Tried With Fire

Materials: 1.5 inch wooden disc Two 1.5 inch circles of decorative paper Gesso Acrylic paint Decoupage medium or equal parts Elmer's glue and water Polyurethane varnish Glue-on bail Adhesive such as E6000 or super glue 1. Prime the entire wooden disc with gesso. 2. Paint the edge of the disc with acrylic paint. The disc had curved sides which were visible from the front. I figured acrylic paint would look better than gesso white. 3. Decoupage the paper circles to the front and back of the disc. I typed the phrase on an old manual typewriter and then reinforced the type with a very fine permanent pen (Pigma Micron). The ink needs to be waterproof or it will smear as the decoupage medium is water based. Update: Here are tips  to prevent smudging/bleeding when using an ink-jet printer, including sticking the paper in the freezer for an hour. Sounds crazy but I tried it and it works. 4. Apply the varnish to the entire disc. I used 3-4 coats. 5. Glue the ...

Linking up to Petra's Wednesday's World of Wor k at This Good Steward ... This is an easy baby shower gift that is practical and fun. I adapted my version from this tutorial. Materials to make 6 burp cloths: 1 bath towel 1 yd fabric  - quilting cotton weight Matching thread 1. Wash and dry towel and fabric to preshrink.  Iron fabric. 2. Trim the hem from the top and bottom of the towel. I used a fast dry towel from Target which has a very narrow hem and no decorative banding, which would have to be cut off. The side seams can stay intact. 3. Cut the towel into 8 rectangles. These were roughly 15 x 12.5 inches. You will have 2 extra. (To use up the entire towel, you would need approximately 1.5 yards of fabric. You can customize the burp cloth size to suit your needs.) 4. Cut the same size rectangles from the fabric. 5. Place right sides together and pin. Stitch around the edge with a 3/8" hem, leaving an opening to turn the burp cloth right side out. 6. Clip cor...

Here's a tutorial for an easy baby blanket: You will need: 1 yard quilting cotton  1 yard velour dot fabric also known as Minkee 1 pkg Wright's satin blanket binding matching thread 1. Pre-wash the fabric.  If using cotton or cotton blend, be sure to dry to pre-shrink the fabric. 2. Iron the cotton fabric. 3. Trim fabrics to 36 x 36 inch square. 4. Place wrong sides together. 5. Pin blanket binding around the edge.  (I used quilt binding clips rather than pins.) One side of the binding is slightly longer than the other. You'll want to have the longer side on the bottom as you sew so that edge is caught by the top stitching. 6. To miter the corners, unfold the binding at the corner and turn the binding 90 degrees downward.  To make the miter, tuck in the excess fabric to make a 45 degree fold in the corner.  Do the same on the reverse side and pin the folds in place.  (click on the pics for a closer look) 7. Once you have pinned the binding to...