Katie Makes [2]- Ideas, a tutorial, and a giveaway!

Another Katie Makes post to let you know what I have been up to when it comes to creativity and crafting.  See Katie Makes [1] if you like.

~1~

This post was inspired by a special giveaway I was asked to be a part of!  Right now on Instagram through Friday at 4 p.m. Central Time, you have the chance to win all of these awesome handmade goodies:

I contributed these cute things:
-a 8x10" Scripture print of "Put into the deep" (Luke 5:4) stamped onto a vintage Bible page and matted, ready to frame
-three 5 1/2 x 4 1/4" note cards with "Be who you were meant to be and you will set the world on fire" quote by St. Catherine of Siena decorated with a globe made from repurposed maps
-and a 3" metal gift tag stamped that says "Be Blessed"

You can win those, as well as items from these lovely ladies:

Kent Heartstrings

Lily and Mama

Frameworthy Designs

Be A Heart Design

Whole Parenting Goods

Soul Scripts

Brick House in the City

All of them are small business owners with beautiful hand-made things- I encourage you to go visit their shops (and maybe start some early Christmas shopping!)

~2~

Not one to have idle hands, I needed a portable craft project to take with me on our family vacation to Colorado a few weeks ago.  I packed a couple of atlases and a dictionary.  Factor in a couple of Sharpies and many hours of family Netflix watching, and the result was a stack of fifty-some hand lettered frameables. They were pretty popular at the craft sale we had a couple of weekends ago. :)

 It was very relaxing and the perfect traveling project- it did feel a little weird to be tearing up an atlas while driving around a thousand miles from home.

 

~3~

Next project on the docket was a pretty banner for a friend's sister's Bridal Shower.  She is getting married later this fall and her colors are orange and purple.  I had to dig through my stash for those colors (neither usually my favorite) but I really like how the color combination turned out!

  ~4~

 I mentioned in my last post that this metal stamping thing is getting easier.  I found a bunch of these metal tags in silver and copper for a great deal (an awesome deal compared to most metal stamping stuff), and have been stamping some messages on them.  They are about three inches long, so too big for jewelry, but would make cute bookmarks, gift labels, ornaments, basket tags, etc.  However, I am experiencing some writer's block with what to put on them...maybe because stamping in metal is so permanent?  What would you want them to say?  And what would you use them for? (And don't forget you can win one in the Instagram giveaway!)

~5~

 A set of pretty cards including these made up a birthday gift for a friend.  Sitting down with a blank pallet and pretty paper to make cards remains one of my favorite things to do. :)

~6~

 I had a extra canvas from some project a bit ago (so many "extra" craft supplies...) a decided to do a little painting one night.  I love this color combination! I wonder, would it look weird to have a painting hung on a door?  Maybe it would be better in an entryway.

~7~ 

And finally, this sweet little pillow.  At a garage sale a couple of weeks ago, my friend was selling some clothes that she didn't want any more, and among them was this super cute mustard-colored-satin-pleated-skit.  I loved it, but it would have been both too small and too short.  When it was still there at the end of the sale, I bought it off of her with the intentions of making a pillow.  I did it, but it was a little more difficult than I imagined, so I thought I'd share how I made it work in case you want to go thrift store shopping and try one yourself!

I was most excited that the new pillow matched the gold/yellow in the vintage fabric pillows I made last summer!

a. So we start with a skirt.  I had a 16"x16" pillow form that I wanted to use.  The skirt was just the right size horizontally, and was about 18" vertically.

 b. I first cut out the lining so that it wouldn't get in the way.

c. I then cut off the cute tie and set it aside to maybe work in later.  Next I decided how to cover up the side zipper without having to deconstruct the skirt.  I knew I could sew over the teeth of the zipper, but was concerned about the bulky pull and case.  I removed the pull with wire cutters and pliers, left the case about 3/4" from the top, and then covered it all neatly using part of one of the ties.  It was going to work just fine, until I realized that the length of the skirt would allow me to cut the entire waistband off, making the pull and case of the zipper obsolete.  Oh well- just a little wasted time, right?

 d. Next I needed to secure the pleats before sewing the sides of the pillow together.  First I did the easy side with the waistband.  I sewed with the pleats, making sure that the spacing was completely straight and the pleats were parallel to each other.

