"Summer Social" Guest Project — Make a DIY Laptop Skin!! {tutorial}

Hello Tatertots and Jello readers!!!  I am beside myself excited to be here today.  Jen has been a big supporter of MaryJanes and Galoshes from the beginning and I can not thank her enough!  My name is Taylor, I will spare you the boring details and get on  with the fun stuff!

I’m one of the ten True Value Blog squad members this year so right now on MJ&G you can find me creating a fun outdoor living space!   Today I’m breaking away from my project to share something quick, easy, and (I think) so fun!

I’ll be the first to admit I get bored easily.  If you already read MJ&G you probably now I’m a ball of randomness and am always switching things up (including my blog banner, because I get tired of looking at it).  So I’ve been oohing over all the fun laptop skins online FOREVER but I know I would tire of it to quickly to justify the cost…… so I came up with my own solution that is 1. CHEAP! and 2. completely changeable!  Here is my finished project….

What you need–

• White contact paper (shelf liner, found in the housewares department, or I got mine at True Value!)
• Laptop template (I modified mine from a free one at Sticker Mule or you can create your own)
• Permanent markera
  Image to trace (unless your a free hand drawer/doodler!) 
• Scissors 
• Window or lightbox 

My last laptop was silver and I never seemed to have any issues with it looking dirty or beat up, but this (practically brand new) black laptop looks AWFUL! 

To top it off my daughter got into some nail polish and began to paint it pink!  Which may have been lovely…. but not done by a two year old 🙂  But not even my remover could get it all off…..

So I was a bit embarrassed to take my laptop in public…. It’s all good now!  To start….. print out your template or make one by laying paper down and your laptop upside down on top and trace.  If there are any special molding indents you need to go around go ahead and work that out on paper.  I had to go around a small ditch at the bottom.

Contact paper comes in all kinds of colors, I chose white because I wanted to draw on mine.  Wood grain is very easy to find and would really fun if your in to that kind of thing.  You may like to draw on top of a patterned option also… it’s completely up to you and very easy to change when you want something new.

1. Lay your template onto the back side of the contact paper, tape down and trim around.

2. You can test to see how it fits after you cut it out.  It wont’ stick until you remove the paper backing.  I decided I wanted to put one of my (many) previous banners on mine, so I printed it out and used the window to trace the design onto the contact paper.

3. Using permanent markets… I have a great set of colored sharpies.  The fine tips weren’t great for coloring the large areas, but it did work so use your judgement on what you can live with.

4. Remove the protective backing from your contact paper and stick to your laptop!  Don’t stress to much about this step…. contact paper is VERY forgiving and will allow you to reposition multiple times.  Smooth out any airbuses you may get.  You can prick stubborn ones with a pin if needed. 

I can think of so many fun possibilities for this!  How about a calendar, or an advertisement for your business while your in public….  Your log when your at a craft or art fair!  You can also use acrylic paint if you prefer to paint.  Just don’t bother trying to use your printer….. I tried it….. smudge city. 

Thanks so much for having me here today!  I hope you are able to come and visit me sometime!  Lots of fun to be had at MaryJanes and Galoshes!  ♥ Taylor

 Oh my goodness Taylor — that is such a FUN idea.

I love it!!! 

If you don’t know MaryJanes & Galoshes – you are in for a treat!! 
Taylor has super awesome ideas like: 

I love this post on No Heat Curls {isn’t she cute btw?}

Have you always wondered how to make an Easy Zippered Pillow?

And how adorable is this creative Lego Birthday Invitation??

I may have a crush on Taylor’s Tissue Paper Wreath — gorgeous!

check out how to make a Rolled Flower Necklace too!

Head over to MaryJanes & Galoshes and see for yourself all of the fabulous ideas!! 

xoxo

PS — For all of my Utah friends — Downeast Basics & Modbe is having a HUGE warehouse sale in Layton tomorrow. Nothing will be over $10. You can find out more on the Downeast Facebook Page. I’m going to try to make it to that — sounds awesome!!

PPS — It’s FRIDAY — my favorite day of the week. Why?? Because that’s when I can see and feature YOUR ideas. Come link them up to The Weekend Wrap Up Party. The party starts tonight at 6 pm MST.

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Guest Project — Make a $70 J. Crew-inspired necklace for $10

Jcrew Knock off Necklace

Tutorial

By LOVE STITCHED

Ok lets get started…. 

