10 Tough Cleaning Solutions

It's that time of year when many of you are starting to work on your spring cleaning lists. I recently took an unscientific poll of my friends to gather up some of their most dreaded chores around the house. Boy did they have some tough ones! Lucky for you and for them, I've rounded up all the solutions here in one place.

DIY: Diaper Cake and Cupcake Washcloths

My sister is well known for her beautiful diaper cakes, so I knew that I had to make one for her shower. The only problem was that I had never made a diaper cake before! It was going to be a big challenge. My mother and I came up with the idea of making a diaper cake and matching washcloth cupcakes.

As a base, I used a dollar store platter, then taped a paper towel roll standing up in the center to have something sturdy to build the cake around. The shower theme was pink and black so I wrapped each layer of diapers with coordinating fabric to hide the white and yellow diapers.

DIY: Spring Wreath

It's been such a busy past few weeks! We had my sister's first baby shower, followed by my mother-in-law's birthday party, then the second baby shower. I've spent a lot of time over at my sister's house helping her sort through all the baby goodies and get them organized and put away. So much to do before a baby gets here! I really had no idea! I will get more posts up about all those fun happenings soon.

I actually had a bit of time to do a project around my house, which was a nice break from all the running around.

Confession - I had my Valentine's Day wreath up until about mid-March and realized that I should put up my St. Patrick's Day wreath. The only reason it got taken down is because we had a huge wind storm and the bells on the wreath were driving me crazy banging against the door. I decided this time instead of making an Easter wreath that may end up getting left up until Fourth of July, I would make a nice spring wreath.

The *Easy* Baby Blanket: Take 2

Spring is in the air around here and everyone I know is having babies. I have been a busy bee making all sorts of things for little ones. I think baby gifts are one of my most favorite gifts to make because they are so cute!

A couple of our best friends just recently had their first boy and I wanted to make them something bright and fun for him. I remembered The *Easy* Baby Blanket I had made awhile back and thought that something like it could be the perfect gift, so it was off to the craft room once again.

This time I decided to jazz it up a bit and make a 4 patch blanket. It is just as easy as the original and sews up so quickly!

Budget DIY: Cleaning Foggy Headlights

For awhile now I have been very frustrated with the look of my car's headlights. Not to mention the fact that it makes it very difficult to see at night. They were completely yellow and fogged over. I was about at the point where I thought I needed new ones.

I can't take all the credit or in fact any of the credit on finding this incredible trick. My good friend Carol posted on Facebook about this neat trick and as soon as I read it, I went running to the garage to give it a try. I figured that it couldn't make them any worse and I had everything on hand.

Supplies Needed:
Clean rag or two
Toothpaste (the original post recommended Colgate but I used what I had on hand)
Not pictured - bowl of water

The Cozy Caterpillar

After spending a couple hours out shopping with my one year old nephew, I realized that babies go through a TON of socks! He would go into the store with two socks and inevitably by the time we left there would be one lonely sock on his foot.

I realized that the perfect gift for his first birthday would be some baby socks. I mean the more he has the better, right?! Especially since he seems to be constantly losing them.

I didn't want to just throw a bunch of socks in the bag and call it good either because that just didn't seem fun. So I came up with the "Cozy Caterpillar" baby socks gift. It's super cute and easy to make!

Ingredients:
About a dozen baby socks (boy or girl)
1 pipe cleaner
2 mini pop-poms
2 buttons
Green shredded paper
Note: I have double stick tape pictured but I found that Elmer's glue dots worked better for part of it, so I ended up using both
Not pictured: Container to put it in (I used a cookie tin)

Step 1: Take one of the baby socks and roll it up as seen in the picture.

Step 2: Take the first baby sock and put it down inside the foot of the matching sock.

Step 3: Starting at the opening of the sock, roll it around the foot so that you end up making a ball.

Step 4: Do this with all the remaining socks. Then decide which pattern you would like your caterpillar to have. There was only one red sock with mine, so I made that the head.

Step 5: Cut 2 pieces of pipe cleaner, each about 3 inches long. Wrap the bottoms together to form a "V." Bend the base of the "V" and attach it to the top of the head with the glue dots. Using the glue dots again, attach the pom-poms to the tops of the pipe cleaners and then attach the eyes. You can see why I changed it and went with the glue dots instead. The tape just looks messy!

Step 6: Place a piece of double stick tape on the bottom of each sock and attach them to your container. The double stick tape worked perfectly for this.
I made a zig-zag pattern with the socks. First, to get them all to fit and second because I thought it was cute and wiggly.

Step 7: Finish by filling in around your caterpillar with your paper shreds. I made mine by running 2 different colors of green paper through my shredder.

There you have it! A cute and fun way to give baby socks!

I will be linking up to my favorite parties this week.