 Here was the result. I then cut off the waistband.

 e. I then did the same on the hem.  This was a little bit more time consuming because I had to sew slow enough to fold the pleats back.  I worked to keep them straight and parallel, just like on the other side.

f. Here is what the skirt looked like at this point.  And here is where I am going to tell you the mistake I made and how you can avoid it. :) The pillow was currently 16" wide (the original width of the skirt) and would be 16" long after I sewed the two seams.  I did so and put it on the pillow form...and the width was way too big.  I knew that the pleats would cause it to be looser in the middle, but I thought the seams would pull it together, and I was wrong.  The pleats added a lot of volume to the width. So I turned it inside out and cut about 1 1/2" off of each side (parallel with the pleats).

I also decided to reuse the ties that were on the skirt to kind of pull the whole thing together.  I pinned them in the side seems perpendicular to the pleats about 6" from the top.

 g. Cue sewing the "new" side seams and finishing the old ones. Because there was no extra fabric to make this more of a pillow case with a flap in the back to keep it removable, I had to just leave an opening to stuff in the pillow.

 h. To provide for the least amount of hand sewing as possible, I only left about a 6" opening, and also made sure to sew about 2" at the corner to help make closing the seam and having a sharp corner possible.

i.  With such a small opening, I got the pillow in by rolling it tight, forcing it through the opening, and then stretching it out once it was inside.  It took a little longer, but saved many minutes of handsewing.

 j.  The original basting that kept the pleats together and the beginning of the seam at the corner made it easy to fold and pin where I needed to close the seam.  I used a blind stitch to pull it all together.

 k.  And finally, I made a pretty knot with the ties and plopped it in my favorite chair.  It is so cute, and I love that it came from a repurposed skirt!  Upcycling adventures are always fun challenges :)

So, what have you been making lately?  I'd love to hear about it.  And don't forget to head over to Instagram for the giveway!

The Way of Light Easter Sunrise Craft

As we approach the Season of Easter, I have been creating activities to teach that Easter is more than just one morning on our calendar.  I have been using the The Way of Light, which is a companion to The Way of the Cross.  You can read about the beginning of the project and get the printable coloring book here.

For this craft project, I wanted to create something that a family or classroom could hang up starting at the beginning of the Season of Easter and leave up all the way until Pentecost.  The fourteen stations of Light made for great sun rays, I added a quote that I love about Easter from soon-to-be Saint JPII on the base of the sun, and we had a perfect sun rise.  Each of the rays also has a corresponding Scripture verse, so your family/classroom can look up that story as you talk about the station during Easter.

I decided to jazz up the background a bit, but you certainly could just glue the sun on normal large 12"x18" construction paper or poster board.  If you are looking to get an art project out of this too, here is an idea.

Supplies:
The printables at the end of the post
A large piece of construction paper, cardboard, or poster board
Markers and crayons
Glue (preferably liquid, not glue sticks)

I used a large piece of cardboard, garnered from a big shoe box.  You could start with nice white poster board, but I liked the texture that the corrugated cardboard would create.  (Plus maybe because it was free, and I did not have to make a trip to the store.)  It will also make a great object lesson about the beauty (the Resurrection) that God can make from brokenness (the Crucifixion).

Hold the cardboard with the long side going horizontal (bathtub style in my classroom).  Start making a scribbly half circle with yellow marker.  No pattern, just gentle arcs scribbled in.  This works for kids of all ages.

 Then add a layer with the orange marker, overlapping partially with the yellow...

 Then the same with red, and then purple....