Here is the $70 (ouch) original necklace

Now here is how to make one for only $10

SUPPLIES:

Chains (I chose gold because I wear it a lot but silver would look awesome too)

*please note all the chain was originally purchased at JOANNS on a 40% jewelery clearance – there will be left over chain from this project*

Ribbon (i used 24 inches total)

2 metal  hooks

One clasp

metal pliers (for opening the links)

THE HOW TO:

Start cutting all your chain to desired length…make each on a bit longer than the next so they layered.

Then using one of your metal “hooks / connectors” loop each chain onto it.

Pinch it shut and repeat on the other side of the chain

I cut my 24 inch ribbon in half…

tie each 12 inch piece onto your metal loops

*a bow would be really cute too – or you could sew your ends shut*

 Make sure you burn the ends of the ribbon so they don’t fray

add your final clasp to make taking it on and off easy

*please note if you are making it long enough to go over your head you can skip the part about cutting your ribbon and just tie it in one piece with NO clasp or connector*

Pretty easy huh?

if you wanted to add some **BLING** to it you could add a cute button or pin on the top side of one of the chains

These necklaces would make great gifts for Christmas or make them in all different kinds of metal for you!

HAPPY CRAFTING!!!

I would love for you to come by and visit me. I have weekly tutorials, giveaways, recipes, photo tips and more!!

Thanks so much for having me guest post today Jen! 

I hope you all enjoyed my tutorial!

if you make one…let me know.I love to see your creations using my tutorials!

Brittany – you are just too cute!! 

Seriously – this girl can whip up projects like nobody’s business!! She is so creative! 

You guys have probably seen Brittany’s Amazing Laundry Room Sign all over blogland lately – love it!

She made these beautiful Anthro-Inspired knobs -so pretty!!

Of course I love this sign – and hers with the bird is so fun! You can download these over at her place!

Brittany also has a wonderful etsy shop where she sells beautiful items like this Breakfast at Tiffany’s Necklace — swoon! 

Be sure to check out {Love Stitched} – you will be glad you did!

XOXO

PS — The Weekend Wrap Up Party starts tonight at 7 PM {MST} — although I have been starting it a tad early… Come join up so I can feature YOUR ideas!

Tweet

Guest Project — Make a $70 J. Crew-inspired necklace for $10

Jcrew Knock off Necklace

Tutorial

By LOVE STITCHED

Ok lets get started…. 

Here is the $70 (ouch) original necklace

Now here is how to make one for only $10

SUPPLIES:

Chains (I chose gold because I wear it a lot but silver would look awesome too)

*please note all the chain was originally purchased at JOANNS on a 40% jewelery clearance – there will be left over chain from this project*

Ribbon (i used 24 inches total)

2 metal  hooks

One clasp

metal pliers (for opening the links)

THE HOW TO:

Start cutting all your chain to desired length…make each on a bit longer than the next so they layered.

Then using one of your metal “hooks / connectors” loop each chain onto it.

Pinch it shut and repeat on the other side of the chain

I cut my 24 inch ribbon in half…

tie each 12 inch piece onto your metal loops

*a bow would be really cute too – or you could sew your ends shut*

 Make sure you burn the ends of the ribbon so they don’t fray

add your final clasp to make taking it on and off easy

*please note if you are making it long enough to go over your head you can skip the part about cutting your ribbon and just tie it in one piece with NO clasp or connector*

Pretty easy huh?

if you wanted to add some **BLING** to it you could add a cute button or pin on the top side of one of the chains

These necklaces would make great gifts for Christmas or make them in all different kinds of metal for you!

HAPPY CRAFTING!!!

I would love for you to come by and visit me. I have weekly tutorials, giveaways, recipes, photo tips and more!!

Thanks so much for having me guest post today Jen! 

I hope you all enjoyed my tutorial!

if you make one…let me know.I love to see your creations using my tutorials!

Brittany – you are just too cute!! 

Seriously – this girl can whip up projects like nobody’s business!! She is so creative! 

You guys have probably seen Brittany’s Amazing Laundry Room Sign all over blogland lately – love it!

She made these beautiful Anthro-Inspired knobs -so pretty!!

Of course I love this sign – and hers with the bird is so fun! You can download these over at her place!

