How to make elastic free scrunchies

Scrunchies are so cute, and why pay for one when you can simply make them yourself using scrap material at home? In this tutorial, you'll learn how to make scrunchies using your scraps and a hair tie.



Note:

Make sure your scrap material is at least three times the length of the hair tie when cut into one long line.

Any hair tie will do, but try and use one that is really stretchy, and also the thicker the better.













Start by cutting your fabric into a slim rectangular shape. The longer the better, as you can always come back and cut it shorter if it ends up being too much lengthwise. The width of your material really depends on personal choice, I chose to have mine 7 cm, but you can have it bigger or smaller depending on how puffy you want your scrunchie to be. (The wider the width is, the bigger teh scrunchie becomes.)
NOTE:  Don't forget that you are going to sew the two sides together, so it will become a little smaller. If you don't want that, add a little extra length on.
Next fold the material in half and make sure it is straight on both sides.



Take the material to the sewing machine and sew together, creating a long cylinder shape. Turn it inside out so that you can't see the stitching.


Cut your hair tie in half and pin a safety pin through one side. Using the safety pin as a guide, thread the hair tie through the material. When it gets the whole way through, hand stitch both sides of the hair tie back together.

 Turn the edges of the un-stiched scrunchie inside so you can't see the fraying ends.

 Sew this last edge together. Make sure to slightly bunch up the material in this last part. If it's pulled straight when under the sewing machine, it will look out of place and stick out.

Another scruchie we made today, except this one was a little smaller width wise, making the ruffles smaller. 

How to create custom shirt designs

I was given a shirt that I didn't particularly like a while ago, but instead of chucking it out, I decided to try something else and paint a design of my own onto it. The process altogether took around 15 minutes, and I think the shirt looks a lot nicer than before. This is how you can do the same!

You will need:

- Material paints and brushes (bought at any craft store)

- Your shirt to paint on

- Stencil of your choice (or you can just go freehand)

- Tape 

- Scissors and a pencil 

- An iron (to set the design)

- A few folded sheets of paper or newspaper

1. Draw your stencil design in pencil on your paper. Go back and cut out the design. We found that the more complex the design was, the harder it was to cut out and then obvious harder to paint over, in the end we decided on a design that was quite simple- A sun with two circles and jagged triangles surrounding the outside.

2. Lay your shirt wrinkle free on a hard surface. Stick the stencil onto the shirt with your tape, and then place your paper or newspaper under the top side of the shirt, so that if the paint seeps through your shirt, it doesn't leak onto the other side.


3. Start painting your shirt with the sponge. We found that short dabbing motions worked the best, but if your desired effect is smoother, maybe try something else.

4. Finally, leave the design to dry until the paint is no longer damp, remove the taper and then carefully peel the paper off the shirt. Apply finishing touches to the design, leave it out until completely dry and iron the design before washing. 

How to customise your earrings

For one of my friends birthdays, I wanted to make her a gift she would be able to wear. I decided on earrings because she has short dark hair and bright earrings always look so nice on her. I decided to try and paint some earrings I bought, and I was fairly happy with the outcome. This is how I did it! 

You will need:

1. Clear nail polish

2. Assorted coloured nail polishes

3. Earrings to paint (try and buy earrings that have a smooth surface because they are a lot easier to paint on)

4. Q-tips to erase any mistakes 

5. Nail polish remover to erase any mistakes. 

Start by painting the base coat of your earrings. We chose to do it a white colour, but you can change it to whatever you like. Apply as many base coats as you need to get to your desired colour.

 When the base coat is dry, you can start applying the top layer. For this particular design, we used a needle dipped in pink to create dot sort of shapes on the earring, but again you can change it to whatever you want. When the pink coat is completely dry, apply a coat of the clear nail polish. Leave the earrings to dry and then apply a second clear coat. Repeat this process as many times as you'd like, I repeated it four or five times.

 Above are some more ideas that you could use when creating your own designs.

Material Iphone Case

The variety of Iphone 3 cases these days is really quite small, and so what better way to have a case you really like than making one yourself! The other day I took up the hem of one of my dresses, and had a small amount of scrap material left over, so I decided to use the material to customise my phone. I think that it worked out really well, and is a great way to use up little bits of material you have at home!

Note:
We didn't have any mod podge at home, so I used this quick recipe to make my own. It works just as well!

You can buy clear Iphone cases really cheap online, and they are at pretty much every case shop, so getting your hands on one shouldn't be an issue.

Also, you can use any scrap material you like, as long as it's thin enough to fit in the case. For a variation, you can try using a few different materials instead of just the one type.

Put the iPhone under your scrap material and then fit your case over the top. If the case is to bulky and won't fit over the phone with the material also in there, your material is probably too thick and the case won't work.

Go around the outline of your phones case and then take the case off the phone. Carefully cut out around the outline you have drawn onto the material. Start applying Mod Podge to the clear case. 

Generously apply Mod Podge onto the case with your sponge brush and carefully place your material on top. Apply more Mod Podge onto the material, making sure you pay detailed attention to all the corners as they tend to be the weakest parts and you need to fully coat them so they don't fray. Leave your case to dry for a couple of hours. 

And thats it! I went back a re-applied Mod Podge at this stage just to be sure, but you don't have to. Also a variation to this could be that you swap the scrap material to paper and apply it to your case like we did in this tutorial. 

Room re-decorating!

My friend Tamara has been wanting to change her room around for a while now. The two of us have been trying to find the right time to re-decorate it for a long time, and a few months ago decided that the summer break would be the perfect opportunity to do so. 

After some deliberation, we decided on a colour scheme of orange and blue, and then recently did our first shopping trip. This first trip was only to op-shops in out area. We took along a list of the type of objects we needed and went hunting for them. 

First stop- St. Vincent's De pal! 

One of the first things we were looking for was cute illustrated picture books that fitted in with the colour scheme. We wanted the books to make bunting flags to hang on the walls. We found a Winnie the pooh book and a book about the cookie monster that seemed to do the colour scheme justice. 

Originally we were going to china tea cups and make tea cup candles as a blue centrepiece, but in the end we decided on a beautiful blue tea pot to use a vase instead. 

Tamara looking through the second hand items

The best thing about op shops (besides the obvious fact of them being super cheap) is that there is so much variety available. In this one tiny op shop we found half of the items needed for Tamara's room. 

Some of the purchases. We bought a few types of blue material to cover throw cushions on for Tamara's bed, and the tea pot is the one we are going to use as a vase. 

All in all, we spent twenty dollars and bought:

 -Two books ($1) 

-A tea pot ($8) 

-Material for cushions ($5) 

-A glass jar ($1) 

-Blue cushion ($5)  

I reckon it was a twenty dollars well spent, and I'll make sure to keep you all updated on how the room is coming together! xx