Beaded Clutch

I have been really excited to try "Beads in a Bottle" ever since I heard about and it I've been scheming some ideas of how to use it.  Today I'm going to show you this beaded clutch I made.

I have this fabric that I've been saving because I love it so much.  Today I whipped it out and sewed a quick clutch out of it.

Then I embellished the flap of the clutch with the Beads in a Bottle Paint.  It comes in a tube and you squeeze it out, forming little dots that end up looking like you stitched on beads.  I took some scratch paper and practiced a little bit before doing it on the purse.  The instructions are easy.  When you first pull upward it looks more like a raindrop (pointed at the top) but then it settles down and dries like a sphere.  It's really fun stuff and it comes in lots of colors.

You can use it to create designs on plain fabric, but I thought it would be fun to add it to a patterned fabric like this.  I only embellished the flap of the clutch because I thought it looked more authentic that way.

Here's a closeup of what it ends up looking like.

Perfect for a girl's night out.

Visit us on Facebook!
Craft on! Click here for today's daily giveaway!

iLoveToCreate Teen Crafts: Volleyball Spirit Socks

Volleyball Spirit Socks
Avalon Potter for ILovetoCreate Teen Crafts
"Teen crafted, mom approved."

For my project this week I decided to create some knee high volleyball socks! I have recently been preparing for a volleyball tournament and when you play volleyball your uniform usually includes knee high socks. Instead of buying a pair of fancy socks, I decided to decorate them myself! It is fun and easy and is even better once you try them on. You can adapt this project to any sport or if you're not sporty, just for fun!

Materials
White knee socks
1” grey grosgrain ribbon
Pink Felt
Aleene’s Fabric Fusion fabric glue
Tulip dimensional fabric paint-slick black
Tracing pen
1” circumference circle template
Tube or rectangular form large enough to secure socks and hold their form


1. Place sock on form.

2. Take your pen and mark where you will put your volleyballs and bow on socks.



3. Take your circle cutout and trace it eight times with your pen on the felt.



4. Cut out the circles and use the fabric paint to make a volleyball design on each felt cutout.

5. Let those dry and start on your two bows.

6. Find out how big you want the bow loops to be and cut a piece of ribbon to the desired length. Glue down the two ends in the middle.



7. Add a little bit of glue in the center of the bow where the ends meet. Cut a small piece of ribbon just long enough to go around the bow, fold in the ends.

8. After all of the volleyballs and bows have dried place the first four volleyballs and bow out on your sock.

9. Use Aleene’s fabric glue to glue the volleyballs and bow on the sock. Cover the whole backside of the volleyball in glue and only the center of the bow. You can tack the bow and volleyballs down with thread if you like.

10. Use the dimensional fabric paint to create dashes moving diagonally between the volleyballs on the front of the sock.

11. Let it dry on the tube. Repeat for second sock.

12. Enjoy!

No-tug DIY Headband!

Last month, in preparation for the holiday party circuit, I shared the tutorial for the Softie Spiral Headband. This month, it's about headgear for the younger generation. I made these headbands, adapted from a project in one of my favorite books, Crafty Mama, for my four-year-old niece (though I'm not a Crafty Mama, the Crafty Auntie title is one I take very seriously). She's growing out her bangs and has a classic Goldilocks situation on her hands: The available solutions to bangs-in-the-face poke, prod, or pull, are too tight or too loose. But these stretchy soft headbands are just right.

Materials:

-package knee-high stockings (1 stocking makes 1 headband)

-scissors

-needle and thread (color to match the stockings)

-Aleene’s Fabric Fusion Permanent Dry Cleanable Fabric Adhesive

-colorful felt pieces

-buttons (optional, for embellishment)

-clothespins (optional, for clipping in place while gluing/drying)

Make it:

1. Remove the stockings from the packaging and stretch them out. Cut about 1" off the top of one stocking and set it aside. Thread the needle, knot the end, and make a running stitch about 1/4" from the cut end of the stocking.

