Football Baby Blanket

We are HUGE football fans. My husband played in High School and College and I wanted to play (but wasn't allowed). Now we both settle for watching the Louisiana teams and cheering for our favorites...the NEW ORLEANS SAINTS, the NSU DEMONS, and the LSU TIGERS.
Here in Illinois, we have a nice little group of people from Louisiana and we get together with them often during Football Season. I decided to make my youngest this blanket and surprise some of our friends with a blanket for their little guy.

I am also adding my own tutorial for the blanket. I hope if you're a football fan like me, you'll enjoy making it as much as I did!

Choose your fabrics wisely. You don't want to make a blanket for a team you don't like rooting for. I've chosen minky brown for one side and an LSU cotton for the other.

You will need:
1 yard of minky or another soft fabric
1 yard Team fabric (can be a heavier fabric than cotton if desired)
1/4 yard of white fleece or another fabric that won't fray
White thread
Brown thread

First, wash your fabrics. You don't want them to shrink on you later.
Next, take your brown fabric and fold it in half. Then in half again.
Cut the fabric in a oval fashion (as if you were going to cut 1/4th of the oval). When you open up the fabric it will make the football shape.
Fold the fabric back up. Fold your other fabric in the same manner. Place brown fabric on top of other fabric with folded edges meeting. Use this as your template to cut the fabric.
Unfold fabrics.
Cut white fabric into laces for the football.
Place on brown fabric and sew down.
Turn brown fabric face down on top of other fabric.
Sew along edges. leave a 6in opening so you can turn the blanket right side out.
'Finish' blanket by sewing edge closed and sewing along edge of the rest of the blanket. This will give it a finished look and close the gap in the fabric.

The tutorial I used for this blanket can be found here: http://thrivinghomeblog.com/2012/01/football-blanket-tutorial/

Burlap Wreath

I've tried to be very crafty lately and wanted to surprise my husband when he got home after a trip. I also wanted to make my home a little more inviting. I found many different wreaths that looked cute and easy to make but I decided, like I usually do, to take the ones I liked and make them my own.

Here is my finished product.

I love how the yellow flowers pop and how the stark white Fleur De Lis looks.

I didn't get all the pictures I wanted during the process because my phone died. 

I'll post the ones I did get.

What you will need:
2 burlap rolls - brown - approx. 10yards
1 roll colored burlap (I couldn't find any rolls so I bought 1 yard of yellow burlap)
green metal wreath (mine is about 18 inches)
Ribbon or patterned burlap (mine is a Damask Canvas ribbon)
Fleur De Lis wodden icon - 12"
1 pkg pipe cleaners to match burlap color
scissors
Hot Glue & gun
paint (acrylic paint of your color choice)
paint brush

not pictured: hot glue sticks/gun, scissors, paint, & paintbrush

First!!!

Paint Fleur De Lis and allow to dry

Wreath making:

First I cut a bunch of the pipe cleaners in half. 

Next you take one of the rolls of burlap and secure an edge to a crossbar at the top of the wreath.

Then you take the burlap from the back of the wreath and pull about 6 inches through. 

Do this through all 3 openings in the wreath form. 

I went from left to right and once I was at the bottom I went middle, top, middle bottom. 

Each time you get to a cross bar, attach the section with a piece of pipe cleaner.

Once you have gone all the way around. Fluff and adjust your sections to make them nice and full.

Now, take the ribbon and from the front of the wreath, find a starting point 

and attach it to a piece of the wire form with your pipe cleaners.

Move the ribbon around the wreath attaching at intervals to your liking.

(My ribbon was only 3 yards and did not make it all the way around the wreath.

 I used this section to place my Fleur De Lis.)

For the flowers:

First you need to take and cut your burlap into strips. As you can see I couldn't find a tape measurer so I used a large candy bar I had in my office as the guide. It is about 3 inches wide.

For the small flowers I cut the burlap in half (making it go from about 36 inches in length to 18)

For bigger flowers leave burlap longer.

Now for the hard part. Fold burlap lengthwise. Take one edge of it and place a small amout of hot glue.

 Roll this up tight so that the end stays together. Continue to roll two or three more times.

