Runner's Medal Board

YES, WE are still alive and we've been up to ALL sorts of crafting...unfortunately, we have been so busy making stuff that we haven't had time to blog about any of it. {maybe one day we will get it all updated on here}. For now, I have a project that I want to share:

I wanted to make a board to hold my running bibs and medals {even though I only have one right now, I am planning on getting more!}. I looked on Pinterest and got a few ideas, but I wanted it to be a little different so I made a few changes, of course....I can never leave well enough alone!!!

I started with a piece of pine that is 36" long and 5 1/2" tall. I took a chisel and roughed up the edges of my wood and then painted my board all black. After it dried, I painted it with two or three coats of turquoise. I love how the black shows through in the spots where I chiseled it. {I tried not to get the turquoise in those spots too much so I didn't have to sand them out}.

I also sanded the edges and then painted them with a little black paint on my finger. {Just to emphasize the black a little more}.

Then I had to do some math and figure out how it was all going to work....and I had to find knobs that would work for my medals {I didn't want just nails}, I wanted something different. I found these knobs at Wal-mart and they were PERFECT! {They were about $6 per package and I needed 3 of them}.

Amy helped me cut out the vinyl on the Silhouette, it says

"I RUN BECAUSE I CAN"

"The miracle isn't that I finished, it's that I had the courage to start" 

I LOVE how it turned out!!

I just measured our bibs and left about 8" on each end for the clips and the bibs, I put the knobs 2 1/2" apart across the board and got 6 knobs on it. 

I had originally planned to hang it in our living room above the desk, but I didn't like it there so we decided to hang it up in our bedroom {good thing it's turquoise too}. We LOVE it, and can't wait to fill it up with bibs and medals!!

And No, Jason hasn't run any races yet, but we are registered for the Downers Grove Turkey Trot together on Thanksgiving morning!! Should be fun. 

 

A couple aprons {ok, maybe 7}

I ALWAYS get carried away.....ALWAYS!!!!

I needed to make ONE apron for a friend....and I ended up making SEVEN!!! Yes, I have a problem! I should open a factory!! I LOVE how they all turned out!!

FULL APRON:

Take an apron you like {I used two different ones to get exactly what I wanted} lay apron on top of fabric you wish to use. Pin to keep in place. Cut exact pattern ADDING 1" to each side. {I didn't add to the bottom because I didn't want my apron any longer and I knew I would be adding the ruffle.}

From coordinating fabric cut the following pieces:

5 - 5" x 45" {2 for ties, 1 for ruffle}
1 - 4" x 22" {neck strap}
1 - 3" x width of apron {strip at top}

1 - 2" x width of apron {strip at bottom to cover ruffles}

1 - 8" x 16" {pocket}

Cut out apron and serge all around the edges. 

Cut all extra pieces. Sew the straps, turn and iron. 

I just serge all the ruffles and then ruffle hem with my ruffler. 

I surged the bottom ruffle on the apron, and then sewed the ruffles 1"-2" away from each other. {depending on your style, I did one of each and like the 2" better}.

Sew the neck strap together and finish the ends. 

Sew the pocket together, turn and iron. 

Assemble the apron as desired. 

SHORT RUFFLE APRON:

1 - 24x13" canvas/duck cloth/denim {this will be the back piece that you won't see

7 - 5" x WOF - 5 ruffles and 2 for the ties.

Serge the bottom of all the ruffles and ruffle the top edge. Sew the two ties together and then sew them in a long tube, turn and iron. 

Serge the bottom ruffle onto the piece of canvas. Sew with a zig zag stitch the other 4 ruffles 3" apart all the way up the canvas.

Sew the strap on the top of the apron making sure you cover up the top of the first ruffle and keep in lined up with the top of the canvas. 

FINALLY!! Something crafty from me...A Teacher Gift!

I finally got to do something crafty. I wanted something for my son's choir teacher. She is amazing. He loves choir and he will be leaving Jr. High and moving to High School this year, so I wanted to make her something special. I LOVE this quote from the last LDS General Conference. You can find the whole talk HERE. I really believe this...I have a {mostly} happy child who sings all the time!!

Amy helped me with the vinyl on her Silhouette. LOVE it! Thanks Amy. It was so fun to get to play for a few hours. The big one is 13x17, we cut the vinyl about 12x16. The little one is 7x10, we cut the vinyl about 6x9.

  

Ruffle Apron TUTORIAL.....finally!!!!!!

I am SOOOOOO sorry it has taken me so long to get this Tutorial to you. Thank you for being patient with me. Instead of giving you all the reasons why it's taken me so long, I will just get right to it......Here is the finished apron....below are all the details {and pictures}

MATERIALS NEEDED:
Pair of old overalls
18-20"x 19" of bottom weight fabric {width of your overalls x 19"}
1 yard of MAIN fabric (the one you want to use for the ties)
1/2 yard of 2 DIFFERENT fabrics
Follow instruction for flower HERE.  {I serged the edge on mine with a rolled hem stitch to make it more finished.}

First of all you will need a pair of overalls. You can use any kind, in any condition....you mostly just need the bib and the hardware....I have used pants, shorts, a dress, anything that will work. I find most of mine at a thrift store, but you might still have some in the back of your closet! Cut off the bib just below the waist band seam. You will be cutting off the pockets and the legs. You just need enough of an edge to serge the canvas material to the bib.

