Tutorial

IKEA Picture Ledge Hack

- handmadejoy

I love how this shelf turned out! I took the popular Mosslanda photo ledge from IKEA and hung a piece of driftwood from it. It is perfect for hanging plants.

This is so easy to make, anyone can make it! Two drill holes and a few knots later, you will have yourself a beautiful hanging plant display!

You will need:

Instructions:

1. Drill two holes into the bottom of the photo ledge. I positioned the holes under the wall screws.

2. Thread rope through drilled hole and secure with double knot.

3. Tie rope around driftwood.

This shelf is located in my basement landing at the base of the stairs. As there is not much natural light, I used artificial plants from IKEA. The links to these are below.

My favourite IKEA artificial plants:

The hanging planters are a DIY I made from recycled Pine-Sol bottles! Check out my tutorial for instructions on how to make these cute hanging planters.

DIY Hanging Planter from Pine-Sol Bottle

If you try this tutorial I would love to see it! You can tag me on Instagram @handmadejoydesigns #handmadejoyblog

Check out my other DIY’S:

Upcycle an Old Shirt – See what I made!

- handmadejoy

Want to see some upcycle magic? See how I upcycled an old shirt into three new items. I loved the fabric and details of this shirt, but not the fit. I never wore it but didn’t want to get rid of it because I loved the colour and design so much. I started cutting and made three items from it that now get lots of use!

When you love the colour and fabric of a clothing item but not the fit, upcycling is the answer!

UPCYCLE

reuse (discarded objects or material) in such a way as to create a product of higher quality or value than the original.

Here is what I made from this ONE shirt:

1. Scrunchies

I used the bottom hem of the shirt to make scrunchies. I was able to make 2 scrunchies from the hem of this one shirt. I love the trim detail and used that as the outside edge of the scrunchie.

Here is my Favourite scrunchie tutorial from Martha Stewart.

2. Face Mask

To make this simple mask:

  1. Cut out 2 – 6 x 9 inch rectangles
  2. Sew right sides together leaving a 1 inch opening.
  3. Turn right side out and stitch closed.
  4. Fold sides and sew to create channel for elastic loops.
  5. Insert elastic and tie knot to from loop.

3. Bowl Cover

I made a mixing bowl cover for my Kitchenaid Mixer bowl. This bowl cover gets a ton of use in my kitchen!

Here is a Mixing bowl cover tutorial from My Frugal Home.

What would you make out of an old shirt you no longer wear?

More Sewing Tutorials on the Blog:

Turn any SVG into a Stencil – Cricut Design Space Tutorial

- handmadejoy
Cricut TUtorial

This is one of my favourite Cricut tips! There are many times I am making a project and don’t have the right vinyl colour on hand. My solution is to make a stencil and paint the design on! I will show you how to turn any SVG into a stencil in Cricut Design Space. It is so easy!

Upload your SVG and place on your canvas. Now you will place a rectangle over top of your SVG, making sure to fully cover the SVG.

Next select both the rectangle and SVG and click slice. Slice is located in “actions”.

Now remove the cut out piece of your design and the original SVG from your canvas. You are left with a stencil ready to be cut out!

Bunny Crew SVG available in my Etsy Shop_

I hope this Cricut Design Space tip comes in handy for you!

Vinyl Scrap Project Ideas – 4 ways to use HTV scraps

- handmadejoy

Don’t throw away your heat transfer vinyl scraps! I’ve got four projects perfect for scraps of HTV. I like to save my vinyl scraps to use for small projects so that I can save my full sheets of vinyl for larger projects.

I love this idea from Where the Smiles Have Been for storing vinyl scraps. I need to pick up a photo album next time I’m at the Dollar Tree

1. Label your Child’s clothing, shoes, and backpack.

Small pieces of HTV are perfect for making labels. I cut a bunch of name labels at once so I have them ready to go. I love to use them on my kids backpacks, hoodies, coats, snow pants, and winter gloves.

2. Make DIY leather tags for your handknit/crocheted items

diy leather tag

HTV scraps are perfect for making leather tags for your knit/crochet projects. Click on the link below to get my free SVG and see the tutorial.

DIY Leather Tags – Tutorial and Free SVG

3. Vinyl face for handmade toys.

Add Vinyl facial features to your handmade dolls or toys using your HTV scraps!

Vinyl doll face

Click the link below for my tutorial and free SVG file.

HTV face for handmade doll – Tutorial and Free SVG

4. Personalize your pet’s collar or leash.

Add your Pet’s name and decorate your pet’s collar with HTV scraps!

personalize dog collar with vinyl

Check out some more of my Cricut tips and ideas:

Among Us Plushie Pattern – Sewing Project for Kids

- handmadejoy

All of the extra time spent at home on the weekends has given me lots of time to craft with the kids. They have started playing the game Among Us so I came up with this plushie pattern for them. Made out of felt, this is an easy sewing project for kids.

Sewing is an excellent handicraft for kids of all ages! This project can used with hand sewing or machine sewing.

My oldest two who are 10 & 12 made it by themselves. However, even younger kids can make this easily with a little help! My 6 year old cut out the pieces and operated the foot pedal while I guided the fabric in the sewing machine.

I used a sewing machine for this project but this would also be a great project for hand sewing. Felt is great for beginner sewing because the edges do not fray.

I have included a free printable pattern and instructions so you can make them at home! Click on the link at the bottom of this post to download.

