The Marie Show

My favorite thing about being a crafter is sharing crafts with the world.  Don't get me wrong, I love just making things too, and admiring them, but sharing and inspiring others to create something of their own is so rewarding (I come from a long line of teachers/tinkers).  Being on T.V. is the best because you reach so many people all over the country.  I've been so fortunate to have had the pleasure and honor of being the craft expert on the Marie Osmond Show on the Hallmark Channel this past year.  Production is wrapping at the end of the month so I'm feeling a bit sentimental about having had the good luck of being a part of such a remarkable team.  I've put some of my most beloved appearances on a Youtube Channel to share them with friends who don't get the channel or are out of the country.  Click below:

The makeup/hair/styling team.  Mowhawk Makeup is the girl.  She is a magician.

Showing Marie how to use power tools.  She's an eager apprentice and such a quick learner.

It's all in the family.  Here, her lovely daughter, Rachel is modeling an outfit from my fashion makeover  segment.

Silly photo stills they take after each segment...  Indiana Jones-y Sony.

Dip Dye Abra-Cadabra!

Color Your Covers!

 Rainbows everywhere!  O, how I love color!  I was going to just keep it simple and go blue and white stripes but I couldn't help myself and used, well, all the colors (except orange). This is a great way to instantly make your covers a giant fun rainbow for a kids room or if you just love color like me.  It takes two packets of each color- yellow, green, blue (2 different blues), purple, and red to cover a queen/full bedspread and two pillow cases.  You'll also need a car-wash sponge to spread the dye evenly.  I also used some spray dyes to add rings to the pillow cases.  Wash the duvet first to get the sizing off and make sure to use 100% cotton for the most vibrant color possible.  I got this queen duvet here at Target for $45.00.  The dyes I used were Tulip one step dyes available at craft stores everywhere.

1.  Make a yellow dye bath and dip dye one end of the duvet in. 

1a.  Let soak for a couple of hours.

2.  Squirt on generously a complimentary color (think of the color wheel).  If you start with yellow, orange, red, or green go well next)

3.  Add blue, then purple, then change the next dye bath to red, and soak the other end.  Let dry overnight outside where the dye can drip off without staining anything. 

I left mine on a grassy slope and the colors dripped down a little with the slope of the hill.  

4.  For the pillowcases, dip dye them yellow.

5.  Tie them up with rubber-bands, then add a complimentary color.

6.  Add circles with spray dye as desired.

7.  We added them to the duvet as well here and there to add another pattern.

On the set of Marie.  Air date before June 11th I'm told. 

Sisterhood of the Velvety Pants

Clothing makeover goddess Marisa Lynch and I had another crafty play date and I finally decided to reinvent my circa 1995 velvet striped pants I've had since, well, before anyone I knew had a cell phone. I've had so much trouble letting go of them because I love the way they feel- the fabric is luxurious and awesome and really amazingly soft and silky.  They are Miss Sixty brand, which, we all know makes timeless, yet time travel-able basics.  Yet I never wear them because they are just TOO MUCH going on.  If they were a circus tent I would move into that tent...  Anyway, not quite ready to toss this awesome material just yet. A chair would also look great upholstered in this fabric, but, there isn't enough for that so we put our reinvention caps on and... 

BEFORE (notice the Christmas tree in the background, It was March friends.  Yes, I am that lady.)

…and the amazing up close and personal shot of the velvety material.

VELVET!!!!!!

Here’s what we decided to do with them. (Marisa wrote this part)

In order to accommodate the both of us, we decided to make matching projects, however with the leftovers, we can totally start a Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants story, passing back top portion as shorts.

TRIM!!

We trimmed one portion of the pants right at the cuff…

ONE DOWN…

…and then matched the other side, measuring and cutting off the same amount.

SHORTENING THOSE PANTS!

We’re making matching clutches!  To give the bag a little more character, we trimmed a second piece of pant material, took out the seam, and then folded up the edges, to form triangles to go on top of the rectangular section.

TWO PANT LEGS!

We pinned our triangles, and then took out the seam at the top of the first rectangle.

SEAM REMOVIN’ TIME!

We turned the rectangular material inside out and then put and pinned the triangle in-between the material, right sides touching each other.

STITCHING DOWN!

We stitched this top section with the triangle edging, and the right side of the bag, leaving the left side open.

SEW DOWN!

We needed zippers to secure one of the sides and because we only had 9″ ones, we opted to leave the zipper on the left side instead of the top of the bag.  (…just in case any of you were wondering why we didn’t put the zipper up top.)

IT’S ZIPPER TIME!!

We sewed the zipper in…

ZIPPY SEWING

…and was almost complete!

ZIP’S IN AND ALMOST READY TO WEAR!

Now, we had some fab tassels to work with (I scored a bag of 10 for a buck!) so we affixed two to the bottom of the triangle and then added one to the zipper on the left using a jump ring.

TASSELS!!

Once we added our flair, the clutch was complete!

Yes, that black tank is totally legit.  It was 80 degrees today and I spent a good chunk of time outside soaking in the rays and Vitamin D!!  (Yay for a day without having to take my supplement!)  The UPS dude totally caught me laying on the steps and opted to walk around me to drop off packages, which I totally appreciated.

MOST COMFORTABLE SPOT OF THE DAY!

New clutch, check.  New shorts ready to start shooting Sisterhood of the Pants 3: Pants Meet Scissors in, check.  That post will come soon, after our contracts have been negotiated.

(End of Marisa's Post)

Now for the Shortz! (Pass the pants to Sonya)

I hemmed the now shorts, ripping the center leg seam so the fabric would fold up without bunching up the part it folded up to.  Turned under the seam 1/4 inch.  Didn't want to make them Daisy Dukes and I certainly didn't want the pockets sticking out from below the hem of the shorts.  That's a whole other thing.

Still get the awesome pattern without it being a raver's #1 dream vision.  I left tassles off and opted for the tassle-y bangles.  

My four year old took this.  Hello down there! 

Chocolate Dipped Pretzel

Last week I got hit with a school bake sale.  Trying to figure out what to make, I checked out the list to see that everyone was making cupcakes- makes sense, small, easy to price, and a great project for the kids to help with.  I wanted to make something that were along the same lines in size, but something a little different.  After a trip to Michael's, chocolate dipped pretzels were the answer!  They were really fun to make, sold for $1.50 each and raised $60 for Grippy's classroom.  The boys got involved and did some of the brushing of the chocolate on and sprinkling of the ball sprinkles.  A productive way to spend the afternoon with the kids Willy Wonka style.

All you need for the project.  Melting chocolate from Wilton's, pretzel rods, sprinkles,.

Melt chocolate in microwave in a glass container.  Brush on, turning pretzel as you go.

Sprinkle with candy dots.

Let cool on parchment paper, then wrap with plastic baggies (from Wilton as well).