Up cycled Moccasins

 I was so excited when my sister in law gave Kingsley these cute moccasins from baby gap. But sadly as you can see below they got trashed pretty quickly. Kingsley spit up on the top of one of them leaving a stain, and all the edges turned a dark blue color from rubbing on my pants I guess. I was so bummed they looked so nasty since they were my favorite pair of shoes he owned.

 Then I had an idea.. Why don't I whip out the fabric paint & cover them?! Are you surprised I choose gold? They covered all of the bad spots very well. They did make the moccasins a little stiffer, but besides that I think they turned out quite nicely :)

So I threw on some of Kingsley's other hand painted things to take some pictures.

I forgot I have even made these leggings!

This last one is so sad, Kingsley obviously did not want any more pictures taken.

Seems lately all my posts are about crafts. Probably because that's all I can seem to find to entertain myself in this nasty weather. I am gonna try really hard to post things about my family & what we are up to even though it is nothing special.

DIY tree skirt

I know this tutorial is a little late, but hey pin it for next year and maybe it will come in handy! Plus xmas fabric is all on sale, so maybe you just want to be super prepared for next Christmas :) Anyways as I was looking for a tree skirt to go under our massive tree, I came across this awesome tartan plaid one from the Land of Nod

I was in love, but for $70 the husband said no way :( (It is on sale now by the way if you want to snag it for next year)

So what of course you must do in situations like this is to make one like it!

What you will need:

*Fabric (1 1/2 yards for large tree skirt, 1 1/4 yards for meduim, & 1 yard for a small skirt)

I chose to make a large tree skirt since we had a big 70" tree.

*Scissors

*Pins

*A bowl

*Sewing Machine 

I chose a red plaid fabric for the top of my tree skirt to match with our all red decorated tree. For the bottom I just got a plain red fabric for super cheap because I knew I didn't care what the underneath looked like. You could however chose a cool sherpa or another fabric you like to make your tree skirt reversible! 

So fold your fabric in half & then in half again so it is in a square. Cut a rounded side on the only non folded or raw edge. I just eye balled it, but for a more accurate circle you will want to measure so your circle is completely even. 

Once both top & bottom pieces are cut out lay them on top of each other with the right sides facing each other. Pin around the whole circle. Now in the center lay down your bowl & trace around it. Cut out your circle and cut a straight line for the back of your tree skirt. Pin around.

Now if you would like to beautify the back of your tree skirt I would recommend pinning ribbons to either side of the line you just cut so you can tie up the back in bows. I knew you wouldn't see the back of my tree skirt so I got lazy and opted out of the extra work.

Now you will sew around all your raw edges making sure to leave a 5" inch gap to turn it inside out. You can hand stitch your gap closed or use fabric glue to shut it, whichever you prefer.

And wala you have yourself a tree skirt! Diesel in the corner admiring my work.

Now stick it under your tree and find a cute baby to help display it ;)

I think Kingsley was very impressed with my tree skirt :)

Here is our tree all lit up & with the star on it. I miss Christmas already!

Cardigan Onesies

So as you all know I love to craft. With Mr. Kingsley in my life it has been a lot harder to find the time, but then i saw THIS tutorial on Pinterest to turn onesie's into cardigans and I knew I had to make some!

They turned out even cuter than I expected! (which hardly ever happens)

So I ended up doing things a little bit different then the Feather's Flight tutorial. I am lazier then most and like to simplify things as much as possible. So I will walk you through the steps to make an easy, cute cardigan!

Supplies Needed:

-long sleeved onesie

-scissors

-pins

-ruler

-binding tape (this will be your cardigan trim)

-buttons

-thread

1. First choose a onesie plain or patterned, they both work great. I found mine at Old Navy. Make sure to pre shrink them! This is a step I love to skip, but I always regret it later. Sew the crossover shoulder seams together.

2. Cut directly down the the center of the onesie and slant it slightly so it falls in between two snaps at the bottom.

3. Measure from the armpit to the center and make a mark. Then measure from the shoulder to the mark. If you want a deeper V measure down from the armpit an inch or so.

