Semi-Homemade Minky Blankets

Last year I made several minky blankets for babies.  The first one was for my niece.  This blanket actually was not semi-homemade but SO easy.  I bought about 1 1/4 yards minky fabric and 1 1/4 yards of a cute pink cotton fabric.  I wanted it to be a little larger than your average baby blanket so I used the full 1 1/4 yards, cleaning up the cut edges so that they were straight. 

Pin the fabric right sides together, surge or zigzag around the perimeter, pulling out the pins as you go and leaving a small opening.  Pull the fabric inside out through opening.

 

 

Tuck the openings raw edges under to match the rest of the sewn edges and pin shut.  Sew again using sewing machine single stitch around perimeter again about 1/4 or 1/2 inch from edge.  And you are done.  That is about as easy as it gets.

The next blankets I made in a hurry I was invited to a baby shower for a friend having twins, and  didn't want to spend the time and money buying the minky so I ran to Ross to pick up some inexpensive baby blankets $4.99--which is a steal for minky and the blanket binding. Her nursery colors are blue and green.  I found two matching bright blue blankets, ran to hobby lobby next to pick up some green fabric and thread and went to work.

 

First I unpicked the blanket binding from the Ross blanket.

 

 

Next I cut my fabric to the same size as the minky blanket and pinned them to gether this time wrondg sides together, because the binding covers the raw edges.  Here you can stitch or surge  the fabric and blanket together for a stronger hold.

 

 

Next wrap the binding back around the blanket as before and pinning in place on one side.

 

 

Next flip the blanket over and pin again.  The goal is to make sure that the binding does not move and is fitted evenly to both sides.

 

 

Next topstitch carefully along the same lines as the binding was sewn on before. I ending up using blue thread and not the green pictured, I am not the best at sewing straight and my lines did not show up as much using the matching thread.

 

 

Then I folded the blanket and put it back on its original hanger, and it is now gorgeous and one of a kind, well in this case,  two of a kind.

 

Happy Sewing!

 

 

 

Teacher and Neighbor Gifts

I always like to keep Christmas Gifts as simple as possible.  This year our teacher and neighbor gifts will be the same gift!  A few months ago I was clicking around Pinterest and saw a recipe for Nutella Hot Choclate and was instantly in love.  Yum!!  I have family who live in New Zealand and Nutella is a staple over there, and here at our house.  But as Hot Chocolate?! Can I hear a "hip hip!" This recipe
(although very decadent) is now one of our favorite treats and we can't wait to share it with our neighbors and our children's teachers.

This Gift includes:

• A cereal or soup bowl-the best price I found on these was at the $ store but only in colors black or green, which are great! I bought mine at Ross in a 4 pack for $7 and Fred Meyer for $2 each
• A small container of Nutella.  I found these for 3/$7.88 at Sams Club
• Baggies of Marshmellows (Just stapled shut)
• 2 Red and white paper straws.  I found mine at a local restaurant supply store.

Tie with a ribbon and attach with tags, one with greeting and the other with THE Recipe.

My 4 year old wanted to make sure I got a picture of the marshmellows (His favorite)

I wanted the tag to have a line so that my kids could write their own names, it is more personal that way, doncha think?  Below are graphics of my tags, feel free to save or print yourself!

This is my favorite type of gift, simple, pretty, and delicious. 

As a parting note my sister, mom and I wanted to come up with a clever line or rhyme, but didn't succeed.  Feel free to laugh or roll your eyes at the ones that didn't work out:

"Forget a cup of cheer, Grab a bowl!  Merry Christmas!"

"We are nuts about you!  Merry Christmas!"

"Your nuts for being our neighbor! Oh wait you didn't have a choice. Merry Christmas!"

Some that we found on the internet were:

"Fall in love? I'd rather fall in chocolate."

"My blood type is Nutella"

Okay maybe they aren't that funny but wait until you are really tired, they get funnier, I promise!

Thanks for the visit!

Linking to:  The Shabby Creek Cottage

My Romantic Home

The Shabby Nest Frugal Friday

French Country Cottage

At the Picket Fence

Awesome Gift Artisan Earrings

A couple of months ago my sister-in-law and I went to this great boutique where we found these beautiful colorful earrings!!  We were grabbing pairs and pairs when I started looking at them more closely, and you know me, I of course said "Hey, we can make these!"  And make them we did (after buying several pairs to wear until ours were finished!)  My sister-in-law and I painted 15 pairs in an hour and for less than $20 for all!!  They are going to be the perfect friend gifts, for not only her friends but also her teenage daughter's friends!!  At close to a $1 a piece, you really can't beat them!  The charms we bought at Hobby Lobby for 50% off  About 1.50 for 4!  The earring hooks we also found at Hobby Lobby for a couple bucks.  Thanks to my beautiful sister-in-law for modeling!

On to the tutorial...

Supplies:

• Foam sponges (at least 3)
• Charms
• Earring hooks (These are kidney shaped) 
• Acrylic Paint -- Enamel is great, but any acrylic will work  Also if doing them all one color you can use spray paint too!
• Black Acrylic Paint
• A Mixing Glaze (I had the Valspar glaze ($15) on hand from furniture refinishes, but you can also find smaller versions at local craft stores) 
• Polyacrylic to seal <Not pictured>

Step 1:  Paint acrylic paint over charm

 Step 2:  Apply second coat of acrylic paint -- Check the back of the charms, if paint has bubbled paint back side too!

 Step 3:  Let paint dry, if using enamel paint they looked great at this stage and really if you are using enamel paint you could leave them like this.

Step 4:  Mix equal parts of black acrylic paint and mixing glaze 

Step 5:  Using a foam brush glaze mix over charms

Step 6:  Using a damp paper towel carefully wipe off, wiping gently to not remove all of the black, wipe off glaze that may have puddled on back.

Step 7:  Let the glaze dry, grab your sealer or polycrylic

Step 7:  Brush polyacrylic over the tops

Step 8:  Let dry and put them on the earring hooks

Now for the step by step pictures of our 15 pairs, we made in an hour!

The pictures below are pictures of the charms glazed and unglazed!

All done and ready to be given!

Again more modeling pictures!



Not glazed (Butterflies)

I love them all!!  Do you have a favorite?   They were so inexpensive, they are light weight, original and beautiful!!  Thanks again to my beautiful sister in law for letting me take her picture with every color!

Thanks for visiting!!



A HUGE Thank you to Kari at UCreate for featuring!!