Braided Crocheted Scarf

UPDATE: My scarves are now for sale on Etsy! Check out my shop and buy a custom or pre-made scarf by me! 

PrettyThingsCrochet.Etsy.Com

First time I'm showing my face on here! So, I really like this scarf. It was super quick to make and a twist on normal scarves! I got the idea from a pin from the blog Baby Night Night Crafts. 

I didn't make a pictured tutorial for this one but I will tell you the pattern is:

Start with some chain stitches 

(depends on your desired length) I have a loose stitch so I believe I made around 60-100

Double crochet back onto the chain

Repeat for a total of five rows of double crochets(not including chain)

x3

Take your three "mini scarves" and braid them together (I braided them rather loosely!)Then sew your ends to make it an infinity and you're all set! I want to try three different colors next!

PrettyThingsCrochet.Etsy.Com

New Green Sneaks

These shoes were a total experiment. I spotted them at a thrift store and decided that since they fit, were clean, and were an interesting olive color I would buy them for the $1 they cost me. It took me awhile to decide what to do with them, but when I bought this rust colored glitter I thought since the colors went well together I would put them together. I documented the process in the form of a tutorial so if you have a similar pair of shoes you'd like to do this with feel free to follow along. 

Materials:

Shoes (mine are vinyl.. a smooth materials. I don't know how this would work with different material shoes)

Mod Podge

Mod Podge acrylic sealing spray

Glitter (super fine)

Sheet of paper

Sponge

First take your sponge and spread a thin layer of mod podge over the part of the shoe you want to add glitter to. 

Make sure you sprinkle the glitter on over the piece of paper in order to save the excess. Otherwise you will waste 90% of your glitter. 

Once this layer dries it should look like this.

Then grab the next part f the show you want to glitter. I chose the tongue, which was somewhat complicated to grasp while adding mod podge and glitter. 

This is how I added the mod podge

This is what it looks like after I added glitter and emptied the excess on the paper. 

This is what it looks like with the first layer of the main shoe and the tongue done. 

After I let everything dry I added another layer of glitter to each shoe *not on the tongue*

After those layers dried I sprayed them with mod podge acrylic sealer. It will seal the shoes because mod podge original is water soluble. Once you spray the sealer they will be wearable outside. Follow the instructions on the can for ventilation and so forth. 

And there you have it! An updated pair of shoes. I think my favorite part is the tongue. Even though it's not always visible because I wear bootcut jeans.  Here's another picture of me lounging in them, feet up! :) 

Thanks for reading! 

Hanging Heart Paper Garland

On my day off of school on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day I decided to try making some heart garland. I decided to use them as window treatments for my nook. I made 7 strings in differing lengths. If you'd like to know how to make these, read on for my tutorial! 

Materials

Old book, or pages of a book, or whatever paper you'd like to use

Heart stencil (mine is made from a note-card)

Pen or Pencil

Thread

Scissors

Sewing Machine

1: Start by choosing the pages you want to use. If they are in a book or notebook cut the pages out as close to the binding as possible. 

2: Gather 4-5 sheets of paper at a time and use your heart stencil to trace as many hearts as you can fit on a page. I only wanted hearts with words so I kept the hearts in the middle of my pages. 

3: Cut your hearts out. Put them in piles of two - You will be sewing them together this way to create the double heart effect. 

4: Put your first set of hearts under the foot of your sewing machine and begin to sew. You can back stitch, but it isn't necessary. Make sure to leave some loose thread at the top in order to tie your strands to a curtain rod.

5: Continue to sew the hearts one after another together. I ranged my strands from 14-20 hearts. This will depend on how long you want your strands and how big your hearts are. 

6: Cut the thread from the bottom of the last heart and untangle your strand. It should look like this.

7: Bend each heart on the string away from each other to create the double heart effect. Gently do this- do not press extremely hard, just press lightly to separate them. Do this as many times as you like! That's it! Here are some more pictures of my final product.

Damask Bow Pillow

This was my first try at making one of those "Bow" pillows with the stretched bow all the way across the body of the pillow. ALSO! It is my first attempt to do a picture tutorial. I hope that if you want to follow along or try it yourself these pictures and instructions make sense :) Scroll down for the tutorial. 

I think this pillow turned our great! I do think it may have been better to double the thickness of the bow so it isn't so thin, as it blends into the pillow quite well. Haha. Maybe using a different fabric for the bow would avoid this issue. If you have any suggestions or questions leave a comment below! Thanks for looking :)

Note* Remember you can click on each picture set for a larger image! 

