Chocolate Cashmere Easter Bunnies Tutorial

First I want to thank everyone who has pinned, commented and made this baby blog start to rollover!!! This includes all the bloggers that featured my work and all of you who have taken the time to comment and offer encouragement. I have found it frustrating sometimes figuring out how to work, blog and raise a family but whenever you high five me, which is really what comments are, y'all make me settle it down and enjoy the process instead of fighting it. 


so Thank YOU, and You, and You, oh and you with the red hair (nice BTW!), yes and you....because it is YOU who make this experience so much fun and exciting and well, a blessing.


So now onto how to make chocolate bunnies that are calorie free!! (Amen sisters!)

This is heavy on the pics but what else would expect from me. I want to make sure you have all the details and you won't run into any problems so when your done, YOU feel like a million bucks fro trying something you've never down before...like shrinking cashmere wool sweaters on purpose!!

What you need:
cashmere or regular wool sweaters, shrunk, (no worries, I paid $3.00 each for the cashmere sweaters)
sewing machine or needle and thread if you don't sew
fabric scraps for lining
fiber fill
beads or other embellishments


Time needed to complete all three: 1.5 hours! No way? WAY!


First find some wool sweaters at the Goodwill and wash and dry on the hottest settings you have on your machines.  This makes it so when you cut it up, the fibers won't unravel at all. Look for sweaters that have cool details like these flowers down the front.

 I found this bunny template and Twig and Thistle. Instead of just sewing up the bottom after I'd filled it, I wanted to add a secret compartment so I could stash a little trinket inside as an extra surprise on Easter morning. How much fun is it to find your Easter basket and then find out there is still more hidden inside. Kind of like how God blesses us. We think He's done and we just keep findin' more ==0)

(My Easter emoticon.....look it has "ears")

Well, now that I am totally off topic....

Trace the outline and the cut out. I used pinking shears because I like the zig-zaggy edge it gives it. This picture yielded two bunnies because I cut through both layers of the sweater. 

I was going to make them all the same and then I ran across a chocolate colored sweater in my stash and I literally started drooling over the idea that I could make white "chocolate" and dark "chocolate" bunnies. Yay!

 Find some old fabric and cut out you lining for the bunnies. Make sure when you cut the fabric it is right sides together or the lining will be the opposite shape of your sweater bunny. Ask me how I  know. I also used different lining for each as I didn't want the girls to fight over who's was who's. They would each know by the lining.

I just noticed the bunny in the upper right has had a little lipo in the chin....guess I wasn't too careful in the cutting process. It was 10 pm.

THIS is how you should cut out your lining fabric. Doesn't he look delicious? I say he because the dark chocolate bunny will be for my 12 year son.

 Layer as above 

 Pin around the edges and sew about 1/4" in from the edge using matching thread.

I divided the "ears" first just by sewing a slightly curved line down the middle. This is optional as you might like how it looks without the ear detail. I also think I might make one with an ear bitten because isn't that what we all do as soon as we get a chocolate bunny! 

Leave the bottom open so you can stuff it

This is how it should look from the bottom

I wanted each bunny tail to had a little detail since I was keeping the rest so simple. For Jake's bunny, I just took some scraps from the brown sweater and glued bits and pieces between the petals. I used Aleene's OK to wash it because I am sure I will need to clean these periodically and I don't want all my hard work to dissolve in the washer.

Using tweezers (who knew that tweezers where in a DIYer's toolbox?), pick up your scrap, dip it int he blob of glue you leave at the top of the nozzle, and then sandwich in between the petals.

Like so....

The girls got some bling added to their tales, because when you ask you daughter what her favorite color is and she says "sparkle"...

Now find a skinny screwdriver, or chopstick and your fiber fill.

When you pull out a clump of fiber fill it will look like this. Do not leave it like this or you will get hard lumps inside your bunny and you want it to be soft like the cashmere.

Pull it apart to look like this before you start stuffing

You are going to add you stuffing between the fabric and the wool, on both sides

Using your "stuffing tool", start with the ears and work you way down the bottom, don't over stuff as you are going to get nice fullness from stuffing both sides.

