KimberlyMichelle » crafty

a crafty way to say “i love you” – printable banner

Kim — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:20:18 +0000

If you’d like to add a little bit of extra love to your house this Valentine’s Day (or really… any day for that matter!), here’s an easy banner to help you proclaim your love! All you need is cardstock and some shiny gold brads (from any office supply store)

If you’re lucky enough to have a digital cutting machine (Cricut/Silhouette), then you can easily download these files and get cutting right away:

I LOVE YOU BANNER SVG FILE [6x12 version]: Download and Download (you’ll need both of them!)

I LOVE YOU BANNER SVG FILE [12x12 version]: Download

But… if you don’t happen to have a machine, but still want to have some fun, here are two PDF versions that you can print and cut out using scissors or a craft knife (ie. X-ACTO).

I LOVE YOU BANNER PDF FILE: Download and Download (you’ll need both of them)

how to make your own holiday window bows

Kim — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:29:34 +0000

This Christmas, I wanted to decorate our living room windows with something out of the pages of a Pottery Barn holiday catalog. But the cost of draping 6 windows in pine needle swag just wasn’t that appealing… and when I attempted to make a pom-pom garland two years ago, it came up looking tiny and small in such a large space. So instead, I decided to go Disneyland style and make oversized bows for each window.

Essentially, you’re just going to make your own GIANT WIRED BOW… out of whatever you’d like! I chose to make mine out of burlap because it was nice and cheap and I love the natural/rustic aesthetic it brings out at Christmas. (Plus, it allows for your imperfections to be hidden really easily!)

Materials (for 4-5 bows)

1.5 yards of burlap fabric (for each bow)
Brass brads (4-5 per bow)
Picture hanging wire
sewing machine & thread

Directions

1. Cut your burlap into strips – you’ll need a 16” wide strip for the bows, and 2 8” wide strips for the bow tails. Additionally, you’ll need one strip of 16” wide fabric to cut into pieces for the center piece of the bow – put this to the side and do nothing with it.

2. Sew a 1” hem (for the wire to slip into) along each long side of all 3 pieces of fabric.

3. Finish off the end of one short side on each of the pieces.

This is what your 3 pieces will look like:

4. Cut lengths of wire about 4” longer than what you need for each piece. Then feed the wire through the open end all the way through each piece of fabric. Repeat 5 times with each other open sleeve. After it’s fed all the way through, simply pinch it over to keep it in place.

5. Take the largest piece (the bow) and loop it around on itself to make a large hoop. Secure it using a brass brad. Simply poke it through the outside layers and open it up on the other side to secure! Place a second one at the bottom half of the fabric as well.

6. Now time to create the bow-ish part! Lay your fabric down so that the connected part of the circle is in the middle-back. Then pinch the entire bow (both layers) in the center lengthwise. Then create two more pinches on the top and bottom for three total. Lay it to the side.

7. Pick up your saved/non-hemmed piece of burlap and cut it into a strip 8-10” wide. Then create a trifold so that it’s about 6” wide.

So now you’ve got a pinched bow and a strip of fabric for the bow middle!

8. Wrap the little strip around the center of your bow. It’s up your judgment to see how tight you want it, but if you need to cut the center strip shorter, feel free to do so!

Secure the piece by, once again, using a brass brad. Poke it through all layers of the short strip and fasten it.

9. Now, take one last brad and poke it up from the underside of the center piece.

Now layer both of the bow-end strips on top of the back of the bow. [Make sure that the finished ends are at the bottom of bow-ends] Poke the brad end up through both of the bow-ends and secure it. You can use one more brad here to add some extra strength as well.

10. Hang up your bows over the windows and bend the wires as you like! I used my arm as a molding shape to get the rolling curves in it… but just think about what you would do with normal wired bows and mimic it on a large scale!

p.s. Why did I use brads to secure my bow instead of sewing everything?? Well… I was thinking ahead for storage. I wanted to be able to undo the bow and lay the pieces flat each year so that they would take up less room in a Christmas box! While it’d be lovely to have these all in one box just to hang up in a few minutes, I figured the 10 minutes of assembly would be worth it for the savings in storage room!

