Chimchar and Monferno Pokemon Halloween Costumes

Posted on October 9, 2012 by jewelsathome

Halloween is not a major holiday at our house (when did it become a major holiday at all?), but of course, it’s fun to see the kids dressed up. I don’t make elaborate costumes every year, but there are a few I look back on with pride, including the fall the big boys wanted to be the Pokemon Chimchar and Monferno. I lucked out finding good quality plain monkey costumes at Old Navy. They were fleece, so I bought fleece fabric to add the embellishments.

First, an overview of how the costumes turned out, next to the original characters. Directly below is Chimchar and below him is Monferno.

Chimchar Pokemon costume.

Monferno Pokemon costume.

Pretty good likeness, right?

And here’s a breakdown of how I altered the monkey costumes to make the Pokemon. For Chimchar, I

removed the tail completely.
sewed the tip of the tail to the top of his head, to make his little cowlick.
used brown embroidery floss to embroider the curl on his chest.
made a large flame for the tail using yellow and red fleece, stuffed it and sewed it in place.

Chimchar Pokemon costume for Halloween. From Jewels at Home.

Details on a Chimchar Pokemon costume for Halloween.

For Monfernon, I

sewed a white collar out of two layers of white fleece and sewed it in place.
cut blue and red fleece for the face mask and sewed these in place with embroidery floss.
cut small white teeth and sewed these in place.
cut yellow bands and sewed these on the arms.
used brown embroidery floss to sew the curl on the chest.
cut off all but the base of the tail.
sewed a yellow and red flame tail with a layer of batting in the center and attached it to the base of the tail.

Monferno Pokemon costume for Halloween. From Jewels at Home.

Details on a Monferno Pokemon costume for Halloween.

Since I was on a roll, I also made these pokeball bags out of felt and ribbon for the boys to go trick-or-treating.

Pokemon pokeball bags for treats.

Steve and I dressed up as Ash and Misty, the Pokemon trainers. I made this little Togepi Pokemon to carry around.

Togepi Pokemon doll.

I don’t have detailed instructions here, but if you have any questions, please let me know. I’d love to help you make your little Pokemon fans as happy as these guys!

Pokemon Chimchar and Monferno Halloween Costumes. Jewels at Home.

Pokemon Chimchar and Monferno go trick-or-treating on Halloween.

Hope your October is full of treats!

“Jewels”

Folding Cardboard Play House

Posted on October 8, 2012 by jewelsathome

The kids love a playhouse, and so do I! I don’t like to perpetuate gender stereotypes, but there are some of the boys’ games that I simply can’t get excited about, so I’m glad we can all agree that play houses and play kitchens are great fun.

When I saw this collapsible playhouse by Jennifer Kirk at She Knows Parenting I was in love with the idea and just waiting for a way to use it. With baby J’s birthday coming up, I decided to make him a play fire station. The folding house was a perfect foundation for a fire station. I used the concept from She Knows Parenting but built my house differently, so here’s the tutorial.

I started with two big and sturdy boxes I had saved from some living room chairs I bought. I had deemed them TGTR (Too Good To Recycle) and they were taking up a lot of space, so this was a perfect use. They are very similar to the “dish pack” boxes used for moving, if you want to try to recreate this project more exactly.

Materials
Besides the boxes, you’ll also need

duct tape. I used two complete rolls.
box cutter or craft knife
long straight edge ruler or other tool
glue. I used tacky glue.
scissors are also handy for cleaning up the edges

Building Tutorial
Here’s a sketch of the basic design. You can assemble it in more than one way, depending on what pieces you have. As a general tip, I think the house will fold more smoothly of you leave a gap between the panels you tape together, so the joints have more flexibility.

DIY folding cardboard house tutorial. From Jewels at Home.

“Plans” for a DIY folding cardboard house.

