T-Shirt Upcycle - Braided Infinity Scarf

We're in the midst of yet another snowstorm. Welp, it's as good a time as any for a new scarf. Might as well make it a colorful and bright infinity scarf to cheer up those winter blues. Am I right, or am I right? 

Best part? This knotted cowl is made out of upcycled t-shirts Heck yes. Thrifty and fabulous. 

DIY Dish Towel Market Totes

In honor of our first CSA pick up (check out the yumminess here on Instagram) I wanted to make some simple bags to tote our goodies home. When we were at Ikea this weekend, I grabbed this 4-pack of cotton dish towels which were the perfect material for produce bags -- both absorbent and strong! I love when things just work out that way haha :) The bags turned out so cute, dontcha think??

With that one set of towels, I was able to make 2 large totes and 3 smaller drawstring bags... and I still have another towel left over (I just wasn't quite smitten with the pattern).

A Pocketful of Posies Pillow

Thanks to all of you who voted at So You Think You're Crafty last week, I got second place! Week two is in full force right now so stop by and vote for your favorites! You might not know this about the competition, but whoever wins each round gives a tutorial of their project at SYTYC. Since I was not number one last week, I get to share my tutorial here at Spool and Spoon instead!

We are having one long winter over here so I was really excited to hear that the Week 1 theme was Spring. The competitors are supposed to interpret the theme in whatever way we want so I combined the florals, bright colored decor, and stash busting spring cleaning all into one. From a handful of rolled flowers, some gorgeous grey chambray and a bit of stuffing blossomed this "Pocketful of Posies" pillow.

Craft Room Organization - Fabric Storage

If you're anything like me, you have an entirely too large fabric collection. Even though I rarely sew, I can't miss out on pretty fabric. I guess I figure that I'd rather add a random fabric to my collection than start a project and realize that I didn't buy it. Once you start loading up on the fabric, it's about time you get it organized... but how?

I store my fabric in drop-front storage boxes on a shelf in my craft-room closet. This was in no way my idea, the fabulous Chip Cordelli was brilliant and it's been the best fabric storage for my space.

While it's the perfect solution for me, I realize it might not be the most practical or appealing solution for everyone. One quick search on the web will yield tons of results and I promise that you'll be inspired.

Toms Sunglasses Pouch

I have a slight obsession with my Ray Ban Wayfarers. Over the summer my super wonderful husband bought me this matte blue pair and I treasure them. He also bought me my first pair of Toms, too! I'm a bit too smitten with that brand altogether; I'd buy every pair if I was allowed. This project combines both of those lovelies into one single accessory - a lined canvas pouch for your sunglasses.

DIY Woven Camera Strap

You may remember that when I first got my DSLR, I had these huge aspirations of making a ton of DIY camera accessories. Yeahhhh, about that. In the last 6 months all I made was my camera bag. It's a pretty sweet camera bag if I do say so myself but still, that was the only thing I managed to put together. After checking out Yellowcloth's tutorial for a braided baby headband, inspiration struck and I went off to plan my newest DIY: a woven camera strap! 

It took less than an hour to put together and I happened to have everything on hand already so it was pretty much free (from scratch, this would probably cost less than $10). Maybe it's boastful to talk about how much I love something that I made with my own two hands, but I can't help it! The Mr. has been teasing me because he keeps catching me admiring my handiwork, but again, I JUST CAN'T HELP IT! It's pretty and cushy and durable and just plain awesome. Read on to learn how to make one yourself!

DIY Fish Toy for Cats

I think I neglect to mention Aubrey a lot. She's kind of the best cat ever and so low-key. She was our first "baby" and I will always love her more than words can ever express. She hates really dislikes Quinn which breaks my heart but she keeps herself content. I feel like every once in awhile, she needs some super spoiling which is why I decided to make her a new toy. 

How To: Perfect Felt Bow {no sew!}

I finally wrapped a present. Yes, *one* present. Later tonight I'll wrap all of them but until then, I wanted to share project number twenty-three of The 25 Projects of Christmas: a tutorial for how to make the perfect felt bow. This can be used as a super simple gift topper, a brooch, or a hair accessory.

