Cosmetic Bag Tutorial

Here is a great quick last minute handmade gift idea!
Cosmetic Bag Tutorial Shared by: Nana Brown's

I love it when I find something great and get that bolt of inspiration that fuels me and keeps me creating.


I was wandering around a shop in town and saw these fabulous placemats. It was love at first sight, but we don’t use placemats on our kitchen table. Instead, I had a vision of something fabulous and useful instead, a new cosmetic bag. My old one has been with me for more years than I can remember and is in a very sorry state. It needed replacement and I was inspired - what a great combination!

I bought several placemats made with all kinds of different fabrics and interfacing. I found the easiest ones to work with had lighter interfacing in them, otherwise it makes it too hard to get the zipper in.


Here is an easy tutorial to make your own cosmetic bag from a placemat.
Placemat Cosmetic Bag Tutorial



If you love the way they look but do not want to make your own they can be purchased in my Etsy shop too.

To visit more from Nana Brown's: Shop & Blog

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Kanzashi Flowers Tutorial

Kanzashi flowers are a Japanese art form that are traditionally made with honotai silk.  Kanzashi are typically worn as decorative hair ornaments in traditional Japanese hairstyles. Use your kanzashi flowers on hair clips or headbands as they were traditionally worn by geishas. Or put them on hats, jackets or tshirts. You can also make kanzashi flowers out of paper. Make a sweet bouquet or wreath.


Fabric (preferably a woven one that is thicker material)

Scissors or rotary cutter

Ruler or cutting guide

Iron and board

Straight pins

Needle and thread

Hot glue gun or fabric glue

Buttons, beads, embellishments



Cut your fabric into 4" squares. I recommend 3" ones if your going to use them for girl's hair accessories, but I'm making mine to embellish hats. Each square is one petal of your flower and each flower needs 5 petals.

Use your iron to press each square in half to make a triangle.

Next you're going to fold your petals. You will want to have your pins close by. With the top of your triangle pointing away from you, fold the left corner up to the top, bisecting it in half.

Then fold the right corner up to meet the left one, making a smaller square. Holding those folds in place, flip your new small square over keeping the raw fabric edges facing away from you so it is oriented like a diamond.

Fold the left and right corners evenly towards each other so that they touch and meet in the middle.

Fold the fabric together from right to left, sandwiching the points in the center.

Use a straight pin to push through your petal sandwich in the center, making sure to catch the 2 points in the middle.

Repeat the process until all your petals are folded and ready.

Using a sharp pair of scissors, cut the raw edged tail off of your petals. You want to cut close to the pin, but not exactly on top of it. Do not remove the pins yet.

Using your first cut petal as a guide, cut the rest of your petals so that they are the same length.

Use your needle and thread to sew 5 petals together. You want the needle to pass through where your pin is, so that it runs through all the folds and the center points sandwiched inside the petal. Remove the straight pins as you insert the needle.

I usually stack all 5 petals on the needle at once to keep the petals folded and then use a pair of pliers to pull the needle through all the layers of fabric. Then tie a knot to secure a loop of thread. You do not want to tie your loop tightly, otherwise you will not be able to position your petals and open them up properly.

Move your petals around so that they are in a flower shape. Use your thumb to press open the outer point of each petal.

Using your hot glue or fabric glue, put a small amount of glue between each petal to keep the petals from shifting around too much when in use. I also put some glue into the center of the petals from the back side of the flower. Next use a button, beads, covered button, or other embellishment to attach to the center of your kanzashi flower. I sew beads onto felt cut with pinking sheers for these flowers.

I'd love to see pics of what ever you make. Email them to thatmoxiegirl@gmail.com

Shared by: That Moxie Girl
Etsy shop: www.thatmoxiegirl.etsy.com


Facebook: www.facebook.com/thatmoxiegirldesigns

Blog: www.blog.twocrazypirates.com

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Make Your Own Fabric Labels

Giving handmade is an important aspect of the Holidays for many EtsyKids Team members.  We are making gifts, purchasing from local stores and purchasing from many of our EtsyKids Team friends in order to have a handmade holiday.  


Recently, EtsyKids Team member, SnugglyMonkeyCo, shared a tutorial on how to make fabric labels.  How perfect the holiday season!  Her simple instructions will make it easy to create custom labels to put on your handmade gifts ... like a scarf for dad, tea towels for grandma, skirt for sister, blanket for baby.    

Ouchie Pouch Hot / Cold Therapy Pouch

Here are Claudia's instructions:  Whether you are making something as a gift or a new item for your shop, I think these labels are the perfect finishing touch for a handcrafted item. Enjoy and please let me know if you have any questions!

What you need:

• Sew-on Printable Cotton Fabric Sheets
• Printer
• Heat-n-Bond Iron On Adhesive (see notes below for which kind to get)
• Ruler, Cutting Mat, Rotary Cutter (Or Fabric Scissors)
• Iron

Step 1: Design
Start off by designing your labels with your favorite word processor/photo editing software. If you haven't checked out Picnik yet, you should! It is a fantastic photo editing site with lots of cool features, and the best part is that the free part of the site can often times be all that you need.

