Part 1 of Puzzle Friendship Necklaces!

This is a fun idea I found that I am putting my own twist to. It's a great craft to do with the kiddos too!
Here's some pics of Sam and Kay doing theirs:


Then we have Benjamin doing some coloring.... when he's not trying to eat the crayons!!! YUCK!


Ok, here we go:

Grab some puzzle pieces that you don't use anymore. You want two that connect horizontally. I got some medium size pieces.

Now paint a few coats of white paint on both sides and the edges until there nice and covered.

Here are the four sets I'm doing.

Now paint a design you like!! Sky's the limit!






Now to make them necklaces, I put some ...I think there called gromets?? into them. I used one hole for some and added some O rings to those and then I used two holes in others and just put the necklace string through them both from back, through and then through the other side... WOW, now that is a run on sentence! LOL
I forgot to take picks of this step so i will do a part 2 to this post ASAP.
Enjoy!

New favorite! Scrap vintage patchwork belt!

Ok, so I had a bunch of vintage fabric rectangles that a friend had given me a few years ago and thought they would work perfect for this project. The belt I was going to use was pink so I picked out some cute pink pieces and layed them out to make sure it would be long enough. I think I added a few extra to make up for the seams... I am NOT a well schooled sewer, so please, bare with me!!

Now I got them all in order and started sewing right sides together to make the front of the belt.

Now please forgive me , but I got so excited about this belt that I forgot to take a few pictures. After I got them all sewed together, I realized that some of the pieces were very thin and see-through and that the lines on the belt would show through. SO, I got some thin white fabric scrap and , doubling it, I cut a piece as big as the strip I had. Then I sewed wrong sides together to make a thicker, non-see through strap.

Now I realize how very non-perfect this is, but I am quite the lazy sewer and HATE pinning things unless absolutely necessary! SO, I just moved it as I went to make sure it was basically right...ish:)

Now it's a lined strip with raw edges.

So now I folded the ends and sewed them.

Then fold as you go and sew up one side.


Now I checked to see where I need to fold up the other side to so the belt would be the same size as the striped belt.

Then sew up the other side, folding and sewing as you go...if you can handle that. It's kinda wrinkly underneath and not perfectly aligned... I'm ok with that, but I know some of you just want to make it just right, that's ok too! I'm just way to impatient.... I'm working on it...:)

Now at this point, I'm starten to think, "WOW, this is gonna be a seriously thick belt...ummmm, maybe just MAYBE, I could make this a stand alone belt, without the thrift store one????

Then I realized I would have to back it cause of all those raw edges... So , more rectangles:)

Do pretty much the same things as with the other rectangles. Like sides together then flip and sew all the sides.

And there you have it...

Now the two shall become one!! Sew it on the back:)

And there it is!! cute!!

Now, I snagged the D rings from the thrift store belt. I did I small fold then a larger one with the D rings inside and then I sewed it shut. I sewed this by hand rolling the machine. This was pretty thick and this is my LAST needle!!!! So I really didn't want to break it!

And there you have it!! Cute and fun, a couple hours and done! Now there is risk in not using a pattern or directions.... being that this is a D ring belt, I forgot to add cute scraps to the back of the end of the belt. SO, the backside of the belt will show when on...but, oh well, I still think it's cute and funky!!
ENJOY!

An American Flag Quilt

This is something I wanted to share with everyone. This is one of my favorite if not my favorite craft project to date. I made this a couple years ago for my husband for Christmas. A friend had gotten a box of vintage fabric pre-cut rectangles at a estates sale and was VERY generous to share them with me. I decided to use them to create this patchwork flag quilt. I had some scrap blue fabric with stars on it to use for that portion, but wanted to incorporate all the coins my husband was presented with in his years in the military. So, I got some clear thick plastic and made little pouches for them. They kinda became the stars:) I put some thin ..batting I think it's called , in between and then used some white fabric on the back and flipped the edges over for the frame. It's now hanging in our window until I can make a proper frame/box for it. I hope you enjoy it!