Fake Bake Ice Cream Custom Shoes

Cute Fake Bake Ice Cream Shoes  

My daughter decoupaged some Walmart canvas shoes with Dollar Tree ice cream cone napkins. 

1) The shoes had elastic laces so she cut them out. 

2) She painted the toe and tongue of the shoes with pink acrylic paint. 

3) She painted the space around the lace grommets with metallic pin acrylic paint. 

4) She took parchment paper and placed it over the side of the shoe. She used a pencil and drew a template of the side of the shoe. She then cut the shape out of the parchment paper. She placed the template onto the napkin and traced the shape onto the napkin. She then cut the shape out of the napkin.  

                                    

5) She used a paint brush to coat the side of the shoe with fabric mod podge. 

6) She pulled off the back blank ply of the napkin and discarded. She then placed the printed and cut to shape napkin onto the side of the shoe, tapping it down into place. She added a coat of fabric mod podge over the napkin. 

7) Repeat till both sides of both shoes have been covered in a napkin and coated in a couple coats of fabric mod podge. The more coats, the better. 

8) She used the parchment paper to make a template of the toe area. She used the template to cut out the ice cream drip part of the napkin. 

9) She added a layer of fabric mod podge to the toe area, removed the back of the cut napkin piece, and patted the ice cream drip into place on the toe. She covered in a couple layers of fabric mod podge as well. 

10) She took white caulking from the Dollar Tree and squeezed it into a pipping bag with star frosting tip. 

11) She piped the caulking along the seams of the shoe in a dabbing motion. 

12) After completely dry, she added new 36 inch shoe strings. 

                                     Cute Fake Bake Ice Cream Shoes 

***Inspired by Peep this Y'all for the dessert idea and Cathie Filian's Handmade Happy Hour for the decoupage napkin on shoes idea and Mariah Elizabeth for the painting on shoes and drip idea.***

Light Up Twinkling Prom Dress DIY

Light Up Twinkling Prom Dress DIY

 You may have seen the fiber optic fabric gowns. Well, at hundreds of dollars a yard, who can afford that? Not me. So, when I heard that the local Mom Prom was having a Under the Stars theme, I thought twinkling Fairy Lights to emulate the night sky. Lets get to it.

Supplies:  

• Black Jumpsuit (mine was thrifted from Goodwill)
• Several Yards of Shiny Nylon Black Tulle  (will explain calculating yardage later)
• Several Yards of Black Scrubbie Mesh Netting (will explain calculating yardage later)
• Spool of Black Sewing Thread  
• Large Sewing Needle
• Vinyl Tape Measure (to take waist and length measurements) 
• 3 Sets of Remote Control Battery Powered Fairy Lights 
• Sheet of Black Felt
• Spool of 3 Inch Black Grosgrain Ribbon (at least 3 yards long or more) 
• Scissors 

Step by Step: 

Great, now I am singing the New Kids on the Block song. If you don't know it, I suggest finding it online. It's an oldie but a goodie. Anyway, back at it....

Calculate: 

So I measured from where I wanted my skirt to sit on my waist down to the floor and then out about 6 inches from my feet. I wanted to make sure that it would be long enough for the poof that I was wanting to achieve and still be near the floor. You can always cut off length, you can't add it back. Lets call this measurement L for length. 

I then took my around the waist measurement where I wanted it to sit around the waist. Lets call this  measurement W for waist. 

Tulle comes on bolts with a set width of fabric. For the fabric I wanted to buy and my W measurement, I determined that I would need 4 panels of gathered tulle to equal my W measurement. 

I decided that I wanted 2 layers of Shiny Tulle and 2 layers of Scrubbie Tulle. The scrubbie is more stiff and has bigger holes. The stiffness gave me the puffiness I wanted and the larger holes gave me the ability to weave the fairy lights through the fabric. 

On to calculating how much yardage of each I needed. 

For the shiny tulle:   {(L) x (4 panels) x (2 Layers)} / 36 inches = total yards

For scrubbie tulle:   {(L) x (4 Panels) x (2 Layers) } / 36 inches = total yards  

                               

example:  {42 inches x 4 x 2} / 36in = 9.3 yards 

I suggest buying a little extra of the scrubbie mesh to make light pockets and a matching hair piece.

For the ribbon that tied around my waist, I made sure that the spool length was long enough to wrap around my waist and tie in the back. 

Cutting: 

Once I had my yardage of both types of black tulle, I laid them on the floor and cut them to the appropriate length of L. I ended with 8 panels of shiny and 8 panels of scrubbie. 

