Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Bucket List Project #3: Dish Mats



My third project was supposed to be molded crayons.  Well, I ordered some super cute candy molds to use but they still haven't arrived so in it's place I decided to make myself some dish mats.  Our dishwasher is as old as our house (which isn't that old in house years but really old in dishwasher years).  We are trying to make it work a little longer before we dish out the money for a new one!  So, in the mean time the counter above the dishwasher looks like this:


Where I put all the dishes I rewashed, or washed instead of waiting all day for the dishwasher to decide to finish washing one load.  Oh, and there's always those pots & pans that need to be hand washed. 

I originally was going to follow this cute tutorial over at Toad's Treasures but I was too lazy  busy and wanted something quicker... you never know how long nap time is going to be with 2 kids!

So, this is what I ended up doing.

Gather up the following supplies

First, spray the back of the terri cloth hand towel.  Wait about 5 minutes (refer to directions on spray can).
 Lay flannel fabric face down on work surface and carefully lay the terri cloth hand towel with sticky side down ontop of flannel.  I started at one end, smoothing out wrinkles as you go.
Cut the edges off the short side...makes the next step easier.
Not pictured, I surged around the edges.  If you do not have a serger I would recommend using bias tape as an easy way to finish the edges. 

Here are my fnished products...which took me no longer than a half hour for 3!


And here's my dish area with my new dish mat! 


These are super absorbant! 

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Saturday, June 4, 2011

Bucket List Project #2: Fused Bags

Ok, so I thought I already posted this on Saturday... I had it scheduled, at least I thought I did.  When I went in to blogger today I noticed it still said draft...so sorry!  I really was sticking to my schedule.

 For my second Bucket List project I made this cute little basket


from my abundant collection of Target bags that I've been collecting just for this project!


For fusing techniques I referred to this post and this post.

Here's how I made this little basket.  I took my sheets of fused plastic bags and cut them into 1" strips the length of the bags.   I chose to use 2 different colored fused plastic.


You'll have a pile of 1" strips.  You'll need a total of 12.



Now take 8 strips weaving them together to form the base for the basket.



Here comes the tricky part.   Start by bending the sides up to help hold the woven middle area together. 
Then using a little hot glue to hold the strip in place & bending at each corner, weave your bottom strip.


Once all the way around, glue the strip in the same place you started it.


Repeat this for 3 more strips. To finish the top, fold down the ends of the upright spokes and tuck them into or fold them under the weaving beneath.  I used a little hot glue to hold the top row of weaving together where needed. 


Now you have a very useful little basket...and the bags you used are not sitting in a landfill.  Win-Win!


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Thursday, June 2, 2011

Bucket List Project #1: Bleached T-shirt



Yay, I am so excited about my new series.  I am going to be getting so much done this month!  My first project was super easy & didn't require anything that I didn't already have at home.  I first saw this project here on Under the Sycamore.  My 2 year old I was not ready for my 2 year old to be given a squirt gun with bleach in it.  You should check out her post... great photography & lots of fun!
Here is my recap of my project.


1. I traced different shaped cookie cutters onto freezer paper which I cut out
2. and ironed to the front of a cheap blue T-shirt I bought for $1 at Walmart!
2. I also put a layer of freezer paper inside the shirt the bleach wouldn't bleed through the shirt
3. I used an old squirt bottle to pour about a cup of bleach into...I wanted to be able to throw it away once this project was over.


I took the shirt to my front porch and hung it on the railing with some heavy canned veggies.  Then squirted the front, making sure to saturate the area around the freezer paper stars.



Then I rinsed the shirt in a tub in my sink and threw it in to a washer that was already full of soap and water and ready to agitate.


My second shirt I bought at a yard sale for almost nothing.  I decided to try a different technique.  I used a plastic cookie cutter that I stole from my son's play dough stash.  I used the small end of the Bleach Pen and wrote out RAWR means I Love You.  Then, pressing firmly on the cookie cutter, I filled in the edges with bleach.  I let this soak in for about 5 minutes then took it to my sink & rinsed it really well with the sprayer.  Then washed in the washing machine.  (Please note that I also put freezer paper inside shirt to keep the bleach from soaking through)



My little man wearing his new shirt:


Check back Saturday for my next Bucket List project!

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Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Bucket List & New Series


Have you noticed my 'Craft Bucket List' toward the bottom of my right sidebar?  It's been there for a while...to be honest I've just about forgotten about it!  Well, I'm getting that spring itch where you want to clean out every closet & declutter. No, I'm not pregnant!  My garage sale pile is growing by the day so little by little my house is getting in order.  Now it's time for crossing off some projects & cleaning out my fabric & craft stashes.  I'm taking the month of June to do the projects on my 'Craft Bucket List'.  I figure if I do 2-3 per week I won't get burned out so here's the tentative schedule:




Molded Crayons

Wine Cork Message Board

Boy's Page Hat

Car Pillow

Felted Soap

Flat Front Shorts

Lap Tray

Storage Cubes

Hanging Storage Container

Cowl-neck shirt

Mystery Project picked from one of my gazillion bookmarked favorites

So, stop back tomorrow for my first project: Bleached T-shirts!
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