Rice Heat Cold Packs Tutorial

I have made rice heat packs many times over the years, I always have a few kept in the freezer at home as they get used often by myself.  I suffer from headaches and I find a soothing cold pack against my head really helps.  They are also good heated in the microwave as a heat pack for stomach cramps.

The skull design ones are some I have recently made, I made these smaller in a square shape instead of rectangles.  It doesn't really matter what the shape is as long as they do there job.

These are very simple to make, just 2 pieces of cotton cloth, place together pattern side touching each other, sew around all 4 sides, leaving a small gap on one side.  Turn the fabric the right way around, then fill 3/5 full of rice and then secure the hole by sewing it closed.  They are ready to be used, either by placing in the freezer or heating in the microwave.  Here is a link to 'Tipnut'  a really good tutorial: http://tipnut.com/make-your-own-microwave-heating-pad/


Below are some I made and posted about 6 years ago. http://www.karimascrafts.com/2011/02/hot-and-cold-packs.html?m=0

DIY Pirate Hat Tutorial

A pirate hat I made from a simple straw hat.

My youngest daughter, aged 10 has been enjoying herself recently attending local Comic Cons and dressing up.  So far she has been Princess Belle, Princess Merida and also Hermione from Harry Potter. This time she was wanting to dress as a pirate for a Mini Con Pirate and Fairies theme.  We managed to put together a costume from different items of clothing purchased from local charity/thrift shops.  The biggest challenge was finding a pirate hat. We managed to find a straw hat just a day before the event, so I had some quick work to do to get it pirate ready!

Items needed:

• Straw hat or similar shaped hat as shown.
• Ribbons, broken or unwanted jewellery.
• Needle and thread.

Instructions:

Step 1:  Fold the hat into a tricorn shaped hat. Place some stitches using similar coloured thread to the hat to attach the brim of the hat to to hat part.
Step 2:  Decorate the hat, I hand stitched ribbon, folded all the way around the outside of the hat as shown. I then attached a different ribbon along the first folded one to hide the stitches and also add design to it.
Step 3:  Hand stitch pieces of costume jewellery to the hat. I used a pair of unwanted earrings to the side and an old brooch I no longer use to the front.
Step 4: Optional - If you have any feathers you could attach those too!

Below are some photos of my daughter wearing her hat and also her full costume.

She also designed a fabulous treasure map to go with her costume. She has this on her own blog, here is the link: artyprincess.com/2017/04/diy-treasure-map-doctor-who-theme.html

Batman Birdhouse

I think my latest posts are showing my inner Geek haha!  Here is another Batman Post, this time a painted birdhouse.  I bought a plain wooden birdhouse and painted it in the colours yellow and black and then hand painted a bat symbol onto the roof.   I think it turned out quite well. Will look perfect in a lovely garden.  Once I had painted the birdhouse I then gave it a coat of varnish to protect it when outside.

Below is a photo of a plain birdhouse that I bought.

Upcycled Scarf Bag Tutorial

I have been busy recently making some Upcycled Scarf Bags.  I use second hand scarves that I buy from thrift stores/charity shops. I make these scarves into tote style bags and add a lining with a pocket using upycled fabric too.  I am making these to sell on my craft stall or on my Etsy page.

I have posted a while bag showing the original tutorial on how the standard bag is made from a scarf. Here is the link: http://www.karimascrafts.com/2013/07/scarf-surprises-30-days-of-ramadan.html

Photo above shows some of the tote bags on my craft stall.

Candle Cozies

I have been upcycling again recently.  I still have quite a lot of felted fabric from old woolly jumpers.  I have used some of the fabric for previous projects but still had some spare sleeves.  So I thought I would make some candle cozies from them. These were the perfect size to fit the glass candle jars I had at home.  No need for any tutorial to be honest as very simple.  Once the jumpers have already been felted you simply just cut them to size, deciding if you wish to have a turn on the design.  I actually used the same sleeve for different designs of fitting them to the candle if you look closely. One of the cozies I actually cut a felt flower out and hand stitched it to the sleeve for decoration.

I have been selling these on my craft table events.

You may recognise some of the pink felt sleeves from the jumper that was used for a project my now 9 year old daughter made a while ago, an owl felt cushion. This is the link to the owl tutorial: http://www.karimascrafts.com/2015/06/owl-cushion-tutorial.html

Kit Kat Skittles Cake Tutorial

I have been busy lately making and designing cakes. So it was no surprise when my son requested I make a cake for him to celebrate him becoming an official adult. That is him turning 18 here in the UK. I had previously made a KitKat tiered cake (without packets) so he requested a similar one. I will share with you at the bottom of this post the original one I made.

For this one I kind of cheated by buying chocolate cake mix packets and ready made frosting! I have previously made my own but wanted to make sure this turned out good for my son. I will write a mini tutorial for this cake. I actually made 4 layers but only needed 3 layers however that wasn't a disaster as my daughter used that layer to design another cake! If you want to bake your own cake then just follow any online recipe for chocolate cake for 2 or 3 tiers.

Ingredients:

2 packets of Chocolate cake Mix (to make at least 3 round cakes) (extra ingredients that packets ask for)
2 tubs of chocolate frosting
18 (2 finger) Kitkats.
2 Large packets of Skittles
Ribbon/Cake plate

Instructions:

Step 1: Make the cake following cake mix instructions or make your own.
Step 2: Once cakes are cooled down place frosting over the layers and down the sides.
Step 3: carefully place the Kit Kats  all around the cake as neatly as possible.
Step 4: Place the skittles all around the top layer of the cake.
Step 5: Decorate the cake with a bow.

