Made it By Monday: Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

When I stumbled upon this recipe by Megan at radmegan, I knew I had to try it. I also have always had bad luck with anything baking/cooking related but this seemed simple enough that I had to at least give it a shot.

(clicking on the picture will also bring you to the tutorial!)

It requires no baking! Just melted chocolate and a fridge.

Materials:
-melting chocolate or chocolate chips
-peanut butter
-cooking spray
-mini cupcake papers (I couldn’t find any in my grocery store as small as the ones used in the actual tutorial, I would say mine were probably the next size up).

Time:
About 45 min to an hour

Tips:
-I found it easiest to just spread the chocolate with the back of the spoon in the wrappers
-Because my holders were bigger, my peanut butter cups were bigger. This meant that some bites contain A LOT of peanut butter. A tip would be to crush up some chocolate or honey graham cracker and mix it into the peanut butter mix.

Delicious! For the complete tutorial, be sure to follow the link!

Made It By Monday: Lace T-Shirt

Like a previous MIBM’s Lace Earrings, here comes another project that is a great way to use an old lace table cloth or curtain.

I made this lace shirt following Yellow Suitcase Studio’s Lace Top Tutorial. It was so easy to follow (especially for someone like me who has very little sewing experience) and I finished it in one night. She does a great job using photos and written instructions to help you out!

This is the first tshirt I’ve ever sewn myself so I’m very happy with the result. I didn’t finish the sleeves partly because I like the unfinished look and partly because I was done trying to fiddle around with my very, very old sewing machine.

Tutorial Link: Click Here!

Total Time:
2-3 hours

What You Need:

Scraps of lace (enough solid pieces to make the front and the back)

Sewing machine

White thread

Iron

A bit of patience!

Have a great week! I’m heading back to school in two days so expect the next update soon!

Made It By Monday: Lace Earrings

I’m finally back at school and so excited to be back in the city. Here’s a quick project I started just before I left and finally got back to a couple of days ago. These feminine lace earrings are a breeze to make!

Supplies:

1. Lace scraps (I used an old curtain)

2. Craft Spray. I used Krylon Matte Finish. There are many other types of spray out there that I think would work just as well.

3. Earring hooks (optional: jump rings, beads, etc.)

4. Pliers (round nose and flat nose)

Step 1: Choose your motif

I dug up an old curtain and found the motif I liked best. I looked for two of the same as I wanted both my earrings to mirror eachother, but I think a mismatched pair would be cute too.

I recommend cutting the motifs out using sharp scissors or an exact-o knife to limit the frayed edges.

Step 2: Spray

Make sure you spray the Krylon in a well-ventilated area. Since it was a nice day I just brought them to cleared spot outside. I used toothpicks to keep my earrings from sticking to the paper towel once I sprayed as well as to keep them in place (the spray from the bottle as well as the wind tends to blow your project away).

Make sure to flip your earrings over and spray the other side as well. The spray stiffens the earrings and makes them water-resistant. Let each coat completely dry before handling your earrings.

Step 3: Attach earring hooks.

I didn’t have any jump rings so I just opened the loop of the hook with pliers and used a hole already in the top of the lace earring. Jump rings might make the process a bit easier and add length.

Voila!

These were super easy to make and now I’m constantly on the lookout for lace scraps with interesting motifs. Don’t be afraid to add pearl beads or use larger motifs to make your own, unique pair!

 

Made It By Monday: Friendship Bracelets

This post was actually intended for last week as a end-of-summer sort of project, but hurricane Irene had other plans. We’ve finally got our power back so here it goes: Ever since I was little and my mom bought me one of those Klutz friendship bracelet books, I’ve loved making bracelets for my family, friends, and myself! These always remind me of summer and the last two weeks of a sort of nostalgia-inspired vacation I made (and gave) a bunch.

At the day camp I work at these are the most fun to make with the kids.  The result is that we’re all literally up to our elbows in friendship bracelets by the end of the summer.

What you’ll need:
1. embroidery floss

(available at most craft and sewing/fabric stores)

2. tape or a paper clip. I find clips work best for me as my bracelets always slid out from under the tape.