 And finally a bit of blue...

 This step is hard to see in the pictures, but it made a big difference close up.  After scribbling with the markers, we went back with similar colored crayons and went over sections.  It blended and softened the colors, making it look much more like a sunrise.

 We added some black crayon at the very, top showing where the sun hadn't quite reached the night sky.

Next, print and cut out the printables below.  I printed on pale yellow and gold paper, but you certainly could copy on white and have the kids color them in.

Arrange the rays in order (they are in order on the paper, so cutting them out one at a time is good, or you can use the Way of Light book to help.

Glue on to your scribbled-cardboard-turned-sky, and you have a beautiful and meaningful sunrise.

 Click here for the sun printable:

And here for the rays printable:

 You might also like this:

Upcycled Teddy-Bear-To-Owl Jar

Some of you are going to read this post and think, "Katie, you have too much time on your hands."
You might be right, but don't worry, school is about to start and that will be the end of time as I know it (at least as I have known it during this first summer in over ten years that I called my own shots and didn't have to go to work everyday...ahh..).

This project all started with an abandoned jar in the shape of a teddy bear.  It once held animal crackers, and lived in my recycling for about a month.  (This particular teddy bear is of the Target Brand Kingdom, Market Pantry Species, if you were curious.)

One day, it fell on my foot, and I looked at him twice.  Sort of Corduroy-esk.  Only this bear would have no place in my classroom.  We are much too cool for bears, you see. We are into owls. There are owls everywhere, but those pictures will have to wait for another post.

So I pulled out some paper to match the color scheme of my classroom, and sat down to experiment.  If all else failed, Teddy could go back in the recycling.  Fortunately for him, it all worked out, even if he is dressed up as an owl now.

 First, to cover up the face.  I cut out some orange triangles for a beak and layered some concentric circles to make the eyes.

 Hold that, the eyes needed to be bigger.  This is much more owl-ish.

By the way, I was using Alene's Tacky glue.  Works wonders.  I am sure that hot glue would have also worked, but I am down to only one glue stick, and I need to save it for emergencies.  (Just kidding, I am just being lazy and avoiding  the money loss that comes with a trip to a craft store.)

Next for some feathers to cover up the stickers on Teddy's tummy and back.  I used a circle punch to punch out about 30 1" circles for both back and front.  Then I layered them ombre style.

 Next for the wings, I cut out two tear drop shapes.

 Using more scraps, I cut out some rows of scallops and glued them layer over layer.

I didn't worry about the length, because after covering the front, I flipped over to the back and cut around the original shape...

 ...leaving this! (sorry about the wet glue showing through.  It did dry clear.)

 I glued the wings onto the sides where Teddy's stubby arms had been.

 Next to cover up that heinous red lid. Of course, I could have decorated the owl to match the red lid, but red is just not my color.  So, trace the lid on a larger sheet of paper, and then cut out a circle about 3 or 4 inches wider than that diameter.  Then cut sunburst style pieces from the edge to the original tracing of the lid.

 Glue the top of the lid to the paper, then run glue on the outside and inside rim of the lid.  Fold over every other piece of the sunburst, firmly adhering to the glue on outside and inside.

 Run more glue on both outside and inside, and fold in the rest of the sunburst pieces in the same way.

 Cut a circle slightly smaller than the lid to slide in and cover/hold the ends.

 Ta-da!  Obviously the lid doesn't screw on or off anymore, but it sits snugly on the top, and looks so much better than the red.

 He looks ok without the lid too.  Finally, I cut two tall triangles for "ears."  I just glued them right over the teddy bear ears, so they stick out a little more that I would like, but what can you do?

And here is out teddy friend in disguise! He is so glad to not be in a recycling truck on his way to being melted down that he doesn't seem to mind his new get-up.

Now...what to use him for...I can see prizes inside for good behavior, or a prayer jar, or journal writing topics...lots of possibilities!