Since I had already broken down my boxes, I started with two pieces with two panels each. You could use a single whole box, opened flat. The two center panels will be the front of the house, and the side panels will form the side walls of the house. (shown below, top left)

Since the floor only connects to the sides of the house, I cut the bottom panels off the center panels. (shown below, top right)

I then taped together the center seam. This isn’t necessary if you are using a single piece, though you might still want to reinforce the seam. (shown below, bottom left)

For the front of the house, I cut a peaked roof and an opening for the door. My door is wide, because I am going to make it a fire station, but you could do a smaller and maybe add some small windows for a regular house. (shown below, bottom right)

DIY folding cardboard house tutorial. Forming the walls.

Next, I made jointed panels for the floor and roof. I spread glue on the bottom flaps of the house and attached the floor. I put some heavy objects on the floor of the house to make sure it was glued securely. After the glue dried, I reinforced the joints with tape. (shown below, left)

I attached the roof by spreading glue on the top flaps of the sides of the house and clamping the roof in place with binder clips, while the glue dried. (shown below, right)

DIY folding cardboard house tutorial. Adding the floor and roof.

I finished the house by gluing some cardboard to reinforce the front of the house above the door and then taping all the joints and raw edges.

Here are some pictures of the finished house. My floor doesn’t fold upwards very smoothly, and I didn’t want to force it, so it’s quite large when folded, but it is completely flat. I think it would fold more compactly if I had left bigger gaps between the pieces of cardboard, but then again, that could make the house less stable. Overall, it works well.

DIY folding cardboard house tutorial. Front view.

DIY folding cardboard house tutorial. Inside view.

DIY folding cardboard house tutorial. Tada!

The next step is decorating the house to look like a fire station. I hope I can pull it off this week!

“Jewels”

Fall Inspirations from Daily Life

Posted on October 7, 2012 by jewelsathome

I love having a camera on my phone, so I can snap a picture of beautiful things that cross my path. Here ate some the sights and vignettes that caught my eye recently.

Ribbon-embellished throw pillow

Love this throw pillow. It reminds me of the ribbon-bordered curtains I made for our bathroom. I would love to try doing this on some pillows for the bedroom.

Ribbon-bordered throw pillow.

Beautifully accessorized bedroom

This is the window display at Plantation on Hayes St. in San Francisco. It is lucky that I usually walk by early in the morning, when they are closed, or we would be bankrupt by now! I love everything in this store, including the pillows and nightstand accessories on this bed. This will be my inspiration, as I work on my bedroom.

Beautifully accessorized bedroom.

Elegant grey loveseat

I’m also on the lookout for some seating for our bedroom – a loveseat or a nice armchair and ottoman. On the list is this Chloe loveseat (also comes in a chair) from Macy’s. I like the elegant classic look that is still comfortable. That’s our baby J modeling for me on the chair. Yes, he insisted on taking his shoes off in Macy’s.

Chloe loveseat from Macy’s.

Urban garden patio

I frequently bemoan the lack of space and greenery in our back “yard.” I was lucky enough to go to an event recently at a lovely home in Laurel Heights, and I was inspired by the back patio, which is although small and paved over, still feels lush and inviting. I snapped some pictures for ideas when we get around to working on our patio!

Lush urban patio. Spotted by Jewels at Home.

A little fountain makes the space so calming.

Potted trees add greenery to the patio. The warm colors in the stone pavers brighten up the space, too.

A little cut-out for plantings softens up the corner.

The vines growing up the wall are so lush. Beautiful fountain, river rock, and bench.

Small trees in the corners give a sense of greenery and softness.

“Jewels”

Outdoor Movie Night Birthday Party

Posted on September 30, 2012 by jewelsathome

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, right? Well, life hasn’t given me lemons, but it has given me an unattractive concrete back “yard.” I’m not fond of it, but once in a while, it does work out nicely, like when the boys play basketball with their buddies and recently, when we figured out we could make it into a drive-in movie theater!

As the kids get older, we’ve been shifting towards small get-togethers rather than large parties to celebrate their birthdays. Last year, we had a simple sleepover for our oldest, with pizza, cake, and a movie. The kids had a great time, and this year, I decided to change things up by taking the movie outdoors.

