Mermaid tail blankets

For Christmas I originally wanted to make my twin nieces crocheted mermaid tails.  Well, the yarn situation didn't pan out so I decided to sew them instead.  I've never really been that great at sewing...I went online to see if I could find a pattern, after about 15 minutes I gave up and decided to make my own.

I ended up purchasing the fabric at Walmart.  My usual go to spots for fabric are Joann's or Hobby Lobby but we have had some pretty rough weather here lately so we decided not to go too far from home.  B did a great job and helped me pick out the fabric.

The inside of the tails are lined with a super soft fleece fabric.  The fins have batting inside them so they aren't as "floppy".  I used freezer paper to create my own pattern...as you can probably tell, definitely not professional but made with a ton of love.

So I began by cutting out all the pieces...

You will need a front and a back, that's right 2 of everything (in my case 4 of everything since I'm making these for 2 very special girls).

The first thing I sewed on each of them was the fin.  I turned the fabric so the wrong side of the fabric was facing the outside world.  I sewed everything but the top of the fin.  After, I turned it right side out and put in my batting (I cut it into the same shape as the fin with my handy dandy freezer paper pattern).  Once I got the batting in, I sewed a couple lines on either side of the fin to make it look,,,,,cooler I suppose, it also doubled in keeping the batting from moving around.

I still left the fin top open.  So next I sewed the sides of the blanket.  Here's how I laid out my pieces.  First, lay down the fleece lining to where the pretty side (right side of the fabric) will face the world (I use the term "world" because inside/outside seems repetitive).  On top of that you will lay down your outer fabric (I chose a green scaly looking fabric) but you will lay this one down to where the wrong side is facing the world and you will be looking at the pretty side.  3rd layer, another outer fabric..only this time the pretty side of the fabric will be facing the other pretty fabric from layer 2.  Finally the 4th layer will be the fleece lining with the pretty side again facing you.  I'm sure you were clever enough to come up with all that on your own but it took me a good minute to make sure everything was laid out properly, again sewing isn't my strong suit.

Alright, so as I said I sewed up each side of the tail.

Once that was done, while the blanket is still inside out I thought it was a good time to attach the fin.  So I took the fin and slide it inside the blanket (the blanket bottom end was facing up and the fin end with the batting showing was also facing up) and ran a couple zig zag stiches across it to make sure it didn't fall off.  Then I turned the blanket right side out and what do you know....my fin is attached.  The last thing I did was hem the actual top part of the blanket.  Here's some pictures of how they turned out.

 Nice and soft inside...

They may look a little funny all spread out, my son commented on how "huge" they were...but really it's supposed to be a blanket with room to spare....not stuck to you closely (I'm a bit claustrophobic so up close and personal is not my thing)

I've always loved mermaids, and now I hope that my nieces will too.

Crocheted pouf

I wanted to make t-shirt yarn and instead of buying a ton of white t-shirts I found some jersey knit fabric at Joann's and bought them out...it was just shy of 10 yds.  I found a great reference for cutting a continuous strip of fabric at Micah Makes.  Once I cut the strips (I made mine 1" wide) you simply stretch it out.  I continued to cut as much as I could with the cutting mat, then would switch to stretch the fabric and winding it up into a ball.

For the pouf itself, I went off a pattern from Gleeful Things.  The one she made measured about 10" high...I wanted mine to be double that so I added some more rows based off her instructions.  I went up to 10 SC to 1 DC.

Making some progress 

This is taking FOREVER

Want to hear something crazy?  I almost used all of the fabric.  I had planned to use some of it to make a bag to hold the stuffing....didn't even have enough for that.  So I used an extra twin fitted sheet instead.

So, I used a bunch of wadded up newspaper and 5 lbs of stuffing and came out with this.

I don't like it one bit.  I keep calling it frumpy.....

I guarantee you before the night is over, this is all going to be unraveled and I will redo it sticking with the original plans.

So I had plenty of t-shirt yarn to spare so I made her a couple of the smaller poufs.

Workshop Clock

My dad has been asking for something like this forever, I think he first mentioned it about 3 years ago.  His request was to have a clock made from a saw blade with a picture painted on it (my sister is really artistic and does an amazing job) to hang in his shop.  So from that I decided that I wanted to find a photo of the house he grew up in (you should hear some of the stories about him and his brother).  Turns out, finding that photo was harder than I ever expected.

I called my grandma to see if I could get some more information.  Surely with all the updated technology I could save myself from a 2 1/2 hour drive and google map it or something.  I asked my grandma if she recalled the address, she said it was on Route 2.  Trying to get down to the bottom of it I asked for the house #, she said, "oh they didn't have house numbers back then".  WHAT?!?!  I called my dad to see if he could remember where this house was at and he said that it was on a road known as "Old Antelope Road"....okay so now that I feel like I traveled down a rabbit hole....

I then talked to my aunt and uncle who live in the same town as the house and asked them about it.  Although they also didn't have any pictures of the house back when my grandparents lived there.  My aunt did some searching for me and another family that lived there some time back had a photo of the house.

  My aunt told me it was still there but it was falling down.  She said she could run by it and get a picture for me if I thought it would help.  It sure did, so that was puzzle piece #2

So we are going off these 2 pictures and personal recollection from my grandma for the rest of the details.

