How To Make a Party Banner For Any Occasion

 
  The last awesome thing I made was a party, all occasion banner. I originally made it for something I was going to be a part of, when that didn't happen, it sat in a bag for about a month. I decided that maybe I would try selling the banner on ETSY. I put it up in my living room to take some nice pictures of it and I haven't taken it down since. I just love having it up, it’s fun and energizing to have it in my home all the time. The fabrics I used are fabrics I enjoy looking at, they match my decor and are for any occasion, It’s the triangles that really give mine that party feel. Be creative and have fun with the fabrics you choose. Here are the quick directions on how to make an all occasion party banner for your home or any other kind of celebration you may have in mind.


First you want a rough idea of how long you want your banner to be, when you are measuring your space remember to include the banner hang in the middle, don’t measure straight across. Each triangle will be 10 inches across and 10 inches down. You will also need a wide ribbon folded in half twice, 25 ft. long to hold all of your triangles together and to tie in the end. I chose four very different looking fabrics to use in mine with a red ribbon for flare; you can choose whatever fabrics work best for your celebration. This is your chance to use what you love.

Next you want to fold your fabric or fabrics in half for a double sided triangle. Measure and draw 10 inch squares on the fold and cut them out. With each square find the middle point at the bottom and draw a straight line from each top corner to the middle point at the bottom, making a triangle. Cut out your triangles, iron at the fold, pin edges together and sew along the outside edges.

With all the triangles cut and sewn along the outside edges, place them in order how you would like them to look, pin the top edge of each triangle to the ribbon (I started placing my triangles in the middle point of the ribbon, to make sure the banner was in the middle of the entire ribbon in the end) and sew along the top edge of each triangle to the ribbon, placing each triangle right next to the one before it. Be careful with the edges of each triangle top when you are sewing, they tend to fold as you go from one triangle to the next.

And you are done with your new party banner! I hope you have as much fun with yours as I have with mine. There are so many ways to make a party banner look awesome and this is just one of them. Get creative and make your next banner just a little bit different than this one. Adding letters would be great!

Have You Ever Tried InBox Dollars to Make Money Online?

I recently signed up for In Box Dollars to see if I could really make money taking surveys and reading emails. What I found out is that I can actually make money from the websight and they also start you off with $5.00 in your account.

They offer you different options to make money, taking surveys, playing games, shopping online etc. Some of these options are free and some you have to make a purchase or try a 30 day trial. The highest paid options are the ones where you order a product or try them for 30 days. With these you have to use a credit card, which makes me very nervous.

With most of the available options, you have to submit all your information, sometimes your address telephone number and email address. I always cringe when I have to give this information out online. If the money starts rolling in I think it would be worth it, but if it doesn't it would definately be a waste of time and also very risky giving your information out this way. I'm expecting to get soliciters calling me on my cell phone and some new spam emails.

How to Make a Crayon Roll

Crayon Rolls are sooo useful. I give them away as gifts all the time and my daughter has a few of them. She takes them anywhere she takes a travel bag. It's just great to have crayons so easily packaged and you know they aren't going to fall out and go everywhere.


This is what you will need:


2 strips of fabric @ 5 x 16 ½ and 1 strip of fabric @ 6 x 16 ½

light weight fusible interfacing, 1 strip @ 5 x 16 ½

30 inches of ribbon

16 ct. crayons

1st -  find two fabrics that you know your child will love and adore.

2nd - Cut two pieces of fabric (the same fabric) 5×16 ½ inches (for the outside and the inside) and one strip of light weight fusible interfacing 5 x 16 ½ .

3rd - Cut a strip of fabric 6 x 16 ½ and fold it in half lengthwise with the wrong sides together, then iron. This will be your crayon pocket.

4th - Iron the interfacing to the wrong side of the 5 x 16 ½ piece of fabric you are going to use for the inside of the crayon roll.

