Check yourself before you wreck yourself
Embroidery Hoop Screen Printing
My pal Sabra over at Sew A Straight Line did this recently for shirts for a family reunion and when I saw it, I knew we had to do it at camp.
The original tutorial is here from Craftgrrl.
I found some drapery sheer fabric at JoAnn’s on the clearance table for $2/yard.
I followed Sabra’s advice and used Collage Pauge to paint my screens. (I picked that up at JoAnn’s, too.)
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The theme for camp was “For The Strength of YOU”, so I chose the strong man. It’s just clipart that comes with Microsoft Word.
Here’s my fist attempt:
And here are a couple of shirts we did at camp:
See how that print was all blotchy? SUPER windy. The screens were getting clogged on account of drying out.
No worries…she filled in the lines with a fabric marker and it turned out super awesome 80’s retro.
And here’s one with both the silk screen and the Sharpie tie dye I talked about yesterday:
We ended up throwing away the screens when we were done (on account of the whole no running water thing), but I rinsed one out at home after my test run and it was definitely reusable.
I’ll FOR SURE be doing this again!
***Don’t forget to enter the Kikki’s Designs giveaway here***
Sharpie Tie Dye T-Shirts
One of our activities at camp last week was decorating camp t-shirts. We had a few options — some girls used one, some used another, some used all 3.
Option #1 was Sharpie Tie Dyeing. I found a few different versions/methods of this when I searched. I’m just going to show you what we did.
Supplies:
Rubbing alcohol
Some sort of squeeze bottle or dropper
Plastic cup
Elastic bands
T-shirt
Start by stretching your shirt over the top of your cup. Put an elastic around the top of the cup.
Make 6-ish dots in a circle.
You can add a different color in between if you want.
Drip alcohol into the center of the circle.
I found that maximum spreading happened at around 15 drops and that anything more than that didn’t really change the look at all.
Try some different colors.
Maybe even put them on in some sort of orderly or artsy manner, instead of all willy-nilly like I did on my test shirt.
At camp, a couple of the girls discovered that you could dye through both the front and back of your shirt at once.
So, get yourself some Sharpies and try it. I think I’m going to do this again with my kids.
***Don’t forget to enter the Kikki’s Designs giveaway here***
I’m baaaaaaaaaack & a giveaway from Kikki’s Designs
Well, I survived.
I haven’t been to girls camp in, oh, 18 years. In spite of the fact that the overnight temperatures were cold enough for frost, we had a great time. I even have a couple of craft projects to share with you over the next few days. We’re talking easy stuff that you can do at 10,000 feet with no running water. (Don’t believe everything you read on the internet…especially the part on the campground website that says there IS running water, because there’s totally not. You *might* even have to drive 3 miles to get to running water.)
So, whilst I get my house back in order (hint: laundry), I’ve got a little giveaway for you.
Kimberly, who is a lucky sucker and won TWO of the 1,000,000 hits giveaways, has just started Kikki’s Designs. In fact, this week is the GRAND OPENING of her Etsy store.
She sells some darling hand stamped cards.
She also knits. And the pictures of these hats are SO insanely cute that I almost reconsidered the ban on residents in my uterus.
SEE???
Kimberly is giving one lucky Crap I’ve Made reader one of her Amanda Hats in chocolate brown.
TO ENTER:
Click on over to Kikki’s Designs on Etsy and have a look around. Come back and leave a comment ON THIS POST saying what your favorite item in her shop is.
BONUS ENTRIES (leave a separate comment for each one, please):
“Like” Kikki’s Designs on Facebook.
Become a follower of the Kikki’s Designs blog.
Post this giveaway on your blog and leave a link to your post.
***This giveaway is open only to residents of the US & Canada and will close at midnight MST on Sunday, August 22nd.***
Want more opportunities to win? Head on over to the Kikki’s Designs blog. Kimberly’s got a bunch of giveaways going on over there, too.
And, everyone in the US gets FREE SHIPPING this week to celebrate the grand opening!
Flickr Feature Friday
Did you know Crap I’ve Made has a Flickr group? You can find the link at any time up on my menu bar under Crap You’ve Made. Go add your stuff! Please?
Projects from the Flickr group will be featured on Fridays.
And, there’s now a Flickr stream widget over in my left sidebar. Click on over from your reader and check that out.
Today’s feature is from jamielou4429.
She made this darling dress using Dana @ Made’s Warhol Dress tutorial and embellished using my freezer paper and bleach tutorial.
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Enjoy your Friday the 13th! I’m thinking that scheduling girls camp this weekend may not have been the best idea ever…..
