Homemade Crazy Crayons - A Homemade Stocking Stuffer

I have made these homemade crayons a few times for gifts. They are such a wonderful gift, all colorful and shaped like hearts. I made some for my niece for her birthday a few years ago and also made a batch for a college care package that I sent to my sister (check out this notebook doodle treasure bag I made to put the crayons in!) And this year J is getting some in his stocking!

Anyone with kids has a ton of broken crayons in a box somewhere. Homemade crayons are the perfect solution! Take the broken and sad crayons and turn them into beautiful new crayons, perfect for little toddler hands (and big kid imaginations!)

before...

after!!!

These crayons are really easy to put together. The hardest part is peeling the crayons. I found that if you are having trouble getting the paper off of your crayons, just soak them in some cold water for a few minutes. That should make it easier. If that doesn't work use an Xacto knife or a vegetable peeler and very carefully peel off the paper.

Homemade Crazy Crayons

What you will need:

• a bunch of old crayons
• a cutting board
• a large kitchen knife
• a mini muffin tin or silicone candy mold (oven safe)

Preheat the oven to 170F. If using a flexible silicone mold, place it on a cookie sheet for stability.

Peel all of the paper off of the crayons. Soak crayons in cold water if the paper is being stubborn.

Cut the crayons into pea sized bits. 

Arrange the crayons in your mold, you can do any combination of colors you like! (J loved helping me fill the cups with chopped crayon bits!) Fill the cups as full as possible, the crayons will melt together and will not overflow.

Bake at 170F for 15-20 minutes, just until the crayons have melted.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before removing from the mold. If you are using a metal mold and you are having trouble getting them to pop out, just stick the mold in the freezer for a few minutes and then they should pop out very easily. 

Little Boys Bow Tie - Tutorial Review

I'm kind of obsessed with bow ties, especially on baby boys and toddlers. I made one for my son to wear to a family wedding last summer. I also made a few for a show I designed and I made one for a friend. 

This tutorial makes a bow tie that will be the right size for pretty much any age (I've made one for a 6 month old and one for a 16 year old) and if you want a hair bow, just skip making the neckband and add a barrette.

I have used this tutorial from A Lemon Squeezy Home every time I have made a bow tie  (also modified it to make an over-sized hair bow). The tutorial is really well done. Its really easy to follow and there are pictures for almost every step. 

The only thing I did differently, was use snaps instead of Velcro on the neckband. I made the neckband a little longer than my son's neck measurement so that I could add some extra snaps and make the strap adjustable. I have also made this bow tie with and without the batting/felt, I don't think it makes a huge difference if you don't have it for the added fluffy-ness. Although, the batting inside makes for a great drool catcher, no need for a bib!

Its always hard to find cute projects to make for little boys, but this one is perfect! It goes together pretty quickly (if you don't have a little person distracting you), and has turned out perfectly every time I have made one. I absolutely recommend  using this tutorial to anyone looking to sew up something for a sweet little boy. 

Camera Strap

Tessa, from Tessacotton, is a pretty awesome chick! We went to college together down in Mississippi, and I loved her then and love her now! She is one of those ridiculously talented and creative people. 

A little while ago Tessa asked me to make her a strap for her new DSLR camera. Aside from being kind of jealous, (I would love a DSLR!) I was really flattered that she asked me to make something for her. 

Finished Camera Straps

When we started talking about fabrics, she said she wanted "Something along the lines of too many colors to clash with anything..." HAHA! How awesome is that? So we looked for something that wouldn't clash with whatever she was wearing to her shoots. We finally found this great Spoonflower print. Check out my post about the fabric.

I wanted to make a real camera strap. Not just a cover for her existing strap. There are a lot of tutorials for covers, but I only found one tutorial for an actual camera strap. I would like to be very clear here, this is not my tutorial. Someone has done the hard work and I just used their tutorial. I believe that if someone has already invented the wheel, why try to reinvent? *I did not charge Tessa for this strap, so I am not stealing this woman's hard work for profit*

I did a lot of looking for a good tutorial and found a great one on ikat bag, How to Make A Camera Strap. It really is a good tutorial. She had provided a simple pattern and info on where to find the materials. I particularly like this tutorial because it produces a very stable strap, nothing flimsy here. It also has adjustable sliding bars, so you can make your strap exactly the length you want.

The only thing missing from this tutorial is a little pocket for a camera lens cap. I wanted to add a little pocket or something to keep the lens cap in so that it would be easy to store away and get to when needed. Tessa is often shooting outdoors, and I didn't want her lens cap to be lost in the grass. So, I made up a pattern. I will include that tutorial/pattern in a future post.

I also added a few inches to the original tutorial. I made one at the length that is suggested in the tutorial (roughly, 20"), and I made one that was the same length (roughly, 27") as the strap that came with Tessa's camera. After I shipped the strap to Tessa, she said the length was perfect. I think since the strap is adjustable anyway, it wouldn't be a big deal at either length.

I made two because I had plenty of materials.

I am planning on doing a GIVE-A-WAY!

Little Girl's Reversible Skirt (really quick and easy tutorial)

I really, really love my son and I love my nephew, but I LOVE having a niece! I love having someone to make little pink things for. She likes dolls and to play dress-up, she is a girl after my own heart. I think she would wear her princess dresses to church if her parents would let her. 

For Christmas (and birthdays  I try to give my niece things other than toys (kids -including mine- have waaaaaay too many toys.) While she is young, I want to give her little sweet things, like clothes and other treasures that she can keep forever and give to her kids one day. My mom made me and my sister so many cute clothes that I can't wait to put on my daughters (if I have any) one day. 