Materials:

CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD THE FREE PDF PATTERN

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PDF INSTRUCTIONS

Here is another great sewing project for kids:

Candy Wrapper Pouch easy sewing tutorial

If you make some Among Us plushies I would love to see them! Tag me on Instagram @handmadejoydesigns and use #handmadejoyblog

DIY Leather Tags for Hand knit or Crochet Items – Tutorial and free SVG

- handmadejoy
leather tag tutorial

Fall is when I pick up my knitting needles again and enjoy cozying up on the couch with a knitting project. I love the look of leather tags on knit/crochet items. I came up with this DIY version that is easy to create at home with some leather and heat transfer vinyl. I am giving you the free SVG file below too!

I made my tags out of leather from a thrifted bag. I am always on the lookout for leather bags and jackets when thrifting! To make these tags you will need leather (or faux leather), Heat transfer vinyl, my free cut file which you’ll find below, and a hammer and nail.

First you will cut a 1 inch by 2 inch rectangle out of the leather. Then using the hammer and Nail you will punch a hole in each corner of the tag. Be careful not to punch too close to the edge or the hole could rip. Use a piece of scrap wood under while you hammer.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE SVG

Now you will cut your design out of vinyl and apply it to your tag. Make sure when weeding the vinyl to remove the outline as shown below. It is a bit tedious because it is such a small piece. I used a hair straightener to apply my vinyl to the leather. It works great for small applications like this! I just put parchment paper between the straightener and the leather.

Now you get to sew your finished tag on and admire how professional your handknit looks!

If you make your own tags I’d love to see how they look on your hand knit or Crochet creations! Tag me on Instagram @handmadejoydesigns #handmadejoyblog

leather tag tutorial

DIY Mask Pouch for backpack or Purse – Sewing Tutorial

- handmadejoy

Are your kids going back to school? In our area the Covid cases are low so kids are going back to school in September. However they are required to wear masks in the common areas of school. I’ve made these pouches to attach to their backpacks so that their masks are easy to reach when they arrive at school! Below I have included a quick tutorial to show you how I made them.

Supplies needed: main fabric and lining fabric, velcro, amd ribbon or bias tape. The mask fabric I used is available in my Spoonflower collection.

First You will cut out 2 pieces of fabric 12 inches x 6 inches – one main fabric and one lining fabric. I wanted to have a rounded edge so I traced a lid and rounded the corners of the top. You will also cut a 3.5 inch piece of ribbon or bias tape for the loop.

Next you will sew your fabric right sides together, leaving a small gap so you can turn it right-side-out after.

Turn right-side-out and fold the bottom up to form the pouch. You will pin your ribbon/bias tape in place along the side. Sew along the edge to secure. Final step is to sew on your velcro. You can do this before you sew the pouch if you find that easier.

I used a key ring to attach it to a zipper on my son’s backpack. I love that they will always have their mask handy when they enter school in the morning!

Soft Elastic ear loops for your homemade fabric Mask

- handmadejoy
Soft diy mask earloops from headband

If you would have told me a year ago that I would be sewing a stack of cloth masks for my family, I would have thought you were crazy! But here we are. I am finding there is a shortage of elastic now that everyone is making masks, so I had to get creative when making mine.

I bought some stretchy headbands and cut them up into strips to make my ear loops. They work great and are so soft on the ears!

I was able to get four pairs of ear loops from each headband. However, that would vary depending on the stretch of the headband fabric.

I used Made Every Day’s Fabric Face Mask free pattern to make my masks. The only change I made was to do ears loops instead of the around the head ties.

I hope you try this is you are having trouble finding elastic to make masks or if you just want to try something that is softer on the ears! What is your favourite fabric mask pattern? I am going to try the 3D fitted mask style next.

signature

Easy DIY Dog Collar

- handmadejoy

When we got our little Lucy I wasn’t that impressed with the selection of dog collars in the pet store. I decided to try making a collar but found it hard to source the hardware without buying big quantities of them in bulk. When browsing in the Dollar Tree I saw their dog collars and thought I would try using their hardware to make my own collar.

Supplies needed: Dog collar, seam ripper, ribbon

This time I used a mint satin ribbon. The first collar I made her was with a velvet ribbon. The velvet one is probably my favourite that I’ve made. I am on the hunt for wider velvet ribbon so I can make a new one.

Remember to take photos of the collar before your take it apart so you will know how to put it back together!!

First you need to use a seam ripper to take out the seams of your collar. There are 2 areas sewn on the collar.

Once you have done that, remove the buckles and D ring. Next cut a piece of ribbon the same length as the collar.

Place the ribbon on top of the collar and sew along each side to secure it.

You will now put it back together and sew to secure everything in place. That’s it, you’re done! Now go try it on your pup!

Just want to mention that Lucy’s sweet dog tag was ordered from the Etsy Shop Field Trip. I love it so much! We have had it for almost three years now and it is still in perfect shape.

I decided to add her name with some heat transfer vinyl. Don’t throw away those vinyl scraps from other projects!

This is such an easy and inexpensive project. I love that I can change up her collar for holidays or just when they get dirty without having to spend a lot every time!

Handmade Cloth Doll – free face cut file

- handmadejoy
Vinyl doll face

I may have all boys, but I have few little nieces who I get to sew all things girly for! For my niece’s 2nd birthday I decided to make her a handmade doll.

I had so much fun making her! This is where my fabric hoarding comes in handy – I always have an abundance of little bits of fabric I can’t bear to part with.

I used Amie Scott’s Free Ragdoll Pattern for the body of the doll.

I am terrible at hand embroidery so I decided to use heat transfer vinyl for the doll’s face. I made a cut file for the eyelashes and mouth. Free download available below! I ironed the vinyl on the face before sewing the doll together.

The eyelashes measured about 2.5 inches across and the mouth about 0.75 inches wide.

Such a fun sewing project to experminet with texture and fabric. Go make one for all the little girls you know!

If you make one please tag me on instagram @handmadejoydesigns #handmadejoyblog. I would love to see what you created!

More DIY Ideas: