Transparency Pictures

I love, love, love this craft.  It is so, so, so easy and so, so, so cute!

Okay here are the steps, so try to keep up (Kidding! Because, it's super easy!). 

Get a transparency (you can buy them for $0.40each at your local office supply store in the copy department).  Type up a song or saying; i.e. "You Are My Sunshine", "I Am A Child of God", The Family Proclamation, The Living Christ, "I Love To See the Temple", "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes".  Put the transparency in your printer, hit the print button and let dry!

Because you will be printing an 81/2 x 11 and frames are 8x10 you will have to cut the transparency (after you print it) to fit the opening, you can also make them smaller to fit 5x7.

I have ALL of the above songs and sayings and I am more than happy to send them to you via email, so email me at attirealterations@gmail.com!

Clothespin Photo Stand

I think my motto has become "I should have taken a picture of that!"

I made a ton of these for some friends and didn't take a single picture, but here is the one that I have sitting in my office, so please keep in mind that there are so many cute things you can do with these, and this is only one idea.

For the record, I got this idea from a friend, and now I see them everywhere.

I found the wood clothespins online through a company that sells them for $0.84 if you buy them 10 at a time.  The shipping is also about $10, but if you buy 30 the shipping is only $12, so buy them in bulk to get the best price (which is still a lot cheaper than the craft and fabric stores).

Mod Podge the clothespin, let it dry, then mod podge the paper, and let that dry.  Then add whatever embellishments you would like and I used mod podge to add those as well!

You can use it as a gift card holder, or make them for baby shower gifts, or if you are giving someone a "Thank You" card, etc. put the card in the clothespin!  A very fun way to add a little touch of flair!

Etched Glasses

I love my new glasses! 

 I just bought a super inexpensive set of glasses at the store ($6 for 12) and etched my circle pattern onto them.  I used good ole' contact paper that I had lying around the house and I punched two different size circles out of 6x3inch strips, then stuck the contact paper onto a clean glass, filled in any holes with scotch tape and applied the Etching Cream.  The Etching Cream is tricky to work with and very dangerous if it gets in contact with your skin so make sure you read the directions VERY carefully, wear gloves and don't work on this project while your kids are up and running around.  I worked on my glasses at night when the kiddos were in bed and I didn't have any disractions.  It took me a couple of nights to finish them, because I would only work on a few glasses at a time to make sure I got just the right look I wanted.

Cording Napkin Rings

A friend of mine makes bracelets out of cording and I took a picture of them and showed it to my husband and he thought that they were napkin rings, and I thought "what a good idea!".  So voila!  Here are my cording napkin rings.

You tear, literally, strips of 1/2" wide fabric and sew them end to end.  Then you take 14" of cording, found in the Home Decor section of the fabric store,  wrap one end of your fabric to one end of the cording and stitch it in place then wrap the fabric around the cording until you get to the end and stitch the fabric into place at the end.  Wrap your cording around a spool of thread, or a dowel (1 1/4") and use sewing pins to pin it into place.  Hand stitch with longer needle through all of the layers of cording (you should have 3 rings of cording with 4 pieces to sew through where the ends meet up).  I sew through 5 different spots evenly spread out.  Then slide the napkin ring off of the dowel and your done!

I will be adding pictures to the step by step instructions in the next few weeks, but if you have any questions you can email me at attirealterations@gmail.com

Burlap Tiles

 I have my post about the Burlap Signs, well here is the same concept but on tiles.  The top picture is of a 12x12 tile and I didn't have any scrapbook paper on hand that was what I was looking for, so I used fabric.  I lightly mod podged the fabric (don't use too much or it will change the color of the fabric) onto the tile.  Total cost (not including stand) $3.50

This bottom picture is of a 6x6 tile with scrapbook paper, which was so much easier because you just apply the mod podge as you would with any other paper project. 

Total cost (not including stand) $2.00

Sherpa Vests

I made these vests for our family pictures.  They are super easy and super cute!

Jeans Apron

Have an old pair of jeans that you dont know what to do with?  Turn them into a super cute apron! 

Then use the back pockets to make the pocket purses!

$1 Store Shelves

So these little shelves I have had for years, but I originally got them at the $1 Store.  They were white and didn't work for the look I wanted, so I painted them brown with a black coat on top and then a clear coat. 

I grew up with my mom always taking something we had around the house and she would strip it down and repaint/stain it to make it work.  So that's my motto "Take what you have and make it work",  most everything in my house has been re-used, re-painted, or re-made. 

Thanks Mom, Love you!