2011 – “made by you” gift exchange

Kim — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 17:48:29 +0000

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE EXCHANGE (via Elfster.com)

Yup!!! I’m doing it!!! GIFT EXCHANGE HERE WE COME!!! When I asked a couple weeks ago, I got a few definite "YES!” votes and a whole lot of “MAYBE” votes and only one “NO” – so I figured I’d put myself out there and create this gift exchange and see what happens!!!

It’s so simple… and I think it’ll be lots of fun! Just create a GIFT that you’d love to give or receive, send it along to your matched pal via mail, and wait to receive your gift!

Here are the rules of the 2011 “made by you” gift exchange:

You must live in the USA or Canada to participate (sorry… just easier this way due to overseas shipping costs and time)

$10 spending limit on materials (does not include postage)

Gift must be “made by you” – this means it could be baked, assembled, crafted, drawn, painted, customized, decorated, sewn, or however else you can create a gift! Don’t think that this is purely a crafty endeavor… it’s just a home-made one!

You must sign up for the exchange by November 9th, 2011

You must send your gift between November 10th and December 16th, 2011

If you choose to blog about what you “made” … simply link your blog entry here and I’ll link back to your blog and share out what you sent in special blog entries from December 20th-23rd.

Any other questions?
Ask them in the comments and I’ll answer them here in the post!!

HOORAY!!! Let the gift exchange begin!

p.s. Elfster is a third-party “gift exchange” site that arranges “Secret Santa” giveaways. Once you’ve joined elfster, you’ll also need to ENROLL in this exchange as well. Make sure you do both! Elfster is very secure, and ONLY the person whom you getting your gift from will see your mailing address.

painting the tub

Kim — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:05:00 +0000

All it took was one little “pin” on pinterest for me to assemble the following items and put them in Miss L’s bathroom before bathtime…

… and before you knew it, we had a little Georgia O’Keefe on our hands!

You can learn the step-by-step magic behind how to make your own rainbow bathtub paint on “Meet the Dubiens.”

If you’d like to follow me on pinterest, you can find my boards here!

[and if you have resisted the pinterest temptation until now… but want to jump in, leave a comment and I’ll send one your way]

every event needs a t-shirt (even a trip to Mexico)

Kim — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 19:32:47 +0000

I brought presents to Mexico in the bottom of my luggage. When Cathy saw these in person, so called me out… “You’re such a sorority girl” … essentially meaning that I celebrate all events with t-shirts. In other words… yes I did make celebratory t-shirts for our trip to Tulum.

This was the design… a logo for the event titled, “Cathy’s Dirty 30.” Can you see it? Do you get it? I’m not owning up to how many iterations I went through, but with Mr. M as my design consultant, I ended up with this much improved logo.

I used my old favorite stand-by trick of printing out the design, cutting out the design stencil using thick acetate and an exacto knife, and applying the screen printing ink. (as also seen HERE and HERE)

I did do something a little different though, as I applied the ink with a large stippling brush to give it a bit more of a distressed look and feel.

As for where we got the shirts? Good ‘ol Jiffy Shirts came to the rescue yet again, and I ordered Bella #6004 for the ladies in teal, and gray Hanes shirts for the boys (not pictured)! The girl’s shirts fit amazingly well and are a great option if you’re looking for a LONGer fitted t-shirt that’s not going to shrink into nothing (ahem American Apparel).

the post where kim creates yet another Disney item of clothing from a coloring book

Kim — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 03:51:00 +0000

I like Disney coloring books. They provide me with simple lines to copy and really make something unique. You may remember the first wearable crafting endeavor with the Sleeping Beauty Castle bleach shirt circa January 2009. Then came Dumbo in bleach in September of that year.

Now… let me introduce you to the latest in wearable Disney coloring book clothing for
kid’s resort wear in 2011…

… the Dumbo dress!

Now since I really had no idea how well this would work out, I didn’t take pictures of the entire process. So I guess I’ll have to come back here after we get back and make another applique to share the “how” of everything with you! I mean, Miss L does need an outfit for our next trip back in January!

So I promise to be back with the instructions shortly, and then you can get to making your own coloring book applique’s for anything you want!

[p.s. this is my first applique of any type… so I was definitely pretty nervous about every single step. I’d like to thank my sewing machine for leading me confidently through all the steps of dress creation through to the end of the applique process!]

how to make personalized bunting flags

Kim — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:35:00 +0000

Another long, overdue post… but it was sitting in the draft folder so I figured I’d finish it up before it truly become ancient history!

