Friday, July 20, 2012

embroideriness



a few weeks ago while pumpkinbutt and i were at the library i was scanning the 'need to be reshelved' cart and noticed a spine that looked interesting. it happened to be Sublime Stitching Embroidered Effects!
there are soo many cute projects in it, along with some basic how-to embroidery stitches...and (surprisingly) the transfer designs were still intact. i have a few western-ish shirts laying around that needed a cuteness boost so smoosh the two together and....


simple and only in black, but i think it works....if you look past the fuchsia transfer pencil mess that bled beyond the outline.

i still need to complete the front yokes but let me just say this has been a challenge due to finding a decent transfer pencil or transfer system.... i would love some recommendations!

Thursday, July 05, 2012

illuminating thoughts project

i saw this speech bubble lamp at target recently and thought it was super cute but not 15 bucks cute soooo....

i made one myself for w-a-y less. it is smaller than the original but the idea is the same.

the primary items needed are from the dollar tree: tap light and black electrical tape. tutorial to follow.
 now see it in action!


add a magnet on the back and put it on the fridge to keep up with healthy habits...



     a gentle reminder of chores...



   leave a sweet note to someone...

                         
use as propaganda....


use as a countdown to the best time of year!


this is one that pumpkinbutt wrote for me!
(it says "mommy rules")

***********************
now, here is the how to:

items needed ( all from the dollar tree, ~ 5 bucks plus tax):
*tap light
*black electrical tape
*wipe off marker
*batteries (they are certainly not included)
*heavy duty magnet

tools needed:
*scissors
*x-acto blade
*pen, paper
*heavy duty glue (like e6000)


 items getting together....


                   start by cutting strip by strip of electrical tape and covering the tap light surface.



 continue to the top.



 next use a x-acto blade to cut bottom excess tape off around lower edge.  experiment with cutting and pushing in the tap light to be sure you have cut away enough for clearance of the tapping process.

                    draw a speech bubble free hand, sized to fit front of tap light onto paper.
cut out.

 very important! if you are going to hang the speech bubble on the wall, make sure to turn over the tap light and make note of where the hanger hole is. then place template of speech bubble on the front of the tap light accordingly (guess who didn't do that and had to redo the whole thing). trace with ink pen.

                                   cut out speech bubble with x-acto blade. then peel away.


(if you want to make it magnetized then glue magnet on the back at this point.)


yay! let the clever applications spew !

Tuesday, July 03, 2012

andy

you will be missed.

it's hard to believe someone i never met could have meant so much to me.