Burlap Signs

I want to add a disclaimer that I originally found this idea on another blog.  I love how it turned out though, super cute!  I also made ones for Kitchen, and Laundry.

Did you know that you can print on burlap?  This entire project cost me $9 including the frame.  You iron freezer paper onto the burlap, cut it to 8 1/2 x 11 and put it through your printer.  Take off the freezer paper, mod podge (just use a little bit) onto a piece of foam core board.  Use decorative tacks for the corners.  Make some flowers out of scraps of fabric, sew on buttons and/or jems and hot glue them to the board.

I love this - it's my new favorite craft, so family beware, you will probably all get one for Christmas!

Pocket Purse

I love these and almost every one of my friend's daughters now have one.  Just take a pair of old jeans, cut out the pockets, add some ribbon, flowers, and some jems, and you have yourself an adorable little purse.  I like to stuff them with chapstick, nail polish, bracelets, etc. and you have a super cute, easy, affordable gift. 

Mod Podge Letter

Super easy and inexpensive craft.  Just get a paper mache letter from your local craft store, rip up some scrapbook paper and mod podge it onto the letter.  I mod podge the entire letter before I start and I put a coat of mod podge on after I'm finished to seal it (I am partial to the matte finish).  Then get the velcro Command Strips to mount it to the wall or put it on a shelf.

Scrapbook Photo Frames

My adorable girls!

Dress turned into curtain

So I had this dress that I didn't really like, but I LOVED the fabric.  I was looking at my little sewing room window, looked down at my ill fitting dress and  decided to turn my dress into a curtain and here it is!  The panels are from the skirt, the black and white strip is from the waist band, and the ruffle on the top is from the bodice.

Shower Curtain

If you look at some of my Wedding Dress posts you will see the fabric I used as a room divider.  I wanted to incorporate that into the guest bathroom, so here I used it to make a 3 part valance for my shower curtain.  It is mounted to the ceiling using square dowels and then I used round dowels for weight at the bottom of each section.

Baby Dress

I added this picture just for fun.  I love, love, love this pattern, I think it's so cute!  The material is actually fabric my grandmother bought for me when I was a baby.

Patio Furniture

Fitted Tablecloth

This can be done with any table.  I have made them for folding tables as well.

This patio furniture used to be hunter green with green floral floppy cushions.  I added MDF on the back and bottoms of the seats and added extra padding to the original cushions and then covered them.  I also made all of the pillows and the tablecloth which made a nice accent.

Dining Room Curtains

A friend of mine bought these valances from a store and wasn't completely happy with the way they looked.  I took them apart and stapled them to 1x6 pieces of wood, then they were installed using L brackets and mounting them to the wall.  This is a great way to make curtains work for various size windows as you often can not find the same rod for all sizes of windows. 

There weren't enough valances to fit all of the windows, so I had to cut and piece them together with a solid colored fabric that matched the rusty/red color.  So this valance is actually 6 pieces.

Adding a Jacket

This beautiful girl had a strapless dress and wanted to add a jacket but didn't want to cover up the bodice on the gown.  The dress was a little over 7 inches to long, so I took the fabric from the bottom of the dress to make a jacket.  I had 7 x 6 inch pieces of fabric to work with and from that created a custom fit jacket just for her.  It also had a strap that went under her bust line in order to hold it in place under the dress. 

__________________________________________________________________________________

Here is another example of adding a jacket to a dress when you don't want the bodice covered up.  I didn't have fabric from the dress to work with, but we found fabric that matched really, really well although in the picture it looks off, but in person it was almost an exact match.

Change it Up

The dress is one of the many reasons that I now try to take before and after pictures.  I really wish you could see what this dress looked like before I worked on it. 

This wedding gown was originally completely straight.  There were no tucks, straps, or additional layers to the dress.  The beautiful bride really wanted a dress with tucks, and wanted straps.  I created tucks with the bottom layer of fabric and the tulle on top.  I also added another layer underneath the dress in order to make it long enough in the front.  I also added straps to the dress and added a halter strap as well so that she could use either one on her big day.  Adding all of the tucks in the back also worked as a bustle.  In the top picture you can also see a piece of removable lace that was added because the bodice was low cut.

There are a lot of things you can do to make a gown your dream gown! 



*I just received this picture from the bride.  Her mom took it at the bridal store when they bought it.  It was fun to see after so much time because I had forgotten exactly what it looked like.  There was also a belt sewn onto the dress (that is hidden by her arms) that I took off.  So now you can see the before and the after!