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

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

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.

Teal Cushion Covers

My daughter has been busy decorating and furnishing her craft studio and went for a teal theme. She had one feature wall painted teal and painted some of the furniture with similar colours. She had been looking for some teal cushion covers to put on the sofa in the room, but we could not find any cheap ones. We did however find a bargain shower curtain which she loved. I managed to make 3 cushion covers for her from the piece of curtain fabric we bought.

We already had some cushion covers with cushion that we didn't need. So I removed the zips from the cushion covers to reuse and used the covers as a template to cut out the fabric for her new cushions. So total cost was just the price of the shower curtain which was about £2.00 if I remember rightly.

You will notice that the colour of the cushions look different in each photograph, that has just been the effects of the camera and lighting.  Below is a photo of her nearly finished craft studio.

Photo Frame Pin Cushion Tutorial

I have made photo frame pincushions before but larger ones! I bought some cute small photo frames recently and just knew I wanted to make a couple of pin cushion projects out of them! The one in the photograph was made as part of a wedding gift package that I posted about recently. wedding-day-gift-package

I thought I would make a quick tutorial on how I made this.

Requirements:

• Photograph Frame
• Fabric
• Needle and Thread
• Wadding (stuffing)
• Hot Glue

Instructions

Step 1: Cut out a piece of fabric about twice the size of the frame. This frame was round so I used a large cup to draw a circle about twice the size.  If a rectangle shape then maybe one and ahalf to twice the size.
Step 2: Sew a gathering stitch all around the outside of the circle or rectangle.
Step 3: Gather the thread and then insert some stuffing.
Step 4: Place the stuffed fabric into the frame (after glass has been removed) and make sure it has a neat fit.
Step 5: Secure the fabric to the frame by using hot glue.
Step 6: Cover the opening of the fabric with some more fabric if needed by glue or sewing.
Step 7: Place the frame back to the frame, mine had been glued on so I had to re-attach by glue but most frames have sliding out backs.
Step 8: Decorate your frame if needed, I hot glued a couple of small decorations onto this one.


I bought this frame as a set so also did the same with the other 2 doing slightly different decorations, shown below. The one immediately below I have kept at home and have used it to display my daughter's Sea Glass Necklaces. She is currently doing a giveaway on her page if you want to pop by. http://www.slhcrafts.com/2015/06/sea-glass-necklace-giveaway.html

The photograph below is a frame I made as a gift for a friend.

Cute Fabric Cushion

My 8 year old has been busy at her Brownies Club (A popular girls club in the UK). They often make or do interesting things, something different every week. She especially likes it when they do crafty projects!  Her latest crafty project was a cute fabric cushion.

Obviously I wasn't there when she did this but she explained to me how it was done which is very simple.  Decide on a picture or a them that you want on the cushion.  Have a lot of scrap bits of fabric at hand and some fabric glue and scissors.  Cut out the pieces you want and put together a picture you think will look good on the cushion.  My daughter chose an owl which turned out really good.  Once the design was made simply start gluing the pieces of cut out fabric and attach to the cushion.  Once the cushion has been finished allow to dry and insert a basic pillow or stuffing.

Painted Rock Bumble Bee Tutorial

My girls have recently been planting some lovely flowers outside and we decided to make the plot prettier by adding some painted rock bumble bees into the flower beds.  You can use any kind of rocks, preferably ones in an oval shape more like the shape of a bumble bee.

Requirements:

Rocks
Acrylic paint / Paintbrushes
Varnish (optional)

Step 1: Clean the rocks and allow to dry before painting them.
Step 2: Paint the whole rock yellow (may need a few coats)

Step 3: Paint Black stripes on the rock (I painted 3)
Step 4: Using white paint paint on some wings and the whites of the eyes.
Step 5: Add extra colours for eyes or just add a black pupil to eyes.
Step 6: Add varnish if you wish them to be more weatherproof for outside.

I hope you like these bumble bees, my 8 year old daughter helped me painting them, not very difficult at all and a nice little project for young ones to do.

Folded Book Art - My First Attempt

My 2 daughters have both had an attempt at doing Folded Book Art whilst attending their Homneschooling Art Classes. I said I wanted to give it a go so I tried doing it this week. I didn't do any preparation work and rushed this as I didn't have much time but I am still pleased with how it turned out for a first attempt. It is meant to be like a 3D Heart.  I think If I put in more preparation and more time then it would come out good enough to give as a unique gift insha'Allah.

I used an old hard back book bought at a charity/thrift shop.

In case you missed my daughter's attempts at book art here are some pics for you.

DIY Doll Clothes Hangers

My 12 year old daughter wanted to make a Dolls Wardrobe for her little sisters dolls clothes. She made a really good one from just an old shoe box! However she needed some miniature clothes hangers to put into the wardrobe. That part of the task was put down to me!  Here is how I made these from 2 paper clips and part of a drinking straw.

Requirements:

2 paper clips
cut off part of a drinking straw.

Instructions:

Step 1: Using small pliers/or jewellery making tools open up 2 paper clips.
Step 2: Attach the two coat hangers together, twisting to secure to make one long piece with the tool.
Step 3: Cut off a small piece of straw and insert the wire into the straw.
Step 4: Make sure one end is longer than the other and then bend the wire (using pliers) into a clothes hanger shape - look at the main photograph which shows the steps to do this.

The photograph below shows the completed show box wardrobe with the clothes hangers being used to hang the clothes. Here is the link showing how she did this. http://www.slhcrafts.com/2014/10/diy-dolls-wardrobe.html

Praying Hijab Tutorial - DIY

I decided to make another hijab for my youngest using an old maxi dress. This was an old one that I no longer wore or needed! I basically followed the same procedure as I have used previously when making a hijab from old clothes! The photo below shows the bottom part of the maxi dress placed on a chair so you can see it more clearly.

Here is a link to the original tutorial that I shared a few years ago: http://www.karimascrafts.com/2012/08/diy-praying-hijab.html

DIY Pinboard Tutorial

We have just had our Kitchen updated and I wanted to place a pinboard on the wall next to the kitchen door. The only problem was finding one the right size for the space! I decided that I should make one myself but with the least amount of work involved!

I had an old photo frame stored away and an old pinboard that we no longer used so decided to use them both to make one nice stylish pinboard that was the right size for the space on my kitchen wall.

Easy Steps:

Step 1:  I removed the back and the glass from the photoframe, I needed to dispose of the glass as it is not needed now.
Step 2:  I removed the corkboard from my larger pinboard.
Step 3: I cut the corkboard to the size of the photo frame, you could use the backing as a template!
Step 4: I placed the corkboard into the frame and re-attached the backing.

I now have the perfect sized and stylish pinboard in my kitchen now!