Ruched leggings - Take them from too short to too cute in 10 minutes

  

How come when spring comes, not only do all the weeds shoot up but so do my kids. I find every spring my two kids outgrow all of their pants and I end up buying new ones only for them not to fit by the time fall rolls around. This year I am determined to save a few dollars and outsmart this growth spurt. 

My daughters leggings are too short to look normal but are too long to look like they are capris. I hate hemming so there is no way I am going to take a few inches off to make them capris. So I searched online and found this technique  (ruching the bottom)  to solve my short pant problems (with my daughter at least).

Before:

 After:

I purchased a spool of elastic thread at my local fabric store for $1.50 and ruched both sides of the leggings. I have never used this product before so I did some searching on youtube on how to use it. After an hour of playing around I finally got it to work the way I wanted it to.

This is the method I used:
Hand wind the bobbin with the elastic thread. Do not pull the elastic; let it go on the bobbin at the same tension it comes off the spool. If you pull it tight, the area you sew will not pucker.

Load the bobbin into the bobbin case the exact same way you would with normal thread.

Set the tension on your machine to 9 or the highest.

I did a long straight stitch; set my stitch length to 3.5.

 I loaded the top thread with a matching color to the legging.

I then measured and marked 5 inches up both sides of each leg of the legging and sewed three parallel lines (approximately 1/4 of an inch apart) up the sides.  IMPORTANT - Be sure to reverse your stitch at the start and the end of each row. This allows the elastic to stay put and not pull through. As you can see I didn't really manage to get the lines straight but once it is ruched, you can't tell. (this is the underside)

I heated my iron and sprayed the ruched area with water and ironed it. I found this shrunk the elastic and made the ruching stand out more.

 

I managed to get a couple of 'after' shots even though my daughter went immediately back to skipping.


I am really happy with the end result and will continue to do this with all the other slightly too short leggings she has. At least this will get me through the spring and summer months :)

Sewing with the elastic thread was far easier than I expected. I might try my hand at ruching some t-shirts that are just a bit too big. I will let you know how that goes.

I hope this helps some of you moms out there who are afflicted with suddenly long legged kids :)

I hope everyone has a Happy Mother's Day!

Linking to some great parties including The stories of A2Z

Matching T-shirts for kids - Version 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0

To all you moms out there I want to start off by saying Happy Mother's Day weekend! I hope you all have a wonderful time with your families.
 
When my sister-in-law had her third son a few weeks ago, I was determined (aka fixated) to make the little one some absolutely adorable onesies. I was extremely happy with how the first three onesies I made turned out (see the previous post for all of them).   But this last one is by far my favorite!

With husbands in the IT industry, this onesie was very appropriate to them. But I decided to take it one step further and created a matching T-shirt for my two other nephews too. I purchased Tshirts in contrasting colors and rotated the stencil colors so they all matched. Using freezer paper cut out with my new Cricut :) I stenciled Version 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 on the shirts.

Aren't they just the cutest things? I don't have a picture of the boys wearing them, but I will get it!

Wouldn't it be a cute Mother's Day gift if a dad could take a photo of the kids wearing these to surprise his wife..or for a Grandmother? Hey hon are you reading this..wink, nudge, whatever it takes?

Aren't they great!?! So freakin cute.

Linking to some great parties including The stories of A2Z

Custom baby onesies - The cutest things in the world besides the baby

Happy Easter everyone!

As you know, we have a new little one in our family and we could not be happier! He is absolutely adorable.

I thought it would be really cute to make him some little onesies that were personalized to him and his family. I love freezer paper stenciling for how easy it it and how it always turns out so well. So I picked up a pack of 5 thick white onesies ($9) and started my endless debate as to what to put on them. I have to say I am the most indecisive person in the world.

I knew immediately that I had to make this one. My brother-in-law (and husband) are Korean so I thought this would be adorable "Made in Canada with Korean parts". It would work for all of you in the US too just change it up to say "made in the US with ______ parts".  I am going to put a big old Maple Leaf on the bum but I need a different cartridge that I will have to borrow from my mom. I LOVE THIS ONE!

Then I thought since all the boys on my husband's side like to pretend they are little martial arts experts, we would make a onesie to look like a karate outfit. My husband will put our nephew's Korean name on the one side like they do in martial arts classes. Isn't it adorable!! There was no freezer paper used for this one...just free hand by my husband.

For the third one, I thought since my brother-in-law is always wearing a Flash T-shirt (the DC comic Flash, not the program Flash) I could create a mini Flash onesie. I created 2 circles out of freezer paper and stenciled the space in between red. I then printed a Flash lightening bolt and cut it out on the freezer paper and stenciled it yellow.  Not 100% accurate to Flash but still CUTE!

