Wood Plank Surf Board

I found a challenge last week where they had to use a pallet or barn wood to create something.  I LOVED what Kim from Sand and Sisal had created.  A rustic surf board for her son's room.

Since the beach has become such a big part of our daughters life I knew she would like one.

I just needed to make it more weathered looking than rustic to more blend in for her room.

Went to Lowe's and purchased 3 boards: 1x6x4; 2 pieces of lattice.

Originally I wanted it to look old school so I stained the two outboard pieces.  I really liked the look, but decided it still wouldn't be right for my daughters room.  I will definitely do the stain thing again if I make this to give as a gift for a boy's room!

Using Gorilla Wood Glue I glued the 3 boards together.  Using my nail gun I also added 2 pieces of lattice to the back for a nice tight fit with the boards.

I cut a piece of wrapping paper just shy of my length and width of the boards.  I folded the paper in half and free handed a surf board shape and then cut out.

I traced it onto the top of my boards and using a jigsaw cut it out and then thoroughly sanded all the edges.

I painted the whole thing white and let dry.

Next I laid out a boarder using blue paint tape and painted a 1.5 inch pink stripe around the surfboard.  Since I was going for a weathered look, it is lightly applied and a little streaky.

Next I used my Silhouette Cameo and cut out a turtle stencil and painted on some sea turtles.

Last I used my jigsaw to cut out a fin for back of the surfboard.  Attached using wood glue and some painters tape to hold in place until dry.  It needed something so I added a turquoise stripe down the fin.  Once dry I used sandpaper to take off some of the paint.

I'm going to hang it using picture wire and screws on her bedroom wall.

I think these would make some great boy gifts and so much you could do to personalize them!

Hooking up with Skip to my Lou for Made by you Monday.

Fabric Baby Ball

Here is a super easy and portable baby gift to make!  These actually come together rather quickly.
I actually carry everything around in a small Ziploc bag to work on when I have down time.  I even baste stitch the pentagons while we drive down to the beach. 

I use premade 2 inch pentagon paper pieces that I buy here.

You can cut out your own, but personally I like the card stock quality of the ones I buy and I know the shape is absolutely perfect with each pentagon I use.

I actually made a clear plastic template (not shown) to use in cutting my fabric to the correct size, to fold over the paper pieces.  The clear plastic also helps me to center anything on fabric I want to highlight.

Cut out 12 pentagon shapes from your fabric.  Ensure to cut fabric at least 1/4 inch larger than paper piece.

Place paper piece in center of fabric and fold over the seam allowance.  Finger press into position and using big stitches baste around the pentagon.  I start and end with a knot in my thread.  It does NOT matter the color thread use use for the baste stitch as it will come out later on.

Decide which pentagon you want for the center and then with right sides together, whip stitch two pentagons together.  Remember you are only just grabbing the fabric.  DO NOT grab any of the paper piece when whip stitching the pentagons together.

 Repeat until you have 5 "petals". Then repeat with the other 6 pentagons.

Once you have 12 pentagons baste stitched lay them out as shown below to whip stitch them together into a ball.   (You can also press them flat with a warm iron before joining them together.)

Join the two sections together using a whip stitch and just keep working your way around the ball until all but one side is left open for turning.

Now you can snip your baste thread and remove all the paper pieces. I save mine to reuse for another ball.

Once all the paper pieces are removed and baste thread pulled out.  Turn your ball right side out and begin stuffing.

I put small jingle bells in the baby balls.  But since I'm a safety freak I sew the bells into little muslin pockets to insert into the ball.  I do this step when the ball is about half way stuffed.

Make sure to use your finger or a pencil eraser to poke out all the connection points of each pentagon.

Stuff very firm and I use a ladder stitch to close up the ball.

Perfect project for all your fabric scraps!

Linking up today with Made by you Monday, by Skip to my Lou.

Wool Felt Baby Shoes

I always try to have a handmade baby gift stash on hand.  And I knew these simple shoes would be great to add to my collection.  My office has 3 pregnant girls all due this Fall.  The wool felt will be perfect for the Fall/Winter season.

These baby shoes are sized for 3 months. 

They come together very quickly using a blanket stitch.

The original tutorial from Purl Bee used a tiny piece of elastic at the opening of the shoe to give it a little more support.  I only used the elastic on 2 of the shoes.  For the other 2 pairs I used my Big Shot and cut out 2 small flowers then added a small baby button in the middle of each flower and sewed on.

