DIY Life

There are so many dish towels out there with adorable prints. I collect Halloween-themed ones, but know lots of people that collect dish towels in general, or with unique prints. But what to do with them?

I happened upon this tutorial, and thought it would be the perfect thing to make for my twin two-year-old nieces, when helping their grandmother out in the kitchen.

The author of the tutorial says that the apron winds up fitting an eight to eleven year old, so if you are making these for toddlers, like me, you will need to make it shorter, and the neck hole a tad smaller.

For this project you'll only need one dish towel, one package of extra wide double fold bias tape, pins, thread, and ribbon or trim.

The project itself is pretty simple, (the hardest part is getting the bias tape right) and an experienced sewer can turn quite a few of these out in no time for gift giving.

Your little one will love this apron so much they will want one for every day of the week.

Trying to find the perfect going-away gift for someone? Something that says you'll never forget me, and I'll always be with you? Maybe a friend who's relocating, or a high school graduate that is college bound? Make them a throw pillow from a photo!

All you will need for this project is thin fabric (white works best, and makes the image more crisp, but you can use regular muslin for an antiqued look), freezer paper, interfacing, needle, thread, and stuffing. You will also need a computer, scanner or digital camera, printer, iron, sewing machine, scissors, and pins.

After choosing and arranging your photo how you would like it, you may want to do a quick print out on regular paper, just to see how your photo will turn out. (Keep in mind the image needs to fit onto your fabric and through the printer, and most printers will only allow for 8 1/2" x 11" )

Felt is so inexpensive, and fun to work with. Everyone needs accessories. I enjoy making wallets, coin purses, and the like. Finding a cheap project, that combines my love of felt and accessories was quite the win.

You won't need much to make this lovable felt monster coin purse. It really depends on whether you'd like to sew or glue your coin purse. You can glue it, but sewing it together will make it last longer. So, if you decide to sew it, you'll need a stash of colored felt, a sewing machine, scissors, thread, and velcro. You can omit the sewing machine if you're going to just use glue. You can either use wiggly eyes, or cut some out of some felt scraps.

Arrange and glue (or sew) your eyes, tongue, and teeth in a visually pleasing manner. You can add a nose if you like. Attach velcro. Sew or glue up the sides.

That is all there is to it. Now you've got yourself a sweet little monster coin purse. Rawr!

I have finally fallen victim to the cupcake craze. They are everywhere, on everything. But cupcakes don't irritate me like past crazes, like the flip-flop trend. (Which we still haven't seen the last of, it seems.) No, cupcakes don't irritate me: they make me smile.

I, and quite a few of my friends, go thrift-shopping and garage-saleing seeking out old sweaters to chop up and recycle into various things.

There are a great many things you can do with old sweaters. You can repurpose them into just about anything, like scarves, gloves, cozies, and stuffed animals. But here's another one: cupcake pincushions.

You'll need an old sweater (a striped one gives you wonderful, colorful options), a sewing machine, thread, a hand sewing needle, a scrap of felt, and glue. This project is pretty simple, especially if you are coordinated. If not, rolling the different layers up may be a bit daunting. I had a bit of trouble with it, but I was born accident-prone and uncoordinated.

Seriously, this project is really simple, involves minimal sewing, and is done in a jiffy. But I will warn you: you'll be tempted to eat up these adorable and delectable pincushions!

My hair is super straight and pretty boring. I recently bought some of those pink sponge rollers, the kind my mother used to put in my hair every night before bed. I had forgotten how incredibly uncomfortable they were. Not to mention the weird creases they left in my hair where the plastic closing piece connects.

In a search for more comfortable hair rollers, I stumbled upon this brilliant tutorial. It never occurred to me that I could just make my own.

They look really nice, and will give me the opportunity to use up some of my fabric scraps. And, they look really comfortable. No big plastic pieces!

You'll need fabric, buttons, stuffing, thread, hand sewing needle, scissors, and a sewing machine (with zipper foot if possible). If you are uncomfortable with creating button holes, you can always use Velcro. If you do use Velcro, it would probably be best and cheapest to purchase it by the yard since you'll need a lot more of the loop portion of the velcro.

I guarantee I'll have the most impressive and comfortable curlers on my block!

There are 6.1 million women in the United States ages 15 to 44 who are living with an impaired ability to have children. Chances are, you know someone who is struggling with infertility.

Why not brighten their day a bit by making them a fertility-themed bracelet?

For this project, you will need beads, bracelet elastic, charms, or any other findings you want to include.

The writer of the tutorial suggests using moonstone and rose quartz in the bracelet. Both are cost effective and promote fertility.

There are other stones that boost fertility, if you want other color options. Carnelian, coral, chrysoprase, mexican fire opal, and garnet are a few of the other stones you may want to consider.

I would include a card printed on nice cardstock that lists each stone used and their healing properties.

Sometimes it is hard to find the perfect words for a friend that is trying-to-conceive with fertility issues. Gifting this bracelet to your friend will show them how much you support them on their journey, without having to say a word.

Not too long ago I blogged about converting a onesie into a dress. This inspired me to find other things to do with onesies, things not too time consuming. Babies outgrow onesies so fast, so this a great way to recycle these little gems. (I have quite a few nieces and nephews, so lots of onesies to play with!)

One of the most unusual uses I found for onesies was reconstructing them to make a tee for your dog. This project is quick, pretty easy, and only requires a onesie, thread, scissors, and sewing machine.

Of course, being the embellishment addict that I am, there is no way I can stop there. You can add appliques, patches, ribbons, decorative buttons, embroidery, or anything else to jazz it up (Just make sure that the buttons are really secure, you don't want your pet to swallow them).

In the recent past, t-shirt reconstruction has had us scrambling about trying to find cool shirts to revamp. Don't our four-legged BFFs deserve the same DIY goodies? Run out and get those onesies out of storage, from a thrift store, or a garage sale, and make your pup a fab little shirt today.

Every single person that lives in my home is a comic book fan. We have some sort of superhero (or super-villain) memorabilia lurking in every corner of our apartment. When my husband told me he wanted me to make a cozy for his Zune, I knew I should make one using some sort of superhero theme.

I scored when I found this tutorial: How to make an iPod, Zune, or cell phone cozy using a children's sock.

You can use any style of sock, but I found it best to use a sock with the longest ankle part, and only used the ankle.

You simply measure the item you are going to store against the sock (eyeball it), and cut off the excess. Turn the sock inside out, and sew up the bottom.

There are lots of interesting sock choices in children's departments everywhere. You may not be into superheroes, but you can find many other styles. Be sure to also check the girls' section for other options. My sister-in-law had a fit when she saw my husband's, and now I have to make her a Tinkerbell one. These make an excellent gift: they are quick, cheap, and easy.