Fabric Covered Bead Necklace
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Whilst my neighbor Jami and I were on The Smelly Barn Adventure™, we met a cute lady who was wearing a darling necklace. As we walked off, Jami said “We’re totally making those.”
She texted me when I was out of town to tell me she’d found a tutorial and was making them.
The tutorial is here at Froo*Gal.
Helpful tips:
The beads at Hobby Lobby have narrow holes. They make it difficult to shove all the fabric in. The ones from Robert’s (a local craft store) were WAY better.
Make sure you use a good glue stick. The 10 for $3 ones dried too fast.
Use a needle with a blunt tip, not the super sharp ones.
Make a few extras and keep them in your purse, because people are going to stop you and ask you where you got your necklace. At least that’s what I hear.
Felt Flowers
The spunky Ashlee from I’m Topsy Turvy was rocking the coolest felt flower in her hair when we met at CBC. She SWORE it wasn’t hard to make. I was skeptical.
I finally got around to trying it last week with my neighbor Jami.
The tutorial can be found here at HoliDash.
Guess what? TOTALLY easy. This was a great sit and chat project that didn’t require a whole lot of focus. I loved that you could make it out of one sheet of felt (CHEAP!).
Try it!
Part 1: The Top
The comments seemed to indicate that this dress was indeed tute worthy. I’m breaking it up in parts.
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Option #1: Buy a t-shirt or use one you already have. That’d be the easy way to do it. And you can skip ahead to Part 2.
Option #2: Make the top, which is what I did.
I had Macy get a shirt from her closet. I folded it in half and placed it on the fold of some knit yardage (this color came from Hobby Lobby). There are actually 2 folds it’s placed on (one for the front and one for the back) but it’s hard to see that in the picture.
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I traced, including 1/2” for seam allowances.
I also screwed up a little, see? Good thing I used a disappearing ink marker!
Cut both pieces out. Decide which one you want to be the front and cut a lower neckline.
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Trace and cut sleeves (again on a fold and including seam allowances):
Sew ONE shoulder seam. Use a serger or a zig zag or stretch stitch (looks like a lightning bolt) for all of your sewing with knits.
(Several pictures are missing here….I WILL get them up, it just might be after I get back from girls camp.)
Next I cut several 1” strips. I folded them in half lengthwise and used them for the neck and sleeve trim…NOT the ruffle-y gathered stuff, just the normal trim you’d see on a t-shirt. This ended up being covered completely by the ruffles, but it gives your shirt a more finished look.
Attach the strips to the neckline and bottom of both sleeve pieces using 1/4” seams. Press up and top stitch.
Now you’ll sew your other shoulder seam.
Sew on the sleeve pieces.
Sew the side seams, from the sleeve cuffs to the bottom of the shirt.
For the ruffles, I cut 3/4” strips of knit. I didn’t pre-gather or anything, I just wadded it up every few inches and then sewed over it and repeated the process around the neckline and the bottom of the sleeves.
And that’s it for the top!
AccuQuilt GO! Project: Embellished Cardigan
How fun was last week??? (I think most of you enjoyed it…aside from that one comment that was all “What’s with all the giveaways? I kind of hate it.”)
HUGE thanks to everyone who provided items for the week of giveaways! Be sure to check the WINNERS POST throughout the week to see if you won something!
As for me, I’m going to camp with the teenage girls from church this week. Yikes. I’ve got some stuff scheduled in advance, so you won’t even miss me.
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This project was inspired by this sweater from DownEast Basics.
I immediately thought of my GO! Cutter and AccuQuilt’s GO!Funky Flowers die. I though a knit would be a good choice for this project, since it doesn’t fray. More on that in a bit.
I cut strips of my knit yardage (this color came from Hobby Lobby but you could use an old or clearance t-shirt to keep the cost way down) and then folded it in eighths. There’s no reason for the eighths other than that’s how long my strips were. (And I wanted to see if my GO! Cutter could handle that many layers.)
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I placed the folded fabric over the smallest flower on the die,
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rolled it through, and ended up with this.
Perfection! Not even a string to trim! Seriously…I was so excited that I got on the AccuQuilt Facebook page and posted about it right then. I’m a dork.
I cut about 80 flowers total.
I stuck a flat cheap-o cutting board from IKEA inside the sweater (so I wouldn’t have to stick my hand in for pinning) and started placing and pinning flowers.
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I tacked each one down in the center using the stitch on my machine that can allegedly sew on buttons. (I did it once in my “getting to know your machine” class, but I don’t dare try it again.)
Then I did another row.
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And so on and so on.
I really wanted that to be the end of it. I even made Macy try on the sweater and head outside for pictures. But look:
Wadded up pieces of aqua toilet paper stuck to a sweater. How nice!