I love using the blanket stitch.  It looks so professional when care is taken to ensure spacing is all the same on top and underside of your project.

For the pattern click here.

For the full tutorial from Purl Bee click here.

I buy my wool felt here.  I love that they only charge me for the actual weight of the felt I buy.  So shipping & handling is so much cheaper than many other places out there.

This is linked up with Skip to My Lou, made by you monday.

Zucchini Nut Bread Cookie Sandwiches

Or as I call  'em Zucchini whoopie cookies.  These are so yummy.  I love zucchini anything so the fact that I get 2 cookies with yummy filling in between is great!  These cookies will be a big hit.  I always get a lot of comments when I bring to parties.

You can eat them straight from the refrigerator!

Zucchini nut bread cookie sandwiches

1 cup flour

1 ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

Course salt

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, room temp

½ cup sugar

½ cup light brown sugar

1 large egg

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup finely grated zucchini

1 cup old fashioned oats

½ cup chopped walnuts

8 oz cream cheese, room temp

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

Sift flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt into a bowl.  Beat 1 stick butter and sugars until pale and fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.

Beat in flour mixture into butter mixture.  Mix in zucchini, oats, and walnuts.  Refrigerate until firm about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350.  Using 1 ½ inch ice cream scoop (about 2 tablespoons) drop dough onto parchment lined baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart.  Bake until the edges are golden, about 17 minutes.  Let cool on a wire rack.

Beat together remaining ½ stick butter, cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar until smooth.  Spread 1 heaping tablespoon filling onto the flat side of 1 cookie and sandwich with another cookie.  Repeat with remaining filling and cookies.

Store finished cookies in refrigerator.

* * I place frosting in a Ziploc bag, cut off lower corner and pipe onto flat side of cookie.

This is from Martha Stewart March 2011

Fabric Ice Cream Cones

I thought these were too cute to pass up.  I saw these on Friday and knew I had to make them!  I see an ice cream party in our future and these will be great decorations.

The original tutorial is from icing designs online.  I will post the link at the end of the post. 

But maybe I can save you some time and money with a few tips I learned from making these.

Originally it called for using 2 1/2 inch styrofoam balls.  You can NOT use regular green or white styrofoam balls.  They are too lumpy and bumpy and once you try and cover them with your fabric it looks awful.  You need to use Smooth Foam balls.  I was only able to locate 3-inch balls from Michael's.  But they worked out just fine.

Since I used larger styrofoam balls I had to make my fabric circle bigger, so I cut a 9-inch circle paper template to use for cutting out my fabric circles.

I also made my own cone template since I had the larger ball size.

Since fabric is pricey I only bought 1 yard of each color.  Once I cut my fabric into 36" long x 1 1/2 inch strips, I cut one of the strips in half  and sewed it together with a regular length to make a longer piece of fabric to ruffle.  You won't be able to see the seam once you start to ruffle your fabric strip.

Before making the ruffles ensure you use pinking shears and cut down both sides of the strips.

I thought I might be able to just baste stitch down the length of fabric and pull on the threads in order to get the ruffles.  This made the pleats but it was way to uniform looking.  So use your sewing machine to get organic looking ruffles.  My finished ruffle length was about 21 inches.

To assemble:
Cover styrofoam ball with one piece of 9 inch fabric.  Gather fabric around ball and apply hot glue towards bottom of ball to secure fabric to ball.  Try to have tight gathers and pull the fabric smooth as much as you can.  Work little sections at a time.  Remember it will sit inside a cone so does not have to be perfect at bottom.

Cut out your ice cream cone pattern.  I made my own cone pattern since I was using larger balls.  I also used textured cardstock which made them very sturdy.  I used double sided tape to gather cone sides together and secure.

Place hot glue around inner opening of cone and place your fabric covered ball in opening.  I applied a little bit of pressure to ensure it adhered.

Next I took one of my ruffles lengths and hot glued it around the top of cone and lower part of fabric.  You can twist it as you wrap it around the cone if you like.

In order to hang up I used a very small stick pin and  ribbon pushed into top center of cone.

Original tutorial and instructions can be found here:  Icing Designs Online.

Linked to Skip to My Lou, made by you monday.