Christmas Countdown - drawstring bags

I have been in need of a good Christmas countdown for my kids for a long time! I ususally just print out a picture of Santa and they pull Hershey Kisses off his beard, or a calendar they put stickers on. So, I decided to take it a little further, and hopefully this one will last a long time. This project literally took me 2 1/2 hours to complete, and cost me nothing because I had everything in my "office" already, aside from the treats!

My side business, The Baxter Boy, has some Christmas prints left over from past years, so I used those pre-cut rectangles to make my bags. Start with a 5" x 8" piece of fabric.

Fold over the "top" along the long side of the fabric, wrong sides together, about 1/2". Sew in place.

Then fold in half, right sides together, with the 'top' at the top. Sew around the bottom and side edges, stopping at the seam you previously just sewed. When you cut off the strings, also cut the 'top' corner at an angle.

Turn inside out!

Use a ribbon, or string, rope, etc, with a safety pin on the end and slide it through the 'top'. This is your drawstring. Once it is all the way through, tie the ends together, leaving as much length as you want (I left about 2").

The final step was using my Silhouette machine to cut out some grey heat press vinyl numbers (1-24), and I used 'Mountains of Christmas' font. My numbers are about 1.5" tall.

Then fill them with treats! I also included a daily service idea for them to do (see HERE).

And hang them up with clothespins. I only had yarn, so that's what I went with to hang them on. It's up high enough that the kids can't grab them whenever they feel like a snack ;)

Merry Christmas [countdown]!!!

DIY Leather bracelets {2 styles}

I have had a few leather bracelets pinned on Pinterest for a while now. I don’t like to just be a ‘pinner’ & let them sit on my boards forever, but instead I actually try to check things off my pinned list! Now I can finally check off a couple of my pinned jewelry ideas! In particular, these two pins – bracelet with sterling silver accents & quotable leather bracelet (on etsy for a hefty price!). Here are my versions of the two styles:

I started out with some really great quality flat leather lace, in two different colors (for my two different bracelets), both 5mm wide – Blackberry & Cognac (I love the black edges on both).

So first I’ll start with a {HOW TO} on my “DIY quotable leather bracelet” --->

As I already mentioned, I started with the Cognac flat leather lace (5mm), and I also had some E-600, and sterling silver findings (the metal quote part comes later).

I measured my wrist (how big I wanted the bracelet, also accounting for the findings) & measured the leather accordingly, then cut two pieces at that length.

These end caps are 10mm wide, so the two pieces of 5mm wide leather fit perfectly inside.

I put some E-6000 inside, then squeezed the leather in & let it sit until dry.

**be sure when you put the leather in the end caps that you twist the leather, at least once (or as many times as you want). Then you can wear this bracelet with or without the metal quote, and it still looks awesome.

 

You could stop there with the bracelet, or you can keep going & add the twisted metal quote! The bracelet I was inspired by used a piece of pure aluminum, which I didn’t have access to. So instead I used what I had available – recycled car metal! Maybe not as shiny & “pure” as the aluminum, but I get points for recycling, right ;) plus, it’s free! I also used a sledge hammer & some metal stamps.

Can I just say that this is a lot harder than it looks to make the twisted quote part of this bracelet. Mine did not turn out nearly as beautiful as the pinned etsy shop listing, and I need A LOT more practice with my letter stamping! Props to whoever it is that makes the original bracelet!!

I cut out a 3/8” wide by about 4” piece (I didn’t know how long I needed it!) of car metal & grinded then sanded down the edges until it was smooth. Then I stamped the lettering. Again, I need A LOT more practice! Oh well!!

I went the easy route to make my lettering stand out – a sharpie and an alcohol wipe. (scribble over the lettering to make it all black inside, then wipe away the excess with an alcohol wipe).

Then I started twisting it. Harder than it looks! Or maybe this car metal just isn’t easy to work with. I don’t know.

I slid it over the end of the bracelet (by the way, you might want to make the twisted metal before you make the bracelet, then you can just slide it over the leather, not the findings!). Once it was on the bracelet, I kept squeezing it with my jewelry pliers until it fit a little more snug. It isn’t nearly as pretty and smooth as my inspiration, but it will do [for me].

And the finish product (see the uneven twisting?! UGH)

 

Now on to my  {HOW TO} for bracelet #2, “DIY leather wrapped bracelet with sterling silver accents” --->

For this bracelet, I used the Blackberry flat leather lace (about 3 meters x 5mm), sterling silver beads (they looked the “silver” part!), bead thread, needle, and findings. Aside from the leather, I got all of these items at Joanns, but I will say that I much prefer the findings that I used on the bracelet above. 

