Chalk Cloth

I made my sister some Chalkboard mats and a table runner because she parties like it's 1999.

They have a pool and an outdoor eating area and they like people:)

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Below is a lot of writing about my experiment with Chalk cloth so you can skip it if you have no interest.

I bought the chalk cloth from the store but you can get it on etsy. I cut the size I wanted, rounded the corners with a plate (or cut a circle using a serving platter) and then bound the edges in bias tape. You have to prime the cloth with chalk before you use it by laying the cloth flat and rubbing regular chalk (lay chalk on it side) first one way to cover the whole thing then wipe off with a dry towel/paper towel then rub with chalk going the opposite way, then wipe off, etc. then it's ready to go! It will look chalky even after wiping off with the recommended dry towel. After I sent these to my sister I wondered if would it still be primed if I wiped it all off with a wet wash cloth. Really wiped off good. It still worked. For me anyway. But it will still have a little bit of a chalky look to it. What I'm trying to say is after priming it and wiping with a DRY cloth you can wipe off and subsequent writing with a wet cloth and it will still be primed.

I love that you can write what is in each dish. As a seriously picker eater, I hate not knowing what's in a dish. The above picture might be self explanatory to someone looking at the bowls with those dips in it but lets say I make a casserole and it's not obvious what's in it. I could write on the mat "taco casserole with beans, onions and salsa". I would therefore stay far away from that dish:) Or you could write "vegan casserole" or "Meatloaf with vegetable landmines" or..."gross stuff in here Jennifer, stay away".

 The above picture is my experiment with a chalk pen (which I did not have till after I sent my sister her mats) and a regular chalk stick. The chalk pen wins hands down. I have really crappy childish handwriting anyway and a regular chalk stick exacerbates it. I just could not get it to be pretty. But the chalk pen is much nicer. It does take practice. I notice a difference but maybe you don't? Bad handwriting is bad handwriting. But if you have pretty handwriting imagine how pretty it would be??

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Ok, one last thing about the chalk pen. If you leave the chalk pen on the cloth for days and days (I experimented with leaving the chalk pen on for 2 weeks)  it will be VERY hard to get off unless you use a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser then it's easy like a Sunday morning.

So the above picture is still chalky and the bottom one has been wiped off with a wet wash cloth. Still chalky around the edges (that's the draw-back to the bias binding; it gets chalky too). Also when you go to wipe it off you need to use a towel to hold it still because the oils from your hands leave prints.

Here is the runner being stored on a hanger. I also wanted to show off  the girls new art shelf. This is our kitchen/art room. The bins holds all their papers, supplies, etc. to include play-doh.  They love being able to get their own stuff out even though they have to ask first. I did have to child safety lock the scissors. Ava was a little to sneaky with them and was cutting things she shouldn't.

The runner in action.

I would love to say Emily wrote the names of the dinosaurs but sadly that's my handwriting.

Some Info:

1. Chalk cloth available on etsy.

2. Chalk pen available on etsy, Amazon and a bunch of other places, just google it. I bought the Chalk Ink brand Wet Wipe Markers, size 6mm from someone on etsy.

3. Prime cloth first with regular chalk stick.

4. Do not iron chalk cloth or put in washing machine; wipe off only with dry or wet cloth. You may have to prime again after a while of usage.

5. Do not store chalk cloth folded or with clips on a hanger. Roll cloth or hang over a hanger bar. If you clip it the clip marks are almost impossible to get out (this happened to me) so I'm assuming folds will be hard too.

6. Use a trivet/hot pad when placing hot foods on it.

7. I have no idea what happens if you spill food on it. Lets/ hope it wipes off:) I'm sure you could run that area under water I just wouldn't put it in the washing machine and you may have to prime again after getting it wet.

8. I've seen people make table clothes out of the chalk cloth so dinner guests can write all over it while they eat but having experienced a chalk table at the store, I wouldn't do it. I can see the chalk getting all over your forearms and clothes. Unless you used  the chalk pens...

I hope this helps anyone who has questions about or will have questions about chalk cloth and chalk pens. I did a lot of internet searching when I bought it and just want to share what I know.



Baby Bunco Turtle

I know you're thinking, why is she posting about that turtle again? Well I'm not! This is a baby one! My sister has a Bunco group and they needed a new little zippy pouch to hold the winnings (I think that's what you'd call it) and it needed to be small. I had seen the this tutorial on Pinterest for an earbud holder and just altered it to look like a turtle. I was going to make a cow with udders (I have really cool cow minky type fabric) but I really do love making these turtles. I did have the perfect matching zipper but I cut the zipper without the actual zipper pull on the part I needed and couldn't get it back on. Boo. This one is fine but the one that matched was the exact same green as the corduroy. Don't you hate when you make stupid mistakes??

So you can get an idea of size, here's the baby one with the mommy one.

The small one is the size of my palm.

I had my 4 year blogiversary February 24th. 

