Make Batik-style cloth (using glue)

I'm currently still in the process of decorating our walls with colorful and affordable wall art.  After seeing how easy it is to make Batik-style cloth, I thought I'd use the method to create a cloth wall hanging.

Here's my fishy batik wall art:

Are these fish wearing argyle sweaters?  Hrmm....

Materials:
- Cotton cloth
- Paint
- Water
- Paint Brushes
- Blue gel glue
- Saran Wrap (or wax paper)
- Tape
- Pencil, markers
- Paper
- Old tooth brush
- Iron
- Dish cloth

Directions:
1.  Prep your fabric.  (I used some leftover muslin from our rollie pollie bean bag chair, so hubby hemmed it for me.  I also ironed it.)

2.  Draw out your design.   Outline it with a marker to make the lines darker.

3.  Tape a piece of saran wrap over your design (so your glue won't stick to the paper).

4.  Tape your cloth over the design.  Trace your design with the blue glue.  (Remember, the glue will protect your cloth from being painted.  So, any cloth covered by glue will remain its original color.)

5.  Let your glue dry.   (I waited overnight.)

Left- Wet glue on cloth                                       Right- Glue dried by the sun

6.  Add a bit of water to your craft paints to make them a bit more watery and easier to spread. Channel your inner artist, have fun, and paint.

7.  Once your paint dries (I waited overnight), soak your cloth in warm water.  Your glue will start to soften and soon you'll be able to brush it off with your tooth brush.  (My glue lines were fairly thin, so it only took about 10 minutes of waiting before I could scrub and scratch off the glue.  You'll probably have to wait longer if you used a lot of glue.)

8.  Lay your cloth out to dry.  Place a dish cloth over it and iron it.  Then, enjoy your very own hand painted cloth wall art.

And here's what the batik effect looks like up close:

Happy glue batiking!

Psst- Want to see more wall art ideas that are affordable and super easy to make?  Check these out:

• Faux Stained glass
• Painted Twig Wall Art 
• Paint Chip Wall Art
• Coffee Filter Pinata letters
• Egg Carton Wreath

Make your own trunk cover

****Update-  A lot of people seem to be interested in this trunk cover.  Full disclosure here... after using it for awhile, we've noticed that there's one big problem with the cover.  Every time we drive, the back bar pops out.  Grr....   So the cover holds up if the car is parked... but the back bar won't stay put if the car is moving.  So once hubby and I get some free time, we will tweak the design.  Does anyone have ideas with how to fix that problem?  Hrmm... I'll update you with our progress..... Sorry!*****



It's now been a year since we left Michigan and moved back to the East Coast.  Wow.  Time really flies.  

It's also been about a year since we lost our trunk cover.  Grrr movers!  We figured it was time to finally get a new one.  However, with trunk covers being so pricey, hubby and I took the thrifty way out and and made our own.  Here's what our trunk cover looks like:

It was really easy for us to design and hubby to sew.  In case you find yourself missing a trunk cover (grr, movers!), check out the directions below.

Materials:
- Two shower curtain rods
- Piece of fabric

Directions:  
1.  Measure the two distances (across the trunk) between the pairs of holes where the original trunk cover rested.  (These distances will determine what size shower curtain rods you buy.)

2.  Measure the distance between the two holes on one side of the car.

3.  Purchase

• two shower curtain rods that will span the two distances across the trunk
• a piece of fabric that will span the distance between your two rods (with an extra bit to create tube "sleeves" for your poles)

4.   Sew one tube "sleeve" to hold in one shower curtain rod.  Place your sleeved rod into the car and use chalk to determine how to sew the next curtain rod.  Then, sew your other tube "sleeve."   Insert your second rod in your sleeve.

Then, voila.  You've got your very own personalized trunk cover.

On the negative side, it won't be able to slide open and closed like your original one.  However, on the positive side, it covers the items in your trunk and was made for a fraction of the cost

Happy crafting!

E-reader cover

Hubby and I are two different types of crafters.

- I'm a planner.  I'll research ideas online, draw out plans and then re-draw out plans for days and days and days.  Then, after rehearsing the steps in my head, I'll finally go into the store knowing exactly what and how much needs to be purchased.

