{Pinterest Success} Mockingjay T-shirt with Freezer Paper Stencil and Bleach Pen

I've seen quite a few cool Hunger Games t-shirt ideas popping up on Pinterest and I've been wanting to make one for a while.  One of the ideas involved using a freezer paper stencil and a bleach pen. That's the one I tried today.

Seriously, the hardest part of this project was finding freezer paper!  No luck at Walmart, Kmart or Target in my town.  Finally found some at my local grocery store and I bought a giant roll.  (I keep seeing cool projects involving freezer paper stencils so I figured I'd better buy a lot of it!)

I followed the directions found here on the Average Jane Crafter blog.  Her tutorial was perfect with great photos and easy-to-follow instructions.

I unearthed a too-small navy t-shirt from the bottom of the drawer and used it as my test subject.  Here's what it looked like with the stencil on it just before I bleached it.

I was afraid that, when I rinsed the shirt, I'd end up with bleach spots all over the place.  And I worried that, when I chucked the shirt in the wash, I'd inadvertently bleach stuff that I didn't want bleached.  But none of that happened.  It turned out cool!  I like the gritty imperfectness of the image.

 

Now I'll have to try again with a t-shirt that actually fits me....

{Pinterest Success} Fabric Peony Flowers

My grandmother has hedge of peonies that surround her garage.  Every spring, the plants are bursting with giant pink and fuchsia blooms.  She cuts a few to put on the table and the whole house benefits from their fragrance.

So when I saw this peony craft on Pinterest, I had to give it a try.

To read the instructions and view the original post, visit the Creature Comforts Blog by clicking here.

I dug through my stash of fabric scraps and also the remnant bin at JoAnn Fabrics, and found two different fabrics to use for this craft.  One of them worked better than the other.

The flower on the left was made with plain fabric, and the flower on the right was made with fabric that had little circles of bling on it.  You can't really see the bling in the picture.  But the blingy fabric was thinner and the flame seemed to eat it right up.  The plain fabric was a little bit thicker and held up better.  But I don't think either of my fabrics curled up as much as the ones in the tutorial.  Mine seemed to shrink instead.

But I think they both turned out kinda cute!  The tutorial was easy to follow with well-written directions, and there was even a video.

Now what to do with these beauties?  I think the bigger one will end up as part of Grandma's Mother's Day gift. (Good thing she doesn't read my blog!)  And the smaller, bling one will most likely end up as some sort of hair accessory for me.  Fun!

Now it's your turn to try something you've pinned to Pinterest!

{Pinterest Success} Braided Headband from a T-Shirt

Have you heard of Pinterest?  It's a wonderful website that helps you visually organize all of the web pages you want to bookmark onto a virtual pin board.  It has a social component as you can follow friends' "boards" and see their "pins".  There's also a search function if you're looking for something specific.

Most people I know on Pinterest have collected pages and pages of inspiration but have not yet had a chance to actually do anything with the inspiration.  Well.  Today I actually did a project I found on Pinterest and I liked how it turned out!

Here is the pin that caught my eye today.

Today was one of those days when I just didn't seem to have the time to wash my hair in the morning.  It's getting quite long and I really wanted a headband to keep it out of my face.  But, the majority of my headbands don't actually work.  Does anyone else have a collection of useless headbands?

I thought about how my favorite headbands are the fabric ones with a little bit of stretch, like a favorite t-shirt.  And the light bulb went off!  I hopped on Pinterest and searched "headband t-shirt" and several options popped up. I chose to follow the tutorial from the Make It & Love It blog that several people had pinned.

Luckily, I just happen to have several old t-shirts that are too short for my tastes.  I chose to use the red one with the white stripes.

Collection of too-small t-shirts to repurpose

I didn't take any pictures of the process because I was busy watching Downtown Abbey on Netflix while I happily braided my headband.  But here is the finished product!

My new headband that used to be a t-shirt!

The tutorial was well written and easy to follow.  I enjoyed learning the 5-strand braiding technique and will probably make more of these.  My only complaint is that the headband turned out a bit bulky at the base of my head where it was all joined together.  But that probably has more to do with my clumsy sewing technique than the tutorial itself.

So what have you made from Pinterest lately?