lorihadams
Always doing laundry
Okay guys....here's mine!
These are great projects for your kids to introduce them to hand or machine sewing.
I use muslin to back my quilts and for the linings of tote bags so I often have leftover pieces of muslin. Cut 2 identical rectangles of muslin and sew on three sides, leaving the short top side unfinished. Turn right side out and insert a piece of aluminum foil and paint as desired with fabric paint.
I do this for halloween gift bags as well as christmas gift bags.
When they are dry take out the aluminum foil (so the paint doesn't bleed through) and fill with candy, homemade cookies, hand made soap or bath salts, whatever. There is no limit on how big or small these can be, you can make them to fit any sized gift. I leave the top unfinished and tie it with baling twine to give it a country feel.
These make great gifts for teachers or your children's school friends or neighbors. Sometimes we sneak one for each of our children under the tree with a special gift inside.
Now I also do these square bottom bags out of felt. This is a great thing to do for hand stitching practice because it uses a simple whip stitch. Easy to do while you are watching tv in the evenings. Cut the bottom square of felt any size you want and then cut rectangles for the sides. They can be any height as long as the short sides of the rectangles are the same length as the sides of the bottom square. I cut a small square out of 2 sides at the top and then cut a length of felt and tie it closed.
These are great bags for movies or cds or homemade gifts as well. You can leave it plain but I like to use sparkly sequins and a glue gun to jazz them up a bit.
For homemade bath salts here is what I do. Go to a craft store and look for the soapmaking aisle. Get the basic 3 pack of red, yellow, and blue soap dye. Then pick out 3 or 4 of your favorite soap scents. This will cost you about $10 total to start off with. Next, buy epsom salts...lots of bags cause they are addictive. Place desired amount of epsom salts in a sandwich size plastic ziploc bag. Add a couple drops of soap dye, mixing colors as needed, to begin with. Add about 7 or 8 drops of scent and zip the bag closed leaving some air in the bag. Next, smoosh the salts around in the bag until the color distributes evenly throughout the salts. If you want it lighter, go easy on the dye. If you want it darker, just keep adding drops of dye until you get the desired color.
If you want you can put these in some pretty glass jars or half pint or pint fancy jelly jars and top with a square of fabric over the ring and tied with raffia or baling twine.
To use in the bath, throw a couple handfuls in the water and let it dissolve completely and soak.
These are great projects for your kids to introduce them to hand or machine sewing.
I use muslin to back my quilts and for the linings of tote bags so I often have leftover pieces of muslin. Cut 2 identical rectangles of muslin and sew on three sides, leaving the short top side unfinished. Turn right side out and insert a piece of aluminum foil and paint as desired with fabric paint.
I do this for halloween gift bags as well as christmas gift bags.
When they are dry take out the aluminum foil (so the paint doesn't bleed through) and fill with candy, homemade cookies, hand made soap or bath salts, whatever. There is no limit on how big or small these can be, you can make them to fit any sized gift. I leave the top unfinished and tie it with baling twine to give it a country feel.
These make great gifts for teachers or your children's school friends or neighbors. Sometimes we sneak one for each of our children under the tree with a special gift inside.
Now I also do these square bottom bags out of felt. This is a great thing to do for hand stitching practice because it uses a simple whip stitch. Easy to do while you are watching tv in the evenings. Cut the bottom square of felt any size you want and then cut rectangles for the sides. They can be any height as long as the short sides of the rectangles are the same length as the sides of the bottom square. I cut a small square out of 2 sides at the top and then cut a length of felt and tie it closed.
These are great bags for movies or cds or homemade gifts as well. You can leave it plain but I like to use sparkly sequins and a glue gun to jazz them up a bit.
For homemade bath salts here is what I do. Go to a craft store and look for the soapmaking aisle. Get the basic 3 pack of red, yellow, and blue soap dye. Then pick out 3 or 4 of your favorite soap scents. This will cost you about $10 total to start off with. Next, buy epsom salts...lots of bags cause they are addictive. Place desired amount of epsom salts in a sandwich size plastic ziploc bag. Add a couple drops of soap dye, mixing colors as needed, to begin with. Add about 7 or 8 drops of scent and zip the bag closed leaving some air in the bag. Next, smoosh the salts around in the bag until the color distributes evenly throughout the salts. If you want it lighter, go easy on the dye. If you want it darker, just keep adding drops of dye until you get the desired color.
If you want you can put these in some pretty glass jars or half pint or pint fancy jelly jars and top with a square of fabric over the ring and tied with raffia or baling twine.
To use in the bath, throw a couple handfuls in the water and let it dissolve completely and soak.
They will get a kick out of them.
