Fibonacci flora

Hello! I'm in the process of upcycling a stack of old men's t-shirts (thanks dad!)I deconstructed and reconstructed my first of them using an existing shirt, that I like the fit of, as a template (sorry for no tutorial : P ) Between opportunities to work on it I'm taking care of my 2 little ones, but I find those little breaks are great for inspiration to come in! No doubt if you follow craft blogs you have seen many "how to's" for fabric flowers, I have! BUT I have not seen one with this technique that came to me along with my favorite flower dooodle I have been doing the last year or so when coloring with my Katie bug : )

This technique uses the Fibonacci sequence. I absolutely love natures patterns and love math (im a nerd, lol). If you are unfamiliar with it, you're missing out if you dont look into it!

Below I made my plan for the petals. I used a water eraseable fabric pen. If you want to use a longer piece of fabric to have one continuous piece it's minutely easier. I used the scraps I had and found it made no difference to add the extra petal piece using the width available. It isn't important for it to be perfect but you do want the petals in the right amounts to be close in shape, and you want to progress in size : ) 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, and 13 petals... if you want to go on to 21, or beyond, go for it!!!! : D




my first few petals i weaved the needle through in a simple stitch


i pulled through and went back with the needle making a loop of thread through the first few petals


then i flipped it over and began to work from the back pleating the fabric and spiraling around the base made by the start


here you see the backside completed. i personally think the back is just as pretty as the front but a daisy like flower wasnt what i was going for


the one on the left is completed with some seed beeds sewn for some dazzle : P it is after washing and drying as well. on the right you see a flower that went to 8 instead of to the 13. i also made the cuts between the petals deeper. I'm showing it here before washing because i actually liked how the ink outline looked and wanted to show you in case you would want to use permanent marker and have an outline : ) this way you could see that possibility before creating your own.



And voila! i made a smaller one going to 5 petals of equal size and sewed them to my 'new, old' shirt!


in case you wanted to see the whole upcycled shirt:


: ) i have a favorite shirt right now

bleached out

It's been a while since my last blog but fortunately the blogging world hasn't noticed yet, though maybe someday it would be nice if it were- when i have the time :) I've wanted to try this project for a few weeks now and have seen several examples online.... none i seen used masking tape so it left me wondering how well it would work. Masking tape has been a wonder creation for me lately! I have been having surprisingly wonderful outcomes with it for a number of recent projects. Also, I've been addicted to the new Cricut my super, amazingly kind, MIL got me.
But you can create your stencils (or buy them) cutting free-hand with scissors, printing your image or letters from the printer, using an exacto-knife, where ever your imagination takes you!! I saw on one site a woman just layed branches down on fabric and used this technique and it looked great! In other examples I seen no sort of adhesive was used at all, you could just lay your shapes down and spray. I would imagine you could just twist the garment and have a tie-dye effect. My result has 'fold' marks near the collar; they werent intentional but made it even better!

supplies:

item of clothing, piece of fabric, pillow case --- something that will respond to bleach (my shirt had a single tiny dot of a bleach mark so i knew it would go reddish)

bleach
water
spray bottle (my solution was about half bleach and half water)

card board --- to put in between shirt to prevent going through to other side just in case and for a surface to lay project on while spraying

what you will use for stenciling, if any at all, possibly some rubber bands if tie-dying




a plain, old black t-shirt i was not wearing... At All... :)


With my masking tape stencils cut with cricut machine using Florals Embellished cartridge. With experimenting I've discovered masking tape is Awesomely cut with the cricut when you have the pressure, speed, and blade depth all set to "2".


on cardboard with cardboard inserted inside ready, outside to be sprayed. Right now would be a good time to make sure you have your water bottle nozzle set for how you want it to spray, before doing the garment. I set mine to a 'mist'.


spray lightly and wait for it .........


with a moment it seems to "develop" into the fabric. i sprayed mine from the lower left and top right corners inward with a light mist 3 times at the most and got this effect. as luck would have it :) since i did spray so lightly, if you notice near the tag where my cardbord didnt cover, it did not bleed through to the outside.



And there you have it!!!!! I let it dry outside for about an hour in 95 degree weather before i moved it, but put it on right after taking it's finished pic!
It really turned out beyond expectations : ) the whole time i was cuting and applying my 'stencils' i was telling myself to have low expectations on the detail, but I got pleasantly surprised!!!! they were all there! I credit the masking tape!:)

happy crafting to you! and i have lots of ideas but not enough time or money to do them all but i hope to be sharing them here soon!
lots of love and hugs!
Btw.... we have number three on the way!!!! I had not shared that here yet so why not now! : )

Harrison turned one! and we celebrated Sodor style : )

My baby boy turned one already! My, the year went sooooo fast!!! I'm proud of my handsome, sweet, smart little man :) He is adorable; but of course I'm supposed to think that- but it's true anyway- lol!
Well, I'm dont think my attempt at a Thomas the Tank Engine cake was as good as the Wubbzy cake.... while that was my first attempt at icing a cake, this was my second try at using an icing bag and tips. I learned it takes finess and practice (and probably more time than i could afford : P ). Also, again, I was reminded if i'm going to ice raw,cut cake chocolate isn't the best choice because crumblys show : )
Okaaaaay, i'll quit critiquing myself : P Party guests were kind in their compliments and it tasted Yummy!!!!

