Stop staring and start sewing!

Make an adorable mini spiral bound notebook cover (the vertical kind) - Video!

This is one of my favorite little projects to make in my sewing classes. It's fun, quick, adorable, and very useful! It's got it all!

I get these cute mini memo books at Walmart for around .27 each (or .88 for a four pack). I grab a few stacks at a time since I never know if they'll decide to discontinue them (that happened to me once).

Just download the pattern pieces here, print them out at 100% (just 2 pages), and tape them together (do not overlap). It's all in the video below.

Watch here!

This is a great little place to use your fabric scraps!

Let me know what you think and be sure to follow and subscribe to my youtube channel!

DIY Outdoor Nativity Set for your yard - Angel and Star - Free Pattern Included

Okay! In the past I've always had a special Christmas Gift for my blog readers sometime in December. But this year I want to post your gift sooner so you can get an early start on it (because if you do the whole Nativity set it's quite a project). I already had a request for this newest segment of the set (previous segments are in the links at the bottom of this post) so I figured I'd better just put it out there. This time I'm including a disclaimer....

DISCLAIMER: This is a sewing blog (at least 95% of it) so you'll need to forgive our lack of lumber acumen. Sewing questions? I'm your gal! Woodwork questions? Not so much. So please don't expect the same details you would get from a woodworking website. Thank you!

Our latest addition to my beloved nativity set is an angel and star set. I designed it to fit on a 4 x 4 piece of plywood so it's not crazy expensive and it's wonderfully uncomplicated. We mounted ours on a long strip of firring and tied it to our palm tree. Unfortunately our palm tree has since kicked the bucket (if you look at the other patterns you'll see we started with two palm trees and they've both died, not sure why) so we'll have to find another solution this year. But, I can't express how much I love this set and how happy it makes me to get it lit up every year!

Here's a closer picture of the angel and star. I'm going to paint the firring black this time (we painted it to match the tree last year and it was too bright for me). I also need to darken the little "connector" that goes from the sash to the gown (black sharpie does the trick quickly).

So the pages simply get printed (link for pdf file at bottom of this post) and taped together. You only need tape for the page edges inside the lines really. There may be printing gaps at the edges depending on how your printer works (if you can set it to "no borders" that would be great). Don't worry about the gaps, just pencil in the missing lines or cut right across them. Cut both images out.

Position your pattern shapes on your 4 x 4 and tape it down on some of the edges (or use pattern weights if you have them). Trace around the shapes. We just used a sharpie so it would be easily visible and it won't show once it's painted anyway.

Use your skill saw to cut the shapes out. We sanded the edges where there were any obvious rough spots.

Paint with white paint. Or black paint if you want a dark silhouette with a bright back light. We just used random white paint from our paint collection. You may want to paint both sides so you can turn it either direction when you're setting it up. Screw the pieces onto your firring strip and you're done (you can dab paint on the screws if you want them to blend in).

Please let me know if you use this! I'd love to see your pictures! If you blog about it or make a video with it please give me credit (Jona Giammalva, @jonagiammalva on instagram) and link to my blog. We have worked very hard on these over the years and we realize we could be selling the patterns instead of giving them away so any credit would be appreciated. Thank you! And Merry Christmas (early)!

 

Link to Angel and Star set

Link to Holy Family set (blog post Here)

Link to Wise Men set (blog post Here, at bottom of page)

Link to Shepherds and Sheep set (blog post Here, at bottom of page)

Link to Camel and Donkey set (blog post Here)

My "new" painted pink and gold hutch (50 bucks!)

I found this quaint, but plain, 2 piece hutch at a local antique store a few months ago. It was marked down to 50 dollars and I knew I could do something cute with it. And I did!

I was inspired by this gorgeous dresser on Perfectly Beautiful Things blog. I used Benjamin Moore's Orchid Pink color but the paint is Behr glossy. The trim is Craftsmart Bright Gold paint from Michaels. Did I mention I'm in love with this hutch?

When painting it I found I achieved the best results by laying it on the tarp so any dribbles would slide toward the back. I took my time and ended up using 4 thin-ish coats of paint. If I noticed any big dribbles I waited for them to dry and carefully "shaved" them off with a razor. For the delicate gold detail on top I used a small art brush so I could get into the crevices without being sloppy (I used a wider art brush for the feet). The whole process ended up taking about 3 days (and watching the whole latest season of Call The Midwife).

 

I just used a cheap dollar store sponge brush (comes in a large set for a buck!) to paint the handles, hinges, etc. This took a lot of coats but it dried so quickly I would just dab on a fresh coat about every 1/2 hour.

I really love the fancy, whimsical look of all the gold trim.

Part way through painting I realized I was not going to have enough pink paint if I kept going so I scrounged through my paint collection and grabbed this bright green for the inside color. I like it a lot more than I thought I would and it's a fun surprise when the doors open.

Such a sweet place to keep all of my little goodies. And decent storage for office supplies too since it's right next to my desk, which has no drawers.

A little money and a little time, and now I've got a beautiful keepsake treasure to enjoy for years to come!

Make a canvas of your favorite state

I'm in the process of decorating some new shelves and really wanted a pop of turquoise in a couple of spots. I'm also trying to add meaningful items as I spruce things up so these state canvases were the perfect solution. I'm an Oregon native (my ancestors were among the first 50 wagons on the Oregon Trail), but we truly love living in Arizona (even though the move 20 years ago was supposed to be temporary) so I included both states on my shelves.

