Spring Sneaker Inspiration: Kate Spade & Keds

buy them here

Has anyone seen/read about the new Keds/Kate Spade spring sneaker collaboration?  Aren't these shoes adorable and not to mention extremely DIYable?

DIY Sew: Market Bag

In an attempt to join the trendy recycling conscious people of the era, I decided to try my hand at making a market bag for my groceries (no more plastic,yay!)

Materials:

thread

sewing machine

fabric

ruler

safety pin
iron

Cut 1 piece of fabric 16 inches by 38 inches

Hem the top and bottom by folding down 1/4 inch, iron, and then folding down 1/2 inch pin and sew using a straight stitch

Fold fabric in half top to bottom with right sides touching

Pin up right and left sides and sew using a straight stitch

Now, to create a bottom to your bag, create corners

Mark 2 1/2'' from the end of the fabric, pin and sew across the line; do this for both corners

Below is what your bag should look like when you turn it right side out

Now, for the straps: Cut two pieces of fabric 3 1/2 inches by 34''

Fold in half lengthwise, pin and sew

Turn both straps right side out (it's easiest to do this by pinning a safety pin at the end of the fabric and then threading it through)

Fold in the ends of the straps a 1/2'' pin and sew

Sew the straps into the bag (follow the black lines below)

Turn right side out, and you are done!

Pinterest Challenge Week 1: Petal Tank

I am so pumped I actually completed my first week of the Pinterest Challenge.  Ages ago I saw a bunch of petal tank pins on pinterest and knew I wanted to try to make one of my own.  I ambitiously ran to the nearest discount store (rainbow or conway, can't remember which) and picked up two tanks.  I'm embarrassed to admit, but the shirts sat in my drawer until the Pinterest Challenge was issued on Tuesday. It was just the motivation I needed to finally get some projects done that I've been putting off.

My petal tank was inspired by Leanne from Elle Apparel and her Embellished Tanks Tutorial



You can follow along on Leanne's blog, but basically all I did was purchase two inexpensive tanks, cut off the bottom of one into 19 2 1/2'' squares.  From there I folded each square twice, then used scissors to cut out petal shapes

Next I pinned each petal facing down onto my second tank

The last step was to hand sew each petal onto the shirt (only sew the top of each petal)


And, that's it! A very simple way to spice up a boring tank!

Pinterest Challenge

I'm not sure if its become obvious from my blog, but I'm sure if you follow my pinterest page, you'll realize that I'm absolutely obsessed!  When Merrick over at Merrick's Art and her two sisters decided to start up a six week pinterest challenge, I decided I was all over it!

The challenge is to pick six pins and re-create them in six weeks.  I'm definitely a little nervous I'm going to have a hard time making the deadline, but I'm absolutely going to try!

 

   

Here are my pinterest picks:

Clockwise from top left Cowl, Sleep Mask, Zipper tee, Striped Cutout Shirt, Crochet Bag, petal tank

 

Wish me luck!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!!

 

 

DIY Sew: Valentine's Day Garland

I wanted to do a little something crafty and cute to spice up my office this valentine's day, so I decided to make heart garland, I was inspired by Dana from MADE, and her Happy Day Garland Tutorial

Materials:

1 piece of red felt

1 piece of white felt

sewing machine and white thread

To start, draw a heart, cut and use this one as your template

Cut, cut cut, one entire sheet of red felt and a half sheet of white.

 I had 55 hearts when I was done, 15 white and 30 red

I then layed out my pattern, 2 reds, 1 white, 3 reds, 1 white, 2 reds, etc

I threaded my machine with white thread, before sewing I left about 8'' of thread, then I began to sew.

Sew through the middle of your heart, stop after each heart pull the needle up place another heart down, put the needle down, sew through the center of the heart, then pull up the needle again and place another heart down, continue the process until you're done sewing up all the hearts.

and that's it!





Valentine's Day DIY Card Ideas

This year I decided I wanted to make a homemade valentine for that special someone. I feel like anything handmade is a million times more personal than something store bought, and I figure the recipient will appreciate it so much more too.

Below are a few cute ideas I found while browsing google, pinterest and etsy.com

King of My Heart

music

Light Up My Life

owl

Perfect Match

Be Sure to check back on Thursday when I reveal my finished Valentine.

DIY Crochet: Fingerless Gloves



A few days ago I decided to try my hand at making fingerless gloves, scrolling through a few patterns I realized that it's actually pretty simple, you basically crochet a rectangle, fold over and sew up the sides, leaving space for the thumb.

Here's how it all went down

Step 1: Make a slipknot

Step2: chain 32, in 3rd chain from the end hdc (half double crochet; see this tutorial if you need instructions) in each chain; once you reach the end, *chain two, turn and half double crochet in each of the stitches in the previous row*

Continue ** for 8 more rows or until piece measures 8 1/2 ''; be sure to leave about 14'' of yarn at the end (you'll need this to sew up the edges)

Step 3: Fold piece in half

 

Step 4: Use darning needle and sew up 1 3/4th'', leave 3'' open (sew in stitches only on one side), and sew up remaining 4''

 

Make sure to make a second one to match!