DIY: Personalized Kitchen Towel Tutorial

Today I'm sharing a quick and easy sewing tutorial for personalized kitchen towels.  I made these last week as Mother's Day presents but couldn't tell you, otherwise I would have ruined the surprise for the special Mom's in my life.  I was really happy with how they turned out, so here is the tutorial.

  I bought these kitchen hand towels from Target.   I cut a cereal box apart to make a template for adding the fabric to the towel.  My towel was 3.5 inches wide by 16 inches long.  

Lay your template on top of the coordinating fabric and cut it so that you have about a half an inch difference on each side.  

Press your fabric up and around the template to make a nice square to be able to pin neatly to your towel.  

Pin onto your towel and you're ready to sew.

Make sure to stay close to the edges so that you catch the folded fabric underneath. 

It's as easy as that.  If you have an embroidery machine you can make them even more special by adding an initial.  They will make a great gift both with or without the added initial.  My Mom's loved them and I'm glad that they will think of me when they see them hanging in their kitchens.  

These towels would be a great gift for any occasion!  I also would love to add some color to my kitchen, so I think I'll go make a couple more for me.

Who could you make a set for?

DIY: Bling Flip Flops

Do you have daughters who love BLING?!  My girls were so excited when I opened Bling on a Roll and asked them what they would like me to "glamorize" for them.  Middle Sis couldn't wait to wear her new Bling Flip Flops!

You'll need:

Flip Flops
Bling on a Roll

and E6000 glue

Trim your Bling to fit onto the straps of the flip flops.  

Apply the glue onto the tops of the straps.  

Press the Bling onto the glue.

Overlap the two pieces of Bling at the center of the strap.

Apply glue in between to secure them together.  

Then trim any excess. 

Allow to sit overnight.

 Super easy to use and adds that special touch of sparkle to any of your projects!

Bling on a Roll comes in many widths and colors!

Another way to customize your crafts would be to use Gemz, you can cut it into any shape to add that special touch! 

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I wrote this post as part of campaign with Blueprint Social. All opinions are my own.

Check out some more Gemz and Bling Projects here:

Sweet 13:Mary Kay Party

This weekend we celebrated Big Sisters Sweet 13.  I am beyond disbelief that I am now a Mom to a TEENAGER!!  13 years have gone by like a blink of an eye.  I can still picture her running around the same size as Little Sister.  We had a FUN weekend, my Mom flew in from out of town and we had a house full of girls to celebrate the special day. 

On her birthday morning she opened her presents and lots of cards from family.  Photo albums, infinity scarf, make-up, Growing-Up Girl figurine were just a few of her gifts.

I've been wanting to buy her charm bracelet for several years but I wanted to wait for this special birthday!  We bought her a James Avery charm bracelet, I had one when I was a teenager too.  It's so fun to build your bracelet with special memories.   

 Big Sis picked out the colors and I made all the decorations and treats for the party. 

I had originally planned to purchase a party set off Etsy but decided to try to  make my own.  {I'll be sharing a tutorial on how to make your own custom printables soon} 

I love the Mason Jar drinks all over so I bought some and made my own of those as well.  I cut circles out of card stock out and used some cute bakers twine I found at Michaels.  That's also where I found the matching straws.   Pink Lemonade in these were super cute and fun drinks for the girls!

 I made a bunch of tissue paper pom pom's and this birthday banner. 

We had family pictures in these black frames in the dining room, but for the party I switched them out with ones of Big Sis as she has grown.  Going through all her pictures was such a bittersweet trip down memory lane for me. 

 The girls loved the cake pops and cupcakes. 

{My Mom and I at the party}

The party was all about MAKE-UP!  The past couple of months Big Sis has become more and more interested in make-up.  I wanted her to learn all about skin care and proper make-up application so we had a Mary Kay Consultant come over and teach the girls.  They had so much fun learning and playing with the make-up.  They all looked beautiful, both with and without the make-up. 

