Kitchen Mini Makeover ~Topiary

Here is one of the projects I made as part of my kitchen window makeover.  I really wanted a topiary to sit on one of the shelves.  I was hoping to find a styrofoam ball at the dollar store, but all they had were square ones or the wrong size.

I was determined to keep this project really cheap, so I bought a bag of balloons, blew one up to size and wrapped it is yarn-covered glue.  I let it sit for a day until it was dry and solid, and then I popped the balloon.  You can see it pictured below.

 For this fund little topiary, I used my yarn ball, an unsharpened pencil, a flower pot that I painted gray, and lots of red felt. I spent a dollar on the pack of balloons, so this project was basically free, because I had the other supplies (my mom gave me the pot).

I was skeptical about using the yarn ball.  I was really worried that it would collapse.  But, I used lots of glue, and about a month later, it is still sitting strong. :)  To cover the ball, I cut up a bunch of red felt strips and hot glued them on.  I stuck the end of a pencil inside one of the holes in the ball and hot glued.  Then, I secured it by gluing felt to the pencil and anchoring it down.  Surprisingly, it was a pretty tight hold.

I was going to cut a bunch of circles and make little pom-poms to cover the whole thing, but I changed my mind really fast, knowing that it would take way too long!  I decided to use squares instead.  I just eye-balled them, so they are about 1" squares.

I ended up using all of the red felt that I had leftover, and had barely enough.  I just love when this happens.  Anyways,  fold the square in half two times and place a dab of hot glue in the center.

I started hot gluing the pieces to the ball side opposite the pencil.  I turned them random directions so it didn't look uniform.

I secured the pencil a little bit better with more felt as I got closer to getting the ball completely covered with felt squares.

I wrapped some burlap around the pencil several times to add some fun texture and color.  I wrapped it a couple of times to make the base look thicker.

I filled the base with rocks that I bought at the dollar store...oops, I guess I spent $2 for this project.  Still awesome though, right?

Here it is all covered and almost finished.  There is just one more finished touch...

Penguin Birthday Shirt

Today I am happy to share this cute little birthday shirt.  My son turned 2 about a month ago.  His birthday party theme was penguins.  (He loves penguins.)  I had a few ideas of how to incorporate penguins into the party, BUT, the only penguin thing at the party was the cake.  I made this shirt from the same pattern I used for the cake, and had intended on him wearing it for the party, but didn't get it finished... boo hoo, better luck (or planning) next year.  So, without further ado, I introduce the penguin birthday shirt:

I found the little shirt at Walmart (It was $3.50 I think).  It had a little pocket on the front that I picked off.  I used felt from my stash.  And that's about it!  Have a great weekend everyone!  Check out my Party Page to see where I am linking up this week!

Felt Pom Pom {Tutorial}

One of my fabulous readers requested a tutorial for the pom pom necklace.  I made a tutorial for the pom poms...the rest is really easy to figure out.  Plus, I don't have another chain to connect this one to yet.

 

Here are the supplies you will need:  glue gun, scissors, pen, felt, beads (optional), and template.  (*Note:  I used the lid of a baby bottle.  The size of your circle determines the size of the finished pom pom.)

Draw lots of circles onto your felt.  It takes 10 circles for each pom pom.  I made 4 pom poms, so I needed 40 circles.

I drew on 20 circles and doubled up my felt, which cut the cutting time in half.

To make things easier, I pinned the layers together within each circle.  This helps to keep the fabric from sliding while you are cutting.  Thus, preventing odd-shaped circles.

Cut out all the circles INSIDE THE PEN LINE (so you don't have black edges!).

I stacked my circles into piles.  I made 4 piles of 10.  This isn't necessary, just fun, plus, you have all you'll need in one stack.  Look at the cute little piles!

Take one circle and fold it in half.

Then fold the half in half.

Then put a dab of hot glue in the center and hold it for a few seconds.  Do this to 9 circles for each pom pom.

Glue 4 of the folded pieces onto the bottom circle.  Make sure all the folds are all facing the same direction when you glue them down.

Glue another 4 on top.  Stagger this row, so this layer is overlapping the bottom row cracks.

Glue the last folded piece onto the top, and it looks like this!   You can add a bead to the center also, which adds some pizazz!

Te create a necklace, glue your pom poms onto a larger piece of felt and trim around the edges of your flower, so the back piece cannot be seen from the front.  Then attach a chain, and voila, you have your own cute pom pom necklace!

Layered Petal Flower

This pillow was made using some cute red flower fabric I found in the quilting section at Joann's.  I just love that craft store!  I used my silhouette cutter to cut out a pattern for the felt flowers.  I used the "layered petal flower."

Felt Playhouse

I have to say, the first time I started looking at blogs was about 8 months ago.  I had no clue how big blogland was!  A friend mentioned on Facebook that she was making a felt playhouse for her daughter for Christmas.  I had no clue what that was, so I googled it, and I found myself browsing my first craft blog, Homemade By Jill.  I absolutely loved it!  I loved the playhouse so much, I decided to make one for my son.

Here is the front view:

For the mail, I embellished the top piece with a stamp and the "address" and then sewed together the three layers, as well as the back envelope flap on.  (Sorry, I forgot to get a picture of the flap, but I'm sure you can picture it.)  To hold up the front door, I made a long strip of felt that could reach around from the inside and hold the door in place:

I used velcro to hold the strip in place and sewed a little flap out of blue to cover up the velcro, since the white velcro really sticks out.  Then, using blue again, I sewed a piece on the inside, right behind the top brick, creating a pocket that the strip could fit into.
Here is the garden side:

I had so much fun coming up with vegetables and fruit to make.  I created the watermelon so it can be opened to see the fruit inside.  I also added round beads to the peas to make them feel real.  I came up with the idea for the wheelbarrow that could hold the "picked" food.
Here is the fruit tree and flower garden:

The fruit is removable with velcro.  (I failed to mention that most things are attached with velcro -everything besides the things in pockets).  I sewed pipe cleaners into the flower stems to make them stiffer and flexible.
And last but not least, the "toy" side:

Yes, the "big boy toys" is what I meant.  My little guy loves to go four wheeling, so I made a side with a four wheeler just for him.  I added a toolbox so he could fix the thing if it broke down.  I used a grommet on the tape measure to give it a more realistic look.  I attached it using my Big Bite Cropadile (by We R Memory Keepers - I love that tool! And no, they aren't paying me to say anything).

I am linking up to these parties: Inspired By You Wednesdays,