Sewing: 

I needed to know how wide to make each panel. I took my W measurement and divided it by 4 in order to get the width that each panel needed to be gathered and become. 

for every panel: W/4 = required width of panel

example: 30/4 = 7.5 inches

I chose to sew my panels by hand one at a time. I unfolded each panel of fabric and used a running stitch across the width of the panel about a half inch from the edge. Once at the end of the fabric, I pulled the thread and gathered the fabric to the required inches. In my case, each panel needed to be gathered and become 7.5 inches wide. 

Once I had all 16 panels sewed to 7.5 inches in gathered length, I started sewing them onto a 1 inch black satin ribbon, one layer at a time. I started stitching a layer of scrubbie tulle first. Each panel going on side by side, end to end. I did not bother sewing the length of the panels together because I figured the dress would be so full, no one would not notice that it had individual panels. After a layer of scrubbie tulle, I sewed on the next layer of scrubbie tulle right on top. Then a layer of shiny mesh and then the last layer of shiny mesh. (technically, I probably could have sewed all four layers per panel at once, but I chose not too because I wasn't sure how full I wanted it to be. Two layers of structure with the scrubbie and two layers of softness with the shiny was perfect.) 

Now all four layers were on a black satin ribbon. It was time for the waist band ribbon. 

I took the 3 inch black grosgrain ribbon and folded in in half over all four layers. I sewed the sandwiched pieces together. Voala! A tulle skirt.

Lights: 

I tested the fairy lights to ensure they all worked and were indeed the same color. Some were a more yellow light and some were a more blue. For the fullness and size of my skirt and the length of the fairy lights, I determined that I wanted 3 sets of lights. 

So, I took left over scrubbie mesh and cut 3 large squares. I folded the squares in half hot dog style and then in half again hamburger style leaving the back a little taller than the front. I then sewed up the two sides and the bottom to form a pocket. Worrying the batteries would show through the pockets, I cut rectangles of black felt to line the inside pocket to cover the battery packs from the front of the dress. I then determined where I my waist I wanted the battery packs so that I could still sit comfortably. I hand sewed the top of each pocket to the inside waist band of the skirt. I then put the battery packs in each of the pockets

I put the skirt on my dress form, turned on the fairy lights, and lifted up the 2 layers of shiny tulle. Once that was out of the way, I was able to weave the fairy lights in and out of the two layers of scrubbie tulle. No sewing involved. The scrubbie holes were large enough for the fairy lights to weave through but still stay in place. I did not weave in a certain pattern, just to where I thought it was visually appealing. 

That was it. 

Final Thoughts: 

I used a jump suit and made the tie around skirt to make going to the bathroom much simpler.  If you already have an existing skirt or dress, it should be good as well. Just sew in pockets in the waist band and weave the lights in and out. You might have to hand tack/stitch them into place if the mesh holes are not large enough to wind them though. Also using a sewing machine might have made the process alot quicker. 

Gemstone and Crystal Chip Bar Necklaces

New thing I love today: Large /Extra Large genuine gemstone and crystal chips on a 16'' stainless steel chain. Length of the chip bar varies slightly since the chips are various shapes and sizes. However, the bar is approximately 1.5'' long. I am hoping to set up listings in my Etsy account http://www.etsy.com/shop/WhatILOVEtoday for the items pictured as well as my Facebook Page  https://www.facebook.com/WhatILoveToday . 

Ruby Zoisite

Sodalite

Red Jasper

Brown Goldstone (Man made)

Rhodochrosite

Black Tourmaline in Quartz

Citrine (Heat treated Smokey Quartz)

 

Tigereye (Tiger's Eye)

Amethyst

Rose Quartz

New Jade (Serpentine)

Approximant length of bar of crystals: 1.5" 

Length is dependent on the width of the crystals and how many chips can fit 

on the bar before needing to bend the end into a loop. 

Heart Fake Bake Cookie Ornaments - Valentine's Day or Christmas

 

Supplies: 

• Air Dry Clay
  
• Rolling Pin
• Food Storage Bag
• Cookie Cutter
• Drinking Straw
• Tan Paint (or colors you can mix to make tan)
• Paint Brushes
• Slick Dimensional Fabric Paint 
• Glue Gun
• Scissors
• Ribbon
• Twine 

    First, take a handful of air dry clay and roll it in your hands to remove fold and crease marks. Then place the ball of clay on a flat surface and use a rolling pin to flatten it out like cookie dough. Place a food storage bag on top of your clay and use your cookie cutter to cut shapes (in this case, hearts) into the clay. Since you place the cookie cutter on top of the food storage bag and not directly on the clay, it will leave your cut hearts with a bit more of a rounded shape near the cut edge. This gives it a more "baked" and "out of the oven" appearance as opposed to a blunt, flat, cut out piece of clay. However, it may add a crease to your clay. If so, just use your finger to smooth it out. Repeat steps until you have the desired amount of heart shaped clay pieces and place the remaining clay back into the container for your next project. If you want to hang these hearts once complete, use the end of a straw to cut a hole in the top corner of each heart. Then, set the hearts in a location to dry for a few days. Drying times may vary depending on location and humidity. I placed mine on a sheet of paper and then put that paper on a plastic tray. The next day, I flipped each heart over to allow the other side to dry. 

