Turn an ordinary Easter gift bag into two quick and fun Easter hangers! Your imagination is the only restriction to how and where you can display this hanger. The small additional details can make all the difference!
After weeks suffering thru the winter blahs (even in Southern California) I am always happy to see any signs of Spring (except daylight savings time “Spring Forward”). I immediately start looking for ideas to decorate for Spring and Easter. After winter, It is always so exciting to see our house wake up a little and start sporting light and bright spring hues.
Right now we are in “Be Safe, Stay at Home” mode in Southern California and I am only able to venture out for short jaunts to the pharmacy and to buy groceries. On one of my recent trips to the 99 Cents store to stock up on fresh fruits and veggies, I spotted a darling gift bag that featured a delightful bunny face on the front and back and a package of Easter Bunny Footprints. Both came to a total cost of $1.98. I quickly grabbed them and gleefully returned home with a renewed purpose. After thinking about it for a couple of hours, I came up with a ‘two-for-one’ craft using these two finds and other leftover craft project items I had around the house.
If you don’t have chop sticks or Popsicle sticks hanging around, can you think of a better excuse to order Chinese food delivery just to get the free chop sticks (wink wink)? How about a good reason to buy a four pack of that expensive brand of ice cream on a stick??????
YOU’RE GOING TO LOVE THIS.
Materials
4 disposable chop/Popsicle sticks
1 bunny face gift bag (99 Cents Store)
1 package bunny foot prints (you will need a total of 4 footprints from package for our 2 projects) (99 Cents Store)
1 large white disposable paper plate
scissors
glue gun and sticks
optional: color coordinated yarn or string for whiskers, ribbon or string for hanging
Instructions Part One
Separate the gift bag into front and rear sections and cut out the bunny face from each side. For easy hanging later; leave the bag carrying handles in place. Set second face aside for use in our second craft project.
Glue one chop/Popsicle stick to the back side of each ear on bunny head and footprint.
Glue the bunny face to the center back of the white paper plate. Do not glue down the ‘bow tie’ yet.
Next, glue your bunny footprints to the plate under the ‘bow tie’ placing the end of the heels touching each other under the center of the ‘bow tie’. After the heels are glued down, glue the ‘bow tie’ down over them.
If you did not remove the bag’s carrying handle you are now ready to find an appropriately noticeable space to hang and enjoy your beautiful but easy masterpiece.
Optional: cut and glue a length of ribbon or yarn to the plate to hang by. Cut six pieces coordinating yarn or string and place on bunny face over whiskers for a bit of added color.
That’s it! Can you believe how simple and fast that came together?????
Okay campers, lets get started on part two of this craft adventure.
Instructions Part Two
Glue 1 chop/Popsicle stick to the back side of each ear on bunny head and footprint.
Glue your second set of bunny footprints to the face under the ‘bow tie’ placing the end of the heels touching each other under the center of the ‘bow tie’.
Cut six pieces coordinating yarn or string and place on bunny face over whiskers for a bit of added color.
Hang and Enjoy.
‘Two-For One’ crafts in a snap; that doesn’t happen everyday. Original, inexpensive, and oh sooooooo easy for all of us lazy bones who love to craft.
Until the next time; stay healthy and “Keep on Crafting” (the lazy way).
Fleece Blanket from ‘No Sew Kit’ using Sewing Machine
I’m sure that I mentioned before that I am lazy and don’t have much patience for projects that have too many steps or take a lot of time to complete. I realized this when I reviewed the number of abandoned and incomplete projects I have in my project closet. My “Main Man, Kin”, reminds me of them every time I start a new project.
These days I try to work on projects that give me ‘almost’ immediate gratification and look like they took days and days to complete. By doing this I am building a catalog of ‘completed’ projects and satisfying my creative needs. This is a win-win!
One of my favorite time of the day is when everyone else has gone to bed or their respective ‘corners’ and I get to hunker down on my comfortable sofa. This is my alone time. Time when I can watch all my guilty pleasure ‘reality shows’ or catch up on my favorite series without sharing the TV or TV controls. I get to throw off all the pressures and stresses of the day and get lost in another reality.
Of course, TV time on the sofa is never complete without that nice, cozy and comfortable blanket that covers side-to-side and head-to-toe. I have gone thru several purchased versions of my ‘dream blanket’ without complete success. Some of their shortcomings included feathers everywhere, too light weight, not long or wide enough, and just plain ugly.
Recently I was out shopping for after Christmas craft deals with my older sister. Now that I am retired, I have the ability to just hang out and even go shopping in the middle of the day. As we approached the front door to one of my favorite craft ‘haunts’ I noticed a 50% off sign on a large bin of “No Sew anti-pill fleece blanket” kits. Being the bargain hunter that I am, I had to investigate. A few mental calculations verified that 50% off would be a good deal for a complete fleece blanket kit. I have read many posts by fellow crafters that verify the anti-pill fleece is the best choice for long life and sturdiness.