- Hubby's a doer.  He'll research online and then run into the store grabbing bits and bobs that appeal to him.  His process usually happens in one day(!).  He doesn't use specific measurements.  He doesn't write down lists.  He's a "do now, think later" kind of crafter.

And although his method perplexes me, I'm always impressed by what he turns out.  (I also feeling more inspired to do more and think less... which is a good thing, I think.)  Here's an e-reader cover that hubby quickly threw together this past weekend.  

Photo bombing feet!

Happy Wednesday!

Hubby makes a rollie pollie chair

A few days ago I shared that hubby and I engaged in some friendly competition.  Both of us wanted to make kid friendly furniture for Chuck.  I came up with the idea to make a chair out of pvc pipes.  Hubby followed these directions and took another route.  He made a rollie pollie chair

This chair may look like a beanbag chair, but it's not.  It's filled with stuffing instead of beads.  (Basically, it's one huuuuuuge pillow.)

 <<UPDATE!  4/8/13-  We un-stuffed the rollie pollie chair and exchanged the stuffing for a laaarge  bag of Styrofoam beans from Walmart.  We noticed that Chuck was kind of just bouncing off the chair whenever he tried to sit on it.  Now he sinks in nicely and it's way more comfy.>>

So who wins?  Well... while Chuck easily sits in my chair,  he'll outgrow it in a year or two.  Hubby's rollie pollie is too big for Chuck to use right now, but he'll grow into it some day.  (I'm getting it ready  for him by napping on it now.  Zzzz...)

So I guess this round of friendly furniture competition ends with a draw.  Admittedly both chairs have their drawbacks, but I'm proud of what we accomplished.

Have a great weekend!

Make a toddler chair out of pvc pipe

For the last month we've removed our sofa's cushions on a daily basis.  Chuck likes sitting on the sofa and watching tv, but it was too tough for him to climb up with the cushions in place.

We didn't mind him sitting that way, but we figured we should get him some kid-sized furniture.  And then a DIY light bulb went off in our heads.

Why buy him furniture when we could make our own?

Hubby and I had two different furniture concepts, so we ended up with two solutions.  Since hubby's project is 90% completed, I'll post up his solution later.  Here's how I chose tackle the problem:  a toddler-sized chair made out of PVC pipes and fabric.

Front

Side

Back

Cute, right?  I love it.  But honestly, I can't take much credit for its creation.  All I did was follow Que Linda's super clear directions and assemble the pieces.  Our uncle cut the pipes (thanks Tito Ric!) and hubby sewed the fabric (thanks hubby!). So they're really today's star crafters.

As you can tell, Chuck loves his new seat.  He's certainly one happy customer.

Hubby alters another dress

Last weekend hubby pulled out the trusty sewing machine to alter a thrifted dress.

It went from looking like a long hippy-ish nightgown 

to looking like short nightgown 

to looking like a dress that I could actually wear out

Three cheers for hubby's sewing skills!

Hubby turns a sweater into a hat

Last winter hubby bought me a beautiful mustard yellow sweater.  I loved it so much.  Even though it was slightly too big for me, I kept it because I loved the color.

Fast forward one year later and I still had not worn it.  I tried pairing it with different things, but the fit was always slightly off.  Instead of giving the sweater away, hubby and I cut the sweater up and upcycled it into a hat.

We measured the circumference of my head, and then divided that number by 2 (a).  Then, we measured the distance from the top of my head to my ears (b*).  Using those two measurements we chalked out the outline of a hat (the width being "a" and the height being "b").  After some quick pinning, hubby sewed everything up and voila, I had a new mustard colored hat.

(Embarrassing fact: What? Is Leslie wearing a hat?  Yes, it is a strange sight.  I typically don't wear hats because my ginormous head is so large that it never fits any of the hats in the store.)

(*Side note:  I think the next time I would have made the hat a bit taller.  It just reaches my ears, so it would have been nice to have a bit more room up there.)

And since we had a bit of extra material hubby quickly whipped up another hat for a slightly smaller noggin.

Yup.  Because sometimes Baby Chuck and I like getting all matchy matchy like that.

(By the way-  Thank you all for voting for my crapty reindeer head!  I was one of the top 6 and moved onto the final round of the competition.  So, if  you have another spare moment, would you please vote for my reindeer head at the Totally Green Contest? Thanks so much for your support!)