Robot Pocket Pillow

I made some stuff for my nephew who is becoming a brother for the first time this week.  I love how the pocket pillow turned out!  I found the robot fabric at WM and I thought it was just perfect for my projects. Sometimes you can find the cutest fabric at WM.   I made a pillowcase, pocket pillow and a fleece tied blanket. 

The Pillowcase

The Pocket Pillow

I printed the big robot from my clipart onto iron on printable transfers and ironed it on. I made the pocket first and added all the embellishments then I just top stitched it with a zigzag stich onto the pillow.

 

The Blanket

Well the fleece for the blanket anyway I still have to tie it.  I think I’ll go do that right now while the baby is napping. Have a great day!

Darth Vader Lamp

Our oldest boy turned five today and he LOVES Star Wars so I made him a Darth Vader lamp to go in his bedroom.

I got this lamp from a lady I purchased a dresser from, we were just finishing up loading the dresser in the back of the van when she says “yeah, do you want this lamp too?” I looked at it and thought, ummmm NO!  It smelled horrid and it looked like

the 80’s had a little too much fun

 

with the 70’s and produced

this lamp.  See what I mean?

But I took it as not to hurt her feelings and I thought I might be able to do something with it.

So I got some new plastic because the old plastic smelled.

I used the old plastic as a pattern

Okay now doesn’t this lamp shade look cool like this?  I need to find another lamp ASAP!  So cute.

I used spray adhesive to cover all the panels with black material.

While I was working on the shade my hubby pained the bottom part black.

I used hot glue and double fold bias tape to put it all back together.

SEE LOOK HOW COOL IT LOOKS WITH THAT NEW PLASTIC.  I SERIOUSLY NEED ANOTHER LAMP TO REDO ASAP.

 Then I added a simple cape.

I added a Darth Vader mask I got off a Halloween costume that I just happened to get on clearance for $ 3.00.

All done!  He loves it, I just hope it doesn’t give him nightmares.

Before

AFTER so much better!

Harry Potter Wand

My kids love Harry Potter.  They play it constantly and they have wanted real wooded wands forever, but the ones we saw were $50.00!  We have 5 kids and that was never going to happen (okay even if we had 1 kid I wouldn’t pay that kind of money). BUT my husband has always liked to carve stuff so he decided he would make them each a wooden wand for their birthday.  I got him a carving set from Michaels for Christmas so he could carve them and all he used was one wooden dowel (and stain) and he got 4 wands out of it!  Our kids love H.P so much that they wanted certain characters wands. So we went online and they all picked out the wand they wanted.  He finished the first wand just in time for #2’s #7 (Ginny’s wand).  She LOVES it and it turned out really well.

Before & After

Creepy Leprechaun Shirt

I made my girls Valentine outfits, so I told my son I would make him a St. Patrick’s Day shirt.  He decided he wanted a Leprechaun.  So I dug out a picture of a leprechaun and off we went to the fabric store.  I let Mr. T pick out all of the colors for his Leprechaun.  I loved all of his choices except the yellow fabric he picked for the face.  But he talked me into it with this little conversation.  Me- “okay, buddy what color do you want for his skin?”  Mr. T looks around for a while and chooses yellow.  Me- “Don’t you want something more skin color?”  Mr. T  “No, I like yellow.”  Me- “Umm, your leprechaun might look a little weird and creepy.” Mr. T- “That’s ok mom, it’s not like leprechauns are real.”  Me- “Right you are buddy, yellow it is.”

BUT I ALSO WANTED TO SHARE WITH YOU SOMETHING I TRIED THAT WORKED SO AWESOME!!

I’m not an artist in any sense of the word, so I was really concerned with the Leprechauns face.  I wasn’t sure how in the world I could get his face to look good. But as I was using the iron on bonding stuff (the no sew variety), I realized that if made the fabric really stiff and I wondered if I could put that through my printer,( I just got done putting contact paper through my printer with great results so I thought I would give it a try).

The verdict…IT WORKS AWESOME!! This is how I did it.

You’ll need a picture of a leprechaun

An assortment of fabric colors and HeatnBond ultrahold iron-on adhesive.

Follow the package directions for the first step, applying the heat n bond to your fabric.

Then cut our your face and place it face down on your copier.  Then feed your material (with heat n bond on it) through your printer.  Make sure that it prints the face on your material and not on the heat n bond.

Continue with the rest of the leprechaun.  I didn’t put all of the pieces through the printer just the ones I wanted more detail on.  Follow the package directions for applying all of the pieces to a shirt.

And there you have a creepy yellow faced leprechaun.  But not that it matter because it’s not like Leprechauns are real…

Valentine Sun Catchers

When I saw this idea in a Family Fun magazine I knew my kids and I would have to make some.

First get your ice cube trays and make some colorful ice cubes by added whatever food coloring you like, then place them in the freezer until they are completely frozen.

After your ice cubes are frozen you fill a cake pan about 1/3 the way full with cold water.  Since it’s close to Valentines Day we made heart shaped sun catchers but you can use whatever cake pan you like.  You also need to add a glass with water in it to the pan.  This will make a hole in your ice so you can hang up your creation.

Add your colorful ice cubes and place in the freezer right away.

When it’s completely frozen, you can remove the cups from the ice and then remove your creation from pan.  You can set it on the counter for a bit until it melts enough to remove it, or you can try running warm water over the back of the cake pan BUT be careful if the water is too Hot it can cause your ice to crack. (and yes, we might have figured that out from experience) 

Add a ribbon and hang it outside.

They’re so cool, and it was a really fun project.  We’ll be doing this one again, next time I think we’ll try connecting more than one together.

FYI – Yes, they do melt and because it’s not very cold where we live, ours was completely melted in about 6 hours. (and no Tracy that wasn’t a stupid question)

Valentine for Him

I thought I would share with you the idea I had for my husbands Valentine this year.  It was super easy and fun to make and it was free –ish (it would be totally free if you didn’t frame it) First you need to create your crossword, I like to use puzzlemaker.com.  They have lots of puzzles you can make but I picked a crossword, so I could make it really personal to us. I just filled it with random facts from our lives together and a few inside jokes. After I made the crossword I copied and pasted it into my PrintMaster program and added all of the extra clip art. I printed two copies one for him to solve and one to frame.  The one in the frame I printed on photo paper, that’s why it’s so shiny.  Puzzle-maker (a different site) lets you print out a solved copy of your puzzle too if you wanted to frame the answered one.  

Then I found an old document frame that we weren’t using anymore. Forever ago I had painted it white so today I just added some black paint. Wondering how I made the design in the paint? I used a cupcake wrap kinda like a stencil and sponged some black paint over the top.  Cause nothing says Happy Valentines like black paint.

I’m very happy with how it turned out and I really hope he likes it too!