I got these 2 slanted 8 x 8 canvases at Michaels and they are terrific because they can sit anywhere on the shelf without having to lean against the back of the shelf. They were 7.99 each (but I had a coupon). The acrylic colors I picked are plain old white (in satin) for touch ups, Apple Red 2901, and Patina 2951. I got a few new paint brushes too.

First I found silhouettes of the states on Google images and sized them to around 6 inches across using Adobe Illustrator (you can probably do the same in Gimp or any other graphic editing software). Then I used some tracing paper (the kind used for tracing sewing patterns) between the canvas and the printed page and traced around the state with a pointy pen).

Here's the canvas after I traced on it.

I carefully painted within the lines and ended up needing 3 coats of paints to get it really covered.

I traced a little heart over our cities and painted the hearts red.

I love them!  They look perfect on my new shelves and make my heart happy.

Yay! Such a simple and fun project.

You can make your own nativity scene (a tutorial and pattern)

UPDATE: Wise Men pdf pattern now available (scroll down to the bottom of this post).

NEW UPDATE (2019): Shepherds, lamb, camel, and donkey now available (follow this link to the post).

After years of wishing and hoping (and a little bit of nagging) I finally have a beautiful nativity scene for my front yard and I love it.  I did a lot of searching through clipart sites until I found the silhouette that I really liked and one that would translate well into a large sized cut out.  This one even has coordinating silhouettes for the 3 Wise Men for next years project.  We made the star a couple of years ago using this tutorial on Little Bit Funky.

I spy a little doggy in the window.

I sized the design to be able to fit on one 4x4 piece of plywood (about 24.00).  My hubby had the nice folks at Home Depot trim a 15 inch strip off so it would fit in the back of our car (the 15 inch strip was the right size for the Joseph piece).

Here is the pdf file if you're interested in making one yourself.  Just click here or on the picture below to download.  I traced the design so it would use less printer ink and included a mini version of it so you can see how all the pieces should go together.  Each grid represents one 8.5 x 11 piece of paper.

Once the pieces were all taped together Joey cut out each individual character and traced them on the smooth side of the plywood sheet (this is the 15" strip he had cut).

The Mary and Baby Jesus fit best like this on the other piece of the plywood.

To cut out the inside holes he used the big drill bit to drill holes around the inside edges so he could get the jigsaw in there easily.

He took his time with this part and did a great job.  The jigsaw kind of scares me so I'm glad he was doing this.

Tada!  It came out great and the halo and the little "hay" details look fantastic.

After he was done cutting the pieces out he quickly filed the rough edges away.

One good coat of white paint was sufficient.

Then he made the base using 2 x 4s and angle brackets.  The front one is 48" long and the sides are 24".  The back board is a 2 x 2 and he decided to use that in case he wanted to weigh it down with some flat brick caps of something.  So far we haven't needed them but it hasn't been windy. I painted the front 2 x 4 white as well.

When everything was done he just used some screws to attach each piece to the 2 x 4.  It will be easy to dismantle and store this way.  He also bought a small flood light (and extension cord) to light it from the front.  Pretty!

So here it is and I'm in love with it!  Let me know if you try it!

I hope you're having a great Christmas and Hanukkah season!  If you're looking for some ideas for hand crafted gifts don't forget to check my tutorial page.  Keep on sewing!

 

UPDATE:

We finally made the Wise Men! Here are the pictures:

I love them!

This makes me so happy. We will be working on some shepherds next and I will update when that is ready but in the meantime here is a picture of the cut out and a link to the pdf. Click here or on the picture below for the pdf pattern. When we make them we ended up separating them into 3 pieces at the bottom (look at the above pictures to see what I mean). Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Make a cute, quick and easy bulletin board (cheap too)

This is the latest craze around here.  I can't stop making these bulletin boards.  They're cheap, easy and so much cuter than plain cork boards.  Here's the one above my new ironing station and it's so convenient and handy when I'm filling orders or just need a place to tack a reminder for myself.

Here's all you need to make one (or a dozen) for yourself.  

1. A piece of R-Tech 1/2 inch rigid insulation (you can get a small 2ft x 4ft board for only 3.35).

2. Spray adhesive.  I like Elmer's Craft Bond.

3. Hot glue gun

4. Deco Nails Picture Hanging Nails (I think I found mine at Home Depot)

5. Cute fabric - enough to cover the board with about 3-4 inch extra on each side.  Home dec weight fabric is best for this.

Cut your fabric piece big enough to cover the whole board with at least 3 inches extra on each side.  Spray the whole fabric piece (on the wrong side) generously with the spray adhesive.  Be sure to have a drop cloth or cardboard around the edges for the over-spray.

Place your insulation board on the fabric with the plain side of the insulation board against the wrong side of the fabric (on the sticky side).  Pull the fabric snug while smoothing it against the board.

At the corners cut away the extra fabric (cut out a square basically) and smooth one side snug against the board.

Press the other side against the edge of the board like the picture below.

Then fold it over to the back side and glue the edge in place.  

Nice and clean like this.  Flip it over and smooth the front so the fabric is snug against the adhesive.

Your done!  Wasn't that crazy simple??  Just use your cute Deco Nails to mount it on the wall (use a level to get it straight the first try) and start tacking your stuff to it!

So convenient and pretty too!  I've made 7 of these already and my kids are crazy about them because they can pick their own fabric.

Let me know if you try it!