March Crafts

I haven't made too many crafts lately, but I have made a couple things that I like a lot that I thought I'd share today. I'll post links to the tutorials/inspiration for these projects along the way.

I am not a seamstress. My sister got the sewing gene. She's made a lot of t-shirt quilts, and when I found a shirt that I got in New Orleans 4 or 5 years ago that doesn't fit anymore, I asked her if she would make a pillow out of it. She's pretty busy with dance and school, so I just put it in her sewing room for her to get to whenever she felt like it. A couple weeks later I happened upon this "10-Minute No-Sew T-Shirt Tote Bag" tutorial on Pinterest. I immediately thought of my New Orleans shirt and went to get it from the sewing room. Usually when I'm on Pinterest I'll pin something that I want to do and say "Maybe I'll do that some day" or just keep the idea in the back of my mind. This time, however, I did it right after I read the tutorial! I was so excited! The tutorial is really clear and the bags are really cute. They're great beach bags or craft bags. I currently have my crochet project stored in one of them. It's the perfect size for my skeins of yarn.

 

I actually messed up on this one. If you read the tutorial, you'll see the part that says to draw a line to cut your fringe (which you use to tie the bottom of the bag together) up to. I ended up CUTTING ACROSS THE LINE and being forced to make my fringe shorter and the "New Orleans" part of the shirt pretty much unreadable. But I don't care all that much because at least I still have the shirt and it's great for holding all the other T-shirts that I plan on turning into bags! 

The "Duck! Cover! and Remain Calm" shirt is from the first competition play that I was a part of. It's always been a little bit too small because it was long-sleeved and I should have ordered a large instead of a medium just so the sleeves would be long enough (tall people problems). I hadn't worn it for a really long time and I was extremely hesitant to cut it up because I love my show shirts a lot, but it's now my favorite of all 4 of my T-shirt bags because it's made of the strongest material and has the most sentimental value. This is the one I have my crochet project in.
"I'm a ninja... You can't see me" wasn't too small, but I hadn't worn it in a long time. The last time I wore it was some time in my senior year of high school and I was self-conscious all day because I felt like I was dressed like a middle schooler. I think it's much cuter as a bag.
Both of these bags have bows tied to the handles. I don't think she does that in the tutorial, but I thought it was a cute touch. The pieces I used for the bows were cut out of the collars of the shirts.

My last T-shirt bag was a little more of an art project. My mom gave me a white T-shirt that Tessa was getting rid of and I ended up making it look super fancy.

The first picture is the design for the bag drawn on a canvas. I put the canvas under the shirt and traced what I could see clearly (I had to improvise a couple times) with a fabric marker. Then I colored it all in over the course of a few days (because it was kind of tedious). After it was all colored in, I cut the fringe and tied the bottom of the bag together. I might try to find some black ribbon to tie onto the handles. 

So that's a fun thing to try if you have some T-shirts sitting around that you don't want to give away. I wouldn't put any heavy books or electronics in them unless the material is really thick and sturdy, but, like I said, they're great for yarn projects or for carrying a change of clothes or other light things. 

This next project was just something I picked up at Walmart for $4. I got one of those wooden plaques and a wooden "L" to paint for my bedroom door. If you already have some acrylic paint and mod podge/ hot glue at home, it won't cost much to make. I hand-painted mine, but for those that don't have a steady hand or don't like painting, this tutorial might inspire you to try it out with some scrapbook paper. I was going to make mine that way, but I enjoy painting and wanted to attempt the whole "using cardboard triangles to paint a chevron pattern" thing. That tutorial did help me decide on my colors though. I loved the black and white background with the black on the edges, so I ended up doing this: 

I should have done more planning to avoid wasting all of the paint that I did, but it turned out nicely! I did not screw my letter onto the plaque like she does in the tutorial. I thought "Hey, I have all this mod podge, maybe that'll work," and it did! The ribbon is stuck on with a few staples and duct tape. The flower was a last-minute addition because my bedspread is blue and green (which is why I painted the letter blue) and I just happened to find it in a basket of hair accessories that I was giving to my sister. I ripped it off of the hair clip and just duct taped it onto the plaque because I didn't want to wait for any more glue to dry. I used this tutorial mostly as inspiration for the bow on the top. I just wanted something to cover the nail.

Close-up and far-away views of the plaque

I think that's all I've been up to lately in the world of crafting. Maybe I'll get some more projects finished or started in April (my birthday month yaaayyy!). I hope this post has inspired some of you to start a couple projects of your own!