Materials

Pictured: 

2" x 4" piece of fabric (small)

13" x 5" piece of fabric (medium)

Two 13" x 13" pieces of fabric (large)

Scissors

Filling

 Not Pictured:

Pins

Sewing Machine (or patience with hand sewing)

Needle

Thread to match your fabric

PART 1: The Knot/Loop

(I numbered this part because there are a lot of steps)

1. Lay your small piece of fabric on your work space

2. Fold it in half hot dog style and pin it to stay

3. Sew along the open edge

4. Flip your tube inside out

5. Lay your fabric down so the seam is in the middle on top of your fabric

6. Fold it hot dog style so the SEAM SHOWS

7. Sew it together

8. Flip it inside out

9. Done

PART 2: The Bow

Now take your medium piece of fabric

Pinch it to create the center of a bow

Use the pins to hold it in place while you slid the loop you just made around the bow

** If the loop isn't snug enough to hold the bow's shape, take it off, flip it back inside out, sew the seam closer, clip the extra fabric, and turn inside out again until it fits!**

PART 3: Sew the Bow Down

Now take your bow and lay it on one of the big pieces of fabric.

Make sure it is the pattern direction you want it to be in. 

Pin the edges down tight on both sides.

Sew the bow onto the fabric on the edges.

PART 4: Form the Pillow

**Not pictured**

Lay your to large pieces of fabric (one containing the bow) front to front so the pattern (what will be the outside of the pillow) is hidden. Make sure your patterns are both facing the way they need to be so when the pillow is flipped inside out it is correct direction and alignment. 

Sew all but one of your edges together- on the last one leave enough room to be able to stuff your pillow.

Flip it inside out *mind your bow!*

Stuff with stuffing

Fold under the rough edges on the unsewn seam and pin together.

Sew as close to the crease as you can with your sewing machine or hand. 

That's it! You're done :) Now admire your work!

Hair Bow for Under Sock/Messy Buns

So I was bored on my Sunday afternoon and started rifling through my Pinboard for inspiration for projects to do that required me to use my brand new sewing machine! I found a tutorial for a hairbow and thought, why not? So, I used some scrap fabric I had from my heart garland and made one. I think it turned out nice. It's probably not that versatile considering the pattern, and I might want it to be a little bit bigger, but for a first run I think I did pretty well. The fabric I used is a flannel material. The tutorial called to use a stiff material, but I went with the flannel instead. *Once I finished this I tried the tutorial with some canvas material and I think it's too stiff, so I actually think that any material would be fine (because it's folded twice and then bunched.. It's got pretty good shape). Anyways I will link the tutorial HERE! Ironically her blog is called "Rookie" :) Hope you guys like it. Total cost of project is nothing since I used scraps! All you need is thread and fabric, and my fabric only cost about 50 cents. I'd say you can make this pretty cheap ;)

Update To Explain My Absence

Hello!
Sorry I haven't updated my blog with any new crafts in the last week or so. I've been really busy with making scarves and headbands! I recently began selling them at my university. I have made ten scarves and six headbands in the past two weeks! It's been incredibly rewarding selling them to my peers, but it takes up the majority of my time. I have exams this week and then I am headed to the pan-handle for vacation, so I won't be updating again until sometime around Christmas. I plan on doing a tutorial for the chevron zipper pouch once I return though! For now I leave you with this picture of some scarves and headbands I have made this week. :) Thanks for continuously checking my blog for updates! Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. -Kristi

Old Book to Notebook

I took an old hard cover book and turned it into a notebook by using a few simple tools. It was really inexpensive and, although it was a learn-as-I-go project (I didn't really have a game plan going into this), I love it. I saw a lot of tutorials on how to make notebooks out of old books, but none that I liked. Some had book rings, some required expensive tools, and others were just plain wrong. So, I took a little bit of advice from all three and came up with my own version. I have written instructions at the bottom of this entry! It's easy and I promise you can do it. Check it out! 

*This project is really easy/cheap, but it is fairly time consuming. It takes a few days because binding pages takes glue that needs to really set. I know rubber cement says it's fast drying, but to bind pages, it takes time. So if you are going to start this, please fully read the instructions before diving in!*

Again, Sorry for the lack of pictures. If I make another, I will add pictures! 

