Sewing Tutorial: Baby Sleep Mittens

No matter how much we turn up the heat in the house, our bedroom always feels much colder than the rest of the hosue.  Lots of covers and warm jammies keep us warm, but we have a new roommate. And despite Tommy's layers and warm blanket sleeper, his poor little hands would become ice cubes by the time he woke up next to nurse.

So I made him a pair of baby mittens from an old felted sweater.  Here's how I did it:

I folded my felted wool fabric in half lengthwise and drew a mitten shape with chalk, eyeballing the size.  (If you're smart, you'll either generously trace your baby's hand, or measure the circumference of his wrist, or ideally both.  Eyeballing it wasn't my most shining moment in the fit department, but I was short on time, the baby was asleep and he needed to wear the mittens the same evening.  Sewing time is scant these days!)  I then cut out two of the mitten shapes, keeping in mind the need for a 1/8- to 1/4-inch seam allowance.

 

I cut a piece of elastic about 3/4 the length of the wristband and sewed it to the wrong side of the wristband, stretching it as I sewed.

Next, I folded the mitten in half lengthwise, right sides together and stitched as close to the edge as possible.  Be sure to stitch through the elastic when you get to the wristband, and not alongside it.

Turn mittens right side out and fit them onto your baby's chilly paws.  Hopefully yours fit your baby better than mine do!

Check my night vision -- I love the arms-over-head look.

 

 

Along the same vein, I made a pair of slippers for Nathan using this tutorial from Collecting the Moments. 

 

I used puffy paint to make the bottoms non-slip, or less slip, anyway.  I couldn't get this kid to stand still if I paid him!

_____________________________________________________________

For my babywearing friends: Paxbaby.com is hosting a giveaway to celebrate reaching 10,000 Facebook fans.  Enter here for up to 20 chances to win 10 great prices.  Good luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway

New Knitting Pattern & Craft Tutorial in ROTH!

Hey everyone!  I hope you'll check out my latest free pattern, Thermal Textured Socks, debuting today on the winter edition of Rhythm of the Home!  But it's more than just a pattern, it's a sock-knitting tutorial that demystifies sock knitting and explains the anatomy of a hand-knitted sock.  The pattern provides lots of extra details and photos to guide you through each step.  If you haven't tried knitting socks yet, this is definitely a great place to start.

The pattern is written in both women's and men's sizes and can be knitted plain (for beginning sock knitters) or with the optional texture pattern for more advanced or adventurous knitters.  I hope this tutorial and pattern show you that sock knitting is much easier than you may think.

Also, check out my Four Seasons Nature Box tutorial.  It's a great craft to do with kids, plus it nets you a convenient place to store all the fun things you and your kids bring in from outdoors.  (There's nothing quite like a walnut underfoot when you're not expecting it!)  Plus, maybe it'll inspire you to get outside more this winter.  I especially enjoyed the decorating one side of the box for each season.  I hope you do, too!

I'd love it if you'd come back here to tell me what you thought of either or both tutorials.  Thanks for reading!

Decoupage Leaf Vase Tutorial

I really enjoy giving away cut flowers in the summertime.  I always have lots of daisies to share and usually zinnias, too.  They make a great hostess gift, and unlike bringing snacks or desserts, you don’t have to worry about food allergies or bringing fattening food into someone else’s home!

But I run into trouble when trying to decide what to put the flowers in.  My vase supply dwindled after my first summer of big-time gardening, so I resorted to glass jars I saved from food, like pickles.  My husband tried to tell me this was tacky, but I can’t give away all of my vases!  And I can’t just keep buying more of them.  (I do try to keep a lookout for inexpensive vases in thrift shops, but I usually find a lot of bud vases, and I like a vase with a wider mouth.)

So I try to save jars of interesting sizes and shapes and decided to make them look more intentional—and decorative—by decoupaging them with pressed green leaves. 

I’ve found that pressed fresh, green leaves are more flexible and less brittle than pressed fall leaves, which are already brittle at the time they’re picked.

My jars are on the small side, from artichoke hearts, sweet peppers and capers, so I picked smaller leaves in early summer for pressing.  The bigger your jars, the bigger the leaves you can use, so go crazy!  I’ve found that leaves from maple, Indian Cigar and mulberry trees press well when green.  I tried red oak, and they weren’t as flexible and easy to work with for this project.

Tip: Need help getting sticky labels off your jars without using harsh chemicals?  Try Brillo pads, the ones with the soap already in them.  They work like charm!

Here’s how you can make your own decoupage leaf vases:

1. Gather your jars, pressed leaves (fully dried), ModPodge Gloss or other decoupage medium, sponge applicator and a pair of scissors.  You’ll probably want to protect your work surface with newspaper. With the scissors, snip the stems off your leaves—I found the stems are too brittle to bend along the sides of the jar.

