Held Hostage by Freshly Squeezed

Hi!!! My name is Courtney and I am author over at Freshly
Squeezed. My blog consist of some tutorials, some of my own and
some that I have borrowed from other crafty blogs, and lots of
giveaways from my personal online boutique, CuppyCake Boutique, where
I make trendy boutique style children's clothing. I am
a mother to one very active toddler boy and wife to my wonderful
husband. On top of running a busy business out of my home and being a
WAHM, I am also a senior in college completing my studies in
Sociology.

I am so excited to be doing a tutorial here at Fun To Craft. Stacey is
so creative herself and I am a little bit intimidated, so I hope that
I can impress you guys only half as much as Stacey has impressed
myself and I am sure all of you too.

Let’s get started shall we!!!
Today I would like to show you how to make a crayon apron.
Materials needed:
-3 pieces of fabric of your choice. I made one that will fit approx.
2-4 years old.
One piece for the apron ties (6in x 69in)
One piece for apron (10in x 16 in)
One piece for crayon holder (4 in x 11in)
-matching thread
-scissors
-iron

Now that we have our supplies gathered we can start on the fun stuff.

Take your long piece that you have for your apron ties and fold in
half with right sides facing.
Find the middle of your apron ties and mark with a pin or
marker. Now mark 5 ½ inches on each side of the middle mark. This
space will be where you will fit the apron later. Sorry I don't have a
pic of this.
Now sew the apron ties shut leaving an opening where you have marked
with your pins or marker.

Take your apron ties and turn it right side out.

Press with an iron being sure that the middle folds in as you iron.
Place the apron ties aside for later.

Now take your apron and fold the two shorts sides and one of the long
sides and fold about ¼ in. and press. Fold once more and press again.

Sew all three sides leaving one side untouched.

This part is magic to me. I don’t see many people do this so I don’t
know if it is an unknown in the sewing world but check this out. Set
your machine tension as high as it will go and your stitch length as
well.

Take your apron and sew straight down the raw edge. This should gather
your apron. If it does not then you will need to set tension to about
1-2 and sew the raw edge without backstitching. Now tug on your thread
to make the apron about 11inches in length.

Take you apron and insert it into the apron ties (remember the middle
that we left untouched earlier).

Be sure to pin, pin, pin!

Once you have your apron pinned well into your apron ties, topstitch
the apron into the apron ties.

And look you have a super cute apron as it is. But who wants to stop
there. Now we add the crayon holder.

Take your crayon holder and turn the 2 shorts sides under about ¼ in
and press. Turn once more and press again. Do the same with one of the
long sides.

Sew the 3 sides hems leaving one raw edge.

Now take your crayon holder and place it on top of the apron with the
right sides facing and the raw edge about 3 inches from the bottom.
Sew a straight stitch across the top.

Now fold the croyon holder up so that the wrong side of the crayon
holder is facing the right side of the apron. Top stitch the 2 short
sides.

LAST STEP!!!
I used the large crayons for this apron so my crayon compartments are
sewn every one inch. Use a pin to measure every one inch and sew from
the top to bottom making sure to keep your line straight.

DONE!!!!!

There are obviously more compartments than six but I only had six crayons.

How super cute is that and easy peasy. I love it. Now I have to find a
little girl to give it to. Wait a minute….do I hear a giveaway coming
on? Check out my blog to see. Also be sure to check out my facebook page to
keep up with other promotions and giveaways.

Thank you again to Courtney from Freshly Squeezed for taking Fun to Craft hostage today. What a darling crayon apron. I love that stripe animal print. SO cute!! Go check out her blog. She has some darling ideas on it...and it sounds like maybe a giveaway too!

Don't forget to enter the Adorabelle Couture Pettiskirt Giveaway here, the $10 gift card to Homemade by Nicole here, and the Crochet Patterns Giveaway by Inner Hooker here. You have until midnight Sunday, May 16th. Winners will be announced Monday!

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Held Hostage by Its So Very Cheri

Hello, My name is Cheri

from

Its So Very Cheri

I am Mom to 4 great kiddos

and

wife to one hubby.

I home school the 2 oldest boys but nexct year I will be home schooling three when G3 enters Kindergarden.

Our 4 kiddos call themselves the G-Force

--all of their names begin with the letter G--

plus my hubby is in school so life is crazy.

~~~~~~~~~~

I really enjoy blogging and just moved my blog a couple of months ago.

If you used to follow me you need to re-sign up, Google swipes all of your followers when you leave.

My blog just turned 1 year last year.

I have a couple of fun give-a-ways going on right now.

1 is an i-phone and

the other is

a really cool Craigslist APP.