5th - Mark your measurements on the folded piece of fabric (I like to use chalk). The measurements will be 1 ¼ inch on each side of crayon roll and 1 inch in between. Each crayon will be placed vertical with a one inch space.



6th - Line up the bottom edges of the folded piece (make sure measurements are showing) and the piece with interfacing, pin together. Sew the two pieces together starting with the first 1 ¼ measurement and only going to the top of the pocket fold and backstitching at the top to reinforce. Continue to sew the lines one inch apart across the pocket. You will have 1 ¼ inch on each side.

7th - Fold the ribbon in half and pin it to the edge of – the right side and – in the middle – of the fabric just sewn.

8th - Pin the last 5 x 16 ½ piece of fabric, right sides together to the other 5 x 16 ½ piece fabric just sewn and sew all the way around leaving a 3 inch space to turn right side out.

9th - Trim the corners and turn right side out. Iron flat, making sure to tuck in the edges of the unsewn piece. Then top stitch the unsewn piece together making sure opening is stitched together well.

Finally! Place your crayons in each space. I have found that two crayons will fit into each space if you want to add more crayons to your roll.

Vista Print is great for business and family

Vista Print is the greatest place to get 250 free business cards. All you have to pay for is shipping and any extras you may have chosen along the way. I always get a glossy finish because I think they look more professional. You get to choose from a large variety of layouts and designs. You then get to play around with the information you want to put on the cards. Once you like the way your cards look, you’re done!

Vista Print offers everything you may need to promote your business. Starting with business cards, websites, logo design, email marketing, banners, posters, window decals, postcards, brochures, flyers, product labels, and so much more.

Vista print also offers products for the home and family. Such as invitations and announcements, photo cards, thank you cards, holiday cards, calendars, return address labels, checks, rubber stamps, t-shirts, tote bags, engraved products, mugs and again, so much more!

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Large Toy Sack

This is one of my favorite items, because it's santa clausish and it reminds me of a magic bag. My daughter has taken it camping with all of her stuff in it. It's large, perfect for keeping toys or even dirty laundry.

How to Make a Large Toy Sack

Materials you will need:

2 - 1 yds fabric (for inside and outside)

2 - 60in. draw strings

2- 8x30in. fabric pieces (fabric to house the draw string)

different colored felted fabric for the stars

1. Start by matching up the two 1 yd fabrics, placing them together and making sure they are the same size. You want the sack to be roughly 25x30. I usually just fold my yard of fabric in half and make that the size of my sack. If your fabrics came in different sizes cut the larger fabric to match the size of your smaller fabric.

2. Take both fabrics and  sew the edges 1/2 in. to the inside all the way around. This will hide the edges.

3. Fabric chosen to hide the draw string - Sew the outside edges inward abount 1/2 in. all the way around. Fold each piece in half, iron. Measure 5 in. from the top of each 1yd piece. Pin each piece of fabric along the rightside/outside, top of the 1yd fabrics. Sew each fabric piece leaving the outside edges open, this is where the string will come in and out.

4. Cut the stars from your felted fabric. I used a pattern. The stars are 7in.x7in. from point to point. If you don't have a pattern make your own, by measuring a 7x7in. square and drawing the star inside.

5. Pin the stars to both sides of the outside fabric. Sew them on.

6. Place the 1yd fabrics wrong sides together. Match up the pieces perfectly, especially the top edges. Pin the two pieces together and sew all the way around. 

7. Turn the now one piece of 1yd fabric right sides together. Pin and sew all the way aroung leaving the top open and unsewn.

8. Turn right side out. 

9. Pull one of the strings through. Start with one side and go all the way around through to the otherside, you should have both ends at the same side, different housing. Now pull the other string through starting on the opposite side, pulling all the way through to the other side. You should have 2 strings sticking out at eachend, tie these strings into a knot. And you are done!  

Making a Babies Blanket with a Ruffle

We still have this blanket! It's gorgeous but my daughter still hangs on to the first blanket I ever made for her, which is now, 7yrs later, falling apart. This one may become the cat's new bed, she enjoys it's softness :)

Babies Blanket with Ruffle

Please read and have a basic understanding of the directions before you get started!