Brittany also has a wonderful etsy shop where she sells beautiful items like this Breakfast at Tiffany’s Necklace — swoon! 

Be sure to check out {Love Stitched} – you will be glad you did!

XOXO

PS — The Weekend Wrap Up Party starts tonight at 7 PM {MST} — although I have been starting it a tad early… Come join up so I can feature YOUR ideas!

Tweet

Guest Project — Make Entryway Artwork! {and a giveaway event}

Hi! I’m Michele from The Scrap Shoppe.

A little about me: I’ve been married to my wonderful husband for 7 years, and we have an absolutely adorable 23 month old son (I’m not a bit biased about his cuteness!). I work full time as a biochemist at a large private university, but I’m a crafter at heart. I love to scrapbook, play with paper and fabric, garden, dabble in graphic design, and just let my creativity out whenever possible! I grew up with a mother that always had an “I can make that!” attitude. I find that I’m a bit of a mirror image of her in that sense today!

A HUGE thank you to Jen for having me on Tatertots &; Jello!
I’m so beyond thrilled to be here!

I want to share with you what is a slight embarassment to me.
My entryway!

Ugh! Super boring, right? We’ve lived in our house for 6 years now and it still looks like this! I’ve been on the lookout for the *perfect* table for my entryway for ages, but in the meantime surely there is something I can do with this space!

My focus today is the wall to the right. The first thing people see when they walk in my home.

My big plan is to make some ENTRYWAY ARTWORK!

My artwork will need a frame, so I started with two 8′ pieces of decorative wood trim, and one piece of 36″ flat trim with rounded edges.

I had the hubs cut all of the trim down to size for me.

Then we cut each of the decorative trim pieces to a 45 degree angle.

Next up, prime and spray paint all of the trim. I used Rust-oleum Satin Espresso paint.

I had a 4′ wide piece of plywood that was made from a combination of synthetic wood (on the interior) and the real wood (on the exterior). It only cost ~$5!

I had the hubs cut the plywood into three 13″x13″ pieces which I primed and painted in Behr Awning Red.

Time to get the trim up on the wall! We mounted it with liquid nails…

…And held it in place with painters tape. And you can bet your bottom dollar that frame is level!

I was fired once from a job around the house by the hubs because I wasn’t keeping a project perfectly level… but I digress! Luckily I wasn’t fired from this job!

Remember those two pieces of flat trim? We put those inside the frame so that we had 3 nice squares.

Can you guess what’s going in the those squares by now?

Yep! Those three red 13″x13″ pieces.

Apparently our boards were a teensy bit warped which wasn’t really noticable until we mounted them on the wall. So instead of holding the boards indefinitely until the liquid nails dried, my ingenious husband said, “Hold these!” and ran off to the bathroom and snagged the shower curtain rod. Pretty smart!

After an hour or so we decided everything should be dry and removed the shower curtain rod.

And, ta-da!! Isn’t it lovely? Okay, so its a little boring. Where’s the “ART” part of this Entryway Artwork?

To add my “ART“, I attached some clear photo corners to two of the red frames. They are adhesive-backed, but I thought I would need to add some more adhesive to be sure they would stay on. Not so!! They were plenty sticky all on their own.

So two of my frames ended up looking like this. They are hard to see, but there is a photo corner in each of the 4 corners.

I was able to slip my “ART” into the the corners.

Any guesses what my art is? I gave you a hint in my introduction to myself. 😉

Its a 12″x12″ scrapbook layout!

As a scrapbooker, I find that I want to display my pages instead of tucking them away into an album. Because really, who’s going to go flipping through my albums except my other scrapbooking friends?

I placed my embroidery hoop monogram wall art in the center frame. Its starting to bother me now that I see in the photo that its not exactly centered at the top and bottom… that will soon be remedied!

Here is the final project! And, I have to say, I’m loving it!

And the best part? I can interchange those scrapbook layouts. I can add my latest ones, change them up by season or holiday, or even change them up for whatever is going on at the house! We are celebrating my son’s 2nd birthday in September so you can bet there will be two layouts of him up for the birthday party!

So here is my somewhat improved entryway. I love that my guests now have something to look at as they enter the house! Now I just need to find that perfect table for the other wall…

This project was super inexpensive. We had to purchase the wood trim, the plywood, the liquid nails and the paint. So about $30 or less total!

