Wookies for Everyone!!!

Well at least for my three kids. I fell in love with this Chewbacca stuffie pattern from Draw Pilgrim and have been wanting to make one for each of the littles. I used three different fabrics to make each wookie a little different, that way we all know which is which. There are all nicely cut out and ready to be sewn up this weekend.Do you remember that fairy tale about the poor cobbler who would cut out leather for shoes at night and find it sewn up in the morning? They discovered elves were sewing the shoes…I need some of those elves to visit me! I would make them some fabulous clothes if I could get them to sew up all my projects for a month!
I have been busy with other things too, we were lucky enough to rescue 2 vintage wood desks from the dump and there was a flurry of cleaning to make room for them in the much cluttered basement. They are huge and wonderful and luckily there was a 1/2 inch of clearance to get them in the door and down the stairs. I can’t wait to finish cleaning and arranging the basement, it’s going to be awesome.
Have a super crafty weekend

Custom Backpack Design

So, school starts tomorrow and I decided to wait until Sunday night to start making new backpacks for Little Miss and Little Sir.  Little Sir’s backpack is going to have a Star Wars stencil.  I found this image by googling and I don’t have a direct link because, while the picture showed up in the results, it was not on the page listed anymore.  I did a copy and paste (ahem, I’m claiming personal use).
Here it is all cut out of freezer paper and ironed on.  I really like stenciling nice smooth fabric, so much easier than a pre-sewn item.All finished, I did have to do two layers of white paint and the edges did bleed a little in places, they always do when you have to go back over it.  I love the results and I can wait to start sewing (it needed to dry completely before I start sewing, no smudges).
I am making simple string backpacks for both of them, but I am adding a few extra details to make them a bit nicer than the store bought ones.  Come back Wednesday and see the finished backpacks! 

Imperial Trooper Jacket

I absolutely LOVE making clothes from upcycled t-shirts!  It seems like I am constantly bookmarking new projects to try.  The t-shirt to spring jacket tutorial from I Am Momma – Hear Me Roar was one of the projects on my very long list.  I seem to always be making stuff for Little Miss, but not that much for Little Sir.  When I found this Imperial Trooper t-shirt I knew I had to use it to make him a jacket.  I actually purchased a brand new shirt to cut up just for him and his love of all things Star Wars.The shirt was an extra large adult shirt, so instead of using a premade boys shirt I made my own.  I used the Sienna dress pattern from Lilblueboo like I did with the Little Man shirt, adding a bit of width to the body and a little length to the sleeves.  I also used the custom screen printed fabric I made Monday and fabric that I discharged dyed years ago. 
I really like how it came out, I’m not so sure Little Sir likes it though.  He hasn’t wanted to wear it to school, but it has finally gotten warm.  I’m hoping that by this fall it will be a little less roomy and he’ll be a lot more excited to wear it. 

Scarf Fail

How exactly does one fail at making a scarf?  It’s just a long, skinny rectangle!  Well I can tell you it takes hours and hours of weaving and by the time I knew it had gone horribly wrong I was too stubborn to quit.
The knitted strip I shared on Friday became this:I dropped two stitches and made the “runs” in the knitting.  Next I decided to weave yarn into the “runs”, a rainbow of yarn! Weaving the yarn took FOREVER.  About half way through the weaving I began to have doubts that the scarf would turn out like I planned, but I kept going I had already invested way too much time in this one and I was going to make it work!
Um yeah, when I finished the last piece of yarn I had a wavy mess, so I thought I’ll just need to adjust/tighten the strings.  I started pulling, one at a time, I only broke a few……so I only tightened one half and then braided the ends together?  I don’t know where I was going with this, but I couldn’t stop, I had to finish this.  Once it was finished I promptly announced (to my husband) that it was the ugliest thing I had ever made and we started trying to figure out what to do with it.  There was a lot of snickering and weirdness and we came up with this: It’s a headdress like Queen Amidala (cough, Star Wars, cough) would wear.  I think I might keep this handy by the front door, you never know when you’re going to need a crazy hat to pop on when uninvited company drops by.  Do let me know if you’d still like the pattern :)

Andy Warhol Inspired Art for $3.88

I have had this idea floating around in my head for a while, but buying canvases was a little out of my budget.  When I saw the toilet boxes I knew they would be perfect.  I started by cutting the cardboard into 16” squares, my boxes were double layered so 2 squares equaled four layers of cardboard.After all of my squares were cut I glued each set of two together and weighted them down overnight. The next day I used paper mache paste to add strips of newspaper onto the cardboard squares,  horizontally on one side and after that dried, vertically on the other side.  Once they were mostly dry I layered them between plastic wrap, so they wouldn’t stick and weighted them to get them nice and flat. I painted gesso on the fronts and sides and then it was time to do some sketching.I used a photo of a trooper helmet (Star Wars) and was inspired by the style of Andy Warhol.  I used two shades of turquoise and two shades of orange acrylic craft paint to fill in my design.Picture hangers will be hot glued to the backs for hanging, they are really light weight.  The only supply I bought was the paint, for $.97 each, the grand total for this project was $3.88, plus my time.  I have been working on this project exclusively since Saturday.  These will be perfect Little Sir’s wall, I wanted something fun and colorful that would last for a few years.  I have to get his room painted next, we’ll be using a light aqua with one orange accent wall.  He wanted all orange, but I thought it might be a bit much.
Not too bad for a toilet box, I have one more project to try with the remaining box, cardboard may be my new favorite medium!

Frugal Friday: Star Wars?

My son, who is five, loves Star Wars and let me tell you it is NOT frugal to shell out money for all of these toys!  He has quite a collection, but is always wanting more, this year I spent the budgeted amount on him and he is getting one item.  I need a bit of really inexpensive stuff for him to unwrap, we don’t want a present counting contest to start between him and his sister.  Today I hit the jack pot!  StarWars.com has free coloring pages (and games for the older kids).  If you want a few more pages check out the Galactic Colorbot, just print without coloring!

I printed out a large selection, two of each design.  I’m going to put these into a folder and get a box of markers or colored pencils from the Dollar Tree and call it good.  The best part is he’ll love it and I’m only out a buck or two.  I’m counting the coloring pages as free, I already had ink and paper and I don’t budget it that tight.

Now I just need one more little thing and I’ll be finished with him, I’m thinking a stenciled shirt with a clone trooper helmet or something, stay tuned for that.

I almost forgot, almost any of your child's favorite characters can be found, just search for “your character free coloring pages” and you’ll get tons of results, it’s a great last minute frugal gift.