Canvas and Joy: Gifts

Showing posts with label Gifts. Show all posts

Hello friends-

I wanted to share a little project today that I am using for my MOPS group. If you don't know what MOPS is, it stands for Mothers of Preschoolers. Basically I get to go hang out and drink coffee with other women while someone takes care of my kids; it's fantastic. And bonus for me, I get to come up with the crafts we work on all year. It's a fun challenge to come up with quick, easy crafts that are still fun and engaging. Here's what I planned for our first meeting:

With a craft like this, you can make it as simple or as complicated as you want. Here's what I did.

I started by sketching out a simple cactus design. Obviously you can use any design you want and could find something already available online for free. If you want to sketch your own design, I recommend doing a simple line drawing and then adding in dots where you will need to stitch.

Next, tape your design on a blank notebook. Once that is in place, use a pushpin to poke holes in the notebook cover. Just make sure you are working on a surface you can poke; I used a cardboard box.

Then use embroidery thread to stitch around your design. I just taped my thread to the back because I didn't care how it looked; I covered it with paper later.

Once you are done stitching, secure the end with tape. Then cut a piece of scrapbook paper to fit the cover and glue into place over the threads.

Finally, I added some embellishments with tape and letter stamps. If you follow me long enough, you will learn that I love a good pun.

Have fun making your own!

Embroidered Journal DIY

by Jenny on September 07, 2018

Hello friends- I wanted to share a little project today that I am using for my MOPS group. If you don't know what MOPS is, it stands ...

Hello Friends-

I recently found out that a dear friend of mine will be having a baby. I was very excited for her and wanted to make something special. My go-to baby gift is burp cloths. They are simple and fun to make and in my own mothering experience, work better than most store bought cloths. My method for making these is a little unstructured, but here is my basic method. Come! Follow along!

The first part is really the most fun. Go to your favorite fabric store and pick out several patterns of flannel. I typically get the "snuggle flannel" they sell at Joanns because I can use a coupon and there is a wide selection. I usually buy at least six patterns because I love fabric and can't decide. If you are a simple girl or are making these for another simple girl, go for one or two fabric choices. Really, just follow your heart on this one. I get about 1/4 yard of each, sometimes a 1/2 yard of one I think I will need more of.

So many fun fabrics! The pineapple is my favorite.

To start making the burp cloths, I iron all of the fabric to smooth it out and then cut each piece into fourths (again this will depend a bit on your fabric size- my final pieces ended up being about 10"x16").

I have a special fabric ruler thing but I haven't found it since we moved. But this works.

The next part is also fun. Take all of your cut pieces and match up patterns. I love pairing different colors and patterns. I also found it helpful to sing the Matchmaker song from Fiddler on the Roof while I did this. Your choice.

Place each fabric pair together with right sides out (so the pretty pattern showing on each sides). I like my burp cloths to have rounded corners so find a circle and trace a rounded edge on each. I just use a sharpie because I know I'm going to use my serger to trim off the edges as I sew.

Note- You are going to want to remove the cap to actually draw on your fabric. Also, I am available for hand modeling.

The last step is to just serge around the entire edge of the cloth. This goes pretty fast although the curved edges can be a little tricky until you get the hang of it. Definitely practice on scrap fabric first.

Done! I love the contrast of the black thread.

And that's it! I was able to make a set of these in one night so it's a pretty simple project. I didn't get a picture of this, but they look pretty if you roll them all up and then tie with a ribbon. And your gift recipient will really appreciate these; babies are pretty messy (understatement of the year).