Tag Archives: craft

goals for the week of 12/7

Posted on by

2

Hi there, friends! Hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend! Mine has been very busy, but a good kind of busy. Friday night I got together with Dana for dinner at a delicious Korean restaurant called Mixed Grain.

Mixed Grains

We sat there eating, talking and laughing for close to three hours and ended up closing the place down! One bonus of staying so long was that the waitress came over and asked if we wanted free cupcakes {I think they would have gone to waste otherwise…} We of course said yes and they were absolutely delicious! Not to mention beautiful — check out this delicate rose made out of buttercream frosting:

rose cupcake

Yesterday morning, I had a long catch-up phone call with my friend Janet before I ran off to teach my four back-to-back classes of kiddos! After a couple weeks away due to the holiday, they were more energy-filled than ever. Some of them said they missed me, which was quite sweet. I missed them too, but I was also more than happy to collapse on my couch last night and relax while catching up on two of my favorite shows, Nashville & The Newsroom!

This morning, I was up bright and early to tutor a couple kiddos, and then I headed over to church, where I took part in the holiday crafts faire held from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. I sold and autographed copies of my books and everyone was very supportive, encouraging and enthusiastic. It made my heart so happy. I feel very grateful to be part of such a warm and welcoming congregation. I must admit, I was a little worried that it would seem like a long day {being from 10-3!} but the time flew by thanks to lots of delightful conversations and visiting with people.

After church I drove to my sweetheart’s apartment where we are now getting ready to make some veggie pasta for dinner. But before I go… time for goals!

weekly goals

Here’s how I did on my goals from the past couple weeks: 
– write a new chapter of my memoir {this totally fell by the wayside this week}
– finish holiday cards {almost done!}
– finish student evaluations {started, not finished}
– publicize my Winter Writing Camp {it’s halfway filled already!}
– go to two yoga classes {I made it to three!}
– connect with two friends

Here are my goals for this upcoming week:
– write a new chapter of my memoir
– finish holiday cards
– finish student evaluations
– finish reading short story collection
– go to two yoga classes
– connect with two friends

Questions of the day:

  • What are your goals for this upcoming week?
  • What are your favorite Thanksgiving recipes?

MPM-Winter
This post is featured on Menu Plan Monday!

diy t-shirt pillow

Posted on by

3

Happy hump-day, friends! Hope your week is going wonderfully!

Back in August I promised to share a new craft project that I did to “upcycle” two t-shirts that no longer fit … sorry for the delay, but I bring it to you now! This might be a neat Christmas gift to get a head start on. It’s simple and straightforward — even if you don’t have much sewing expertise, I guarantee you can do this project!

diy tshirt

I made this t-shirt pillow for my brother {that’s one of his running icons, Steve Prefontaine, pictured on the front.} I made another pillow for myself out of an old, too-small t-shirt with a book-cover of Catcher in the Rye on the front. Both turned out great!

Here’s what you need:
– a t-shirt
– a needle and thread
– scissors
– stuffing*

* I went out and bought a bag of pillow stuffing from a craft store. But I also had some old, torn socks I wanted to upcycle. So I used scissors to cut up the socks into tiny pieces and mixed them in with the store-bought stuffing. It worked out very well and made the stuffing go further!

Directions:

1. Turn the t-shirt inside-out and mark with a pencil the dimensions you’d like your pillow to be. Use a ruler to draw the lines straight and even.

2. Pin the fabric just inside the lines so it will stay together as you sew.

tshirt inside out

3. Cut the extra material off the shirt {i.e. necklines, sleeves, etc.}

4. Sew three sides of the pillow, leaving the top open.

5. Turn the pillow inside-out and fill with your desired amount of stuffing.

6. Carefully sew the top of the pillow closed.

tshirt pillow

TA-DA! Now you have a fun, attention-grabbing, conversation-starting new pillow to display or to give as a gift.

you might also enjoy these crafty posts:
– diy no-sew baby blanket
– homemade photo collage poster
– adorable homemade owl
– upcycled gift containers

diy no-sew baby blanket

Posted on by

8

Hi, friends! Hope your week has been splendid!

Last month I posted one of my goals was making a homemade baby blanket as a gift for my friend who is expecting her first bundle of joy later this summer. I was pleased how it turned out so I thought I would share it with you! It only took me about an hour or so one evening to complete it. You could obviously use this same technique to make a larger blanket, too!