Below is a photo of the other Kit Kat Cake I made first.

Henna Tip Using a Cookie Cutter

Today I am sharing a tip I used for making henna designs. I used this idea on my young daughter and she then used the idea on me! I am not very good at henna designs and feel very inadequate compared to my older daughter who can do brilliant designs. So the idea was to use a template for the design and I realised a cookie cutter was the perfect thing.

Items needed:

Henna tube
Cookie Cutter

Instructions:

Step 1) Spread henna all around the edge of the cookie cutter, not too thick, just enough so it is covered.
Step 2) Place the cutter onto the hand pressing gently so that it leaves a trace of henna on the hand.
Step 3) Then using the henna tube carefully go over the design again. Then add extra patterns making a design of your choice.

The photo below shows my 9 year old daughter using the same technique on my hand.

Ramadan Mubarak 2016

Wishing everyone Ramadan Mubarak.  I hope everyone gets to spend time with their family and friends in this blessed month. In our house I always try and get my children to feel involved and we normally always do something craft related to Ramadan.  If you haven't already seen my link to my '30 Days of Ramadan Crafts' project I did a couple of years back then please go and have a visit as there are so many different ideas of crafts you can do with your young children with a Ramadan theme. The link below will take you to my post which shows you all 30 crafts.

http://www.karimascrafts.com/2013/08/30-days-of-ramadan-crafts-roundup.html

Mermaid Plushie Tutorial

My 8 year old daughter wanted to make a mermaid plushie as part of the Art/Crafts weekly event she has been participating in recently. The week's theme was 'Under The Sea' so instead of a painting she wanted to sew something. She chose the design herself and hand sewed the doll by herself. We used the spare fabric from some old woolen jumpers we had previously felted for older projects that we had spare.

Items Needed:

Felt (various colours)
Embroidery Thread and needle
Stuffing
Scissors for cutting
Paper template (we drew our own)

Step 1: Draw the design you want and cut out a paper template of all the pieces you would need to make the plushie.

Step 2: use the template to cut out the fabric pieces you need, remembering you need a front and back piece for the plushie.

Step 3: Start hand sewing the pieces together, I would suggest sewing all the front pieces together first and then the back pieces next. Then start sewing the front to the back. My daughter used a blanket stitch for all the sewing. Remember to leave a small gap to insert the stuffing.

Step 4: Insert the stuffing and then close up the gap.

Step 5: Hand sew a face design of your choice.

The photo below shows my daughter holding her completed mermaid.

Filing Cabinet Makeover

If you follow my daughter's blog http://www.slhcrafts.com/ then you will know she now has her own Craft Studio so we are in the middle of getting it all ready and furnished. One of the projects that I have done is transform an old dull filing cabinet into a bright arty design.

This was actually quite straight forward but gave a beautiful transformation.

Requirements:

Metal Paint, brushes
Sticky Backed Plastic.

Instructions:

Step 1: Clean the cabinet and prepare with primer if required. (I just cleaned)
Step 2: Paint the parts that you wish to paint, I did everything except the drawers. Allow to dry.
Step 3: Measure the size of the drawers and cut the roll as required. Place over the drawer carefully smoothing out gradually to avoid air bubbles.

You now have a transformed filing cabinet.

Felt Bookmark Tutorial

I recently did a n Eid Gift Swap and one of the gifts I made was a Felt Boookmark, so I thought I would show you how easy these are to make.

Requirements:

Felt
Embroidery thread and needle
Metal grippers
Jewellery or beads (I used an earring piece).

Instructions:

Step 1: Cut out a rectangle piece of felt.
Step 2: Sew a blanket stitch all around the edges. You could also add more decorative stitches.
Step 3: Add the metal gripper.
Step 4: Add any decoration you have to the gripper. I used an earring piece.

DIY Bow Tie Tutorial

It is rare that I get to do sewing for my son!  It was his school Prom this month and he wanted to have a nice Tie for his suit and I decided I would make him one instead of buying one and that way it would be unique too! Can't believe he starts college in September insha'Allah. I also added a matching pocket scarf to match!

Requirements:

• Fabric for Tie
• Needle and Thread
• Fusible interfacing (I actually used hemming webbing)
• Elastic for neck
• Iron

Step 1: Cut out 3 pieces of fabric. I did one piece slightly smaller, but you can keep it the same size. Approx size is 11cm x 24cm. The small piece only needs to be small about 8cm x 5cm. I originally cut it larger and then had to cut it down.

Step 2: Add the interfacing if using, I used hemming webbing! Place enough in the middle and fold the large part halfway lengthways. Iron the fabric.

Step 3: Once you have ironed the webbing place some more in the middle as in the photograph and then fold the ends down securing in the middle with the webbing and iron.

Step 4: Repeat these steps with the 2nd piece of large fabric.

Step 5: Place some webbing into the small piece of fabric and iron and make the centre piece for the tie.

Step 6: Place the 2 main parts on top of each other and then stitch in the middle to secure the two pieces together.

Step 7: Then place the centre part over the bow tie and stitch at the back. Leave a small gap to insert some elastic.

Step 8: Attach some elastic to the bow tie. Size depending on neck width.

Step 9: Optional - with any remaining fabric you can make a pocket scarf. 

I watched quite a few video tutorials to give me an idea on how to do this. One video which I thought was very good at explaining step by step was this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TydoohGHCRY

The above link also made a fabric neck band not an elastic one which I did. My son was so happy with his Bow Tie and Pocket scarf. I used fabric I already had at home so this didn't cost me anything.  There are also some video tutorials which show you how to make Bow Ties without sewing! here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRp-l65V2mQ