Thanks again, Jen, for having me over!! This was too much fun!

Thanks Michele! What a great project – your entryway looks fantastic!! Here’s a little button as a thank you for sharing your talent with us!! Have you checked out Michele’s blog — The Scrap Shop? Michele comes up with such fun ideas, like:

{Such an awesome rosette skirt embellishment}

 {these Ceramic Paper Flowers are beautiful!}

 {Adorable Mother’s Brooch}

And, Michele also makes fun PFD Freebies to share, like these – she’s so talented!!

Be sure to check out The Scrap Shoppe!

And, now some information about the Great 

BlogFrog FROGGY HUNT

that’s starting in my BlogFrog community TODAY! 
 I have teamed up with 8 blogs for a fun Froggy Hunt!

• iGoBoGo
• It’s A Blog Party
• Our Homeschool Home
• Raising Olives
• She Saved
• Smockity Frocks
• Hoosier Homemade

And, there are some great prizes, including:

A custom-made Giant Flower Tote Bag.  

 I will make it in any color you want — just for you!

From Cristil @ lilsteinstyles — A 2T/3T Ruffle Tank.

This little tank is a size 2/3T but they do run small… {The little DIVA wearing this shirt is a itty bitty 14 month old.} It has funky flower print ruffle around the neck & also two rows around the bottom of the tank. If you don’t have a little one this age, it makes a wonderful gift!!
**NOTE: hair bows and jeans not included. 

 $25 Alice.com Gift Card — where you can buy ALL of your home essentials

A Frog, T-shirt and Premium BlogFrog Membership from the Wonderful Blog Frog folks!

An Oil Cloth Apron from Connie @ Smockity Frocks 

Any item from  Infarrantly Creative’s Etsy Shop etsy shop!

 And a $40 Amazon Gift Card! 

HOP over to my BlogFrog community for the details! 

It’s on my sidebar — or click HERE.

Have a Terrific Day!

XOXO

Tweet

Guest Project — Make Entryway Artwork! {and a giveaway event}

Hi! I’m Michele from The Scrap Shoppe.

A little about me: I’ve been married to my wonderful husband for 7 years, and we have an absolutely adorable 23 month old son (I’m not a bit biased about his cuteness!). I work full time as a biochemist at a large private university, but I’m a crafter at heart. I love to scrapbook, play with paper and fabric, garden, dabble in graphic design, and just let my creativity out whenever possible! I grew up with a mother that always had an “I can make that!” attitude. I find that I’m a bit of a mirror image of her in that sense today!

A HUGE thank you to Jen for having me on Tatertots &; Jello!
I’m so beyond thrilled to be here!

I want to share with you what is a slight embarassment to me.
My entryway!

Ugh! Super boring, right? We’ve lived in our house for 6 years now and it still looks like this! I’ve been on the lookout for the *perfect* table for my entryway for ages, but in the meantime surely there is something I can do with this space!

My focus today is the wall to the right. The first thing people see when they walk in my home.

My big plan is to make some ENTRYWAY ARTWORK!

My artwork will need a frame, so I started with two 8′ pieces of decorative wood trim, and one piece of 36″ flat trim with rounded edges.

I had the hubs cut all of the trim down to size for me.

Then we cut each of the decorative trim pieces to a 45 degree angle.

Next up, prime and spray paint all of the trim. I used Rust-oleum Satin Espresso paint.

I had a 4′ wide piece of plywood that was made from a combination of synthetic wood (on the interior) and the real wood (on the exterior). It only cost ~$5!

I had the hubs cut the plywood into three 13″x13″ pieces which I primed and painted in Behr Awning Red.

Time to get the trim up on the wall! We mounted it with liquid nails…

…And held it in place with painters tape. And you can bet your bottom dollar that frame is level!

I was fired once from a job around the house by the hubs because I wasn’t keeping a project perfectly level… but I digress! Luckily I wasn’t fired from this job!

Remember those two pieces of flat trim? We put those inside the frame so that we had 3 nice squares.

Can you guess what’s going in the those squares by now?

Yep! Those three red 13″x13″ pieces.

Apparently our boards were a teensy bit warped which wasn’t really noticable until we mounted them on the wall. So instead of holding the boards indefinitely until the liquid nails dried, my ingenious husband said, “Hold these!” and ran off to the bathroom and snagged the shower curtain rod. Pretty smart!