2. Sew a running stitch along the toe end of the stocking and gently pull the thread to gather the two ends of the stocking together, forming a loop. Make a few more stitches to secure the ends, and knot.

3. Set the loop (the headband) aside, and cut decorative shapes from the felt pieces. Cut several felt strips about 1/2" by 3".

4. Wrap one felt strip around the gather on the headband (to hid the stitching and provide a base for the embellishment). Apply glue liberally to the ends of the strip and fold them over each other. Let dry, and reapply glue as needed. (Felt is very porous, so the glue gets absorbed easily.) While the glue dries on the headband, mix and match felt shapes and glue them together to make embellishments. Optional: Add buttons, glitter, ribbon, T-shirt flowers, even fabric scrapbook decals to personalize the headband.

5. Glue the felt embellishment over the felt seam and let dry. (Again, apply that glue liberally!)

6. You're done! Now get to the wearing part -- with no complaints of pulled hair, and no shaggy bangs covering up her sweet little face! Tea party, anyone?

Bonus: If you buy your stockings at the pharmacy or the dollar store, they often come in little round plastic containers that can easily be converted into a simple cat toy -- drop a button inside, snap it tightly closed, and roll it across the floor.

Double bonus: Remember the 1" bit of fabric you cut off the top of the stocking in step 1? Follow steps 4 and 5 to make No-tug Hair Ties! Perfect for taming pigtails, ponies, and braids.

Check out my other fun projects for iLoveToCreate here!

Visit us on Facebook!
Craft on! Click here for today's daily giveaway!

Monogrammed Luggage Tags

Hey everybody!  This is Cheri from I Am Momma - Hear Me Roar.  I have a fun, inexpensive gift idea for you today.

 I love how monograms have been so big this year and I also love giving gifts that are personalized and usable.  So, today I'm sharing these monogrammed luggage tags.

You'll need:

Tulip soft paints

Tulip Fabric Paint Brushes

a little fabric (scraps work perfectly for this)

a little bit of heavy fusible interfacing (like pellon)

ribbon

clear plastic vinyl

I began by cutting my heavy fusible interfacing into a tag shape.  Just cut a rectangle and then snip off the corners at the top.  You'll cut two of these.

Next, iron them both on to your fabric and then trim your fabric to match the shape.  You'll have this.

Next you'll cut a small rectangle of the clear plastic vinyl and sew it onto the right side of one tag, leaving one side open to insert an address card.

Now, take a loop of ribbon and sandwich the ends of it into the tags so that the fabric is on the outside.  There's no fancy inverting here.  Just sew around the edges of the full tag.  (The fusible interfacing will keep the edges from fraying.)  If the edges don't line up perfectly when you're done don't fret.  Just trim the edges until it looks perfect.

Lastly, I used the Tulip soft fabric paint to add the monogram.  Tulip has these fabric paint brushes that are especially for painting fabric.  They are a little more stiff and work really well.  The angled brush felt like I was using a calligraphy pen.  I mixed the brown and black to get a deep brown color I was looking for.  (The Rollos are optional, but I think they help.)

And here's what you get.

I think everyone can appreciate being able to recognize his or her luggage.  (You know, people start to stare at you when they see you running laps around and around the baggage conveyor in a full sweat, trying to see which gray suitcase is yours :)

It's an easy, fun, inexpensive gift idea for friends or neighbors.

FREE SHIPPING through December 13, 2010. Craft on! Click here for today's daily giveaway!

Softie Headband (with T-shirt Scraps!)

Yes, Thanksgiving is nearly here, but I'm already fast forwarding straight past the food coma to the holiday parties! And there is really nothing like a bit of proper party headgear to make a grand entrance. Bring in bright tones to battle the cold weather--or, ooh! add glitter to your project to really sparkle in the season!

