Pops of Polka Dot Apron

Tuesday, March 23, 2010


Make your time in the kitchen extra fun with pops of colorful polka dots! Stitch this vibrant apron with little effort and add floral embellishments with Aleene’s® Fabric Fusion™.

Materials
Aleene's® Fabric Fusion™ Permanent Dry Cleanable Fabric Adhesive
– Sewing pins
– Iron
– Pinking shears
– Low-tack masking tape
– Orange Mini Dot – ¼ yard
– Scissors
– Jumbo rick-rack – bright pink
– Red Dot Tonal – ¾ yard
– Yellow Transitions – 1/3 yard
– Sewing machine
– Ruler or tape measure
– Green Fancy Floral – ¼ yard
– Lime Polka Dot – ¼ yard
– Fuchsia Polka Dot – 1/3 yard
– Craft brush – ½” flat
– Thread to match
– White Lace – ¼ yard
– Needle
– Paper towels
– Foil

1. Measure and cut a 30” x 18” rectangle from red fabric. Fold short sides over ½” then another ½”, iron flat then sew in place.
2. To create bottom hem, fold over ½” then 1” and sew in place.
3. To create apron ties, cut two 5” x 30” strips of pink fabric. Fold over lengthwise, right sides together, and sew along sides, sewing an angle at one end and leaving other end open. Trim seams, turn right side out and iron flat.
4. Measure and cut two 16½” x 3” yellow sections for waistband. Fold over ½” along one long edge and iron flat. Lay one of the yellow waistband pieces right side up on work surface and pin pink apron ties at each end of piece. Pin other yellow waistband piece right side down on top of first piece, sandwiching ties in between, then sew along one long side and two short sides. Trim seams, turn right side out and iron flat.
5. Pin top of apron inside open end of waistband, folding equally spaced pleats at the top of apron until excess fabric fits. Sew in place. Hand sew folded edge on backside of waistband in place on apron, covering sewing line.
6. Layer several pieces of red fabric then pin large scallop pattern in place. Use pinking shears to cut around pattern. Cut six red scallops then repeat step, creating two smaller sections from pink, orange and yellow. Refer to photo.
7. Squeeze a puddle of Fabric Fusion on foil. Place a pink section right side down on a paper towel. Dip flat brush into glue then brush on a thin, even coat to back of fabric piece. Carefully center on red section then press to secure. Repeat with all scallop pieces. Let dry.
8. Use pinking shears to cut a 4” circle from orange and red fabric. Pin each section onto lace then loosely cut around lace, leaving a wavy 1” border around each.
9. Flower: Cut a 4” x 30” strip from pink fabric and a 3” x 30” strip from yellow. Fold in half lengthwise, placing wrong sides together, and iron smooth. Use a needle and thread to sew a basting stitch along cut edge, gathering fabric along the way. Gather tightly then sew a few stitches to hold in place at other end. Roll strip, lining up edges along sewn side then sew through gathers to hold flower together. Repeat with other strip.
10. Leaves: Cut two 4” squares from green fabric then three 3” squares from lime and one 3” square from green fabric. Fold a square in half wrong sides together then bring top corners to center. Slightly overlap then hold with a pin to secure. Sew a gather stitch along cut edge. Tightly gather then add a few stitches to secure. Repeat with all squares.
11. Position scallops along hem of skirt, alternating colors and placing about ½” under hem. Glue in place. Brush glue to back of lace sections then press in place at bottom of apron as shown.
12. Position fabric circles in place then position leaves where desired. The cut edge of leaf will be covered by edge of fabric circles. Glue leaves in place accordingly. Brush glue to back of fabric circle then press in place, covering ends of leaves adjusting as needed. Let dry.
13. Glue flowers in place. Let dry.
14. Cut rick-rack to width of hem then add three additional inches and cut. Working in short sections at a time, apply a thin bead of glue to back on one end of rick-rack strip, fold 1” or so to back and hold with a small piece of tape. Glue rick-rack in place along bottom hem of apron, holding in place with tape as needed until dry.

Recycle, Reorganize, Recipes

Sunday, March 21, 2010


Love to cook, love to organize, and love to decoupage....
so I love this decoupaged recipe tin I made to organize my fave recipes to keep right on the counter top in my kitchen.


I'm a big coffee and hot tea lover and I just can't bear to throw away some of the cool packaging and save them in an ephemera box I keep in my studio. The maple syrup and the chocolate label were tucked away there, too. The cute alphabet caps were in my scrapbooking stash.

I started out with a humdrum recycled tin from the thrift store. It would have been fine the way that it is, but who you have to agree, it's pretty darn boring.

Then I used Aleene's® Collage Pauge Instant Decoupage to glue the labels to the tin. I laid the labels face down on a paper towel, brushed glue on the back and then applied them to the tin, pushing out any air bubbles. When I was finished with that step, I put a coat of glue over the labels to keep my tin nice & clean from flying food.



Recipe cards were a snap to make with colored card stock, clippings from magazines and the web, and glued together with Aleene’s® Acid Free Tacky Glue™ Sticks.
The whole project didn't take very long, and more recipes can be added all the time.


This project, and dozens more were designed by me and written up by Barbara Winkler in "Cookbooking, the delicious new way to scrapbook" by Sterling Publishing. You can pick yours up at Barnes & Noble or online.

Oh, and here's my recipe from the pic. I like to make this for my gal pals on the weekend.

Grapefruit Pomegranate Sunrise:
4oz. Light Rum (optional)
16 oz. Pink Grapefruit Juice
2 oz. Pomegranate Juice
2 oz. Ginger Ale
4 Wedges Ruby Red Grapefruit

Pour ingredients into a tall glass pitcher. Pop a dozen ice cubes into the pitcher. Stir briskly. Serve in champagne flutes with crushed ice and a garnish of grapefruit wedges. Enjoy!

Happy Cooking and Crafting!
PattieWack

Queen for a Day Tiara


Crafty Chica created this pretty and glittery queen headress for Mother's Day or anyday! Here's the instructions to make your own sparkly creation!

Queen for a Day Tiara
Designed and Decorated by Kathy Cano-Murillo

Materials:
– Aleene's® Paper Glaze
– Crafty Chica™ Uno Inspiration Cards™
– Crafty Chica™ Little Chica Paint Packs™
– Crafty Chica™ Chunky Glitters in Popstar Purple
– Aleene's® Original Tacky Glue®
– Hot glue gun
– Small silk roses
– Paintbrush
– Plastic beaded necklace (optional)
– Scissors
– Wood disc
– Glitter snowflake ornaments (optional)
– Scratch paper
– Plastic tiara
– Newspaper
– Silk leaves


Instructions:
1. Cover work surface with newspaper. Cut out the Queen image or image of choice from the Crafty Chica™ Inspiration Cards™ pack. Glue image to center of wood disc with Original Tacky Glue™. Let dry.
2. Using color of choice from the Crafty Chica™ Little Chica Paint Packs™, paint the area left uncovered by the image on the disc, adding an additional coat if necessary.
3. With a clean brush, paint over painted section of disc with Aleene’s® Paper Glaze™ and sprinkle Chunky Glitter™ of choice over Paper Glaze™, pressing glitter with finger to secure. Let dry, then shake off excess glitter onto scratch paper and pour back into container to be reused.
4. Use hot glue gun to glue disc to center of tiara. Let dry.
5. Use Original Tacky Glue™ to adhere silk roses and leaves around the base of tiara. Let dry.
6. Cut a portion of a beaded necklace to fit around disc on tiara. Glue on with Original Tacky Glue™, then glue glittered snowflake ornaments around the back edge of disc. Let dry.