After an hour or so we decided everything should be dry and removed the shower curtain rod.

And, ta-da!! Isn’t it lovely? Okay, so its a little boring. Where’s the “ART” part of this Entryway Artwork?

To add my “ART“, I attached some clear photo corners to two of the red frames. They are adhesive-backed, but I thought I would need to add some more adhesive to be sure they would stay on. Not so!! They were plenty sticky all on their own.

So two of my frames ended up looking like this. They are hard to see, but there is a photo corner in each of the 4 corners.

I was able to slip my “ART” into the the corners.

Any guesses what my art is? I gave you a hint in my introduction to myself. 😉

Its a 12″x12″ scrapbook layout!

As a scrapbooker, I find that I want to display my pages instead of tucking them away into an album. Because really, who’s going to go flipping through my albums except my other scrapbooking friends?

I placed my embroidery hoop monogram wall art in the center frame. Its starting to bother me now that I see in the photo that its not exactly centered at the top and bottom… that will soon be remedied!

Here is the final project! And, I have to say, I’m loving it!

And the best part? I can interchange those scrapbook layouts. I can add my latest ones, change them up by season or holiday, or even change them up for whatever is going on at the house! We are celebrating my son’s 2nd birthday in September so you can bet there will be two layouts of him up for the birthday party!

So here is my somewhat improved entryway. I love that my guests now have something to look at as they enter the house! Now I just need to find that perfect table for the other wall…

This project was super inexpensive. We had to purchase the wood trim, the plywood, the liquid nails and the paint. So about $30 or less total!

Thanks again, Jen, for having me over!! This was too much fun!

Thanks Michele! What a great project – your entryway looks fantastic!! Here’s a little button as a thank you for sharing your talent with us!! Have you checked out Michele’s blog — The Scrap Shop? Michele comes up with such fun ideas, like:

{Such an awesome rosette skirt embellishment}

 {these Ceramic Paper Flowers are beautiful!}

 {Adorable Mother’s Brooch}

And, Michele also makes fun PFD Freebies to share, like these – she’s so talented!!

Be sure to check out The Scrap Shoppe!

And, now some information about the Great 

BlogFrog FROGGY HUNT

that’s starting in my BlogFrog community TODAY! 
 I have teamed up with 8 blogs for a fun Froggy Hunt!

• iGoBoGo
• It’s A Blog Party
• Our Homeschool Home
• Raising Olives
• She Saved
• Smockity Frocks
• Hoosier Homemade

And, there are some great prizes, including:

A custom-made Giant Flower Tote Bag.  

 I will make it in any color you want — just for you!

From Cristil @ lilsteinstyles — A 2T/3T Ruffle Tank.

This little tank is a size 2/3T but they do run small… {The little DIVA wearing this shirt is a itty bitty 14 month old.} It has funky flower print ruffle around the neck & also two rows around the bottom of the tank. If you don’t have a little one this age, it makes a wonderful gift!!
**NOTE: hair bows and jeans not included. 

 $25 Alice.com Gift Card — where you can buy ALL of your home essentials

A Frog, T-shirt and Premium BlogFrog Membership from the Wonderful Blog Frog folks!

An Oil Cloth Apron from Connie @ Smockity Frocks 

Any item from  Infarrantly Creative’s Etsy Shop etsy shop!

 And a $40 Amazon Gift Card! 

HOP over to my BlogFrog community for the details! 

It’s on my sidebar — or click HERE.

Have a Terrific Day!

XOXO

Tweet

Christmad gift Idea — Personalized Mini SubwayTiles

Today I am have a fun little project to share that would make great custom Christmas gifts this year   Personalized  Subway Art!

 I thought a fun Christmas idea would be 

personalized mini Subway art pieces. 

You can make them up for almost anyone — 

your favorite teacher, your mom, your husband or boyfriend, sister, neighbor… 

I made a few different ones — plus a bigger version that you can do for an entire family as a gift. And, it’s so inexpensive to make!!

I have been enamored with Subway Art for awhile now. I love the graphic black and white look of it.

One type of personalized Subway Art that you can make would be a Family Sign. This would be a good gift if you have a friend or family member and would like to make a gift for the whole family. You can put each person’s name on the board and then characteristics of that person. 