Ahhhh, it's all making sense now...

sew you edges closed and using the Aleene's again, glue your cotton tail in place. 

The brother and sisters together, and without fighting. A beautiful thing.

A little trinket for their hair

 or to use as a choker. These bunnies are so fashion forward.

Now go find what is hidden inside you and enjoy the discovery

Always being renewed,

Baby footprint ornament

This is the last in the baby keepsake display series.  You can see the others in the series here, here, and here.

I saved the best for last because it is made for the season. It is a baby footprint ornament. Your baby's actual footprints on a glass Christmas ornament! How sweet is that?

Pretty sweet

This is what you need:

 white contact paper, large glass ornament, etching acid cream, paint brush, carbon paper, 1/4 inch vinyl letters, your baby's footprints. X-acto knife not shown because as usual I've forgotten something when I try to take my "tools you'll need" pic. I also realize I am dating myself with the carbon paper. I have had this for years so I don't even know if you can buy the stuff anymore!

I would say if you can not find carbon paper then take a pencil and color all over the back of the footprint very well. When you trace it it will transfer the graphite outline.

 Reduce the prints on a copier to about 70% for a large glass ball. If you can only find small glass balls, then I think you'd want to reduce them to 50%. It occurs to me that this would be the perfect diet if all we had to do was sit ourselves on the copier and press "reduce" by 50%!

Back to reality, take a square of contact paper about 3x5, lay a piece of carbon paper over it and top it with the reduced sized prints.
 Trace the print like above. Try to highlight the big crevices and notches, and not the little ones so much. Too hard to do with the X-acto knife

 Both little feet traced

Using the X-acto knife, cut out the footprints 

 Peel of the backing paper and lay on the glass. Once positioned well, press out the air bubbles. I used  my fingernail and just rubbed back and forth several times to adhere it well.

 Do each one of the toes the same way and this is what it will look like completed.

 Turn it over and use the vinyl letters to spell out your baby's name or initials. You can also add the birth date if you like. Yo pretty much have to eyeball the placement and start with the middle letters and work out on either side to make sure it all looks kosher. Sorry, I think that is the wrong word for this holiday post.

 Now turn it over and put it on a chopstick in a glass; you know my penchant for sophisticated tools

 Cover the glass ball entirely in the etching cream. Remember to put it on rather thickly and I also paint the footprints by starting ON the contact paper and moving out that way there is less chance that if I didn't seal the edge as well as I thought I did, I won't be brushing the cream under the lip of the contact paper. Not a worry with the letters.

 Covered like a snowball.  Let this stand for about 5 minutes. Then lift it off of the stick and cover the opening before running the whole thing under warm water! You do not want water getting inside the globe. You can't see the etching if you do until the insides dry out. Trust me.

Dry it off.

If you see some spots where it did not get covered well, just go back over those spots again with the cream, being very careful not to get the cream on the name or the footprints. Rinse again as above.

 I add a few pink beads and a bow to the top

 And now you have your baby's footprints to savor every Christmas

 See, I told you it was sweet

Always being renewed,

Linking with:  http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/ Saturday Nite Special 112

Lock of Hair Display

Locks of hair from babies are an essential part of the baby book wouldn't you say? So here is yet another way to display the usual baby stuff in an unusual and creative way. You can see the other ideas here and here. The best is for last so don't forget to stop back in a day or two to see THE ULTIMATE BABY DISPLAY IDEA! Just kidding, well not really. It puts Happy Feet to shame!

This is going to be my longest post to date but if you stay with me, I think you'll like the end result! I love to create and  I am a maker. I make things. All sorts of things. I like all sorts of mediums.....I dabble in cake decorating, I sew/craft, and I do a little bit of stained glass among other things.  So I decided to display Jake's hair in a stained glass-like frame.

This post involves a few different techniques so just bear with me and I will give a complete list of tools as I go through the post. You can decide which you want to use based on which display you want to use.