~*~

Here is a list of some great friendship bracelet websites with tutorials and instructions to get you inspired:

1. Easy, basic friendship bracelets from purlbee
2. Free patterns from friendship-bracelets.net
3. Make bracelets using a cardboard loom.
4. A fashionable take on a traditional friendship bracelet

Image Source

I’m anxious to try to make the ‘peruvian wave’ friendship bracelet. Here’s a quick tutorial:

Like knitting, I find making friendship bracelets very therapeutic. Be sure to try your own designs and wear them in unique ways!

Image Source

Have a great week!

Made It By Monday: Paper Beads

There are some crafts you can never be too old for. I hadn’t made paper beads since summmer camp days but I’ve stumbled upon so many tutorials and earrings and bracelets all about (and using) paper beads.

What you need:
1. Old magazines, scrapbook paper, origami paper, whatever!
2. Glue (Elmers liquid glue, glue stick – whatever works best for you)
3. Toothpicks, Size 1-3 knitting needle, chopsticks
4. A varnish (Such a krylon, polyurethane, modge podge)

I have yet to varnish mine. The varnish isn’t entirely necessary – it definitely makes the beads look more jewelry-esque but they also lose a bit of the “paper” look.

I made a bunch of these over the course of the last week. (Personally I think my form still needs a bit of work). To get you started, here are a couple of great tutorials for paper beads:

Madmim’s Paper Bead Tutorial
Yahoo Lifestyle Tutorial
Paper Bead Templates (7 different forms! Not just cylinders.)

And once you’ve made your beads, I highly suggest you check out this tutorial also by madmim for anthropologie-inspired earrings: Click here

Make these beautiful earrings from anthropologie.

It’s amazing what people have done! I often head on over to Etsy for even more inspiration.

Image Source

Have fun!

Made It By Monday… Cranberry-Dyed Shoes

As summer winds down and the cool days of fall and winter approach, I’ve decided to share with you all tutorials from both me and the internet to try.

I love crafts and tutorials that revamp old items that I may already have. In this case, I had a pair of very, very worn, dirty and old white Keds sneakers that I was going to throw out. In a last chance effort, I decided to dye them.

I had recently been to the library and was looking through craft books and found one on natural dyes. One possibility was cranberries (or in my case, cranberry juice concentrate). I happened to be wearing my dirty, beat up shoes as I was reading and decided to give it a try.

I was largely inspired by this tutorial by sweet verbena for tea-stained shoes. Definitely go check her tutorial out.

Supplies:

1. White canvas shoes

2. frozen cranberry juice concentrate – however many cans it takes to fill up the pot that you are going to put your shoes in. (the frozen juice is not diluted like the stuff you find in the juice aisle).

3. 1 tablespoon vinegar (so the dye sets)

4. 1 pint of water for every can of cranberry juice.

I had also purchased new laces at Urban Outfitters to replace my old ones.

~~*~~

Step 1: Find your shoes.

These are my terribly old, gross shoes that used to be white. I believe Payless has white canvas shoes for $15.

(These are after I washed them, by the way. Notice the blue from a tye-dye incident and the back held together by electric tape. I have no idea why I’ve kept them this long).

Step 2: Ready your supplies.

I took my frozen cranberry juice concentrate and emptied them into a pan on the stove. I set the stove to simmer so the juice would melt and added 1 pint of water per can. I also added a tablespoon of vinegar.

I would suggest buying more than two cans of the frozen juice. the resulting dye did not completely cover the shoes so I had to keep rotating them. A big pan and a lot of dye will allow for your shoes to be completely submerged.

(I’m not sure the pros/cons of red/white vinegar. Red probably would have worked well in this case considering the color dye I was using).

Step 3: Ready your shoes.

While your juice is melting, give your shoes a good scrub and remove the soles and laces. Often after being soaked the soles are easier to remove.

(And rinse your kitchen sink after)

Step 4: Stuff your shoes in the pot.

I don’t have a picture of my shoes crammed into my too-small pot, but the wear and tear they’ve experienced allowed them to be very flexible. I will say that the splotchy end appearance may be in part due to my constant rotating during the dying.

I left them on the stove for about half an hour.

Step 5: Remove and rinse.

Remove your shoes (carefully! They might be hot) and run them under the faucet until the water runs clear.

Step 6: Lay to dry.

Stick you shoes and the removed soles out in the sun or wherever to dry.

Step 7: Wear your cranberry-dyed shoes proud!