Snowman Shirt

Do you ever read Megan at Brassy Apple? 

I love her!  She has the most fantastic ideas for re-purposing clothing, sewing patterns or just randomly awesome ideas.  And lets not forget... her style! 

A couple of weeks ago she posted her snowman shirt.

I fell in love.  I needed to make one for my youngest.  I showed him and he was so excited to help make it.  So we bought a long sleeve white tee, found some fabric and buttons and got to work.

This is such a super easy and quick project!

Cut your fabric into the shape of the nose and adhere it to the shirt with fusible web.  I then zig-zag stitched around the nose for a cleaner look and added the buttons for the eyes and mouth. 

So quick!  So easy!

We did the shirt last night in about an hour.  I had never used the fusible web before so I had to read the instructions 50 times to make sure I was doing it properly... and besides wrecking a bath towel because I was too lazy to pull out the ironing board... super easy!

The buttons were a little tricky.  They kind of floated off a little further than I would have liked.  My middle son would like one too so I think I may try taping the buttons in place and then sewing them on his so that they don't seem to get away from me again.

My youngest was so excited to wear his new snowman shirt to school today and was so proud to tell everyone that he helped make it!

For Megan's full tutorial click here.

Pottery Barn Inspired Artwork

I've seen on several blogs this painting from Pottery Barn.

I love this piece as well and decided I too would try my hand at making my own.

I first painted my entire 16x20 canvas a creamy white.  While the painting was drying I cut several numbers of all sizes with my borrowed Cricut that I have not yet returned.  Since my mom only has a few cartridges to select from I had limited options for fonts to use.  Okay, I had one option for font.

After the paint had dried I placed the numbers on the canvas and stuck them down securely and took the painting outside to give the entire painting a coat of black spray paint.  When the paint was dry to the touch I began to peel away the numbers to reveal the white numbers under.

I then left the painting dry over night and the next day gave the entire canvas a light sanding to give it a distressed look.

The final results... is a pretty good knock off.

Now I just need to find it a place on a wall. 

The only thing I would change is the size of canvas I used.  This is a statement piece that really should be rather large.  My 16x20 canvas seems a bit small.



Pottery Barn Insipired Appocathary Jars

A few months ago this set of jars in the Pottery Barn catalog caught my eye. 

I had noticed them before but did not have much use for them in our tiny house with our very tiny bathroom.  For sure they would have fallen to their destiny and shattered into a million pieces.  But, when we decided to move and I was getting a much larger bathroom they crept back into my mind.  Surely I would never spend $35 - $45 per jar but decided they looked to be easy enough to replicate.

After a quick search on Amazon.com I was able to find a set of three jars for less than the cost of one Pottery Barn jar.  A quick trip to Hobby Lobby for etching cream and a trip to my mom's to borrow her Cricut and I was set.

First, I had to figure out how to use the Cricut.  Considering I never read instructions and prefer the "Christen by Fire" method on everything, this proved to be the most difficult part of the entire project.  The little critter on the side of the box looks so innocent, how hard could it be?  Without reading, moderately.

I used the Cricut to make a stencil of the monogram.  After adhering the stencil to the glass I put on a layer of etching cream.  (I made a 1" stencil for the smallest jar, 1 1/4" for the middle and 1 1/2" for the largest jar.)

Here's the etching cream I used.  Yes, $8.50 for three little ounces.  The bottle said to leave the cream on for 5 minutes for it to etch.  It actually took around 10 or maybe a little longer.  So to save yourself from washing and reapplying 3 times - just go for 10.

After the etching cream has sat for the required time you simply rinse the cream off to get to your final product.

This set should look rather cute in the bathroom filled with cotton balls, swabs and bath salts once I get the bathroom decorated.