diy – Planet Plan-it!

Vinyl Music Stickers

February 7, 2019February 7, 2019 kierstynrae

In an effort to make my room more colourful I decided to create stickers with musical terminology to stick on my classroom walls.

I used all of the available words in the Quarter Note cartridge on Cricut Design Space. I sized each word so that they were 3″ tall, no matter the width.

I tried to evenly distribute them among the 8 colours I wanted to use. Using the colour sync tool is amazing. It ensures the reds are all the same shade so they all cut on the same piece of vinyl or paper.

I ended up having about 4-5 words per colour.

With 8 different colours.

I didn’t have one big open wall so I decided to spread them out around my room. As you can see, my sound proofing is gray, walls are gray, floors are gray and my new cupboards are gray. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very lucky to have a renovated room. It really just needs some colour.

(Excuse the mess. I have a lot of junk that I can’t seem to throw away but it’s either broken or useless to me. It ends up on these filing cabinets.)

After applying all the words (Which was no small feat) I made a list of the words as a checklist and let my students search for the words as a scavenger/treasure hunt. The one thing that made this difficult was the cursive writing.

Home Decor

Placemats

September 3, 2018September 3, 2018 kierstynrae

This was a really fun summer project and gift idea! I made them for my mom and my mother-in-law. If you can sew a straight stitch in a relatively straight line, you can do this project.

I found 2 indoor/outdoor decor fabrics that coordinated well and I was off running. I bought 1 metre of each bolt.

I washed the fabric and laid it out flat.

I used an existing placemat as a template to find a good size for the first piece. I left a seam allowance around the edges as I cut. After I had the first cut, I used it to measure out the rest of the cuts.

Place right sides together and match up the edges.

Pin the pieces together right sides in.

Sew a straight stitch around the perimeter and leave about 4-6 inches unstitched so you can turn the placemat right side out.

I like to cut the excess fabric off the corners so you can get a crisp 90 degree edge when you turn it right side out again.

Turn it right side out.

Try to wiggle the seams out flat so the edges are nice and straight.

Iron the edges so that the seams will stay flat and it will be much easier to sew again.

Stitch one more time around the perimeter. This time you can go over the spot you left open the first time and the placemat will be finished.

I ironed it one last time.

Now you have the finished project! I made 6 of each pattern and they’re all double sided.

Home Decor

Doorbell chime cover

August 18, 2018August 18, 2018 kierstynrae

My husband and I have been fixing our fixer-upper home for 6 years now. We have plans for a big project every summer but in between I like to find small things that bug me. One of them being our doorbell chime cover.

It’s yellowed, sticky and from the 60’s. As always I could have bought something but I opted for a DIY project.

First step, take it down and clean it. Yuck.

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I couldn’t have the newly painted kitchen have an eyesore. I had to cover it with something pretty.

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I found some pretty paper that had the same grey-teal of our wall colour! I traced the cover and cut it to size.

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It fits! Now to mod podge then paint the edges with the wall paint.

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Not bad! Certainly better than it was. And if I decide I don’t like it, I’m only out some paper, paint and mod podge.

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Clothing Projects

My daughter’s 2nd birthday t-shirt

August 14, 2018August 14, 2018 kierstynrae

I probably went a bit overboard for my daughter’s 2nd birthday. I had been online window shopping for a cute outfit for her to wear but I couldn’t justify spending $15 on a shirt she’d wear for a day. So it all came back to “what can I make her?”. Now, my birthday is 4 days before hers and this year was a big one. My husband and I spent quite a bit of time getting some house and yard projects finished in time. So needless to say, we were busy.

But just like any parent, we’d do anything for our kids.

So here’s the top I made for her special day, step by step.

Step 1: I searched peace thinking that a peace sign and the number two are both what I was looking for. I found a design I liked. I didn’t need the details in dark purple, just the outline.

Step 2: Open “Layers” on the bottom panel (I was working on my iPad) to separate the dark and light purple layers.

