School Time

Its that time of year again! That's right- Back to School! And you might have noticed my absence from the blog world (then again maybe not lol) but in case you were wondering where I was I just thought I'd give a little update. For the past month and a half or so I have been preparing my house and my schedule for the upcoming school year to Homeschool my children. I have spent much time preparing and getting curriculum ready. We finally started our schooling this past week and I am SO happy to report that it is going well and everyday my kids beg for more :) What could be better!

Hopefully I will get into the swing of things soon and can start posting some projects! Until then- keep crafting!

Mermaid Tail Towel Tutorial

Hello Friends! As you saw last week, we recently had a super fun Mermaid Birthday Party for our NOW 4 yr old daughter. When my little girl suggested she wanted a Mermaid Party I just knew I wanted to do Mermaid Tail Towels as favors! I searched the internet to only find a few very expensive tail towels. That's when I decided to take matters into my own hands! I found a whole stack of towels in the $ section at Target, picked up some Bias tape and ribbon and went to work. I of course called on my ever talented Husband to draw me an awesome Mermaid Tail pattern. He drew it onto some construction grade brown paper but you could use whatever you have on hand even cardboard would work. I would've done it but he always is so precise (and patient) and I knew it would turn out symetrical if he did it rather than if I did it, it would probably end up looking something like a pony's tail or something lol.

So here is the process I went through. Now you go and make one for the Little Mermaid in your life!

Here is what You'll need:

Beach Towel (I actually used a few regular sized towels as well because the kiddos were pretty small)

Bias Tape (I used double fold and I had to use 1 and a half packs per towel)

Ribbon

Pins

Scissors

Mermaid Tail Pattern http://www.stitchtomylou.com/freebies/patterns/Mermaid-Tail.PDF
(feel free to download mine, or just freehand your own)
*If you click on this link please do not sale the pattern or items made from the pattern, THANKS! 

Step one:

Cut out and Pin your Mermaid tail Pattern to your Beach Towel.

Step two:

Cut out your Mermaid Tail :) SO Easy So far right?!

Step three:

Pin Bias Tape all around the edges of the tail. Sew away! I sewed a simple straight stitch because the towels that I purchased were so thin and did not like a serge but I would recommend serging the edges. The downfall of $ section towels-way to thin.

Step four:

I simply eyeballed the length that I wanted the ribbon to be, but you could wrap it around your mermaid's waist to see how much you would need to wrap around and tie a bow. Once you have your ribbon cut, pin it to the top of your tail and sew.

Now you have a fabulous Mermaid Tail towel!

If you do end up making one, email a photo of it at jmiscisin@sbcglobal.net and I will post it on the blog :)

Linked up at these fabulous sites:

Creating my way to Success

Sew Can Do

The Girl Creative

BeColorful

Bacon Time with Hungry Hungry Hypo

Mad in Crafts

Sumo's  Sweet Stuff

Skip to my Lou

Sun Scholars

Funky Polkadot Giraffe

Homemaker on a Dime

Tip Junkie

Laugh, Love and Craft

Sew much Ado

Someday Crafts

Tea Rose Home

Fireflies and Jellybeans

Momnivore's Dilemma

Paisley Passions

Somewhat Simple

The Shabby Creek Cottage

The DIY Showoff

Delicate Construction

Kissed by a Frog

Thrifty Handmade Days

Tatertots & Jello

Naptime Crafters

Be Different Act Normal

Homemaker In Heels

The DIY Home Sweet Home Project

Mermaid Party!

I am SO excited to show you my daughter's Mermaid Theme Birthday party collection! It was designed by Shana over at Belva June , You have to stop by her site and look at all of her AWESOME party collections!

She helped me design and plan the best Mermaid party ever for my little girl! We wanted to have her party at an outdoor water park where all of her Mermaid and Pirate friends could splash around! With Shana's help, we had so many fun things going on at our party. Here are some shots of all the action!

Just look at these adorable cupcake toppers! Those little guys turned out great.