Materials:

-1"-wide T-shirt strips of varying lengths (in complementary shades)

-Aleene's Fabric Fusion Permanent Dry Cleanable Fabric Adhesive

-fabric scissors

-1 fabric-coated plain headband (preferably with a metal base)

-clothespins

-straight pins (optional)

Select one T-shirt strip (a T-shirt hem works well -- just cut off the stitching and stretch it out), squeeze a dab of Fabric Fusion on the inside end and fold it over on itself.

Gently squeeze more glue around the outside of the fold and coil more fabric into the glue.

Continue gluing and coiling until you have a 1" to 1.5" fabric disc. Then snip the end at an angle and apply a bit of extra Fabric Fusion to make sure it flattens against the edge of the disc.

Repeat to make seven to nine more discs! Optional: Use straight pins to keep the ends of the coils in place while they dry.

Arrange the discs in a pattern you like and glue them together where they touch. Let the panel dry.

Apply glue along the top edge of the headband and gently press the panel of coils against the headband.

Clip it in place with clothespins (so you don't have to hold it). Let it dry.

Wear it hair up or down!

Craft on! Click here for today's daily giveaway!

ILoveToCreate Pink Splash 3-D Flower Bracelet

ILovetoCreate Teen Crafts Pink Splash 3-D Flower Bangle
Copyright Margot Potter
“Mom crafted, kid approved.”

I designed a chain and bead necklace a couple of years ago featuring a similar hot pink die cut flower on it for a class proposal. At the time, this kind of look hadn’t hit mainstream fashion hard and I think it was just a skootch ahead of the curve. Flash forward to 2010 and dimensional floral accents are EVERYWHERE! I’ve re-imagined it attached to this pretty painted pink bangle design using fabric paints, fabric markers and Aleene’s Liquid Fusion glue. I think this is one of those perfect ‘Back-to-School’ accessories for the teen fashionista. It’s flirty and fun and girly and right in step with what’s happening in the fashion mags.

PLUS the flower spins around like a pinwheel, so it’s a kinetic design too! When those crystals get spinning, it’s really quite mesmerizing!

This requires using an electric drill, so a little assistance from mom or dad may be required. You could opt to do smaller flowers and have them circle the wrist, but I’m a big and bold kinda gal and so is Miss Avalon, my resident teen. Take this idea where you like, express your individuality! That’s what crafting and fashion is all about.

Materials
Grungeboard sheet swirls pattern
Tulip Soft Fabric Paint in azalea
Tulip Metallic Dimensional Fabric Paint in white
Tulip Metallic Dimensional Fabric Paint in metallic silver
DIY Bangles small wooden bangle
Inkadinkado lourish stamp
Aleene’s Liquid Fusion glue
Tulip Glam-It-Up™ crystals
Crystal bead for center
Pink or silver-plated head pin
Sizzix Bigz Flower Die

Tools
Tulip Glam-It-up™ tool
Sizzix Big Shot machine
Electric drill with 1/16” bit
Paintbrush
Foam brush or foam applicator
Flush cutters
Round nose pliers



1. Paint several layers of azalea paint on inside and outside of bangle. Allow to dry between layers.

2. Stamp flat oval areas with flourish stamp and white paint. Apply paint with a foam applicator or brush to surface of stamp. Allow to dry.

3. Mark center of one flat oval segment on bangle and drill.

4. Die cut flower out of Grungeboard using the Big Shot and the Bigz flower die.

5. Paint both sides of each layer of flower with azalea paint. Allow to dry.


6. Use foam applicator and flourish stamp to apply metallic silver paint to surface of flower layers. Allow to dry.

7. Use a thin paintbrush or your foam applicator to edge the flowers with the metallic paint. Allow to dry.

8. Glue flower layers together with Liquid Fusion. Allow glue to dry.

9. Use Tulip Glam-it-Up crystals and wand to apply crystals to edges of flower petals.

10. Thread head pin with flat side facing inside of bracelet through drilled hole, hole in center of flower and a crystal bead. Use round nose pliers to turn a loop and secure. (If the head pin head is too small, use a small button to secure it to the back of the bracelet.)