Laundry Tip: Getting Melted Crayon out of Clothes

It is important for kids to learn practical life skills. I believe teaching these skills this is one of my main responsibilities as a mother. So, I have been teaching my 7 year-old how to do his own laundry. First I taught him how to sort. Then I taught him to check pockets. Next, I taught him how to add the soap and fill the machine with water. 

Thinking he had mastered all these steps, I asked him to get the hamper out of his room and put in a load of laundry. As he was dragging the hamper across the floor, I reminded him to check the pockets. So imagine my surprise/horror when I pulled the clothes out of the dryer, only to find them all spattered with an array of waxy colors. I counted 13 crayons, lucky, right?

After I yelled at calmly admonished my son for failing to check the pockets, I set to work looking for solutions to remove the crayon. Most of the suggestions recommended using WD-40. This seemed greasy and smelly, so I continued searching until I found this blog post on Pinterest. Sometimes I think I find better/more relevant info on Pinterest when compared to Google. Anyway, I used her "recipe" except I was unable to find the mule team Borax at the store. So I added an extra 1/2 cup of Oxiclean. And guess what?

The crayon came out of the clothes! I was utterly shocked and amazed!! Every single item in the wash was covered in crayon and they all came out clean. These pictures are not the greatest, but it gives you an idea. Here is my revised recipe:

• 2 max amounts (line 3) of concentrated Tide (I used All Free& Clear)
• 1 1/2 cups Oxiclean
• 1 cup Shout liquid
• 1 cup white vinegar

Select longest wash cycle and hot water. Fill washer, add ingredients, allow to dissolve. Add soiled clothing. Let soak in hot water and solution for one hour. Start the cycle. Check each article before transferring to dryer. If not clean wash again. Everything in my entire load came clean!

To clean the dryer, run it for about 5 or 10 minutes, then wipe it down with a clean wet towel and Lysol. The heat melts the crayon making it easy to remove. Just make sure to run a load of rags before you run good clothes so that you're sure you got all the crayon. 

Oh, and when I pushed the clothes down into the water, my wedding ring came out shinier than ever!

We will be diligently checking all pockets from now on!

Guest Post at Young and Crafty!

Today I am so happy to be guest posting at Young and Crafty. It is the hair bow tutorial for the Little Ladybug Costume. Check it out!

Aren't those the cutest little ladybug antennae you have ever seen?

Homemade Ruffle Skirt for Halloween

It all started with a pair of leggings.

I bought them at Swiss Days in September. They needed something really cute to go with them. So to my Pinterest board I went for inspiration. 

I found two that I really liked. One here and another here.

I combined tecniques from both to create this adorable skirt for my 22 month-old daughter. I didn't take pictures of each step, but you can read the other tutorials (both are excellent) to help you figure out how to make this. 

I used an old t-shirt from my 4 year old son that was green to go underneath. This was the perfect size for the underskirt. I liked using a t-shirt because that means no hemming the bottom and no sewing and underskirt.

Rather than hem my ruffle layers, I folded them in half. I hate to hem. My hems never come out even and I always burn my fingers with the iron. So, I'd rather get a tad extra fabric to avoid hemming altogether. 

Once you finish sewing all your ruffles to the underskirt. You need to make a casing and add the elastic. This is a heavy skirt, so I made the elastic a bit snugger than usual to hold it up.

I found the matching shirt at Walmart. It had all the colors I wanted.

Then I made this funky Halloween bow to match.

 

There was just enough fabric left over to make a baby skirt. So I decided to whip one up for my brand new niece. I attached it to a onesie and made another smaller bow using the same ribbons.

This would be fun to do for any holiday. I'm thinking of making something similar for Christmas. I hope you've been inspired!

Halloween Costume Inspiration: Little Ladybug Skirt

So far I've shown you how to make the Little Ladybug wings and bag. Now it's time for the skirt.

Every little ladybug needs a skirt to twirl! Here is mine. Really it is so very simple. I already had this skirt. It was purchased at Old Navy. I have seen red pettiskirts all over the place. Right now they are at my local Costco. I saw one at Gymboree the other day. You can also find them at various sites online. 

I used sequins for the spots. Originally, I was going to cut them out of felt, which would totally work. But my 7 year-old convinced me to buy the sequins at the craft store. I am so glad he did. They are already cut out and ready to go. They only cost $1. Plus they add some shine to the costume, which is fun. They have little holes on top, so when I first started, I began sewing them on by hand. I quickly realized that sewing was going to take FOREVER. It's a Halloween costume after all, so gluing rather than sewing is just fine!

Here is how you make it into a ladybug skirt:

Supplies:

Red tutu or pettiskirt

Sequins

Hot Glue gun--lo temp!

1. Attach sequins to skirt using a hot glue gun, in a pleasing pattern. Make sure the glue gun is low temp because you are gluing it so such thin fabric (otherwise, your fingers will be blistered!). I only glued the sequins to the top layer.

That's it. Easy right? It does take a bit of time. I got out the extension cord. made myself comfortable and glued these on while sitting on the couch watching a favorite TV show after my kids were all in bed.

