Fabric Easter Baskets

Hey! Remember me? If not, that's okay... it's been a very long time since I posted (except to link to other much more crafty people).

I'm winding down from all the food, sugar and activities from this Easter. (Happy Easter!) I wanted to post about something I made that actually (1) turned out pretty cute and (2) was done in time! Even though I was finishing it up at 2am last night, it totally counts!

Last year, my boys had some cheap felt Easter baskets from Target. This year, I wanted to try and make something for them instead. I ended up with this:

Sorry, what follows isn't detailed enough to be a tutorial, but hopefully my description is enough to follow if you want to make baskets of your own.

You may remember this fabric as the IKEA curtains from my tote bag post. I love it! It's a great weight and the print is fabulous! The lining is a cute taupe cotton with white polka dots from Jo-Ann's.

I started by using a pattern for a hat in order to get the sides and bottom of the basket. You can use any pattern that you have, or draw something from scratch.

Using the pattern for a hat, (yes, this bucket hat... lol.... size extra-small), I created a pattern using the crown and the sides only. But, I added 2 inches of height to the hat sides (2 inches seemed like a good estimate).

I also cut an extra side from some batting, for stability and because I wanted this basket to feel a little bit plush.

I sewed those pieces to create the basket outside, and the inside. I also created a handle, eyeballing for size.... about 12 inches long is perfect. Then, I put the lining and outer "cap" together, right sides together, with the handle sandwiched in between right at the seam.

This is where I realized the basket would be too tall for my liking (that 2 inch estimation would have worked out better at 1 or 1 1/2). This was easily solved by sewing the two "caps" together with a large seam allowance - 1 inch - to make the basket shorter. I left a small gap to turn right-side out.

I wanted the outer fabric to have a lip, so, after turning inside out, I shifted the seam about 1/4 inch into the basket. (Did that make sense?) I think this helped make the lining look nice and puffy, too, because it has to bunch up a little. That pretty much worked out by accident, but I'll take it! I top-stitched it 1/4 inch all along the brim, to define and stabilize the lip. Then, I hand-stitched the gap closed, and it was complete!

All in all, I like how they turned out! They're a little bit floppy, but I like that about them. You could put wire or heavier interfacing in them if you want to add more sturdiness. You can play with the handle length (the first basket is 2 inches longer) - making it longer made the handle floppier. I found 12 inches worked well.

My boys really like the baskets and have been toting things around in them all day (especially candy)!

Sorry that I didn't finish these earlier to post them before Easter, but... well... this is just a really really early post for Easter 2013. Yeah, that's it!

Star Wars Valentines

I've seen some pretty cute Star Wars valentines on Pinterest and other blogs, but these ones from StarWars.com are so cute I might just explode:

And, it's a free printable (including envelopes)! Hooray!

Happy Valentines Day! <3

Christmas Printable Subway Art

Pardon the long absence! There has been too much going on to keep up with the blog, but I am not gone for good or anything. :)

Here is a new printable for you. Print full-size on a regular piece of paper. Happy Holidays! 

IKEA curtain to tote bag!

I've been wanting to make a tote bag for awhile now, to see how easy/hard it is, and also because tote bags are one of the most useful things ever invented since, like, ... sliced bread? Okay, that doesn't work there, but I'm sticking with it.

Home decor fabric can get a bit pricey, but I've realized a great place to get some for cheaper is the As-Is bin at IKEA. The last time I was there, I raided that bin and came home with a couple of curtain panels and sheets. Not damaged in any way that I could tell, except one had some grommets all over it, so it must have been part of a display at some point.

I absolutely loved these curtains and had almost bought some for our house (but decided to go with plain white instead):

Henny Rand Curtains @ IKEA

I was so happy to find them in the as-is bin!

We are currently switching to a different day care, and I wanted to make something as a thank-you gift for E's wonderful teacher. She has has been so amazing with him (and become a friend of mine), and we will miss seeing her daily. (She's also like, 1 of my 3 blog followers... hee hee!)