This year, I made my niece this darling little reversible skirt using the tutorial from Fashioned by Meg. It was really simple to put together. It only took me about an hour. The tutorial was very easy to understand straight forward. I love the way it turned out!

Thomas the Tank Engine Play Mat - DIY Sewing Tutorial

My nephew is obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine. He is almost two years old and he can't get enough of that blue "Choo choo!" He has shirts, and movies, and toys. For Christmas I really wanted to make him something that he would love. I took the idea of those travel Match Box Car road play mats and tweaked it to make a train mat.

Its a pretty simple idea. Just two pieces of fabric sewn together with a map on one side. I painted the train tracks and did simple felt appliques for the lake, houses and mountain. The great thing about felt is that you can just cut it and stitch/glue it in place. There are no raw edges so there is a lot less work. If you don't want to sew felt, just paint on whatever landmarks you want on your map.

That's the cool thing about this project, you can make the map look like whatever you want it to look like. If you want lakes and rivers, just put them on there! If you want a whole village, just cut out some village shapes (squares and triangles for houses are so simple) and glue them on the map. You could even have train tracks going from your home to "Grandma's," just paint labels under the houses. Its so easy to make this a totally custom play mat!

What You Will Need:

• mat background fabric (I used green to look like grass) cut a 21" x 21" square
• mat border fabric (I used blue clouds) cut four strips of 2" x 21"
• mat back fabric (I used Thomas the Tank Engine fabric) cut a 23.5" x 23.5" square
• snap fabric (I used the same as the border fabric) cut a 3.5" x 4" rectangle
• small bits of felt 
• fabric paint
• embroidery floss
• one button (optional)
• one square of Velcro (both male and female sides) or a snap set
• the usual stuff (sewing machine, matching fabric, scissors, ruler etc...)

Note: Use a 1/4" seam allowance unless otherwise noted.

Plan out what you want your map to look like. I did a very simple sketch so I knew what I was working towards. Once you have a plan you can get started with the map details. Cut out shapes such as squares and triangles for houses, an organic triangle for a mountain, and a blob shape for a lake. Either glue or stitch these landmark details in place. Add whatever shading or detailing you want. Now, paint on the train tracks. The tracks should be 1.5" wide. I used a small piece of paper that was 1.5" wide so I could make sure the width was even. Neither the landmarks nor the tracks need to be perfect. Let your paint and glue dry completely (overnight is best) before moving on.

 

Sew on the borders. First sew on the top and bottom borders, line the edge of the border fabric up with the edge of the map fabric, right sides together. Press the borders open (see the first picture). Then sew on the two side borders using the same method, these will be longer than the top and bottom borders because they will over lap the top and bottom borders. Press these open.

Fold the snap tab fabric in half length wise, right sides together. Stitch up the raw edges and one end, leaving one end open. Trim the seams to about 1/8". Turn the tab right side out, poke out the corners with a dull pencil or corner turning tool and press.

Stitch the male side of the Velcro square in place at the finished end of the tab. (If you are using a snap this is where you would attach the female side of the snap in stead of the Velcro.)

Stitch a button on the opposite side of the tab from the Velcro. This button is just for show and won't be functional, so don't worry about it being very tight.

Layer the back fabric and the map right sides together. From the bottom left side (where I have my lake) of the map, measure 6" in and lay your Velcro tab with the button facing up (like in the picture). Pin this in place in between the two layers of fabric. Stitch around the whole map through the map border fabric and the back fabric making sure to back stitch. Leave a hole about 4" for turning.


Trim the corners Turn the whole thing right sides out, pushing out the corners with a dull pencil or a corner turner. Turn the raw edges you left for turning inside, press. Press around the whole map. Top stitch, as close to the edge of the fabric as possible, around the whole map (making sure to catch the raw edges that were left for turning). Stitch the other Velcro square to the back of the mat 6" from the top left corner.

That's it! It such a cute gift for a little boy who loves trains.

Gift Card Envelope - DIY Tutorial

My mom always says that gift cards are impersonal. I disagree. I love gift cards. I love how easy it is to give them and I love getting them and spending them. Its like guilt-free shopping. When we got married we got so many gift cards and it was awesome! We were able to get so much stuff that we needed, even stuff that wasn't on our registry.

The only thing I don't like about gift cards is that they are impossible to wrap and the little envelopes they come in are ugly. There are some cute cards and little tins you can get to put your gift cards in, but who wants to pay extra for that?

So, my solution is to make my own little envelope! It only takes a little scrap of fabric and about 30 minutes to make.

What you will need:

• One piece of fabric (quilting cotton works really well) - 13" x 3.5"
• The usual stuff (a sewing machine, matching thread, scissors, an iron, etc...)

Fold the fabric in half length wise, right-sides together. Stitch around the three raw edges using the edge of the foot lined up with the edge of the fabric as a seam allowance, back-tacking and leaving a hole for turning. 

Cut the corners, being careful not to cut the threads.

Pull the fabric though the hole so that its right sides out. Poke out the corners with a corner-turner (or a dull pencil).

Fold the raw edges from the turning hole to the inside. Press all the way around, making sure that the seams are pushed all the way to the edge.

Stitch along the edge of the envelope to close up the hole that was left for turning. I did two lines of stitching, one using the edge of foot, edge of fabric and one as close to the edge of the fabric as I could get. If you want you can just stitch as close to the edge of the fabric as you can.

 

Fold up one half of the envelope 2 and 7/8" to form a pocket. Press and pin.

Stitch around three edges as close to the edge of the fabric as you can. Make sure to back-tack. 

Slip in a gift card and you're DONE!