It's in the bag

I bought some tote bags on sale after Halloween last year to decorate and use as candy bags for the kids. I finally got around to decorating them with only a couple of weeks to spare. Nothing like the last minute. I used my silhouette to cut a template on freezer paper. You can purchase images from the silhouette store, or you can do what I did and just find images off of the internet. Sorry no images for this part. I then ironed it on to the bag.

After I got it ironed on the bag, I took some black acrylic paint and a sponge brush and dobbed paint onto the template. Don't paint on big strokes because that could pull up part of the template causing you to get paint where you really didn't want it to go.

And here is the finished product all ready to be filled and candy and goodies galore.

Glass-Etched Dish

I have seen this done on several craft blogs, but I can't remember which ones. It's kind of hard to remember when you're a blog-surfaholic.

My Memaw's birthday is coming up, and she is always taking food up to the church for fellowship meals. I thought I would come up with a surefire way to get her dish back.

The items I gathered for this project were a glass dish, contact paper and etching cream.

I used my silhouette to cut out the design into the contact paper. I then adhered it to the back to the dish, and applied the etching cream. I left mine on about 6 minutes.

It gave the surface a light etching. So, now my Memaw has a dish that can never accidentally be taken from someone else because her name will always be on it.

Next time I do something like this, I will reverse my image so that you can read the name through the dish.

I got my contact paper at Target in the cleaning supplies section, and I got the etching cream at either Hobby Lobby or Micheal's.

Reverse Applique Shirt

I made this cute shirt for my nephews birthday. I think it turned out rather cute for the first time that I have done reverse applique.

I bought a shirt on sale at Michael's, and then I found a t-shirt that my husband never wore to use as the red part. This is definitely a great way to use those promotional shirts you sometimes get.

I printed out my name, and then traced it onto tissue paper. I pinned the red to the inside of the shirt, and then pinned the name to the front. I then took my time sewing around each letter. After that, I cut the access red fabric away on the inside of the shirt. Then, I picked the tissue paper that was left out of the design. When all was done, I took a pair of sharp scissors and carefully cut away the blue shirt to reveal the red underneath. The design and color possibilities are endless.

I like the red and blue so much that I am thinking about making USA shirts for July 4th. I have also thought about selling these. If anybody is interested in a shirt, let me know.

One of the commenters posed a good question. Will the edges of the cut shirt fray any? It depends on which type of fabric it is. I think with the knits it might roll up a little but not fray With other fabrics, it would fray a little.

Cute as A Cupcake

Today happens to be my niece's birthday. She had a party this weekend so I decided to make her something special for the day. I made her a skirt with a matching shirt.

I got out some of Audrey's skirts to get an idea of how I would like to design my skirt. Then, I went to town. I decided I wanted a skirt that had a flat waist band in the front with elastic in the back. I just kind of winged my pattern. I got this fun fabric at Wal-Mart from the clearance bin. I made one skirt, and let Audrey try it on, and it was too big for my niece. So, I made another one. I don't know if it fits her, but it was smaller than my first attempt.

I decided that I needed a fun shirt to go along with my skirt. So, I did a search on the internet for cupcake images. I then took that image made an outline that I could use with my silhouette. This is my first project with my silhouette, and I am happy with how it turned out. I appliqued the fabric onto my shirt, and sewed around it to give it more staying power. I love how the fabric mimics the lines on a cupcake wrapper. I also decided to add a little bling for sprinkles on the top of the cupcake because what little girl doesn't love bling.

I hope she enjoys her outfit, and I plan to make a lot more in the future.