4 years blogging and I still love it like the day I started.

 I don't want to sound like I'm excepting an Oscar with my thank yous so I'll just say that if no one read my blog or looked at the photos I wouldn't be doing this. The blog is for me, for family/friends and to share stuff with fellow crafters. It's not a private party all for myself. So what I'm saying is thanks for coming to my party for the last 4 years or when ever you got here. Thank you:) If that even made sense.   

Green Eggs and Ham

*that's green ham:)

This week was Dr. Seuss week. Every day was a different dress-up day with today being dress-as-a-character-from-ANY-book day. I chose Green Eggs and Ham because it was easy and I couldn't think of anything else and it stayed with the Dr. Seuss theme. My sister suggested Madeline which would have been perfect with her hair but we had none of the clothing. Maybe next year.. Kelly, do you recognize the smaller egg on Emily's sweater? It's the one you made and gave her:) The green circle is fleece and sewn to her hoodie with the largest stitch length on my machine so I can take it off  later. Remember what she wore last year on this day?

Remember when walking backwards was SO exciting?

Pimp my Machine..sort of

Yesterday I went to the hardware store yesterday to buy some bungee cords to try out the above idea (the ghetto looking stuffed animal holder on the wardrobe door). The girls love it but I'm still waiting for a better idea to hit me. If anyone has an idea for harnessing stuffed animals (but not somewhere on the floor) I'm all ears.  Anyway, I pass the wheel aisle and remember that I have been wanting to make a sewing machine tilt table on wheels (for lack of a better name) for ever. Exciting! I spent way to much time there (poor Ava) comparing wheels and finding a board, having it cut by the German employee that looked at me like I was a retarded leper that smelled bad when I asked if he could round the edges. Whatev.

So as you can see from the pictures, this is a (very slightly) tilting table that your sewing machine sits on. It makes it so your machine is angled towards you while you sew. You can conceivably see what your sewing better. I wanted it on wheels because I am always pushing my machine out of the way and it has rubber feet on the bottom and weighs a ton. Pain in the butt. Or as my German friend would say, "Du regst mich auf" which actually translates to "You excite me". I think she's messing with me.

Supplies:

1 piece of wood the size of your machine. Mine is 15.75"x7.875" and 3/4" thick.

4 wheels (2 that are taller than that other 2) . The size is up to you.

screws or nails for the wheels

Drill or hammer; depends on how you attach the wheels.

This cost me about $10.

I would have painted it and made it all pretty but I'm not sure what I want to do.

Instructions:

All I did was pick a side for the wheels, somewhat center the wheels in each corner and attach the wheels with screws (refer to pictures). And it's done! Until I think of how pretty I want to make it:)

 Does it roll away from me when I sew? A little. Nothing that has bothered me so far and I sewed today just so I could report whether it does move. I knew that might be a problem but If I wanted locking wheels they would have been HUGE and my machine would have been elevated 3" or more. I'm just so happy to be able to push my machine out of the way so easily!

Emily & Ava at the playground.



Woodland Wreath (paper)

I have spent entirely too  many hours at my desk watching my Silhouette Cameo cut out all these woodland critters and then gluing them together. Too many! But I think it's so cute so therefore worth it.  My machine cut ALL of this out. Every single animal, bird and flower etc. that you see above is available to be downloaded for .99 cents each (50cents if on sale). That is one reason I love this machine. With other cutting machines you have to buy cartridges that have several designs on them and you may not want all of them and they are expensive. When I bought this machine it came with a gift certificate so you can download stuff and start right away.

See the Gnome? He's 6 different colors. That means I have to run paper through the machine in 6 different colors. But I've learned how to do several colors in one run through. Kind of hard to explain but it is easy to use. I was REALLY worried I wouldn't be smart enough to figure this machine out after reading some reviews but right out of the box and with some 12x12 sparkly card stock from Joann's I made a Merry Christmas banner within probably 30 minutes. It was mostly just getting used to the program and figuring out buttons, etc. I also got the Designer program (for 40% off thank you very much!) when I bought the machine so I can make my own designs instead of buying them from the Silhouette online store.

The hedgehog is my favorite. He is 3 layers of card stock.

There's a fox, frog, deer, snail, skunk, owl(s), bird(s), raccoon, squirrel, acorn and I love the tree stump at the top next to the raccoon. It's all glued to a thick cardboard circle.

And here it is on my door. I also made the paper welcome banner on the Silhouette. Jon asked when the party was. It does look party-ish...but he's not invited because he thinks he's funny.

Last week was one of Emily's friends Birthdays. Since her birthday always falls during Fasching week she asks that you come to her party dressed up ( I don't know if I posted last years party). I got both these costumes at a German store. Ava's is a "Bavarian German Beer Girl Fancy Dress Costume" and Emily's is an "ill-fitting fairy costume":). I hate that they both had to wear shirts under the dresses but it has been anywhere from 11-25 degrees here.