Vinyl Notebook Cover

My niece received this vinyl notebook cover for her birthday last year. I thought it was adorable. For Christmas I decided to make my own and give them to the girls in my Primary Class. I found this great tutorial that helped me make these covers a reality.

Vinyl Notebook Cover Supplies:

-Vinyl (I get mine at fabric.com)
-gluestick
-binder clips
-sewing supplies
-old sewing pattern
-composition notebook (I got mine from Dollar Tree)

First thing you want to do is to measure your composition notebook and add .5" to each side. The final measurement for my cover is 16.5" x 10.5". My two side pieces measure at 4.5"x 10.5"

I wanted to add a heart on the cover, so I cut a stencil with my Cricut, traced the heart on the back of the vinyl and then cut it out.

I found a great tip on another tutorial that said to use a glue-stick on the back of the vinyl in order to get the cutout to stay in place while you sew it onto the cover. Obviously, I followed the tip and it worked great.

Before I placed the heart onto the vinyl, I folded the vinyl cover over the notebook, lined up the vinyl edges and clipped the vinyl to the notebook like so. Once I had the cover lined up, I glued the heart to the vinyl in the place I thought it looked best.

Next, find an old pattern and cut a piece and place it over the heart. **Take it from me, you CANNOT sew on vinyl. You can either use this old pattern method, or you will need a walking foot for your sewing machine. I did not have this special foot, so I had to find another way to sew on vinyl. I happened to watch a youtube video that suggested using an old pattern. My mom suggested using tape on the bottom of the foot, but when I tried it, it didn't work.

I sewed around the heart with a zig-zag stitch.

I wanted to personalize each notebook, so I printed their names on a sheet of cardstock and "laminated" them with clear contact paper.

I then sewed the name-tag onto each cover.

You will also need to cut a pattern piece for the cover and two side pieces.

I sewed around the cover with a straight stitch.

This step sucks... ripping off the pattern tissue.

Lastly, I inserted the composition notebook into the cover.

So Cute! I also bought some cute pens from Oriental Trading to go with the notebooks.

The girls were so excited to get these. I hope they enjoy them. With the new year, they moved to another class, and I got a new calling, so this was a goodbye present as well as a Christmas present. I will miss them.

Oh Christmas Slat Tree!

For the Christmas craft show last month, we made some cute little pallet Christmas Trees.


Oh Christmas Slat Tree Tutorial:

First things first, find some wood and cut four boards for each tree to the desired height and length.

Finished tree measurements:

Big Tree: 12" H x 11.25" W
Each slat measures 2.5"H x (bottom slat to top slat) 11.25", 8.25", 5.25", 2.25" Wide

Small Tree: 8" H x 7.25" W
Each slat measures 1.75"H x (bottom slat to top slat) 7.25", 5.25", 3.25", 1.75" Wide

You also need to cut a backbone for each tree. It should measure the length of the tree. We also added another little board on the back of the backbone to add stability.

After you have nailed the slats to the backbone, cut the sides of the trees at an angle.

This will basically form a triangle shape.

Here is a view of the back. Notice the little piece we added to make the trees more stable.

Next, I painted the trees. At this point I hadn't decided to paint the backbone/trunk yet. In the end, I painted the trunk brown and also disstressed the paint.

To finished the trees off, I printed a cute little "Oh Christmas Tree" tag and tied it to the small tree.

So cute!

And to think, I wasn't going to decorate this year...

Merry Christmas and Happy Crafting.

Christmas Boutique

At the last second, I decided to sign up to do the Christmas Simple Treasures Craft Boutique. I sold a lot of pillows and a couple of Thanksgiving pallets, but tragically I didn't sell any of my wood crafts. But that's ok, because now I don't have to remake stuff to decorate my house for Christmas...

I have a couple of tutorials coming, so stay tuned for that. You can purchase the pillows in my etsy shop.

Skull Bookends

While browsing though blogs I love, I came across THIS POST about skull bookends. I fell in love with them, so I made my own.

Supplies:
-cedar fence slat
-two skulls (I got mine from Dollar Tree)
-hot glue gun

Cut your boards to the length you want. Nail the two boards together to make a "L". Then paint the boards. I went with black, but then I brushed a coat of silver paint over the top.

Next, glue the skulls to the boards with your hot glue.

Ta-Dah!

I used the skull bookends to hold up my spellbooks I made last year.

Happy Halloween

Headboard Bench

For the craft show, I needed a bench to display my pillows, so I went out into the thrift store world on the hunt for the perfect headboard and footboard, so we could make a bench out of them.

I finally found the perfect combo. I liked them because I thought they looked like an old church pew.

First thing we did was cut the footboard in half. These will be the sides of the bench.

Next, Matt clamped the headboard to the footboard sides.

And then he attached them together wtih screws.

While He was doing that, I sanded the seat board and stained it. Matt then attached the seat to the bench with screws.

The seat only turned out to be 11 inches deep. I didn't like the look of it, so Matt added a 2x4 to make it deeper.

Matt also added some boards on top to cover the original seat and the added 2x4. He also added a front trim piece.

I then filled the holes with putty, sanded and painted the bench.

I think it turned out great!

It looks great in my entryway.

Boo Glitter Letters

Boo Glitter Letters Supply List:
-2"x2"s
-nail gun
-black paint
-glitter

Take your 2"x2"s and cut them to the sizes you need.

Layout each letter to make sure you got all the pieces.

Next, nail the pieces together.

Here is the "BOO" all put together. I don't have pictures for the next couple of steps... Paint your letters black. Next, use THIS tutorial from my #31 post and stamp each letter in glitter. Let the letters sit for ten minutes, then spray with some glossy clearcoat spray. This will protect the glitter.

Here are some different color combos:

Email me, if you have any questions! Happy Halloween Crafting!!!