Step 3: Delete the dark purple layer. Now you have the base for your iron-on.

Step 4: I changed the colour to grey because I thought I was going to use silver vinyl and I wanted to be able to visualize what it would look like. This isn’t a necessary step.

Step 5: Pick a font you’d like to write in. Chloe is a favourite of mine because it’s easy to read while also whimsical.

Step 6: I chose to write “I’m this many” so I typed each word individually so I could have more control over the spacing.

Step 7: I duplicated the font and changed the typing so that each font box would match in size.

Step 8: I used the grid background to space the text boxes evenly apart vertically.

Step 9: Then, I highlighted all three boxes and aligned them by clicking “Align” then “Align centre” (Side note: my writing is constantly being spellchecked and underlined because I’m giving a tutorial on an American app while trying to use British/Canadian spelling. Oi.)

Step 10: I dragged my hand back behind the new font and clicked “Arrange” then “Send to back”. This part I didn’t have the program align because it is slightly off-centre but it looks more polished this way.

Step 11: Drag a box around the “I’m” text box and the hand. The button “slice” should be clickable. It will send the other 2 text boxes to the back.

Step 12: Click the “I’m” box and delete. Now you should be left with a hand and “I’m” is cut out.

Step 13: Click the hand layer then “Arrange” and “Move to back”.

Step 14: Continue the same process with the other two text boxes. Delete the remaining gray font until you’re left with your final product.

Step 15: I knew on a 2T shirt that a 6 inch logo would work, but yours may be different. I held my cricut mat up to the shirt to try to visualize.

Step 16: You can start to create! Make sure when you’re cutting iron-on that you mirror it first. Cut it out!

Step 17: Here’s a shot of the images and fonts I used. All free with a cricut subscription.

Step 18: After you’ve weeded the negative vinyl (you can find a more in-depth tutorial on weeding here), place it on the shirt to find the placement. I eyeballed it. What’s the worst that can happen?

Step 19: I had the iron set to cotton and I used a kitchen towel between the iron and the shirt. It didn’t take long for it to fuse. To see what vinyl I used and for more on ironing vinyl visit another tutorial of mine here.

Step 20: Let it cool and you have a homemade birthday shirt!

Clothing Projects

Sunshine t-shirts

August 3, 2018 kierstynrae

This is a favourite song of mine and I’ve passed it on to my daughter. I’ve been looking at “Mommy and Me’ outfits but they’re all about Queens/Princesses or “this kid tires me out” and I thought I could find something better. I went looking around on Pinterest and found this. It was exactly what I was looking for. Shipping across the border can be very expensive and after the Elmo shirt I thought this would be easy enough to try.

I used the yellow shirt that I recreated from a store-bought youth tee. Michaels didn’t have a yellow shirt in my daughter’s size so I made one myself. My shirt is a plain gray cotton v-neck shirt.

I used the vinyl sheets I bought on Amazon for my Elmo shirt project.

I picked out some fonts I liked on Cricut Design Space and found a sun shape on the program for the top. Then I set the Cricut to work!

Set up the gray piece to cut while you work on the yellow chunk. I cut out the small square piece so I could use the rest of the yellow for something else later. Can’t have waste! Weed all of the negative space. The weeding tool is amazing for teeny font pieces.

Now to weed all the inner-font pieces.

Poke and lift. Try not to poke stuff not meant to be poked.

All done the weeding process. I highly recommend doing this at a table rather than bent over on the floor.

The gray sheet is all cut. Hard to see unless you catch a glare at the right angle.

Cut out just the part where your picture is.

Start weeding the negative space.

Almost done. Just the inner-font pieces.

I laid them on top of the shirts to see how they looked. I probably could have made mine larger. My daughter’s shirt is a better size.

Starting with my shirt, I spread it onto the ironing board so it was only the front being ironed. I eye-balled the placement, laid a towel over the vinyl and ironed away. I pressed fairly hard while I tried to concentrate the heat on the plastic square.

