Devona | September 30, 2011 | 2:22 pm
It’s chilly here today, so what I should be writing up is a post about amazing hand knit/crochet items, but one of my new favs can’t be posted yet, and the other isn’t photographed. It’s too gloomy to get the light right today but I might even post up a crochet pattern for you once I get a sunny day.
In the meantime, I have just enough time to write up this tutorial on how to turn a men’s shirt into a mitered square cloth napkin before I have to run car pool. This project is a great way to use up scrap fabric in prints you love, too. And it’s an awesome project for beginners.
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Devona | January 25, 2011 | 5:44 pm
I’ve been changing color scheme of the accessories in my living room to a more goldenrod and blue theme, thus I needed new throw pillows. I had this really lovely upholstery fabric in sample sizes and it seemed like it wanted to be a pillow with a formal finish. I really wanted to dress is up without making it too frilly, so I decided to use self fabric covered buttons. It is really very simple to a make them and once you know how you’ll find yourself wanting to make covered buttons for all sorts of projects from housewares to dresses. Read more »
Devona | December 31, 2010 | 1:38 pm
We’ve given ourselves some time off this week. But how can we ring in the new year properly without paying tribute to 2010? So, here’s a link back to a tutorial or post from each month this year. I hope that 2011 brings you much thrifty creativity, and a warm comfortable nest.
January
Make a lace and bead necklace- Tutorial
February
Multicolored Melted Crayons Tutorial
March
Tile Rubbings Tutorial
April
Bunny Car Tutorial and Download
May
Seed Packets in Tea Bags Tutorial
June
Egg Carton Mancala
July
Raised Garden Bed Tutorial
August
15 Minute Crinoline Fascinator
September
Reusable Sandwich Wrap- Tutorial
October
A Sweet Little Witch
November
Burlap Vases
December
Candy Ornament- Tutorial
Devona | December 9, 2010 | 11:37 pm
Boy, it’s been a while since we posted a good ol’ tutorial. But man does life get away from you when you’ve got a Kindergartener. Now we’re two weeks out from Christmas Break. How did that happen? So, since it’s almost Christmas Break, that must mean it is almost Christmas. And therefore we are decorating the tree!
This year I am having the kids slowly add ornaments throughout Advent. I thought it was a good alternative to just getting all the ornaments out and rushing through putting them on the tree. The bonus of doing it this way is we are making a bunch of new ornaments instead of just using the same ones we’ve always used. This tutorial will show you how to make the “wrapped candy” ornament pictured in the middle of my tree over there. It’s a very kid friendly, and almost free project using things commonly found in your house. And, they’re very cute! Read more »
Devona | September 9, 2010 | 10:25 am
Cloth bags by TerreMum.etsy.com
Sending my daughter off to school with a packed lunch was going to get really expensive. Even though we reuse resealable plastic bags at home, it’s not really feasible to expect my 5 year old to remember to bring home her ziplocks when the lunch monitor is throwing all the trash away.
I imagine this happens to a lot of people who bring a lunch along, even occasionally, that you don’t want to haul around a plastic sandwich bag after the sandwich has been eaten from it. Enter, the reusable sandwich wrap. It’s perfect for bringing along, as well as a more attractive way to wrap up your BLT. And making it is simple. So simple, I would call this project a novice sewing project. You just need to know how to thread your machine, and change the stitch to zigzag. Read more »
For years I’ve had the most ragged garden, one which I apologize periodically to my neighbors. This year it was, “I’m sorry my mint is appearing in your lawn.” and “Sorry about the raspberries looking so messy right near your garage.” But they’re nice about my urban gardening experiments, plus I always give them fresh produce! So to curb the chaos, I’ve teamed with my husband to build three raised garden beds.
Here are instructions for building a wooden raised garden bed, plus tips on how to set it up in the garden space. I think it’s much easier if two people work on the project together.
Supplies (for building the wood square):
tools for building bed
-4 pieces of wood per square. Mine is 6″ tall 2″ deep, and cut to 4′ long, so my box is 4′ x 4′ square. You can change the size, but keep in mind that you need to be able to reach all plants from the outside perimeter. Ideally, I wanted 5′ square, but the wood only came in 8′ pieces, so 4′ square didn’t waste wood. By the way, the nice people at the hardware store only charged $.25 a board to cut my wood. That saved so much work! Also, I used untreated wood. I don’t want those chemicals near my plants.
-8 wood screws per square. Mine are 2 1/2″ long.
-drill, extension cord to reach your drilling area, a drill bit that’s a little skinnier than your screws (for predrilling holes), and a screwdriver bit for the drill (unless you want to hand screw them with a screwdriver instead). Read more »
Devona | June 30, 2010 | 2:22 pm
Summer time with a 5 year old means it is time for board games. And as much as I like to play Candy Land, there are only so many times I can play before I get completely bored. So I’ve been getting back to the board games I played over and over again as a child, and at the top of that list is mancala.
I was getting ready to compost this egg carton when the idea struck me that it would make the perfect mancala board, so I started to it immediately. It’s a simple project requiring a paper egg carton, newspaper, mod podge and some beans. Read more »
Here’s a seed packet idea I made last year for spring gardening gifts. It’s worth reposting while we’re still in prime seed season.
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I’ve been thinking about interesting ways to create seed packets. I collect & save seeds from my garden each year, plus I rarely use all the seeds from the store-bought seed packets, so I give away lots of seeds.
I’ve also wondered what to do with the pretty pyramid tea bags after using them…thus I combined the two ideas and made seed packets out of pyramid tea bags!
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Andrea | May 5, 2010 | 10:10 am
I’ve been talking so much about joining-as-you-go and crocheted hexagons that I thought it might be nice to have a tutorial on joining. This method will work for any type of granny square (or triangle, or hexagon, etc) pattern. I will also have a pattern up on my blog, Life on Laffer, today for a basic hexagon.
Start by crocheting a single hexagon (the joining will begin with the second).
On the second hexagon, crochet to the final round as the pattern calls for. In the final round, we will now begin our joining. I like to crochet to the first or second corner (if possible) before joining. Begin joining at the corner by chaining one, then slip stitch into the chain 2 space (corner space) of the completed hexagon. Continue to complete the double crochets in the same space: corner on Hex 2 and joined corner complete.
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Devona | April 21, 2010 | 9:57 pm
I’ve been craving this navy and white combo ever since I read this post on Darling Dexter, so I used some scraps from men’s dress shirt overhauls to make some flower hair accessories. They are so quick and adorable, I’d love to share the tutorial with you. Now we can all wear some springy and sporty nautical bliss.
If you don’t want to wear this as a hair pin, swap out a pin back and make a broach, or attach a jump ring through the fabric, and make a necklace pendant. But I will showing how to attach this clip to a bobby pin, my favorite way to attach pretties to my hair.
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