The second type of personalized Subway Art you could make would be individual plaques. You could do these for different types of people — family members, friends and even as teacher gifts. 

There are two different ways to make each type of personalized Subway Art. 

The first is by printing out paper on your computer and mod podging it onto your board. I took a piece of MDF ( you can also use a canvas if you like). I painted the board black. You can also add some decorative molding to the edges if you want to make it extra special.

Then I went in Microsoft Word and printed out some letters (I used Ariel font — regular Ariel, Ariel Narrow and Ariel Bold). I printed out the fonts to see if they were the right size. Once I decided the right size for the board, I reversed the font out by making the background black, then I printed them out and cut out each word individually. Lay the papers on the board the way you want them to look when you are done. Then take them and lay them out to the side of the board in the correct order. 

**Note — here’s a good tip — use photo paper and print out on the matte side of the paper. If you use photo paper, your black will be blacker.

Then I mod podged the paper onto the board. Once the words were all on the board, I put an extra layer of mod podge over the top of the board.

The second way of making the personalized Subway Art is to use your Silhouette and print the words off using vinyl. Then use Transfer Tape and transfer them onto the board. 

I made the smaller boards 8 inches x 8 inches square — but you can make them any size you want! The last thing I did was added a vinyl embellishment or a flower to each board to add a little extra pizazz. 

 And you have a great, personalized gift that’s great for birthdays, anniversaries or a great  
Christmas gift!

XOXO

Tweet

Christmad gift Idea — Personalized Mini SubwayTiles

Today I am have a fun little project to share that would make great custom Christmas gifts this year   Personalized  Subway Art!

 I thought a fun Christmas idea would be 

personalized mini Subway art pieces. 

You can make them up for almost anyone — 

your favorite teacher, your mom, your husband or boyfriend, sister, neighbor… 

I made a few different ones — plus a bigger version that you can do for an entire family as a gift. And, it’s so inexpensive to make!!

I have been enamored with Subway Art for awhile now. I love the graphic black and white look of it.

One type of personalized Subway Art that you can make would be a Family Sign. This would be a good gift if you have a friend or family member and would like to make a gift for the whole family. You can put each person’s name on the board and then characteristics of that person. 

The second type of personalized Subway Art you could make would be individual plaques. You could do these for different types of people — family members, friends and even as teacher gifts. 

There are two different ways to make each type of personalized Subway Art. 

The first is by printing out paper on your computer and mod podging it onto your board. I took a piece of MDF ( you can also use a canvas if you like). I painted the board black. You can also add some decorative molding to the edges if you want to make it extra special.

Then I went in Microsoft Word and printed out some letters (I used Ariel font — regular Ariel, Ariel Narrow and Ariel Bold). I printed out the fonts to see if they were the right size. Once I decided the right size for the board, I reversed the font out by making the background black, then I printed them out and cut out each word individually. Lay the papers on the board the way you want them to look when you are done. Then take them and lay them out to the side of the board in the correct order. 

**Note — here’s a good tip — use photo paper and print out on the matte side of the paper. If you use photo paper, your black will be blacker.

Then I mod podged the paper onto the board. Once the words were all on the board, I put an extra layer of mod podge over the top of the board.

The second way of making the personalized Subway Art is to use your Silhouette and print the words off using vinyl. Then use Transfer Tape and transfer them onto the board. 

I made the smaller boards 8 inches x 8 inches square — but you can make them any size you want! The last thing I did was added a vinyl embellishment or a flower to each board to add a little extra pizazz. 

 And you have a great, personalized gift that’s great for birthdays, anniversaries or a great  
Christmas gift!

XOXO

Tweet

Guest Project — Quick, No-Sew Headband Idea

 Hi! I’m Mique from 30days and when Jen put out the call for willing people to guest post, I jumped on it. I have been an admirer of Tatertots and Jello and even got Jen to post for my Funner in the Summer series. In real life I’m a stay at home mom to 3 crazy kids and when I have down time I post my ideas and those that I’ve found online at 30days.

Today I wanted to share a quick, no sew headband idea. What could be better when you’re feeling kinda frumpy than a little hair accessory? And it’s super fast.

