Sun Bonnet

Although, I didn't make a tutorial when creating this hat, I wanted to share it because I love it so much.  I originally made this for my daughter to wear to a local Easter Bonnet Festival but you can make any kind of variation for a summer bonnet, holiday bonnet or whatever genre you desire.

First, I found a cheap plain bonnet (after the holidays is a good time to find one for less because most are on sale).  I picked white for Easter but a nice navy hat would be great for any winter holiday.  I chose a ribbon that was long enough to go around the hat.  I hot glued the ribbon around the base of the hat crossing the ends and trimming the tips into "v"s.  I chose a variation of silk flowers that I thought would be appropriate for the season; yellows, whites, and pinks.  I arranged them how I wanted then went back and hot glued them onto the base of the hat. 

This hat is so over the top, I love it! You can use as many flowers, bows, ribbons or as little as you'd like.  Sometimes less is more, but this hat was made for my little southern belle.

Once you have the hat, you can get all of the other materials from Cary Creative Center.  There is a large selection of silk flowers and even larger selection of ribbon. If you look around, you may find something else you want to add.  Remember, this is just one idea! We want you to be creative and make something really great.

Joelle Kim on behalf of Cary Creative Center
joelle@carycreativecenter.org

Owl Teether

We have a lot of fabric at our center, so I was searching for creative ways to use fabric of various sizes and colours.  I came across this adorable Owl Teether on The Rubber Punkin's blog.  This is perfect because we have so many scrap sizes of fabric and so much ribbon!  I used the pattern from The Rubber Punkin which you can find here: Owl Pattern.  

Fabric scraps, felt pieces, ribbon & pattern

 Here are the materials I used.  The fabric, felt and ribbon were all retrieved from our center.  We have so much ribbon that I was able to choose the width, colour and textures I wanted exactly.  I chose the pink fabric because it is textured - more interesting for a baby to touch, but you can use any type you want.

 Using the pattern, I cut out the pieces as directed.  Two for the body, one left & right wing, and the face.  I used pinking sheers to cut our the eyes and a zig-zag stitch to sew the eyes on.  For everything else, I used a straight stitch.

 

Once I had the eyes and beak sewn on, I made ribbon loops to go outward from the owl's wings.  I used 4 ribbons on each side for the wings, although only three are pictured below, and two for the feet.  Later, I added two atop his head as hair.  You can do as many or as few ribbons as you'd like.

 I put a stitch down the middle of the larger ribbons.  You don't have to do this.  I trimmed the ribbon edges so they wouldn't be too long.  Make sure you sew the ribbons as shown, facing inward, because then you go to turn it inside out, they will point outward.  Next, I took the second piece of the body cutout and placed it on TOP of  the face of the owl.  I used a straight stitch and sewed him up, leaving the feet area open. 

 I turned him inside out and took a plastic bag to stuff him.  I chose a plastic bag because it makes a crinkle sound when touched but you can use regular batting.  If you do decide to use a plastic bag, when you wash the owl, make sure you let him air dry.  I don't actually know if the bag would melt but I figured it wasn't worth risking.

After you finish stuffing him, sew the opening by the feet and you're all done!  He's perfect for little hands to hold and to chomp on, not to mention adorable!  All of the materials used were obtained at our center and saved from going into the landfill.  Everything together was less than $3.00. 

Thanks to The Rubber Punkin for the idea and pattern! To see her blog click here: http://therubberpunkin.blogspot.com/

Joelle Kim on behalf of Cary Creative Center
joelle@carycreativecenter.org

DIY Name Plate

Sign made for a little girl's room.  Made with reused materials.

 This name plate was made by one of our volunteers for her daughter's room.  All of the supplies used were from our center, including the letters! All supplies for project cost less than $5 total!

Pieces from fabric swatch book, ribbon, scrap wood, metal letters.

 Take the two pieces of wood and tape them together so you have one long board.  You can use masking tape or duct tape to accomplish this.  Make sure you tape both sides.  Next, use some glue, we used fabric glue, and begin to glue the larger piece of fabric to the wood. 

 Wrap the fabric around the wood as you would wrap a present.  Once the glue is dry, cut a portion of your second fabric to go on top of your pattern but under the letters.  You can skip this step but we felt that the black fabric gave a better contrast to the silver letters as opposed to directly on the pattern.  At this point, turn the sign over and attach a piece of cut ribbon to hang the sign. 

 Here, it is just duct taped but you can glue it or staple it for a more secure hold.  Turn the sign over and place the letters on the darker fabric.  Adjust them before you glue.  You can decorate the sign further or stop here.

 We added a thin border of ribbon to the dark fabric and made two bows from the same ribbon we used on the handle of the sign.  Here is the finished name plate! 

Made 100% from donated materials saved from the landfill.

 This is just to give you an idea of some of the things you can make at our center.  This particular sign doesn't have to hold a name and/or different materials could be used.  Keep in mind that all of the materials for this project cost less than $5.  The metal letters were $.25/ each which account for the majority of the cost. The most important thing is that you get creative and have fun!!