Here’s what you’ll need to put together your own outdoor movie night!

Outdoor movie basics

A movie, of course! There are lots of helpful lists and reviews over at Common Sense Media. Here was our short list for a group of 9 and 10 year-old boys:

The Incredibles
The Princess Bride
Wall-E
Superman: The Movie
Harry Potter
Kung Fu Panda
Hugo

The birthday boy settled on Kung Fu Panda 2, which was a big hit with the kids. I was pleasantly surprised myself, especially given the low expectations that come with anything that has “2” in the title. It was funny and sweet with the right amount of slapstick comedy to please our crowd.

Projector: I looked into renting one, but at $100 a day, I felt we were better off buying one. We lucked out and found a lightly used projector on Craigslist for less than half the original price. I’m certainly not an expert, but I did figure out that you want lots of lumens, for brightness, and you also, if you are buying used, be sure that the bulb isn’t worn out, as these can cost $100 themselves.

Speakers: We hooked up our computer to a big speaker using an amplifier. If you need more technical details, I’ll have ask Steve…

Screen: A butyl-coated painter’s dropcloth makes the perfect movie screen, a tip I found over at Prairie Hive. This is the 9’x12’rubber coated canvas drop cloth I found, and it worked perfectly. It’s large and white, and the plastic coating has a slight sheen that makes the movie look nice and bright.

Accessories for an outdoor movie party

Decorations

Christmas lights would look great around the screen. I tried to make glow in the dark lanterns made by tying glow bracelets inside balloons. They didn’t end up noticeably glowing, so I would recommend putting several inside each balloon to see if you have more success. The balloons themselves still looked festive, at least.

Snacks

We made s’mores in a cone, aka campfire cones, which I actually baked in the oven. Each kid made their own mix of strawberries, raspberries, bananas, chocolate chips, marshmallows, butterscotch chips. The fruit made the cones a little soggy in spots (may be better to omit the berries and try something like apple), but the result was definitely yummy.

Make “s’mores in a cone” with the kids.

“S’mores in a cone” ready to bake.

And what movie night would be complete without popcorn? I served the popcorn in brown paper bags decorated with red scrapbook papers and “popcorn” printed, appropriately, in Broadway font. To fight the chill, we finished the evening with hot chocolate.

Decorate popcorn bags for a home movie night.

Movie-themed labels for a home drive-in party.

And the fleece blankets I made for the boys worked out perfectly – they kept everyone warm for the movie, and I was very gratified to see the boys curling up in them to play games and sleep, as well.

Cozy monogrammed fleece blankets.

And finally, a few pictures of the home drive-in party. They turned out a bit dark, but that only makes sense, right?

The drive-in birthday party was such a success. We’re definitely all exhausted, but they boys had a great time and made many memories. I’m thinking we should make the drive-in a regular occurrence!

“Jewels”

Quick and Cozy Fleece Blankets

Posted on September 29, 2012 by jewelsathome

Here’s the thing about the fog in San Francisco: you have to believe it is mystical and beautiful, or else you would just become horribly depressed. See that giant “cloud” at the base of Sutro Tower? Yes, that is fog. Brrrrrr.

So, when we started planning an outdoor movie night for our oldest’s birthday party, I was a bit nervous, since the evenings are often chilly where we live. I decided to make fleece blankets for the boys to use during the movie, thinking they would also be great party favors. I mentioned in the post on alternative birthday gifts and favors that I like to give one or two larger items that can get some long-term use, rather than a lot of small disposable items.

There are a lot of ideas for fleece blanket projects out there. I was looking for something that would be substantial, easy to make, and still look great. That’s a tall order, and I was very happy to find this tutorial for an “Easy Peasy Fleece Blanket” from Polka Dot Chair. I made a few small changes when I did ours, and now everyone can stay toasty warm during our movie!