Once you have your design, decide how big you want your labels to be and then lay out the labels using your word processor onto an 8.5"x11" standard page.  For example, my labels are about 2" wide by 0.5" tall. I set my page up in the Landscape orientation and have 4 columns with 14 labels in each column, so I get a total of 56 labels per page. 

Step 2: Print 
Grab your Printable Cotton Fabric Sheets. You can buy these at your local fabric store (look in the "Quilting Notions" area). Typically, they cost about $10 for 5 sheets. There are lots of different brands available. You can usually find them in either white or beige, sew-on or iron-on. Pick whichever color you think would work best with your design.  For this tutorial I use the "Sew-On" kind, but you could use the iron-on sheets and skip steps 3 & 4. I will say that from my own experience, the iron-on sheets do not have as strong of a bond as the Heat-n-Bond will give you. That is why I iron on my own adhesive instead. 

Follow the directions on the package for printing out your labels and heat setting the ink. If you are going to be putting your labels on something that can be washed (such as a quilt or clothes), I recommend following the instructions for colorfasting the fabric sheets as well. 

Step Three: Iron-on Adhesive
I find it difficult to keep my labels exactly where I want them on my items when I try to stitch them on at this point. So, I like to put some iron-on adhesive on the backs of my labels first. Then, I iron the label in place and topstitch. I find that this helps me get a nicer, cleaner look in the end.

Once your fabric sheet is ready to use, grab your Iron-on Adhesive. You have two options with Heat-n-Bond: Sewable (Purple package) or Ultra-Hold (Red package). If you only want to Iron On your labels with no stitching, then go with the Ultra-Hold.

If you want to topstitch your labels in place, go with the Sewable. Do not sew through the Ultra-hold - trust me - I learned this the hard way. You will get adhesive inside your sewing machine, and it will screw up your bobbin tension or worse. (And the money you are saving by making your own labels will go to getting your machine repaired!)

Cut an 8.5"x11" piece of the Heat-n-Bond and following the instructions on the packaging iron it onto the back of your labels.

{Tip: Put an old t-shirt down on the top of your ironing board before you iron on the adhesive. That way if your label sheet and the adhesive sheet do not exactly line up, the excess adhesive will get on the old-shirt instead of our ironing board cover. And, your husband won't get upset when he goes to iron his work shirts and ends up with an ugly, sticky glue mark on his shirt....}

Step Four: Cutting Your Labels
The final step is cutting out your labels. I find it easiest to do this with a rotary cutter and ruler, but it is also possible to do it with regular fabric scissors as well. I am just a bit challenged at cutting nice, neat straight lines with a scissor, so I use the rotary cutter. 

Once you have your labels cut out, all you need to do is iron them on to your item and stitch them in place.

Eye pillows with removable covers. 

A big thanks to Claudia for sharing her tutorial with us.  Whether you are looking for a new ID Badge Reel or Lanyard to dress up your work wardrobe, an Eye Pillow to help you relax after a long day or an eco-friendly Ouchie Pouch (Hot Cold Therapy Pack) for your little one, you will find all of these and much more at SnugglyMonkeyCo!  You can see more of Claudia's tutorials and see examples of her work on her blog.

   

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3 Simple Holiday Crafts From 1 Snowflake Punch!

Shared by: Nikki, In Stitches



Christmas is coming...fast.

Faster than I think I'm ready for!

And if you're like me, you're starting to realize you have way too many things to do, and not nearly enough time to get them all done.

This is crunch time!

Time to keep things simple. Time to get the most out of every minute.

The kiddos and I sat down earlier this week with a pile of scrap paper and a few yards of ribbon, some glitter paint, and a Martha Stewart Snowflake paper punch. Less than 45 minutes later, we had three projects complete...and that's what I call getting the most of every minute!

We decorated our ornament tree.

We made garland and draped it around the trees on our front porch.

And we made super cute ornaments, that could also double as the perfect "little something extra" to embellish your gift wrapping...all from that pile of scraps and one punch!

I'm sharing the super simple how-to's for the ornament tree and garland on All Things For Mom today, here. Stop by and take a peek!

The snowflake ornament how-to is below!

Enjoy,

Nikki, In Stitches

Materials:

*3/8" wide ribbon

*Scrapbook paper

*Glitter paint and paint brush (optional)

*Snowflake paper punch (The one I used is from Martha Stewart...and is probably on sale in your local large chain craft store right now!)

*Needle and thread

Directions:

1. Cut ribbon into 6" lengths. Fold over approximately 1 1/2" and use needle and thread to tack into place, creating a loop to hang your ornament.

2. Punch 5 snowflakes for each ornament. (We painted a few pieces of paper with glitter paint first. It's fun for the kiddos to just glob the paint on, and the brush strokes will dry clear! Just make sure your paper is completely dry before you punch your snowflakes!)

