Thankful...

(via)

“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”~Mother Teresa

I am thankful today that there are incredible people on this Earth past and present to learn from and to look to.

Felt Campfire

Oh buddy! This is going to be a long one. I will start by saying this is a ore general how to as I am not an actual seamstress.... My only knowledge of sewing came from my 8th grade sewing class with Ms. Phipps or was it Phibbs?... My mom made me take it.... And I am sure glad I did. I tried to take as many detailed photos as I can because I thnk they can show what I did better than my words. Second, I made this up as I was going.... So there are things I would do different if there is ever a next time...

I got the idea from this when I saw this post from Kelle Hampton, from her blog Enjoying the Small Things. One of my favorite non design blogs... When I started thinking sout Christmas presents for the kids I nanny I came back to this.... So here goes my method to making a felt campfire.

I made a three sided fire... Each a different size and shape. I am just going to show you one side, and the steps are the same for the other two.

I started with the red felt and drew out freehand how I wanted the fire to look like. Remember to do your largest color bigger than how you want the final size to be. You will lose height and width with the stitching and stuffing.

Cut out two reds same size and shape.

 

I set the red on top of the orange and traced the shape with a pencil. I took the red off and mimicked inside my outside line a smaller scale flame.

I did the same with the orange on top of the yellow. For the yellow and orange you only need one of each.

I used a metallic gold thread and stitched on the yellow to the orange...

And then the orange to the red.

This is what they looked like stacked on top of each other before I stitched them together.

Then place the second red on top of the front of the other with the yellow and orange on the inside. I sewed around the edge with a 1/4" seam allowance.

Turn it inside out and start stuffing.

I started with stuffing the orange, then the yellow. Other felt campfires I saw did not stuff the individual colors. I liked the extra dimension it gave. Then I sewed the bottom of the yellow and orange to the front side of the red. Don't see it all closed yet...

Then I took a scrap piece of red felt about 2" thick and pinned it to the bottom and sewed across the front. I stuffed the fire and stitched up the bottom flap to the back side of the fire. This is where I was making it up as I was going. There is probably a better way of doing this but it is what I did.

Here is a picture after I sewed up the bottom before I cleaned it up.

The flat base helps the fire to stand.

Another stuffed shot... You can see how the bottom flap is folded under.

 

The logs were crazy easy.... I just took a single sheet of felt, folded it in half with and sewed up the right side of the sheet to make a tube.

 

Then I eyeballed the size for a circle and pushed it into one end and pinned it. I sewed around the circle all the way on one end. And on the other end of the side I sewed half way around and left the other end open to be able to turn it right side out and stuff it.

Turn it right side out...

Stuff it and hand stitch up the open end of the log. And you're done!

For the roasting sticks I sketched out the shape for the stick I wanted and cut out two sides. I sewed up the perimeter and left the bottom open.

Then I turned it right side out with the help of the wooden dowl.

 

I wanted the tasted marshmallow and stick to be magnetic, so I shoved a magnet in first a little bit of stuffing and then cut the wooden dowl to size and shoved it in.

Then sewed up the bottom...

 

Done...

The magnetic toasted marshmallow were. Little tricky because they were small. I cut strips from white 5"x2.5".... If I were to do it again I would have made it a little less than 2".

Then sewed it like I did the log...

One side white, the other I did in the tan color to give it a toasted look. I shoved a magnet in first toward the white side, tested it with the stick to make sure I had the right sides of the magnets facing each other. Then filled its stuffing and stitched up the opening.

 

The graham crackers, I cut out two 3.5"x3.5" squares...

Put in a small pinch of stuffing...

Pinned the sides....

And sewed it with a 1/4" seam allowance and down the middle.

Then I took a needle and thread and sewed along th edge with a loop stitch and did little x marks to look like the tufted marks on a graham cracker. You will see in pictures later...

The melted marshmallow I just cut out a 3x3" square, sewed curved sides and rounded corners. Leaving one corner open, turn it right side out, stuff it and stitch up the opening.

The chocolate I cut out a 3.5"x3" rectangle.... Sewed around the edge, leaving a corner open.... Shoved in a little bit of stuffing. And stitched up the corner. Then with the machine sewed a line down the middle...

I marked with pins where I would sew across...

And sewed them up like little bars....

Here is the set before cleaned up the threads. You can see the tufted marks on the graham crackers and the edges on the marshmallows that I hand stitched closed.

I didn't take pictures of the rocks.... That I was really winging.... I just cut out what could be described as a string if pearls in threes. Sewed up the sides, turned them inside out and sewed them together.... That probably makes no sense, but I'm sure there are many ways to make it work.

And my finished product....

Next.... The fishing pond...

True...

And that's why life is awesome! I have a major post in the works from Santa's workshop.... Aka, my living room is chaos! Coming up tomorrow.... Meanwhile enjoy some links from my brother... (I might make that a segment on my blog.... We find some good stuff!)

This is a talent I wasn't even aware I didn't have!

And I believe in Bigfoot, up Provo Canyon... Amen..

 

 

Painting Tile... Who Knew?

Did you know you can paint tile? Well as Drew's work will show you, you can! This pink tile was really well done and has lasted 40+ years. However with the rest of the house getting face lifts this is one of the last rooms in the house that doesn't match the rest. I know some fans of the original pink will be offended.... For the rest look at this transformation.

I didn't take any progress shots and when I went to take after shots I brought my camera but not the SD card. So phone pics will have to do... I will run through the basic process.

We went to Sherwin Williams and the people there were very knowledgable and walked us through the whole process. We bought a paint called Tile Clad. It is a two part epoxy mixture. That is all you will need. You can get this paint tinted to any color. We matched it to Benjamin Moore's Galveston Gray for the floor and white for the wainscot tile.... The Galveston Gray paint turned out much much lighter. I'm not sure if that's because the epoxy tints differently, or the match wasn't exact. That is something I would check before purchase. The color still looked good so we didn't bother returning it or asking why it was lighter.

Preparation is key! Drew taped off everything, including the thing grey pencil tile on the wainscot. This detail was tedious but this kept the detail in tile work. Then Drew took a 400 grit sandpaper and sanded each tile.... This is to gap take away the sheen and give the epoxy something to cling to. This is where I would have lost my mind. Drew is so good at prep work..... I get a pit in my stomach when he starts an intense job like this. He just cruises right a long.... He's a different one this guy!

But it is all so worth it in the end. After he sanded with a fine sander, (you do not want to use a heavy grit, every mark you make with sandpaper you will see in the paint. This step is very important) he mixed together the two parts of epoxy in a 1:1 ratio as instructions suggest. He let the mixture settle for 30 min. (This was what the paint man told us.... Instructions may vary!). Then he rolled and brushed on the thick paint. The man at Sherwin Williams said it would just take one coat. However Drew found the epoxy was so thick it was running. So he opted for a lighter base coat and did two. That was the walls. For the floor and countertops he did one heavy coat. The paint will go on thick and textured, however as it dries it flattens out and ends up hard and smooth.

After the first coat dried and Drew nearly asphyxiated himself he went back and lightly sanded all of the tile again. Then applied the top coat.

When that was done he removed the tape. He had to score the tape to remove it so the epoxy wouldn't come with it. He did have a few places pull up,with the tape. So he went back through with a brush and touched up the spots. These touch ups he put on fairly heavy.

And that is a new bathroom for about $200 in paint!

Better After Feauture!

Our painted linoleum floor project was featured on BetterAfter blog. Love love love this blog! Check it out!