I was in the way of dinner making so my pictures arent the best : P also i didnt have much time the next morning before the celebration to take pictures with natural light like i wouldve liked : )

i do like making special cakes : ) maybe by the time i'm a grandma they will be fabulous, lol! i hope!

green gift wrapping

I'm pleased with myself this year for my economical gift wrapping !

By buying attractive inexpensive boxes that can be used for storage in anyone's home I minimized the need for wrapping paper (thanks IKEA!) the box gets to be part of the gift and not a landfill : )

Then by using this lovely blog tutorial : http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2009/10/make-gift-bow-from-magazine-page.html
I made a bunch of magazine page bows using gluestick instead of a bunch of staples (no unneccessary metal use) hope she doesnt mind my sharing! : P

My ribbon was primarily salvaged gift bows with the staple pulled off (carefully as not to tear) taped and wrapped around a tube to get the creases out. <>

Finally my gift tags are actually personalysed ornaments. I had the idea for these last year but didn't have the time. They were made with cinnamon dough and the recipe is below.

Every year since I started giving gifts as a kid I have tried to do something different in the wrapping process. Last year instead of ribbon bows I used fake poinsettias and another year I made origami stars. Thank goodness for the internet and all these ideas at our finger tips!

TO YOU AND YOURS, HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY SEASON!

or

HAPPY CHRISMANUKKAHWANZAADAN!




cinnamon dough

3/4 cup cinnamon

1 and 1/8 cup flour

1 cup salt

1 cup water

1 Tbsp. ground nutmeg (optional)
1 Tbsp. ground clove (optional)

Mix dry ingredients. Add water to form dough. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. With fingers (because dough is very sticky!) flatten enough to use cookie cutter and pull dough from sides before lifting cutter on the parchment. Or mold your dough. Make these about 1/4 inch thick. Use a toothpick to make stringing holes. Bake in oven @ 350 F for 15-20 mins.

*if you let dough sit for a little bit it stiffens (the salt seems to dry it moderately fast) If you want white tops let air dry a little while before baking. Mine became white on top because I had to keep stopping to attend to my 8 month old... happy accident? maybe : )

**sea salt creates pretty little sparkly flecks :)

give a H(@,@)T!

Made this owl pillow today for my little girl for christmas : ) I guess to be sharing for the season maybe it should be a turtle dove or even a snow owl : P oh well! i like it! and i like it enough to share here : )

I didnt take pictures of the process for a tutorial but i've put the templates i made at the bottom of the post if you'd like to make one like this one^ I LOVE making HOMEMADE GIFTS!!!!

<>

^my own caricature of an owl : ) if i ever have my own design line ( i hope to!! ) this may very likely be my own "signature owl" i was surprised when i googled images i had not seen an owl interpretation with a heart face. i got the inspiration from the face of a baby great horned owl : ) definately suits my style : P (i need a new ink cartridge otherwise i wouldve just scanned and enlarged this image, ooooh well)

( @,@)
(),,_,,()

Templates in case you would like to make your own : ) cut with fold on right side and pieces joined together

* first snowy morning of the season *

my sliding door, made this morning : )

and the kittens never lost their mittens

Or not again that is : ) (my little kitten lost some already this year : P) This isn't a really creative, of my own invention, project But I wanted to offer mainly just the idea here in case you haven't thought of it and how simple but helpful it is!

No doubt when you were a kid you likely had some mittens or gloves on a string inside your coat running through the sleeves so you wouldnt lose them. : ) You remember now? Well this is a 2-step project so simple and so useful!

You probably don't need a tutorial but here you are anyway! : )

What you need:
.mittens or gloves

.ribbon or yarn or skinny strip of fleece or jersey (whatever you'd like really!)

.(scissors, needle, and thread)

.and your coat to measure, unless your little kitten will kindly let you measure : P

*First: (ribbon method and simple string only)

Measure your "string" across the back of the coat with a couple inches to spare at the ends.

*Secondly:

Sew ribbon to mittens folding end in and over so it doesn't fray at the ends. : )

*Knit alternative:

If you have knit gloves I would use some coordinating yarn and with a large eyed needle poke it through, tie it off with a loop, and crochet a simple chain the length to the next mitten cut the yarn with a few inches. Pull the end through the other mitten with the needle and tie it. : ) or you could sew it on and not poke through...

( : Now let's have pie!!!!!! : ) meow, meow, meow