Flower Flips

Flip #3 time. Take a piece of fabric and roll it up like a cigar (since I know so much about cigar rolling and all). Loop it into 5 pieces and glue it to the back of a big flat bead. Then glue that to the strap of your flip. For security, glue a scrap of fabric to the back of the strap and the back of the bead. Super easy, super fun, and super cute!

Criss Cross Flip Flop

Time for flippy #2. This starts the same as flip 1. Tie off the flop under the toe strap, but this time, tie a knot about an inch past the top of the flop. Take an extra piece of fabric and create loops on the side straps, and thread the fabric through the toe straps through these. Take the extra fabric and create a bow on the sides. Add an extra piece of fabric across the top of the foot to keep the flop tight, and there you go. So fun!

Beaded Flip Flop

It's summer. That means flip flops. And that means crafting flip flop straps. So here's flip #1 - the beaded flip flop. Cut out the plastic strap and cut 2 pieces of fabric. Thread them through the toe strap and tie them off. Glue if needed. Thread on the bead, and then thread the straps through the side holes. Put your foot in the sandal to measure how tight you need to tie the straps, tie them off, and voila! The easiest pair of flips ever. And super cute, too!

Bowling Shirts

My brother got married this last weekend. He's a super funny kid and I just love the crap out of him and his new wife. She's just too cute and they're beyond adorable together. Anyway, because I'm me, I can't just get them something like a toaster or set of dishes (though that was part of their gift). I had to make them something, and it had to be funny. So this is what I came up with.

Bowling shirts.

Why, you ask? Easy. My bro loves bowling. (I personally hate bowling. I'm a terrible bowler and I'm too competitive for my own good, which keeps me from enjoying how bad I am at this game.) He even took a bowling class for credit at his university. My poor sister in law is dragged bowling fairly frequently, but she loves that little puke, so she is okay with the whole thing. Well, on with the story. I was at Kohl's looking at their clearance racks when I found these wonderful short sleeved button up red shirts. The fabric and design just looked like a bowling shirt. It was perfect. And it had to happen. Home I went with my clearance shirts in tow, and out came the felt. I freehanded the pattern with my scissors (because I'm crazy like that) and ran to Ben Franklin for some spray glue. Guess what? Spray glue does not work for bowling shirts. Lame! So then I just had a sticky mess that my sewing machine hated. So that meant stitching by hand and then running them through the washer/dryer. Not a super big deal (luckily Friends repeats were on the TV), but a bit time consuming. Totally worth it, though. Because, yeah, they totally have personalized bowling shirts now. I wish I'd take a picture of the finished shirts before we gave them to my bro, but I finished at 2 in the morning and had to be up at 5 to catch my flight, so that didn't happen. What you can't see in the pics is the personalized name badge on the front. Yeah, these are legit bowling shirts. And I'm pretty sure that's the coolest wedding present EVER!
My bro is showing off how the shirt is to be used. Nice form, man! And, in case you were wondering, they loved them. I thought my mom would pee herself laughing. And my new sister in law said I should make them for the whole family so we can all wear them together sometime. I'm not sure if she was joking or not, but I'm seriously considering it now...

Cool T-Shirt

My hubs is really into music and computer games, so he's pretty much 24/7 attached to his headphones. Plus he used to want to be a DJ. I just had to surprise him with this neat t-shirt. And it was super cheap - double bonus!Time Needed: 5-10 minutes
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: blank t-shirt, computer/printer, transfer paper, scissors, iron, ironing board
Directions: Find a picture you want to transfer and, if needed, photoshop that sucker. I lightened the one I found a little bit because of the t-shirt it was going on. Then print that baby on the transfer paper (follow the directions on the package). Lay out the shirt, and iron according to transfer paper directions. And wear with pride.

Cost breakdown: I got 4 shirts for 6 bucks in one of those multiple t-shirt packs at Wal-Mart. I also got my transfer paper there. It was like $3.50 for 3 sheets. So the whole thing cost less than 3 bucks, plus I have materials to do more t-shirts. Woo woo!

Distressed Tee Knock Offs

Time Needed: 10 minutes
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: t shirts, printer, printer transfer paper, scissors, iron

Directions: Choose the photo of your choice. If you need to, use a program like Photoshop to get the look you're going for. Print it out on the transfer paper and cut to desired size. Then, follow the transfer paper directions to iron on the pictures to the shirts. Then you get these cute, sassy shirts that everyone wears and they're super easy and super cheap!So... 10 points to the person who can tell me what these shirts are saying. Tee hee!

DIY Grippy Gloves

Time Needed: 10 minutes active time, at least 4 hours to dry
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: mittens, puff paint, and patience

Directions: Lay your mittens flat on the table with the fingers facing each other (you'd hate to have to paint on the wrong side of one of the gloves!) Then, get the puff paint ready according to the puff paint directions, and paint the design of your choice on the palms and fingers. Let dry for at least four hours, or however long the puff paint directions dictate. How easy is that?
These ones are for the hubs, and he LOVES them. I wonder why...

Fall Applique Shirt

Time Needed: 30 minutes
Level of difficulty: intermediate
Materials needed: t-shirt, brown and orange felt, brown, orange, and green embroidery floss, scissors, needle, pins
Directions: Cut a circle out of the orange felt. Cut a dent in the top and bottom to make it more pumpin-y looking. Then, cut a stem out of the brown fabric. Pin them to place on the shirt and embroider around the outside the same way you would stitch a pattern (like in the "I love you" or the "buon appetito" signs). Make sure you use extra thick thread this time to ensure it stays on the shirt and make sure your knots are tight. Then, make the pumpkin look more like a pumpkin by adding 2 curved lines down the length of it. Take the green floss and make yourself a curved vine. And.. there you go! You can wear it from now clear till Christmastime because it's a plain pumpkin and that means fall. If you wanna make it Halloween-y, take some black felt and make eyes and a mouth and sew them on. I left it as is because I want to be able to wear it longer. Have fun!