I followed the tote bag tutorial found here at Sew, Mama, Sew!  I'm still super-slow to complete sewing projects, so it took me awhile, but it came out looking like it's supposed to. (I'm still at that stage where that's my definition of success!)

I love the pattern, and the weight of the fabric feels very sturdy.

I even totally goofed on something, and didn't realize it until posting this. The bag was going to have the stripes go horizontally, but it was late at night and at some point I forgot that, and turned it the wrong way. (Hmmmm! That explains my confusion at one of the measurements during the step where you add the pocket... ) But, it's not obvious since the dimensions are just 1 inch different between height and width. Yay for patterns that are idiot me-proof!

The biggest thing I learned from this? I hate measuring and cutting large pieces of fabric. I need to move to my dining table to do it, or something. It's so frustrating to try and lay things out to measure and cut them in the limited space on my craft table. And, because I'm shifting the fabric around a bunch, I keep goofing on lining things up. D'OH!

All in all, I'm very happy with the finished bag. Hope she can get some use out of this!

Bee Arr Bee

I love the shirts at woot.com . They're not all winners, but in general they're so creative and nerdy.  

Deliciously nerdy.

For example:

Hang On, Nobody Simply Walk Into Mordor for a Second

Who wouldn't find that hilarious? It's awesome!

And my favorite shirt at the moment:

Acquired Taste

Everyone from kids to adults laughs and comments on this shirt when I wear it. I'm not even into zombies, but that's the cutest freaking zombie ever.

I've bought quite a few of these, if not for me, then for the geeks in my life -- of which there are many. (I'm sure they're sick of the silly shirts by now, but that won't stop me!)

I haven't come up with anything nearly as awesome as those shirts above, but, when inspiration hits I have been trying to see if I can draw up something. If it turns out okay, then I try to see how it would look on some items in a Cafe Press shop.

My coworker and I came up with this idea just based off of chatting on IM:

click the picture to view the collection

It's silly, but I was happy with how cute it came out! It came out well on a variety of things - mugs, shirts, hats, bags. (Yes, this is a totally shameless plug. But, it's slightly less shameless if you admit to it, right? LOL)

I ended up buying a tote bag with the design just to check out how it looks printed (since someone might purchase one of them, I don't want them getting something that doesn't look nice). It is a really good sized bag, and the graphics came out very crisp and clear. It might just be my new favorite tote bag. :)

zoomed in view of the printed canvas

July 4 Cupcake Burgers

I've been dying to try this adorable tutorial from Bakerella for mini-burgers... that are actually cupcakes + brownies.

We had a party on July 4, so it seemed like a great time to try it.

Unfortunately (why do my posts always start this way?) I realized that morning that we were out of eggs. And, overestimating my ability to substitute other things for eggs, I ended up making (1) really hard, completely gross brownie-brick-like thing, and (24) incredibly dense and sticky things resembling cupcakes. (Isn't that sad? I swear I can do basic baking.)

People, when you're out of eggs, go get eggs. Or bug a neighbor. Or find a chicken. Whatever you need to do.

Being stubborn, I ran out and got eggs and more mixes. And some pre-made brownies because I was running out of time. (I know, I know... )

On the second try, things baked up like they should. And assembly went fairly quickly. The end result?

Some completely adorable mini burgers (that tasted fabulous)!

And sugar-cookie fries.

YUM! Even hubby thought they were cool, and that's pretty remarkable. Most of these craft projects aren't really that exciting to him. LOL.

They were a hit at the party. I can't take any credit for the creativity, but I guess given some second chances and all, I can sorta follow directions...? Ha!

Hope your weekend was a blast!

July 4 Printable Subway Art

Okay, this is my very first attempt at creating subway art. (Are there rules for what to do / what not to do? Because I just made it up as I went.)

It was actually pretty fun to make. I created it in Photoshop which is what I'm most comfortable working in. I wasn't sure the best way to fill in blank areas, so some graphics seemed to do the trick.

Feel free to download and use (non-commercial use only, of course). The high-resolution version is here.

Happy Fourth, everyone!