The finished size is 72 inches by 60 inches thereby fulfilling my size requirements. The kit included two precut coordinating panels in a pleasing print and colors as well as instructions for assembly. This sounded like the perfect blanket for my nights in TV land. I was not impressed by the idea of finishing the blanket edges by cutting and tying off fringe pieces on all four sides of the blanket. I had visions of losing interest really quickly with tying approximately 80 fringe pieces. If I accomplished the tying, how long would they stay tied under daily use and cleaning?
Upcycling me spoke to lazy me and saying, “you can just sew the four sides together and be done in no time. It’s only straight lines”. Upcycling won and my blanket was born. The sewing requires only minimal sewing skills (did I mention ‘straight lines only’) I am going to share the easy steps I utilized to from start to finish my blanket in one day in time to enjoy it the same night.
If you want to make one, you will need: (1) one kit for a no sew blanket or throw. (2) matching or coordinating thread. (3) Scissors (4) quilting straight pins (5) chalk and (5) sewing machine.
No Sew Fleece Blanket/Throw Kit with Instruction Sheet
Front and Back Layers of Blanket
Let’s get started!!!
Place your front and back blanket layers together, right-side-in and put a quilting pin in each corner securing the two layers together. The corner pins provide stability for the next couple of steps. Once the corners are pinned, line up the edges as much as you can and trim any edges you need to get the pieces to match up.
Once the edges are matched and trimmed, lay your fabric on a flat surface and place quilting pins every three or four inches all the way around the blanket. Leave a hole about four to six inches wide on the final side – just big enough to turn your blanket right-side-out when the time comes.
At this point you are ready to start sewing your straight lines. I measured in 3/4 inches from the edge to start sewing my blanket. This happens to line up with the marks on my sewing machine plate. I use the marks to help keep my sewing lines straight. Sew the first three sides together in a straight line from one edge to the other. On the fourth side, remember to leave the opening to turn the blanket right-side- out at the end.
Carefully snip the corners off, being sure to not cut the thread. Then turn your blanket right-side-out. Push the corners out nice and square with your fingers or a pencil eraser. Lay it out on a flat surface to make sure it’s all lined up right.
At the unsewn corner, fold in the fabric and make sure it lines up with the sewn edge. Pin in place and sew it closed. Place pins all around the four edges. Optional: put several pins across the center of the blanket to keep the layers from shifting while you work. Sew a topstitch all around the outside of the blanket with a 1/8″ seam allowance.
Unsewn edge of blanket with pins after turning right-side-out
Because my blanket came with two built in borders as part of the print, I decided to use that as my guide for the next process. This next step will provide extra stability to your blanket by preventing the layers from shifting from use and cleaning and give your blanket a longer life.
Once again, lay your fabric on a flat surface and place quilting pins every three or four inches all the way around the top of the inside blanket border. Starting at one corner, follow the straight lines to sew a border on the blanket.
I use the following trick to make it look a like it was done by a professional and took more time: once you reach the edge/corner of the border make sure your needle is in the down position, lift the sewing foot and pivot your fabric to the new direction, lower the sewing foot and continue sewing. Repeat this step for all corners.
Depending on how lazy you are you can stop here and have a perfectly presentable and useable blanket or you can repeat the last two steps above to sew the bottom of the inside border lines. I chose to complete the inside border top and bottom to give it a quilted appearance.
If your chosen fabric does not come with preprinted borders, you can create your own borders. Measure in and pin your fleece two to four inches from the seam on all four sides. Starting at the measured distance from the first corner, sew in straight lines to sew the top-inside border on the blanket. Make sure to use the trick mentioned above to turn your sewing at the corners
To create the bottom of the inside border, measure in two inches and mark with chalk at two to three inch increments in a straight line and sew to create a border on the blanket. Once again put needle in down position and raise foot to turn fleece in new sewing direction.
I was really pleased with way my blanket looked and not at all frustrated sewing straight lines.
Alternatively, if sewing the inside border seems too complicated, you can try this for your blanket. Because your blanket measures (60) sixty inches across from side to side, you can measure and mark intervals with your chalk across the top every (10) inches and sew (6) six channels from top to bottom on your blanket.
Snip off any stray or extra threads and ‘magic presto’, you are now ready to snuggle under your beautiful, comfy blanket to binge on all those “Did she really say that??” episodes. With the 50% off sale, it cost me about $17.50 and less than two hours to make this blanket. Stopping to document and photograph the process added to my original blanket time.
I was so thrilled with the ease of making this and the outstanding results that I immediately went out the next day and purchased another one. I have now completed it and plan to give it to my “Main Man, Kin” for Valentines day (he is always cold and I have caught him using mine several times). Because he is my ‘Sweetheart’ I took a little extra effort and picked one of the hearts on the front of the blanket to quilt around. That’s another blog and project I might cover in the future.
That’s it for now from this Lazy Crafter, remember to keep crafting and “Be Happy”.