4. Cut out your V and all around the neck band.

5. Now here is where I took a different route. I decided to use a pack of binding tape to be the trim of my cardigan. This way I didn't have to iron & fold, or work with a stretchy fabric. My sewing machine does not do well with stretchy knit like fabrics. Seriously so much easier to use the pre pressed binding. So slide your onesie fabric in the middle of the binding and pin around the whole outside. Cut ends on a slant and fold underneath. Leave yourself about an inch on each end, which you can cut off later if you have too much excess left over. If you decide you would like contrasting trim on the cuff (I did with & without) cut the band off the bottom of the arm and pin binding around and overlap about an inch. This was probably the hardest part sewing around such a small opening.

6. Use a small straight stitch around the whole cardigan. Make sure you are sewing through both the binding tape and cardigan fabric.

7. I also made another shortcut here by overlapping one side of the cardigan over the other and sewing through both layers securing on the button. Measure and mark where you want your buttons, I recommend 3-4. I don't see any point to go to all the work to make button holes and all that for baby clothes. This way you wont have bunching in between and the V makes it easy to pull over their head.

8. Sew on buttons of your choice. You could even glue on buttons if you wanted to make it even easier!

Wahoo you're done! Now just find yourself an adorable baby to put it on!

 There is enough binding tape in the pack to trim two cardigans.

Throw on a collared shirt and a tie and your little one is dressed to impress!

They look super cute with pants or alone.

Seems like everyone I know is either expecting or has a little one, so these will definitely come in handy for gifts!

UPDATE!

I have had a bunch of people email, or comment that they would be interested in having me make them a cardigan onesie :) I am seriously so flattered! I love to craft & would be more than happy to make one for you! I want to clarify that in no way was this my original idea, and if you would like to make your own, refer back to Feather's Flights awesome tutorial. 

I have opened up shop with big cartel! Please check them out and let me know what you think!

Here are some of my favorites:

So head over to the dieselinbloom shop to grab something for your next baby shower!

XOXO

Cassie

DIY fabric painted onesies

I better get this blog all caught up since I am running out of time before this baby comes! I have been making a bunch of different things for the little man, but I have to say these fabric painted onesies are my favorite!

They really are super cheap & easy. Items needed for this DIY:

-blank onesies. I got most of mine from Walmart except the black one I got at Hobby Lobby.

-fabric paint. Can be found at any craft store, but I picked mine up at Micheals.

- stencil sponges & paint brushes.

- stencils. I used this stencil by Martha Stewart.

I first got the idea from this blog & thought that seems easy enough! Well since I have been loving gold lately I decided to try that out first. I saw a spray on fabric paint & thought that seemed way easier & faster than doing it by hand.

WRONG!

After two different attempts with the spray fabric paint I gave up because for some reason no matter how many times I read the directions & did everything they said it still bleed through. Plus after being washed it faded a ton. So I made the trip back to the craft store for the regular fabric paint & found it to be much better. I even saved this onesie by painting over the bad spots.

Directions:

Not that you really need any because it is so simple, but I will tell you what I did anyways.

1- pre-wash all onesies. Your pattern will shrink, wrinkle & deform if you skip this step!

2- make sure to put cardboard or something thick in the middle of the onesie so the paint doesn't seep thru and so you have a flat space to paint on.

3- tape down stencil as flat as possible (if you are using one)

I made some of my own stencils using thick paper & stencil cut outs from the craft store. You can only use them once, but I found them to work really well.

4- use a sponge brush to dot on paint. remember less is more, if you use too much paint it is more likely to seep under your stencil.

5- use a small paint brush to apply paint to the corners or small spaces.

6- pull off stencil, paint on touch ups & let dry for an hour or so.

And wala you have a fun new onesie in just your style!

The possibilities are endless for customizing your own onesies. You can use colored onesies to paint on:

metallics

and choose any color or pattern combination! (this one may be my favorite :))

you of course can paint free hand as well, but I found that to be more difficult for me.. Notice the unevenness of the left side of this onesie?? haha

Well I may have gone a little overboard with painting onesies, but the ones I don't keep will work as great gifts!

hope this baby kemp loves gold & neon :)