3. Use the needle and thread to attach your snowflakes to the ribbon!

PS...There's still time for more handmade holiday projects! Find even more inspiration in my ebook, Nikki, In Stitches - A Handmade Holiday! Here's a little peek at what's inside!

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EtsyKids Design Challenge for December: Owls and Friends!

"Owls and Friends" is our challenge theme for December, picked by our last month's winner tzburps.  We will feature an abundance of Owl and woodland friends items for kids.  All hand made by our talented team members!

Owl Plushies by tzburps

EtsyKids members will have until Decebmer 20th to submit their entries, and voting will be open to everybody from Wednesday, December 21st to Thursday, December 29th. So, be sure to come back to the EtsyKids blog for a new post on the 21st to see all of the entries and VOTE! In the meantime, please click here to get a sneak peek at some exciting entries so far!

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Bulletin Board Tutorial

Bulletin Board Tutorial Shared by: Nana Brown's

Here is a great tutorial to give as  a gift or to update your corkboard and hang your Holiday cards!


We finally got rid of all the old, beat up, college dorm style furniture from our home office. I am so excited to have an actual grown up desk that looks really nice and works the way I need it to. 

Our old desk was quite tall and took up a bunch of the wall space. I had pictures and favourite quotes taped on it in various places where I would see them when I looked up from working.

The new desk is all one level which left me with a big, blank open space right above the computer monitor. It was really not very inspiring and I missed looking at my pictures. I looked at it for a few weeks and decided something had to be done so I enlisted my daughter to help me make a custom bulletin board for the space.

I was honestly not sure how it would turn out because we had never tried anything like that before. 

We made 2 different bulletin boards. One hangs in my office above my desk and the other one hangs in my bedroom beside my bed. Both are filled with pictures, quotes, aspirations, inspirations, artwork from my daughter and other things I love to look at.

The project turned out really well and was easy and inexpensive too. It was easy enough for my 3 year old daughter to do and fast enough to keep her attention from start to finish (not including the drying time).

Supplies

1 framed, unpainted cork bulletin board in your desired size

Black acrylic paint

Little dish or plate for paint

Foam brushes

Glitter Glue

Spray adhesive

Piece of fabric the same size as the cork part on one of the bulletin boards

Directions

1.       Prep the bulletin board by taping around the frame to keep the paint off the cork. 

2.       Paint the frame of the bulletin board black on the front & sides. My daughter had a great time helping with this. Allow to dry.

3.       For the glitter glue board pick your favourite colors and make a pattern with the glue on the black frame. Allow to dry.

4.       Spray frame with clear acrylic sealer. Allow to dry.

5.       Remove tape and hang up your new bulletin board.

6.       For the fabric bulletin board, after the acrylic paint has dried, spray the frame with clear acrylic sealer and allow to dry. Remove the tape.

7.       Cut your piece of fabric to the same size as the cork part of the bulletin board. Try to get it as close to the same size as possible.

8.       Following the instructions on the can, spray the cork board with spray adhesive and leave the time recommended for it to get tacky. Try not to get it on the frame – it will make it sticky until it dries.

9.       Starting on one side and going slowly, smooth the fabric, right side up, onto the cork board. It is like putting on wallpaper, go slow and try not to get any bubbles between the fabric & the cork. I used a ruler to do this so I could make sure I got it all stuck down with no bubbles. It did take me a few tries so if it doesn’t work quite right the first time, be patient and try again.

10.   Once it is all pressed down the way you like it, allow it to dry according to the instructions on the can. We left ours to dry overnight to make sure that it was good and dry.

11.   Hang it up and fill it with your favourite things.



To visit more from Nana Brown's:  Shop  &  Blog

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Christmas Star Tutorial

Post Shared by: Juny and Milo

My grandmother Teresina celebrated her 90th Birthday on December 6 and is probably one of the eldest EtsyKids Team fans. Having been an avid crafter for all her life and loving kids, she likes to browse the EtsyKids-Blog with me every time.

Because of her age and her hands not being as good as they have been, we’ve had to adapt our own crafting a bit and make it easier. For Christmas in the past years, we have always made paper stars, big and small, which we used to decorate just about everything.

This is my grandmother’s favorite model, which she is happy to share with the EtsyKids community. We never found out who the inventor of the star was, we learned it from a friend of ours who had noted it down on a piece of paper. It looks great, yet is very easy to make on your own or with the kids. Made in a big size it adorns walls, in smaller versions it makes a Christmas tree decoration, it can be used for garlands, and once, instead of paper we used plastic sheets and then sprayed the star with silver glitter for an outdoor decoration. It also looks beautiful crafted in felt.



I have included a step-by-step tutorial for you with photos, just follow the link. The star may look tricky, but after the first element you’ll continue making them in your sleep. It’s almost as relaxing as knitting.

The candy cane version is made using red and white striped paper, so simple, yet it looks cheery and festive.



Wishing you all a warm, happy and joyful Holiday Season,

Teresina, the grandmother

and

Nikky of http://www.junyandmilo.etsy.com/

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