I followed the very detailed tutorial over at Sun Scholars on this here Watermelon shark and I have to say he looks AWESOME! Thanks to her great instructions this guy was the talk of the party :) Funny thing is though, I never took one photo of his mouth full of the watermelon balls! Unfortunate but let me tell ya, it was tastey. Using the Food labels that Shana made for the party, I labeled all the Blue Jello cups with Red Swedish Fish as "Shark Bait!" Too Cute Ha?!

I really loved the Blue Gatorade that we served to our thirsty Mermaids and Pirates as "Sea Water"!

We also had labeled and served, "GoldFish" Crackers, a Delicious "Shell Pasta" Salad that even had yummy ingredients from my own garden it in, Carrot Sticks as "Crab legs" and I bought a set of Under the Sea Cookie cutters off of Ebay and we had a "make your own peanut butter & jelly" table where they could cut there sandwiches with either a Mermaid, Seashell or Starfish!

Each Little Mermaid at the party received their Very own Mermaid Tail towel and Bubbles with their names on it as their table setting. All the Pirates that attended received Bubbles and a fierce Pirate hat!

And my most favorite of all!! This awesome Photo prop that my AMAZING husband made for the party! I asked him if he could drum up a simple Mermaid photo prop for his daughter's party and he delivers this! I mean COME ON?! He hand drew and painted the entire thing himself! He built a stand for it and everything and we were able to take some awesome pictures of every child that attended our Mermaid party.

Thanks Babe!

In addition to our fun feast, an awesome Little Mermaid Photo prop, A super fun water park to play at, we also had a cute  Mermaid pinata and goodie bags that consisted of Hersheys Nuggets Treasures, Pirates Gold, Seashells and a Beautiful Jeweled ring :)

"Having you was such a pleasure! Hope you enjoy your sunken treasure!"

And lastly for my Mermaid Tail Towels! When my little girl said she wanted to have a Mermaid Party I just knew that I wanted to do something fun! I searched Mermaid tails and happened to see some that were from Pottery Barn but where running at a very steep price! I thought, "you know, I bet I could make those!" Just like all us crafty moms I set to work! And here is my outcome! All the girls at the party LOVED their Mermaid Tail Towels and really enjoyed wearing them at the party! Here are two lovely Mermaids now enjoying the swishing of their tails :)

Stay tuned for my Mermaid Tail Towel Tutorial!! And for more great photos of the Mermaid Party collection in action check out Shana's Blog and tell her hello!!

Dress Refashion and Tie-Dye Tutorial!

1st off let me start by asking if you've entered by etsy shop give away at The Junk House yet and 2ndly let me say Man have I been missing my sewing machine!! I just feel like with all of our summer activities going on I have just had very little time to attend to ALL of the many refashions I have in mind. But this morning I woke up with a Bee in my Bonnett (as they say) and was determined to get something done! I had very little time to work with but luckily my little guy who NEVER sleeps in- didnt wake until 9:30 am!! This in itself is a miracle. Okay but anyways, I have had this pretty little creme dress that I got many yrs ago from Nordstrom just lying around waiting for me to do something with.

 

I absolutely loved it but everytime I tried it on recently I just couldnt take how young it made me look! Now I already look horribly young for my age so I need all the help I can get in that department! So I decided to make it into a miniature version for my daughter. I started my putting the normal sized dress on her and just eyeballed about how much I would need to cut off to have it fit her properly. Then I set about by cutting off the top half that was far to long, the bottom half that was dragging past her feet and then I took a good inch and a half all the way up the side.

 

Next I simply pinned the rt sides together and hemmed up the whole side (oh, make sure to set all scraps aside so that you may use them later).