So, I came back in and did a little playing around. I decided that if I wanted it to look how it looked in my head, I was going to have to do some more sewing…and I mean A LOT more sewing.
Starting where I’d tacked down each flower, I sewed out to near the end of each petal. That’s 5 petals per flower times 80-ish flowers. You don’t need to be a math nerd to figure out that it took a freaking long time. So long, in fact, that I quit feeding my kids and Macy nearly died from malnutrition.
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(Or, she just really hates me taking her picture…you decide.)
Good thing I love the way it turned out!
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If you don’t have a GO! Cutter and you want to try this project, the flowers I cut out are about 1.5” in diameter.

THE BIG WINNER POST!
Here’s the deal: Based on the fact that I’m in charge of girls camp for church this week and I might lose my mind before it’s over and the fact that when I click on “email me” on people’s profiles nothing happens, I’ve made a decision.
The winners of ALL the giveaways will be posted here.
I’ll add winners as the giveaways close. You’ll need to come back and check this post.
-OR-
Follow me on Twitter (@CrapIveMade) or “Like” me on Facebook, because I’ll post winners there, too.
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IF YOU’RE A WINNER:
Email me at [email protected].
Put the item you won and giveaway number IN THE SUBJECT LINE.
Include your mailing address.
I’ll forward your information to the giver and we’ll all live happily after!
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IF I DON’T HEAR FROM YOU BY THE END OF THE MONTH:
We’ll pick a new winner.
Giveaway #1: Tidy Trays
#51 aka Randi @ Dukes and Duchesses
Giveaway #2: A Vision To Remember
#98 aka Lyndee from Henrichsen Heroes
#2 aka Kara @ Creations by Kara
Giveaway #3: Willow Baby
#115 aka Trisha/TheWrightStuff
Giveaway #4: Lady Cupcake’s Corner
#102 aka icitea/Clare from Teacup of Whimsy
Giveaway #5: Original Watercolor
#18 aka Ed and Bel
Giveaway #6: Funky PolkaDot Giraffe
#173 aka Amber / [email protected]
Giveaway #7: Just Sew Sassy
#112 aka quilting granny
Giveaway #8: Embroidered Dishtowel
#21 aka Ashlee from Giggled Pink
Giveaway #9: Tempest Ahoy
#28 aka Linda from a little Leary
Giveaway #10: Whisper Blossom
#86 aka Kaylan from What more can I say….
Giveaway #11: JJ & JOJO
#102 aka Kelly
Giveaway #12: Mini Quilt & Book
#27 aka handmadehappiness
#8 aka Heleen
Giveaway #13: Hippos & Dinosaurs
#48 aka Brandy from You Don’t Know…
Giveaway #14: Kiss My Style
#37 aka kimberlykikki from Kikki’s Designs
Giveaway #15: Stari Designs
#10 aka kimberlykikki from Kikki’s Designs
Giveaway #16: Morsbags
#91 aka Jess from Funny Thing About Autism
Giveaway #17: Green Gracie Home
#61 aka Carol from Keeping Up With The Crowleys
Giveaway #18: Stitchin’ Kitchen
#100 aka Melissa
Giveaway #19: Norah James Designs
#25 aka Handmade Mama
Giveaway #20: Family Stitchery from Every Crafty Endeavor
#87 aka Shirley
Giveaway #21: Leafy Treetop Spot
#21 aka Landon and Kylie
# 46 aka Dawn
Giveaway #22: Handmade Tote Bag
#60 aka Shana from Blaze ‘n’ Crochet
Giveaway #23: Little Blue Prints
#124 aka Sarah
Giveaway #24: Camera Wrist Strap
#78 aka Luz from Peloosh Creations
Giveaway #25: Charm Packs
#268 aka Amy Culp from Increasingly Domestic
#169 aka Kaylan from What more can I say….(Again! Lucky!)
#68 aka Amy from A New Song
#52 aka Brooke from Learning As I Go
Giveaway #26: Scientific Seamstress Patterns
#102 aka Jane Jeffress Thomas from Knock Three Times
Giveaway #27: Words & Wisdom Vinyl
#59 aka Amy from Adventures of Shawn and Alex
Giveaway #28: Creations by Kara
#15 aka Sarah from Sarah’s Digi Scraps
Giveaway #29: Good Egg Interiors
#16 aka The Mang Family from Mang World
Giveaway #30: Accessorie by Lindsey
#8 aka sjf_1979
Giveaway #31: Singed Flowers
#119 aka CodynStacey





















