Doctor Who Crafts

In case you weren't aware, the season finale of Doctor Who is happening this weekend.  Because we are total geeks, we are hosting a viewing party complete with themed food and costumes.  I said that if people were willing to dress up, I would have prizes for best costume.  Here's what I came up with.  No tutorials, just inspiration.

A pop art Dalek.  Just giving you the chance to exterminate in style.

Bow-tie mug.  My mug wears a bow-tie now.  Bow-ties are cool.

Sewing Triumphs and Trepidations

Over the last couple of years, I have slowly been teaching myself to sew.  My skills are improving but I still have lots to learn.  Most of my projects involve straight lines :)  This week, I did something slightly more advanced and made my daughter a dress using this pattern from See Kate Sew.  Her blog is awesome and has lots of easy to follow projects.

The dress turned out really well.  I used a remnant that I found at Joanns and just love the pattern.  Can't you tell how excited my girl is to be wearing it?  She started laughing last week but still loves to make angry face at the camera.

Also at Joanns, I found some really fun sailboat printed fabric.  I thought it would make a beautiful top so I found a pattern and bought the fabric.  I'm a little terrified of it though.  Sewing with sheer fabric scares me and this pattern is the most complicated one I've tried yet.

I'm planning on making the left, middle top and I could use some advice on it.  The pattern requires bias tape for the edges.  I think normal bias tape would look odd.  Is there something else I can use or should I just try to hem the edges? Any thoughts?

Bias Tape Daffodils: A Mothers Day Bouquet

Big news guys.  I've started participating in Iron Craft again.  This is my first week back and I'm pumped.  This week we were challenged to create something using sewing notions.  I made daffodils.  Since my mom lives far away, I gave these to myself :) It is my first Mothers Day after all.

Start by gathering some supplies.  Feel free to experiment a little based on the supplies you already have.  I'm kind of a craft hoarder and always buy those bags of random sewing notions that they sell at Goodwill so I had a stash.  Here is basically what you need:

-For the petals: yellow bias tape. 
-For the middle part: orange fabric, lace trim
-For the stem: wire and green fabric or green bias tape
-A hot glue gun

Start by cutting a section of wire that will be your stem.  I used some really thick wire that I found at the hardware store.  This will form the base of your flower.  You will then form the orange part on one end [apparently that part is called the corona].

I formed the orange section two different ways.  The first was using some lace trim I had on hand.  Although it had some orange on it, I colored it in to brighten it up.  Again, you can do this two ways: fabric paint or fabric marker.

The other way to make the center is with fabric.  I cut a square of orange fabric using pinking shears and then folded it in half.

With both of these, roll them around the edge of the wire, hot-gluing as you go.  This will form a nice tube of orange.

To make the petals, cut several small strips of bias tape, about 5" each.  Then fold as shown below.  Hot glue the folded section and the two ends together.

Next glue the petals around your flower.  I liked the way they flopped about; it looked realistic.  If you need a petal to stick up a bit more, just glue the petal a little further up.

Finally, use some green fabric or bias tape to wrap the stem.  Make sure to cover the edges of your petals at the top to keep things looking tidy.

That's it!  You can make a whole bouquet.  I had fun trying out different materials and ways of doing it.  If you make your own, I would love to see what you try out!

Want to check out more Iron Craft projects?  Visit the flickr group here and the blog here.

Fabric Belt Tutorial

Here's a quick and easy project to jazz up any outfit.  To make this fabric belt, you need a fat quarter of fabric and a set of D rings (you can find them at a fabric store like Joann).

Start by cutting two strips of fabric.  The total length of the strips should be how long you need your belt to be so you should measure your waist and add a few inches.  The height will be twice the size of your D ring plus a little.  Mine were the length of the fat quarter and about 3" wide. 

First, sew your two strips together to make one long strip.  Fold in half and iron and then sew along the length of the strip, forming a tube.

Turn inside out and iron flat.  Tuck the ends in on each side and pin in place.

Sew along the edge of the entire piece.  Now pick one end and loop the belt through both D rings.  Fold over about an inch and sew into place.  I sewed several horizontal stitches.