 

As you can see there are only 3...so there are 2 more to come! One is done and it is absolutely adorable but worthy of its own post and the second is still being debated :)

What do you think! Do you love them as much as me?

Oh and people have been asking what paint I use. I use the puffy type of paint but I brush it on so it is flat.

 Have a Happy Easter!

Linking to the following amazing parties:

Personalized Birth Announcement Art

As you know my favorite post of all times was the Name/Established Art. I have given these as gifts for teachers, weddings and any other occasion I can think of.

When my new nephew was born, I knew I had to make him one.  I knew I wanted to include some additional information on this, like his weight and the date and time he was born, so I put a black line to frame his name and put the date and time on the top left and his weight on the bottom right.   I blurred out the details but you get the idea :)

Here is what the draft image looked like. I created this before I had the exact details for him.

For instructions on how to make this and where to find the letters, see the Name/Est art post here.

I knew the frame I was going to purchase when I created the art, so I made the image to fit perfectly.  The image you see is approximately 15x7 inches but I had to create an image that was 18x12 inches for printing ($3.49 a Costco). (Update: I have been having a lot of questions as to how I am printing at Costco. I am not sure if Costco US is different from Costco Canada, but we can print photos in sizes up to 12x18 for an extremely reasonable price. After uploading the image, I can simply select the large size from the pull down menu. I am sorry I do not know how the US version works. If there isn't the exact size I want, I create a photo to the print size available and leave white space around the image. Then crop the paper once I get home. hope this helps.)

I purchased this frame at Ikea ($12.99) and my wonderful husband cut the mat so it held one photo as opposed to three small photos. He used a metal ruler and an Exacto knife and cut the mat on an angle. You really can't see where he removed the sections.

 I am really happy with how it turned out. What do you think?

Linking to the following amazing parties:

Counting down the days - Pregnancy T-shirt

No, I am not pregnant! But my sister-in-law is.

I have to share the cutest pregnancy t-shirt she created using the freezer paper stencil technique you see all over the blogging world (if you need details on how to do it, I posted the instructions last month here).

Using a t-shirt she had on hand, fabric paint, freezer paper and a Cricut, she stenciled the words "counting down" below her belly and added some hash marks. How cute would it be it you added a new line for every week you are along!
She was wearing it when she came over today, so the only shots I have of her are with it on. But it shows how adorable it looks when she is wearing it. And shows what a good sport she is allowing me to photograph her belly when she is scheduled to have the new addition to our family on Monday! I promised I wouldn't show her face since she thought she wasn't camera ready, but she looks amazing for being 9 months pregnant.

  How cute and we can't wait to meet the little one!

How to Upgrade your Builder Grade Mirror - Frame it!

I love framed mirrors in the bathroom but I really don't like the idea of ripping out a large builder mirror to replace it with a smaller framed one. Not only is it hurting the environment, it hurts my pocket book. So at our first house we framed our builder grade mirror with some cheap MDF molding and ever since, we have been hooked on this cheap, but with a huge impact, solution.

I saw on Our Suburban Cottage, over a year ago, an amazing mirror that she created in her bathroom. Using her design, my husband was able to create this stunning addition to our master bathroom's mini-reno. I fully intend to redo everything out of this bathroom when time and money permits; but for now we had to do cosmetic changes that have made this bathroom livable for a few years.

We did two bathrooms with this type of frame. This bathroom mirror is between 2 walls so I will give these instructions. When I have some time I will show you how to do a bathroom mirror that is not butted against two walls.

Before (when we bought the house):

After (after some minor and inexpensive changes):

 

Materials needed:
1x4 MDF trim (to go the entire way around the mirror)
Thin trim with one side rounded (2 times the width of the mirror)
Crown molding (the width of the mirror)
Paint
Liquid nails (be sure it adheres to glass!)
Caulking

Method:
Paint all the trim both back and front. You might not think of painting the back side, but take my word, you will see the reflection of the back side in the mirror.  I spray painted the trim and I loved the smooth look; I personally have issues with getting my paint smooth so this was my only option.

Measure (twice) the width of the mirror and cut 2 pieces of 1x4 trim and the rounded trim. Paint the ends that have been cut.

Attach, with liquid nails, one of the rounded trim pieces to the 1 inch side of the 1x4 piece. Be sure to keep the back side of these 2 pieces flush because they will be up against the mirror..a flat surface. Do the same with the other 1x4 and rounded trim (the second glued "trim to 1x4" will be used for the top of the mirror, that I describe below).