DIY: Subway Art Frame

My roommate's birthday was a few weeks back. I already had part of the gift planned - some really cool Stila eyeshadow and a few other make-up things, which I love and knew she would too. But I wanted to do something a bit more personal since she's so dear to me.

I came across this darling Subway art over at Kiki & Company. It was just the thing I was looking for!

Side note - so my friends and I always call patterns for projects "recipes" and I've had a hard time not doing that lately but I just can't help it! So...

Recipe:

You will need a blank wooden frame, acrylic paint (I used Apple Barrel by Plaid White and True Teal), scrapbook paper, white cardstock, Krylon Triple Thick Crystal Clear Glaze, sponge brush, and craft glue (I used Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue).

Step 1:  

Remove the glass (or in my case plastic) from the frame.  Prime frame with 2 coats of white paint. Let dry thoroughly in between layers. Then paint 2 coats of your desired color (also drying well between layers) and let dry. 

When it is completely dry, spray the entire frame with the Krylon Triple Thick Crystal Clear Glaze. Be sure to do this in a well ventilated area like outside (my roommates always gets mad when I do this in the house). Let the frame dry really well before handling again - ask how I know about that!

Step 2:

While that is drying, you can pick out your Subway Art for the frame. Like I mentioned, mine came from Kiki & Company. You can also do a search for "Free Subway Art" on Google for more ideas.

Funny thing was that I was trying to use the red and teal design on Kiki Creates. I didn't realize until it printed that my printer was out of magenta ink. Luckily, I love the way it turned out. To make it fit in my frame, I scaled it down to size in Photoshop and printed from there. I printed it on white cardstock to help the colors really stand out and make it sturdier. 

Step 3: 

This is my favorite part of any project - embellishing! I chose to make some 3D flowers and leaves with the colored cardstock. I love it because it is two-sided! I used my Silhouette to cut them and then glued them to the frame with the craft glue. You can find some ideas to make handmade flowers on my Favorite Flower Tutorials Round-up.

The best part of this project is that you can decide how you embellish the frame. You can use ribbons, buttons, stickers or vinyl cut outs. Personalize it and make it your own.

 

It turned out perfectly and she loved it! The best part of giving it to her was that I could finally take the sign off the craft room door warning her to stay out!

Cleaning the Dryer Vent

I'm sure you've all seen those commercials for things like the Lint Lizard or wands that promise to clean out all that lint trapped deep within the dryer vent. Well being the frugal cheap person that I am, I figured I could come up with some way to clean all that out without having to purchase yet another thing from an infomercial. Side note - I have just about been banned from watching infomercials because I will buy almost any cool thing I see on TV!

This project started because we found out that we have an electric dryer in this new place. If you don't have one, don't get one! They are ridiculously expensive to run compare to gas dryers. I've been searching for tips and tricks to help it operate more efficiently and found that if I cleaned the lint trap (which apparently is also a big cause of dryer fires) it might help it run better.

The wheels in my head got spinning!

You will need a wire hanger, Swiffer dry cloths, and painters tape (or another good and sticky tape).

Straighten out the wire hanger. Then lay the cloth lengthwise along the bottom of the hanger. Secure both ends really well with the tape.

Remove the lint trap and use the wand to clean down inside the lint duct. It will get out all kinds of crud that you had no idea was in there!

Nice and dirty Swiffer cloth that I just took off and threw away. Let's hope this helps the dryer run a bit better now!

Cupid Rhymes with Stupid

My younger sister-in-law is on her high school ASB or Student Body. They have to dress up for about every holiday and school function and when she came over to work on her Valentines to give to her friends, we decided to come up with something custom to wear for Valentine's Day.

This shirt was not our original plan however! We had planned on making the Rufflicious Top over at Polkadots on Parade. I made one the other day for my neighbor's daughter and it turned out beautifully.

We were joking around about Valentine's Day not being so much fun for her because her boyfriend had just broken up with her and so, the Cupid Valentine's Day Top was born:

Supplies needed:
1 t-shirt
freezer paper
iron
sponge brush or paint brush
cardboard or something to layer under the shirt
fabric paint (I used acrylic paint because that's all I had on hand)

To do this with the Silhouette: Tear off a piece of freezer paper the same size as the cutting mat and lay it shiny side down on the mat. I used the LD Hearts font and a cupid from the Silhouette store. Then cut the design with the "Print Paper" setting.

You can also trace a design on freezer paper by hand with an X-acto knife.

To get the stencil, peel the outside of the design off the mat. This is what you will be using. You will also need any of the small pieces such as the inside of the arrow and the hearts inside the letters. The design may curl some, but if you peel the mat away from the template rather than peeling the template off this should help it not curl so much.

Place this centered on the front of the shirt.

