Category Archives: Stuff to make

Roundup: Fall Crafts

Posted in Stuff to make by

Time for an autumn craft round-up! Why not paint leaves? I’ve ironed leaves in sandwiches of wax paper, after all. I also once sewed a patchwork cat–a pattern from a Denyse Schmidt quilt book, but things went askew for me and the kitty came out lopsided and scrawny. Do any of these inspire you?

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1. Painted Leaves by Small for Big

2. Gray Patchwork Cat by Purlbee

3. Felt Leaf Garland by A Beautiful Mess

4. Printed Leaf Tags by Skip to My Lou

5. Felt Acorns by Free People blog

6. Halloween Peg Dolls by Mr. Printables

Make: DIY Ribbon Belts

Posted in Free Tutorials, Sewing, Stuff to make by

Fresh notebooks, long pencils with sharpened tips, uncreased shoes on polished floors–I love the possibility implied by the start of a school year.

And what evokes school in its pressed, preppy essence more than the ribbon belt?

I made these for myself, and was surprised when the white-and-blue belt was nabbed by my teenage son. So, make enough for everyone!

Materials

grosgrain ribbon (your waist measurement plus about 10 inches)

webbing (to match and back your ribbon)

D-rings

thread to match

Step one: Pin the ribbon to the webbing, making sure to fold 6-8″ of ribbon over the back of the belt. (This bit will be visible when the belt is looped through the D-ring.)

ribbon belt by homemadecity.com

Step two: Sew in place.

ribbon belt by homemade city

Step three: At the other end of your belt, add the D-ring and fold over once. (The webbing was too thick for me to fold over twice).

ribbon belt by homemadecity.com

Step three: Sew the D-ring in place. And . . . wear!

Creative Kid: Sand Art Bottle

Posted in Kids, Recycled materials, Stuff to make by

This one’s a crowd pleaser. There’s something about funneling layers of rainbow sand into an old glass bottle that brings out the mad scientist in everyone. There’s not much to it:

Materials

Colored sand (you can also use natural sand or salt and color it with food dye)

Recycled bottles

1″ to 1 1/2″ corks (recycled wine bottle corks also work)

funnel (we only had a single metal one so we also rolled paper into funnels)

That’s it. You just pour and layer!

 

See what I mean about mad scientists?

bottle sand art by homemadecity.com

 

 

Days of Summer

Posted in Stuff to make by

I realized I hadn’t posted in a while mostly because we’ve been busy doing a whole lot of nothing–floating down rivers, lingering over afternoon Monopoly games, looking out at a big delicious bowl of lake. Those of us with steel stomachs tried the centrifugal forces of the Zipper and the Tornado, while others of us (in our middle years, ahem) kept our feet on the ground, walking and hiking. I wish I could bottle and cork a bit of these green days to open during the short dark months of winter. Happy summer to you all (there’s a couple weeks of it left)!

Creative Kid: Make a God’s Eye

Posted in Kids by

After a morning of cannonballs and pencil dives off the dock, followed by an epic Wiffle ball game, we were finally ready for some quiet time at the lake. The cousins, ages 7 through 9, helped me try out this camp favorite, the God’s eye. We had about 6 skeins of yarn and a bunch of sticks from the pine forest. We followed the directions from wikihow.com and Aunt Annie (the illustrations at Aunt Annie were helpful). Our process was only a little different from the directions: we didn’t use glue, so to bind the sticks together, we wound and wound the yarn around them (making for messier centers) and to secure at the end, we just tied off the yarn.

Tips for kids:

  1. The kids said it was easier when I got the whole thing going first so the sticks were bound well before they took over.
  2. For those with less dexterous fingers, I helped by holding and rotating the sticks, so smaller hands could focus on weaving.

God's Eye by homemadecity.com