To get started, you will need the following:
(forgive the pics, we’re in the middle of having flooring put in and paint done in my house- which is exciting- but doesn’t create great areas for tutorial backdrops 😉

less than 1/2 yd of felt
scrap of fabric
buttons
needle
embroidery thread
headband
glue gun
scissors

To start off, I cut a 2″ by 1 1/2″ rectangle with my felt.
Using my scissors I rounded the corners.
I just “eyeballed” it.
So it looks like so:

Next I placed a button on the felt
and sewed in on with my needle and thread.
If you want, you could use your glue gun
for this part too. I just like the look with the thread.
 

Arrange your buttons all mish mashed
and however you want.
Continue to stitch them on.

This is what the back looked like
when I was done:

I cut a slightly larger piece of white
felt and then laid my scrap fabric
on it and cut it out.

And then I just glue gunned it in place.
You could sew it with your sewing machine too.

Next I put glue on my original felt
(with the buttons) and glued it to the second, bigger piece.

And this is how it looked:

Then I made a line with glue
on the back:

And placed my headband on it
making sure to kind of wrap the ends ups it.
You could also use an elastic headband.
The plastic ones work better for my daughter
so that’s what I used.

Next I made another line of glue
and covered that line with one
more square of white felt.
It just makes it look finished.

And you’re done:

Easy peasy. And cute to boot. 😉

Doesn’t she just look thrilled to be having her pic taken?

Thanks again to Jen for letting me guest post today.
Stop by and say hi over at 30days!

 Thanks Mique for sharing such a fun, cute idea with us! Here’s a button for you 🙂 If you haven’t been over to Mique’s blog — 30 Days — get over there and check it out! It is fantastic. She just had a Funner in the Summer series that had tons of great ideas. Plus, she has wonderful projects and ideas all the time, like:

#fullpost{display:inline;}

 

 {Teacher Gift Card Appreciation Idea}

 {Summer School Chart}

 {Yummy Recipes}

PLUS — she features great projects and has really fun giveaways too! 
You will love 30 Days!!!

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!!

XOXO

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Guest Project — Quick, No-Sew Headband Idea

 Hi! I’m Mique from 30days and when Jen put out the call for willing people to guest post, I jumped on it. I have been an admirer of Tatertots and Jello and even got Jen to post for my Funner in the Summer series. In real life I’m a stay at home mom to 3 crazy kids and when I have down time I post my ideas and those that I’ve found online at 30days.

Today I wanted to share a quick, no sew headband idea. What could be better when you’re feeling kinda frumpy than a little hair accessory? And it’s super fast.

To get started, you will need the following:
(forgive the pics, we’re in the middle of having flooring put in and paint done in my house- which is exciting- but doesn’t create great areas for tutorial backdrops 😉

less than 1/2 yd of felt
scrap of fabric
buttons
needle
embroidery thread
headband
glue gun
scissors

To start off, I cut a 2″ by 1 1/2″ rectangle with my felt.
Using my scissors I rounded the corners.
I just “eyeballed” it.
So it looks like so:

Next I placed a button on the felt
and sewed in on with my needle and thread.
If you want, you could use your glue gun
for this part too. I just like the look with the thread.
 

Arrange your buttons all mish mashed
and however you want.
Continue to stitch them on.

This is what the back looked like
when I was done:

I cut a slightly larger piece of white
felt and then laid my scrap fabric
on it and cut it out.

And then I just glue gunned it in place.
You could sew it with your sewing machine too.

Next I put glue on my original felt
(with the buttons) and glued it to the second, bigger piece.

And this is how it looked:

Then I made a line with glue
on the back:

And placed my headband on it
making sure to kind of wrap the ends ups it.
You could also use an elastic headband.
The plastic ones work better for my daughter
so that’s what I used.

Next I made another line of glue
and covered that line with one
more square of white felt.
It just makes it look finished.

And you’re done:

Easy peasy. And cute to boot. 😉

Doesn’t she just look thrilled to be having her pic taken?

Thanks again to Jen for letting me guest post today.
Stop by and say hi over at 30days!

 Thanks Mique for sharing such a fun, cute idea with us! Here’s a button for you 🙂 If you haven’t been over to Mique’s blog — 30 Days — get over there and check it out! It is fantastic. She just had a Funner in the Summer series that had tons of great ideas. Plus, she has wonderful projects and ideas all the time, like:

#fullpost{display:inline;}

 

 {Teacher Gift Card Appreciation Idea}

 {Summer School Chart}

 {Yummy Recipes}

PLUS — she features great projects and has really fun giveaways too! 
You will love 30 Days!!!