It should look like this: 

 Now, you  should continue to move the fabric around the bud/center you just made. But instead of pulling it tight around the middle, let it be looser and gather it together around the bottom. 

I glued as I went so it stayed together.

Continue to wrap and glue.

 Once you get to the end of the burlap, glue the end down so the rough edges aren't showing

Then you will flip your flower over, trim excess strings, and glue the bottom together.

And here is your finished flower!

 For larger flowers, only fold the top of the burlap down about 1/4 of the way. 

(or you could cut your strips larger)

Here is what my flowers all look like close up on the wreath.

Once you have all your flowers made and you find the placement you like on the wreath,

use your hot glue to glue them into place.

Next step is to flip the Fleur De Lis over and to hot glue 3 full length pieces of pipe cleaner onto it.

One near the top, one in the middle, and one near the bottom.

Make sure to only glue about an inch to an inch and a half to the decal.

After the glue is dry and hardened, use the pipe cleaners to attach it to the wreath.

Now, you're all done and can display it beautifully on your front door!

Good Luck and Happy Crafting!

~Amanda Storrs~

For more tips/tricks, here are the sites I used as my tutorials:

Wreath Ideas:

here is the one I used

http://thesassymomma.com/2013/08/28/diy-fall-burlap-wreath/

This one may be easier but I'm not sure

http://roomsforrentblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/spring-burlap-wreath.html

Flowers:

http://www.diyinspired.com/how-to-make-a-burlap-flower/

No Sew Fitted T-Shirt

Yes, I admit, I did decimate an official LSU t-shirt. Don't blame me, blame SANDMA1HALF on Instructables.com and Momma Dotson at ConnectTheDotsons. It's all their fault for showing me how!

Now, I know I am going to receive a LOT of flack for this, but before you set up the torturing devices, I want you to hear my side of the story...

Crepe Paper Rose Balls

I made most of the decorations for this camouflage baby shower. Here are the photo steps of me making the crepe paper rose balls. There's a great tutorial that I used from Amy Huntley at The Idea Room. Amy has step by step photos and also a video tutorial which really helps a lot.

The following are just step by step photos from my attempt at making these. They came out pretty well, if I do say so myself. :)

 

DIY "Mistletoe"

So I decided to make my own mistletoe to hang from our bedroom doorway. Since I waited till last minute (not by choice, but by health), I had to use resources I already had at home. I grabbed some paper, felt, fabric glue, scissors, a paperclip, and a pin. This is what I came up with:

Halloween (or playtime) Sword

I made this for Bubba's knight costume, but I was informed that it is not long enough to be a knight's sword. Shows just how much I know!

I used common household items, such as: a paper towel roll, aluminum foil, parts of a corrugated box, a Clinique Turnaround Concentrate box, a hot glue gun with, of course, glue sticks, and duct tape. In the process I first, forgot to take step by step pictures and second, used a combination of websites and ideas to fashion this sword. I will do my best to give credit where credit is due.

Live Green - Get Beautiful Wood Furniture With This Green Alternative

Live Green - Get Beautiful Wood Furniture With This Green Alternative

Basic Polishing Cream Waxing Formula
- 4 ounces oil (2 1/2 ounces olive oil or jojoba, 1 1/2 ounces coconut oil)
- 1 ounce beeswax
- 1 ounce carnauba wax
- 4 ounces distilled water
Melt the oils and waxes in a double boiler over medium heat. Remove from the heat, pour in the water, and mix with a hand mixer until thick and creamy. Dab some cream onto a soft cotton rag and rub into the furniture. Buff and polish until the oils are well worked into the wood. Store in a Mason Jar in the pantry for 6 months to a year.
Now you’ll no longer have to choose between beautiful wood furniture and a beautiful healthy world. You can have both.

More Hairbows

Now that I kinda know what I'm doing they look a little better.

My Very First Bow!!

Thanks to A Girl and A Glue Gun!!

The very first bow that I have every made all by myself!!

This is the easiest bow to make! (Although I have no experience with other types of bows to compare it to. LOL!!)

I will be making plenty more too!

Coffee Filter Wreath

My Coffee Filter Wreath!!

UPDATE 6/6/13
Oh that photo does not do it justice. I'll have to come back and re-do this post because I don't have any other photos or description or instructions here!