  The Party favors were these adorable terry cloth make-up bags that I found at Target on clearance! Normally $13.99 a bag, but I got them for $3.99....SCORE!

I also embroidered wash cloths for the girls. 

Here is Big Sis before and after the party, such a beautiful girl both inside and out.

Happy Birthday to our Beautiful Baby Girl...I mean Teenager!! 

We had a fun day celebrating YOU :)

{See where I party and link up here} 

DIY: Custom Printables

Today I'll be walking you through how to make your own custom printables.  Many of us are familiar with the popular Picmonkey for photo editing but I recently found Ipiccy.  Ipiccy basically does the same as Picmonkey but personally I like the fonts much better than the free fonts found on Picmonkey.  I have been using Ipiccy to edit my photos and watermark my pictures recently.  You can also use it to make your own printables by following these steps:

1.  Go to ipiccy.com and click on the orange button labeled "Start Editing"

2.  Next click on upload photo (This is where you would load a background for your printable.  For example: I recently made this Valentines Printable for my Mini Mantel Series, I googled "free gray chevron pattern", saved it to my computer and uploaded the picture.  

3.  Now is the fun part, you can customize your printable with whatever texts and fonts you choose. Add text by clicking on the "blend" button, it looks like this.  

Then have fun picking out your fonts and arranging them just how you like them :)

Save your new creation and share on your blog for all of your wonderful followers!

Big Sisters 13th birthday is this weekend so I've been make some fun printables for her party.  I'll be sharing a tutorial and the printables with you soon!  

Christmas Mini Mantel

 I finally finished our mini mantel by the front door today.  I know, I know a little late but that's ok with me.  I found the Christmas Subway Art printable on How to nest for less. 

I LOVE the Santa kneeling down to Baby Jesus, found

 this for just a couple of dollars at Walgreens!

 I bought a plastic doll cone from Joann's, it was cheaper than the Styrofoam ones, and wrapped it with white duct cloth that I already had. 

Then I added this garland that I found at Walmart.  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here at the Happy House of 5, now if only we have a big cold front blow through like they are predicting :)

Beautiful Burlap Bird Tutorial

 

Last week I shared "A Quiet Evening", a women's church event that I helped with.  I mentioned that I made 100 Burlap birds as favors for the ladies, and I'm back today with a tutorial on how I made those.  They fit so well with our theme of freedom and I just love the natural look of Burlap. 

 

 You'll need burlap, white duct cloth, Heavy Duty Wonder Under, my pattern and some ribbon.
Click HERE for the bird pattern.
 

Start by ironing on the Wonder Under to your peice of burlap.

The Wonder Under has a smooth side and a bumpy side.  Iron the smooth side down.

Trace the bird pattern onto the back of the Wonder Under after it has cooled.

Carefully cut around the bird shape. 

Carefully peal the back of the Wonder Under off the cut out bird, and lay it right side up on another peice of burlap.  Place your ribbon in between, like a sandwich.

Set your iron on high, mine was at linen.  Place a damp cloth over the bird sandwich you just made and press for 20 seconds.  Be very careful of the hot steam!

After it's cooled, carefully cut around the shape of the bird.

Iron on the Wonder Under onto the white duct cloth as I said earlier and trace the wing pattern onto it.  Cut out and peal the back of the Wonder Under off the wing and iron it onto the bird body the same way as mentioned before.

Stitch around the wing and the body of the bird to complete your Beautiful Burlap Bird.

I think the Heavy Duty Wonder Under would keep the burlap from fraying but I think it adds just the right touch by sewing around your bird.  That way if it does start to fray, it will only fray around the edges leaving a rustic look.

We wrote the scripture that went along with our message, Isaiah 6:1, in Gold Sharpie.  You could write anything you like on it or leave it blank.  These would make beautiful ornaments, a great party or wedding favor.  I hope you will comment with any questions, I would be glad to help!



 linking to:

OneSheTwoShe

Beneathmyheart