Supplies

fleece – 1.5 yards of two fabrics (front and back) for each blanket. I found some fleece on sale or as remnants at the local fabric store and bought the rest from fabric.com. They had the best price I could find, when you take into account shipping costs and clearance items.
scrap fleece or felt for monogram letters
Heat’n Bond Lite Iron-on Adhesive
Computer and printer for making letter templates

Applique letters

I can do appliques in my sleep after all the recent appliqued clothes I’ve made for the kids! I decided to do first and last initials for our monograms, since we had a few kids at the party with the same first initial. I printed the initials in Century Schoolbook font in 430 pt bold. I then traced them in reverse onto the Heat ‘n Bond. I held them up to a window to trace.

Monogrammed cozy fleece blankets from Jewels at Home.

Print out the letter templates and trace them in reverse onto the Heat ‘n Bond.

I ironed the Heat ‘n Bond onto the fleece, cut out the letters, and ironed the letters on to one side the blankets, using a press cloth. Because the fabric is so thick, it helped to iron again from the back, to get the letters completely fused to the blanket fabric.

I wanted to apply the letters before sewing the blankets, so the stitching would not show through on the other side of the blanket. I had trimmed the fleece for each blanket already, so I knew the finished size. I then used rulers to mark off 5″ from each edge (3.5″ for the fringe and 1.5″ for spacing) and placed my letters in the corner (first picture below). I then sewed around each letter to secure it (second picture below).

Iron your monogram in place in the corner. I measured 5″ from each edge, to allow for the fringe and some extra space.

Sew around each letter to secure it to the blanket.

Blankets:

After choosing the fabric combinations, I laid out the top and bottom of each blanket and trimmed off the selvage and any other uneven areas. (top left picture below)
I then sewed the letters on one side of each blanket, as described above.
I pinned the two sides together (top right picture below).
Then, I sewed the sides together, with the seam 3.5″ from the edge. I found the easiest way to do this was to mark a 3.5″ seam allowance on the sewing machine using painter’s tape. (bottom left picture below)

Lay out your fabrics, wrong sides together. Pin and trim. Sew with a 3.5″ seam allowance.

When I was done sewing, I cut strips about 1.25″ wide all around the blanket to make the fringe, stopping 0.5″ from the stitched line.

Here are the finished blankets. I love how each one is unique. The younger boys had fun prints on their blankets, and the older boys had solid fabrics or the graphic stars.

So many ways to vary this simple fleece blanket design!

My younger boys were clamoring for me to finish their blankets, so they could use them right away!

I like how Baby J’s firefighter blanket fits in with the rest of his nursery.

And here they are one more time: cozy fleece blankets all ready for movie night! If I remember, I’ll take some pictures of the boys bundled up for the show.

Yay! I wish I had the energy and fabric to make one of these for myself. I think I will have to wear a parka when we watch the movie…

“Jewels”

Recipe for Homemade “Whole Foods” Chunky Granola

Posted on September 27, 2012 by jewelsathome

I love this granola from Whole Foods. It’s very chunky and nutty and tastes delicious with yogurt and fruit or on its own. There are only a couple of problems with this love affair that have led me to try making our own version… 1) this little container costs $7 and we can go through it in a couple of days; and 2) the walnuts were my favorite part, and they’ve taken them out! Steve would probably add a third reason, which is that I used to steal all the walnuts out of the granola anyway (I also leave all the cashews in the mixed nuts, so he ends up with just cashews, but I digress…) In any case, I’m very happy to have figured out how easy it is to make this granola economically at home with extra walnuts to (theoretically) leave enough for everyone else.

Here is the ingredient list. It was probably a bit ridiculous to try to recreate the granola from this list, since it has the basic ingredients of virtually every granola, but I thought I would give it a try. I don’t usually do a lot in the kitchen, but I was feeling inspired by the granola recipe from My Modern Asian Family, which I have tasted… and yum!

To get a starting point for the ingredient portions and technique, I looked at this chunky granola recipe from Thyme2Cook and played around with it. Here’s our current version, and I’m very happy with the results. I am finding the copycat recipe just as addictive as the inspiration, which may or may not be a good thing!

