Onesie and Burp Cloth Applique- Tips and Tutorial!

First of all, a HUGE apology to my 40 loyal followers (yes, 40! Can you believe it Shanny? We're famous!), for the lack of posts the past few weeks. I know that the first thing that comes into your mind as your head pops off the pillow each morning is, "Just when is there going to be a new post on Shenanigans?" :) xoxo Now, to the craft...

Onesies are a staple in any newborn's wardrobe! When you fancy-up one of these little gems, then you can feel like your babe is ready for those surprise visitors all the time!

A couple good friends have recently had babies, so I bought a pack of onesies, busted out my Cricut, and sewing machine, and just went for it!

This can be super fun for baby boys too! Here's a onesie and burp rag for baby Andrus.

For the airplane, I cut out an airplane from a cotton print fabric, and satin stitched it to the burp cloth (see detailed instructions below).

Then I had a few friends who had little girls. At the end of this post, I added pics of just a few of my favorites...

Materials:

• "Heat N Bond" iron-on adhesive. Get the no-sew kind, so it can adhere to both materials
• Stabilizer (found near the Heat N Bond in notions section), or white scrap fabric
• Cotton fabric for cutting out designs
• Cricut (optional)
• Sewing machine
• iron

Step 1 (if using Cricut):

Cut out a scrap of fabric large enough to fit your design. Cut the same amount of Heat N Bond. Place fabric piece, right-side down, onto ironing board. Place adhesive side (bumpy side) of Heat N Bond directly onto the wrong-side of fabric. Iron until completely bonded (about 8-10 seconds). Directions come with all Heat N Bond packages.

Step 2:

Cut design, using Cricut, then peel off the paper lining from the back of the Heat N Bond. Place onto onesie, the iron into place. It's a good idea to stitch the edges of the design onto the onesie so that it doesn't peel after washing.

Step 3: Using a satin stitch, or a tight zig-zag stitch, sew along outside edge of design (or you lucky chicas with sergers, go at it!). Be sure to place something on the inside of the onesie to stabilize the sewing (such as stabilizer, or scrap cotton fabric). Stabilizer can be torn off after sewing, but the cotton fabric is meant to stay as something soft against the baby's skin.

Huge, Monumental, Life-Changing (well it changed mine), Major tip! To reduce your chances of sloppy and loose stitches due to the gunking up of your needle as it goes through the Heat N Bond, place wax paper over the top of the bonded onesie, so it can "lubricate" the needle each time it goes through. :) It can be a bit tricky to see exactly where you're going, but you get used to it (see pic below).

May Card Event

Look at these lovely little cards from this month's Card Club! We're finishing our 4-month theme explosion of baby, thank you, wedding, and happy birthday.

Simply lovely ladies! I'm thoroughly impressed, as always.

"Congratulations" Banner with Tutorial

How many times have I said to myself, "Ugh, I'm so tired of my boring crate paper and balloon go-to decorating for showers I throw! I wish I had a big ticket decoration that I could reuse and something that looks pretty and finished (but mostly pretty :) ...)." So I decided to stop whining, and actually make something, in advance, for a baby shower for our dear friend, Angela.

With the help of Natalie from A Tale of Two People, who donated the gorgeous fabric to the cause, I made this little beaut!

Here's all I needed to make this happen:

- A total of one yard of three different fabrics (I just used Natalie's scraps, and didn't have a ton of the orange, so I staggered the colors).

-1/3 yard fabric for letters (if using Cricut)

-6 Yards of coordinating bias tape

-one yard of lightweight interfacing (optional for between layers of each flag)

-pinking shears

-iron

-Cricut for cutting letters

-Heat 'n Bond

-thread, scissors, and sewing machine

Step 1: Prep all fabric by ironing smooth. Then, on wrong side of fabric, measure down 8.25", fold, then press the entire length of the fabric on that fold. You should have 8.25" of the right side of fabric showing. *

*(I forgot to take a picture of this step while making the banner, so here's a photo using different (and wrinkly) fabric just to show you what I mean)

From here, you can measure across the fold 10", and that's the length of each flag. Cut as many across as you can on the fold, then move down the fabric and fold and cut again. By folding the fabric, you're able to make two flags at a time, with wrong sides of fabric facing, and the top of the flag is attached (if you unfold the flag, it'll be one long diamond shape). And, the banner can be reversible!

Step 2: Now you've measured and marked every 10" across (leave about 1/4" between each 10" segment), Find the middle of each 10"segment (5"), and that'll be the point of your triangle. Each triangle is 10" across, and 8" down.

Step 3: Cut triangles with pinking shears.
Step 4: Topstitch all three sides of flag. Pinking shears dramatically reduces the potential of fraying, but still try to stitch closely to edges of fabric.
Step 5: Cut 12" x 12" squares of fabric for letters. Iron on 12" x 12" squares of Heat 'n Bond, and place on Cricut mat. Cut letters.
Step 6: Iron on each letter to each finished flag.
Step 7: Find middle of 6" bias tape and sew on the middle triangle (letter U). Sew each banner on from there!

Isn't that easy! I'm so stoked about it, and I love it to pieces!

It was a hit!

Hairbow and Headband Storage

Last week was a stormy week in most of the country, it seems. Here in the midwest, and especially in the eastern states, we experienced freezing rain. This pic shows how each individual needle on the pine tree out back was frozen solid! When St Louis gets storms, or if someone mentions the word "storm," the whole city shuts down. Nobody leaves their homes. Kind of exciting right?! For our "snow days," the man was home, so we caught up on some family time, and I crafted while he played with the little one.

I'd been wanting to figure something out with my daughter's hairbow and headband storage, because we had been late for church one too many times, in the name of hair fashion! It was just too hard to see my options when they were stuffed in a plastic box. This is what I came up with!

I found this idea on this Aly & Ash blog. Sorry the pics are not too pretty- it was so dark and gloomy outside!

The font is from my Cricut, Winter Wonderland cartridge.

For her headbands (and mine also), I made this in about 5 minutes.

Just an oatmeal canister(that I've been hoarding "just in case I need it"), covered in pretty paper! Her stretchy headbands fit inside nicely, and the sturdy and more fragile ones are nicely formed to the outside! I was super stoked about this because I've had to repair that feather one sooo many times from it getting squished in a drawer. :)

I linked up this project to some of these fun Link Parties!

{XOXO} Blocks

Valentine Blocks

{XOXO}

{LOVE}

{HUGS}

{KISS}

Look what our mom {Mama Mo} made us! We love these Valentine blocks, and they're great because you can change their message to say: XOXO, KISS, HUGS, or LOVE.

I love the embellishments and paper she chose.

Cricut letters, scrapbook paper squares, modpodge, and wood cubes. You're set!

Check out the other fun XOXO letters at Craft-O-Maniac's link up party!

Patriotic Canvas

I got the inspiration for this patriotic subway art here. I did mine a bit different. Side note: Why is everything I type underlined???


I made some fake canvases out of foam board. Next I cut red and white card stock and modged it to the foam board.


While the fake canvas dried, we busted out the CRICUT and cut out some patriotic images and sayings from various cartridges.


Once the modge dried, we started sticking those vinyl images to the foam board.




Ta-Da! Happy 4th!