I always like to use a press cloth to avoid having things stick to the iron. You can also use a piece of muslin or cotton fabric if you don't have a press cloth.

Set the iron to the highest setting the fabric will allow without steam. Lay the cloth very carefully over your design and press the iron slowly over the whole design. Work carefully so you can adjust the small pieces if they happen to shift at all. I like to go over it several times to make sure that the freezer paper is adhered very well.

Your freezer paper should be stuck to the shirt like a sticker. Then place a piece of cardboard or something thick between the layers of the shirt to prevent the paint from bleeding through to the back.

Now you can use your fabric paint or acrylic paint (it might fade or be stiffer than fabric paint) and fill in your template.

Fill it in slowly to avoid big globs of paint. I did two thin layers and let them dry well in between.Then let it dry really well after the last layer of paint. I cheated and got out the heat gun since my sister-in-law was going to be taking it home soon.

When it is completely dry, peel off the stencil and you will have a totally custom Valentine's Day shirt!

I think I signed myself up to be the permanent shirt maker for all her school functions!

Fabric Scrap and Remnant Ideas

I may be a bit of a fabric hoarder. Okay well maybe more than a bit - I have an entire drawer in my craft room just for scraps. Plus a bag under the desk! For some reason, I just can't bring myself to part with them. I mean you never know when you might need them, right? Even the weird colored upholstery fabric scrap - that could come in handy too. BUT I'm supposed to be organizing my craft room and need to sort through all that stuff.

If you are sitting there wondering what to do with your pile of scraps other than toss them, I've got some great things in store for you! In all my scrap hoarding, I have managed to accumulate quite a collection of scrappy projects around my house.

These are some of my favorites:

The bow on this vase is made entirely out of scrap fabric.

To make it: make a tiny cut at the edge of the fabric about an inch and a half on each side and then rip down the length of the fabric where you made those cuts. They end up about 1 1/2" by 20". Ripping it gives it a nice textured look - kind of raw and unfinished. Then cut any really long threads that are left hanging.
I did this on about 3 different pieces of fabric and then tied them together in a big bow on the vase.

These easy wall art are all made out of leftover scraps from the quilt my mother made for my living room. It is Joel Dewberry's Aviary 2 if you are interested in getting it.

To make: You will need embroidery hoops in varying sizes. These are available at most craft stores. Lay your fabric wrong side facing up and then center the embroidery hoop on the fabric. With a fabric marker trace about one inch outside the hoop. This will let you fit the fabric nicely inside the hoop. Then cut out the circle you traced. Take apart the embroidery hoop frame, center the fabric inside and then slide the pieces back together and tighten the top screw. You can cut off any excess fabric after you get it inside. Finish it by embellishing it anyway you like. I added buttons and felt flowers to some of mine.

The yo-yo on this project is a simple way to use up fabric scraps and can be used in so many different ways. This frame is on a shelf in my craft room and I love the bit of cheer it brings into the room.
You can find pre-made yo-yos at the craft store sometimes, but this is about using up your stash right? I love Positively Splendid and they have great instructions on how to make your own here: Fabric Yo-Yo Tutorial with Printable Template. They also have some other great tutorials and fun things, so stop by and check them out.


Some other great fabric scrap ideas are linked up here:
Anthro-Inspired Necklace
Favorite Flower Tutorials Round-up

That should give you some great ways to help bust that scrap stash lingering in your craft room and hopefully I can bust some of mine before the month is over!

How to Resize a One-Shoulder Top

Have you ever ordered something online and when it arrived, it just didn't fit quite right? Well that's what just happened to my sis-in-law. It can be such a pain to return things too! This new shirt is so cute but it just needed a little help to make it fit. Sewing machine to the rescue!

The problem she was having with the shirt was that it was a little too wide on the sleeveless side, so it stuck out very awkwardly. The satiny material of the shirt can be kind of hard to work with but I found a way to help with that.

To make alterations some helpful tools to have are tailors chalk (or a washable fabric marker), sewing pins, a straight edge ruler (or other ruler), pinking shears and a cutting board. Oh and don't forget the sewing machine!

I had her try the shirt on inside out and then marked with the chalk where it should be taken in. Then laid the shirt out on the cutting board and traced that point down the entire seam. It ended up being about an inch that needed to be taken in.

After marking that point, I pinned along the chalk line. I left in the original seam for now. This is to help keep the pins from slipping and sliding around too much since the shirt is satiny.

Since I don't have a serger, I used a zig-zag stitch and sewed along the chalk line making sure to backstitch at both the top and bottom. Then followed this with a straight stitch along the same line for reinforcement.

Someday I will figure out all the stitch functions on my machine and can probably do something better than this but it works for now. From the outside it looks just as pretty as the original seam.