Jewels’ Chunky Nutty Granola

In a large bowl, mix together

4 cups rolled oats
2 cups walnuts
1 cup almonds (I used whole almonds but will try a 1/2 cup slivered almonds next time, since some of the kids didn’t like the big chunks)
1 cup sunflower seeds

Chunky Nutty Granola recipe from Jewels at Home.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

In a separate microwavable bowl or in a saucepan (I used a glass measuring cup), mix

1/2 cup of canola oil
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Heat the second mixture in the microwave for about 40 seconds or on the stovetop until warmed through, and stir in, mixing until smooth

1/2 c whole wheat flour (or rice flour, for gluten-free)

Pour the liquid mixture over the dry ingredients and stir with a big spoon until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed and wet.

Chunky Nutty Granola recipe from Jewels at Home. Whole Foods recipe copycat.

Coat the dry ingredients with the wet mixture.

Spread on a large lightly greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 25 minutes at 325 F. Stir.
Bake another 25 minutes at 225 F. Turn off oven and leave granola in for one hour.
Take it out, let cool, and store in an airtight container.

Finished granola. Yum!!

Bon appetit!

“Jewels”

Racing Stripe Magnet Boards

Posted on September 17, 2012 by jewelsathome

Steve took our two older boys on a camping trip this weekend. I wanted to surprise them all with a few little projects when they got home, so this is what I did for the boys’ room. They have lots of pictures, cards, and art that collect in little piles, and I wanted to make a place for the boys to display and enjoy them.

The boys’ room has a huge wall of closets that made the perfect blank slate for this project. The closets, by the way, are amazing. This is a favorite trick of the design-build team that did our renovation – they take Ikea Pax closets and frame them with drywall, for inexpensive built-in closets. Since all the parts are pre-cut, the cost is a fraction of custom cabinetry, and Ikea has tons of options for customizing the insides to maximize storage. We were able to eliminate the boys’ dressers completely, since all their clothes fit inside the closets, with plenty of room to spare for other storage. I chose the Bergsbo closet doors, which match our paneled doors well (Steve commented the other day, “Hey, our closet doors go really well with our regular doors.” Yeah, honey, do you think that was an accident?). I added these 10″ square bar pulls for a clean, contemporary look.

Ikea Pax wardrobes used as built-in closets.

To make the magnet boards, I started with these 11.5″ square magnetic white boards. They cost half of most of the others I saw. You can’t pick the colors (I got three white and three different colors), but that was okay, since I wanted to paint them anyway. I sacrificed the dry erase function when I painted them, but I actually find dry erase stuff a bit creepy with all the black dust the markers make when you wipe it off. Finally, I will say that they are a bit lightweight (tin wrapped around cardboard), but mine arrived in overall very good condition, and again, it worked well for me, because I wanted to mount them on the doors, so the lighter weight was perfect.

Painting the racing stripes:

sand the boards lightly, including the sides, with a fine sandpaper
spray a coat of primer over the whole board, including the sides. I used white primer, which made the next step easier.
spray a band of white (or your choice of color) about 3 inches from the top. This may take a few coats for good coverage. Let it dry thoroughly, even overnight.
Using a ruler and painter’s tape – I used 1.5″ wide designed for delicate surfaces, tape over the white area. I placed the bottom of my tape 4″ from the top of the board. (top left picture below)
Spray a band of red (or a color of your choice) above the tape. Again, this will take a few coats and should be thoroughly dry before moving to the next step. (top middle picture below)
Using the ruler, place painter’s tape 1.5″ from the top of the board, so that you are masking off a 1″ band of red. (top right picture below)
Spray the whole board with grey. (bottom left picture below)
Peel off the tape and spray your finished product with a couple of coats of clear paint. (bottom right picture below)

Tutorial: painting racing stripes on a magnet board.

Here’s a close-up view of the finished board:

Magnet board with racing stripes.

And here’s how the boards look in the boys’ room:

The boys were very excited to see their new magnet boards, when they got home. Here’s how our 6 year-old personalized his board, with Pokemon cards and Ninjago Lego figures.