All you need is a small scrap of felt (double the width of the size bow you want) and a glue gun. I think we can all manage those few things.

Embellished Headwarmer & Glove Gift Set

Do you ever come across a really awesome tutorial and just know that you have to try it? That's the way I felt a few weeks ago when I saw I am Momma Hear Me Roar's rolled felt flowers. I couldn't figure out where I wanted to use them but I knew I would. When I stumbled upon a plain headwarmer and set of gloves in the dollar section at Jo-Ann's, inspiration struck. Number twenty of The 25 Projects of Christmas is the perfect last-minute DIY gift: an embellished headwarmer and glove set.

In a matter of minutes you can transform some dollar store finds into something worthy of gift wrap.

Color Block Circle Scarf Tutorial

I meant to do this post yesterday, but I'm a procrastinator. If you're anything like me, you have big plans for homemade gifts this Christmas but have barely started. Whoopsie. The fourteenth project of The 25 Projects of Christmas is the perfect gift for the trendy lady in your life: a color blocked circle scarf. Color block, color blocked... Honestly, I'm not sure which one it is so I'll use them interchangeably haha. You may remember seeing it pictured in the gift I made for my handmade gift exchange partner. It's also kind of a double dose of scarves today because I shared my 30-minute crocheted infinity scarf at Kristina J.; check it out!

Would you guess that this was made out of two $2 t-shirts? Thrifty and cute, what's not to like? Let's get started!

Tutorial: Doggie Tutu and Puffy Bow

Once upon a time we welcomed our second "child," Quinn, into our lives. She's adorable and easygoing so I was looking forward to getting her into a Halloween costume this year. Even the neighborhood kids have expressed interest in Quinn getting dressed up... bwahaha.  I thought a simple tutu and Halloween bow would be perfect without being too over the top.

Embroidered Pillowcase by Anja of Cocalores

One of my favorite ladies, who hails from a land far far away (aka Germany), is stopping by as our guest blogger today. I absolutely adore Anja's inventive furniture makeovers, crafty projects, and pretty much all of the things she writes about. I hope you'll take a moment to stop by her blog and see what she's all about; I promise you won't be disappointed! Now, let's get this party started...

Hi everyone! My name is Anja and I'm so glad to be here today at Spool and Spoon. You can usually find me over at Cocalores, where I blog mostly about my creative endeavors (which include sewing, baking, and giving new life to old furniture) but also about anything that strikes my fancy. Jess writes one of my favorite blogs, and she is such a sweet and amazing person! (Well, I guess that's preaching to the choir because you as her readers already know this!)

Do you also like reading the About Me page first? Well, here is mine in a nutshell:

• My husband, dog, and job are my everything. Well, that and my creative side.
• I'm German, so you'll always find lots of entertaining mistakes and clichés.
• I'm a redhead, but my go-to accent color is pink. Not always easy to make it work.
• My vices include coffee, chocolate, ice-cream, and lots of DVDs. Preferably at the same time.

I like pillowcases. There's nothing like a cute pillowcase to change the look of the room. So I'm going to share with you an easy embroidery and sewing project!

Yes, there's pink, but you can choose any color ;-)

DIY Monochromatic Fabric Pumpkins

I feel like my sewing machine and I have an ":it's complicated" relationship. I go weeks without touching it and then out of nowhere I can't get my hands off of it for hours on end. Is anyone else like that? Well, I made a few things last night while I was feeling inspired and thought I'd share a tutorial for one today: Monochromatic Fabric Pumpkins. 

Materials:

• Fabric scraps
• Coordinating heavy duty thread (Coats Glace line is perfect for this)
• Poly fill
• Twine
• Ribbon
• Sewing machine & necessary tools

Family Tree Embroidery Pattern

Firstly, I apologize for not updating more frequently. As mentioned in the last post, we just got the dog and I've been focusing every waking moment on making sure her transition has been smooth. It's important for the Mr. and I that Quinn and Aubrey have a loving and happy home. I've barely had a spare minute to even work on projects so here it goes...