I finished it off by removing the old seam with pinking shears. This will help prevent fraying. They are a great thing to have if you don't have a pair! The last step I always do is pressing the new seam with my iron at the correct temperature setting for the fabric I'm working with. This gives it a more professional, less homemade look.

The shirt turned out better than new because now it fits! Are you ready to try it on yours now?

The *Easy* Baby Blanket

My father-in-law was looking for a gift for a co-worker who had just had a baby. I wanted to make something functional and pretty but I was also short on time since I had forgotten that I had promised to make the gift. While surfing around on Pinterest (as I have been known to do), I stumbled across this delightful tutorial over at Mama Stellato.

Her pattern is just as simple as the title suggests. I was in love! Here was something that I could get done fast enough to make up for all my forgetfulness.

The front piece I used is a patterned fleece. I was able to find a cute baby themed pattern that I just loved. I found a matching piece of brown flannel for the back panel. Since the fleece is so thick and cozy, I didn't use the batting as the pattern suggested. Putting the fleece and flannel together made for a super soft and cuddly blanket. Other than that, I followed the steps outlined in the tutorial.

These are so fast to sew up that they are now part of my regular routine for my Project Linus blankets. Saves a lot of time, since I always seem to be working on a million different things.

So the next time you have procrastinated a baby gift, keep this in mind!

How to Clean Stove Burners

I was cleaning the kitchen the other day as I work toward my 52 Weeks of Organization. It's something I'm trying to do this year so that my house doesn't stay in a constant state of chaos. I realized that my stove was DISGUSTING! I mean capital D - Disgusting! It's no wonder that at the last place we lived, we got charged for cleaning the stove when we moved out. Unfortunately, just a simple wipe down was not going to do this time and I did not want to spend hours cleaning this mess.

This is my stove before I cleaned it. Gross, right?! I could not believe the mess when I actually got to looking at it up close.

A light bulb went off! I always use Easy Off Heavy Duty to clean my oven - it saves tons of time cleaning the burnt on gook in the oven. It was worth a shot right?! So, following the directions on my can, I put on my rubber kitchen gloves and gave the stove burners a thorough coat of the Easy Off. I took everything apart to be sure that the Easy Off would get to all the dirty parts.

The directions said to let it sit for 20 minutes.
I turned on the kitchen fan to make sure there was good ventilation from all the fumes - I didn't want to pass out on the floor or anything. After the 20 minute timer when off, I came back and surprisingly most of the grease and burnt on mess just wiped right off!!! There were a few of the really dirty spots I had to scrub a bit but it cleaned up soooo easily. I followed it up with a good rinse too.

The end result was so wonderful! My stove top looks as good as new. This is also a great thing since we rent. I know that whenever the time comes to move again, I can get the stove into tip-top shape and not ever get charged again for a silly cleaning fee. And even better than that, I don't have an embarrassingly dirty stove when company comes to visit!

 

DIY: Monogram Coasters

My brother-in-law has been wanting me to make him coasters ever since I got my Silhouette and he saw all the great things I was making with it. I was planning on making them for his birthday and then somehow it didn't get done in time. So I made sure to put them on the list for his Christmas stocking. They turned out to be such a fast and easy project, I don't know why I didn't get them done sooner!

I found these great tiles at Home Depot packaged in a set of 9 for only a few bucks. They are nice unglazed tiles so they should be perfect for absorbing condensation from drinks.

I cut squares of craft felt just a tad smaller than the tiles. I used my rotary cutter and ruler to get nice even squares. (Don't you love my carpet background? I had to work on the floor because every other space in the house was covered in Christmas chaos!) The felt is a great backing so that the tiles don't scratch whatever surface the coasters are going to be used on.

I coated one side of the felt with Fabri-tac and made sure to give it a really good coat. I wanted to make sure that all of the felt was going to stick to the tile.

Then I carefully lined it up with the back of the tile and smoothed it out to make sure that there were no bumps and that the whole thing was secured. I did this to all four of the tiles that I was making.

When they were all glued, I got a big stack of books and set them all under it to dry to make sure they set up really well.

Now for the monograms! On my trusty Silhouette, I settled on the LD Old Glory font and stretched it to a good size to be centered on the tiles. I made one and then copied it so they would all be the same size. Weeding out the little holes in the "Cs" was quite a task but I got them all done. I measured and marked each tiles to be sure the were centered and then applied the vinyl. I have step by step instructions on applying vinyl on this tutorial. If you don't have a Silhouette, you can always use an X-acto knife and cut a design by hand. 

He loved them so much that he wants me to make more. Let's see if I can get them done before next Christmas!

Linked up at:  Fun to Craft 'Look At Me' Party, Sew Can Do Craftastic Monday, Hope Studios Tutorial Tuesday, My Girlish Whims