I was looking for pictures to put up on the boards this afternoon and found this photo from 2007 of our older boys with our old dog, Cooper. He looks so big in the picture, but it’s only because they were so small! We miss you, Coops.

And what did I do for Steve (and myself)? We were overdue for some new reading lamps for our nightstands. Our toddler, who stayed home with me – we hope to make it camping next year! – didn’t mind going out to Marshall’s for the lamps, especially since we also found some new fruits for his play kitchen. He was “feeding” them to me all weekend, and he cracked up every time I “ate” the lemon and made a sour face.

New bedside lamps on the nightstand. Jewels at Home.

New bedside lamps on the nightstand. “His” side.

New bedside lamps on the nightstand. “Her” side.

Well, I’m very happy to have Steve and the older boys back home. It was just a day and a half, but I missed them so much. I guess, I’m used to a full house these days.

“Jewels”

Stairway Makeover – Step by Step

Posted on September 13, 2012 by jewelsathome

I give my hubby a lot of credit for seeing the potential in our current house. While I’m incredibly grateful to have a comfortable home to live in, it has been a long process for me to actually come to love the look of the place. There was a lot of pink, red, gold, and heavy ornate-ness that we’ve been slowly replacing. I think the recent work by our painters was the tipping point for me. I can now truly say that it is a pleasure to walk in the house and see these stairs.

As you can see, a lot has changed since the (blurry – sorry, I had to enlarge it to focus on the stairs) real estate picture was taken. We started by changing the light fixtures from crystal chandeliers and sconces to more architectural fixtures, and we replaced the red and grungy carpet with a brown textured wool with a sage green twill binding.

This fall, our painters Joe and Jose (yes, they know they have the same name), helped with a new wall color – Manchester Tan from Benjamin Moore – and painting the stair risers white to match the trim. After they were done, I also spray-painted the metal carpet rods, covering up the tarnished brass with satin black.

The easier thing would definitely have been to paint the risers before the carpet runner was installed, but sometimes inspiration does not come in an orderly way.. So Joe and Jose patiently taped off all the carpet, sanded the risers, primed and painted them.

20120823-213845.jpgTo paint stair risers after a runner is installed, you'll have to tape off the runner thoroughly.

To paint stair risers after a runner is installed, you’ll have to tape off the runner thoroughly, before sanding, priming, and painting the wood.

As for the carpet rods, I considered replacing them, but these innocent-looking pieces of metal are actually very expensive, at $40 plus a set, so a little but of work went a long way. I sanded, primed, and spray painted them a satin black finish to match the wrought iron balusters. I decided to leave the brackets on while painting, which held the rods off the cardboard surface. However, this did mean that I had to shift the brackets between coats, so no areas were missed, and it took a lot of coats. I would recommend lining the rods up very close to each other when painting, so each pass with the spray paint will cover multiple rods.

After I re-installed the carpet rods, the screws were still brass. Luckily, I had watched a wrought iron handrail get installed in our old house, and I saw that the installer painted the screws by spraying matching paint into a cup and then painting it on the screws. I used a cotton swab for this.

I did have a debate about whether to put the carpet rods back on at all. They’re decorative, not functional. I think they make the stairs look more formal and traditional, while they look a bit more contemporary without the rods. I put them back, at least for now, because they do a hide some staples and raw edges on the carpet. What do you think?

A bare runner looks more contemporary, while carpet rods give a more formal look. Which do you prefer?

Finally, we’re not really statue people, so I decided to fill the spaces on and around the stairs with orchids and houseplants instead. Here’s how our finished space looks. Ahhhh….

And one last before-and-after look, so we can put the memories of the old stairway behind us!

“Jewels”

DIY Pencil Tins: Desk Set

Posted on August 28, 2012 by jewelsathome

I recently picked up some beautiful wrapping paper at Lavish in Hayes Valley. This is the same store where I found the perfect red and white graphic paper for lining our nursery bookcase. The new paper I found is for my craft room. It’s called Hydrangeas by Kate & Birdie. This company has lots of very sweet original prints – my six year old bought himself a sheet of pirate ship paper while we were in the store. They started in Winnipeg, Canada, so even dearer to my Canadian ex-pat heart.