I found some beveled glass at the stained glass store and sandwiched the lock of hair between that and a piece of glass I had already cut to match the size of the beveled glass. I will show you how to cut glass further down. If you are a stained glass master then you will foil both pieces of glass, clean the glass thoroughly, and then sandwich the lock of hair in between and foil everything together. Then you will solder it together and add two jump rings to the back.

To etch the initials onto the glass I used 1/4" vinyl letters.


See the "A"? Cut out around the "A" and leave the actual letter on the paper. See below.

Use a guide line to place your letters like above. I usually start with the middle letter and then place the ones on either side. Much better symmetry.

Now you will use etching acid cream to etch the initials onto the glass. You just need a very little cream on a fine tip paint brush.

You will paint the cream inside the letters. Carefully. Anywhere the acid touches, it will start to etch immediately. I should probably say something about safety but truthfully, I do not protect myself in anyway and I have never been "etched" so I am a very poor example for OSHA. Wait about 5 minutes and then wash everything off, letters and all. Dry the glass and add a ribbon!


And now you have a beveled glass Lock of Hair display!  Now what if you are NOT a stained glass aficionado?

Don't worry, I wouldn't leave you hangin!

You will need a picture frame and some glass. If you do not want to cut glass then buy two identical picture frames and use the glass from the second frame along with the first frame. Or go to your local hardware store, they usually can cut glass for you as well. Bring your measurements with you.


 If you DO want to learn to cut glass, read on!


You will need a straight edge, glass, cutting oil, glass cutter and glass nippers, the green plier looking things. I am not sure if nippers is the right name however. It has been a long time since I bought these tools and that is what I call them so nippers it is.



 A close up so you can see what these look like.

 

Use the existing piece of glass from the picture frame and outline it onto the larger piece of glass with a fine tip Sharpie.

 This is what it looks like after outlining it.

 

Dip your glass cutter in the cutting oil and let it drip off.

 Pick one of the lines you drew and line up your straight edge. You should place the straight edge just slightly inside the line to leave room for the glass cutter. Then with even pressure, pull the glass cutter towards you. You will here a scratchy sound. That is good. You only have one shot so make it count. Score the entire length of the glass.


 
Get your nippers and line up the white line on the nippers with your cut line on the glass.

Squeeze the handle until the glass breaks. Now do the same thing exact process for the other line that you drew and you will have a cut piece of glass the same size as you original!

Good job and now you have a new skill in your pink toolbelt of DIYing! What? do you honestly think mine wasn't pink?!?

Clean the glass well. You do not want fingerprints etc. on the inside of the glass. I held the glass using one hand and the edge of the paper towel and used my other hand to clean it.

Take your lock of hair and curl it into a curl and then hairspray it there.  Let it dry and cut any stray hairs.

Place one piece of  glass in the frame then the lock of hair, and then the other piece of glass. Check for fingerprints or dirt at this point and clean again if needed.

Because you are not using the back of the frame, the two pieces of glass may be loose. I just used two toothpicks on each side like a shim under the tabs.  Also, because you are going to see clear through, do not push the tabs all the way or you will see them when you turn the frame over.

This is how it should look from the front.

So with all of the scrapbook sticker choices out there, pick some alphabet stickers that you like. Here is one that I liked. 

This one I already had at home.

Decide where you want to place the stickers and draw your guidelines on a piece of paper or paper towel. Place frame over top.

I use an X-acto knife for placement because it only holds the edge of the sticker so less sticky stuff is removed and I can see better when I am placing the letter. Again, start with the middle initial and then add the outside letters.

Looks okay but I think the letters where a bit small for the frame.

Now these I like but the white not so much.

So I  painted them gold to match the frame.

It took about three coats to cover well and smoothly. Use the edge of the X-acto knife to cut away the extra paint. Do this before lifting them up from the plastic they were sitting on. 

 Much better!

Ta-Da! You have now created your own version of my Lock of Hair display! Well Done!

 I hope everyone had a wonderful day of feasting, family, and of looking back over the year and remembering all that we have to be Thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving, a day late.

Always being renewed,

Linking to these creative hostesses: