Here it is! Fabric Scrap Rug

For at least a couple of weeks now I have been promising a new tutorial.  Well here it is, my version of a fabric scrap rug.  Several months ago I was at Target and noticed an adorable rug in a gal's cart.  It was fluffy and colorful and awesome.  So, I wandered into Target's home section and there was the rug, but it was around $40 (I can't remember the exact price but it was more than I was willing to spend!).  So, after thinking about this rug for the last couple of months I decided that I had to make one.  I really want to make one to go in our bedroom next to our bed.  Until we put in new carpeting we need a rug next to our bed because someone in our house (me) spilled soda on the rug and I cannot get it out, so instead I cover it.  I didn't want to jump right in to making a huge one for next to the bed (4'x5') so I decided to try a smaller version to put in our shop boutiquestylestudio.com.  So, after much ado, here it is!

I also have to tell you that this project takes awhile.  I would guesstimate that I spent about 10 hours working on it, but it did cost me only $20 and was fun to do!

Here is the supply list:

- 14 or so fabric quarters - I bought mine at JoAnn's when they were on sale so they only cost $17
- Latch hook rug canvas.  The cheapest I found was at Hobby Lobby, although I happened to have one     laying around
- Fleece for back or rug gripper pad
- Scissors
- Needle
- Thread

I decided to do a pink theme for my rug.

First, unfold the fabric quarters.

Next, fold in half and then half again.

I folded all of mine at once.

Cut strips along the short edge of the fabric.

You can either cut up the whole strip at once or do part now and part later depending on how itchy you are to get going on the project.  If you are not going to cut up all of the fabric at once I would recommend cutting up part of each color so you have a nice variety of fabrics in each section of the rug.

After you cut up the fabric you will have lots of little strings on you and a bunch of fabric strips.

I recommend leaving your fabric strips folded because it is much easier to cut.  Cut each strip into four even-ish pieces.  Each piece should be about 4-5 inches long. 

 Now, you will have even more little strings all over you and a big pile of fabric pieces. 

Now, you get to the fun part.  I started my rug randomly in the middle of my rug canvas.  Next time I will be a little more organized and will start at one corner.

Grab any fabric strip and fold in half.

Stick the folded part under a piece of the rug canvas.

Pull the piece of fabric up the other side.

Insert the two loose ends of the fabric piece through the loop on the other side.

Pull the two loose ends of fabric tight.  But not too tight or you may rip the rug canvas.

Congratulations!  You now have one done!  Only about one million more to go ( :

Like I said I was not very organized as I added my strips.  I kind of just added as many as I needed to make it feel "full."  But, next time I make one I am going to start in one corner and proceed in a grid pattern.  Below are some pictures of my disorganized method of adding strips.

I did not add a strip to each square because I wanted my strips to go as far as they could.  But I did make sure that the rug felt full.  Here is a picture in progress.

Once I added all of the strips I trimmed off the excess rug canvas (forgot to take a picture of that). My finished rug ended up being 18"x20"    

All strips added!

To finish off the edges I decided to add some fun, feathery yarn around the edges.

I looped the yarn around the outside of the edges to cover up the rug canvas.

 


After I was done adding all the strips and the yarn. I decided that I wasn't completely happy with how the back looked and the squishy-ness of the rug.

So, I  decided I needed a backing on the rug.  Initially I was going to use non slip rug backing, but then I decided that I wanted the rug to be all soft.  So, I decided to add some fleece to the back. 

I cut an 18"x20" piece of fleece.

Pinned it onto the back of the rug.

And sewed it on using matching thread.

 



 After I was done sewing on the fleece I was much happier with the softness and squisy-ness of the rug.

The next one I make will be a little different shape, probably longer and thinner, but I can definitely see this one in a little girls room, in front of the changing table or in front of a rocking chair. 

A Little Preview

Well I promised a new tutorial soon and I am working on it but it's taking a little longer than I planned.  So - here is a little preview of what I am using for most of this project.

I better finish this project soon because I think my husband is pretty much over all of the little fabric schnibbles that are on my clothes and floating around the house.  I will definitely need to do some cleaning when this project is finished.  But, it will be worth it and so far I am super pleased with how it is turning out!