For Mother's Day I wanted to make a family tree for my mother-in-law. She is not only the most caring mom ever, but she's also the most sentimental. I had searched far and wide for a unique pattern that I could use to put her boys and their families but I couldn't find any. It seems like those tree murals are all the rage, but I wanted to embroider mine so I needed something dainty and pretty.

Combining elements from my favorite clip art trees into one gave me the result I really wanted. If you would like the pattern, click here! I printed my pattern onto tissue paper pinned it to the fabric and stitched directly through it. Afterwards, simply rip off the paper (or use tweezers to remove teeny pieces) and that was it. I used some high quality natural linen and basic embroidery floss.

For the trunk and main branches I used a chain stitch. The smaller branches are done in the stem stitch; everything else is done in a back stitch. There are 5 leaves on the tree: one for the Mr., one for me, one for his brother, one for his brother's son and another for his fiancee.  Next to the leaves for the Mr. and his brother, I put French knots to signify how many people are in that family unit (2 for us, 3 for them).

Why I love this pattern:

• 100% Customizable
• Easily updated when there are marriages and new arrivals
• Really simple once you learn the basics of embroidery
• Stunning finished project
• Heirloom quality gift 

No-Sew, Waterproof Placemats

If you hold even a five-minute conversation with me, you are bound to hear about my little munchkin, Aubergine. Aubs/Aubrey/Aubbie loves to play with makeup brushes, eat her mama's ice cream, and chase her papa around the house. She is such a little piggy when she eats though... water dribbles and food crumbles everywhere. Even so, she is just the sweetest little cuddlebug on four-legs you would ever meet. Oh wait, you thought Aubbie was our kid? Close! She's our itty-bitty kitty baby.

She is super duper cute though... I mean, just look at this face!

I'm not kidding about the messiness while she eats though. Aubs has some serious confusion between whether she is a sloppy toddler or a rambunctious puppy because she's always getting food all over her little area. It got so bad, we put a little rug down just to collect her scraps, but the spills went right through and her wet food would cling to the fibers when they dried. We definitely needed something new but I was having a problem finding one that coordinated with the rest of our decor (and didn't look too pet-themed) and was also durable enough for Aubs to dirty up.

So one day, after doing a quick one-through at the dollar store (you know you can't resist looking around either) I found some clear vinyl shelf paper and knew right away that it was a steal. In my previous life I taught preschool and clear vinyl was a mainstay in our crafts cabinet, so there was no doubt that I would find something to do with it. Turns out, my something was this adorable placemat for Aubrey.

This was so simple and took less than 30 minutes. Now we have a pretty mat for Aubs that not only looks nice but is also waterproof and cleans up in a jiffy.

Materials:

• 1 Piece of scrap fabric, 11" x 17"
• Coordinating trim or ribbon
• 2 Pieces of clear vinyl shelf paper, 12" x 18" (generally comes in an 18" width which makes it even easier)
• Tacky glue

Directions: Sorry -- the pictures just aren't uploading correctly, so I'll try to explain this tutorial as clearly as possible 

1. Carefully peel the paper backing off of one piece of the vinyl and place it sticky side up
2. Center the fabric, right side up, and apply it carefully to the vinyl
3. Starting from the center, rub any air bubbles out with your fingers
4. With the ribbons, create a framed inset inside the perimeter of the fabric and using a small dot of tacky glue, affix the ribbons together at each corner
5. Gently peel back the paper on the second piece of vinyl and while centering it, apply it over the fabric and ribbon layers (sticky side down), being sure to overlap the edges of vinyl so that they stick to one another
6. As before, start in the center and smooth out any air bubbles. At the edges, apply extra pressure to ensure that the pieces of vinyl have adhered to one another
7. Trim the edges to form an equal border of between 1/4 and 1/2 of an inch and you're all set to lay it down for Fido.

 

What I like most about this is that while it's great for a pet because it's stain-resistant, washable, and CHEAP, you could easily create a number of them to use at your next barbecue or even some for the kids to use. Speaking of some for the kids... how cute would it be to use their artwork in place of the fabric? I'll have to save that idea for a few more years :)