. Fold the corners over neatly and staple those into place too.

Once the napkin is stapled into place, hammer a sawtooth hanger into place in the center top of the canvas.

Hammer the picture hook into the wall and hang your lovely new piece of art.

Tip: If you have a darker paint or print on the canvas and are using a lighter print fabric, add a coat of white paint and set aside to dry before wrapping the napkin around.

 

 

The Blogger Connection: Angry Birds Craft and Game

I would say that Angry Birds are almost on an equal par with LEGO these days. Although the twins still love their LEGO playlists, read their LEGO books and play with their LEGO a lot, they also love to play Angry Birds games on their cell phones (which were our old phones).

We haven't bought them any Angry Birds toys, and I don't know that I intend to, so the kids got creative recently and made their own game.  I had no input in this, none of it was my idea, and I wasn't allowed to help. I simply took a few photos when I saw what they were doing. 

So, if you head on over to The Blogger Connection I'm sharing the Angry Bird craft project and game, which involved a lot of paper rolls ... which could also explain why there have been so many blocked up toilets of late.

DIY Painted Side Table

When the kids and I relocated to San Diego from Monterey a couple of years ago, Randy stayed behind for 6 months to finish his degree.  He moved into a house with a friend, and when they were both packing up to re-locate, he came across a side table that his friend was going to throw out.  Randy knew me well enough to grab the table and bring it home where it could get a little love and a makeover.

The most time consuming part of this project was sanding the table because of the shaped legs, but as you can see, the table was dated, and in desperate need of a fresh coat of paint.

Once the sanding was complete, and the table was cleaned to remove any dust, I applied a coat of Olympic paint in the color Two to Tango (A25-5).   I then applied two coats of Dover Gray (D58-4), leaving each coat to dry thoroughly before applying the next.

After the final coat had dried, I used a combination of a wire brush and sandpaper to give the table a worn look, allowing the orange paint, and the wood underneath to come through a little.

I then applied two coats of protective finish. 

Note: apply this outdoors and leave to dry, as the smell can be a little overwhelming.

A yellow doily that I had found at Michael's for $1 a few months ago was the perfect addition to help protect the table when beverages are placed on it.

It look so much better now, and is the perfect addition to our family room.

 

This post linked to:

Making The World Cuter

Daddy and Daughter Craft Project

This morning Miss M asked me to do a craft kit with her, I was just sitting down to start something else and told her we would do it later, I was quite surprised that my husband immediately jumped in and set to work on it with her.

Craft kits are the perfect way for a daddy and daughter to bond and do a fun activity together, especially if the dad isn't all that crafty.

These Makedo kits come with complete step-by-step instructions, and materials required for assembling the dollhouse.  All you need to do is track down some boxes.

Daddy sent Miss M to locate boxes for the project, and then helped her assemble them using the provided safe-saw, lock-hinges and clips.

She then took over to decorate her dollhouse with the stickers that came in the box. 

She's so happy with her project, and I think it's so great that she was able to do this one with her daddy.

I cannot remember where I purchased our Makedo dollhouse, but you can find more details about them on the Makedo website.   They've got a great collection of kits on there, we have another couple here that I can't wait to work on with the kids ... or have my husband work on with them.

The Centsible Life: How to Make Paper Beads

If you've always wondered what to do with all of the gift wrap that is ripped from presents after birthdays and holidays, then here is a simple craft project you can do with the kids to use that paper up, especially gift wrap that cannot be recycled.

My tutorial on how to make paper beads is available of at The Centsible Life.

Happy beading.