DIY Dollar Store Rose Petal Skirt
Spring and summer weddings, Mother’s Day, and fun family parties are all coming up soon. Why not make yourself or your daughter(s) this really cute rose petal skirt that was created by Fave Crafts? It would be adorable with different colored petals, made into dresses, or a tunic. Be sure to check out her website to see a step-by-step picture tutorial to help with creating your new skirt!
What You’ll Need:
- 1-2 XL white men’s undershirt (brand new is best if you’re doing a white skirt, used but very clean is okay for other colored petals)
- Bagged fabric rose petals (buy at dollar or craft stores)
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Pins
- Sewing machine
Directions:
- Lay your t-shirt flat and cut off the bottom for your skirt piece. Cut a piece that’s long enough to make a skirt. She suggests to measure it against a skirt you already own that’s a length you like. The skirt will already has a hem since it’s made from the bottom of the t-shirt, so you hardly have any work left.
- Next, sew the petals onto the skirt piece. Place one petal at a time, sewing them in a straight line, one right next to each other. Keep going until your skirt is covered completely by petals.
- For the top row, sew the petals upside down the iron them down so that the stitching doesn’t show.
- Now you need to make a waist band. To make this foldover waistband, first measure a pair of foldover pants you already own (if you have them) or measure another pair of pants.
- Now, cut more fabric from your t-shirt to use as your waistband. Cut double the width that you want your waistband to end up being (she cut 6 inches wide to make a 3 inch waistband). The length of your is what you measured from your pants.
- Sew this newly cut fabric into a tube, then fold the tube in half over itself so that the wrong sides are facing each other.
- Now put your skirt piece around yourself or whoever the skirt is going to be wearing it. If it’s way larger than your waistband, sew a basting stitch all the way around the top of your skirt piece and pull the threads to gather it until the circumference of your skirt’s waist is the same as your waistband.
- Put the skirt inside of the waistband so the raw sides of the waistband and gathered edge of the skirt are together, and the top of the waistband is facing down. Now, pin the waistband to the skirt.
- Sew around the top of your skirt to attach the waistband to the skirt piece. Then flip the waistband right side up, remove the basting stitch (if it’s showing), and enjoy!
DIY Patriotic Beaded Earrings
Get an extra little splash of red, white, and blue with these simple earrings from She Knows. The jewelry only takes a few minutes to make, can be worn for years, and given as gifts or a party favor. For a visual step-by-step tutorial, visit the She Knows link above.
What You’ll Need:
- Round-nosed pliers
- Jewelry pliers
- 2 Silver earring hoops
- 6 Red beads
- 6 Blue beads
- 6 White beads
- 2 Star charms
- 6 Jump rings
- 2 Earring wires
Directions:
- String the beads onto the earring hoop. Make a pattern of red-white-blue. Repeat the pattern three times.
- Using the round-nosed pliers, make a curve on the straight side of the earring wire so that it points up.
- Hook the curve onto the loop on the other end of the earring hoop. Using round-nosed pliers, twist curve into a vertical loop.
- Use two jump rings to suspend the star charm by attaching one jump ring to the top of the charm, then use a second jump ring to connect the first jump ring to the vertical loop you created in the last step.
- Use a third jump ring to connect the earring wire to the vertical loop.
- Repeat the steps above to make a second earring.
- Wear and ENJOY!
DIY 4th of July Pinwheels
Sparklers can cause some pretty nasty burns on little hands, so instead of sparklers this year, make them these pretty 4th of July pinwheels – or just make them for fun and decorations!
What You’ll Need:
- Double-sided patriotic patterned scrapbook paper
- Wooden dowels
- Straight pins
- Beads
- Hot glue gun and hot glue
- Double-sided tape
- Scissors
- Star stickers
- Spray adhesive (if needed)
- (Optional: Plain white scrapbook paper to decorate yourself or by kids)
Directions:
- To create dual-sided pinwheels, gather your double-sided scrapbook papers in patriotic colors, or create your own (better yet, have the kids decorate them and have them involved in the celebration!). Use the spray adhesive to adhere them together.
- Cut paper into square shapes – 8-in and 6-in squares – to create different sized pinwheels.
- Fold squares in half diagonally to create a triangle, then press to crease.
- Open the triangle and fold diagonally the opposite way, then press to crease.
- Open up the triangle and flatten out the square.
- Cut along each diagonal fold three-quarters of the way to the center.
- Pull the tip of every other corner toward the center. Use double-sided tape or white craft glue to adhere the first tip to the center, then each folded-in tip on top of each other. When you finish, you’ll have the pinwheel shape.
- If you want your pinwheel to spin, skip to step 10. If not and will be used for decorations only, hot glue the pinwheel to your wooden dowel. Skip cutting down wooden dowels from the hardware or craft store and use inexpensive flag dowels (removing the flags, of course).
- Finish your pinwheel with a decorative star sticker in the center.
- If you want your pinwheel to spin, you’ll need to push a pin through the center (a straight pin works), then a bead beneath the pinwheel. You’ll drive the pin into your dowel with a hammer.
- If needed, fold over (or cut and then fold over) any part of the pin that sticks through to the back to prevent injuries.
Recipe: Grand Old Flag Cake
I love seeing this cake every year in all the magazines for their patriotic issues (Memorial & Independence Day). This recipe comes from an old issue of All You and you can check for the nutrition on the website. You can also use change the ingredients and flavors around, or boxed/premade/gluten-free/etc. cake and frosting – totally up to you!
Ingredients:
Chocolate cake:
- Cooking spray
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 sticks (6 oz.) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream-cheese frosting:
- 2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 pint blueberries
- 1 1/2 pints raspberries
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line length of 13×9-inch cake pan with parchment paper, and leave a 4-inch overhang. Lay another sheet across width of pan and up sides (without the overhang). Spray paper evenly with the cooking spray.
- To make cake: Whisk together flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat in butter on low speed until mixture is crumbly. Add buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. Increase speed to medium and beat, scraping down inside of bowl, until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to baking pan.
- Bake cake until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Holding overhanging pieces of paper, pull cake from pan and let cool completely on rack. Invert platter on cake and flip over to invert cake. Carefully peel off paper and discard.
- Make frosting: Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter on medium speed until light. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar until fluffy. Beat in the lemon juice. Refrigerate frosting for about 10 minutes if it’s too soft to spread.
- Frost sides and top of cake. Arrange blueberries in a rectangle in upper left-hand corner of cake. Arrange raspberries in 7 rows for stripes. Refrigerate cake until serving. (Cake can be made up to 3 hours ahead.)
Recipe: Teddy Bear Beach Bums “Dirt” Cups
We all loved dirt cake growing up, the one with crushed Oreos and gummy worms, but here is a summertime change to the usual dirt cake that everyone will love!
All you have to do is using clear plastic cups, put use blue pudding or jello on the bottom half of the cup. Top the blue dessert with crushed vanilla cookies or vanilla Oreos ( looks like sand). Add sour tape candy cut into strips (the picture shows Airhead Extremes Sour Belts) with a Teddy Graham lying on top enjoying the sunshine. Add a cocktail umbrella and enjoy!