    Once your hearts are completely dry, use your tan (or sugar cookie colored) paint to cover all sides of the heart and around the inside of the hole. Allow that full coverage layer of paint to dry. It should dry rather quickly. If you would like to draw out designs in pencil to follow when applying the dimensional fabric paint, then now would be the time. I however, just went straight at it with the paint. I started by applying dots of slick white dimensional fabric paint around the parameter of the heart. Once that was complete, I took a paint brush and stuck it into each dot of paint and dragged some of the paint inwards toward the center of the heart. Repeat that around the perimeter of the heart.  Then I went into the center and made random "swirls" of paint. Even pressure on the tube and steady motion of the hand with the tip of the paint slightly above the heart is needed in order to achieve a line of paint without breaks. However, if you don't like your design, it is not hard to take a paint brush and "scoop" up and remove the paint. Once my swirls were to my liking, I added dots to fill in any empty spaces as well as around the edge of my paint strokes I pulled toward the center. 

    Let your dimensional paint dry a day or two. Make sure it is fully dry before tying on a piece twine to hang the heart. Lastly, I attached a ribbon bow to the twine with hot glue.  

Think of all the fun shapes you can cut out and make "cookies" for besides hearts!!! They don't even have to look like sugar cookies. You can make them look like chocolate or gingerbread as well. 

Happy Crafting!!! 

4 Leaf Clover Ornaments

         

I'm pretty good at finding 4 leaf clovers but have never known what to do with them. I came up with a Christmas ornament that utilizes a few of the clovers I found while we played in my mother's yard this summer. She passed away in August, so this was our last summer together. I am giving them to my family members for Christmas.

Supplies:

• Clover
• Wood slices with pre-drilled holes
  
• White glue
• Felt tip pen
• Paintbrush
• Twine
• Glue gun
• Ribbon

First, take the clover you collect from the yard and arrange them flat on a sheet of toilet paper. Lay a second sheet of toilet paper on top of the clover. Then, press it inside the pages of a large hardback book for a week or two (depending on humidity) until completely dry and brittle.

Then, use a paint brush to apply white glue to the entire back of the dried clover. This will make the clover a little more pliable. You can then press your clover onto your wood slice and gently move the leaves to the correct position. Then, squeeze white glue in a spiral pattern from the center of the wooden slice, out toward the edges. Then, use your finger to smooth it out. Start at the center and swipe the glue evenly out to the edges, rotating the slice as you go. Basically, you just want to gently smooth out the glue, ensuring to leave a layer with as few bubbles as possible, while not disturbing your clover.

After that layer of glue has dried clear and is no longer tacky, you want to add another layer of glue and smooth it out, covering the entire clover and face of the wooden slice again. Then let that dry completely. Repeat again....Altogether, I applied 6 layers of white glue.

Once you have multiple layers of glue that have dried, and you can no longer feel a raise between where the clover is and the wood is, you can use a felt tip pen to write a saying on the back. I used an old Irish blessing for the new year ahead. 

Next add your twine. Cut a piece of twine about 10 inches long. Fold it in half and stick the folded point into the hole from the side with the clover. Pull through enough of the twine to stick the cut ends of the twine over the top of the disk and through the loop made by the folded middle point. Pull the ends securing the twine to the disk. Then make a knot at the cut end of the twine securing the ends together. You should now have a loop with which to hang the ornament. Lastly, hot glue a ribbon bow to your twine near the wooden disk.

Ta da! You have a completed ornament. It is not a craft that can be start to finish in a day. It takes time to find your clovers, press and dry them, and add layer after layer of glue.  

Tip: The greener your clovers dry, the better. I had a few clover that I had stuck in my phone case to dry instead of in the toilet paper and they turned a bit more yellow. When I put the glue on them, the yellow leached a bit into the glue, casting a yellow glow around the clover. Not something you want if you are going for perfection.

Tip 2: I did not use ModgePodge but you probably could. I used the generic large container of white glue from the Dollar Tree. It was pretty thin to begin with and dried very clear. If you have Elmers or another thick white glue, just be sure to check that you can smooth it well and that it dries hard and clear. 

Tip 3: Maybe start with one as a sample run. You do not want to make ten at once just to realize something went horribly wrong and you wasted your special 4 leaf clovers. 

Happy crafting!!