My niece is just now starting to get into that "make-believe" play and since every little girl should have a dollhouse that is what I want to get her for Christmas.  The problem is she in not interested in dolls but she absolutely loves animals! So I decided to make her an animal/jungle themed doll house. I bought the doll house kit online and plan on painting it in a jungle theme with trees and vines and bright colors but I cannot figure out what I can use for the dolls. I have looked and looked for animal themed dolls but have had no luck. So I figured I could just paint some playmobil dolls or fisher price dollhouse dolls to look like animals.  I am not sure what types of paint to use though and what type of a sealant to put on them that would be safe for a toddler to play with. Anybody have any ideas on paints and sealers? Or does anyone know of any animal themed dolls for doll houses?

I moved into a new apartment recently. I'm renting from my dad so I can paint and make it my own space. My plan is to conquer the batroom first.  I found a can of paint on the Lowes clearance rack for 5 dollars. It's a really pretty blue but the problem is I have this hideous plastic tile stuff half way up my walls that won't match the paint I picked out.  I don't want to tear it out because it will be too big of a project. So I considered spray painting it white with fusion spray paint. Here is a pic of the ugly tiles



Anyone have any ideas?  Should I prime it first and seal it afterwards? I am lost and tired of this icky bathroom

I wasn't sure where to put this so if anyone has a better idea let me know.

I want to customize some blank x-box 360 faceplates for my brother for Christmas. I have seen customization kits and stuff in online stores but I figured I could do it myself with some print-outs and some sealer. However, I need a template to make my own grapics since I don't have access to an X-box 360 myself. Any gamers out there see anything like this. I have looked around online but haven't come up with much. I just think this would be an awesome unique gift idea for my brother.

Anyone know of a free pattern/tutorial for Kimono Booties? I keep seeing them on Etsy and around the web and would like to make a pair for my 6 month old niece to go with her ninja halloween costume.

I bought some amazing brocade fabric with the intentions of making an outfit for my niece but instead decided to use it for something else.  How would this type of fabric work in a rag quilt? I was thinking of doing a crib quilt with a flannel backing and brocade/cotton patchwork front but I was curious to how well the brocade will fray. Any tips/suggestions would be appreciated.

One of my favorite things to do on Saturday Night is stay in and watch movies. I usually go out and rent several movies at a time and stay up late watching them.  Of course you have to have snacks with your movies and of course you can't go wrong with popcorn but I was wondering what are some other things that people enjoy snacking on during movie night.

Here is one of my favorites: Chex Chow

melt about 1/2 of peanut butter in a quart sized bowl.
stir in about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of hershey's chocolate syrup (you can also use melted chocolate chips)
pour in enough Chex (I use the rice kind) cereal so that the chocolate and peanut butter mixture will coat the cereal.
Place about a cup of powdered (confectioners) sugar in a large ziploc bag. Scoop in chex mixture, seal bag tightly and shake the hell out of it :p

pour into a clean bowl and enjoy with your movie!

This snack also goes by the name of Muddy Buddy Chex Mix or Puppy Chow.  I remember having it at just about every class party in elementary school.

I'm making these pants for my 6 month old niece from the McCall's pattern M4280 and there is no way these are going to fit a 13-15lb baby despite what the packaging says. I used the smallest size pattern and followed it exactly. Here is a picture of the pants. They looks as if they would fit a toddler!


(The waist looks huge because I haven't added the elastic yet)

What could I have done wrong and what can I do to fix these?  I am seeing my niece tomorrow so I am going to add the elastic to the waist and I guess try them on her to see just how big they are. I'm thinking if they're way too long I might just wait til summer and she can wear them as capris then.

Has anyone ever heard of these? I picked one up at Goodwill for $1. It's basically a plastic point and shoot 35mm that looks like an SLR.  What I can't figure out though is if it takes batteries or not.  When holding it one side of the camera definitely feels more weighted down than the other but I cannot for the life of me figure out where a battery might go in it. It seems as though it would need to be powered by something though because there is no way to control aperture or focus the camera. I tried googling it but apparently the company only makes small kitchen appliances now and I can't find anything on this camera. If anyone knows anything about it I'd appreciate some info on it. If not, I guess for a $1 it can sit on my shelf and be looked at. (I like using every camera I buy though)

So one day while I was flipping through a celebrity tabloid I saw a picture of one of Britney Spears' boys with this awesome blanket. I googled the blanket and found the site that sells them for $125!!! I knew I could easily make one as it was only bandanas sewn together. So I made a trip to hobby lobby and picked up lots and lots of bandanas for only $0.10 a piece (I think they were mis-priced :p)

So now, onto how to make your blanket like a poor college student.

First off: gather your ten cent bandanas
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d41/silverlining86/bandana1.jpg
(pile of bandanas)

You need to prewash your fabric so when you wash the blanket your colors don't all bleed together and your fabric is preshrunk.  Now, if you are a poor college student like me you wash your fabric in your bathroom sink because all you have is coin-op laundry at your Apt. and you spent your last quarters at the meters (that you're not supposed to park at) on campus.) Btw: this is seriously how I do laundry on the weekends.
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d41/silverlining86/bandana2.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d41/silverlining86/bandana3.jpg

so prewash your fabric like so...yikes look at that water afterwards!

Now you need to dry your fabric. If you're unfortunate like me you'll have two problems here 1. the dryer at your apt is broken and 2. you don't have any coins to use it anyway (see above).  So what do you do?
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d41/silverlining86/bandana5.jpg

you make a clothesline out of craft cord and your dining room chairs and use a box fan to dry your fabric of course!

Your fabric will probably be all wrinkled now so you'll need to iron it.
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d41/silverlining86/bandana6.jpg[/img] [img width=422 height=317]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d41/silverlining86/bandana7.jpg
here we are ironing our bandanas, and now we have a nice neat stack.

What next? We sew them all together like quilt blocks. I used 6 bandanas and sewed them in 3 rows of 2.
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d41/silverlining86/bandana8.jpg
the top of the blanket all sewn together. (With Mr. Boy George all cuddled up underneath. silly kitty)

Repeat the above steps for the back.

Next we scrounge up some batting. (I was lucky enough to find a package in my parents' basement). Next you go get something to drink and comeback to find this...
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d41/silverlining86/bandana9.jpg
Awww he looks so cozy...too bad, time to sew.

Since both top and bottom look pretty much exactly the same choose one side and baste your batting to the wrong side of the fabric. Flip it over, lay your top layer right sides together, pin and sew. Make sure you capture the batting in your seams and be sure to leave an opening to turn the blanket.

Next turn the blanket right side out. Tuck your edges under at the opening and topstitch closed then continue the topstich all the way around your blanket.  When you're finished you should end up with something like this:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d41/silverlining86/bandanafinish.jpg

Voila, a blanket...all for $1.20! Can't beat that.

I have this dresser that is 15+ years old and has been hiding in my closet, with the majority of my clothes stacked on top of instead of in the drawers. So I picked up some wire shelves for my clothes and pulled this ugly dresser out to revamp it and give it purpose. I now sits in our dining/living area and holds extra blankets/linens for when company comes over.

Here are the before and after pics:


Ignore the kitty, he has to be in on everything.  I even had to touch up the paint several times because he couldn't keep his little paws off it. Silly kitty.
 
Afterwards, 1 coat of black paint and fabric stretched over two of the drawers. The fabric matches the chairs in the dining room. The whole project cost me $6. I had the fabric in my stash and I had to buy the paint.