The top half would have been nicely hemmed with elastic thread but since I didnt have any on hand I just used normal thread and it turned out just fine. In fact I didnt even have any creme thread on hand so I simply used a very light Tan color that I had. I'm all about getting resourceful :) Now for the bottom half, I used that nice chunk I cut off earlier, made sure it was nice and straight (since I just eyeballed it, it originally was not very straight- I have a tendency to do things like that!) Then just like the dress, I cut a good inch to two inches off the side so that it would fit nicely with the now resized dress. Once again, pin right sides together lining the side seams up with eachother and sew. Wow, now on to the last bit- the straps! Using a piece of scrap that was already trimmed from earlier I just grab 2 3"x3" pieces folded them in half (rt sides together) stitched straight up it, turned it right side out using a safety pin and Voila! A simple strap. Then of course I simply sewed the straps on the front and back and I was done! Oh, I did forget to mention that I tried the dress on my daughter in between steps to make sure I was on the right track and that it would be fitting right at the end.This is her "Yes your Majesty Face" from Alice In Wonderland lol. Now I really did like the dress after it was finished but I happened to notice a very small slight stain right on the front of it after I was done and it just really put a damper on it for me. So I decided to take the refashion one step further! I asked my dear sweet husband to run up to the store to purchase me some RIT Tie Dye powder and of course being the awesome man that he is- he did. So using the Ombre method found here http://www.ritdye.com/dyeing-techniques/ombr%C3%A9-dyeing  I got out my bucket and went to work. First I added 4 cups of boiling water, 1 cup of salt, the whole packet of purple RIT powder dye and 1 tblsp of dishwashing soap. Now of course while wearing rubber gloves, using a utility bucket and while standing outside, I began dipping and dying the dress.

 I soaked the bottom of the dress for 10 min, the middle for 5 min, and the top for 3 min. Then I rinsed and rinsed the dress with my hose till it ran clear. Tossed it in the washer with warm water and detergent and ran it through. Unfortunately my soaking times did not seem to be long enough- considering how light each section came out but I'd have to say I'm pretty happy with the results! A dress that I had for about 5 years and a box of $2.99 RIT Dye and look how happy she is :) The dress is actually alot more purple than it looks on the photo, and nevermind the bright blue gymnastics leotard she's wearing underneath lol.

A few weeks ago was my daughter's 4th Birthday! And boy do I have a fun Birthday post in store for you! Check back soon to see all the fun we had!



A Giveaway!

I have some Exciting news! As the July Sponsor for The Junk House, I am offering a $15.00 gift certificate giveaway to my etsy shop. There are up to 4 chances for you to win!! Here is how:

• Follow The Junk House, then visit LoftyLou and tell me your favorite item (1 entry)
• Follow Stitch To My Lou  (1 entry)
• Like LoftyLou on facebook (1 entry)
• Post about this giveaway on your blog (include link in your comment) (1 entry)

So head on over and put in your entry-Good Luck!

Feature at The Junk House

Hey Everybody! I am being featured today over at The Junk House! Sam has a real fun blog about her new adventures in her recently purchased house! Check it out! http://thejunkhouse.blogspot.com/2011/07/july-sponsor-loftylou.html

4th of July Crown

My little girl and I made these fun crowns for the 4th of July last summer and thought we'd share it with everyone! In case you were looking for a fun and patriotic craft- this is an easy one. Like I said, we made these last year and my daughter still plays with hers. It is in her dress up box right now :)

You will need:

A hanger Or wire your choice I just used an old medal hanger because I had one

Wire cutters or strong utility scissors

Some tape-doesnt matter the color because it wont show

Any color ribbon that you would like to use

1st, we measured with the hanger the circumference of my daughter's head. I just sorta stretched it and formed it into a circle around her head and gauged how big I thought it should be.

2nd, I cut the hanger where it would need to be cut so that it could be formed into a small circle small enough for her to wear.

 3rd, Form your larger peice of Hanger into a circle (it does not need to be perfect) and tape the ends together. Duct tape is nice for this but not fully necessary as I used scoth tape.

Last, you just begin cutting your ribbon into about 2-3" strips and tying it in double knots around your wire! Simple and cute-Just what we like.

 

Here are some shots of our finished crown on 4th of July! Makes a great photo prop! Have fun and Happy 4th of July!!