Ladybug shoes

Customizing canvas shoes are the oldest trick in the book for giving your footwear some excitement. Fabric paint was as fancy as it got back in the day, but now you can also add rhinestones, sequins, studs, glow in the dark paint, metallic sprays, anything your imagination dreams up.

I had some of Leo's old shoes and wanted to make them a bit more feminine for Sofia. They also had some wear on the front, so I came up with an easy ladybug design that would tackle both issues.

I went the traditional route and used some regular acrylic craft paint that I had laying around, but I especially like the Martha Stewart Crafts All Surface Paints.

It took me less than 10 minutes to convert her shoes into cute ladybugs and they are always a hit when she wears them.

This craft brought back memories of my days making girls jewelry. Here are some beads I made out of Fimo polymer clay which I paired with a red suede cord to make necklaces, and bracelets which glass beads.

 

Teapot Cozy

My dad loves tea and drinks several cups from a teapot. Inevitably, the tea gets cold between cups. Taking a page from a must-have among the tea-loving English, he decided he needed a teapot cozy.

The real ones are delicately knitted or crocheted, like the one beautiful in the picture from Crochet with Raymond. Having no time or patience to figure out how to successfully do that and given the fact that I was miles away and probably wouldn't get the measurement right, I went with this teacozy tutorial from the Rusty Bobbin.

I used scrap upholstery fabric and fleece for the inside. Before I stitched it all together, I made a pattern on paper for the decorative teapot applique. I stuck some Thermoweb Heat 'n bond (You can get some in any craft store, Walmart or on Amazon here) to pieces of felt and drew the pattern pieces on the paper side of the Heat 'n Bond to cut out the felt shapes. I then attatched them to the front of the cozy and sewed the pieces together.


The finished product was toasty and it's pretty standard size-wise so you can use it on any teapot. Just add tea.