Car Caddy & Play Mat

I've had a lot of changes in my life recently. The most notable being the beginning of my student teaching which has really eaten into my free time. However, I finally feel like I can juggle lesson planning, grading, and behavior management without feeling the need to collapse at 4pm... So back to blogging I go!

Somehow I managed to find the time to craft a few new things, and the first that I want to share was actually a new milestone for me! It was my first sewing project with an actual machine! Woot! In the past, I've always hand stitched everything or just used fabric glue, but lately I've been seeing all kinds of cute projects, and gosh darn it! I want to learn to sew like a real person!

So, with the help of my lovely and talented Aunt B, I created a birthday present for my boyfriend's nephew's 3rd birthday.

This car caddy was inspired from a tutorial found on Homemade By Jill, although I made several changes. First off, being the broke student that I am, the materials I used were: a thin place mat on clearance at Target, a terrycloth hand towel, and an old pair of jeans. Another aspect of the project that I changed was the closure. Instead of Velcro or a tie, I used the button of the jeans. I just cut part of the waistline off, and sewed the ends between the layers.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out! Since Little C is always on the go, he can load up all of his cars, take them anywhere, and have a road and garage to play with. Plus, it's machine washable! Overall, it was a quick day's project, and I had fun learning how to use a sewing machine for real! Thanks Aunt B!

DIY Reading Bag

I've been in an extremely crafty mood as of late which is both good and bad. Good in the fact that making stuff relaxes me, and I really enjoy it, but bad in the fact that I really need to be studying for the GACE. Yup. I'll be taking my teacher certification test this Saturday, and I'm nervous! Many people have already told me that it's no big deal, but being me, I still have to get a little worried! I'm also not excited about the fact that I'll be taking 4 tests on the actual test day.... blah! It's going to be a long day!

Anyways, back to arts and crafts!

I love making gifts for people, and packaging is half the fun! It's not nearly as exciting to wrap something in store bought paper after spending so much time creating the present. I feel the same about cards especially now that they've gone up in price. I have a good stock of supplies, so I might as well be productive! (Side Note- I really think this is going to be fun when I actually have my own classroom! I can't wait to use the excuse... "But it's for school!" when I want to make something! YAY!)

Source: Personal Photo

Here's a 'Book Bag' I made for a toddler's 1st birthday party. Everyone needs a special bag to take with them to the library, and although the colors are a bit 'girly', I think he'll still enjoy it! I tried to stay with somewhat neutral colors, so anyone in the family could use it!

It was really easy to make. I got the tote bag as part of a three-pack from Michaels, and used some iron on transfer paper for the back of the bag. I used Photoshop (You can just as easily use Microsoft Word) to edit the colors of the text, and then just printed it out on the inkjet printer. Easy!

For the owl, I didn't have the colors I wanted in any of my fabric scraps, so I bought three bandanas. I used pinking shears to cut out the pattern, and then used fabric glue to piece the owl together. I did sew the eyes onto each piece to hold the whole owl together before gluing it on to the bag.

To finish the present, I bought a couple of board books at a bookstore that was going out of business, and then wrapped them in some Kraft paper that I had on hand. The whole package was tied off in some twine. I used the tote bag as my 'wrapping' for the books, and I loved how the whole thing came out! I definitely think I'll use this idea again. The books were the most expensive part, but it was a very affordable present to make! Depending on what books you added, you could easily make this for under $10 depending on what you had on hand.