Materials:

Old book with little to no meaning/worth (I picked mine up for 50 cents at a thrift store)

Scrap piece of canvas material that will cover the binding of your book (*edges folded under*)

Notebook Paper (Enough to fill your book binding (I used almost two packages of loose leaf college ruled)

Paper Slicer (You will need one of these for this project. They are probably ~$8.00 at walmart. You will be cutting the lined paper multiple times, so a pair of scissors just wont cut it (cut. it. ey? ey? yeah you got it.)

Rubber Cement (if you are under 18 you may need an adult with you- I know it's ridiculous- OR you can just go to meijer at midnight to buy it and do the self-checkout. No one on the graveyard shift cares how old you are ;) 

Needle & Thread & Pins

X-acto knife

Two sheets of matching Scrapbook paper (for inside covers)

*Superglue is optional. 

Heavy Books for weight

PART 1: PAGES

Step 1: Cut your notebook paper to fit into your book. You can see my from my pictures that I cut mine so that the holes were no longer on the paper, but the red line still showed, and the header was fully in tact. You can cut your paper any way you like. This is probably the hardest part of the whole process because you can really only cut as many papers at a time as your slicer will allow (my cheap one is about 10 at a time) so it can get really monotonous. But try to be persistent and get it all done in one sitting because pretty soon your eye adjusts to the right place to cut and it gets easier.

Step 2: Once you have your pages cut, then you can line them all up. Place them on the edge of a table and place some heavy books on top of the page so they don't move. I tried to use clamps but they bent the pages, so books work better. Then let the edge of the pages you will bind hang JUST off the table. Paint on the first coat of rubber cement. Leave for at least 2 hours. Then paint another coat. Then wait again for 2 hours. Then paint another coat. Then wait. Then paint another coat. Let the last coat dry overnight. Once its dry test your pages to see if thy are all stuck together and wont fall out. If you are all set, then move on. Other wise- repeat the coat and wait process until  you pages are bound. 

PART 2: BOOK

Step 3: Use your x-acto knife to cut out the page in the old book. Yea, cut em right out of there. No need to be shy!

Step 4: Take your scrap book paper and cut them into three pieces: One for the left cover, one for the right cover, and then one that will sit in the binding but will overlap the left and right covers about an inch. Use your rubber cement to glue the three pieces on (left, then right, then center.) 

PART 3: BINDING

(I actually did this part after part 4, but I think it would be easier to do before.)

Step 5: Cut your canvas scrap to fit the binding of your book (I had mine cover JUST the binding so that I could easily sew in the creases where it isn't so thick)

Step 6: Pin the top and the bottom to the book to hold in place. Then pin by pin ( about 2 inches apart) pin down the canvas on each side of the binding. Make sure to fold the edges of you canvas under to avoid an unclean fraying edge. It looks a lot nicer and is worth the extra 60 seconds I promise. 

Step 7: Once everything is pinned in place, then start sewing. Yes by hand! It takes about 45 minutes each side. (sounds like a lot, I know but I was watching The Walking Dead, so my timing may be a bit off ;)) It will be hard to get the needle through the book so I used a hard surface to tap it through on each stitch. Try your best to make sure each stitch is equally spaced apart. They should be no longer than a pinky nail width across (like half a centimeter I guess). Oh, TIP** Hide your knots at the end of your threads by tucking them in the fold of the fabric (tedious I know) or in the binding of the book. 

PART 4: LAST STEP (PUTTING IN THE PAGES)

Step 8: Take your bound pages and coat them with rubber cement and tightly place them in the binding of your book (on top of the scrapbook paper, obviously). Make sure this is tight and place the book under the heavy books again to hold in place for at least 2 hours. 

Step 9: Take it out and check to see if it is stuck in (It should be stuck pretty well (don't wrench it open, it's going to be somewhat delicate). If there are little pockets where it didn't stick very well (which happened to me) take your super glue and dribble it into the spots -careful not to get it on the other parts of the book- and hold tight (either in your hand or under the books again) for 15 minutes. I know superglue dried fast, but I would rather be safe than sorry, and 15 minutes is no 2 hours. 

Step 10: Your book should be finished! Get out a pen and start journaling for goodness sake! 

*Note: If you want to hide your stiches on the inside of your "hinges" you can try putting the binding on before putting the scrapbook paper in (Do steps 5-7 before step 4). Like I said, I learned as I went with this project (No game plan) and I really don't mind the visible sticthes. I'm a big fan of character and tiny details, so I like them, but if you are a morestreamline person, I'm sure it would work to put scrapbook paper over second. Okay enough chatter, get out there and make one!!

Don't forget to comment! <3