~~~~~

I have a couple of fun parties each week.

On Mondays

Its So Very Creative

and on Wednesdays

SPOTLIGHT YOURSELF

~~

I am also part of the DIY Club.


We just had our first event.

We will be changing several things next month to make it even better.

This Sunday we will announce the top 10 and the voting will begin.

Come over and vote for your favs.

Enough about me and my blog.

I am so honored to be here today to share with you a fun tutorial.

I have some pretty Beach Glass.

I picked up some pretty aqua, green and blue rocks while we were at Sea World

to mix in with the sea glass.

No it was not a thrifty buy but I crammed as many rocks in the bag as I could possibly fit.

I just think it is so pretty.

~~~~~

Maybe you have seen the pretty
SEA GLASS
in the Flea Market Style Magazine

Or
in a pretty piece of jewelry.

Do you know what it is?

Beach Glass is also called
Sea Glass

It washes up on the BEACH
BUT
it is hard to find
You usually have to get up
really early
to find it
before
they sweep the beaches clean.

Some people think it is something
created by the Sea
but
NO

It is actually
something beautiful
that comes from humans leaving trash

People go to the beach
with their thick beer bottles

made of nice thick glass

that comes in a variety of colors

and they leave them there.

They get washed back into the water

God allows
the Sea
to begin doing its magic

When they wash back on shore
we get beautiful

Beach Glass

If you don't live anywhere near a beach

You can make your own beach glass

that looks pretty close to the real thing.

You will need:

An Ice Cream Maker or Rock Tumbler

Gritty sand

Rock Salt

Thick pieces of broken glass in a variety of colors

Water

Directions:

You want to take broken glass pieces

Make sure you use thick glass

Get an ice cream maker

(if you don't have a rock tumbler)

Take out the paddle arm.

Put your pieces of glass in.

add some gritty sand --a few Tablespoons

I think it needs some rock salt as well

After all the ocean has salt and I am sure it plays a part

in creating these beautiful pieces

Just barely cover it with water.

Place in your garage and tumble away for 1-4 days

depending on the way you want yours to look.

Thanks for the fun day at your blog.

I look forward to a long fun friendship.

Cheri

Come for a visit and follow along and I try to come by and follow everyone that follows me.

Thanks again to Cheri for being part of Hostage Week. I am also bloggin' over at her place so go check it out. I am loving this idea of making your own beach glass. Very pretty!!

Hostage Week is great, minus my big FAT packing mess that I am dealing with at my house!! Don't forget to enter the Adorabelle Couture Pettiskirt Giveaway here, the $10 gift card to Homemade by Nicole here, and the Crochet Patterns Giveaway by Inner Hooker here. They all end at midnight on Sunday. Don't miss the chance to win!!

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Held Hostage by Our Daily Chocolate

Hello Fun to Craft readers! This is Ashley from Our Daily Chocolate, and I am so thrilled to be here guest posting while all of Stacey's craft items are being held hostage. I just went through a move 2 months ago and can completely relate. It's no fun. But I hope to help make it fun here at Fun To Craft. I am going to share a little craft tutorial I did this week that truly was FUN! I hope you all enjoy. And thanks Stacey for letting me help out here while you carefully guard those craft boxes.

I never seem to have a problem crafting and creating something girly. Girly things are just easier. But this week my son needed something. An actual NEED, not just something cute. But how can I make something and not make it look cuter? How can I make something cute without making it too girly?

That was my battle this week. And of course I was under pressure! I had to come up with something useful, stylish, not girly, but awesome, all to share with you fine folks!

Every week my son has a bible verse he has to memorize for his Sunday school class. I wanted him to have someplace he could display it and see it every day.

So here is what I came up with. And. I'm even gonna show you how to make it!

A burlap covered bulletin board!

I heart me some burlap. And I figured, burlap isn't just for girls! No way! I can use it to make something boyish. Yes, Boy-ish.

I found this bulletin board at GW for $1. Perfect! I already had some burlap and upholstery tacks. So away I went, sticking and pinning and stretching and gluing. After 15 minutes I had created a super cool, stylish, and inexpensive ($1) USEFUL craft item for my son.

Want to make one? It's so difficult! {*wink*wink*}

You'll need:

• Bulletin Board


• Burlap


• Upholstery Tacks


• Glue Gun


• 15 minutes


• Large piece of chocolate (or other type of sweety)

