Shrinky Dink Hairbow Fun!!!

If you know me, then you know I LOVE to make hair bows!  My dear cousin Cyndi asked me if I would make her a University of Houston bow.  She wears them to football games.  I thought, but of course! I have also been wanting to make some shrinky dinks out of #6 plastic.  I read about them on various blogs and have been dying to try it out!  I bought a bagel from the cafeteria in my office building and the little plastic container it came in was #6!!! So here is how it went!!!

You need #6 plastic, tape, your design, and some sharpies

Trace your outline on the plastic

Color it in.

Trim excess, if you want :)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Place your plastic on a foil lined pan and place in the oven.

DO NOT WALK AWAY FROM YOUR OVEN WHILE IT IS BAKING!!! It only takes a few minutes.  It will curl up and then flatten back out...

Once it flattens back out, it is finished!!

Allow it to cool, then pull off the foil.

And there you have it!!

The UH one on the right was my test run shrinky dink :)

TA-DA!! My bow for Cyndi.  Go Coogs!!!

It was very easy and very fun!! I can't wait to make more!!!!! I need more plastic though....

I have done it! I came up with my very own craft!!!

So, I am forever trying to find easy ways to turn junk I have into crafts.  Thus I read a million and two craft blogs  daily.  I am a total copycat though....until now folks!!!

So a while back my sister and I went to the dollar store to buy the supplies to make three tiered trays for a game night we were planning.  (view my inspiration here).  Well they didn't have all the things I needed on that particular trip, but I went to a different Dollar Tree and found the candle sticks that I needed.  (Let me add that I still haven't made those trays.  I have all of the stuff sitting on the shelf in my craft room)  Well when I was organizing all of my craft supplies a few weekends ago I found that my candle sticks had been carefully wrapped in some pretty paper. Well, I thought it was lovely anyway...

Not bad for free paper, right?
But I absolutely fell in love with one particular piece and I knew that I was going to make something out of it....but what??
I toyed with the idea of just putting it in a frame, but then I thought that was just a little too lame.

So I thought....and thought.....and then the light bulb went off!
What if I mod podged it to a canvas? Brilliant!! Then I realized I had no canvas.  Hmmm

You have to understand, my husband and I are in SERIOUS  save every dime mode.  So unfortunately going out to buy canvas was just not in the cards.
But I remembered that I had bought a bunch of plain white gift boxes on clearance just after Christmas.  I have them stashed everywhere!!!  And so I figured I could turn one into canvas.  And I did!!! All by myself!!

Here is what I used:

Gift box
Scrap Cardboard  (pretty sturdy)
hot glue gun
a ruler
utility knife





And although I don't have the mod-podge right now, I will show you my work in progress....

I am not quite finished, I need to trim the excess paper, and put a layer of mod-podge on...but I think it will be lovely on my wall.

Now to make something to go with it!!

But the whole project cost was made out of stuff I had on hand!!! So I am very excited.

The possibilities are endless.  You can buy a two pack of gift boxes at the dollar tree and that will yield you four canvases!!

Today I did some sewing....

I read about seven million different ways to make a pillowcase dress.  I decided that even though my sewing is still quite crooked, I wanted to attempt a pillowcase dress.  I decided to just wing it.  This is sometimes a recipe for disaster.  But I had read so many instructions they all ran together.  I ended up using two "bandanas" that I purchased last night at Hobby Lobby.  They don't really look like bandanas to me.  I liked the colors and the fact that they were serged all the way around.


Not too bandana-ish at all right???

So anyway, once I got my stupid bobbin all sorted out (which took both me AND my husband. Thanks babe!) Off I went.  Did it come out perfect?  No.  Will it look cute on my niece Sabrina? Yes...she makes everything cute!!

I know I need some practice, but I do feel accomplished!!!!

As soon as I get my model over here, I will post a picture.  I am very curious to see how it looks on!! :)

Today was an interesting day...

So, I wondered how long it would take before I mentioned my love of the Plain White T's.  Well here we are in blog number two and now you know I am quite possibly their biggest fan.  Is anyone familiar with the radio show "Fox All Access with host Chris Leary"?? I only heard it while driving to see a friend of mine.  It was a quiet kind of Sunday morning and I happened to tune into 104.1 and the show was playing.  I figured I would listen to it. The Plain White T's had just released the first single, Rhythm of Love, off their upcoming CD and I thought that they might just happen to play it for some reason or another.  Well I ended up hearing a song called "Jar of Hearts" and then after it played, Chris Leary mentioned some chick's name and that she had called in saying "You Gotta Hear This".  It is a segment they do on the show each week.  People call in and leave a message saying "You Gotta Hear This" and if they pick your song, then they send you stuff.  So I decided that I would call and suggest Rhythm of Love.  And today I get a call from some lady calling from Fox All Access letting me know that they played Rhythm of Love on last week's show.  They are sending me three free books!!  The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell, Getting Pretty Back by Molly Ringwald, and Bedwetter by Sarah Silverman!! Yay for free books!!!!

I also follow the Plain White T's on twitter.  All of the members (except for Dave) have twitter accounts.  And when they tweet, it goes directly to my phone.  I am devoted, what can I say.  Some may view it as being a little stalkerish, I call it being thorough.  I LOVE them.  Anyway, not too long after I called the radio show, Chris Leary had them in the studio for an interview.  I choose to believe, based on the turn of events today, that I made this happen.  That somehow my call saying "You Gotta Hear This" is what made him want to have them in.  And Cupcake, you can tell me I'm wrong but I refuse to believe it!!!  Here is a link to that very interview....

Plain White T's Interview that I made Happen

On to other exciting news....are you sitting down??  I FINALLY got a hana ami-loom!!! Yup folks, its mine!!

I can't wait to start cranking out flowers!  I am very very excited.  One other thing that I find particularly noteworthy, while out buying craft supplies my sister and I came across blackboard spray paint ON CLEARANCE!!!! Marked down from eight bucks to just TWO!!!  We bought two cans.  I hadn't even planned on doing anything with the stuff....but now, I will have to rethink that plan!!!  Oddly enough, one of the main reasons I was out shopping in the first place was to pick up a bottle of E-6000 glue.  I managed to find so many other things, I completely forgot to get the one thing I really needed!!!

What to do????

So I read craft blogs all the time.  I always feel pretty inspired....but I always have an obstacle.  Before Monday, it was the very fact that my craft room was a complete disaster!!  But I have that organized now and I now have tons of room to create....but I don't know where to start!!!   I just KNOW I can do something.....but I just am not sure what that is at the moment...


For example, take my groovy tie collection... I love ties and I buy them frequently at thrift stores.  

Now I JUST KNOW that there is something super awesome to be done with these bad boys.  But what????

Oh....and I had to add this picture of the awesome tag I discovered on the back of one of my ties...SO Retro!!! 

So folks, I guess I have a touch of crafter's block??  But I am proud to have gotten my first blog up.  I chose to not go the hi-this-is-my-blog-I-blog-because-insert reason here-thanks-for-reading approach.  Nope, I just jump right on in....so keep coming back please!!!!!