This bracelet was time consuming and, to be honest, the beading was a pain! Each section of 10 beads needed a new piece of bead thread, so there was a lot of tying knots & threading needles. Maybe there is an easier way to do this part, but that is what I did.  

 

There were a lot of sections of the beading, because I used the whole 3 ft (about) length for this bracelet. In the end it was worth it! I didn’t measure in between the sections of beading because I wanted it to look more sporadic and random, but they were spaced at about 1.5 – 2.25” apart.

[I used the best findings I could find for this project, but again I’m not super excited about them. I’d definitely recommend square end caps that fit exactly. These do work, just not as awesome as the ones I used above.]

The finished product, [and I’m totally in love with it!]

If you have any comments, tips, or questions, please share. I’m not an expert, but personally I think these turned out pretty awesome (and I didn’t have to spend $45+ for them, like on etsy). I love DIY!!

**MORE DIY JEWELRY PROJECTS**

Kids tote bag {how-to}

My oldest boy (Little G) is now in the Sunbeams class in Primary. He loved nursery so much, and his little brother is still in it so I had a feeling the transition from nursery to primary would be hard on him. He has a lot of older friends, so in actuality, he LOVES primary. He gets to see all his friends and see so many people. He starts out like a shy dude, but after all said and done, he is the crazy, outspoken kiddo climbing over and under all the chairs!

[little G modeling his new bag]

In anticipation of a horrible transition, I made him a “special primary bag” that he gets to take to his Sunbeam class with him. He was super excited, especially that it is CAMOUFLAGE! I also made it so that he could bring his scriptures to church every Sunday. The Primary in our ward has a “scripture jar” that gets passed around while everyone is coming in and sitting down. If you bring scriptures, you get to help fill it up with chocolate chips. It’s a cute little thing they do to encourage the kids to bring their scriptures to church. He really wanted to put some chocolate chips in the jar, and now he can!

This is a really easy bag to make, and the dimensions are specific to the size of a Book of Mormon. My sister gave me the directions (over Skype!) and I made it in less than an hour, start to finish, late Saturday night.

Step 1 – cut your fabric

*You need 2 pieces cut at 11” x 18”, one for the lining and one for the outer shell. They can be the same fabric, or different. I liked the different prints (camouflage & olive green), just made it a little more personalized and fun!

*You also need 2 pieces cut at 2.5” x 16” (or however long you want the handles to be). I used a solid black fabric that went well with the camo print. I made Little G’s handles too long, but didn’t want to take apart the whole bag to shorten them. He doesn’t seem to mind (that was with pieces 18” long).

Step 2 – sew the handles

*Fold down the short side 1/4” (if you have a printed fabric, fold so that wrong sides touch).
*Then fold lengthwise so that right sides are together, wrong side out.
*Pin or just sew down the length of the strap, 1/4” seam.

*Once sewn, they are tube-like and will need to be turned inside out (using a safety pin or a turner…I don’t know what it’s really called, sorry!).
*Iron flat, with the seam in the middle.

Step 3 – Pin it all together

*Stack the lining down and the outer shell, right sides together.
*Put the handles (just sewn above) in between the layers, seam facing the lining, with the loop of the handle on the inside.
      --->I put the ends of the handles 2.5” from the ends.
*Pin it all around!

Step 4 – Sew it

*Sew all around the rectangle, leaving an opening on one of the long sides. 1/4” inseam.
    --->I reinforced the handles with a backstitch and a zigzag stich. Maybe a little overkill, but my son has mastered the still of destroying things!!

Step 5 – Turn it inside out, iron if you must

*Turn the bag right side out, through the opening you didn’t sew. Make sure to get the corners really good. It will look like this—>

Step 6 – Turn it into a real bag

*Fold bag so the right sides are together and sew up both sides, it will also close your opening that you left. 1/4” inseam.
*To make the bag flat on the bottom, sew the corners as shown. Lay the bag so that it forms a triangle and sew straight across.
     --->The length of the sewn part is how wide the bottom of the bag will be (mine is about 1 1/2”, which is about 1” from the point).

 

Done. How long did that take you? If you want to make it even faster, then do what my sister does and buy the handle type material instead of sewing it yourself. I decided to make this at 10 pm, Saturday night, so going to a store to buy the handles wasn’t really an option as I just wanted to get it done and not make it take longer than needed.

 

{what I used}
  *Olive green fabric
  *Mossy Oak Camouflage fabric
  *Black fabric