DIY eye patch for glasses

I recently found out I have Bell's Palsy. You can read about my story here. Since my eye isn't closing all the way, I needed an eye patch especially to protect it from the wind and dust. I bought a couple from the local drug store but it was very uncomfortable and bulky. This meant that I couldn't put my prescription glasses over the eye patch. 

I knew somewhere on Pinterest, I could find a tutorial and I did here. I made mine slightly bigger because the tutorial was made for a child. 

MATERIALS: 

• 3 small pieces of cloth - I used felt, canvas & pretty calico prints. 
• Matching thread
• Scissors
• Pins
• Binding

DIRECTIONS:

• Draw out an almost tear drop/oval shape (see picture). Make sure to cut the 1 inch triangle shapes. I just printed the photo from Amanda's blog and used that making sure it was 5 inches long and 4 inches wide (Ignore the measurements on my picture. Those were the original measurements from Amanda). I pinned the template to my fabric (all 3 pieces) and cut them out at once. 

• Trace the triangles on the piece that will be on your eye's side. 

Look at all the pretty prints. 

• I found hair ties that I didn't want and cut those to use as the elastic bands. This will help your glasses hold the patches. 

• Sew the 3 pieces of fabric together. 

• Cut the elastic to fit on sides of patch. Pin and sew edges (You can do this at the same time as sewing your 3 pieces together).

1. Pinch where the triangles were and sew. This makes a bump (cone shape?) so that it's not flat on your eyes. 

• You can stop here or add binding. I really didn't want to deal with binding but it just looked unfinished. 

Viola! It's not perfect but it will do!

Okay so at first, I thought I could get away with using only two pieces of fabric which was a little flimsy and see through so when I made the 2nd one, I added the 3rd fabric which was much better! 

Why am I not smiling? Well, given that half my face won't move, I will definitely look like a pirate. I love the blue and yellow with the stars! If I have to wear a patch, I might as well make it the way I like it. 

More Bunting!

I ♥ bunting. There is so much you can do with different paper, fabric, shapes, sizes... the possibilities are endless! I have been using a lot of triangle buntings so I decided to go with another shape for these.

 

SUPPLIES:

• 10 Paper of choice 6 x 4 1/2
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Ribbons
• Ruler 

INSTRUCTIONS:

•  Cut your paper to measure 6x4.5 (or whatever size you like. I used spring/Easter colors as I'm using these for spring photos. My cardstock was 12x12. I ended up with extra paper that I used to make pinwheels. See the tutorial here. 

•  Measure 4 inches down and 2 1/4 (half of 4.5) inches from sides and mark your paper.  

 

• Draw a line from the mark to each corner & cut along lines.  

 

•  Using the first piece as a template, place it over the remaining pieces and draw your line on the BACK of the paper (so you don't have to measure again!) 

 

• Punch holes on each of the corners on top (for ribbons to thread through)

 

•  Thread ribbons through holes from front to back. 

 If you're interested in the decorative DIY Pinwheels, please click here.

 

DIY pinwheels (decorative)

Pinwheels... It reminds me of my childhood. I wanted to make a few for a photo session with my boys. These are only decorative as they don't spin. I used left over card stock from another project. Click here to check it out!


SUPPLIES:

• Square paper (cardstock) I used 6x6
• Sticks/dowels (I used chopsticks)
• Pins
• Scissors
• Hot glue

DIRECTIONS:

• Cut your paper into square pieces 
• Cut from all four corners into center (do not cut through!)- you can measure and use a pencil to mark your paper but I didn't want marks on my pinwheels. 
• Punch holes in center and corners 

• Using a pin, hold all corners together in center. 

• Apply hot glue to stick and attached to back of pinwheel

And they match my bunting!

Crochet iPhone charger cover

I'm on my 2nd iPhone charger. Either I'm rough or Apple has cheap wires! I really didn't want to buy a new charger. Let's face it, new phones come out almost annually and since the iPhone 5, they've changed the chargers.

Since having exposed wires is not okay, I decided to do it the old school way and put electrical tape on it. I wasn't too excited about the look. I mean, what did I expect, right?!?

I had just finished crocheting a newborn hat and thought I'll just crochet over the wire using the same pink yarn. My husband saw me and disapproved of my wire wrapping skills and used shrink wrap instead (because it looks cleaner).

I ended up using a smaller hook than pictured. And twisting the wire as I crocheted made it look better. It was fairly simple and quick. Now I have a new (ish) pink charger!

YAY!

DIY Cake Stand

I needed a cake stand so I started searching online. I was really surprised at how much it cost! I'm frugal. Cheap if you want to call it that but I just don't want to spend $50 ish on a plain white cake stand.

When I did a search on Pinterest, there were so many projects out there using candle holders and plates, glued with E6000 or GOOP. The problem is it's either glass or ceramic and although that's great, I needed something less likely to break. I plan to use it for my one year old Cake Smash Sessions. 

I was browsing in Target and my wonderful husband saw a cake stand clearanced for $7 and called me over to look at it (yes, we are always browsing in different parts of the store). When I got there I saw all these other plates and bowls for even cheaper! Since my plan was to make them, it was perfect! Each plate (Salad size) & bowl was under $2! Did I mention they were plastic? Perfect!

I decided to go with a glue gun because the plates/bowls are light weight and I don't plan on heavy use. These will be hand washed anyway. 

SUPPLIES:

Matching plate & bowl (base)

Glue gun

DIRECTIONS:

1) Wash plates & bowls and dry

2) You can choose to mark the center of the back of the plate (I didn't because I was in a rush)

3) Apply hot glue to the bottom of the bowl (quickly before it dries) & place it on the center of the back of the plate. 

That's it! Simple as 1, 2, 3! For less than $10, I made 4 cake stands!!!!!

        

Kissing Booth Prop

Happy New Year! ... And I'm already frantically calling around to see if the stores stocked their shelves with Valentines decor! 

When I originally thought about making the booth, I had planned to make a bigger one using pallets and cutting wood, nails, glue etc. but I decided to work with what I have because this is probably going to be temporary and disposable. 

SUPPLIES:

Wooden Crate - from the craft store. I already had one that my husband stained for me. 

White Foam Board - Dollar Tree

Packing Tape

Box Cutter

Red Marker

Valentine decorations 

DIRECTIONS:

1) Measure two 2" strips the long ways of the foam board 

2) Cut out the pieces. I did not cut so straight but planned on wrapping decorations over it later anyway. 

See? Not so straight!

3) Cut the desired size for your sign

4) Stand crate on its side and stick the 2 inch pieces in

5) Put the sign above it and mark the back (just so you know where to tape the sign)

6) Lay the sign down and lay the 2 inch pieces on top lining it up to your markings. Tape it. I chose to use tape because foam boards are so light that you don't really need strong adhesive. 

7) I used a pen (in red) first to write my letters and then used my son's red marker to color it in. 

8) I purchased these in red & purple. I wrapped the 2 inch pieces with them. 

 

The garlands, felt hearts, bubblegum dispensers and candies were all from the Dollar Tree. This is why it being "disposal" is okay with me. 

 

Here's my lil munchkin:

Update: added more decorations and the 5 cent sign (paper cut out taped to foam hearts)