A Toy Car Travel Mat

I used felt off-cuts and some spare gingham fabric and a piece of ribbon.

Sew small white rectangles along the middle of the road.
Sew a long piece of felt in a random pattern on the green to create an “off-road” path.
Sew all the sections of felt together.
Fold a section of doubled fabric over one end of the felt mat to create 1 long pocket.
Sew the fabric layer right sides together with the felt down 3 sides.
Turn the mat right sides out and top-stitch the last side.
Sew the long pocket in smaller sections to make 4 little pockets.

Attach the ribbon along the middle of the mat and add an extra piece ribbon in the middle to tie the mat closed.
Fold the mat in thirds and tie.

Viola! A cute toy car travel mat!

(Click here to view the original post with all the other car mat ideas I found on other websites.)

************************************************

Pretty Beaded Candle Jars

For this frugal, but dainty gift we needed:

re-used glass jars ~ any size
some tissue paper or gift wrap – just scraps
modge podge (our favourite craft “essential”)
sponge brushes
some thin gauge wire (just cheap hardware wire, not jewelry wire)
an assortment of beads
tea candles

We modge podged section of the jar and placed torn tissue paper over it, and modge podged the paper again lightly, smoothing out any bubbles or wrinkles. (My girls didn’t mind any wrinkles!)

Tip: The silver and gold tissue paper made the jar more opaque than the ordinary coloured tissue paper. (Again, my girls didn’t mind, but I think that the dainty pink and white jars shine more beautifully.)

While we waited for the modge podge to dry, we made the candle holders. We twisted a piece of wire to form a base spiral and then zigzagged a round of wire to form the “cup” for the tea candle. We twisted and wrapped the end of the wire around a large whiteboard marker or made a small spiral, threaded a few beads and closed the end with a small, tight loop.

Then once the modge podge had dried, we wrapped a piece of wire around the neck of the jar and measured a length for a handle. Before securing the wire, the girls threaded a few beads around the neck.

Then we twisted the wire and beaded the handle. We left a short piece of wire to insert into the neck wire on the opposite side of the jar and twisted it closed.

My 16-year-old made this exquisite set of jars for her friend ~

Viola! A Pretty Beaded Candle Jar gifts!

**************************************************************

A “new” notice board

I took my old notice board, some left-over curtain fabric scraps, wadding, ribbon, a curtain ring and dog clip.

Sew the fabric to slip over the top of the notice board. Then criss-cross some ribbon.

Tie a curtain ring to one of the ribbons to hold my reading glasses.

Lastly add a neat ribbon to the dog clip at the top.

Viola, a ‘new’ notice board that matches my study curtains and looks really pretty.

***********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Pretty Apron

It was store-bought and really cheap. (Much cheaper than buying the material and clasp at the fabric store.) The fabric and sewing was strong, neat and durable.

With some scraps of coordinating fabric scraps, some lace and a piece of ribbon I measured the pocket and bib lengths.

Then I sewed the new pocket over the existing one. This meant that I had to un-pick just a short bit of the middle seam. Once the new pocket was on, I re-sewed the pocket’s middle seam.