2. Work with one jar at a time.  Cover the jar (or half of it, if you prefer to work half a jar at a time) with ModPodge.

3. Press a leaf onto the still-wet ModPodge to make it stick to the jar.  Smooth it out to prevent any air bubbles, gently pressing down on all areas of the leaf, especially the edges.  Place as many leaves as you like around all sides of the jar.

4. Repeat for each jar, allowing the jars to dry completely, for about 15 minutes.

5. Once dry, cover the jars and leaves with an even coat of ModPodge and allow to dry for another 15 minutes.

6. Once that coat is dry, add another coat of ModPodge to better protect the leaves.

7.  Once dry, fill with water and add your favorite cut flowers!

I like mine so much that I’m afraid I’ll have trouble parting with them.

A Photo Box Gift for Father’s Day

My husband is a hard person to buy for.  He doesn’t really need anything and doesn’t ever want anything—except for underwear, plain white t-shirts and thick socks.  (Who is this guy?)  And since it’s too hot to wear heavy, hand-knitted socks, I always resort to photo gifts for Father’s Day.

When I saved the faux leather box from T.J.’s wallet (Nathan’s Christmas gift to Dada), I didn’t know what I’d use it for, but I knew it would be something good.  And I was right!

  

I made this awesome photo box in one short night in my craft room while Nathan slept and T.J. played computer games. 

It’s essentially a paper accordion with photos of Nathan and T.J. glued to each panel, folded up into the faux leather box. 

I made the paper strips for the accordion out of scrapbooking paper cut slightly smaller than the box and folded them over themselves lengthwise back and forth to create the accordion. 

 

I then glued a new strip to the old strip until I had enough folds to fill the box.  (Note:  When checking for strip length, take into account that you’ll have photos glued to each panel, taking up more space in the box.  I chose to only glue photos to the “right” side of the accordion, but you could also glue photos to the “wrong” side if using double-sided paper.)

I measured and cut my photos so they’re all the same size and the patterned borders around them are even.  A little measuring and a good deal of eyeballing and glueing later, I had 21 photos glued to my accordion. 

I then glued the first panel of the accordion to the inside of the faux leather wallet box and cut out a thin piece of corrugated cardboard to serve as the cover.  The cover should be the same size as the exterior dimensions of the box.  The cardboard was salvaged from a box one of Nathan’s toys came in (I save all kinds of useful stuff like that), so I covered both sides with scrapbooking paper to make it look nicer, glued a family photo to the outside and glued the accordion to the inside.

I hot glued a piece of yarn to the back of the box and tied it in a bow around the front to keep the photo box closed when it’s not being used.

T.J. had barely taken a sip of his morning coffee when Nathan and I bombarded him with Happy Father’s Day wishes and he had to “read” the photo box to Nathan as if it was a book. 

It was a cute moment, and for us, this little photo box holds recent memories that we’ll be able to recall any time we pick it up.  It lives on our TV cabinet for now, and I hope it stays there for a very long time.

Robins, Robins Everywhere – How to Install Glass Eyes

I looked out my kitchen window a few weeks ago and saw more than fifteen robins searching for worms in my front lawn.  Fifteen!  How I wish I’d had my camera handy.  But later that day Nathan and I went out for a walk and I captured this photo of a robin near our driveway.

Then I was inspired to make this needle felted robin with glass eyes:

What better way to celebrate the coming of spring each year than with an almost life-sized needle felted robin?

The glass eyes add a touch of realism thanks to the way they reflect light.  I get them from glasseyes.com (Etsy shop: JNCSHOP).  

Here’s how I install glass eyes on my needle felted creations:

Gather your materials:

Do you see an orange and black theme here?  Unintentional, but enjoyed none the less.

Needle felted object

Needle felting tool

Glass eyes

X-Acto knife

Wire cutting tool

Pins with balls on the ends in contrasting colors (for marking)

Superglue (accidentally omitted from photo) – Note: Don’t use superglue for colored eyes (meaning colors other than black). I’ve read that superglue reacts with the eyes' colors and brightens them significantly.

  

Get started:

1. Carefully decide where you want to install the eyes and, with your needle felting tool, needle eye sockets so the eyes aren’t resting on top of the object’s head.

2. Test out your socket placement with the pins.  This will give you an idea on whether or not your placement is symmetrical.

Other than the fact that these orange pins make my robin look very evil, the eye placement looks good. I wish I’d taken a look at my robin from this angle earlier when I was adding white around her eyes.  I’ll have to go back and fix that later.