As you know, I made this personalized bunting flag for Miss L’s 1st birthday. I’m pretty certain that we’ll be using for all future birthday celebrations in the house (um, why not?) for the near future!

Here’s the instructions for making your very own personalized bunting for the future!

Materials:
Freezer Paper
Felt (or another fabric for the letters)
Fabric for front and back of bunting
Double Fold Binding tape (or make your own)

Step 1: Design your letters in an editing program of your choice (MS Word, Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.) Use an outline style to minimize the ink needed to print and arrange for them to be printed on an 8.5”x11” sheet of paper.

Step 2: Cut 8.5”x11” pieces of freezer paper. Print your design on the non-waxed side of the freezer paper.

Step 3: Iron the freezer paper to your felt (or whatever fabric you’re using for the letters). You’ll find this makes the fabric really easy to cut and eases any trouble you might encounter from cutting and tracing patterns.

Step 4: Cut out your letters!

Step 5: Cut your front fabric into bunting triangles. The easiest way to do this is to cut your fabric into the widths you want (I just seam ripped), then make a template that simply flips from side to side. (Here’s a great template from nunde that allows you to create different lengths!)

You also need to cut the “back” fabric as well. In this case, I used plain muslin for every triangle.

Step 6: Arrange everything to make sure you like the looks of what you’ve got. Pin the felt letters to the front bunting triangles.

Step 7: Using the sample color thread as the felt letters, sew the letters to the triangle using a blanket stitch or a straight stitch.

Step 8: Sew the front and back fabrics together at the sides, making sure that the letter is facing inwards.

Step 9: Arrange and pin all of your bunting triangles together using the bias tape. (For a cheaper option, simply cut thin strips of your backing fabric and iron in a fold) Use a straight stitch to grab all of them together!

Step 10: Hang it up and admire your hard work!

if there was ever something to get me into quilting…

Kim — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 18:00:47 +0000

This Charley Harper quilt at the California State Fair blew my mind. I stood and looked at it for eons until I realized that my entire family had abandoned me for exhibits around the corner. They told me to just take a photo and move on… so I took the photo, but I’m still transfixed on how amazing it truly is.

Charley Harper art is amazing, but making it into a blanket? Wow. Wow. Wow.

I can’t quilt worth a darn (cutting lots of straight lines is not my forte), so instead I just drool over the works of others. (p.s. do you visit Bijou Lovely? Because that some seriously amazing stuff to drool over!)

being creative for work

Kim — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:54:21 +0000

I work in a building (and a field) that is dominated by women. And my particular building has a penchant for creative opportunities, be it Halloween door decorating contests or elaborate potlucks or photography contests. In a way, it’s nice to know about so many colleague’s outside hobbies, and know a bit more about a person’s passions than just the work they do on a daily basis.

Today’s creative opportunity came by way of a Farewell Brunch for a much-loved employee/friend. The organizer knew that we were good buddies, and that I liked my creative outlets as much as the next person in the office, so I was tasked with cupcake making.

And instead of just baking the cupcakes (brown velvet with white chocolate/peppermint cream cheese frosting), I had to go one step further and be crafty too. So, of course, I quickly designed some cupcake flags in Illustrator, cut them out, and taped them to toothpicks this morning.

I got quite lucky that the table was long enough to accommodate a word as long as “Congratulations.” And even though they weren’t finished with the extra colored backing that I had envisioned, they turned out quite nice a whole 10 minutes before the shindig began.

Sometimes it’s nice to share a bit of your other side during the hours of 8-5.

christmas in july: evolution of a card

Kim — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 22:31:57 +0000

It’s usually about this time of year when my brain starts thinking about Christmas cards. I start thinking creatively, think big thoughts, and then forget about them until the end of November when I scramble to put something together and get them out in time.

While uploading some archived images to FLICKR earlier today, I came across my crafting file from 2006.

This was the evolution of my Print Gocco! card from that year…

from first doodle…

… to correctly proofed 2-pass print set-up…

… to colored glue-light fun!

Nowadays, I think most of my doodles stay doodles and never quite make it to the crafting stage!

Is anyone else thinking ahead to the holidays in the heat of the summer?