 

We then secured the one 1x4 and rounded trim to the bottom of the mirror. We used liquid nails to attach the peice to the mirror and used my son's lego as a support it until it was dry.

After determining exactly where we wanted the top of the frame to be, we measure the distance between the top and the bottom molding and then cut two 1x4 pieces for the sides. These two pieces were then glued to the mirror tight against the bottom piece.

With the second glued "trim to 1x4", we flipped it and glued the crown molding to the opposite side of the 1x4. Once set, this piece was then glued to the top of the mirror. We did put a couple triangle pieces on the back of the crown to give it additional support, but this is optional.

 

My husband caulked the seams to make it the frame seamless and not look like pieces of wood.

Isn't it absolutely AMAZING!?!?  I think in total it cost under $30 to do this frame. Worth every penny in my opinion.

 In total for this mini-renovation we painted the entire bathroom, framed the mirror, replaced the counter top with an in stock piece from Lowes, bought two beautiful raised sinks on clearance at Lowes, purchased 2 new lights from a cheap local store, made some roman blinds out of a scrap curtain and bought a couple new faucets.  These simple things have made a huge difference. I still hate the shower but I can live with it for a few more years :)

Here it is from a few different angles.

Oh and I almost forgot...I made a pendant lamp that hangs above our large soaker tub from a really cheap lamp shade ($10 at Walmart) and a pendant kit from Lowes. I love it too :) It has one low watt bulb it in which is great when you are soaking in the tub. Not much brighter than a few candles but enough to read by.

What do you think? I love it every day I walk into the bathroom.

Answers to the clip questions: There have been questions about the clips holding the mirror on the wall. On all of our mirrors, we have flush/flat metal hooks that holds the mirror to the wall. You can see the metal clip on the photo below, it is immediately below the light. We were able to put the molding right over the hooks without a problem. We know that when we want to remove the mirror we will have to destroy it..the builder glued it to the drywall. If you have the plastic hooks that are not flush (with the screw through them) you will not be able to do this unless you replace them.

OMG!! Flip flop, sandle and ballet flat hangers on my $0 budget

 

With two shoe loving girls in this house, we have our fair share of summer shoes (especially my daughter who loves shoes more than I do). In the winter, I hate having a pile of flip flops kicking around the bottom of the closet getting in the way and in the summer I struggle to find two matching shoes in when I am always in a hurry to run out the door.

Funny story..A couple of months ago I ran out of the house to catch my train. It was very dark outside and I didn't want to turn on too many lights, so I grabbed my knee high boots and ran out the door. I drove across town, parked and ran to the station, I was running up the stairs with the train pulling in and I realized my heels were making different sounds when I walked. It was an odd thing but didn't think too much about it, until I looked down to avoid a pile of snow and saw I was wearing one knee high black and the other was brown! To make it even worse, they were different height heels! I still to this day don't know how I managed it but at least I caught it before getting on the train and was able to go back home to change :)

Back to the flip flop hanger. I was surfing through Pinterest and saw a picture of this amazing idea. I thought it was absolutely adorable and I knew it would solve my shoe problems :).  EPBOT took a cheap wire hanger and converted it into a flip flop hanger!!! She is a genius...who would have ever thought to do this!

Materials
Wire hanger
Wire snips
Pliers
Scrapbook paper 1.5 x 12 inch (optional)
Spray paint (optional)

Method
Here is how it is done. Take a cheap, thin, flimsy wire hanger and cut off the bottom.
My girlfriend is a police officer, so she gives me her wire hanger from when she dry cleans her uniforms. I started to amass a large stash and was thinking I wouldn't find anything else to do with them.  Reinforces my craft supply hording :) 

Using pliers, I straightened out the small bend at the neck and created two new bends about 3 inches from the middle. I then created a loop at the bottom and continued to roll it up for where the flip flop will hang. For ballet flats, I made a wider circle so the toe of the flat rested on the wire. There is no right or wrong here.

I debated spray painting these a bright color, like hot pink or lime green but I liked the white. Perhaps I will make a set for my daughter's closet with bright green. We will see. But if you want to spray paint them, this would be the time.

Cut a strip of scrapbook paper to be 1.5 inches wide and 12 inches long and made a little jacket for the hanger.

Glued on a spare button or a rhinestone to finish it off.  Isn't it adorable!

 I have only done two but I knew I had to share it ASAP. I just love this. Thanks EPBOT!!!

I have an old shower rod (you know the tension mount ones) that I am going to put in the closet to hang all of the shoes. When I am done, I will post more photos.

Are you as excited about this as I am?!?!

Enjoy!
Stephanie