Now put on your belt and have someone take an awesome modeling shot for you.  It helps if your bangs look a bit crazy in the photo.  Also take an awkward photo of your chest. Nice.

Hip Hop Hippo Necklace

Plastic animal crafts are pretty trendy these days so I decided to jump on the bandwagon.  Here is my creation, a funky hippo necklace.

Start with your plastic animal toy of choice.  I found a tube of small animals at Michaels and used the hippo because they are one of my favorite animals.  Use acrylic paint to paint it your color of choice.  You will probably need several coats.

Now use gold leaf paint to add polka dots (or any design you so choose).

Once dry, finish with a coat of clear acrylic varnish and screw an eye screw into the top.  Finally, you will attach a long piece of chain to the eye screw using a jump ring.  I made the chain long enough to go over my head without a clasp.

Ta-da! That's it!  I rocked my necklace for date night.  Gotta love a night out without the baby :)

Want to try some more animal crafts?  Here is a sampling of tutorials from around the web:

Animal Coat Rack
Animal Jar Lids
Animal Candle Holders
Animal Magnets

Geek Craft Roundup

I'm sick with a minor cold so I'm on the couch watching Doctor Who.  This seems to leave me with no choice besides a geeky craft round-up.

I made this needle felted Dalek about a year ago.  If you don't know what a Dalek is, start watching Doctor Who.  You can see the whole tutorial here.

Needle Felted Dalek Tutorial

Next, a golden snitch necklace for all the Harry Potter fans out there.  I made one of these once but here's another cute design with a tutorial.

Necklace on Instructables

Start getting ready for Catching Fire with this arrow headband by baileytann.  While there, take a spin around the blog to find some other great geek crafts.

Headband tutorial

For all the fans of The Big Bang Theory, celebrate your inner Sheldon with a quirky cross-stitch like this one made by LadyLeitzen on craftster.

Bazinga Embroidery Piece

Feel like a superhero with these glittery wonder woman shoes.  I'm kind of wondering why I haven't made these for myself yet. 

Wonder Woman Shoes on Being Geek Chic

If you still need more geekery, you can always check out World of Geekcraft, an entire book devoted to the cause.  Check it out here.

World of Geekcraft available on Amazon

Did I miss anything?  Any geek crafts you are particularly fond of? Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Refridgerator Gallery

If you are like me, your refrigerator is a graveyard of forgotten items.  Expired coupons.  Save-the-dates for past events.  Random pictures scattered here and there.  I finally decided it was time to do something about this and add some class to my kitchen.  I present, my fridge photo gallery.

I started with some cheap frames.  I found mine in the Michaels $1.50 section.  Some were even on sale so that was a bonus.  If you wanted a different color, you could always spray-paint your frames.  Besides that, all you need are magnets and a hot glue gun.

I started by removing the stands from the back by bending them until they snapped off.  Next, I glued several magnets to the back of each.  I was fine using the cheaper magnets.

Next I inserted my pictures and added them to the fridge.  THAT'S IT.  I decided to cluster some magnets around them too because we collect magnets from places we've been.  You can do whatever you want.

The end.

Baby Flapper Headband DIY

Babies are cute.  Babies in headbands, super cute.  Babies in feathery headbands, I can barely even talk about it.  Here's a quick project to jazz up the heads of any babies in your life.

Start with some elastic (I chose ruffle elastic), feathers, and felt.  Measure your babies head and cut that much elastic.  My two-month old has about a 16" head if that helps.

Now start on your jazzy accent.  I created mine by hot-gluing feathers to felt.  I started with a heart shape but wasn't happy with it.  I then switched to felt circles.

This wasn't quite enough so I added a button.  I then added a circle of hot glue and covered it with glitter.  I had no idea if this would work but it created a cool dimensional effect.

Finally, I sewed my felt piece onto the two ends of elastic, securing them together. The last step is to find a cute baby to model it.  Probably it will fall off as soon as you set your baby down and she starts wiggling, but cute while it lasts.