Serge overall bib to the piece of bottom weight fabric. Don't worry too much about how it looks right now because it will all be covered up when we are finished. Lay out on your table and mark up your piece in the following locations. Horizontally you need to mark 3" down from the surged edge and then 3" down from each marking. You should have 5 marks. Vertically, you need to mark the center (I used the middle stitching on the overall bibs. Then mark 1/2 way between that mark on the right and left. You should have 3 markings this direction.

Now. Cut your fabric into the following strips.
FABRIC #1 - Main COLOR - use for straps and waist tie.
CUT:
2 - 5 1/2" x WOF (Width of Fabric) {ruffles}
2 - 5" x WOF {waist tie}
2 - 4" x 22" {neck ties}


FABRIC #2 - 
CUT
2 - 5 1/2" x WOF (Width of Fabric) {ruffles}



FABRIC #3 - 
CUT
2 - 5 1/2" x WOF (Width of Fabric) {ruffles}

Serge, Zig-Zag or finish the edges of your ruffles. {make sure you use the 5 1/2" width pieces} I used my serger and just surged both edges of the ruffles. The top edge will be zig zagged onto the apron and will be completely covered. You can choose to finish the bottom edges if you desire. I liked the serged edge on these aprons to give it a more "pioneer" feel.

Now divide your fabric in the middle and then in the middle again. I pinned it {shown above} and then matched these pins to the markings on your bottom weight fabric. {shown below}. Use the horizontal lines to make sure your ruffles stay straight across the apron.

I used my ruffler on my serger to make the fabric ruffle on it's own. If you need more help or have questions about ruffles, see this TUTORIAL on MAKE IT AND LOVE IT.

REPEAT for all 6 ruffles. Pin the bottom ruffle first and then move towards the top ruffle. You can sew on each ruffle as you go or you can pin them all and sew them all at the same time...just be careful not to get poked with all those pins.

Zig Zag each ruffle to the bottomweight fabric. You are done with the ruffle part. If you just serged the edges of the ruffles, you will need to zig zag the excess threads onto the ruffles or use fray check on the ends where the serger thread stops.

NEXT: Take the hardware off the straps that go around the neck. You can throw away the fabric, you won't need it.

Take the 4"x22" pieces of fabric and sew them together into a long tube, turn and then topstitch around the entire piece of fabric.

Pull one strap into the hardware. Going around the middle piece and back through about 1".

Sew down and make a box that is about 1/2" on the strap. I tried to get this as close to the hardware as I could on my sewing machine.

Now thread through the clip and back through the hardware. Repeat with other strap, and connect to the overalls. These will just tie behind the neck.

Now take the 2 - 5"xWOF pieces of fabric. Sew them together on the SHORT edge to make it 2xWOF in length. Now sew them the LONG direction into a long tube. turn tube and topstitch entire length of waist tie.

Now you just need to connect your waistband to the apron. Find the center of your waistband {where you sewed it together}. Pin across the apron front making sure to overlap over the top ruffle edge to cover it up. Sew across the top, sides and bottom making a rectangle

......at the sides you will want to angle slightly to stay ON the fabric.

This is the back of the apron.

I hope it's not clear as mud. I realized I am assuming you have some sewing experience. If you have any other questions, please leave me a comment with your email and I would be happy to help. Enjoy!

Forget Not....

Did you hear President Uchtdorf's talk on Saturday night at the General RS Broadcast? It was AMAZING. I loved everything about it, but most especially I felt like he was talking directly to me. I felt like it was direct from heaven and that I was the most important person there. I am sure anyone who hears it will feel the same. It was SO good. {I can't way enough good about it.} You can watch and/or listen to it HERE. As soon as we came home I started seeing printables of the tiny forget me not flowers and decided that I wanted to make my own. {you can download them at the bottom of this post!}

I had some free canvas and I wanted to try it on the canvas to see how it would look. I LOVE it. It's exactly what I was hoping for. I printed my image 8x10 and then trimmed the sides down just a little bit so it fit on my 8x10 canvas. I then modge podged it onto the canvas. Be careful to not scrape the picture or it will scrape off the processing of the picture. I love how they turned out....no, they are not as cool as canvas...but they probably cost about $10 or less {if you had to buy the canvas}.

After the modge podge was dry, I painted the edges of the canvas a charcoal gray and blended it on the edges of the photo so it would hide the edge of the photo and look like it was inked on the edges.

 I then got carried away and made a 16x20 of the Salt Lake Temple. I did the same thing with this one, it was a little harder to keep the picture glued down on the canvas because my picture was rolled up when I picked it up from the photo place. Make sure you have a flat photo for easier results.

Here is a close up view of the edges.

Here is the download if you want to print your own "Forget Not" sign.

8x10 PRINT SIZE - Click twice to enlarge and then right click and "save as" to get image

4x6 PRINT SIZE - Click twice to enlarge and then right click and "save as" to get image