Hydrangeas (WP02) wrapping paper by Kate & Birdie. Click the picture to see their site.

The blue, green, and grey color scheme of this paper fits my craft studio perfectly! The blue is just the same as the great print on my newly upholstered Queen Anne chairs, and all the colors are found in the stenciled lampshade I made for that room.

I’m amazed what a long way this one sheet can go. For $4, I have enough paper to create several great accessories and accents for my room. I started a clothespin wreath and moved on to these pencil tins – and I still have more projects planned!

I love reusing old items, though it’s always a fine line between clever frugality and looking like a preschool art project. I’ve definitely seen more “primitive” versions of these pencil tins, but I like to think that mine fit into the feminine, elegant, slightly funky studio I am creating.

Turn used cans into beautiful pencil tins for your office.

This is a very simple and quick project that needs very little explanation. I started by using pliers to flatten any sharp edges along the inside of the can. To cut the paper neatly, I used the quilting ruler and mat I showed in the fabric growth chart tutorial.

DIY pencil tin tutorial from Jewels at Home.

Flatten the sharp edged on your can. Cut out paper and glue with a glue stick.

I used a glue stick to affix the paper to the tin. For my kids’ tins, I also added a layer of clear contact paper to make the tins more durable. Finally, I use tacky glue to attach bias ribbon to the top of the tin, for a polished look. (I tried hot glue, but it cools very fast on the metal and gets lumpy.)

Beautiful pencil tins made from old cans, decorative paper, and bias tape.

Craft room desk set: DIY pencil tins fit in with ceramics on a vintage tray.

DIY pencil tins.

While I was making these tins, I added some for the boys’ homework area. These have a layer of clear contact paper over the scrapbook paper, since I know they will get more (ab)use.

Turn old cans into pencil tins with paper and bias ribbon. From Jewels at Home.

Pencil tins for the boys’ homework area.

What else do I want to decorate with my beautiful Hydrangeas paper? A pennant banner, some magnets, magazine files, and some storage boxes for the craft studio. Hope to share those projects soon. Meanwhile, go raid your recycling bin and make some new accessories for your own office!

“Jewels”

3-D Balloon Applique

Posted on August 23, 2012 by jewelsathome

My craft projects tend to come in waves. I find a great idea and love creating variations on it. At the moment, this idea is fabric appliques for kids’ clothes. I made tie t-shirts for the boys, co-hosted a onesie decorating party for my friend Nicola, and most recently, I decorated this cute hoodie sweatshirt for our neighbor across the street, who is turning 3!

3-D balloon applique on a sweatshirt.

Here’s what you’ll need

sweatshirt or t-shirt
fabric
iron-on applique material, such as Heat ‘n Bond
batting
ribbon

Here’s how to make your own puffy applique:

Draw your shape in two sizes – one the size of the finished piece and one about 1/4″ smaller all around, as shown below.

Following the instructions detailed for the tie t-shirts and onesie decorating party, create a large shape with the fusible applique material on the back and cut the small shape out of batting. The batting will flatten out when you iron it down, so use enough to make it a little thicker than you want your finished shape.

Place your applique on the shirt, first the batting and then the fabric centered on top. I also tucked some ribbon under the fabric, to make the string for the balloon.

3-D applique tutorial from Jewels at Home.

Place the batting on your shirt, and layer the fabric on top.

Iron and sew your applique in place according to the instructions for the tie t-shirts and onesie decorating party. I also sewed down the ribbons and tied a bow, which I also sewed in the center. I left the loops of the bow and the bottom of the ribbons free. My balloons didn’t turn out as puffy as I had envisioned, since they got flattened when they were ironed down, so I would use thicker batting next time.

3-D balloon applique

I’ve got a few more applique projects to finish up, and then I need to move on to something else!

“Jewels”