New Tutorial - Coming Soon

Well - for those of us living in Packer-land it is not such a great day.  Losing the first game of the season really stinks.  Being me, I had to try and see the bright side (or at least a little glimmer of hope) of the loss.  I got a great start on my newest tutorial.  I am not going to ruin it and tell you what it is but I think it is going to be AWESOME!!  So - I have no tutorial to post for you today.  But, in the spirit of the football season officially starting I have a link to some super yummy football foods.  I will warn you that I have NOT tried these recipes but I am going to when the hubby and I have a little Packer party later in the season.  So, if you have tried or do try any of them please let me know how they turn out.

Football Foods

Being the eternal optimist that I am I am going to make two predictions today:

1.  The Packers will beat the Bears this Thursday
2.  During the game I will finish the item for my next tutorial and get it online over the weekend

Let's see how good I am at predicting things or if I have just jinxed my team and myself.

Bath Fizzy

Ok - here I go, my first ever tutorial!

If you are anything like me you love to relax, one of my favorite ways to relax is to pamper myself.  Now - I can't afford to go the spa and get a facial and a massage every week, I would love to but it's just not feasible.  So, I compromise by trying to take a bath once a week or so to decompress.  On a side note I also find it much easier to shave my legs while lying in the bath versus standing in the shower, but that is a whole different story. If I'm going to take a bath, I need some fun bath products, right?  After being a bath product junkie for several years I began wondering what was in those products that made my skin so soft.  I did a quick Google search and found tons of recipes for making your own bath products.  Well, being the type of person who loves to make things myself instead of buying them I had to try this for myself.  After trying a couple recipes for bath fizzy - I finally landed on a recipe of my own.  So, here it is!


You will need:

1 3/4 cups Baking Soda (softens the skin)
2 cups Cornstarch (also softens the skin)
1 cup Citric Acid (makes the fizz)
Spritzer Bottle (I got mine at the dollar store)
Food Coloring
Essential Oil
1 Large Bowl
1 Smaller Bowl
Pipette (I did not use one and regret it)
Sifter
Spoon

1.  Combine baking soda, cornstarch and citric acid in the large bowl.

2.  Scoop into sifter and run it through, this ensures that all of the ingredients are well mixed together.

3.  Put about 6 drops of food coloring into the spritzer bottle, add a tablespoon or so of water.

4.  Put about 1 cup of the dry mixture into the smaller bowl.  It is much easier to add the color to smaller amounts of the dry mixture.  The first time I did this I added color to all of it at once and it got a little clumpy.

5.  Spray 3 sprays of the water and food coloring mixture into the smaller bowl of the dry mixture.  Don't spray too much or all of your citric acid will react in the bowl and won't work in the tub.  Mix the product, this will help to disperse the color.  Spritz and mix 4 more times (more if you would like the color darker)

6.  Use a pipette to add the essential oil (I did not use one and I got some clumping which took awhile to get mixed back in).  Add as much or as little essential oil as you would like depending on how strong you want the scent.

7. Scoop the mixture into any container of your choice.

8.  Continue steps 4-7 until you have used up all of the dry ingredients.  Makes about 5 cups total.

Bonus - decorating your bath fizzy

I want to sell the bath fizzy in our shop so I decided that I needed to jazz mine up a bit.  Awhile back I got a ton of awesome Avery labels at Office Max (circles, ovals etc.).  I wasn't sure what I was going to use them for, but they were on clearance so I naturally had to get them because they were a good deal.  To get a template for these labels you have to go to Avery.com, their number is 22817 for your reference.  Avery Label Templates So, I made some cute labels for the top of the jars and ingredient lists for the bottom.

But, I still needed something more. So, I used the same Avery label doc to create "instructions" on how to use.  I printed this on card stock, punched them out with my big 2" circle punch, added a smaller hole to the side and tied on with strips of fabric. 

Ta Da!

This could be an awesome gift for any occasion, birthday, Christmas, bridal shower, baby shower or just for someone you know who could use a little relaxation.

Ugh - still being totally lame and not getting any tutorials up here!  Instead I am going to post an adorable video I made of items from my shop.  The website is called animoto.com and you can make 30 second videos for free.  You are limited as to the backgrounds etc. that you can use, but who can complain when something is free and turns out so cute!  The directions are super simple to follow. Here is my latest creation.

http://animoto.com/play/iBuT0oT2wQLsZZ50CDN94w