3. Cut a slit in the eye sockets with the knife so you can slide the eyes into place.  (They don’t go in as easily as the pins with their tapered, sharp points.)

4. Cut the eyes’ wire to separate them; shorten the wire so it’s a reasonable length for your piece.

5. Test the eyes in their sockets, being sure to match the angles of the eye wires.  Like what you see?  Now it’s time to glue them in.

6. Working with one eye at a time, put a dab of superglue on the end of each eye wire and push it through the socket.  For a little extra insurance, you can add some glue directly to the glass eye – recommended for black eyes only.  (The glue may react with non-black eyes and change the color.)  I like LocTite’s Super Glue Control Gel because it’s easy to squeeze out the right amount and it stays where I put it.

The eyes after gluing:

Now it’s time for a beak, yes?

Wait until you see what I have planned for these friendly eyes:

They’re sewn in instead of glued in, so I’ll explain how I install those when the time comes.  The piece needs to be kept secret (it’s a gift!), so I’ll post the tutorial after it’s been done and gifted, sometime next month.

  
 

 

Tutorial: Make Your Own Hummingbird Nectar

My love of nature extends to the animals that live around our home—even the silly looking groundhogs that help themselves to my summer squash each year.  Oh, and the deer that force me to choose deer-resistant plants or surround my vegetables in eight-foot deer fencing.

When it comes to birds, my favorite birds to attract are hummingbirds.  They’re cute, tiny and fast—and they don’t yank my seedlings out of the ground (bonus!).  I purposefully choose plants to attract them, such as Bee Balm, cardinal climbers, tangerine sage, butterfly bushes, cleome and red salvia—and I make my own hummingbird nectar to attract them right up to my deck.

I love sitting quietly on the deck in the early morning or at dusk waiting for them to appear.  Their unique telltale buzz lets me know they’re here, and I try to turn my head or position my camera with the least amount of movement possible so I can catch them in action.  I don’t know how many I’ll actually get to see this year when Nathan’s outside with me, but that’s okay.  It’s still worth the effort.

It’s best to put your feeders out early in the season—in the northeast, that’s about mid-May.  That way, hummingbirds will find you as soon as they migrate north—and they may stick around all summer when they find your feeder.  Also, I think it’s important to provide a food source early in the season when there aren’t very many flowers in bloom for them to drink from.  (I still don’t know why they come so early, but I’m not complaining!)

Here’s how I make my own hummingbird nectar:

1. Gather your materials:

a two-quart saucepan with lid

white sugar (don’t substitute with brown sugar or honey)

liquid measuring cup

wooden spoon

clean hummingbird feeder (sterilizing isn’t necessary)

sink or basin less than half-filled with ice water

clean container for storing extra nectar (optional)

2. Hummingbird nectar is one part white sugar to four parts water. For this recipe, measure four cups of water into the saucepan and stir in one cup of sugar (using the same measuring cup you used for the water, not a measuring cup for dry ingredients).

3. Bring to a boil and boil for 1-2 minutes, stirring occassionally. This helps the sugar dissolve while killing off any mold spores that may be in the sugar and any bacteria that may be in the water.

4. Remove from heat, place the lid on the saucepan and immerse it into the cold water bath.  It’s best to cool the nectar as quickly as possible and with a lid; the lid keeps out contaminants, such as mold spores in the air, which helps the nectar stay fresher longer in the feeder and in your refrigerator.

5. Once the nectar is cool, fill your feeder and store leftover nectar in the refrigerator in a sealed container for up to two weeks.  A glass jar with lid or an empty lemonade or soda bottle works well.

6. Hang your feeder somewhere outside where hummingbirds can find it and you can see it from your deck or patio or through a window.  I hang my feeder from a shepherd’s hook near my deck stairs, in the flowerbed where my bee balm and cardinal climbers grow.  If the feeder doesn’t attract their attention, the bee balm and cardinal flowers certainly will.  This year I’m also hanging a feeder directly over my deck, hoping to draw the hummingbirds closer to our viewing area. 

Hummingbirds will be able to find your feeder if it’s somewhere out in the open and in the sun.  The nectar will last longer in the shade, but it’s less likely that hummingbirds will find it there.  Having hummingbird-attracting plants nearby is a bonus.

7. Check your feeder daily for mold growth.  Mold can KILL hummingbirds.  In cooler weather, you can probably leave your feeder out for up to a week; in blazing hot weather (especially if you keep the feeder in the sun), you may only get two to three days out of a batch of nectar.  Once you see mold starting to grow, take the feeder down right away and wash it with warm, soapy water and a bottlebrush.  Even if you don’t see any mold growing, you should still wash the feeder at least once a week and refill it with fresh nectar.

Good luck attracting more hummingbirds to your yard!