Materials:
3 Yards of  fabric (fabrics come in different widths, keep this in mind when you choose your fabric.
The larger the width size the larger the blanket will turn out.)
-1 yd. Front, 1 yd. Back, 1 yd  Ruffle

1 yd Batting (choose batting thickness of your choice, if fabric is thick you may not want to use it)

Thread to match fabric


Step 1.  Cut your fabrics and batting.
1 yard for the front, 1 yard for the back, 1 yard of batting to match the size of the fabrics

The ruffle a little harder to do!
Measure 6 in. wide for the ruffle strips. Cut as many as you can from the yard that you have.
Sew all the strip ends together (pattern sides together!) making one long strip! Iron the strip in half, lengthwise. So that the ruffle is now 3 in. wide with the pattern side showing  on both sides.  Great!

Step 2. Sew on the ruffle!
Choose one of the blanket sides to sew the ruffle onto.

This part is very important!
Sew the ruffle - bottom side (the side without the fold) - onto the Pattern Side of the Blanket Fabric. Sew the ruffle all the way around the blanket.
Make sure you gather the material as you sew! This is what gives it the ruffle look. You can do this a few different ways. Here are a few different ways to create the folds in the ruffle.
1. pin a fold in the ruffle every in. or two in. and sew over the fold
2.  as you sew push the fabric under the needle to create folds, sew over the folds. Make sure you don’t create too many folds or you will go through too much fabric and end up needing more to finish the blanket.

Step 3. Put the pieces together and pin.
Very Important!
1. Place the two blanket sides together with the patterns facing each other. The ruffle should be laying flat between them.
2. Lay the batting on top.
3. Pin together for sewing. Should be, blanket side with ruffle on bottom facing up. Blanket side without ruffle facing down. Batting on top.
Make sure your fabrics are in order or it won’t turn out right when you turn the blanket right side out. 

Step 4. Sew all the pieces together!
Sew around the entire blanket, leaving 6 in. to 8 in. un-sewn.
I like to choose a spot in the middle of one of the sides. Since you will sew this by hand once the blanket has been turned. Make sure to pull out every pin !

Step 5.  Turn right side out.
Through the part you left un-sewn, put your hand in between the two pieces if fabrics. Grab the furthest corner and pull out, keep pulling until the blanket is right side out.

Step 6.  Sew the part left un-sewn
Make sure you turn the edge without the ruffle under when you sew this part together! You can sew this by hand or with the sewing machine. All done!

Quilted Coasters

Quilted Coasters are pretty easy to make and they are useful. I like to practice my quilting by making small projects like this one.
Let's get started!
What you'll need:
2 complementary fabrics 12in x.18in
12in. x 18in of low to medium batting
Matching Embroidery Thread
Regular all purpose thread

Really you could do so many interesting things with your coasters. Mine are relatively simple. I started with an embroidered fabric on one side and a linen light tan fabric on the other.
1.  You want to cut all your pieces out, 6 front fabric, 6 back fabric and
6 batting pieces. Cut all of them 6in. x 6in.
2.  This is optional, I quilted the linen side of my fabric because It was plain and I wanted to add a little something to it. So I made an x from corner to corner ( you cant see it to well in the picture ) with the iron, you can use a washable pencil if you want.I then pinned the linen fabric to the batting and sewed them together using the x in the middle as my guide.
3. Now we are going to sew all the pieces together,  front and back pieces will face each other ( sew rt side to rt side) the batting will be on the outside it really doesn't matter witch fabric it is facing. Leave an opening large enough to pull the fabric through to the rt side once you are done sewing.
4. Pull the fabric through to the right side making sure to push the corners out really well ( careful not to tear the fabric).
5.  Hand sew the open end shut ( do your best to hide the opening by sewing on the inside of the open ended fabric).
6.  Embroider the the edges using the Embroidery Thread. And your done!