First you want to cover your board with burlap. Make sure no creases are in the middle of your board. That's not very pretty. Then use 4 tacks, one for each corner.

Once you've pushed those 4 tack in, reward yourself. You're working so hard to make this useful item, you deserve a bite of chocolate. Go ahead. I'll wait!

Now that you are recovered from the exertion of those 4 tacks, you'll want to start filling in the border with more. {I just eyeballed my spacing, you can't tell ;}.

Next, take a larger bite of chocolate. The placement of those tacks was much more exerting. Enjoy that chocolate. I'll be here when you're done.

You're back! Great! Now you want to cut the burlap leaving enough to wrap around and glue to the back.

I would use low heat if i were you. If you've never done a burlap project, take heed. Hot glue is very hot and yes, you will be burned, and yes your fingers will be covered in burlap. If you burn yourself while gluing, you have full permission to eat the rest of your chocolate straight away!

Once the gluing process has been complete and you have sufficiently burned off all fingerprints, turn over and admire!

{See, mine is boy-ish. My upholstery tacks are flowers and the only pushpins I have are big diamond-looking ones}.

He can keep his bible verse tacked up there, or his library receipts with the DUE DATES {so he can avoid a $2.40 fine that has to come out of his piggy bank}. Or other fun info like his schools* festival coming up.

The possibilities are endless. I had to restrain myself from adding burlap flowers to the corner and adorning it with ribbon. {I think I see another, more girly one, in my near future}.

Thanks to Ashley from Our Daily Chocolate for holding Fun to Craft hostage. I really liked her cute burlap bulletin board. Oh, so manly, or boyish. haha I am definitely seeing the cute factor with a few more girly touches too! I think I love both options. I am also a huge fan of having some chocolate in between steps!! That is a necessity when crafting. Go check out her blog and see all of her other cute projects.

Don't forget to enter all the giveaways here this week too!!

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Held Hostage by Simply Designing

Hello!! I am so excited to be guest blogging here at It's FUN to Craft!

Isn't this just a great blog?! I am so honored to be here and I really hope I don't mess it up :-)

I am Ashley, the face and voice behind Simply Designing!

I am fairly new to blogland but am loving every minute of it! I am an interior designer and a floral designer. I own my own business. I also love to dabble in crafts, baby / child items, sewing, baking, cake decorating and a variety of other things. I love finding ways to make my life more SIMPLE!

I enjoy keeping busy and I have a list a mile long of "projects" I want to do. And I love posting about my projects on my blog!

In addition, I am a wife to a wonderful husband (been married 9 years!) and a mom of a 3.5 year old spunky little girl and a sweet cuddly 2.5 month old little boy! So much fun!

Oh. And in my spare time (ha!) I am attempting to open an Etsy shop. It is a slow process for me, but I am enjoying that too. (Go check it out here if you don't mind though!)

Ok. Now. On to the GOOD stuff!

I am so excited to be guest posting here today. Today, I am going to show you how to make a very very SIMPLE TuTu and a fancy matching hair accessory! Seriously. This is so simple and there is no sewing involved!

It is easy to make, inexpensive, quick to finish and it is sure to make any little girl squeal with joy! What a great project!

Here is what you will need:

(1) hair elastic / pony tail holder

(1) elastic headband

approx. 60' of ribbon (I used ribbon that was 1.5" wide)

scissors and a measuring tape / ruler

For mine, I used two different ribbons but you can use 1, 2 or even more different ribbons, you will just want about 60' in total length.

Ribbon TuTu:

• Cut 24 lengths of ribbon, each about 2' long (I angled the bottom of my ribbon).
  


• Put the elastic headband around your legs to help keep it in place while you work.
  

(nice photo huh? :-)

• Tie the ribbons on the elastic headband so that both "tails" are about equal in length.


• If using different ribbons, alternate them.


• Continue to tie all 24 ribbon lengths on the headband.


• Voila! Your TuTu is done!
  

Ribbon Hair Accessory:

• Cut 10 lengths of ribbon, each about 1' long (I angled the bottom of my ribbon)


• Tie the ribbons on the elastic pony tail holder so that both "tails" are equal in length as above.


• If using different ribbons, alternate them.


• Continue to tie all 10 ribbon lengths on the hair elastic.


• Voila! Your Fancy Ribbon Hair Tie is done!
  

Your final step?!?

Let the special little girl in your life squeal with joy and become the prettiest fairy / princess / ballerina ever!