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!!

XOXO

Tweet

Guest Project — Granddad’s Tractor Applique

Hi, I’m Polly from Helping Little Hands. I’m a chemistry and math teacher turned stay-at-home mom to 3 wonderful kids. I super excited to be sharing a tutorial here today on Tatertots and Jello! Thanks, Jen!

I’ve done a lot of different kinds of projects on my blog, but lately I’ve been addicted to experimenting with clothes refashioning, especially for my kiddos. One of my favorite techniques to dress-up a T-shirt or pants is with applique. I’ve liked applique for a long time, but have recently really fallen in love with appliquing knits onto knits. Since jersey knits (like T-shirts) don’t fray, there is more flexibility in how you finish the edges, and they are SO easy.

Today I’m going to share…

We’re moving soon to a very rural farming town in central Washington for Hubby’s new teaching job, and I thought some tractor shirts inspired by a vintage tractor from my Granddad would be a fun celebration.

Of course, our daughter needed her own girly version of Granddad’s Tractor too…after all she has told us she wants to be a tractors driver (as well as about 10 other things) when she grows up. Both kids were thrilled with them (even though not all the pictures would make you think that…he was anxious to get to the park)!

My son loves to play with the buttons on his shirt to make the tractor “drive.”

This technique will work for any design. Simple clip art or coloring pages are great starting places for designing your own appliques as well. For this project, I simply took a photograph of Granddad’s tractor and simplified and traced the picture onto a piece of paper.

Once you have your design, trace it onto some Heat’n Bond Lite or similar adhesive product. (REMEMBER that your final applique will be FLIPPED so if you want it facing a certain direction or there are letters or numbers involved, that you need to trace your design in reverse.)

Cut your pieces out.

Iron your pieces onto your fabric scraps, and cut them out again. Also don’t be afraid to try different combinations. There have been a lot of times, a combination just didn’t quite work, and I cut some new Heat’n Bond so I could use a different fabric.

Peel off the paper backing.

Arrange your pieces onto your T-shirt. Make sure any adjacent pieces are overlapped.

I highly recommend measuring to make sure it’s centered. There have been times when I’ve skipped measuring, only to notice it is off center once I had finished. Iron well. Then iron well again. Then iron the backside from inside the shirt. Then check all the edges to make sure they’re stuck down and iron any places that are a bit loose.

Now you’re ready for the fun part…the sewing! You can use matching thread or contrasting thread. I used a little of each in my tractors. I try to stitch about 1/8 of an inch away from the edge. If you stitch too far from the edge, sometimes the edges will roll back a little funny after it’s been worn and washed a bunch of times.

Here’s the real secret to really clean looking machine applique…You want to be sure to leave a long tail at the beginning and ends of your stitching and DON’T secure the ends by sewing back and forth. Instead, pull the thread on the front of the shirt, through to the inside. Then tie both threads together in a square knot several times. Then I leave about 1/2 an inch when I cut the threads, so they’re less likely to come untied.

When I was finished, the back looked like this.

Then for a final touch, I sewed on some buttons for the center of the wheels.

And you’re done!

I’ll have a pattern up on my blog soon for how I resized my daughter’s shirt. (I like to resize slightly larger ones for her so they have more length and we see fewer belly buttons.) My son’s shirt was an early attempt at one of Dana’s 90-Minute shirts. The tutorial for the capris my daughter is wearing is here.

Here’s the printable pattern for the tractor. (Pardon the chocolate smudges! Yikes!) If anyone ends up making one, I’d love to see it!

Granddad’s Tractor http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=34354698&access_key=key-u9xaosot977jzbpow85&page=1&viewMode=list

If tractors aren’t your thing, here are a few examples of other applique patterns available on my blog.

1st Birthday Cupcake Onesie Applique and Very Hungry Caterpillar Applique

Sea Turtle Applique

Jet Plane Applique

Cat Applique

And I’ll have a cute butterfly applique pattern on my blog soon.

So cute Polly! Thanks for sharing it with us and here is a little something as a thank you! Polly is a sewing whiz and makes so many other creative projects like:

You will love her blog — Helping Little Hands!

XOXO

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