Halloween Costume Inspiration: Little Ladybug Trick-or-Treat bag

This bag came out so much cuter than I could have predicted. My 22 month-old daughter loves it and calls it a purse. I made it using the leftover fabric from the wings. I am keeping it nice until Halloween, but after that I plan to let her use it whenever she wants.

I don't have pictures of each step, but I do have a detailed tutorial on how to make a trick-or-treat bag.  If you are confused about the steps refer to that tutorial. One main difference is that working with felt is so much easier. You don't have to press or hem anything.

Supplies:

Red Felt

Black Felt (we used sparkly)

Black Ric Rac

Hot glue gun and sewing machine, black or red thread.

1. Cut out two pieces of red felt. I cut my 10"x10" which is a perfect size for a toddler.

2. Cut out a strap. I cut mine 2"x19" I wanted it to fit over her shoulder, like a purse. And I only did one strap on this bag. You could do two straps and make them shorter to be hand held instead.

3. Hot glue ric-rac along the top edge of each fabric piece allowing a bit to hang over the edge on each side.

4. Place two felt pieces together with the ric-rac to the inside. Sew along 3 sides. Trim ric-rac

5. **optional. Pinch corners into a triangle and sew a straight line to make the bag more of a rectangular box shape (please see my trick-or-treat bag tutorial. **Refer to the optional steps)

6. Leaving bag wrong side out, pin the strap to sides of bag about an inch from the top. Sew a rectangle to hold it in place.

7. Trace several circles in the black felt. My bag has 12 spots. I traced a lid for my pattern and used a white crayon to trace on the wrong side. Arrange the spots in a pleasing pattern (the felt sticks to each other)

8. Hot glue the spots in place. And now you are done!!

And here is the only picture I got of my busy toddler holding the bag, looking at the camera, AND smiling. Of course, I had the setting on manual focus and was NOT quick enough to change the settings and capture the moment. Try as I might, I did not get a second chance at this shot. Oh well. You can kind of tell how cute she is ;)

Stay tuned for the tutorials on the bows. Here are instructions for the wings and skirt!

Halloween Costume Inspiration: Little Ladybug Wings

My daughter's Halloween costume turned out so cute, that I thought I would share some tips on how I made it all. First off, I will tell you how I made the wings, or as my 22 month-old called them her "backpack." Check back for instructions on the skirt and ladybug trick-or-treat bag! The hair bow instructions will be posted toward the end of the month.

I wanted the wings, or shell, to be realistic. So that meant no fairy or butterfly type wings that I saw on some store bought versions.

 I found inspiration at the Family Fun website here and here.

I didn't follow their steps exactly. I apologize for not taking pictures along the way. But it's not too hard to figure out. Here is what I did.

Supplies:

Red felt (I bought a yard and it was way too much. I used the extra to make a matching trick-or-treat bag. Maybe 1/2 or 3/8ths would be better.)

Black Felt (Hobby Lobby has sparkly felt in sheets. I bought 3 sheets of black sparkly and one sheet plain)

Cardboard from cereal box

Polyester Stuffing

1 yard 3/4" elastic

Scissors, hot glue gun, sewing machine, needle and thread (in red)

1. Find a large platter or bowl in a circle or oval shape for your pattern. Trace on felt 2 red circles (I used a black pen to trace). The size of platter you use will depend on how big your trick-or-treater is. My circle was approximately 16"

2. Cut out 2 large red circles Cut one of the red circles in half (to make the open wing look)

3. Disassemble cereal box so that it's flat. Using your pattern cut a circle out of cardboard then trim about 1" off the entire circumference.

4. Find a cup or smaller round object for your pattern for the black dots. Cut out 6 black dots out of the black sparkly felt.

5. Lay out your red circle that is not cut in half. 

6. Lay out your two circle halves on top until you like the look of the "wings" and so it lines up with the red circle.

7. Tuck plain black felt behind the circle halves. Trim bottom to make it rounded.

8. Using hot glue gun, glue together circle halves, plain black felt piece, and attach sparkly circles in a pleasing pattern

9. Turn the wings so that it is right sides together with the other circle. Sew all around the circle leaving a 3-4" opening in the bottom

10. Turn it right sides out. 

11. Using the opening in the bottom roll up cereal box and place it inside the wings.

12. Making sure the cardboard is on the bottom of the wings (plain red side) add stuffing until the wings are nice and rounded.

13. Hand sew opening closed.

For the Arm straps:

1. Measure your trick-or-treater's arms to know how big to make straps Add 1 inch for comfort and cut 2 lengths of elastic.

2. Make 2 casings for the elastic out of red felt that is a few inches longer than your elastic.

3. Sew casings. Turn casings right side out. See my Trick-or-Treat bag tutorial for detailed instructions on casings (the step where you make the strap).

Here are the steps:

4. Thread the elastic through the casing. And zig-zag stitch the elastic to each end of the casing. The red felt should be gathered.

5. Hot glue the arm straps to the back of the wings/shell.  I added a strip of red felt where the straps connected with itself for extra security, you can see it in the photo. I found that the hot glue holds up great with felt. If you don't want to glue the straps on, you could sew them on instead.

And you're done! Hopefully, between my directions, and the other tutorials on Family Fun, I'm sure you can figure it out. Like I said, stay tuned for instructions on the hair bows, skirt, and ladybug bag!