Well, that is all for now wonderful 'It's FUN to Craft' readers! Thank you so much for letting me come and share my tutorial with you.

Be sure to stop by my blog Simply Designing to poke around and check out some of my other posts and tutorials. Stop by, stay a while, become a follower, leave a fun comment...I love it all!

And for other great TuTu and little girl accessory purchases, check out my Etsy shop HERE!

Happy Designing!

Ashley

Thanks again to Ashley from Simply Designing for taking Fun to Craft Hostage. What a fun craft for a little princess. I love the hair accessory too. Don't forget to check out her blog and see all of her other fun projects.

Oh, and if you haven't entered in the giveaways yet this week. You DON'T want to miss them!!

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Held Hostage by Fancy Kimmie

First, I'd like to thank Stacey for allowing me to guest post on her amazing blog.

Err...I mean...I've taken her blog hostage and there's nothing she can do about it.

Bwhahaha!

Moving on.

My name is Kimmie and I am new to blogging.

Oh. Em.Gee.

I am loving it.

I had no idea that so many incredible people were doing so many incredible things.

There are some amazing blogs out there.

Mine is one of them.

Just saying.

Today I am going to show you my easiest most recent project.
Dessert stand turned jewelry display.

I bought a fancy little 2-tier dessert stand and had every intention of decoupaging it.
{I was inspired by the pretty tiered dessert stand by Liberty of London at Target. However, have you seen the customer reviews on that beauty? Not so pretty.}

After taking all of it apart, this lovely little piece proved to be intolerant of all things crafty.

A stubborn mod-podge mess, if you will.

So, I grabbed a dessert stand out of my kitchen cabinet and went to work.

I cut strips of scrapbook paper {that my daughter picked out} with pinking shears.

They are all various lengths and widths.

I simply used a sponge brush to paint the surface, added a strip of paper, and continued around the entire piece.

After it was finished, I smoothed it down and covered the entire surface with an even coat of mod podge.

I added a random piece of ribbon to the top since this stand didn't have a fancy finial like the original.

I seem to always have a dessert stand of some kind in every room.

This one is for my daughter.

I turned her jewelry collection from this:

To this:

Here is a close-up of her collection:

Now her room has another pop of color that matches the stripes on her walls, and she has all of her jewelry in plain sight.

{Next project: trying to keep my 2-year-old son out of her room.}

I will be posting about the many projects I have done in her bedroom soon, so feel free to visit my blog and check it out.

Or make an awesome stand of your own, and tell me all about it.

I will be passing Stacey's blog on to the next person now.

Happy Hostage Week!

Thanks so much to Kimmie from Fancy Kimmie for posting here during Hostage Week. She is just so darn cute and I love her blog. Go check it out!! What a fun idea for a jewelry stand for a little girl....heck, I want one for me!!

Don't forget to enter the Adorabelle Couture Pettiskirt giveaway here. And the Homemade by Nicole $10 gift card giveaway here. Come back tomorrow for another great giveaway too!!

Linked up at:
Silly Little Sparrow, A Soft Place to Land, Today's Creative Blog

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Held Hostage by Along for the Ride

Hi Fun to Craft readers! I'm Laura and I'm stopping over from Along for the Ride to guest post today for Stacey.

I'm a wife to an amazing husband, a hall coordinator to a group of 400 students, and a kitty mommy to Jupiter. When I'm not busy with my different jobs and roles, I love to craft!

Here are some of my favorite projects:

easy wall art, toilet paper roll napkin rings, a simple fabric and twine necklace, and a super cheap cardboard monogram.

and my craft desk!

But my desk needed something else. After seeing a few tutorials on how to turn boring glass jars into beautiful twine wrapped vases, I decided to give it a try.

I used a spaghetti jar and a jelly jar and wrapped them with rope and gray ribbon.

Now they hold brushes markers and extra fabric and ribbon scraps.

Perfect!

Thanks so much, Stacey, for having me today. I hope you will all stop by my blog soon. Every Saturday I host a party called "Saturday is Crafty Day." I hope to see you all there!

Thanks again to Laura from Along for the Ride for being here today. What a fun project. That rope on there just makes it so stinkin' cute! Go check out her blog and see all the other fun things she has going on!

***Oh, and don't forget to enter the giveaway for the pettiskirt here.

Linked up at:
Girl Creative, Skip to My Lou

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