I had an old saw blade donated to me by a family member.

I gave it to my sister and received this back.  Didn't she do a fantastic job?

Now for the easy part, making it into a clock.  I picked up some clock parts at Hobby Lobby.  I spray painted the hands black.  The only thing I had to add that didn't already come with the clock parts was a fender washer because the saw hole was too big.

And that's all there was to it!

Play Workbench

Another Christmas goody, this one is for my nephews.  I felt like I needed to step up my game for my nephews after I built the play kitchen for my nieces (if you missed that post you can view it here).

I found this old roller cabinet (probably used for a microwave or tv) at a local thrift store and decided to make it something new.  I wanted to build them a play work bench for all their, soon to have, tools.

First thing is first, it needs a couple coats of paint.  I used a dark gray chalk paint from Americana decor.

Then I began to make the back.  I cut 2 strips of 2" wide boards I had lying around down to 20" and another 2 to 29" and made a frame.  Then I laid the peg board on top to see how much I needed to cut and I trimmed that down to size also.  Then I screwed the peg board on to the frame.

Next I spray painted it white.  I was reading articles on how to transfer images from paper to wood/canvas/etc and thought I'd give it a try.  So 1 powerpoint print out later...

I read that you could use acrylic medium to transfer images.  I really wish I would have practiced first but here's what I did.  After printing out my logo I made (backwards) you brush on the acrylic medium on the ink side of the paper (just a thin layer).  Then you press it down on the surface you want to transfer to and make sure to get most of the wrinkles and air bubbles out.  Now you are supposed to let it dry over night, and I wish I would have.  Instead, we all know that I'm impatiently impatient, I used a blow dryer.

After I thought it was dry, you take water and spray the paper.  I'm not sure why I thought I could just peel the entire paper away and the image would be there but that's not how you do it.  What you are doing is actually taking little layers of the paper off.  The edges that don't have the medium on it will tear away super easy and that's fine.  What I found to work best was once I sprayed the paper with water, use a damp towel and lightly rub off the layers of paper.  NOTE: you don't want all the paper to be removed (if you do your image will quickly go away, you can see that where I started at the bottom of the logo).  Once you get it where you like it let it dry...again I used the blow dryer and followed that up with a coat of polycrylic spray.

I also attached the peg board to the work bench cart.  I set it down about 8" in the back so that I had enough places to anchor it to the cart and not worry about it falling off.  By the way, how cute are those new handles?  Here's a little closer view of them.

So for the sides of the workbench, I decided to make 1 side a chalboard using chalboard spray paint, and the other side is painted with the gray chalk paint and has a sheet of cork (you know to hang up your building plans and things).

Little push light has been installed in the bottom.  More storage bins added to the pegboard.  Chalkboard wall is complete.  All we need now are some play tools and a giant bow.

Side view #1

Side view #2

Under the cabinet

Before and after comparison

Serving tray

I came across this idea on Pinterest from Simply Designing.  I went to Sutherlands and picked up some cedar fencing.  It was cheap and I guesstimated how much I would need.  Turns out after spending $11.00 I got enough for 2 (just for the wood).

I ended up getting the following:

• (2) 1x6x6 @ $2.68
• (3) 1x4x6 @ $1.99
• A packet of corner brackets (came with 4) @ $4.79

I began by making the frame, per the directions I was following I made the following cuts:

• (2) 1"x3"x18"
• (2) 1"x3"x12"

This made the outer frame.  A little wood glue and the nail gun.

Now, I'm not going to lie....I'm horrible with angles.  So I cut the first strip of cedar (that I cut down to 2" wide) and cut my first 45 degree angle.  I did the same thing to a 2nd board I had.  I'm thinking to myself....to get it to sit flush with the frame I'll cut another 45 degree angle on the outside of the base, right?  No....

The only thing I felt like I did do right was mark my 12" board @ the 6" mark on the inside (of both sides) of the frame.  That way at least my arrow was straight.

So here's what I did and I don't recommend it.  I had all the arrows lined up glued and nailed.  On the outside the arrows (or base) weren't cut (they were various lengths I just cut on a whim.  I laid frame on top of it and traced from the inside of the frame where I needed to cut.  Then I went back with a jigsaw and cut them off.  When I did that, nothing really fit perfectly as it should.  But I put glue around the bottom inside of the frame....hammered the base in (it was pretty snug in some areas) and finished up with a nail in each arrow board.  Surely, there was a simpler way to do it.

I wanted it to be a little different and my mom really like the classic clean white.  So I chose to paint this instead of staining it.  It's painted in Old White chalk paint from Annie Sloan.  First coat down.

I know, it looks a little scary...but hang in there with me....

I also got handles from hobby lobby.  My mom has these feathers hanging on her Christmas tree that are white and the tip of them were dipped in gold paint.  Since this is a gift for her, I'm going to do the same thing with these handles (excuse the paint on my hands).  The handles were $6.99 a piece.

So I taped off the feather where I thought it looked alright and put a little gold spray paint on.

I also, put a clear coat on (I used polycrylic).

Then I attached the handles and the corner braces.  I even added a little decor.