Chalkboard DIY

Since everybody has a chalkboard... I needed a chalkboard... And yes if everyone was jumping off a bridge I would too.... Do anything in high school to make friends.... That's what I live by... Just kidding stole that from Drew's cousin... N.E.Way....

I was inspired by Dana Tanamachi... Have you seen her chalk art? Blew my mind....

Check it out (via)....

 

 

So I took an old window that Drew got from this house... We want to deconstruct houses and reuse as much as possible instead of just demo and fill landfills. I taped the frame and edges...

Sanded the glass with 120 grit sandpaper... I was worried about creating divets in the glass that would show through the paint... I should not have been worried... Then I sprayed Rust-oleums Painters touch primer. It can bond to plastic, metal etc. it's awesome.

I only used about half a can...

And did two coats... Always better to do more light coats as opposed to less heavy coats...

Then I used Rustoleum's chalkboard spray... I used the spray because it was cheap and less clean up.

 

I think I did 3 coats of chalkboard paint...

I brought it in to dry faster, it was a cold day...

When the paint was dry (admittedly I should have waited longer... What's new?) but I took the flat end of a piece of chalk and seasoned the board... This helps prevent previous drawing lines from showing through. If you don't season it you will always see the first thing you wrote.

Then I wiped it off with a wet rag..

And got to work.... I saw a tip online about sharpening the chalk to help with line thickness when writing and drawing.

Brilliant!

Then I played around with a quote I found online that I love!

I moved on quickly to a holiday themed board... I'm a chalkboard addict!

(via)

This might be my board next week! Love it!

 

...continue on this little journey>>>>

 

Thanksgiving...

We had a great Thanksgiving.... A lot to be thankful for... We are thinking of using this picture for our Holiday cards!  It took a couple takes to get the cat to look at the camera.... I gave up on Drew...  Some things just can't be taught....

Felt Fishing Pond...

Continuing on with my felt toy Christmas gifts... I made a felt fishpond complete with a cinch sack playmat.

For the cinch sack playmat I used leftover drop cloth from my reupholstered chaise lounge... And the inside fabric/water was initially a scrap fabric I found at Savers and used for this kids apron.

I cut out the rough size I needed for a half circle since I didn't have a scrap wide enough for the full circle. Then I traced the half on the other scrap and layer them on top of each other and folded that in half to make a 1/4 circle.

I trimmed up the rounded edge so it was all eve.

I sewed the two halves together down the middle. You can skip this step if you have fabric wide enough.

Then I laid the two right sides together and sewed almost entirely around the whole circle. Leaving a 3" opening so I could turn it right side out.

Then 1" from the edge I sewed around the entire circle.... This is to hold the cinch rope in place.

If I was more worried about the look and function I would have bought bought some metal grommets, and installed the where I made the openings for the rope. I cut 4 openings around the circle and threaded the rope all the way around.

I hand stitched the edges of the fabric to help the thread not to unravel. I spy my little helpers nose... Mac loves a good project!

When you are ready to pack up, you just pull out the rope from the four openings and it clinches closed.

Ta-da!

And to open you just pull the sides out.

And there you have play and cleanup all in one.

Here you have it all laid out... Fish all ready to be caught.

The fish I didn't take any process pictures of... All you do is cut out on the felt a fish shape. Again bigger than the final product. I sewed around the edge leaving the tail open, turned it right side out, put a magnet into the nose and stuffed it. Then I sewed the tail closed with the sewing machine.

I took scraps of felt on some of the fish and sewed them onto one side of the felt before I sewed it right side together and flipped it inside out. And now you have a colorful fish!

I made a felt bait worm with green felt sewed into a cylinder, put a magnet in the end. Then tacked the top and bottom to the body for the head and tail.

The rod is a bamboo I got from the back hard of a house Drew was working on. And done! Just like that!

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...