Here’s the supplies you’ll need:

  • two identical squares of fleece {mine measured about 25 inches square}
  • scissors

And that’s it! Crazy, right?

baby blanket

Here’s how I made mine:

1. Lay out the pieces of fabric one on top of the other. Pin them together if desired. A large table is a good work surface for this project — or, in my case, the floor works too!

blanket fabric

2. Cut a small square in each corner, a couple inches wide. I found a post-it note is a good measurement guide!

measuring corners

3. Use the scissors to create a “fringe” on each side of the blanket, one side at a time. Try to only cut in as far as the square that you cut from the corner. But don’t worry — you don’t need to be exact. I just eyeballed it.

cut ties

4. Tie each of the pieces of fringe together in a double-knot. Make your way all around the blanket. If the fabric becomes bunched up from the knots, you can gently tug it flat.

blanket

5. {Optional} Sew a label in the corner to let the recipient know it was handmade with love by you! Aren’t these labels cute? My sweet dad gave them to me as a birthday gift. {I realize that sewing on a label technically voids the “no-sew” promise of this project, but feel free to eliminate this step if you REALLY do not want to sew!} 🙂

label sewn

Ta da! All done! A lovely, warm, soft, adorable baby blanket, made especially by you!

blanket finished

Have any of you made a no-sew tie blanket before? Any tips or suggestions? Anything I missed? This was my first one, so I’m still learning!

Have a great day, everyone —

Till soon,
Dallas

valentine’s week: an adorable owl craft project

Posted on by

8

valentines week

Hi everyone! Happy Friday! I’ve got a little craft project to share with you today as part of Valentine’s Week. I was  browsing Target the other day and this adorable little owl sewing kit caught my eye:

owl sewing kit

I scooped it up, put it together last night, and I am so pleased with the result! Look at this cute little guy:

valentine's owl

The kit I bought had all the pieces pre-cut and the sewing holes pre-punched, so all I had to do was assemble it. But I was thinking that it would be quite easy to make from scratch {and I might do so in the future to make more of these cuties!} You could even make it simpler by making a heart shape, for example, instead of an owl.

Here’s the materials that you will need:
– red and white felt
– a needle and pink/red thread
– red & black markers for drawing on the owl’s eyes and beak
– fabric scraps or stuffing

1. On a piece of red felt, draw the shape of an owl and cut it out. Trace the shape onto another piece of red felt and cut that out two. You should have two identical owl shapes made out of red felt.

2. Cut a heart shape out of the white felt to be the owl’s “face.”

3. Sew the white heart onto one of the red felt shapes.

4. Draw two black eyes and a red triangle beak onto the white felt.

5. Sew the two red owl shapes together, leaving a hole at the top.

6. Fill the owl shape with fabric scraps or pillow stuffing.

7. Sew the top of the owl closed.

Ta da! You have a cute stuffed owl to give as a Valentine’s gift!

Hope your weekend is filled with rest, laughter and love!

Till tomorrow,
Dallas

homemade festive christmas chain

Posted on by

1

Good morning! Hope your transition from the long holiday weekend back into your regular routine wasn’t too painful yesterday. I had a nice time seeing my students again and hearing about their Thanksgiving breaks. I can’t believe we only have two more weeks left of the semester!

Christmas is in full swing here in my little apartment. Today I’m excited to share an easy, super inexpensive, and wonderfully festive holiday craft with you.

Remember those colorful paper chains you used to make in elementary school to decorate the classroom or count down to holidays or special events? In my family we used to make them as count-downs until Christmas or our birthdays and tear off one strip each day … it was so exciting to watch the chain gradually get smaller and smaller as the big day approached!

We also used to make chains with red and green construction paper to decorate our stair bannisters. The only problem with using paper is it isn’t very durable. We would make them again and again year after year, which was fun in its own way {especially as kids} but it isn’t very environmentally friendly or time-friendly — there are so many other craft and decorating projects I want to try rather than doing the same one year after year!

After some brainstorming, I came up with an idea: what about using using green and red felt instead of construction paper?

TA-DA! A homemade festive Christmas chain that will last from year to year. The best part? It costs less than $3.00 to make!

Here are the supplies you’ll need:

  • scissors
  • stapler & staples
  • red & green felt — I used 5 sheets of each color {got them at Michael’s for $0.29 each}

Directions:

1. Cut the felt into strips about 1 inch wide.

2. Bring one strip of felt together into a loop and staple the ends to each other.

3. Take a strip of the alternate color and loop it through, stapling its ends together to make another loop.

4. Continue the process until your chain reaches your desired length.

Then display them around your house! These are great hung around the walls and draped over a mantel. I don’t have a mantel in my apartment, so I draped mine over the top of my bookcase where my stockings are hanging.

And that’s it! Hope you enjoy this festive Christmas craft.

Have a great day!
-Dallas