You can see the parts that haven’t adhered to the shirt yet.

Just checking to make sure I iron the right section.

Took a couple go-rounds.

The sun still needs some heat. It hasn’t quite separated from the plastic yet.

I tested the corner to see if it was ready. Looks good!

Tada!

I turned the shirt over and ironed the back.

My shirt is done!

I laid the gray piece down to see where it should be placed.

Cover it up with the tea towel to iron.

Not even close. This shirt took a long time to adhere. Maybe because the font is so skinny or maybe the vinyl wasn’t as nice. Who knows.

I took the tea towel off and just ironed on the plastic. My arm started to hurt!

Still not sticking.

Eventually it stuck and it turned out great! They look great on the table. Can’t wait to try them on!

Clothing Projects

Dip-dye t-shirt

August 1, 2018August 4, 2018 kierstynrae

Step 1: Make sure you have all the items you need before beginning. Here’s what I used:

Bucket (I will use a wider bucket next time)
A hanger for each item you’re dying
Rit dye in a colour of your choice
Gloves
Towel
A system for dipping your clothes in stages. I used two music stands, a piece of doweling and string.
White clothing to dye. Cotton seems to work best.
*Not pictured-I ended up using another bin for drips

Step 2: Set up the hanging system. I liked how easy it was to adjust the height when using the music stands. I added tape where the doweling sat to add some traction.

Step 3: Next, I tied two pieces of string onto the doweling. I taped it in place so it wouldn’t spin.

Step 4: Tie the other ends of the string to the hanger. Now you can turn the doweling to raise or lower your garment into the dye.

Step 5: Place a towel or drop sheet underneath. As soon as I’d gotten all set up, the thunder started. So I took it all down and tried again in my basement laundry room.

Step 6: I didn’t get any pictures of the bucket being filled. I started by boiling water in a kettle. While I waited, I added a 1/2 cup of salt to my bucket. Once the water was done, I measured 5 cups of boiling water to the bucket. Then I added 15 more cups of hot tap water. I stirred it a bit. Then I added half the container of liquid rit dye. I used denim blue.

Step 7: Here’s where I made my first mistake. The shirt could only go this far into the dye because my hanger was wider than my bucket. No biggie. I ended up liking how it turned out. The first chunk was a quick dip then I rolled it up for the second section, which dipped for 1 minute.

Step 8: The last section was left for 5 minutes. Once it was done, I slipped it on a new hanger and left it to drip on the drying rack with an empty bucket underneath.

Step 9: Rinse in cold water. I held it by the hanger and washed it in the shower. I didn’t mind having the dye drip because we’re due for a new bath. It did slightly stain it, even after I used a magic eraser. Rinse until it runs clear. This took some doing for me.
Step 10: Hang to dry then put in the laundry on a warm wash.
I also dyed 2 other shirts. The first one was my daughters and it was 50% cotton, 50% polyester. The second one was my husbands and it was 100% cotton.

My shirt was last and it didn’t turn out very well. The label says 65% cotton and 35% polyester. It has a very different texture than the other two shirts and I paid quite a bit more for it so I was bummed. It turned out more purple than blue and it was a more subtle line between sections.

Here is the final result on my daughter. As you can see the blue dye ran into the white in the wash. I assume this is because I was lazy about rinsing out the dye in cold water before washing in the machine. I really like the end result. It was a fun project I was able to mostly finish during a nap. It wasn’t too messy because I had prepared everything beforehand.

Welcome

The Journey Begins

July 26, 2018February 18, 2021 kierstynrae

Thanks for joining me!

I’m Kierstyn Beattie! I’m a crafty person who loves to DIY. I don’t always read the instructions or follow the pattern. My husband and daughters often come along for the ride. I’m also a music teacher! I really enjoy sharing my projects and I hope you enjoy them, too.